The Optical Society joins #ShutDownSTEM on June 10th

The Optical Society (OSA) is joining the grassroots effort #ShutDownSTEM on Wednesday, 10 June to encourage STEM organizations to support the Black Lives Matter movement and focus on racism in academia and science.

As part of the effort, OSA is halting all external marketing for programs and initiatives and staff meetings throughout the day and OSA social media will focus on messaging specific to the movement. OSA staff have also been encouraged to make a commitment towards education, action and healing as suggested by #ShutDownSTEM organizers.

Learn more about the movement here https://www.shutdownstem.com/about

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Aruba turns up AI with its new Network Edge platform

Aruba introduced an AI-powered, cloud-native platform that continuously analyzes data across enterprise infrastructure in order to predict and solve problems at the network edge before they happen.

The new Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform) uses AI to identify traffic while seeing and securing unknown devices on the network. Aruba ESP is a full-stack, cloud-native platform for wired, wireless and SD-WAN environments that unifies multiple network elements for centralized management and control. Aruba ESP will be sold either as a service in the cloud or on-premises, as a managed service delivered through Aruba partners, or via network as a service through HPE GreenLake.

Aruba says its AIOps can identify exact root causes with greater than 95% accuracy, auto-remediate network issues, proactively monitor the user experience, tune the network to prevent problems before they occur, and use peer benchmarking and prescriptive recommendations to continuously optimize and secure the network.

“The Intelligent Edge is the catalyst that will spark limitless possibilities for organizations and enterprises that want to accelerate transformation and ensure business continuity by leveraging their technology investments as their greatest asset,” said Keerti Melkote, president of Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. “Built upon Aruba’s guiding principles of connect, protect, analyze, and act, Aruba ESP is the culmination of years of innovation, R&D, Aruba ingenuity and, most importantly, input from our valued customers whose honest feedback and insightful perspective has helped to make this platform a network that knows.”

Highlights for Aruba ESP:

• Cloud-native management for any size enterprise – Aruba Central currently runs mission critical networks for over 65,000 customers and now with new ArubaOS services, it is the industry’s only controllerless, cloud-based platform to provide full-stack management and operations for wired, wireless and SD-WAN infrastructure of any size across campus, data center, branch, and remote worker locations to be consumed on-premises or in the cloud.
• Simplified daily operations with unified infrastructure – With access to a common data lake via Aruba ESP, the latest version of Aruba Central has been enhanced with simplified navigation, advanced search, and contextual views to present multiple dimensions of information through a single point-of-control, virtually eliminating the need for disparate tools to collect and correlate information across numerous domains and locations.
• Reduced resolution time with AI and automation – Based on modeling data from over one million network devices generating over 1.5B data points per day, Aruba’s new AI Insights reduces troubleshooting time by identifying hard-to-see network configuration issues and providing root-cause, prescriptive recommendations and automated remediation to continuously optimize network operations.
• AI-powered IT Efficiencies—Aruba Central now offers AI Search, a Natural Language Processing data discovery service that enables IT teams to eliminate “swivel chair” investigations by using simple, English language queries to extract comprehensive user and device information from Aruba ESP’s common data lake to present relevant information in context to quickly resolve a problem. 
• Granular visibility across applications, devices and the network – Enhancements to Aruba Central enable user-centric analytics from User Experience Insight to identify client, application, and network performance issues faster.
• Extension of next-gen switching to distributed and mid-size enterprises – This new series brings built-in analytics and automation capabilities to every network edge where user and device connectivity occurs, generating insights that can be applied to informing better business outcomes. The CX 6200 switch series further expands Aruba’s end-to-end CX switching portfolio, enabling customers to run a single operating model from the enterprise campus and branch access layer to the data center.
• Ongoing innovation with new Developer Hub – Aruba is introducing a resource for developers that includes Aruba APIs and documentation to streamline the development of innovative, next-generation edge applications leveraging the open Aruba ESP platform.

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FCC acts to streamline 5G upgrades by limiting local review

The FCC is clarifying rules regarding state and local government review of modifications to existing wireless infrastructure.  The action is expected to expedite the rollout of 5G networks by limiting state and local government review of certain requests to modify wireless transmission equipment on existing structures.

Specifically, the Declaratory Ruling adopted today clarifies the Commission’s 2014 rules with regard to when the 60-day shot clock for local review begins.  The ruling also clarifies how certain aspects of proposed modifications – height increases, equipment cabinet additions, and impact on concealment elements and aesthetic conditions – affect eligibility for streamlined review under section 6409(a).  In addition, today’s action clarifies that, under the Commission’s rules on environmental and historic preservation review,  FCC applicants do not need to submit environmental assessments based only on potential impacts to historic properties when parties have entered into a memorandum of agreement to mitigate effects on those properties. 

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai states: "Promoting American leadership in 5G wireless technology has been one of my top priorities since becoming Chairman.  To that end, the FCC has been executing my 5G FAST plan, which includes three key components: pushing more spectrum into the marketplace, making it easier to deploy wireless infrastructure, and modernizing outdated regulations to expedite the deployment of fiber for wireless backhaul....Of course, in addition to pushing more spectrum into the marketplace, a key component of the Commission’s 5G FAST strategy has been updating our wireless infrastructure policies to encourage private-sector investment in the physical building blocks of 5G networks.  And today’s Declaratory Ruling and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking does just that."

FCC Commisssioner writes: "If we want to see infrastructure expand broadly and equitably across this country it takes federal and state and local authorities working together to do so.  History proves this is true.  And in these historic times this agency should not be ramrodding this effort through without listening to cities and towns across the country.  They called for a bit more time.  But the Federal Communications Commission hung up.  I dissent." 

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SS8 interoperates with Affirmed vEPC for lawful intercept

SS8 Networks confirmed its interoperability with the latest Affirmed Networks virtual Evolved Packet Core (vEPC).

SS8’s goal is to provide communication service providers (CSPs) with the lowest barrier of entry to the next generation of lawful intelligence. SS8’s integration with Affirmed Networks’ market-leading vEPC solution offers CSPs a secure and encrypted Lawful Interception platform that meets a variety of global requirements. It also provides the optimized agility, scalability, and flexibility associated with Affirmed’s vEPC architecture and solution.

“At SS8, we provide cost-effective, scalable, and compliant lawful Intelligence solutions. The interoperability with Affirmed’s vEPC has enabled us to expand our offerings and better meet the needs of our customers,” said Dr. Keith Bhatia, SS8 CEO. “Affirmed has been a true strategic partner, supporting our vision to make the world a safer place by providing the best lawful intercept platform possible.”

“Affirmed’s ability to rapidly and cost effectively deploy its vEPC solution to meet the needs of tier one operators globally is well recognized. By partnering with SS8, together we can radically reduce the time it takes to deploy and test a lawful interception solution,” said Anand Krishnamurthy, CEO of Affirmed Networks. “Implementing this platform with our vEPC will allow SS8 to help their customers deploy quickly, seamlessly, and more reliably.”

Microsoft to acquire Affirmed Networks for telco cloud vEPC

Thursday, March 26, 2020  Affirmed Networks, Mergers And Acquisitions, Microsoft  

Microsoft agreed to acquire Affirmed Networks. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Affirmed Networks, which is based in Acton, Massachusetts, supplies virtualized Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) solutions for mobile operators. Affirmed’s virtualized evolved packet solution capabilities include CUPS, 5G NSA, network slicing, integrated virtual probe, virtualized DPI, GiLAN, analytics and security services, virtualized Wi-Fi, and service automation platform. The company claims 76 deployments, including announced projects with AT&T, Etisalat, and Vodafone.

Microsoft said the acquisition will boost its efforts "to work with the telecommunications industry, building on our secure and trusted cloud platform for operators. With Affirmed Networks, we will be able to offer new and innovative solutions tailored to the unique needs of operators, including managing their network workloads in the cloud."

https://www.affirmednetworks.com/

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IDC: Worldwide server market revenue dips 6% in Q1

Vendor revenue in the worldwide server market declined 6.0% year over year to $18.6 billion during the first quarter of 2020 (1Q20), according to a new report from IDC. Worldwide server shipments declined 0.2% year over year to just under 2.6 million units in 1Q20.

In terms of server class, volume server revenue was down 2.1% to $15.1 billion, while midrange server revenue declined 23.0% to just under $2.6 billion, and high-end systems declined by 9.1% to just under $1.0 billion.

"Server market performance was relatively similar to the fourth quarter, albeit a bit more muted, with bright spots including the ODM Direct vendor group realizing solid demand from its core hyperscaler and cloud provider customer set, and continued strength in the non-x86 server space," said Sebastian Lagana, research manager, Infrastructure Platforms and Technologies at IDC. "That said, the OEM market faced stiff headwinds due to a combination of slowing enterprise demand for x86 servers and supply chain constraints, both driven largely by macroeconomic impacts."

Some highlights:

• The number one position in the worldwide server market in 1Q20 belonged to Dell Technologies with a revenue share of 18.7%. 
• HPE/New H3C Group took the second position at 15.5%, followed by Inspur/Inspur Power Systems at 7.1%. 
• Lenovo and IBM were tied for the fourth position with market shares of 5.6% and 4.8%, respectively. 
• The ODM Direct group of vendors accounted for 25.9% of total server revenue and was up 6.1% year over year to nearly $4.83 billion. 
• Dell Technologies led the worldwide server market in terms of unit shipments, accounting for 18.4% of all units shipped during the quarter.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS46534520

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A10 Networks teams with Dell Technologies OEM

A10 Networks is working with Dell Technologies OEM | Embedded & Edge Solutions on solutions that combine A10’s hybrid-cloud-ready software with purpose-built Dell Technologies hardware for encrypted application delivery, advanced load balancing, and SSL visibility.

The new A10 Thunder ADC, designed on Dell EMC PowerEdge R640XL and R740XL servers, as well as Dell EMC Virtual Edge Platform 4600, is a single-service platform that enables:​

• Application availability to maintain uptime for web applications and data center and cloud infrastructure​
• Application acceleration to deliver a better user experience, maintain SLAs and optimize server utilization ​
• Application security to enhance the existing security infrastructure and protect against the latest threats, while providing SSL/TLS offload for encrypted server traffic

​The A10 Thunder MVP, designed on Dell EMC PowerEdge R640XL and R740XL servers, enables multiple services, including Thunder ADC and Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi).​ The Thunder MVP:

• Improves operational agility and flexibility by running multiple independent instances on a single optimized and accelerated hardware platform. Each can run a different version and can be restarted separately
• Delivers Thunder ADC instances, providing increased uptime, faster user experience and attack prevention for highly available, accelerated and secure applications
• Integrates Thunder SSLi instances, providing security devices with decrypted SSL/TLS traffic visibility to stop data leaks and end-user attacks, for a foundation for Zero-Trust.​ A10 URL filtering and threat intelligence options can be added for enhanced user security

All the solutions can be augmented by the A10 Harmony Controller to ease SecOps and DevOps deployments, simplify application lifecycle management, integrate into CI/CD workflows and enable fast troubleshooting with advanced drill-down analytics and central management, providing IT operations a consistent on-premises and multi-cloud operational experience.

“As a leader in the enterprise market, it was a natural decision for A10 to work with Dell Technologies OEM | Embedded & Edge Solutions to bring our application delivery and security solutions to our customers. Our turnkey solutions will help customers tackle the current and emerging business challenges of providing secure and available applications and ensuring networks are protected against attacks in this multi-cloud world,” said Dhrupad Trivedi, president and CEO of A10 Networks.

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Dell’Oro: Broadband access equipment sales drop 15% in Q1

Total global revenue for Broadband Access equipment dropped to $2.5 billion, down 15 percent year-over-year (Y/Y) from 1Q 2019, according to a new report from Dell'Oro Group. The first quarter activity, which is seasonally slow to begin with, was hurt by supply chain disruptions throughout Asia-Pacific as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The first half of 2020 will give way to a sustained rebound in broadband equipment spending in the second half of the year,” said Jeff Heynen, Senior Research Director, Broadband Access and Home Networking. “The need to expand residential broadband speeds and availability will ultimately win out over the current macroeconomic slowdown,” explained Heynen.

Following are additional highlights from the 1Q 2020 Broadband Access Quarterly Report:

• Total cable access concentrator revenue decreased 22 percent Y/Y to $211 M, driven by a slowdown in CCAP license purchases in North America.
• Total DOCSIS 3.1 CPE shipments remained strong and increased to 5.8 M, representing 67 percent of total Cable CPE shipments.
• Total PON ONT unit shipments decreased 15 percent Y/Y, as new installations were limited by the pandemic.

http://www.delloro.com

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