Nutanix Launches Kubernetes Platform-as-a-Service

Nutanix introduced its Karbon Platform Services, a Kubernetes-based multicloud Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) with automated system-managed security, to accelerate the development and deployment of microservices-based apps across any cloud.

The announcement marks a significant milestone for Nutanix as it looks to expand its offerings aimed at accelerating enterprises’ cloud native journeys.

“IT resources are the engines that power digital enterprises. But as a company scales, adopts hybrid cloud, and manages an increasing number of applications, supporting engineering needs can be challenging for IT,” said Rajiv Mirani, CTO at Nutanix. “With Karbon Platform Services, we aim to simplify application development and orchestration while streamlining the relationship between IT and development teams to support our customers’ DevOps strategies.”

Highlights for Nutanix Karbon Platform Services:

• Rich Managed Services: including  managed Kubernetes (K8s-aaS), Containers-as-a-Service (CaaS), serverless Functions, AI, message bus, ingress, service mesh, observability, and security services.
• SaaS-based Multicloud Operations: Ops teams benefit from simplified operations and uniform application, data, and security lifecycle management, regardless of the underlying cloud, at scale leveraging the SaaS-based infrastructure lifecycle manager. Developers benefit from the rich platform services to write applications once and deploy in the cloud through the SaaS-based application lifecycle manager.
• Extensible Hybrid PaaS: Karbon Platform Services provides cross-cloud data mobility and hybrid application management through transparent, WAN-optimized data pipelines and extensible data interfaces. This feature gives enterprises the flexibility to bring their own services and leverage the broader Kubernetes ecosystem.
• Enhanced Security Posture: With Karbon Platform Services, IT operations teams can leverage a consistent security and API model with unified observability for data and applications across cloud. It provides automated, system-managed security with built-in multi-tenancy and role-based access control (RBAC) for the rich services.

https://www.nutanix.com/products/karbon-platform-services

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Facebook and AT&T join North Carolina's Wireless Testbed

AT&T, CommScope, Facebook, Keysight, and NI are the first contributing equipment partners supporting the Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR) program, which is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and a consortium of 35 leading wireless companies and associations.

AERPAW, which stands for Aerial Experimentation and Research Platform for Advanced Wireless, was named as the third PAWR testbed in 2019 and is designed with a focus on wireless communications for unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and ground mobility. The AERPAW team is now in the first phase of testbed deployment and expects to make the platform available for early research at the beginning of 2021.

PAWR partners have so far contributed the following to the AERPAW platform:

• AT&T: Data backhaul support
• CommScope: Wireless antennas and fixed node enclosures
• Facebook Connectivity: Terragraph nodes supporting millimeter wave communications
• Keysight: Network test equipment including a channel emulator and RF sensors
• NI: Software defined radios for experimentation and spectrum compliance monitoring

“We appreciate the partnership of so many industry leaders in our Consortium and recognize that the technology they contribute to the PAWR program represents the state of the art in wireless networking,” said Joe Kochan, Principal Investigator and Project Director for the PAWR Project Office. “For the AERPAW testbed, these contributions will make it possible for advanced research into novel drone-based communications and will drive innovation in wireless deployments through 5G and beyond.”

http://www.advancedwireless.org

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IDC: Worldwide server market grew 19.8% YOY in Q2

Vendor revenue in the worldwide server market grew 19.8% year over year to $24.0 billion during the second quarter of 2020 (2Q20) while worldwide server shipments grew 18.4% year over year to nearly 3.2 million units in 2Q20, according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker.

"Global demand for enterprise servers was strong during the second quarter of 2020," said Paul Maguranis, senior research analyst, Infrastructure Platforms and Technologies at IDC. "We certainly see areas of reduced spending, but this was offset by investments made by large cloud builders and enterprises targeting solutions that support shifting infrastructure needs caused by the global pandemic. Investments in Asia/Pacific were also particularly strong, growing 31% year over year."

Some highlights from IDC:

• In terms of server class, volume server revenue was up 22.1% to $18.7 billion, while midrange server revenue declined 0.4% to about $3.3 billion and high-end systems grew by 44.1% to $1.9 billion.
• The worldwide server market ended 2Q20 with a statistical tie* between, and Dell Technologies for the number 1 position. HPE/New H3C Group finished the quarter with market share of 14.9% while Dell Technologies captured a 13.9% share of worldwide revenues. Inspur/Inspur Power Systems took third place with 10.5% share and impressive 77% year-over-year growth. Lenovo and IBM tied* for fourth with 6.1% and 6.0% share, respectively.
• On a geographic basis, the Asia/Pacific region performed very well this quarter growing at a combined 31.%. China outperformed the competitive set, growing 39.8% year over year, followed by Japan at 24.9%, and the rest of the region (Asia/Pacific excluding Japan and China) at 13.4%. The United States also grew 25.0% year over year while Canada declined 11.2%. Latin America was able to grow 15.6% while Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) declined 5.8% year over year.
• Revenue generated from x86 servers decreased 17.4% in 2Q20 to $21.6 billion. Non-x86 servers grew revenues 47.4% year over year to around $2.4 billion.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS46838120

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ADTRAN introduces MetNet 60GHz fixed wireless CPE

ADTRAN introduced its new MetNet 60GHz high-powered version 2 (HPv2) CPE for extending gigabit symmetric services beyond the reach of the existing fiber network, whether it is a residential broadband, enterprise, backhaul or smart city use case.

The ADTRAN MetNet 60GHz HPv2 CPE, which was developed using technology built by Cambridge Communication Systems (CCS), uses a 90-degree phased array antenna that can now extend gigabit symmetric services out to 500 meters beyond the mesh nodes.

ADTRAN said its MetNet 60GHz solution, inclusive of both CPE and mesh nodes, delivers on the promise of a robust, self-optimizing millimeter wave (mmWave) gigabit fixed wireless network. It is designed to reach residential, campus, smart city and business customers, as well as support backhaul/midhaul small cell densification initiatives. The next-generation CPE significantly reduces the cost per subscriber connected, offering a small form factor while retaining maximum link performance. The mesh nodes automatically form multi-gigabit backhaul links to neighboring nodes, which enables multi-gigabit drop capability at the mesh node or to aggregate the subtending gigabit CPE. Additionally, mesh and CPE radios can be easily added without RF engineering to further simplify network scalability. Multiple mesh nodes can be connected into the core network at different 1GE or 10GE fiber point of presence locations to offer additional network capacity and improved resiliency.

“The ADTRAN MetNet 60GHz solution is an innovative self-configuring, self-optimizing and self-healing solution that makes it simple to deploy as well as maintain. This affords new broadband service entrants with lean operations and provides those with limited wireless expertise the ability to rapidly and cost-effectively deploy an ultra-low latency, gigabit-capable access network,” said Michael Kletchko, Head of Market Development for Fixed Wireless Access Solutions at ADTRAN. “As operators look to build their best broadband network, ADTRAN is helping to eliminate the digital divide by making gigabit services available over any infrastructure.”

http://www.adtran.com/fixedwireless

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KT deploys Infinera for Korea nationwide backbone

KT, South Korea’s largest telecom company, has deployed the Infinera 7300 Series Multi-haul Transport Platform in its national backbone network to support a nationwide rollout of 5G services.

Infinera said its 7300 platform was selected to provide a scalable core network solution optimized for the performance requirements of bandwidth-intensive end-user services such as 5G. Infinera’s solution for KT includes support for secure and reliable 200G transmission across KT’s nationwide core infrastructure. The 7300 coherent packet optical transport system offers a compelling pay-as-you-grow approach to network scaling. This model benefits KT by lowering initial costs, reducing equipment sparing costs, and providing the foundation for cost-effective scalability.

“Infinera’s advanced optical solutions enable KT to efficiently use its fiber and optimize the transmission of optical channels, lowering the total cost of network ownership, and helps KT maintain its global leadership in 5G,” said Nick Walden, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales at Infinera. “With Infinera’s innovative solutions, operators like KT pave the way for an agile and scalable infrastructure to support significant increases in bandwidth.”

Infinera's local partner for the project was Daesung Infotech.

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MACOM demos optical product set

At this week's China International Optoelectronic Exposition (CIOE) 2020 event in Shenzhen, MACOM is demonstrating its latest optical innovations:

10G Combo Passive Optical Network (PON) OLT Chipset - this demonstration will showcase MACOM’s 10G OLT product performance for XGS-Combo PON OLT applications. Featuring MACOM’s new MALD-02186 Combo Chip, MATA-02239 TIA and APD10B/ES APD, the demonstration will showcase best-in-class burst mode timing and receiver sensitivity.

2km 5G Front Haul Link Demo - this demonstration will showcase MACOM’s new Fabry-Perot (FP) laser along with a MACOM 25 Gbps Multi-Rate Dual CDR with DML laser driver and TIA, for distances up to 2 kilometers. The demonstration highlights the robust performance of the 25Gbps link based on MACOM’s 25G FP laser, laser driver/CDRs and TIA over a wide temperature range.

10km 5G Optical Link Demo -this demonstration showcases MACOM’s new 25G laser technology for 5G front haul and mid haul applications including CWDM6, BiDi, MWDM12 and LWDM12. It includes MACOM’s new 25G laser family with a 25 Gbps Multi-Rate Dual CDR with DML laser driver and TIA.

50G PAM4 5G Mid-Haul Optical Link Demo - this demonstration showcases a 5G wireless mid-haul link over 10 kilometers of fiber with 50Gb/s PAM4 DSP technology, Ethernet security and a DML laser. It features a full suite of MACOM ICs including the PRISM-50 DSP, a high-speed laser, a 56Gbps TIA and a 256Gbps PIN photodetector enabling a complete end-to-end optical link. MACOM’s ES200 MACSec PHY is used to source a 50GE traffic stream, with forward error correction and Ethernet security during the live demonstration.

Datacenter, 200G/400G Analog Chipset Solution - this demonstration highlights MACOM’s high-speed analog ‘4-device chipset’ in end-customer modules that are compliant with the recently released 200/400Gbps Open Eye MSA standards for multimode applications. The chipset will include MACOM’s driver, TIA, and transmit and receive CDRs. It will feature a complete active optical cable solution as well as an evaluation board showcasing performance over 100 meters of multimode fiber.

http://www.macom.com

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CrowdStrike expands support for AWS workloads and containers

CrowdStrike, which offers cloud-delivered endpoint protection, is expanding its support for Amazon Web Services (AWS) with new capabilities that deliver integrations for the compute services and cloud services categories.

“As security becomes an earlier part of the development cycle, development teams must be equipped with solutions that allow them to quickly and effectively build from the ground up the strength and protection needed for the evolving threat landscape,” said Amol Kulkarni, chief product officer of CrowdStrike. “Through our growing integrations with our strong collaboration with AWS, CrowdStrike is providing security teams the scale and tools needed to adopt, innovate and secure technology across any workload with speed and efficiency, making it easier to address security issues in earlier phases of development and providing better, holistic protection and uptime for end users.”

Compute Services

• AWS Graviton - CrowdStrike provides cloud-native workload protection for Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) A1 instances powered by AWS Graviton Processors, as well as the C6g, M6g and R6g Amazon EC2 instances based on the new Graviton2 Processors. With the Falcon lightweight agent, customers receive the same seamless protection and visibility across different compute instance types with minimal impact on runtime performance. CrowdStrike Falcon secures Linux workloads running on ARM with no requirements for reboots, “scan storms” or invasive signature updates.
• Amazon WorkSpaces - Amazon WorkSpaces is a fully managed, Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) solution that provides users with either Windows or Linux desktops in just a few minutes and can quickly scale to provide thousands of desktops to workers across the globe. CrowdStrike brings its industry-leading prevention and detection capabilities that include machine learning (ML), exploit prevention and behavioral detections to Amazon WorkSpaces, supporting remote workforces without affecting business continuity.
• Bottlerocket - Bottlerocket, a new Linux-based open source operating system purpose-built by AWS for running containers on virtual machines or bare metal hosts and designed to improve security and operations of organizations’ containerized infrastructure. CrowdStrike Falcon will provide run-time protection, unparalleled endpoint detection and response (EDR) visibility and container awareness, enabling customers to further secure their applications running on Bottlerocket.

Cloud Services

• AWS PrivateLink - AWS PrivateLink provides private connectivity between VPCs, AWS services, and on-premises applications on AWS, without the data having to go over the Internet. 
• AWS Control Tower - CrowdStrike Falcon Workload Protection seamlessly integrates with AWS Control Tower via API, delivering comprehensive protection and visibility across all Amazon EC2 resources. 

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