Amazon Sidewalk envisions a shared network for neighborhoods

 Amazon is advancing its plans for Sidewalk, a crowd-sourced network of consumer devices to be operated by Amazon at no charge to customers. The idea is to leverage the connectivity of devices throughout a neighborhood to help simplify new device setup, extend the low-bandwidth working range of devices, and help devices stay online even if they are outside the range of their home WiFi.

Amazon envisions that its network of Sidewalk-enabled devices could help its device users to find lost pets or valuables, to enable smart security and lighting, or to provide diagnostics for appliances and tools that lose their primary connectivity. Other applications for Sidewalk could include sensors for tracking packages, lost/stolen items, smart irrigation, etc 

The Amazon Sidewalk network will be enabled by customers with a Sidewalk Bridge, which is a capability that Amazon has already built into many existing Echo devices, Ring Floodlight Cams and Ring Spotlight Cams. The owners of these devices will be asked to contribute a small portion of their Internet bandwidth.  Amazon will then pool together this connectivity to create a shared network that benefits all Sidewalk-enabled devices in a community. Information traveling over the Sidewalk network will be encrypted. Amazon also promises to cap the maximum bandwidth used by a Sidewalk bridge owner.

Amazon Sidewalk uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), the 900 MHz spectrum and other frequencies to extend coverage.

Semtech confirmed that it is working with Amazon to bring its long-range, low power LoRa platform to the Sidewalk network.

Amazon is also working with Nordic Semiconductor, Silicon Labs and Texas Instruments to enable chip sets that will power new devices.

https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Sidewalk/b/?node=21328123011

https://www.semtech.com/lora

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Australia's NBN turns its attention to premium business services

Australia's NBN Co announced plans to invest up to A$700 million in a multi-faceted package of initiatives over the next three years to support business innovation, productivity and growth.

NBN Co said its goal is to significantly expand the national reach for Internet retailers to offer solutions based on wholesale business nbn Enterprise Ethernet services, increasing choice and availability for businesses across the country. 

• The creation of up to 240 nbn Business Fibre Zones across Australia, including a presence in 85 regional centres. All businesses within these zones will have access to Enterprise Ethernet, at significantly reduced wholesale prices. In total, these zones are expected to cover more than 700,000 business premises. nbn is disclosing the locations of the first 130 nbn Business Fibre Zones, including 61 in regional locations such as Bunbury, Mount Gambier, Devonport, Shepparton, Port Macquarie and Rockhampton. 
• Businesses in nbn Business Fibre Zones will see Enterprise Ethernet pricing reduced, some by up to 67 percent, giving thousands of regional businesses access to the same support as businesses in capital city centres, at the same wholesale price. Enterprise Ethernet is NBN Co’s fastest symmetrical wholesale product and premium-grade business offering. It has options for prioritised traffic, high capacity and symmetrical upload and download wholesale speeds from 10Mbps to close to 1Gbps, as well as enhanced 24/7 support through the business nbn Operations Centre with a dedicated team located in Australia. 
• NBN Co has allocated $50 million over three years to work with local councils and state and territory governments to identify opportunities to extend business-grade services outside designated nbn™ Business Fibre Zones.
• When an Internet retailer places an order for Enterprise Ethernet, for an estimated 90 per cent of business premises in the national nbn network footprint, NBN Co will not charge the retailer for building the fibre. Plus, if an Internet retailer signs up for a three-year Enterprise Ethernet plan, NBN Co will not charge the retailer an up-front connection cost.

"Having helped level the playing field for residential internet services with the rollout of the nbn™ network, we are now turning our attention to accessibility for our premium-grade business services, helping businesses in regional areas access the benefits of competition, enhanced broadband support services, and better wholesale nbn prices for the digital services they need to succeed," stated NBN Co Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Rue.

https://www.nbnco.com.au/corporate-information/media-centre/media-statements/business-fibre-initiative

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Windstream cuts debt by over $4 billion in Chapter 11

 Windstream Holdings emerged from Chapter 11 restructuring as a privately held company, having reduced its debt by more than $4 billion, or approximately two-thirds, and gaining access to approximately $2 billion in new capital. 

Windstream unveiled a new corporate logo and announced its commitment to three lines of business:

• Windstream Enterprise: Windstream’s nationwide, cloud-optimized network and award-winning software solutions – such as SD-WAN, UCaaS and OfficeSuite UC – help businesses across the U.S. manage today’s most complex IT and networking challenges through an industry-leading customer portal, WE Connect.
• Kinetic by Windstream: residential broadband with speeds up to 1 Gig, extensive TV & entertainment options, home network security, optimal Wi-Fi control and reliable voice services through a fiber-based network and 5G fixed wireless service. Small and midsize businesses can choose from cloud-based collaboration and communication tools along with wireless internet backup.
• Windstream Wholesale: nationwide optical transmission, providing flexible and customized high-capacity bandwidth and transport services to content and media providers, cloud and data center operators, international carriers, cable operators, wireless carriers, traditional network service providers, etc.

“Today marks the start of a new era for Windstream as an even stronger, more competitive company,” said Tony Thomas, president and chief executive officer of Windstream. “With the completion of our financial restructuring, we now have an enhanced balance sheet and a robust capital investment program to expand 1 Gig Internet service in rural America and maintain our product and software leadership in SD-WAN and UCaaS for enterprise customers. We are also pleased to continue our strategic partnership with Uniti Group and expand our mutually beneficial relationship. With the support of our new owners and current operational momentum, Windstream will continue advancing our long-term growth objectives while providing our customers with quality and reliable services.”

Mr. Thomas continued, “I would like to thank our customers, vendors and business partners for their ongoing support throughout this process. I would also like to extend my deepest gratitude to the Windstream team for their dedication to our customers and continued commitment to delivering essential telecommunications services during this unprecedented healthcare crisis.”

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HPE completes acquisition of Silver Peak

 Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) completed its previously-announced acquisition of Silver Peak. The deal was valued at $925 million. Silver Peak will become a part of Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. 

HPE said the acquisition will strengthen Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform), helping to advance enterprise cloud transformation with a comprehensive edge-to-cloud networking solution covering all aspects of wired, wireless local area networking (LAN) and wide area networking (WAN).

“WAN transformation is a key component of HPE’s Intelligent Edge and edge-to-cloud vision and growth strategy,” said Antonio Neri, president and CEO of HPE. “Armed with a comprehensive SD-WAN portfolio with the addition of Silver Peak, we will accelerate the delivery of a true distributed cloud model and cloud experience for all apps and data wherever they live.”

“I am very excited to welcome the Silver Peak team to the Aruba family,” said Keerti Melkote, president of Intelligent Edge for Hewlett Packard Enterprise and founder of Aruba Networks. “With the evolving nature of the hybrid workplace, enterprises are looking to extend connectivity to branch locations and enable secure work-from-home experiences. By combining Silver Peak’s advanced SD-WAN technology with Aruba’s SD-Branch and remote worker solutions, customers can simplify branch office and WAN deployments to empower remote workforces, enable cloud-connected distributed enterprises, and transform business operations without compromise.”

As part of the acquisition, Silver Peak founder and CEO David Hughes, will join HPE as the senior vice president of the WAN business within Aruba.

HPE to acquire Silver Peak for $925M and merge it with Aruba

Monday, July 13, 2020  Aruba, HPE, SD-WAN, Silver Peak  

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) agreed to acquire Silver Peak, an SD-WAN leader, for $925 million in cash. Silver Peak will be combined with HPE’s Aruba business unit and will extend Aruba’s technology leadership in the large and fast-growing SD-WAN space.

Silver Pek, which was founded in 2004 and is a private company based in San Jose, California, has more than 1,500 production SD-WAN customers around the world. The company is headed by its founder, David Hughes.

HPE said Silver Peak’s advanced SD-WAN offerings are highly complementary and strengthen Aruba’s Edge Service Platform (ESP). By combining Silver Peak’s SD-WAN with Aruba’s SD-Branch solutions customers can simplify branch office and WAN deployments to empower remote workforces, enable cloud-connected distributed enterprises, and transform business operations without compromising quality or reliability.

HP Brings in Aruba to Manage its Networking Business

Monday, March 02, 2015  Aruba, HP, Mergers And Acquisitions, Silicon Valley  

HP agreed to acquire Aruba Networks for $24.67 per share in cash, reflecting an equity value of approximately $2.7 billion net of cash and debt.

Aruba, which is based in Sunnyvale, California, is a leading supplier of WLAN solutions for enterprises.  The company had revenues of $729 million in fiscal 2014, and has reported compound annual revenue growth of 30 percent over the last five years. It has approximately 1,800 employees.  Aruba has made rapid progress in 802.11ac Wi-Fi upgrades.  It offers integrated solutions for many vertical market segments, such as retail or healthcare.

HP said Aruba's marketing and channel model will complement its own networking business and go-to-market breadth.  Together, the companies will focus on next-generation converged campus solutions, leveraging the strong Aruba brand.  This new combined organization will be led by Aruba’s Chief Executive Officer Dominic Orr, and Chief Strategy and Technology Officer, Keerti Melkote, reporting to Antonio Neri, leader of HP Enterprise Group.  With this move, HP will be uniquely positioned to deliver both the innovation and global delivery and services offerings to meet customer needs worldwide.

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Intelsat launches Cloud Connect service

 Intelsat announced a new Cloud Connect service for enterprises that provides a private gateway between a cloud service provider and cloud users, utilizing Intelsat’s global integrated space-and-terrestrial network. 

The Intelsat Cloud Connect private gateway helps enterprises quickly extend cloud-based applications to virtually all of their locations, and to their remote workers—without having to build costly new terrestrial network facilities or rely on less secure, less reliable public internet connections.

The service is initially available to Intelsat FlexEnterprise customers and currently supports Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute connectivity.

http://www.intelsat.com/cloud-connect

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AT&T delivers SD-WAN with Cisco

AT&T is delivering a global SD-WAN for UDG Healthcare plc and its operating companies around the world using Cisco Viptela SD-WAN architecture.

The managed solution will allow UDG Healthcare’s teams to react more quickly to business demands in their supply chain and provide a better end user experience wherever they are working.

UDG Healthcare delivers advisory, communication, commercial, clinical and packaging services to the healthcare industry across two main divisions, Ashfield and Sharp. The group has 8,200 employees.

“UDG Healthcare saw an opportunity to deliver a more seamless experience across its network, covering its employee end users and the customers it serves around the world,” said John Vladimir Slamecka, EMEA region president, AT&T.

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VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud now on Equinix Network Edge service

 VMware is now offering its SD-WAN Edge as a virtual network function (VNF) on Equinix’s Network Edge. VMware is also extending its presence in Equinix International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers across the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East to enable greater connectivity for customers on a global scale.

The VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud service helps enterprises manage their own direct peering relationships with the cloud service providers of their choice via Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric (ECX Fabric) or Equinix Marketplace. 

Network Edge by Equinix enables enterprises to deploy virtual network services, within minutes, at the digital edge without a physical data center deployment or hardware requirements. 

Expanding on VMware’s secure-access service edge (SASE) vision, Equinix and VMware will also enable provisioning and accessibility of SASE components via Network Edge, ECX Fabric and other connectivity options available through a single pane of glass on the VMware Orchestrator portal.

“We are thrilled to work with Equinix to help enterprises accelerate their digital transformation initiatives and offer new world-class capabilities within the Equinix IBX facilities. With VMware SD-WAN Edge now available as a virtual network service on Equinix’s Network Edge, enterprises, partners and service providers alike will be able to have unique, globally available network solutions optimized for intrinsically secure access to any public, private or SaaS cloud for remote and branch users,” stated Sanjay Uppal, Senior Vice President & General Manager, VeloCloud Business Unit, VMware. 

“An entire architectural shift driven by data transformation is happening across the IT landscape today. By expanding our collaboration with VMware to deliver an innovative new solution that empowers remote workforces, reduces disruption and enables business continuity, we can help companies deploy a digital ready infrastructure at the edge within minutes in order to accelerate their digital transformation efforts anywhere in the world,” said Bill Long, Senior Vice President, Product Management, Equinix.

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