Google Cloud builds a universal Network Connectivity Center

Google Cloud launched a preview of a new Network Connectivity Center for providing "planet-scale network management" to simplify complex networks for on-prem and cloud connectivity.

The idea is a single interface for creating, connecting, and managing heterogeneous on-prem and cloud networks leveraging Google’s global infrastructure. Network Connectivity Center aims to seamlessly connect VPNs, partner and dedicated interconnects, as well as third-party routers and Software-Defined WANs.

Google Cloud also announced an expanded partnership with Cisco. Their joint solution leverages Cisco SD-WAN Cloud Hub and Google Cloud Network Connectivity Center to connect branch sites and on-prem data centers to the cloud using Google’s high performance, global infrastructure and Cisco SD-WAN’s vManage. Via Cisco Cloud OnRamp, users can also extend Cisco SD-WAN’s fabric through an automated process to Google Cloud.

“Google Cloud and Cisco continue driving innovation for our joint customers to enable secure and automated SD-WAN access from applications and services running on Google Cloud Platform,” said JL Valente, vice president, product management, for Cisco Enterprise Routing, SD-WAN and Cloud Networking. “Our latest integration not only extends the Cisco SD-WAN fabric to Google Cloud to automate provisioning of site-to-cloud connectivity effortlessly, but also gives customers the choice of using Google Cloud for providing a highly reliable, high performance global cloud network for site-to-site connectivity that can be deployed in minutes.”

https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/networking/announcing-network-connectivity-center

https://blogs.cisco.com/networking/cisco-sd-wan-cloud-hub-with-google-cloud-delivers-enterprise-connectivity-over-global-cloud-network

Cisco SD-WAN offers tighter integration with Google Cloud

Wednesday, April 22, 2020  Cisco, Google Cloud, SD-WAN  

Cisco and Google Cloud are building tighter integration for enterprise customers.

A new turnkey networking solution called Cisco SD-WAN Cloud Hub with Google Cloud promises secure and on-demand connectivity from a customer's branch, to the edge of the cloud, through Google Cloud’s backbone, and to applications running in Google Cloud, a private data center, another cloud or a SaaS application.

Google notes that the network that supports services like YouTube, Search, Maps and Gmail is the same infrastructure that provides connectivity to Google Cloud customers and their users.

Key capabilities of Cisco SD-WAN Cloud Hub with Google Cloud:

• A flexible, on-demand network that allows customers to automatically provision a reliable, global network that grows with enterprises’ business needs. In most cases, customer traffic enters Google’s network directly from their last mile provider and stays on Google’s network while it traverses the globe. Combining Cisco’s advanced SD-WAN capabilities with Google's software-defined backbone, customers get an end-to-end network that not only optimizes connectivity between branches, stores and to the cloud, but also provides telemetry for troubleshooting and diagnostic purposes. 
• Automated application and path-aware routing takes the complexity out of mapping business services to the appropriate network. The Cisco SD-WAN Cloud Hub with Google Cloud solution allows customers to publish all of their services in a single place with the ability to define the intent of how the network should treat those services in an automated fashion, reducing time to onboard new services on to the network. With a combined view of network telemetry, this solution also provides the most optimized path to interconnect Anthos-based services hosted in hybrid/multi cloud environments. 
• Stronger, smarter security thanks to Cisco SD-WAN Cloud Hub with Google Cloud’s end-to-end security, which seamlessly integrates network control and available application-layer security controls based on workload and user identities. With this rich set of controls, customers get security at multiple layers, resulting in stronger protection for their applications.

https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/partners/introducing-cisco-sd-wan-cloud-hub-with-google-cloud

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Aryaka: 2021 State of the WAN report

 A significant majority of enterprieses expect a hybrid work environment to persist after the pandemic recedes, according to Aryaka's fifth annual 2021 State of the WAN report. The study surveyed over 1350 global IT and network practitioners at enterprises spanning all verticals, headquartered in NA, APAC and EMEA. The survey asked respondents about their networking and performance challenges, priorities and their plans for 2021 and beyond. 

The report finds that the number of enterprises connecting to over 100 inter-regional sites growing by 50%, from 19% in 2020 to 28% in 2021. This is coupled with continued application growth, with the number of enterprises stating that they’ve deployed over 500 distinct applications growing to 46%, compared to 32% in 2021. As evidence of collaboration traction, Zoom was identified as critical by 36% in 2021, up from 25% in 2020.

Key trends identified in this year’s report include:

• Accelerating fusion of networking and security planning, with almost a third of enterprises stating that they are already deploying what they consider to be a secure access service edge (SASE) architecture
• A hybrid work environment that will persist after the pandemic recedes, with over 80% stating that they expect over a quarter of workers to remain remote, and over two-thirds desiring flexibility between on-premises and remote deployments
• Continued WAN and application growth, resulting in increased network complexity. The number of enterprises reporting they’re deploying over 500 distinct applications has grown to 46%. 37% of enterprises identify complexity as their number one network concern     
• 43% of enterprises identify application performance as an underlying driver for WAN transformation. However, WAN transformations have slowed this year due to the pandemic
• Over 70% of enterprises intend to move to managed services versus just 18% who prefer the autonomy of a do-it-yourself WAN solution  

“The fifth edition of the Global State of the WAN is bigger and better than ever, with survey inputs and insights from over 1350 Enterprises worldwide,” said Shashi Kiran, CMO of Aryaka. “On behalf of Aryaka Networks, I would like to express my gratitude to those who participated in this survey, and hope this serves as an excellent resource and guidebook for all those CIOs, network, cloud and security practitioners to leverage and proactively Plan their WAN™. Of particular interest are the trends focusing on SD-WAN and SASE deployments.”

https://www.aryaka.com/state-of-wan-2021/

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Intel sets course with new integrated device manufacturing strategy

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger outlined the company’s path forward to an integrated device manufacturing model. The IDM2 strategy has 3 elements:

Building Intel’s global, internal factory network for at-scale manufacturing. Intel said its 7nm development is progressing well, driven by increased use of extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) in a rearchitected, simplified process flow. Intel expects to tape in the compute tile for its first 7nm client CPU  in the second quarter of this year.

Expanding the use of third-party foundry capacity to include the manufacturing for a range of modular tiles on advanced process technologies, including products at the core of Intel’s computing offerings for both client and data center segments beginning in 2023. 

Creating a new Intel Foundry Services with plans to become a major provider of U.S.– and Europe-based foundry capacity to serve the incredible global demand for semiconductor manufacturing. The new business will be headed by Dr. Randhir Thakur.  IFS will be differentiated from other foundry offerings with a combination of leading-edge process technology and packaging, committed capacity in the U.S. and Europe, and a world-class IP portfolio for customers, including x86 cores as well as ARM and RISC-V ecosystem IPs.

During the company’s global “Intel Unleashed: Engineering the Future” webcast, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger announced a $20 billion investment to build two new fabs in Arizona, located at the company’s Ocotillo campus. 

“We are setting a course for a new era of innovation and product leadership at Intel,” said Gelsinger. “Intel is the only company with the depth and breadth of software, silicon and platforms, packaging, and process with at-scale manufacturing customers can depend on for their next-generation innovations. IDM 2.0 is an elegant strategy that only Intel can deliver – and it’s a winning formula. We will use it to design the best products and manufacture them in the best way possible for every category we compete in.” 

In addition, Intel and IBM announced plans for an important research collaboration focused on creating next–generation logic and packaging technologies.

https://newsroom.intel.com/news-releases/idm-manufacturing-innovation-product-leadership/#gs.wf9f4f

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Aqua Comms upgrades trans-Atlantic submarine cable routes with Ciena

Aqua Comms has upgraded its two Trans-Atlantic submarine cable routes with Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme submarine network solution.

Aqua Comms owns two major subsea networks: AEC-1 that connects the US, Ireland, the UK, and AEC-2, which connects North America with Scandinavia, Ireland and the UK. With Ciena, the AEC-1 path, that spans 5,521 km and connects New York to Ireland and the UK, has been completely modernized and upgraded to support 400GbE services leveraging Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 Extreme (WL5e), doubling the cable’s capacity to almost 20 Tbps.

Aqua Comms is also utilizing Ciena’s technology to enhance the 7,650 km AEC-2 network to support up to 500G Trans-Atlantic channel rates and the introduction of spectrum sharing and backhaul capabilities for its customers.

Ciena said both upgrades were successfully completed with the networks in-service. The upgrade will also provide Aqua Comms with access to Ciena’s Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) domain controller that offers a more sophisticated management and control capability, translating into significant operating efficiencies. Aqua Comms is also adopting Ciena Insights Service and predictive software capabilities to help resolve network issues.

“Aqua Comms has proven to be a trail blazer in the subsea market,” said Ian Clarke, Vice President of Global Submarine Solutions, Ciena. “With these network enhancements Aqua Comms can offer greater efficiencies and reliability across its network and support the hyper-growth traffic between the US and Europe.”

Aqua Comms activates AEC-2 transatlantic cable

Tuesday, December 01, 2020  Aqua Comms, Submarine, Subsea  

Aqua Comms activated AEC-2 (America Europe Connect-2), the company’s second Trans-Atlantic subsea cable system and complementing its existing AEC-1 (America Europe Connect-1) cable, which went Ready for Service in 2016. AEC-2 connects New Jersey, U.S.A to Denmark, and is a wholly diverse and resilient new Trans-Atlantic subsea route, doubling fibre connectivity between North America and Denmark making it the first new subsea system directly...

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Synopsys announces PCIe 6.0 solutions

Synopsys introduced its intellectual property solution for PCI Express (PCIe) 6.0 technology that includes controller, PHY and verification IP.

The solutions enables early development of PCIe 6.0 system-on-chip (SoC) designs. 

Synopsys' DesignWare IP for PCIe 6.0 supports the latest features in the standard specification including, 64 GT/s PAM-4 signaling, FLIT mode and L0p power state. To achieve the lowest latency with maximum throughput for all transfer sizes, the DesignWare Controller for PCI Express 6.0 utilizes a MultiStream architecture, delivering up to 2X the performance of a single-stream design. The Controller, with available 1024-bit architecture, allows designers to achieve 64 GT/s x16 bandwidth while closing timing at 1GHz. In addition, the controller provides optimal flow with multiple data sources and in multi-virtual channel implementations. To facilitate accelerated testbench development with built-in verification plan, sequences and functional coverage, the VC Verification IP for PCIe uses native SystemVerilog/UVM architecture that can be integrated, configured and customized with minimal effort.

"Advanced cloud computing, storage and machine learning applications are transferring significant amounts of data, requiring designers to incorporate the latest high-speed interfaces with minimal latency to meet the bandwidth demands of these systems," said John Koeter, senior vice president of marketing and strategy for IP at Synopsys. "With Synopsys' complete DesignWare IP solution for PCI Express 6.0, companies can get an early start on their PCIe 6.0-based designs and leverage Synopsys' proven expertise and established leadership in PCI Express to accelerate their path to silicon success."

The DesignWare Controller and PHY IP for PCIe 6.0 early access are scheduled to be available in Q3 of 2021. The Verification IP for PCIe 6.0 is available now. 

https://www.synopsys.com/designware-ip/interface-ip/pci-express/pci-express-6.html

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Equinix launches Precision Time service in its data centers

Equinix announced the launch of a highly accurate Time as a Service capability to help enterprises with  precise and secure time synchronization of their networks.

Equinix Precision Time, which is delivered seamlessly over Equinix Fabric in it global data centers, is aimed at the financial services, online gaming, government, manufacturing, and media and entertainment sectors. The service is essential for meeting compliance requirements and maintaining precise time synchronization across the network to support seamless operations of their digital infrastructure.

Some highlights

• Accurate – Provides microsecond-level precision for Precision Time Protocol customers with an SLA of 50 microseconds. For customers operating standard enterprise network infrastructure, Equinix Precision Time also offers support for the popular NTP protocol, providing the flexibility to choose the optimal time protocol that suits their organization's operational needs.
• Compliant – The service is in compliance with the time synchronization accuracy requirements of FINRA and MiFID II, which have SLA requirements of 100 microseconds for timestamping of applications. It is also compliant with the time synchronization accuracy requirements of SMPTE 2110 requirements. 
• Reliable and Secure – Delivered over Equinix Fabric, customers can bypass the public internet to achieve more secure and reliable time synchronization across servers using private IP network connectivity.
• Equinix Precision Time is currently available with Equinix Fabric within Equinix International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers located in global markets in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific, including Amsterdam, Atlanta, Barcelona, Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Culpeper, Dallas, Denver, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hamburg, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Houston, Istanbul, Lisbon, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Manchester, Miami, Milan, Munich, New York, Osaka, Paris, Philadelphia, Seattle, Seoul, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Sofia, Stockholm, Tokyo, Toronto, Warsaw, Washington, D.C. and Zurich.

https://www.equinix.com/newsroom/press-releases/pr/124140/Finance-Online-Gaming-Broadcast-and-Other-LatencySensitive-Businesses-Benefit-from-New-OnDemand-Precision-Time-Service-on-Platform-Equinix/

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GÉANT, the European research network,has selected Orange Business Services as one of its preferred partners in its Open Clouds for Research Environments project (OCRE)

The OCRE project aims to accelerate cloud adoption in the European research community by bringing together cloud providers with earth observation, health, research and education groups. The agreement enables Orange Business Services to sell public cloud services to National Research Education Networks (NREN) and more than 8,000 institutions across Europe – covering over 50 million users – and leverages Orange local, in-country support and capabilities across Europe.

Orange Business Services will provide its trusted public cloud platform Flexible Engine, a high-performance infrastructure capable of supporting emerging technologies, such as big data management and artificial intelligence (AI), with a security perimeter to guarantee the security of the platform.

“The knowledge and expertise of Orange in the cloud environment will enable us to give our members the right combination of governance, services and pricing. This will allow our members to tap into the power of a future-proofed cloud infrastructure that will significantly expand their research capabilities,” said Dave Heyns, Director Cloud and Digital Services, GÉANT.

“We are thrilled to be a chosen cloud provider in the Open Clouds for Research Environments (OCRE) project. By teaming with Orange Business Services, GÉANT has a trusted and global digital services partner capable of delivering the agility of cloud and associated professional services to research and education groups across Europe. This will enable them to remain at the forefront of research and innovation. With our extensive GDPR and European regulatory expertise, researchers can have a trusted environment for their own intellectual properties,” said Kristof Symons, Executive Vice President, International, Orange Business Services.

https://www.orange-business.com/en

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Nokia tops 4.5 Gbps in 5G mmWave testing with Nokia

Turk Telekom achieved a top downlink speed in excess of 4.5 Gbps in field testing of Nokia’s AirScale 5G RAN solution on 26 GHz mmWave spectrum, 800 MHz bandwidth and a single user device.

The testing, which occurred in Ankara, connected Nokia’s AirScale Base Station with a mobile device across Turk Telekom’s 26Ghz mmWave spectrum at a peak speed of 4.5 Gbps. Nokia was selected by Turk Telekom to deliver the ultra-low latency, connectivity and capacity required to test the full range of 5G connectivity in the scope of this trial.

Yusuf Kıraç, Chief Technology Officer at Turk Telekom, said: “During the trial, we solely used mmWave spectrum over the 5G test network which reached record speeds above 4.5 Gbps. Thanks to this technology, which provides numerous benefits for users and operators, we achieved the high speeds and large capacity targets promised by 5G. These technologies also act as a bridge to develop and pave the way for "Terahertz" systems that provide ultra-high-speed and capacity, which are planned to be used in 6G.”

Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said: “Despite the launch of commercial 5G networks in many countries, 5G trials still play an important role in the development of faster and better networks. This record speed achieved together with our long-term partner, shows that we are constantly refining and improving how we build and manage 5G networks, and this is in no small part thanks to the nearly 200 5G trials, live operator networks and private wireless deployments we have delivered globally.”

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Sierra Wireless hit by ransomware, knocking manufacturing offline

Sierra Wireless was hit by a ransomware attack on its internal IT systems on March 20, 2021. The attack has caused the company to halt production at its manufacturing sites. The company’s website and other internal operations have also been disrupted by the attack.

Sierra Wireless is asking its customers and partners for their patience as it seeks to recover. The company has its withdrawn its First Quarter 2021 guidance it provided on February 23, 2021.

https://www.sierrawireless.com/

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Lumentum again raises bid for Coherent Inc.

On March 22, Lumentum increased its bid to acquire Coherent.

Under the terms of the revised proposal, Coherent stockholders would receive $230.00 per share in cash and 0.6724 shares of Lumentum common stock for each Coherent share they own. Based on Lumentum's closing stock price on March 22, 2021, this equates to a consideration of $287.50 per Coherent share.

Lumentum intends to finance the cash portion of the transaction through a combination of cash on hand from the combined company's balance sheet, $3.25 billion in new debt financing from a fully committed Term Loan B and the previously announced $1 billion equity investment from Silver Lake.

https://www.lumentum.com/en/media-room/news-releases/lumentum-announces-revised-proposal-coherent-2

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Helios Towers to acquire mobile towers from Airtel Africa

Helios Towers plc reached an agreement with Airtel Africa to acquire its passive infrastructure operating companies in Madagascar and Malawi and enter into exclusive memorandum of understanding arrangements for the potential acquisition of its passive infrastructure assets in Chad and Gabon. The total price for the passive infrastructure companies in Madagascar and Malawi is $108 million. 

This represents 2,227 existing mobile tower sites across Madagascar, Malawi, Chad and Gabon. The deals are expected to make Helios Towers the largest independent telecommunications infrastructure company in each of Malawi, Chad and Gabon with strong market share in Madagascar.

Helios Towers said all four nations - Madagascar, Malawi, Chad and Gabon - represent compelling markets for telecoms with a combination of a young, growing and increasingly urbanised populations plus high GDP growth.

https://www.heliostowers.com/

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