Fiber Connect 2021 Highlights

With the United States on the brink of approving a broadband infrastructure investment plan potentially worth tens of billions of dollars, the fiber industry gathered this meet in Nashville, Tennessee for Fiber Connect 2021. The sold-out event attracted over 2,000 attendees representing several hundred telecom operators, including incumbents, new entrants, cable operators and municipal utilities -- all focused on the next gen of fiber broadband rollouts.

For many attendees, this was the first industry event since the outset of the pandemic.

Gary Bolton, President & CEO, Fiber Broadband Association, shares some highlights.

https://youtu.be/ROPZyDnu1fE

The Fiber Broadband Association is setting up a new Research Advisory Program led by former Gartner Principal Analyst Deborah Kish to quantify and qualify the economic, societal and community impact of fiber broadband in the U.S. and Latin America.

In addition, the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) recognized two outstanding individuals and one organization for their accomplishments and continued commitment to advancing the fiber industry: 

• 2021 Chairman’s Award: Ben Moncrief, SVP Strategic Relations, C Spire 
• 2021 Star Award: Lit Communities 
• 2021 Photon Award: Mark Boxer, Technical Manager, Solutions and Applications Engineering Manager, OFS 

 “The Fiber Broadband Association is proud to award these recipients for their efforts to advance fiber connectivity forward and create a better broadband future for communities and businesses across North America,” said Gary Bolton, CEO at Fiber Broadband Association. “Fiber is the critical infrastructure that will support the technological innovation, economic development and diversity we need today, and we are humbled by the dedication these men and women have shown to advance the world forward through fiber broadband.”

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Microsoft Azure revenue leaps ahead 51% yoy

 Microsoft reported Q2 revenue of $46.2 billion, up increased 21%, and net income of $16.5 billion, up 47% yoy. Diluted earnings per share was $2.17 and increased 49%.

“We are innovating across the technology stack to help organizations drive new levels of tech intensity across their business,” said Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft. “Our results show that when we execute well and meet customers’ needs in differentiated ways in large and growing markets, we generate growth, as we’ve seen in our commercial cloud – and in new franchises we’ve built, including gaming, security, and LinkedIn, all of which surpassed $10 billion in annual revenue over the past three years.”

Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes was $14.7 billion and increased 25% (up 21% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

• Office Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 20% (up 15% in constant currency) driven by Office 365 Commercial revenue growth of 25% (up 20% in constant currency)
• Office Consumer products and cloud services revenue increased 18% (up 15% in constant currency) and Microsoft 365 Consumer subscribers increased to 51.9 million
• LinkedIn revenue increased 46% (up 42% in constant currency) driven by Marketing Solutions growth of 97% (up 91% in constant currency)
• Dynamics products and cloud services revenue increased 33% (up 26% in constant currency) driven by Dynamics 365 revenue growth of 49% (up 42% in constant currency)

Revenue in Intelligent Cloud was $17.4 billion and increased 30% (up 26% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

• Server products and cloud services revenue increased 34% (up 29% in constant currency) driven by Azure revenue growth of 51% (up 45% in constant currency)

Revenue in More Personal Computing was $14.1 billion and increased 9% (up 6% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

• Windows OEM revenue decreased 3%
• Windows Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 20% (up 14% in constant currency)
• Xbox content and services revenue decreased 4% (down 7% in constant currency)
• Search advertising revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs increased 53% (up 49% in constant currency)
• Surface revenue decreased 20% (down 23% in constant currency)

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/earnings/FY-2021-Q4/press-release-webcast

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Google extends depreciation lifecycle for servers and networking gear

Alphabet reported Q2 revenue of $61.880 billion, up 62% over the same period last year.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, said: “In Q2, there was a rising tide of online activity in many parts of the world, and we’re proud that our services helped so many consumers and businesses. Our long-term investments in AI and Google Cloud are helping us drive significant improvements in everyone’s digital experience.”

“Our strong second quarter revenues of $61.9 billion reflect elevated consumer online activity and broad-based strength in advertiser spend. Again, we benefited from excellent execution across the board by our teams,” said Ruth Porat, CFO of Google and Alphabet.

Google noted an accounting change regarding is networking and server equipment depreciation. The company has adjusted the useful lives of  servers from three years to four years and the estimated useful life of certain network equipment from three years to five years. 

https://abc.xyz/investor/

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Digital Realty advances its Fabric-of-Fabrics with Zayo collaboration

Digital Realty is advancing its efforts to build "the largest open fabric-of-fabrics" interconnecting key centers of data exchange via a partnership with Zayo Group Holdings.  

Zayo, will help to lay the physical and virtual foundations of a new open fabric. 

"As businesses continue to shift globally towards hybrid IT to enable new digital workplace models, create new lines of business, and control costs, Zayo and Digital Realty are in an excellent position to enable customers' growth through a shared interest in globally secure, software-defined interconnection," said Brian Lillie, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Zayo.  "We look forward to working together to power next-generation interconnection and security capabilities that will unlock the true potential of digital transformation." 

Digital Realty notes that its PlatformDIGITAL already brings together over 4,000 participants in connected data communities around the world. The new collaboration also follows Digital Realty's recent announcement of its plan to build native SDN-enabled multi-platform orchestration and global fabric connectivity across its global platform. 

"We're excited to advance our roadmap for removing the legacy interconnection barriers that continue to impede enterprise digital transformation initiatives," said Digital Realty Chief Technology Officer Chris Sharp.  "Our platform capabilities and the steps we are taking in collaboration with Zayo will serve as a force-multiplier in building the industry's largest open fabric-of-fabrics to effectively address the growing intensity of enterprise data creation and its gravitational impact on IT architectures." 

Digital Realty's Manifesto: Enabling Connected Data Communities

Wednesday, March 03, 2021  Digital Realty  

Digital Realty published a manifesto called "Enabling Connected Data Communities" that offers a collaborative roadmap for interconnection partners to build an "open fabric of fabrics connecting centers of data." The company says its manifesto represents a vision, a solution approach and a call to action to remove legacy barriers across the interconnection industry, and tackle the challenges of data gravity head-on. 

"We are laying out our industry manifesto and a call to action today to remove legacy barriers in the interconnection industry to address data gravity," said Chris Sharp, Chief Technology Officer at Digital Realty. "We look forward to engaging with industry participants as we shape our vision for a fabric of fabrics that will unlock new opportunities and value for all sectors. We will be an industry steward championing this shift and together we can tackle data gravity head-on and build a new era of open, secure and dynamic connected data communities globally."

As outlined in the manifesto, Digital Realty will take the following specific actions to support the industry's transformation to a data-centric architecture:

• Extending the coverage, capacity, connectivity and control capabilities of its PlatformDIGITAL. The idea is for local copies of private, shared and public data sets to be integrated as part of decentralized workflows which originate and traverse across multiple internal and external platforms, with policy enforcement controls, real time analytics and interactive cross-platform orchestration. 
• Developing new native orchestration and native fabric connectivity options to further this industry shift. 
• Integrating the IP and engineering team of Raleigh, NC-based Pureport, adding in-house network software development to support the company's vision of building open, SDN-enabled cross platform orchestration with multiple industry partners. 
• Extending its global partnership with Megaport on its Service Exchange offering, continuing the companies' long-standing collaboration on open orchestration, and aims to accelerate integration with Interxion's Cloud Connect interconnection product in EMEA. 
• Digital Realty will create a native direct network path between its global campuses, offering new industrialized multi-path options in collaboration with industry-leading partners.

Digital Realty also noted that over the last year, it has seen the uptake of virtual interconnection increase by 27% for its Service Exchange offering and 46% for its Cloud Connect product across Digital Realty's global portfolio of over 290 data centers, as the company expanded coverage from 36 metros in 2019 to now cover 49 metros and increased its presence from 15 countries to now address 24 countries globally.

• In March 2020, Digital Realty significantly expanded its global coverage in completing its combination with Interxion. The combined entity added 53 new data centers in EMEA to the company's global portfolio and incorporated key assets such as the submarine landing cable station and Internet hub in Marseille, France. As a result, customers now have access to more than 700 providers on PlatformDIGITA in EMEA alone. Globally, participants in Digital Realty's connected data communities more than doubled from 2,000 to over 4,000 in 2020.
• Growth in peering traffic volumes on the Digital Realty Internet Exchange (DRIX) also led customers to increasingly migrate to a new baseline for peering connectivity, with adoption of 100G ports growing 70%, and total port capacity on DRIX growing 46% year on year.
• Across Digital Realty's global portfolio of more than 290 data centers, the pace of network cross-connect deployments has also accelerated in the last year, growing to a total of over 168,000 by the end of 2020, up 88,000 from the previous year.

https://www.digitalrealty.com/enabling-connected-data-communities

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Juniper reports Q2 sales of $1.2 billion, up 8% yoy, supply chain constraints

 Juniper Networks reported Q2 net revenues of $1,172.3 million, an increase of 8% year-over-year and an increase of 9% sequentially. Non-GAAP net income was $141.0 million, an increase of 21% year-over-year, and an increase of 43% sequentially, resulting in non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.43.

“We reported better than expected results, a second consecutive quarter of double-digit product revenue growth and record product orders during the June quarter,” said Juniper’s CEO, Rami Rahim. “Our experience-first strategy is working, our teams are executing well and the investments we have made both in our customer solutions and our sales organization are enabling us to capitalize on improving end-market conditions. We are entering the second half with strong momentum, and I am increasingly confident in our long-term growth prospects.”

Regarding supply chain constraints, Juniper stated: "Similar to others, we are experiencing an ongoing component shortage, which has resulted in extended lead times of certain products and elevated costs. During the past quarter, we continued to strengthen our supply chain and have increased inventory levels over the course of the last year. We continue to work closely with our suppliers to further enhance our resiliency and limit disruptions outside of our control to the best of our ability. We believe that even with these actions, extended lead times, and elevated costs will likely persist for at least the next few quarters. While the situation is dynamic, at this point in time we believe we will have access to sufficient semiconductor supply to meet our full-year financial forecast."

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Hawaiki subsea cable system sold to investor group

BW Digital Pte. Ltd. has acquired Hawaiki Submarine Cable Limited Partnership and International Connectivity Services Limited. Financial terms were not disclosed. The current Hawaiki team will continue to manage the business

Rémi Galasso, executive chairman of Hawaiki, said: “We are delighted to welcome BW Group as a shareholder. Having established a successful subsea cable business with the support of our customers and partners, the company started a process to find a new long-term shareholder who is able to take the company to the next stage of development. BW has an excellent track record of growth in maritime and technology-related assets, combined with the highest standards of governance and strong access to capital through relationships with leading global banks and through the capital markets. Three years after Hawaiki’s commercial launch, it is time to write a new chapter of the company’s history and we believe BW is an ideal shareholder for this fast-growing business.”

Andreas Sohmen-Pao, executive chairman of BW Group, said: “We are excited to be making this investment in Hawaiki’s outstanding platform and team. BW Group has a deep heritage in maritime connectivity and infrastructure, with assets spanning production, transportation and distribution. Our strategy is to help connect countries across the oceans while working to reduce our environmental impact, including recent investments into wind installation vessels, floating wind, batteries, solar and other sustainable technologies. Hawaiki is a great fit and we are pleased to be able to support the team in their next phase of development”.

Hawaiki augments its trans-Pacific cable with capacity on SEA-US

Thursday, December 03, 2020  Hawaiki, Subsea  

Hawaiki Submarine Cable signed an agreement with Hawaiian Telcom Inc., securing significant international capacity on the Southeast Asia – United States (SEA-US) trans-Pacific fiber cable system from Guam to Los Angeles.

The deal, along with recently-acquired capacity on JGA-South cable from Sydney to Guam, enables Hawaiki to expand its subsea network with a new route linking Sydney, Guam, Hawai‘i and Los Angeles. This adds greater connectivity and route diversity between Australia and the U.S.

Hawaiki owns and operates the 15,000km Hawaiki Transpacific Cable, which was launched in July 2018,  with a design capacity of 67 Tbps. It links New Zealand, Australia, Hawai‘i and mainland U.S. 

The SEA-US Cable, which went into service in August 2017, runs a similar length to connect Indonesia, the Philippines, Guam, Hawai‘i and California, and is owned and operated by a consortium of regional telcos, including Hawaiian Telcom. JGA-South Cable came into service in March 2020, spanning 7,000 km from Sydney to Guam. 

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Blaize raises $71 million in Series D for edge AI silicon

Blaize, a start-up based in El Dorado Hills, California, announced $71 million in Series D round of funding for its edge AI computing solutions in automotive, mobility, smart retail, security, industrial and metro market sectors.

The funding round was led by Franklin Templeton, a new investor, and Temasek, an existing investor, led the round, along with participation from DENSO and other new and existing investors.

“Blaize System on Chip (“SoCs”) for automotive edge and central compute functions are accelerating electric vehicles and future architectural ambitions of automotive OEMs,” said Tony Cannestra, Director of Corporate Ventures, DENSO. “With substantial power advantages making EVs more efficient and economical, Blaize SoCs offer best in class performance with lower power across in-cabin, out of vehicle, and autonomous operations, enabling a streamlined architectural evolution to centralize compute.”

http://www.blaize.com

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A10 Networks sees Q2 revenue grow 12.7% yoy

 A10 Networks reported Q2 revenue of $59.2 million, up 12.7% year-over-year. Non-GAAP net income was $10.5 million, or $0.13 per diluted share compared with non-GAAP net income of $7.1 million, or $0.09 per diluted share in the second quarter of 2020.

The company said improving commercial execution combined with favorable market conditions drove 20% growth in the Americas year-over-year; Japan normalized as expected.

“Our focus on customer-centric product innovation and on driving improvements in commercial execution is beginning to deliver results, with consolidated revenue growing double-digits in the second quarter and EBITDA growing faster than that rate,” said Dhrupad Trivedi, President and Chief Executive Officer of A10 Networks. “We gained market share, adding new customers and expanding our security-led sales with existing customers. As expected, Japan again grew year-over-year during the quarter. Our customer engagements, strength of funnel and improving execution reinforce our confidence in full year growth targets while building a diversified customer base for the future.”

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