Microsoft Azure builds a high performance WAN overlay for 5G flows

Microsoft says its global WAN can deliver significant benefits to large mobile operators that run extensive national backbones supporting ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) for 5G tranport.

In a blog post this week, Victor Bahl Microsoft Technical Fellow and Chief Technology Officer, Azure for Operators, observes that Microsoft's WAN can enable lower latencies for 5G networks when users are accessing cloud services deployed on Azure data centers, including for first-party services such as, Xbox cloud gaming, as well as third-party services that Azure customers run. Smaller operators and greenfield operators without their own national backbones, cand benefit even more from Azure's WAN.

He also describes how Microsoft has built a PathBlazer 5G WAN Orchestrator to direct 5G flows that demand high performance on low-latency, high bandwidth paths to and from the Internet. 

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/unleashing-the-true-potential-of-5g-with-cloud-networks/

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Dell launches Bare Metal Orchestrator telecom software

Dell Technologies introduced Bare Metal Orchestrator telecom software to help communications service providers to deploy and manage thousands of servers for O-RAN applications.

The new Bare Metal Orchestrator, which represents the company’s first software to come from its Project Metalweaver initiative, can be used to discover and inventory servers, bring them online and deploy software, regardless of where they reside in the network.  The software combines open standards technology with Dell Technologies' intellectual property.

Dell says the Bare Metal Orchestrator can help eliminate days or weeks of configuration and provisioning to bring network hardware into a workload-ready state. 

“As we prepare for the future of 5G mobility and edge, we at T-Mobile have been closely collaborating with Dell Technologies to develop a product that allows engineers to drastically reduce the time spent managing thousands of servers across hundreds of sites,” said Quaid Campbell, director, network engineering cloud services, T-Mobile. “Solutions like Bare Metal Orchestrator allow us to focus on building out new strategic services, automating server provisioning and management tasks to software systems instead of engineers.”

In addition, the company announced:

• Dell Technologies Reference Architecture for Wind River Studio, which can streamline and reduce the cost of deploying a cloud-native, edge network while improving network performance.
• Dell Technologies Respond and Restore for Telecom service, which provides customers with support service level agreements to help maximize network uptime, limit network disruptions and maintain business continuity. 
• 24-hour support for CSPs of Dell Technologies infrastructure

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Dell Technologies expands its edge portfolio

 Dell Technologies announced a number of additions and enhancements to its edge infrastructure portfolio to help organizations simplify deployments and capture more value from data generated and processed outside the traditional data center and public cloud.  

Highlights:

• Dell EMC VxRail satellite nodes bring VxRail’s operational model and efficiencies to edge sites with a reduced infrastructure footprint. As the only HCI solution jointly engineered with VMware, VxRail satellite node single-node deployments automate day-to-day operations, health monitoring and lifecycle management from a centralized location without the need for local technical and specialized resources. 
• Dell Technologies Validated Design for Manufacturing Edge with Litmus helps businesses connect, manage and orchestrate disparate industrial edge devices, data and applications—from the factory floor to the enterprise cloud—with no programming required. Manufacturers can make quick decisions to repair equipment before it fails, improve production quality and save costs with real-time data analytics and centralized device management provided by the enterprise-grade Litmus Industrial IoT edge platform. Built on Dell EMC VxRail or PowerEdge servers, with the option to use VMware Edge Compute Stack, this is the second solution from Dell Technologies to help businesses tackle manufacturing edge deployment complexity. 
• Dell EMC Edge Gateway helps companies securely connect multiple edge devices across OT and IT environments to provide valuable insights. This compact, 5G capable3, fanless Edge Gateway with 9th Gen Intel Core™ processors is designed to work in industrial environments and withstand temperature ranges from minus 4 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The gateway, available direct to customers and through OEM engagements, offers storage and compute capabilities that can run localized data processing and analytics applications, helping solve data collection and processing pain points.
• Dell EMC Streaming Data Platform (SDP) adds enhanced GPU optimization to ingest streaming video in a lower latency and frame rate environment and support real-time analytics on Dell EMC VxRail and PowerEdge servers. Organizations can run lightweight workloads on a single core using a new edge bundle, so they can start small and scale their infrastructure based on IT needs.
• Dell Technologies APEX Cloud Services with VMware Cloud, announced at VMworld, provides a Dell-managed secure and consistent platform for organizations to move workloads across multiple cloud and edge environments and scale resources quickly with predictable pricing and transparent costs. Additionally, new Dell EMC PowerEdge tower and rack servers help organizations manage everything from business-critical workloads to virtualization at the edge. 

“The edge is technology’s next great frontier, and it’s all around us, everywhere from retail to manufacturing, smart cities and hospitals,” said Michael Dell, chairman and chief executive officer, Dell Technologies. “At Dell, we’re innovating simple solutions, so organizations can analyze data closer to where it’s created, make faster decisions, improve outcomes and drive progress.

https://corporate.delltechnologies.com/en-us/newsroom/announcements/detailpage.press-releases~usa~2021~10~20211013-dell-technologies-edge-advancements-extend-it-beyond-the-data-center.htm

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Orange and Nokia look to refurbished network equipment

Orange and Nokia are collaborating to increase the use of refurbished equipment in telecoms infrastructure in an effort to reduce carbon emissions and waste. This joint commitment initially focuses on RAN equipment but could be expanded to other areas.

The refurbished network equipment will be offered by Nokia to all Orange subsidiaries via BuyIn, the procurement alliance of Orange and Deutsche Telekom. The companies said the refurbished equipment will meet all the reliability criteria in line with European Union and ITU directives and recommendations.

On the Orange side, this agreement is part of a larger programme called OSCAR which will contribute to the achievement of the Net Zero Carbon objective in 2040 set by the group. It aims to put the circular economy at the heart of infrastructure networks by reusing existing equipment wherever possible. OSCAR sets clear targets for the reuse of components and the limited use of new materials.

Nokia has also set ambitious targets as previously announced, aiming to cut emissions across its value chain by 50 percent between 2019 and 2030 as part of its renewed science-based targets.

"We are proud to share our common vision of the circular economy with Nokia, a vision where environmental exemplarity supports sustainable value creation. This mutual understanding leads today to this first major contractual step forward for the Orange Group and its subsidiaries, with a positive environmental impact for our two groups," said Ramon Fernandez, Delegate CEO, Executive Director Finance, Performance and Development

“Committing to circularity takes us another step closer to achieving our own climate goals, as well as supporting our customers in achieving theirs. Digitalization reduces waste, reuse extends product life, and through this we are able to realize the full value of our products. This framework agreement demonstrates the importance of collaboration in resolving the big challenges society faces and we all need to act together,” commented Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia.

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ZTE introduces new compact metro optical platform

ZTE launched its new-generation, compact metro edge optical products aimed at supporting 4G/5G/home broadband/enterprise/cloud services with a large-capacity and unified cross connection for the aggregation layer and access layers.

The ZTE optical omni-gateway ZXMP M721 series is a 6U chassis that can support a maximum of 15 service slots. The series can support 80×10G/100G/200G systems and offers a single-subrack cross-connect capacity up to 2.8T. 

The series supports ODUk/PKT/VC/OSU unified cross connection and services on demand. The platform can also support rigid isolation of fine-granularity services. 

https://www.zte.com.cn/global/about/news/20211014e1.html

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São Paulo's Open X selects IP Infusion + Edgecore

Open X, a network operator based in São Paulo, Brazil, selected IP Infusion’s disaggregated solution based on the OcNOS network operating system and combined with Edgecore Networks switches to extend its 100G backbone infrastructure.

OcNOS is a modular extensible network OS for white box open networking solutions offering advanced capabilities that include extensive switching and routing support ranging from MPLS, PTP (Precision Timing Protocol) and APIs/protocols for SDN (Software Defined Networking). OcNOS features hybrid, centralized or distributed network support; scalable, modular high-performance network; and a robust data plane built on merchant silicon.

"The disaggregation between software and hardware is the future of networks. With this new way to deploying our network environment we have the right to choose our software and hardware options instead of settling with vendor lock. That is, as the backbones evolve, we can choose the best software that meets our demands over time through the full support of IP Infusion and its OcNOS network operating system," said Renato Ornelas, President, Open X. “We are totally satisfied with the high-quality software development provided by IP Infusion, which met the unique needs of Open X. Plus, Open Globe, our service integrator, provided crucial support starting from fully support at the Proof-of-Concept stage to having the agility in the solution delivery time.”

“Open X was able to expand its network capacity seamlessly and to take advantage of the benefits of open networking, including technology choices and lower total cost of ownership. With the IP Infusion and Edgecore solution, they were able to be agile and scalable during the start of the pandemic when bandwidth requirements skyrocketed,” said Atsushi Ogata, President and CEO of IP Infusion.

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