Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Intel's Project Circuit Breaker aims to weed out design flaws

Intel announced Project Circuit Breaker, a program to build a community of elite hackers to hunt bugs in firmware, hypervisors, GPUs, and chipsets. 

Project Circuit Breaker builds on Intel’s existing open Bug Bounty program by hosting targeted time-boxed events on specific new platforms and technologies, providing training and creating opportunities for more hands-on collaboration with Intel engineers. 

Project Circuit Breaker’s first event, Camping with Tigers, is already underway with a group of 20 researchers who received systems with Intel Core i7 processors (formerly “Tiger Lake”).

https://www.projectcircuitbreaker.com

  • Intel’s bug bounty awards range from $500 up to $100,000.

Juniper adds Firewall-as-a-Service to its SASE

Juniper Networks is expanding its Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture with the addition of Juniper Secure Edge, a Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS) managed by its Security Director Cloud.

Key benefits of Juniper Secure Edge:

Unified policy management from a single UI for all security use cases. Create policies once and apply them anywhere and everywhere with unified policy management, including user- and application-based access, IPS, anti-malware and secure web access within a single policy. 

Secure user access from anywhere. Secure Edge supports the remote workforce whether employees are in the office, at home or on the road with secure user access to the applications and resources needed to do their job effectively. Security policies follow the user wherever they go, protecting the user, device and applications without having to copy over or recreate rule sets.

Dynamic Zero Trust segmentation. Maintain the security of data around identity- and risk-driven policies. Secure Edge delivers consistent security policy framework with policies that automatically adapt based on new risk and attack vectors and follow the user wherever they go, providing automated access controls to employees and third-party contractors through granular policy control.

Investment protection. Juniper customers can use the physical, virtual, containerized – and now cloud-delivered – SRX firewall, completely managed by Security Director Cloud with a single-policy framework, allowing for full visibility and consistent security across both the edge and the data center from one UI.

Integration with any identity provider. Secure Edge allows customers to use the identity provider that works for them by integrating with leading identity providers, such as Azure AD, Okta and others, through SAML 2.0 support.

Validated security effectiveness. Juniper provides cyberattack protection that has been validated by objective, third-party testing to be highly effective against client- and server-side exploits, malware and C2 traffic, regardless of where the users and applications are located. This includes achieving the highest security efficacy rating at 99.5% from CyberRatings.org compared to leading security vendors for Enterprise Firewall, and 100% effectiveness with zero false positives in ICSA Labs’ Advanced Threat Defense test in Q4 of 2021. Secure Edge delivers policies from the cloud, as a service, empowered with these proven threat prevention technologies, ensuring consistent security enforcement.

“We’re excited to take the next big leap in the SASE market with Juniper Secure Edge,” said Samantha Madrid, VP of Security Business & Strategy, Juniper Networks. “First, we empowered our customers to manage security anywhere, all within a single UI with Security Director Cloud. Now, with the introduction of Juniper Secure Edge, Juniper is enabling its customers to seamlessly secure remote workforces with consistent security policies that follow users wherever they go, all while leveraging existing investments as they transition to a cloud-delivered architecture. Secure Edge makes it easy for customers to deploy effective threat protection without breaking visibility.”

https://www.juniper.net/us/en/security.html



Arrcus awarded 10th networking patent for Segment Routing

Privately-held Arrcus, which offers hyperscale networking software for core-to-edge infrastructure, announced continuing momentum and strong business growth, closing 2021 with a tripling of its year-over-year bookings from 2020 to 2021. 

Arrcus also announced its 10th US patent in the area of hyperscale networking, this one for speeding up Segment ID allocation – a critical factor in accelerating internet traffic and content delivery over the web. Segment Routing (SRv6) protocol is getting increasingly popular as telecom carriers look to connect their 5G networks to the IP infrastructure. The distributed allocation of SRv6 Segment IDs helps eliminate latencies and complexities involved in the creation and maintenance of these IDs. This patent adds to others awarded to Arrcus for routing optimization covering topics such as virtualized routing, computational offload, and loop conflict avoidance.

“I am delighted to see us steadily beat our business as well as innovation goals at Arrcus. We are ‘right place, right time’ at the beginning of a massive networking refresh,” said Shekar Ayyar, CEO and Chairman at Arrcus. “As the demand for new network services grows among service providers and enterprises, customers are increasingly opting for the flexibility, security, and economics of Arrcus networking.”

“Arrcus’s ACE platform delivers a network architecture designed for open integration that is secure, scalable and delivers the best routing and switching performance. Our innovative Segment Routing capabilities enable fast rerouting of traffic, helping avoid transient congestion and increase network reliability,” said Keyur Patel, founder, and CTO at Arrcus. “With this, cloud and 5G networks can differentiate the way they deliver applications with unmatched simplicity and scalability.”


Arrcus resets with new CEO, vision, and strategic partners

Arrcus, a hyperscale networking software start-up based in San Jose, California, named Shekar Ayyar as its CEO and chairman of the board. The company also announced a strategic shift toward edge-native, large-scale distributed and disaggregated networking opportunities. In addition, Arrcus announced the infusion of new capital from its strategic partners - Liberty Global, SoftBank Corp and Samsung Next. The new investors join the existing investors,...

Arrcus: Opportunities at the Edge for Network Operating Systems?

In this video, Shekar Ayyar shares his perspective on the need for disaggregated networking solutions at the 5G edge.Ayyarr recently joined Arrcus as CEO and Chairman of the Board. Previously, he was the executive vice president and general manager of VMware's Telco and Edge Cloud business. He also led VMware’s strategy and corporate development efforts in enterprise software and communications while overseeing over 60 M&A transactions and investments...


CommScope joins Meta's Evenstar program for O-RAN

CommScope is joining Meta Connectivity's Evenstar program to help accelerate the adoption of Open RAN by developing open reference designs.

CommScope said tis collaboration will focus on developing a Massive MIMO (mMIMO) reference design based on O-RAN Alliance interoperability specifications. Massive MIMO substantially increases spectral efficiency to deliver more network capacity and wider coverage. The two organizations will cooperate on high-level architectural requirements, open standardized antenna and radio interfaces, and best practice calibration designs.

The mMIMO reference design will provide operators with the option to further disaggregate the filter/antenna elements from the radio unit, supporting flexibility and delivering implementation options to the market.

Meta Connectivity is working with control unit and distribution unit software vendors who will manage interoperability testing, while CommScope will support Over-the-Air (OTA) testing and characterization of the antenna within a laboratory environment.

“We are excited to have CommScope’s expertise in innovative antenna interfaces as part of our Evenstar program,” said Jaydeep Ranade, Director of Wireless Engineering at Meta Connectivity. “This collaboration will help facilitate an ecosystem of high-quality connectivity – something that becomes more important every day as we move to an increasingly digitally connected world.”

“CommScope is thrilled to be joining Meta Connectivity’s global Evenstar ecosystem,” said Farid Firouzbakht, senior vice president of Outdoor Wireless Networks, CommScope. “Open RAN is gaining momentum in the marketplace and mMIMO 5G deployments will require cooperation and collaboration between vendors based on competitive reference models.”

http://www.commscope.com

Saudi Arabia's stc aims to build hub for subsea cables and data centers

Saudi Arabia's stc kicked off an initiative to establish a major digital hub for the Middle East and North Africa with an investment of US$1 billion. The goal is to invest in an advanced fiber optic network linking 3 continents and ensuring continuous availability of services.

The launch came in on the sideline of this week's LEAP International Conference in Riyadh. This comes in cooperation with regional and international partners. The hub will link three continents, benefiting from the strategic location of the Kingdom, and promoting investment in international communication services and data centers. The hub will include the installation of a number of highly efficient cables to meet the future requirements of cloud services, by investing in an 

"stc is committed to be the digital pioneer to achieve KSA Vision 2030 by developing digital business so the Kingdom will be the regional hub and link the three continents. In addition to attracting direct and indirect foreign investments and stimulating more local investments. Hence, our goal is to build this property for the region and turn our goals to reality”, said AlWetaid.

“We are proud to contribute to transforming the digital industry in the Kingdom into a leading industrial power and a global logistics center, and the development of the local industrial sector, which puts Saudi Arabia at the forefront of global countries among data-dependent economies, stressing the transformation of business environments and the local community to be digitally connected in order to achieve an advanced digital economy”, concluded Alwetaid.

https://www.stc.com.sa/wps/wcm/connect/english/stc/NewsItems/stc-launches-mena-hub-1-billion-investment

Telefónica increases its stake in Telxius Telecom to 70%

Telefónica and Pontegadea are increasing their stake in Telxius Telecom, a global telecommunications infrastructure company, by acquiring a 40% stake in Telxius Telecom, previously held by KKR.

With this transaction, Telefónica will increase its stake to 70% and Pontegadea will increase its stake to 30%. The acquisition is carried out for an estimated amount of EUR 215.7 million, pending, among others, the corresponding adjustments derived from the sale of Telxius’ tower business to American Tower in 2021.

Telxius Telecom has one of the largest subsea cable networks in the world, extending 94,000 kilometres via leading subsea systems such as Marea, Brusa and Mistral, as well as SAm-1, the system that connects the United States with Latin America.

Telxius Telecom provides direct connectivity to the internet with a coverage of 93 points of presence and 27 landing stations in 23 countries. In addition, Telxius Telecom offers an extensive range of capacity services, colocation and security services.

Telefónica sells 10% stake in Telxius to long-term partner

Telefónica will sell a 9.99% equity stake in Telxius, its infrastructure arm, to Pontegadea for a total of 378.8 million euros.  This transaction represents a price of 15.2 euro per share of Telxius. Telefónica said the deal incorporates a long-term partner in a holding company that controls its infrastructure arm.  The sale has been structured via Telefónica’s subsidiary, Pontel Participaciones, which owns 60% of Telxius’ capital stock....



T-Mobile US reports higher Q4 revenue and customer additions

T-Mobile US reported service revenues of $15.0 billion for Q4 2021 and $58.4 billion for full-year 2021. Net income amounted to $422 million in Q4 2021 — $3.0 billion in full-year 2021.

“T-Mobile had our strongest year ever. We didn’t just meet the bold goals we set for 2021 around customer growth, profitability, merger synergies and network buildout – we crushed all of them,” said Mike Sievert, T-Mobile CEO. “Our industry-leading year-end results – adding 1.2 million postpaid accounts and 5.5 million postpaid customers, extending Ultra Capacity 5G to 210 million people – show that the Un-carrier is experiencing the greatest growth momentum in wireless. And we’re poised to sustain that position into 2022 and beyond as we continue to execute on our winning playbook and consistently make investments that have enabled our success. With plenty of room to run, we’re in the best-ever position to continue delivering.”

Some highlights:

  • Postpaid net account additions were 315 thousand in Q4 2021, the highest Q4 in four years and reached a record 1.2 million in full-year 2021, more than doubling year-over-year.
  • Postpaid net customer additions were industry-leading with 1.8 million in Q4 2021, the highest Q4, and 5.5 million in full-year 2021, a record-high and above the company’s recent guidance of 5.1 to 5.3 million.
  • Postpaid phone net customer additions were 844 thousand in Q4 2021 and 2.9 million in full-year 2021. Postpaid phone churn was 1.10% in Q4 2021, as the company ramped up its Sprint customer integration, and 0.98% in full-year 2021.
  • Postpaid other net customer additions were 906 thousand in Q4 2021 and 2.6 million in full-year 2021, which included High Speed Internet net customer additions of 224 thousand in Q4 2021 and 546 thousand in full-year 2021. T-Mobile ended the year with 646 thousand High Speed Internet customers, exceeding its year-end goal of 500 thousand customers.
  • Prepaid net customer additions were 49 thousand in Q4 2021 and 342 thousand in full-year 2021, more than doubling year-over-year. Prepaid churn was 3.01% in Q4 2021 and 2.83% in full-year 2021.
  • Total net customer additions were 1.8 million in Q4 2021 and 5.8 million in full-year 2021, the highest annual number in five years. The total customer count increased to a record-high of 108.7 million.

https://investor.t-mobile.com/news-and-events/events-and-presentations/default.aspx

ADTRAN cites record-setting bookings, fiber access up 48% yoy

ADTRAN reported Q4 2021 revenue of $154.2 million. Earnings for the fourth quarter of 2021 were a net loss of $4.2 million and earnings per share was a loss of $0.09. Non-GAAP net income was $4.7 million and non-GAAP earnings per share was $0.10.

ADTRAN Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tom Stanton stated, “We continue to experience unprecedented demand for our solutions with another record-setting quarter for bookings. These record bookings were combined with record product revenue for both our fiber access platforms, up 48% year-over-year, and residential Wi-Fi platforms, up 72% year-over-year. The growth in these strategic segments was across a diverse mix of large and small service providers in the U.S. and Europe, highlighting the success we have had with customer diversification. Our success in capturing fiber footprint, bundling mesh Wi-Fi platforms and cloud software with fiber access, and the portfolio synergies offered by the announced ADVA combination provide an optimistic outlook for continued growth.”

ADTRAN has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.09 per common share to be to stockholders of record as of the close of business on February 17, 2022. 

http://www.investors.adtran.com

NETGEAR posts Q4 revenue of $251 million, down 31.6% yoy

NETGEAR reported Q4 2021 net revenue of $251.2 million, a decrease of 31.6% from the comparable prior year quarter. Q4 2021 GAAP net loss per diluted share was $0.03, as compared to net income per diluted share of $0.99 in the comparable prior year quarter. Fiscal 2021 net revenue was $1.17 billion, a decrease of 6.9% from the prior year.

Patrick Lo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NETGEAR, commented, “Our team continued to execute through a challenging supply environment to deliver fourth quarter revenue of $251.2 million, and non-GAAP operating margin of 2.7%, both within our guidance. The team delivered Q4 year over year revenue growth of 8.6% for SMB products, which contributed to growth of 27% for the full year, despite significant supply challenges that limited our ability to fully meet continued strong SMB demand. On the CHP side of the business, we successfully completed our efforts to optimize channel inventory in the fourth quarter and we are pleased to share that we saw the U.S. consumer WiFi market remain stable at 15% above 2019 levels.”

Mr. Lo continued, “In the fourth quarter, our CHP business took another step forward in our core long-term strategy of focusing on the premium, higher-margin segments of the market, where we demonstrate highly differentiated technology leadership. Our recently released $1,500 Quadband WiFi 6E Orbi has been met with great reception from both customers and industry experts alike. Additionally, accelerated momentum in Pro AV switching and WiFi 6 cloud managed mesh wireless access points fuels our confidence in the long-term growth potential of the SMB business. We also made progress in building out our paid service offerings in the fourth quarter, as consumers increasingly look to secure their home office environments and intelligently manage their devices. I’m pleased to share that we ended the year at 584,000 paid subscribers. We remain confident that we will reach 750,000 paid subscribers by the end of 2022, as our subscriber base grows in tandem with our increased penetration into the premium segment of the market.”

https://investor.netgear.com/events-and-presentations/events-calendar/default.aspx

MaxLinear posts record Q4 revenue of $247.9 million, up 27% yoy

 MaxLinear reported record Q4 2021 net revenue of $247.9 million, up 8% sequentially and up 27% year-over-year. GAAP gross margin was 57.2%, compared to 56.5% in the prior quarter, and 42.7% in the year-ago quarter. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was $0.86, compared to diluted earnings per share of $0.75 in the prior quarter, and diluted earnings per share of $0.39 in the year-ago quarter.

“In the fourth quarter, revenue was up 8% sequentially and up 27% year-over-year, driven by strong growth across our connectivity, broadband and infrastructure markets. Wi-Fi grew 40% sequentially and we exited Q4 on a $100 million annualized revenue run rate which we expect to build upon through 2022. Non-GAAP gross margin for Q4 improved to 61.7% driven by product mix shift towards higher value products. We are excited about our prospects for continued future growth driven by our comprehensive product portfolio, and the accelerating pace of new product launches particularly in connectivity, fiber-to-the home broadband, optical, and wireless infrastructure markets,” commented Kishore Seendripu, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO.

https://www.maxlinear.com/