Airtel surpasses first 1 million 5G customers in 30 days

Just one month since launching its 5G service,  Bharti Airtel crossed the 1 million unique 5G user mark on its network. 

Earlier this month, Airtel announced the advent of its 5G services in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur and Varanasi. The services in these cities are getting rolled out in a phased manner as the company continues to construct its network and complete the roll out.

Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel, said “These are early days but the response from customers have been very encouraging. Our network is being built every day even as all 5G devices are now capable of working on the Airtel 5G Plus network barring a few exceptions which should also be done in the coming weeks. We will continue to advance our network with a vision to connect the entire country.”

Google to invest up to $1 billion in Bharti Airtel

Friday, January 28, 2022    

Google will invest up to US$1 billion in a partnership with Bharti Airtel. The agreement includes an investment of US$700 million to acquire 1.28% ownership in Airtel and up to US$300 million toward potential multi-year commercial agreements.The companies will focus on India-specific network domain use cases for 5G and other standards. Airtel is already using Google’s 5G-ready Evolved Packet Core & Software Defined Network platforms, and plans...

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Dell’Oro: Edge Data Center Forecast

The telecom server market opportunity is projected to reach $14 B by 2026 according to a new “Telecom Server” report from Dell’Oro Group. Edge data centers will account for most of the telecom server market growth.

“Data center IT and telecom network infrastructure have been converging in recent years. Service providers have been replacing dedicated devices with unique hardware architectures in the mobile core network with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware to virtualize various network functions,” said Baron Fung, Research Director at Dell’Oro Group. “Network function virtualization has the potential to reduce capex through the use of less expensive and commoditized COTS hardware, instead of dedicated or proprietary hardware for network services. Furthermore, a new class of latency-sensitive applications in the form of multi-access edge computing (MEC), and virtualization of the baseband functions in the radio access networks in the form of Open RAN, will pave the way for the explosive growth of a new class of servers located at the network edge,” explained Fung.

Additional highlights from the new Telecom Server market Advanced Research Report:

• Edge use cases for Broadband Access, MEC, and RAN— still in the nascent stage, are expected to exceed 50 percent CAGR in server revenue over our forecast horizon.
• Server form factors and vendor ecosystem will require further development prior to mainstream adoption.
• Select telecom workloads are likely to migrate to the public cloud.

https://www.delloro.com/news/edge-data-center-growth-will-push-telecom-server-market-to-14-b-by-2026/

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Equinix: major data center builds underway in 31 markets

Equinix's quarterly revenues increased 10% over the same quarter last year to $1.8 billion, or 11% on a normalized and constant currency basis, representing the company's 79th consecutive quarter of revenue growth—the longest streak of any S&P 500 company. Net income amounted to $212 million, a 2% decrease from the previous quarter, primarily due to lower non-recurring xScale® fees, a Q2 favorable tax settlement, partially offset by higher income from operations from strong operating performance and lower net interest expenses.

Charles Meyers, President and CEO, Equinix: "We had another record quarter as global demand for digital infrastructure continues to grow and customer preferences trend convincingly toward architectures that are highly distributed, persistently hybrid, deeply cloud-connected, and increasingly on-demand — all factors fueling our position as a trusted partner in digital transformation. Even in a complex and challenging macro environment, our expansive global reach and robust interconnected ecosystems continue to attract a wide and diverse customer set, as businesses prioritize digital investments and embrace Platform Equinix as a point of nexus to support hybrid and multicloud."

• Equinix continued to expand its Data Center Services with 46 major builds underway in 31 markets, across 21 countries. Recent activity includes:
• A $74 million expansion to Indonesia with plans for an International Business Exchange™ (IBX) data center in the heart of Jakarta, scheduled to open by the second half of 2024.
• A $45 million investment in Colombia for the construction of BG2, Equinix's second IBX data center in Bogotá, scheduled to open in the first half of 2023.
• The addition of six recently approved projects in Q3 in Barcelona, Milan, Montreal, Jakarta, Silicon Valley and Tokyo.
• Equinix continues to extend its leadership as the most interconnected platform with four cloud on-ramp wins this quarter bringing Equinix's portfolio to more than 200 on-ramps across 44 markets. Equinix now has 11 metros enabled with five or more on-ramps to the largest cloud players.
• ~55% of expansion cabinets are in metros that generate >$100M of annual revenues, leveraging established ecosystem density and installed customer base

https://www.equinix.com/newsroom/press-releases/2022/11/equinix-reports-third-quarter-2022-results

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Arista debuts network automation based on CI/CD

Arista Networks announced a network automation solution built on a network data lake

The Arista Continuous Integration (CI) Pipeline is based on cloud networking principles, including repeatable design patterns, automated operations via software control, and an open, flexible architecture. 

This new Arista CI Pipeline addresses these challenges, enabling enterprises to achieve a modern network operating model, consisting of:

• Continuous design
• Continuous integration
• Continuous testing
• Continuous Design
• Continuous Integration provides an advanced DevOps environment for managing network operations and change control workflows. Leveraging the CloudVision platform, CI is a packaged solution that simplifies and streamlines the execution of a Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) workflow for network automation by providing:
• An easy-to-deploy, packaged solution to operate a CI pipeline for network operations
• Enhancements to CloudVision’s change control to facilitate a complete CI/CD operations workflow to facilitate pre/post validation testing
• The ability to push and pull test results and AVD models into EOS NetDL
• Enhanced integration for external DevOps and CI tools

By using CloudVision and NetDL, a data lake extending the EOS state database to a broad aperture and data set of configuration and telemetry data, users can easily customize their workflows while taking advantage of having access to all the information stored in NetDL for data-driven automation.

The Arista CI suite is in trials and will be available in 2023. Arista Professional Services are available to deploy these solutions. Additionally, all the above software offerings are fully supported by Arista TAC globally.

https://blogs.arista.com/blog/ci-based-cloud-networking-automation

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Orange Marine inaugurates cable laying ship - C/S Sophie Germain

Orange Marine has launched the C/S Sophie Germain, a new cable laying and repair ship.

The 100m vessel, which is named for a French mathmatician and philosopher, was built at the Colombo Dockyard in Sri Lanka.

https://twitter.com/OrangeMarine_/status/1588157297162948610

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Padtec enters partnership with Angola's Zanecom

Padtec announced a partnership with Zanecom, an Angolan consultancy that acts as an integrator of information and communication technology solutions. 

Under the agreement, the DWDM solutions developed by Padtec become part of Zanecom’s product line, contributing to the expansion of the Brazilian company’s operations in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Mandela Barros, Zanecom’s CEO, points out that Padtec’s product line is particularly innovative and allows the company to add to its portfolio solutions designed to meet the exponential demand for high-capacity data transmission. “We are very pleased to be able to work with Padtec and offer state-of-the-art optical transmission equipment to the market. The company is already recognized in Brazil and Latin America and, with this partnership, it will consolidate itself as a new supplier also in the African market”, he concludes.

Headquartered in Campinas, in the interior of São Paulo, Padtec has four commercial offices abroad, located in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and the United States. Through a partnership with the multinational Televes, it also offers its DWDM solutions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). As a result of this international expansion strategy, Padtec recorded a 53% growth in revenue from foreign markets in the first half of 2022, compared to the same period last year.

https://www.padtec.com.br/en/padtec-announces-partnership-with-zanecom-to-offer-dwdm-solutions-in-africa/

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Arelion adds Boston-Secaucus route

Arelion has added a new diverse, high-capacity transmission route connecting Boston to Secaucus, providing its customers with resilient connectivity and fast delivery that bypasses common routes going direct through Long Island and Manhattan. 

By providing backhaul to the Amitié sea cable system through its fifth trans-Atlantic cable route, Arelion establishes Boston as a DWDM service market and empowers companies, including financial services organizations, with diverse connection options and seamless terabit scale capability across multiple cables connecting into landing stations in the US and Europe.

The new route will offer connectivity in the US to Arelion's 150+ Points-of-Presence (PoPs) and EU terrestrial extensions to customer end points. The Amitié cable system is expected to go live in Q2 2023 and has a trans-Atlantic capacity of over 320Tbps, connecting Boston in the US to Slough (UK) and Bordeaux (FR) in Europe.

"Our new high-capacity DWDM transmission route will provide the diverse, trans-Atlantic connectivity into Europe that is needed by the financial services sectors and other companies densely concentrated in the Northeastern US," said Art Kazmierczak, Director Business and Network Development, Arelion. "Through this organic network expansion, Arelion further establishes itself as one of the few operators to own end-to-end network solutions and customer experiences in both the US and Europe. This new route furthers our vision of diverse, high-capacity global connectivity that boosts business growth in markets that rely on uninterrupted, long-haul transport of high traffic volumes."

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MACOM posts revenue of $178.1 million, up 14.8% yoy

MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings reported revenue of $178.1 million for its fourth fiscal quarter, an increase of 14.8% compared to $155.2 million in the previous year fiscal fourth quarter and an increase of 3.4% compared to $172.3 million in the prior fiscal quarter.

Gross margin was 60.9%, compared to 58.1% in the previous year fiscal fourth quarter and 60.7% in the prior fiscal quarter. Net income was $239.3 million, or $3.36 per diluted share, compared to net income of $17.1 million, or $0.24 per diluted share, in the previous year fiscal fourth quarter and net income of $32.2 million, or $0.45 per diluted share, in the prior fiscal quarter.

“We are pleased with our Q4 and fiscal 2022 results,” said Stephen G. Daly, President and Chief Executive Officer. “More importantly, we have many new and compelling products to support market share gains in fiscal 2023.”

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Rivada Space Networks issues RFP for 600 LEO satellites

Rivada Space Networks issued a request for proposals for 600 low earth orbit (LEO) satellites.

The company anticipates selecting a prime contractor for the space segment, parts of the ground segment and system integration for the LEO constellation by the end of 2022 in parallel to the selection of the launch service provider.

Clemens Kaiser, Rivada Space Networks Chief Program Officer, said: "Following a rigorous process with a number of leading satellite manufacturers, we are delighted that today we have completed another major milestone in the specification and development of our unique constellation to enable secure, global connectivity for governments and enterprises. The key attributes of RSN's laser-linked LEO constellation architecture include global reach, low latency, ultra-security, resilience and optional quantum key encryption." He added: "We have worked tirelessly to ensure that our system comprises the best the satellite industry has to offer. We are really looking forward to moving to the next phase of our program to manufacture and deploy our LEO constellation."

Severin Meister, Rivada Space Networks CEO, further added: "RSN is a German 'NewSpace' innovator and disruptor. I am incredibly proud of what our team has achieved in such a short time frame. Over the course of the past eight months we have completed the design of our satellite system and grown our teams in Munich and Berlin to further develop the technical, commercial and regulatory competencies of the company. With over 60 people today, we anticipate expanding further to over 100 people by the end of Q1 2023 and are on track to execute our vision of providing the first truly global point-to-point low latency connectivity network." Meister added: "Initial customers are showing great interest, which confirms that 

www.rivadaspace.com

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Cloudflare posts sales of $253.9 million, up 47% year-over-year

Cloudflare announced financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2022. Non-GAAP net income per diluted share was $0.06, compared to non-GAAP net income per diluted share of $0.00 in the third quarter of 2021.

“We achieved an important milestone in the third quarter, surpassing $1 billion in annualized revenue for the first time. The opportunity we have in front of us is enormous. Even with this achievement, we’ve penetrated less than 1 percent of our identified market for the products we have available today,” said Matthew Prince, co-founder & CEO of Cloudflare. “This milestone is a testament to our enormous market opportunity, our ability to land and expand our largest enterprise customers, and the durability of our subscription-based revenue model. Now, we’re focused on the path to organically achieve $5 billion in annualized revenue in 5 years, and we're confident we have the products already in-market to get us there.”

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