What's next for global telecom operators in 2023?

How is the current geopolitical situation changing the strategic outlook of global carriers? How is user experience redefining network services?

Here are 3 video predictions for 2023 from Arelion’s Mattias Fridström .

https://youtu.be/hWlGh8NKJQo

-- Check out other 2023 Predictions --

See what other experts have to say on NextGenInfra (https://ngi.fyi/predict2023yt)

-- Amplify your MWC 2023 presence --

Looking to record your video for our channel for our MWC 2023 Showcase in Barcelona?  We will be there! Book your session now. (https://ngi.fyi/mwc2023yt)

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Microsoft acquires Fungible for its DPUs

Microsoft has acquired Fungible, a Silicon Valley start-up offering high-efficiency, low-power data processing units (DPUs) designed to transform data centers into composable infrastructure.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

The Fungible team will join Microsoft’s datacenter infrastructure engineering teams and will focus on delivering multiple DPU solutions, network innovation and hardware systems advancements.

Microsoft said the acquisition reflects its commitment to long-term differentiated investments in its datacenter infrastructure.

Fungible has previously described its DPU as the “third socket” in data centers, complementing the CPU and GPU, and delivering significant gains in performance, footprint and cost efficiencies for next-generation, scale-out networking, storage, security, and analytics platforms. The company cites two core innovations that are tightly interwoven: 

• A programmable data-path engine that executes data-centric computations at extremely high speeds, while providing flexibility comparable to general-purpose CPUs. The engine is programmed in C using industry-standard toolchains and is designed to execute many data-path computations concurrently. 
• A new network engine that implements the endpoint of a high-performance TrueFabric that provides deterministic low latency, full cross-section bandwidth, congestion and error control, and high security at any scale (from 100s to 100,000s of nodes). The TrueFabric protocol is fully standards-compliant and interoperable with TCP/IP over Ethernet, ensuring that the data center leaf-spine network can be built with standard Ethernet switches and standard electro-optics and fiber infrastructure. 

Fungible offers two versions of its DPU: 

• Fungible F1 DPU – an 800Gbps processor designed specifically for high performance storage, analytics and security platforms. 
• Fungible S1 DPU – a 200Gbps processor optimized for host-side use cases including bare metal virtualization, storage initiator, NFVi/VNF applications and distributed node security.

https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2023/01/09/microsoft-announces-acquisition-of-fungible-to-accelerate-datacenter-innovation/

https://www.fungible.com/company/

Fungible leverages DPU to centralize GPUs across Ethernet

Tuesday, April 05, 2022    

Fungible introduced a means by which data centers could centralize their existing GPU assets into a single resource pool to be attached to servers on demand.The Fungible GPU-Connect (FGC) solution leverages the company's DPU to dynamically compose GPU and CPU resources across an Ethernet network.Instead of dedicated GPUs sitting idle most of the time, data centers can provide new users with access to the GPU pool, making greater use of existing assets....

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Fungible enhances its Storage Cluster for NVMe over TCP

Wednesday, September 29, 2021  Data Center, DPU, Fungible  

Fungible, a start-up pursuing DPU accelerated data center computing, announced new capabilities enabling its Fungible Storage Initiator (SI) cards installed in standard servers to access NVMe over TCP (NVMe/TCP).Fungible claims its accelerators deliver the world’s fastest and most efficient implementation of NVMe/TCP. The enhancements bring security and usability capabilities for the entire data platform.The Fungible Storage Initiator solution is...

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Fungible raises $200 million for Data Processing Units (DPUs)

Thursday, June 27, 2019    

Fungible, a start-up based in Santa Clara, California, closed $200 million in Series C financing for its efforts to create an entirely new category of programmable processor. The Fungible Data Processing Unit (DPU) aims to deliver an order of magnitude improvement in the execution of data-centric workloads. The company sees its DPU as a fundamental building block for next-generation data centers. Fungible has not yet announced its first products....

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Netskope secures $401 million for SASE

Netskope, a start-up based in Santa Clara, California, announced an oversubscribed investment round of $401 million supporting its Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solutions.

The Netskope converged SASE platform includes Netskope’s Intelligent Security Service Edge (SSE) and Borderless SD-WAN technologies. The company says it now has more than 2,400 total customers worldwide, including over 25 of the Fortune 100. Its marketing partnerships include Orange, Deloitte, Telefonica, KPN, AWS, Google Cloud, CrowdStrike, Mimecast, Okta, and others.

The financing was led by investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Tactical Value, with participation from Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, and CPP Investments. 

Netskope said it will use the funding to extend its technology and platform advantages and market reach.

“Our vision from day one was that traditional network and security perimeters would transform, with users, data, and devices moving outside the confines of corporate network perimeters and requiring a new approach to security,” said Sanjay Beri, Netskope CEO and co-founder. “With a cloud-first, data-first, and customer-centric philosophy, we built a market-leading SASE platform and one of the world’s fastest and most-connected security cloud networks. We have enabled enterprises everywhere to allow their users to be mobile, efficient, and flexible while securing them and the data and applications they access, whether they are in the cloud, on the web, or are private applications on-prem and beyond. We are very proud of the team members, customers, industry luminaries, and existing and new partners announced today who are helping to enable Netskope’s journey and secure the journey of all enterprises worldwide.”

https://www.netskope.com/press-releases/worlds-premier-investors-line-up-to-partner-with-netskope-as-the-sase-security-and-networking-platform-of-choice

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Infinera’s 800G carries 2022 FIFA World Cup surge

A leading Middle East network operator deployed a 3.6-terabit network leveraging Infinera’s ICE6 800G technology to support the upsurge in global and local demand for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Beyond Technology, a global player in technology transformation and a Gold Partner in Infinera’s PartnerPlus Program, served as network integrator for the project.

Qatar, with a population of around 3 million, hosted nearly 1.5 million visitors during the four-week-long sporting event. In addition to providing global streaming services, the upgrade ensured that the network could support local streaming services to as many as 500,000 people daily.

“ICE6 technology builds on Infinera’s heritage of delivering innovative optical solutions that provide meaningful value for our customers. ICE6’s industry-leading performance and economics, coupled with Beyond Technology’s strong presence in the region, enabled our client to deliver a high-quality streaming experience for World Cup fans,” said Nick Walden, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales, Infinera.

https://www.infinera.com/press-release/beyond-technology-partners-with-infinera-to-support-bandwidth-demand-during-fifa-world-cup

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SpaceX launches 40 OneWeb satellites

SpaceX launched 40 OneWeb satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The launch brings OneWeb's constellation to 80% completion with 542 satellites in orbit. 

The first stage booster supporting this mission previously launched CRS-26. Following stage separation, the first stage landed on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It was SpaceX's 201st launch to date.

https://oneweb.net

https://www.spacex.com

SpaceX carries OneWeb 1 mission to orbit

Thursday, December 08, 2022  OneWeb, Satellites, SpaceX  

SpaceX launched 40 OneWeb satellites to low-Earth orbit from Kennedy Space Center in Florida using a Falcon 9 rocket.The mission added 40 satellites to OneWeb’s 648 LEO satellite fleet, almost 80% of its first-generation constellation that will deliver global wholesale connectivity for its partners. This milestone mission marks OneWeb’s first time launching from Florida, where its satellites are also produced by OneWeb Satellites – a joint venture...

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Rapid Silicon raises $30m for AI-enabled FPGAs

Rapid Silicon, a start-up based in San Jose, California, announced $30 million in series A funding for its AI and intelligent edge-focused FPGAs based on open-source technology.

The company has closed $15M in funding from Cambium Capital and others, including all existing investors from its seed round. The second close is planned for Q1 2023. This latest round of funding will be used to further invest in Rapid Silicon’s product portfolio, support the launch of its premier low-end FPGA product, Gemini, and to build on the company’s momentum in leading the adoption of open-source software for commercial applications.

Rapid Silicon says its Gemini programmable logic device (PLD)  is power optimized for the massive sensor processing needs, tight thermal profiles, and shrinking form factors required by embedded and edge applications. Rapid Silicon’s software, Raptor Design Suite, is a commercial FPGA EDA suite based on end-to-end open-source software. The Raptor Design Suite outperformed all leading EDA tools in the recent École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Combinational Benchmark Suite competition.

“Customers are looking for innovative ways to program FPGAs, reduce support load by leveraging the open-source ecosystem of active expertise and development engineers, and shorten time-to-market,” said Dr. Naveed Sherwani, Chairman and CEO of Rapid Silicon. “With open-source software, Rapid Silicon is removing the barriers and providing its customers with a robust end-to-end FPGA design workflow. The open-source software enables users to design complex applications quickly and efficiently on our FPGA devices.”

http://www.rapidsilicon.com

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Orange to build solar farm in Aube, France

Orange will build a solar farm in Bercenay-en-Othe (Aube), the site of its satellite ground station.

The facility will be a collaboration with Reservoir Sun, a leading player in self-supply solar electricity systems for companies and local government.

The farm will cover a surface area of 50,000 m2, or the equivalent of seven football pitches, and have an installed capacity of 5 MW (1MW for self-consumption and 4MW for the grid).

Michaël Trabbia, interim CEO for Orange Wholesale and International Networks, states: “We are happy and proud to launch an ambitious local solar farm project at our Bercenay-en-Othe site. This solar farm reflects our additionality approach and is fully in line with our strategy to develop the use of low-carbon energies, in order to contribute to our environmental commitments. This project thus contributes to securing our energy supply while decarbonizing our activities."

https://newsroom.orange.com/orange-is-opening-its-first-solar-farm-in-europe-with-reservoir-sun/?lang=en

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FCC to establish Space Bureau

 The FCC voted to establish a Space Bureau and Office of International Affairs in order to better support the needs of the growing satellite industry, promote long-term technical capacity at the FCC, and help the agency navigate 21st century global communications policy.  As part of this plan, the agency will be eliminating the current International Bureau and incorporating that team into the new bureau and office.  

"The satellite industry is growing at a record pace, but here on the ground our regulatory frameworks for licensing have not kept up.  We’re working to change that.  Today, we are moving forward with our plan to prepare for what comes next,” said Chairwoman Rosenworcel.  “A new Space Bureau at the FCC will ensure that the agency's resources are appropriately aligned to fulfill its statutory obligations, improve its coordination across the federal government, and support the 21st century satellite industry.  I also thank my fellow Commissioners for their support.

http://www.fcc.gov

FCC clears Starlink for up to 7,500 satellites

Sunday, December 04, 2022  FCC, Satellites, SpaceX  

The FCC granted SpaceX authority to construct, deploy, and operate up to 7,500 satellites operating at altitudes of 525, 530, and 535 km and inclinations of 53, 43, and 33 degrees, respectively, using frequencies in the Ku- and Ka-band. The FCC defered a decision on the full SpaceX Gen2 Starlink application, which envisions up to 29,988 LEO satellites in its constellation,The FCC also granted SpaceX’s request for authority to conduct launch and early...

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FCC grants first Satellite-to-Mobile license to Lynk Global

Sunday, September 18, 2022  Satellites  

The FCC granted the first-ever commercial license for a satellite-direct-to-standard-mobile-phone service to Lynk Global. The license enables Lynk to launch commercial services for its global constellation of satellites later this year.Lynk launched Lynk Tower 1, the first satellite covered by the FCC license, on April 1. Lynk is scheduled to launch three more satellites — also known as Lynk Towers 2, 3 and 4 and Lynk’s 7th, 8th, and 9th cell-towers-in-space...

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NZ's Powerco picks Juniper + NEC for AI-enabled Wi-Fi

Powerco, New Zealand’s second largest gas and electricity distributor, selected Juniper Networks and NEC to design and deploy a new Wi-Fi network across its sites nationwide.

In this project, Powerco its replacing its incumbent solution with Juniper’s Wireless Access Points and Juniper Mist Wi-Fi Assurance. Juniper has also been Powerco’s networking backbone provider.  NEC’s partnership with Powerco includes the provision of skilled consultancy and design for multi-domain networks.

“Powerco’s mission-critical services are essential to its customers across New Zealand, and Juniper is delighted to be able to continue our long-standing partnership with them by delivering experience-first networking to its entire Wi-Fi network nationwide alongside NEC, a key global alliance partner with a well-established history in New Zealand. Our technology has been built to fundamentally leverage the operational and user benefits of the cloud and AI, and we look forward to providing Powerco with superior user experiences based on network assurance, insights and visibility into the future,” stated Ken Lord, Country Manager, New Zealand, Juniper Networks.

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Ericsson to exit certain cloud contracts

 Last week, Ericsson announced its intention to to exit certain subscale agreements and product offerings in its Cloud Software and Services group.

The exit is expected to have with a one-off negative impact on EBIT of SEK -0.8 b. in Q4 2022, of which SEK -0.7 b. is expected to impact cash flow, mainly in 2023.

Ericsson said the move is in-line with the strategy outlined at in Capital Markets Day in December, when the company highlighted key priorities such as limiting subscale software development, accelerating automation to lower deployment and maintenance efforts and changing focus from market share gains to profitable business.

Ericsson’s Q4 and full-year 2022 results will be published January 20 at approximately 7:00 am CET.

www.ericsson.com/en/press-releases/2022/12/ericsson-capital-markets-day-2022

Ericsson to divest IoT Accelerator and Connected Vehicle Cloud to Aeris

Wednesday, December 07, 2022  Aeris, Ericsson, IOT, Mergers And Acquisitions  

Ericsson will divest its IoT Accelerator and Connected Vehicle Cloud businesses to Aeris,The IoT business, with 2022 full year forecasted net sales of SEK 0.8 billion, has been the key driver of the losses in Business Area Technologies and New Businesses in the Enterprise segment. The transaction will eliminate quarterly losses of SEK 0.25 billion. The divestment, related cost and other portfolio optimizations will lead to a negative one-time EBIT...

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Nokia appoints Rolf Werner as its Head of Europe

Rolf Werner has joined Nokia as Senior Vice President of its European region, reporting to Chief Customer Experience Officer, Ricky Corker.

Werner joins Nokia from Cognizant Technology Solutions, where he was the CEO of Germany, with responsibility for the DACH region. During his career, Rolf has held senior positions at Fujitsu, Global Logic, and T-Systems, where he led the turnaround of T-Systems’ French organization, across the whole organizational framework.

Ricky Corker, Chief Customer Experience Officer of Nokia, said: “I am thrilled to welcome Rolf to the company. Having a broad experience across the industry, gained in software, service providers and in many other areas, means that Rolf will be able to help guide Nokia’s European organization through the next stage of our corporate development.”

https://www.nokia.com

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