CoreSite: Direct Public Cloud Interconnection is a “Must Have”

Direct connections to major public clouds is now a prerequisite for colocation data center operators, according to a new report published by CoreSite, which is now a subsidiary of American Tower.

This annual report examines the latest data center and cloud computing trends, strategies, requirements and other findings from an annual quantitative survey and in-depth interviews with senior IT decision-makers.

According to Matt Senderhauf, Vice President of Interconnection Strategy for CoreSite, “The way that businesses connect with each other is constantly evolving, and they require more efficient and automated ways to make today’s digital supply chain work. Similarly, public cloud providers want to deliver their services to customers in a more efficient manner. Direct network and cloud connections deployed in secure colocation data centers, like those offered by CoreSite, provide the perfect ecosystem for cloud providers to reach the most end users and for those end users to connect to the public clouds securely, with the highest performance and lowest cost.” 

Direct Public Cloud Interconnection

* Direct Public Cloud Interconnection is a “Must Have” – 94% of IT leaders say native, direct connection between colocation data centers and major cloud providers is essential for improved performance, enhanced security, cost savings and hybrid cloud connectivity.

* Security is The Top Attribute Sought in a Colocation Provider – While performance, scalability, ecosystem and total cost of ownership are among the most important attributes in choosing a colocation provider, top decision-makers rank security as the most important in 2023.

* Colocation Successfully Supports Critical Workloads, including AI/ML – 92% of IT leaders are considering moving critical workloads from public cloud to colocation to accelerate revenue growth and support the increasing need for AI/ML.

* The Prevalence of Hybrid IT Infrastructure – Survey results show that nearly 97% of CIOs have implemented or plan to implement a hybrid cloud model.

https://www.coresite.com/2023-state-of-the-data-center-report

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Digital Realty's first NVIDIA DGX H100-ready data center

Digital Realty’a newest data center in Osaka, Japan, has been certified NVIDIA DGX H100-ready as part of the NVIDIA DGX-Ready Data Center program. The KIX13 facility has been accredited for its ability to provide a dedicated, robust, and resilient environment optimized for intensive computing systems deployments at scale.

NVIDIA’s DGX H100 is the foundation of NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD for deep learning AI models. 

Digital Realty was one of the first data center providers to be awarded the "DGX-Ready Data Center" certification at the launch of the program in 2019 and currently operates DGX-Ready data centers in more than 20 markets worldwide, including six sites across Asia Pacific.

"Organizations looking to implement enterprise AI are investing in accelerated computing infrastructure – including hardware and software purpose-built for AI – to deploy their models into production quickly," says Charlie Boyle, Vice President, DGX systems, NVIDIA. "With the certification of Digital Realty's new KIX13 facility in the DGX-ready data center program, customers have access to a flexible, simple option for deploying the world's leading AI platform."

"Digital Realty understands the impact AI will have on the way businesses drive digital transformation in the years to come. However, business breakthroughs made possible with AI can only be realized if enterprises are able to integrate the technology into their operations, and that is where we come in," says Chris Sharp, Chief Technology Officer, Digital Realty. "With Digital Realty's KIX13 DGX-Ready Data Center certification, we remain focused on delivering a meeting place that allows our customers to accelerate innovation and growth."

https://investor.digitalrealty.com/news/news-details/2023/Digital-Realty-Announces-Its-First-NVIDIA-DGX-H100-Ready-Data-Center/default.aspx

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Iberdrola to deliver clean power to Vodafone in Germany, Portugal, Spain

Vodafone signed power purchase agreements (PPA) with Iberdrola to deliver clean energy in Spain and Portugal, adding to a recent agreement in Germany.

In total the PPAs will see Iberdrola provide Vodafone with 410 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of clean, renewable photovoltaic (PV) solar energy per year in the three countries, helping to accelerate Vodafone’s net-zero journey whilst increasing its energy security.

* For Vodafone Portugal, the PPA will provide the energy from the newly built Velilla solar PV plant located in Palencia, Spain.

* A further PPA agreement for Vodafone Spain will deliver 280 GWh per year from the newly constructed Cedillo PV plant located in Cáceres, Spain.

* For Vodafone Germany, a PPA was agreed last week to supply the full energy produced from the Boldekow PV plant, Iberdrola’s first solar project to be developed in the country. The plant will have a total capacity of 56 MWp and will be built in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. It will be fully operational by 2024. 

Joakim Reiter, Vodafone Group Chief External & Corporate Affairs Officer, said: “These agreements across Europe underline Vodafone’s commitment to ensure our customers will continue to benefit from electricity purchased 100% from renewable sources. They also provide Vodafone with improved energy security and long-term price certainty as we work towards achieving net-zero in our operations by 2030.”

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Vodafone looks to Qwilt and Cisco for Open Caching

Vodafone has selected Qwilt and Cisco to deploy their content delivery network (CDN) solution to increase the quality and capacity of Vodafone’s streaming delivery to its mobile and fixed broadband customers across Europe and Africa.

The solution, comprised of Qwilt’s Open Edge platform and Cisco’s Edge technology, provides Quality-as-a-Service content delivery by pushing content caching and delivery far out to the embedded edge of the network. 

Following a successful trial in Italy, Vodafone will initially start deploying the service in seven countries across Europe and Africa. The roll-out of services will progressively ramp up as Qwilt and Cisco work with additional service providers worldwide in a move to create the world’s largest federated CDN. 

Giorgio Migliarina, Products and Services Director, Vodafone Business, said: “Our partnership with Qwilt and Cisco enables Vodafone and its broadcast partners to deliver a superior streaming service to customers. It means less buffering and lower latency services for the end user.

https://www.qwilt.com/vodafone-partners-with-qwilt-and-cisco-to-deploy-open-caching-improving-streaming-services-for-millions-of-customers-across-europe-and-africa/

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Comcast milestone: 100,000 Digital Nodes deployed

Comcast has surpassed 100,000 rPHY digital nodes deployed across its nationwide network. The rollout began in 2019, surpassing 50,000 rPHY nodes deployed across the network in 2022. The pace continued to increase in 2023, with the organization upgrading 25 percent of its footprint to date.

Digital nodes are a critical part of the distributed access architecture (DAA). The upgraded technology will also be instrumental in Comcast’s implementation of Full-Duplex DOCSIS 4.0, supporting multi-gig symmetrical speeds that will be available to the first customers in Q4 2023.

Comcast said the node upgrades are part of its broader DAA and virtualization journey, which has included world’s first activation of a virtualized cable modem termination system (vCMTS) powered by Full Duplex DOCSIS 4.0 technology in 2021. Since then, Comcast has implemented vCMTS technology across its network and continues to improve the platform to deliver even greater capacity, reliability, visibility, and security.

“But what’s more exciting about our continued commitment to deploying network innovation, as evidenced by the digital nodes across our network, is the immediate benefits it delivers to our Xfinity 10G Network customers with respect to speed, reliability, sustainability and scalability,” said Elad Nafshi, EVP & Chief Network Officer at Comcast Cable.

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Keysight intros Source Measure Unit for semiconductor characterization

Keysight Technologies introduced a Source Measure Unit (SMU) solution to speed semiconductor characterization.

The new PZ2100 Series High-Channel Density Precision Source Measure Unit (SMU) Solution, simplifies channel stacking and synchronization to remove integration and coding complexity. It offers up to 20 SMU channels in a 1U full-width form factor that does not require cooling spacers when stacked. The solution is available in five SMU module options that are configurable and upgradeable.

Toshio Kimura, General Manager for Furukawa Electric's Next Generation Components Development Department, Next Generation Photonics Business Innovation Project Team, said: "By embedding Keysight's PZ2100 High-Channel Density Precision SMU into our test system, it increases our test throughput for developing and mass-producing optical components for broadband, long-distance transmission.”

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STL supports Windstream’s fiber expansion

STL is working with Windstream Wholesale to support their large-scale fiber expansion projects.

The collaboration started in February 2021, when the STL began providing Optical Networking Solutions to Windstream. Building upon this foundation, STL has expanded its offering set to provide advanced optical designs like high-fiber count Intelligently Bonded Ribbon and Flat ribbon, in addition to its loose tube optical cables. These products are designed to ensure faster rollout, superior network longevity, and high scalability, aligning perfectly with Windstream Wholesale's requirements for metro, and long-haul optical networks, which currently provide up to 400G wave services to its customers and will support 800G transmission in the future.

“For us, it is a top priority to deliver the best reach and customer experience to our consumers, including the world’s largest hyperscalers,” said Buddy Bayer, President of Windstream Wholesale and Enterprise. “And we want to do it fast. Windstream sets the bar high in terms of technology and engineering and we are confident that STL, with nearly 30 years of Optical expertise and global footprint, will ably support our connectivity ambitions. It's a bonus that both companies are also equally committed to rural broadband.”

 “STL and Windstream are extremely well positioned to take advantage of future market opportunities such as the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program,” said Jeff Small, President of Kinetic by Windstream. “Kinetic is committed to bringing the fastest, most reliable internet service to residents in under-connected communities using the best construction materials manufactured here in America.”

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Ooredoo Qatar demos first data call in 5G SA with Nokia

Ooredoo Qatar, in collaboration with Nokia, carried its first data call in 5G SA mode in the capital city of Doha. Nokia AirFrame servers, Cloud Mobility Manager, Cloud Mobile Gateway, and CloudBand Application Manager were used to conduct the 5G SA data call. 

The 5G SA will allow Ooredoo Qatar to provide an enriched experience for low-latency applications and use cases that need to be managed remotely in real time. 

In another country-first, Nokia 5G Standalone Core has enabled 5G devices that are VoNR-capable to make and receive supreme quality voice and video calls over a pure dedicated 5G Standalone network. 

Nokia said its 5G SA solution also enables faster call setup, faster simultaneous data services and enhanced network reliability compared to Voice over LTE (VoLTE) for Ooredoo’s customers. 

Samar Mittal, head of Cloud and Network Services (CNS), MEA market at Nokia, said: “5G SA is essential to deliver several 5G use cases like Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Industry 4.0, among others. The successful data call in 5G SA reiterates the strength of our 5G solutions that enable service providers to ensure the best-in-class experience for its subscribers.”

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Ericsson showcases energy-smart 5G site

Ericsson unveiled a new smart and sustainable 5G site featuring its ultra-lightweight mid-band Massive MIMO AIR 6419, RAN Processor 6651 along with Enclosure 6160, which comprises of a Solar shelf 6670, lithium-ion Batteries 6612, and Controller 6610 for hybrid energy operation and control.

The site will feature advanced capabilities such as load shifting, peak shaving, and demand response which enables the site to effectively utilize batteries when electricity rates are high and recharge the batteries when electricity rates are lower.

The company says this setup has the potential to be fully operated by solar energy, complemented by integrated Lithium-ion batteries, for up to a 24-hour period. 

We're thrilled to announce this smart-sustainable 5G site, which serves as a tangible proof point of Ericsson's leading position in building sustainable mobile networks," said Kevin Zvokel, Senior Vice President and Head of Networks, Ericsson North America. "Operators can now utilize untapped assets, thanks to this technology, creating new energy cost savings opportunities."

https://www.ericsson.com

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Celestial AI appoints Bethany Mayer to Board

Celestial AI, a start-up developing an optical interconnect for disaggregated, exascale compute and memory clusters, appointed Bethany Mayer to its Company’s Board of Directors.

Ms. Mayer currently serves as Chair of the Board at Box, Inc. and also serves as an independent board member at Sempra Energy, Lam Research and Ambri. In addition, she is an executive advisor with Siris Capital Group LLC. She previously served on the boards of Marvel Technology and Pulse Secure.

Ms. Mayer was formerly the president and CEO of Ixia, which was acquired for $1.7B by Keysight Technologies in 2018. Prior to Ixia, she served as the senior vice president and general manager of HP’s $2.5B Networking business unit, which she grew for 14 consecutive quarters. In addition, she served as vice president, marketing and alliances for HP’s Enterprise Servers Storage and Networking Group. Ms. Mayer also served as senior vice president of marketing and alliances for Blue Coat Systems and held leadership roles at Cisco Systems and Apple. 

https://www.celestial.ai

• Earlier this month, Celestial AI announced $100 million in Series B funding.

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Ribbon appoints Joni Roberts as CMO

Ribbon Communications appointed Joni Roberts as Chief Marketing Officer, SVP, reporting to Chief Executive Officer Bruce McClelland.

Ms. Roberts previously served as Vice President of Sales and Business Development for North America at RAD Data. Prior to RAD, she ran a global sales team at ADVA where she spearheaded efforts to open new markets in Latin America. Ms. Roberts had held senior positions at Fujitsu, Coriant, Dell, and Nortel.

https://www.rbbn.com

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