Qwilt Unveils its Unified, Transparent Video Caching

Qwilt, a start-up based in Redwood Shores, California, unveiled its QB-Series transparent-video delivery appliance for helping carriers gain control over Internet-video traffic on their networks. The company claims its QB-Series appliance can help operators reduce video traffic demands by 60-80%.


Qwilt is using proprietary video-content classification and analysis technology to transparently detect video content in an operator's Internet-traffic stream. Qwilt then adds optimized storage and delivery capabilities in a unified appliance.
http://www.qwilt.com

• In October 2011, raised $24 million in two rounds of funding for its development of video infrastructure products. The company's mission is to help Internet Service Providers to more efficiently and cost-effectively deliver high-quality video to their customers from sources like Netflix, YouTube and Amazon. The platform will identify, monitor, store and deliver Internet video. Qwilt's funding comes from Accel Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Crescent Point Group and other investors. The company, founded in 2010 by veterans of Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks.



• Qwilt is headed by Alon Maor, who previously was at Cisco where he oversaw the development and operations of the Service Control Engine (SCE) product line. Alon joined Cisco following the $200M acquisition of P-Cube.

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Cisco Updates its Unified Computing Systems (UCS)

Cisco announced a series of enhancements and upgrades to its Unified Computing System, which integrates network, compute, virtualization and management. The changes, which are aimed at delivering third-generation fabric computing, leverage the newly announced Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family and includes multiple server form factors. The new Intel silicon provides far greater server density and efficiency, with up to eight times the memory capacity and four times the I/O compared to previous UCS servers. In addition, the Cisco UCS Manager now allows IT administrators to manage both blade and rack servers as a common entity, and extends the management domain to span thousands of servers across data centers around the world.


In the second half of 2012, Cisco will introduce technology to support large-scale UCS deployments through centralized management for multiple UCS domains, spanning thousands of servers either in a single data center or spread across data centers around the world, providing industry-leading automation and orchestration for cloud environments.


Some highlights:


The chassis I/O module 2204XP provides options for 80Gbps and 160Gbps down to each chassis to handle workload bursts. The module also offers port channeling, which allows load balancing across all ports to improve efficiency and resiliency through higher link utilization and bandwidth.


The Cisco UCS 6296UP Fabric Interconnect doubles the switching capacity of the UCS fabric (from 960Gbps to 1.92Tbps) and reduces end-to-end latency by 40 percent.


The Cisco UCS 6200 Series combined with the Cisco Nexus Fabric Extender extends Cisco UCS Manager benefits to larger scale UCS deployments for both blade and rack form factors.


Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server: The enterprise-class Cisco UCS B200 M3 server provides performance, versatility, and density in a half-blade form factor, delivering balanced, industry-leading density through its 24 DIMM slots and up to 80 gigabits of I/O bandwidth. Greater density, performance and bandwidth mean business applications can run faster, more cost-effectively, and more efficiently.


UCS C220 M3 Rack Server: The Cisco UCS C220 M3 Rack Server is a one-rack-unit (1RU) server designed for performance and density for a wide range of business workloads, from Web services to distributed databases.


UCS C240 M3 Rack Server: The Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack Server is a two-rack-unit (2RU) server designed for both performance and expandability over a wide range of storage-intensive infrastructure workloads, from big data to collaboration.


Cisco also cited growing market traction for UCS. Since it was introduced in, 2009, nearly 11,000 customers worldwide have deployed Cisco UCS to unify their data centers.
http://www.cisco.com

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Ericsson Scales its Packet Optical Transport Platform to Multi-Terabit

Ericsson is extending its SPO Packet Optical Transport Platform (POTP) family from the Metro Access to the Metro Regional network to support popular packet, TDM and wavelength services on one platform.


Ericsson’s SPO 1400 family, which leverages a Unified Packet/OTN Switch Fabric, integrates OTN, SONET/SDH and PDH support and performance, L2 connection oriented Ethernet switching and aggregation and WDM technology. The product family previously scaled from 2-service slots and 40G of capacity to a chassis-platform offering 16-service slots and 800G of capacity.


The new SPO 1480 scales the solution to 32/40 service slots and a switching fabric with 3.2 Tbps of capacity. It brings fully non-blocking ODU-0 granularity to the metro regional aggregation and it also introduces 100 Gbps Coherent DWDM interfaces.


Ericsson said the value proposition of its SPO POTP family is the ability to deliver low and high order TDM and packet and wavelength services across the Metro Access and Regional network on a common set of platforms with a single multilayer IP Transport Network Management Systems (IPT NMS). The hybrid TDM-WDM-Packet architecture provides the flexibility to optimize node configurations for location and cost with the ability to scale optical capacity without sacrificing shelf switching capacity.


"Ericsson’s latest SPO release provides network operators with a single platform that spans the metro from access/aggregation to regional/core," said Phil Winterbottom, Head of Optical & Metro Product Management at Ericsson. "By providing an integrated platform that supports all the networking layers from WDM to TDM and Packet, we have provided the simplest and most cost-effective path for modernizing metro optical networks delivering real value to our customers."


The new platform was on display at this week's OFC/NFOEC in Los Angeles.
http://www.ericsson.com

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Altera Lowers Q1 Financial Guidance

Altera lowered its first quarter 2012 revenue guidance. Initially, the company expected a 5 to 9 percent sequential revenue decline, largely the result of program timing in the military vertical market and continued softness in sales to wireless customers. Altera now says that as the quarter has progressed, it has experienced somewhat more pronounced and broader than anticipated inventory adjustment related weakness and now believes that first quarter revenue will be 7 to 9 percent lower than fourth quarter levels.


The company continues to expect that revenue in the second quarter of 2012 will be above first quarter levels. Quarter-to-date book to bill remains above 1.0.
http://www.altera.com

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TI Lowers Financial Guidance, Cites Weaker Wireless Sales

Texas Instruments lowered its expected ranges for revenue and earnings per share (EPS) for Q1, citing lower demand for its wireless products.


The company currently expects its financial results to be within the following ranges:


Revenue: $2.99 – 3.11 billion compared with the prior range of $3.02 – 3.28 billion

EPS: $0.15 – 0.19 compared with the prior range of $0.16 – 0.24.
http://www.ti.com

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Mindspeed Intros Third-Generation Burst-Mode Laser Driver

Mindspeed Technologies introduced the third generation of its burst-made laser drivers for optical networking units (ONUs) for GEPON GPON. The highly integrated solution features power-saving sleep and current reduction modes and supports data rates to 3.1Gbps in a small 4x4 mm package.


"The M02099 family of burst-mode laser driver chipsets builds on the feature set of our widely deployed M02090 and M02098 drivers, including lower power dual-closed-loop EyeMinder™ technology that delivers real-time monitoring and compensation for laser aging and temperature effects,�? said Gary Shah, vice president of product marketing, high performance analog (HPA) at Mindspeed.
http://www.mindspeed.com

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Exinda Raises $12 Million for WAN Optimization

Exinda, a start-up based in Boston, raised $12 million in series B funding for its WAN optimization solutions incorporating Unified Performance Management.

Unlike conventional approaches to WAN optimization which focus primarily on mass data compression and optimization, Exinda’s performance assurance technology introduces user and application profiling for precision optimization. Exinda’s assurance architecture targets 52 unique user and application attributes to optimize traffic to assure the network meets its business service level agreements.

The round saw participation from existing investor OpenView Venture Partners as well as attracting new investment from Greenspring Associates.
http://www.exinda.com

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Actelis Supplies EFM to Harzwasserwerke GmbH

Harzwasserwerke GmbH has selected Actelis Networks' high-performance Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) solutions to replace legacy Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH) and outdated E1 technology. The water utility has deployed Actelis’ ML600s Ethernet Access Devices (EADs), which deliver high-speed broadband services over the company’s existing copper and fiber networks. The compact, cost-effective EADs deliver up to 100Mbps of symmetrical bandwidth over the existing copper network.


Harzwasserwerke is one of the largest suppliers of water in Germany, delivering about90 billion litres of water annually over a system of more than 500km of pipeline. The distribution system consists of several substations and sophisticated sensors that are constantly monitoring the pipeline and communication with a centralized data center.


Partnering with Actelis on the project, 3M Services GmbH is responsible for delivering a complete end-to-end network solution.http://

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Ciena Posts Revenue of $416.7M, Net Loss of $48M

Ciena reported revenue of $416.7 million for its fiscal first quarter 2012. Net loss for the fiscal first quarter 2012 was $(47.7) million, or $(0.49) per common share, which compares to a GAAP net loss of $(79.1) million, or $(0.84) per common share, for the fiscal first quarter 2011.


"Our first quarter revenue reflects the combined effects of seasonality and longer customer deployment and revenue recognition cycles as a result of our greater mix of international and solutions-oriented sales," said Gary Smith, president and CEO of Ciena. "However, our first quarter revenue does not reflect the underlying strength of the business and ongoing customer demand. We expect sequential revenue growth in the fiscal second quarter, and we anticipate that our operating results for the second half of fiscal 2012 will be stronger than the first half."http://

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IBM Labs Develops "Holey" CMOS Optochip Hits Terabit Rates

Researchers at IBM Labs have achieved terabit data transfer speeds by fabricating tiny holes in a single quarter-inch parallel optochip. Potential applications include ultra-high interconnect bandwidth to power future supercomputer and data center applications.


The prototype optical chipset, dubbed "Holey Optochip", is the first parallel optical transceiver to hit the terabit mark.


"Reaching the one trillion bit per second mark with the Holey Optochip marks IBM's latest milestone to develop chip-scale transceivers that can handle the volume of traffic in the era of big data," said IBM Researcher Clint Schow, part of the team that built the prototype. "We have been actively pursuing higher levels of integration, power efficiency and performance for all the optical components through packaging and circuit innovations. We aim to improve on the technology for commercialization in the next decade with the collaboration of manufacturing partners."


According to IBM, the 48 holes which were fabricated through a standard silicon CMOS chip, allow optical access through the back of the chip to 24 receiver and 24 transmitter channels to produce an ultra-compact, high-performing and power-efficient optical module capable of record setting data transfer rates. The Holey Optochip achieves record speed at a power efficiency (the amount of power required to transmit a bit of information) that is among the best ever reported. The transceiver consumes less than five watts; the power consumed by a 100W light bulb could power 20 transceivers. This progress in power efficient interconnects is necessary to allow companies who adopt high-performance computing to manage their energy load while performing powerful applications such as analytics, data modeling and forecasting.


Specifically, a single 90-nanometer IBM CMOS transceiver IC with 24 receiver and 24 transmitter circuits becomes a Holey Optochip with the fabrication of forty-eight through-silicon holes, or "optical vias" – one for each transmitter and receiver channel. Twenty-four channel, industry-standard 850-nm VCSEL (vertical cavity surface emitting laser) and photodiode arrays are directly flip-chip soldered to the Optochip.
http://www.ibm.com

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NTT Announces 10 Gbps Optical Amplification with 100km Reach

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) announced a new optical amplification technology capable of delivering 10 Gbps at 100km reach. The technology was developed in collaboration with Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology.


NTT Access Network Service Systems Laboratories said the new optical amplification technology provides inexpensive wide dynamic range optical amplifiers and can handle burst signals generated in Ethernet PON systems. The optical amplification technology includes an automatic level control (ALC) technology that can assess the input burst signals and, at high speed, adjust them to a constant level by controlling optical attenuators.


In a field trial carried out in Hokkaido prefecture, NTT East buildings in Sapporo, Toyohira, Eniwa and Chitose were connected by optical fibers with total length over 100km. Good results were reported.
http://www.ntt.co.jp

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Apple's New iPad Packs LTE

In what could be a major inflection point for adoption of LTE, Apple confirmed that its new iPad will offer LTE. In the United States, both AT&T and Verizon are offering LTE iPad connectivity, however the user must choose at the time of purchase as the devices are configured for each carrier's network.


Significantly, iPad users will be able to sign-up and leave the service on a monthly basis -- no long term contract. The new iPad also tracks your monthly data usage and alerts you to a coming threshold.


If the carrier supports it, the iPad can now be used as a personal Wi-Fi hotspot to connect up to five devices.


Among its other upgraded features, the new iPad also records in full 1080p. The huge video files will be uploaded via iCloud for offline storage and/or transfer to other devices.


iPad Wi-Fi + 4G for either AT&T or Verizon will be available for a suggested retail price of $629 (US) for the 16GB model, $729 (US) for the 32GB model and $829 (US) for the 64GB model.
http://www.apple.com

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Stanford's Dr. Per Enge Joins Polaris Wireless

Polaris Wireless, which specializes in high-accuracy, software-based wireless location solutions,has appointed Per K. Enge, Ph.D, as its chief technical advisor.


Dr. Enge is a Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University, where he is the Kleiner-Perkins, Mayfield, Sequoia Capital Professor in the School of Engineering. He directs the GPS Research Laboratory, which develops satellite navigation systems based on the Global Positioning System (GPS).


Dr. Enge is co-author of the textbook "Global Positioning System: Signals, Measurements, and Performance" which is designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to GPS and has received the Kepler, Thurlow and Burka Awards from the Institute of Navigation (ION) for his work.
http://www.polariswireless.com

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Oclaro and Huawei Collaborate on Petabit Photonic Cross Connect

Oclaro has supplied ultra-fast switching lasers to Huawei for development of its Petabit Photonic Cross-Connect (PPXC), which performs petabit OTN switching with fine granularity.


The companies said agile and ultra-large capacity OTN switching is a promising technology for future optical networks.


"Fast tunable lasers have great potential in Huawei's future optical network architectures and we are excited to see that Oclaro has successfully developed this enabling laser system with nanosecond tuning time," said Changtian Cai, President of Huawei Transport Network. "We believe that all-optical cross connect technology will give an unparalleled advantage to ultra large capacity OTN switch clusters of future transport backbone networks, large data centers and other application scenarios and by partnering with a proven technology and manufacturing leader such as Oclaro, we can bring higher performance network equipment into our customers."http://www.oclaro.com

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Calient Introduces 320-Port Photonic Switch

CALIENT Technologies introduced a new 320-port photonic switch designed for data center applications.


The new S320, which leverages the company's patented 3D microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) switching technology, can be used to create a scalable, flexible, switched network fabric, with total throughput of 3.2 TB that connects top-of-rack switches and core routers.


CALIENT’s enabling technology is a three-dimensional array of silicon micro mirrors that are used to switch up to 320 incoming fiber optic signals from any port to any output port. The module delivers switching speed of less than 25 milliseconds, and offers redundant control processors and high availability Linux OS carrier-grade OS.
http://www.calient.net

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Intel Unwraps New Xeon Processors for the Data Center

Intel unveiled its Xeon processor E5-2600 product family aimed at high-performance servers supporting cloud applications in next-gen data centers.


Highlights of the Xeon E5-2600s include:

Up to eight cores per processor


Up to 768GB of system memory


Increased performance by up to 80 percent, compared to the previous-generation Intel Xeon processor 5600 series.


Support for Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0, Intel Hyper-Threading Technology and Intel Virtualization Technology


Support for Intel Advanced Vector Extension (Intel AVX), which increases the performance on compute-intensive applications such as financial analysis, media content creation and high performance computing up to 2 times.


Support for tools to monitor and control power usage such as Intel Node Manager and Intel Data Center Manager, which provide accurate, real-time power and thermal data to system management consoles.


Support for Intel Integrated I/O (Intel IIO) and Intel Data Direct I/O (Intel DDIO). Intel DDIO allows Intel Ethernet controllers and adapters to route I/O traffic directly to processor cache, reducing trips to system memory reducing power consumption and I/O latency. The Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family is also the first server processors to integrate the I/O controller supporting PCI Express 3.0 directly into the microprocessor.


Support for Intel Advanced Encryption Standard New Instruction (Intel AES-NI14), which helps systems to quickly encrypt and decrypt data running over a range of applications and transactions.


Support for Intel Trusted Execution Technology (Intel TXT15), which creates a trusted foundation to reduce the infrastructure exposure to malicious attacks. These features in partnership with leading software applications will help IT protect their data centers against attack and scale to meet the demands of their customers.
http://www.intel.com

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Huawei Shows 400G and Peta-bit Cross-Connect

At this week's OFC/NFOEC 2012 Conference in Los Angeles, Huawei is showcasing ultra long-haul (UHL) 100G optical transport, next gen 400G, and its Petabit Cross-Connect technology.


Some highlights:


100G Coherent Solutions with Hard-Decision Forward Error Correction (HD-FEC) and improved performance Soft-Decision Forward Error Correction (SD-FEC) for high-capacity, Ultra Long-Haul (ULH) applications;
Next-generation 400G technology providing a sneak-peek at what is on the horizon for improving spectral efficiency by unlocking higher bit-rate capacities beyond 100G;


Petabit/s Photonic Cross-Connect (PPXC) technology utilizing a scalable, high-capacity switching architecture for management of 100G+ wavelengths at large add/drop sites of the future.


Following its successful ULH transmission of 100G coherent solutions across 3,000km of Corning SMF-28 ULL optical fiber (an ultra-low-loss ITU-T G.652-compliant optical fiber) in the fall of 2011, Huawei is demonstrating its second-generation 100G solution, a single wavelength, Optical Interoperability Forum (OIF) compliant technology utilizing SD-FEC which improves 100G system reach up to 30 percent.


Huawei is also highlighting its first-generation 400G technology utilizing Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) Polarization Division Multiplexing-16 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (PDM-16QAM), enabling up to 16 Tbps of capacity at 100 GHz spacing or 21 Tbps of fiber capacity by removing guard bands with flex-grid technology.
http://www.huawei.com

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Verizon Launches Residential Broadband over LTE

Verizon Wireless introduced HomeFusion Broadband: a new service that provides high-speed in-home Internet access over its 4G LTE network. Verizon believes the service will appeal in areas with limited broadband options.


The LTE connection is delivered to a cylinder-shaped antenna which transmits the signal to a broadband router inside the home. The antenna is professionally installed at the customer's home. The design includes multiple internal antennae allowing the device to pick up Verizon's 4G LTE signal. The broadband router can connect up to four wired and at least 20 wireless devices inside the home using Wi-Fi.


HomeFusion Broadband will be available beginning later this month in Birmingham, Ala., Dallas and Nashville, Tenn., with additional markets to follow. Verizon Wireless is working with Asurion, a trusted leader in consumer technology protection services, for installation.


Customers can choose several usage-based plans, beginning at $59.99 monthly access for 10 GB, specifically designed for HomeFusion Broadband. A one-time equipment fee of $199.99 applies, and installation is free.


"HomeFusion Broadband is just one of the new products and services that is made possible with our 4G LTE network," said Tami Erwin, vice president and chief marketing officer, Verizon Wireless. "Customers want to connect more and more devices in their homes to the Internet, and HomeFusion Broadband gives them a simple, fast and effective way to bring the most advanced wireless connection from Verizon into their homes."http://

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NSN to Transfer Some Assets to Tieto

Tieto and Nokia Siemens Networks announced a deal on the planned outsourcing of part of the maintenance, technical support and R&D for Nokia Siemens Networks’ mobile network Operations Support System (OSS) and Subscriber Data Management (SDM) activities in Finland. As part of the planned outsourcing, approximately 240 employees who are working primarily in R&D in Tampere and Espoo will also transfer to Tieto as existing employees. The planned transaction will strengthen Tieto’s position as an outsourcing provider of both R&D and IT services. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com

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FBI Makes Key Arrests in LulzSec Case

Five computer hackers in the United States and abroad were arrested and charged with crimes ranging from computer hacking conspiracy, fraud, conspiracy to commit access device fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and other offenses. Those arrested include principle members of "Anonymous" and "LulzSec".


In addition, Hector Xavier Monsegur, also know as "Sabu", "Xavier DeLeon", or "Leon", pled guilty on August 15, 2011 in U.S. District Court to a 12-count information charging him with computer hacking conspiracies and other crimes. His testimony is believed to have led to the arrest of the other members of LulzSec.


Between December 2010 and June 2011, LulzSec claimed responsibility for a series of brazen cyber attacks, including denial of service (Do�?) attacks against the websites of Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal, as retaliation for the refusal of these companies to process donations to Wikileaks, as well as hacks or DoS attacks on foreign government computer systems. Since then, the attacks have continued under other representations.
http://www.fbi.gov

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