Cisco Tackles Network Storage with 24 Tbps Director Switch

Cisco introduced a multilayer storage director boasting 24 terabits per second of total switching capacity, almost three times the bandwidth of any director in the industry, along with a new fabric switch. The products are aimed at serving massive amounts of data, solid state drives (SSD) and cloud-based environments.

The new Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director supports both high-density Fibre Channel and Fibre Channel over Ethernet, enabling consistent SAN and LAN networking operations. It builds on the company's MDS heritage of nonstop operations, including software upgrades, by providing the highest fault-tolerant capabilities with fully redundant (N+1) fans, switching fabrics, and power-supplies or grid redundancy (N:N). It accepts new 48-port 16 GB Fibre Channel and 48-port 10 GB FCoE line cards, enabling the platform to scale up to 384 line-rate 16 GB Fibre Channel ports or FCoE in a single 14 RU chassis.

The Cisco MDS 9250i Multiservice Fabric Switch delivers storage services, including Cisco I/O accelerator and Data Mobility Manager, which improve SAN efficiency by performing important storage services centrally in the fabric.  It offers up to 40 line-rate ports of 16GB FC/FICON, 8 ports of 10 GE FCoE, and 2 ports of 1/10GE FCIP/iSCSI, while delivering a rich set of storage services via licensing. A SAN Extension capability enables backup, remote replication, and other disaster-recovery services over WAN distances using open-standards FCIP tunneling. In addition, a Cisco I/O Accelerator (IOA) provides acceleration for MAN/WAN applications, and wire encryption for backup and replication operations, making disaster recovery and regulatory compliance easier.

http://newsroom.cisco.com/release/1176617

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Ericsson Sees Strong Growth in North America, Other Regions Stall

Ericsson reported Q1 2013 net sales of SEK 52.0 billion (US$7.84 billion), down 22% compared to Q4 2012 but up 2% compared to Q1 2012. Operating income, including joint ventures, was SEK 2.1 billion,  with an operating margin of 4.0%.

"Sales showed positive development in the quarter with a growth of 2% YoY, despite currency headwind. Sales for comparable units, adjusted for FX and hedging, grew 7%," said Hans Vestberg, President and CEO of Ericsson.

"The sales increase was primarily driven by Networks and rollout services, following high project activities primarily in Europe and North America. North America remained the strongest region and showed a growth of 23% despite the decline in CDMA. North East Asia had a challenging quarter with lower sales in South Korea, which remains one of the most advanced LTE markets but without parallel 3G deployments as in Q112, continued structural decline in GSM investments in China and FX effects in Japan," added Vestberg.

Some highlights:

• Networks sales increased 3% YoY, primarily driven by North America and South East Asia. Networks sales decreased -20% QoQ, partly due to lower sales in North East Asia, offset by continued high business activity in North America.
• Global Services grew 4% YoY, driven by Network Rollout and decreased -24% QoQ, partly due to lower business activity in North East Asia and delays in LTE deployments in Latin America.
• Support Solutions sales declined -19% YoY and -33% QoQ, mainly due to the divestment of Multimedia Brokering (IPX) in Q312 and negative FX effects.
• Restructuring charges for the Group amounted to SEK 1.8 (0.6) b., of which SEK 1.4 b. related to the significant reduction of operations in Sweden.

http://www.ericsson.com

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Sprint's Network Vision Remains On Track

Sprint reported wireless service revenue of $7.1 billion for its Sprint platform network, up nearly 9 percent year-over-year. Consolidated net service revenues of nearly $8 billion were flat year-over-year as Sprint platform growth offset declines in Nextel platform and Wireline revenues.  Operating income for the quarter was $29 million as compared to a loss of $255 million in the year-ago
period.

"This is a transformative year for Sprint and we’ve gotten off to a good start,” said Dan Hesse, Sprint CEO. "Record Sprint platform service revenue and subscriber levels fueled our performance. We achieved significant Adjusted OIBDA growth while investing heavily to improve our network, expanding our 4G LTE footprint and offering customers the best smartphones with truly unlimited data plans."

Some highlights from Q1:

• The company's Network Vision deployment is on track.  To date, there are more than 13,500 sites on air compared to more than 8,000 reported on Feb. 7. The number of sites that are either ready for construction, already underway or completed has grown to more than 25,000.
• Sprint's LTE network is now operational in 88 cities, including newly launched Los Angeles, Boston and Charlotte, N.C.. The company expects that 4G LTE will be available in more than 170 additional cities in the coming months.
• At the end of Q1, there were 53,896,000 subscribers on the Sprint platform, up by 356,00 for the quarter.
• At the end of Q1, there were 1,315,000 subscribers left on the Nextel network. Sprint captured about 46% of exiting Nextel customers in Q1.
• Sprint platform prepaid net adds of 568,000, including 67,000 subscribers recaptured from the Nextel prepaid platform
• The Nextel network will be deactivated on June 30.
• 86% of quarterly Sprint platform postpaid handset sales were smartphones, including more than 1.5 million iPhones sold during the quarter. Forty-three percent of iPhone sales were to new customers. 
• 
  
• Postpaid ARPU on the Sprint platform was $63.67 for Q1.

http://www.sprint.com

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Gigamon's Unified Visibility Fabric Architecture Spans Physical, Virtual, SDN

Gigamon outlined its vision for software-defined monitoring based on a four-layer architecture: a Services Layer, a Management Layer, an Orchestration Layer and an Applications Layer.

Gigamon said its strategy is to develop a unified Visibility Fabric architecture that would ultimately deliver orchestrated visibility across physical, virtual and software-defined networks (SDN). This will build on Gigamon's existing architecture and the principles of SDN to provide a centralized, programmable approach that aims to bridge the gap between the raw data passing through the network and optimally presenting that data to the tools that monitor, manage, secure and ensure application and network performance.

• The Services Layer currently provides advanced Flow Mapping® and intelligent packet optimization and normalization using GigaSMART technology across physical and virtual worlds and, and Gigamon expects to expand this layer to include software defined data networks with the GigaVUE-CV application which is currently being developed as a proof of concept.
• The Management Layer consists of the GigaVUE-FM (Fabric Manager) which provides centralized management and a common policy framework for multi-department and multi-tenant traffic monitoring and manipulation policies across the Visibility Fabric architecture.
• The Orchestration Layer will be developed by Gigamon to provide an open environment through a set of forthcoming APIs and SDKs to enable third party development of applications.  
• The Applications Layer will consist of a set of visibility applications to be developed by Gigamon, as well as through independent software vendors to deliver optimal tool utilization and performance.

"As data networks evolve from physical to virtual to software-defined networks (SDN), the role of network visibility needs to evolve as well," said Shehzad Merchant, Chief Strategy Officer at Gigamon. "The Gigamon Unified Visibility Fabric architecture has advanced the vision from providing intelligent traffic filtering and aggregation, to a centralized, policy driven fabric that serves multiple constituents, departments and tools, each with their own policy model. Going forward, we expect that the Unified Visibility Fabric architecture would enable customers to implement 'Visibility as a Service'. And, as Gigamon continues to develop its offerings, our vision is that this ability will not just be for the physical network, but also across virtual and SDN 'islands' as well."

http://www.gigamon.com/visibility-fabric-architecture

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EarthLink Opens Data Center in Dallas for Cloud Hosting

EarthLink announced the opening of a new data center in Dallas.

EarthLink said it is also preparing to open three additional data centers in Chicago, San Jose and Miami in the coming months. These four new data centers, in addition to the existing center in Pittsford, NY, provide the company with a total of five data centers on its next generation cloud hosting platform.

EarthLink also operates data centers in Atlanta, Columbia, SC and Marlborough, MA., all linked to its nationwide IP network.

http://www.earthlink.net/about/press/pressrelease.faces?id=960

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Transmode Picked for 100G Backbone in Hong Kong

Hutchison Global Communications Limited (HGC) awarded a 3-year contract to Transmode to supply a ROADM-based 100G optical backbone network for a new high capacity network in Hong Kong.

Under the frame agreement, HGC will deploy Transmode’s TM-Series including Gigabit Ethernet, 2.5G, 10G, 40G and 100G transport over an 80-wavelength ROADM-based Flexible Optical Network with Transmode’s Enlighten multi-layer management suite. The first deliveries for the project have already started and initial services are planned to be operational in H1, 2013.

The new network, which will cover the entire region, including Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Territories, will initially serve corporate and wholesale customers by interconnecting a large number of customer premises, data centres and submarine cable landing stations.

http://www.transmode.com

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Broadband Forum Approves Specs for VDLS2 Testing

The Broadband Forum released its BroadbandSuite 6.1, offering practical implementation resources, functional and performance test plans, and best practice specification for DSL quality assurance.  Notable items include the following technical specifications:

• TR-114i2: “VDSL2 Performance Test Plan”
• TR-115i2: “VDSL2 Functionality Test Plan”
• TR-273: “Testing of Bonded Multi-pair Systems”
• TR-286: “Testing of MELT Functionality on xDSL Ports”
• TR-188i2: “DSL Quality Suite”

BroadbandSuite 6.1 is a resource of global test plans for ADSL2plus and VDSL2 function and performance. It also defines vectoring and bonding options for supercharging DSL, and key methods for improving quality measurements, IPTV service delivery and techniques for DSL network management.

"BroadbandSuite 6.1 gives operators a way to boost their existing copper deployments as a valuable part of the multi-access platform that is emerging around the world. High speed VDSL2 works well with fiber, providing Operators the ability to capitalize on existing investments whilst effectively engineering hybrid FTTx solutions to minimize costs, all the while maximizing speed and reach of their superfast broadband networks," stated Robin Mersh, CEO of the Broadband Forum.

http://www.broadband-forum.org

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Qualcomm Posts Q1 Revenue of $6.12 Billion, up 24% YoY

Qualcomm reported Q1 revenue of $6.12 billion, up 24 percent year-over-year  and 2 percent sequentially.  Net income was $1.87 billion, down 16 percent YoY and 2 percent sequentially.  Diluted earnings per share were $1.06, down 17 percent YoY and 3 percent sequentially.

During the quarter, MSM chip shipments reached 173 million units, up 14 percent YoY and down 5 percent sequentially.

"We delivered another strong quarter as the worldwide adoption of smartphones continues,” saidDr. Paul E. Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm. “Looking forward, we are seeing strong traction with our new Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 and 800 processors, and we continue to expect healthy growth in 3G and 3G/4G multimode devices around the world. We are pleased to be raising our calendar 2013 3G/4G device shipment estimates and our revenue and earnings guidance for fiscal 2013.”

http://www.qualcomm.com

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F5 Posts Revenue of $365.5 Million, Down 4%

F5 Networks reported revenue of $350.2 million for its second quarter of fiscal 2013, down four percent from $365.5 million in the prior quarter and up three percent from $339.6 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2012.  GAAP net income was $63.4 million ($0.80 per diluted share) compared to $69.5 million ($0.88 per diluted share) in the first quarter of 2013 and $68.6 million ($0.86 per diluted share) in the second quarter a year ago.

“As we indicated in our announcement of preliminary results on April 4, service provider revenues for the second quarter came in significantly below our expectations,” said John McAdam, F5 president and chief executive officer.  “We believe this was primarily due to project delays, which caused customers to postpone orders that we had expected to close during the quarter. The weakness in sales to service providers was especially pronounced in North America. In addition, sales to the Federal government were also below our internal forecast as a consequence of continuing uncertainty over the impact of sequestration and other efforts to reduce Federal spending.

http://www.f5networks.com

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Infinera Posts Q1 Revenue of $124.6 Million, Loss Narrows

Infinera reported Q1 revenue of $124.6 million, compared to $128.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 and $104.7 million in the first quarter of 2012.  The GAAP gross margin for Q1 was 34% compared to 34% in the fourth quarter of 2012 and 39% in the first quarter of 2012.  GAAP net loss for the quarter was $(15.3) million, or $(0.13) per share, compared to net loss of $(16.1) million, or $(0.14) per share, in the fourth quarter of 2012 and net loss of $(20.6) million, or $(0.19) per share, in the first quarter of 2012.

“Our first quarter performance demonstrated solid execution in a traditionally slow quarter for the industry,” said Tom Fallon, president and chief executive officer.  “The DTN-X platform continued to gain traction in the market.  During the quarter, we received purchase commitments from six additional customers, including two new to Infinera, for a total of 27 DTN-X customer commitments to date.  Customer deployments were strong and we shipped a record number of 100G ports.

http://www.infinera.com

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Ceragon Lands $8 Million Order in South America

Ceragon confirmed that a leading mobile operator in the Southern Cone region of Latin America has placed new orders valued at more than $8 million. The project has been ongoing since early 2012.

Ceragon is supplying its FibeAir IP-10 and Evolution Long Haul solutions to help connect new 3G sites while expanding the capacity of the network’s backbone. The project is expected to be completed by Q3 2013.

http://www.ceragon.com

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Infonetics: Ethernet Surge Continues, 40G and 100G Prices Decline

The number of 1G, 10G, 40G, and 100G network ports shipped on service provider and enterprise equipment in 2012 grew 22% over the previous year, to top 360 million, according to a new report from Infonetics.

“Overall, shipments of all port speeds have been on a steady upward path as a result of growing network traffic and the need to constantly upgrade networks, but the revenue growth opportunity is in higher-speed ports (10G, 40G, 100G – excluding 1G), shipments for which shot up 62% in 2012,” notes Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise networks and video at Infonetics Research.

Some highlights:

• 10G currently accounts for about 3/4 of all high-speed (10G+) ports shipped
• 1G ports still make up a significant portion of overall shipments and will continue growing as 1G becomes the standard in service provider and enterprise access networks
• Asia Pacific leads all geographic regions in port shipments, aided by increasing adoption in previously lagging emerging economies and ubiquitous Ethernet services.

 “Revenue per port is plunging — up to 30%+ per year for new categories like 40G and 100G — and this will help drive adoption of higher speed ports. In the optical segment, I expect 100G to account for more than 10% of optical transport spending in 2013," added Andrew Schmitt, principal analyst for optical at Infonetics and co-author of the report.

http://www.infonetics.com/pr/2013/2H12-Networking-Ports-Market-Highlights.asp

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ADVA Optical Networking reported Q1 2013 revenue of EUR 77.0 million in Q1 2013, down 5.7% vs. Q1 2012 at EUR 81.7 million and down 4.0% vs. EUR 80.3 million in Q4 2012. IFRS operating income amounted to EUR 0.4 million in Q1 2013, after EUR 3.5 million in Q1 2012.

“While the temporary decline of our business related to short-term market weakness driven by adverse macro-economic conditions and temporary shifts in carrier investment priorities clearly is a disappointment, we are still pleased to report our Q1 2013 revenues of EUR 77.0 million at the upper end of guidance. Our pro forma gross margin decreased from 41.8% in Q4 2012 to 38.6% in Q1 2013, due to quarterly variations in product and customer mix. In Q1 2013, our pro forma operating margin came in at 1.0% in the upper half of guidance, demonstrating our focus on managing operational costs in this challenging environment. Also, operating cash flow at EUR 1.7 million in Q1 2013 remained positive, and our quarter-end cash & cash equivalents and net liquidity of EUR 65.3 million and EUR 36.3 million, respectively, demonstrate ongoing financial strength,” commented Jaswir Singh, chief financial officer & chief operating officer of ADVA Optical Networking.

http://www.advaoptical.com

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Orange Goes Global with its Business Together as a Service

Orange Business Services announced a global expansion of its Business Together as a Service, which provides unified communications to large enterprises.  This Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) is hosted in three regional data centers (Atlanta, Frankfurt and Singapore) that Orange Business Services has dedicated to cloud computing infrastructure.

The service provides end users with a unified telephony, email messaging, IM/presence, audio and Web conferencing, contact center service, video and mobility. Orange is provided a pay-as-you-go cloud model.

The service is powered by equipment from Cisco.

3M is using Business Together as a Service to improve collaboration and productivity among its 20,000 employees in 25 countries in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Orange Business Together as a Service is now available worldwide, including versions in 29 languages.

“Globalization, widely-dispersed teams, increased consumerization of business IT, and greater mobility are all converging, making the ‘new workspace’ essential for multinational companies,” said Vivek Badrinath, CEO, Orange Business Services. “Employees need productivity tools that make it faster and easier to get things done. Business Together as a Service enables them to have boundaryless access to those tools, which helps achieve the desired work-life balance and mobility that is expected from today’s workforce, particularly by Gen-Y talent.”

http://www.orange-business.com/en/ucaas-april23/unified-communications-global-event

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AT&T: Wireless Data Revenue up 21% in Q1

Citing a 21% surge in wireless data revenues, AT&T reported consolidated Q1 2013 revenues of $31.4 billion, down 1.5 percent versus the year-earlier quarter and up 0.9 percent when excluding revenues from the divested Advertising Solutions business unit. Net income totaled $3.7 billion, or $0.67 per diluted share, up from $3.6 billion, or $0.60 per diluted share, in the year-earlier quarter.

“Our wireless network performance continues to be terrific,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO. “And that helped drive our best ever first quarter for smartphone sales, improved wireless churn and strong growth in mobile data revenues. We also posted record sales of our U-verse high-speed IP service. Across all of these areas, we’ve built a solid foundation for future growth in mobile Internet and IP broadband, which will only expand as we progress with Project VIP.”

Some highlights for Q1:

• Project VIP is ahead of schedule. Nearly 90 percent of the LTE buildout covering AT&T's 300 million POPs will be completed by year end.
• CAPEX for 2013 is now expected in the $21 billion range. CAPEX for 2014 and 2015 are expected to be in the $20 billion range for each year, with no reduction in the Project Velocity IP (VIP) broadband expansion. Previously, the company expected capital spending of $22 billion annually in 2014 and 2015. AT&T is achieving savings through greater integration efficiencies in Project VIP, accelerating LTE build in 2013 and other ongoing initiatives.

Wireless

• Total wireless revenues, which include equipment sales, were up 3.4 percent year over year to $16.7 billion.
• Wireless service revenues increased 3.4 percent in the first quarter, to $15.1 billion. Wireless data revenues increased 21.0 percent from the year-earlier quarter to $5.1 billion. First-quarter wireless operating expenses totaled $12.0 billion, up 3.2 percent versus the year-earlier quarter, and wireless operating income was $4.7 billion, up 4.1 percent year over year.
• AT&T added 291,000 wireless subscribers in the first quarter. Subscriber additions for the quarter included postpaid net adds of 296,000. Postpaid net adds reflect 365,000 postpaid tablets added in the quarter. Connected device net adds were 431,000.
• Prepaid had a net loss of 184,000 subscribers primarily due to declines in session-based tablets and declines in GoPhone. Reseller had a net loss of 252,000.
• AT&T added 1.2 million postpaid smartphone subscribers in Q1.
• 72 percent, or 48.3 million, of AT&T's postpaid phone subscribers have smartphones, up from 61 percent, or 41.2 million, a year earlier.
• Smartphones represented 81 percent of postpaid device sales and 88 percent of postpaid phone sales in the quarter.
• AT&T’s ARPU for smartphones is about twice that of non-smartphone subscribers, and about 90 percent of postpaid subscribers are on FamilyTalk, Mobile Share or business plans.
• About 60 percent of AT&T’s postpaid smartphone customers now use a 4G-capable device, with more than half of those using LTE devices.

Wireline

• Total first-quarter wireline revenues were $14.7 billion, down 1.8 percent versus the year-earlier quarter and down 1.8 percent sequentially.
• Total U-verse revenues grew 31.5 percent year over year and were up 5.0 percent versus the fourth quarter of 2012.
• Total U-verse subscribers (TV and high speed Internet) reached 8.7 million in the first quarter.
• U-verse TV added 232,000 subscribers, its best net gain in nine quarters, to reach 4.8 million in service. U-verse High Speed Internet delivered a best-ever net gain of 731,000 subscribers to reach a total of 8.4 million. Overall, the company added 124,000 wireline broadband subscribers, the best quarterly increase in eight quarters.
• More than 56 percent of U-verse broadband subscribers have a plan delivering speeds up to 10 Mbps or higher — up from 50 percent in the year-ago quarter.
• Total business revenues were $8.9 billion, down 3.4 percent versus the year-earlier quarter, and business service revenues declined 3.5 percent year over year. Both reflected a slow economy and weak government and business spending.
• AT&T's most advanced business solutions — including VPN, Ethernet, hosting and other advanced IP services — grew 10.8 percent versus the year-earlier quarter. These services represent a $7.9 billion annualized revenue stream.

http://www.att.com/gen/landing-pages?pid=5718

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Apple Sells 37.4 million iPhones in Q1

Apple reported sales of 37.4 million iPhones in Q1, compared to 35.1 million in the year-ago quarter. iPad sales reached 19.5 million, compared to 11.8 million in the year-ago quarter. Meanwhile, sales of Macs were just under 4 million Macs, compared to 4 million in the year-ago quarter.

“We are pleased to report record March quarter revenue thanks to continued strong performance of iPhone and iPad,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

http://www.apple.com

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Vitesse Introduces Serval 2 Switch Engines for MEF CE 2.0 Services

Vitesse Semiconductor expanded its Serval Carrier Ethernet Switch Engine portfolio with new silicon optimized for IP Edge and Ethernet/MPLS access applications, including mobile backhaul, cloud access and business service delivery. The company outlined a new Vitesse Service Aware Architecture (ViSAA) that provides a hardware-based service layer for wirespeed processing needed for QoS, management, and performance monitoring of Carrier Ethernet services.

The new Serval-2 (VSC7438), which leverages the new Vitesse Service Aware Architecture (ViSAA), is designed to simplify carrier delivery of MEF CE 2.0 services in packet-based mobile and cloud access Ethernet networks.  Whereas current solutions typically involve external FPGAs or NPUs to enable Carrier Ethernet features, the Serval-2 silicon executes performance-critical functions including OAM and protection switching, and maintains wirespeed performance for even the most demanding service delivery functions.  It also integrates VeriTime nanosecond-accurate IEEE1588v2 timing technology that meets LTE and LTE-Advanced network requirements, including those of variable-rate and asymmetric millimeter wave and microwave links.

Additional features of the Serval-2 family include:

• MEF CE 2.0 ready with per connection feature control and resource allocation. Each Ethernet Virtual Connection (EVC) can utilize dedicated policers and shapers, statistics, queues, and tagging/marking schemes. Further, each connection may use built-in service activation testing when first provisioned; dedicated OAM functions ensure fault-free and SLA-compliant operation;
• Scalable support of multiple 1 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) and 10 GE ports without the need for additional external components.
• Support of multi-operator OAM&P and Service Level Agreements for Ethernet management, enabling RAN sharing and third-party backhaul ownership;
• Hierarchical QoS (H-QoS) support for high bandwidth, media rich traffic delivery over 4G networks.

Serval-2 is expected to begin sampling in Q3 2013.

"Serval-2 revolutionizes the way in which Carriers can deliver services over Ethernet for high bandwidth mobile backhaul, video distribution, cloud access and more," said Uday Mudoi, product marketing director at Vitesse. "Vitesse Service Aware Architecture enables efficient delivery of these services. Serval-2 represents Vitesse's continued focus on delivering solutions for a new generation of network access equipment for mobile/IP Edge and cloud."

http://investor.vitesse.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=758378
http://investor.vitesse.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=758312

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Akamai's State of the Internet: More Users, Faster Speeds, More Threats

The global average connection speed rose 5 percent to 2.9 Mbps, according to Akamai's newly released Fourth Quarter, 2012 State of the Internet Report.

Akamai counted nearly 700 million unique IPv4 addresses from 240 countries/regions connecting to its Intelligent Platform in 4Q 2012, representing a 13% growth over 2011.  The company estimates that over 1 billion unique Web users connected to its platform during the quarter.

Some highlights of the report:

• Year-over-year, the global unique IP address count increased by nearly 10 percent, or more than 71 million, compared to the fourth quarter of 2011.
  
• Akamai observed attack traffic from 177 unique countries/regions during the fourth quarter of 2012, down from 180 in the third quarter. China again maintained its position as the single largest volume source of observed traffic at 41 percent of the total, up from 33 percent in the prior quarter. The United States remained in the number two spot despite a drop in observed attack traffic from 13 percent to 10 percent in the fourth quarter. Turkey took over Russia's number three spot with 4.7 percent.
  
• Akamai customers reported 768 DDoS attacks in 2012, up more than 200 percent from 2011.
  
• Year-over-year, average connection speeds grew by 25 percent, with nine of the top 10 countries also demonstrating growth. In fact, only the Netherlands (3.3 percent), Hong Kong (5.4 percent) and Japan (19 percent) reported growth below 20 percent between 2011 and 2012.
  
• Global average peak connection speeds enjoyed a quarter-over-quarter increase of 4.6 percent to 16.6 Mbps. Hong Kong again claimed the highest peak connection speed at 57.5 Mbps, a rise of 6.2 percent from last quarter.
  
• Year-over-year, global average peak connection speeds once again demonstrated significant improvement, rising 35 percent. 

http://www.akamai.com/html/about/press/releases/2013/press_042313.html

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NTT Opens Largest Tokyo Data Center

NTT Communications (NTT Com) opened its Tokyo No.6 Data Center, a disaster-resistant facility with a total floor area of 22,000 square meters, enough to accommodate approximate 3,000 racks.

The new facility, which ranks as Tokyo’s largest data center, will deliver cloud services, ICT outsourcing, disaster recovery and other ICT-related services

Tokyo No.6 Data Center is the first of several major NTT Com data centers that will combine globally standardized service agreements, service level agreements (SLA) and customer portals with special cost-reducing features, such as advanced air conditioning systems and virtual-network-based global seamless services, including hybrid clouds.

NTT Com is now marketing its data centers worldwide under a new "Nexcenter" brand.  NTT Com operates data centers in more than 140 locations, amounting to a total server room floor area of over 170,000 square meters.

Highlights of the new building:

Located just seven minutes on foot from the JR loop train line, making it highly accessible even during emergencies.

A large rotary UPS. Racks handle equipment up to 1.5 times larger than the conventional racks, helping to lower user costs by as much as the half compared to previous rates.

Aseismic isolation structure can reduce the impact of earthquakes by at most 80%. Resistance is rated to withstand forces as powerful as those generated by the unprecedented Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. An extra-strong ground helps to prevent liquefaction, and the building foundation is 1.4m higher than ground level to avoid flooding.

Redundant major power supply and air conditioning systems strengthen reliability, and the facility has a direct connection to a large aseismic cable tunnel that protects lead-in cables from damage by earthquakes or drilling.

Power usage effectiveness (PUE) is designed to rated at 1.2, the highest level among data centers in Japan.

The facility features energy-efficient water-cooled air conditioning, low-power-loss rotary UPS, reduced-power air conditioning system through use of cooler outdoor air and efficient air-flow management to prevent the circulation of server-generated heat.

http://www.ntt.co.jp

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Juniper Posts Q1 Revenue of $1.059 Billion, up 3% YoY

Juniper Networks reported preliminary revenue for Q1 2013 of $1,059 million, down 7% from Q4'12 and up 3% from Q1'12.  The company posted GAAP net income of $91 million, or $0.18 per diluted share for the first quarter of 2013. GAAP diluted net income per share includes a $0.05 tax benefit related to a tax settlement, a $0.02 pre-tax impact from a litigation charge as well as a $0.01 pre-tax impact from restructuring.

"This was a quarter of modest year-on-year growth driven by renewed demand from service providers and offset slightly by softness in enterprise sectors, including federal and financial services," said Kevin Johnson, chief executive officer of Juniper Networks. "We are seeing increased momentum with our new product offerings as we continue our strategy of innovating in the domain of high-performance networking. We believe Juniper has a strong position in the service provider market and has opportunity in the enterprise business as we continue to grow switching as well as revitalize our security business. We continue to focus on delivering great products, improving operational execution, and managing our costs carefully." 

http://www.juniper.net

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