DE-CIX Apollon Goes Live - World's Largest Internet Exchange

DE-CIX, which operates the world's largest Internet Exchange in Frankfurt am Main (Germany), has activated the first "supernode" if its next generation interconnection platform -- DE-CIX Apollon.

The platform leverages ADVA Optical Networking's flagship FSP 3000 platform for optical transport capacity of up to 2 Terabits/sec per fiber pair. 

The switching layer is powered by Alcatel-Lucent's Core Router 7950 XRS, which supports port density of up to 80 100 Gigabit Ethernet ports per chassis. The core of the DE-CIX Apollon network is based on four supernodes that are built from the Alcatel-Lucent 7950 XRS and which are fed by customer-facing switches, both located at secure locations spread throughout the Frankfurt metro.

Now that the first node is active, DE-CIX plans to migrate its remaining legacy switches over to the 7950 XRS switches over the coming months.

http://apollon.de-cix.net/

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Telefónica and MegaFon Form Global Strategic Partnership

Telefónica and MegaFon, a leading Russian universal telecommunications operator, have established a strategic partnership. The carriers hope to achieve cost savings in equipment purchases via joint procurement.  MegaFon and Telefónica will also exchange technological know-how.

Under the Agreement Telefónica will provide services to multinational corporate clients using MegaFon’s network and similarly MegaFon business customers will have access to services when abroad.

MegaFon will join Telefónica’s Partners Programme, which enables telecommunications operators to work together and to benefit from Telefónica’s scale and knowledge.  Telefónica's programme already includes equity partners such as China Unicom and Telecom Italia, as well as other members.

Currently Telefónica and its Partners provide services to customers in 52 countries with a population of 1.5 billion people.

 “Joining Telefónica’s Partners Programme is in line with MegaFon’s long term strategy focused on efficient growth, mobile Internet service development and enhancement of the customer experience. This Agreement enables us to work with the best international professionals to use their experience in improving quality of services, customer relationship management and in new product development," stated Ivan Tavrin, Chief Executive Officer of MegaFon.

http://www.telefonica.com

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NTT Develops 10G LEAP Laser with 90% Power Reduction

Researchers at NTT have developed a Lambda-sacle Embedded Active Photonic-crystal (LEAP) Laser that enables 10 Gbps communications while using only 10% of the power of conventional lasers.  NTT believes the technology could be used for optical cross-connects between microprocessors, yielding significant reduction in power consumption and heat.

NTT Laboratories have been developing the LEAP laser to create the world’s first continuum wave operation of a current-injection photonic crystal laser with the threshold current of 390 microamperes at room temperature (20°C-30°C).  NTT Laboratories are aiming to market this laser in about 2016.

http://www.ntt.co.jp/news2013/1305e/130524a.html

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Cisco Acquires Ubiquisys for Small Cells

Cisco completed its acquisition of privately held Ubiquisys for approximately $310 million in cash and retention-based incentives.

Ubiquisys, which is based in Swindon, U.K., specializes in 3G and LTE small-cell technologies that provide seamless connectivity across mobile heterogeneous networks for service providers. Ubiquisys employees will be integrated into the Cisco Mobility Business Group, reporting to Partho Mishra, vice president and general manager, Service Provider Small Cell Technology Group.

Cisco said Ubiquisys' indoor small-cell expertise and focus on intelligent software for licensed 3G and LTE spectrum, coupled with its own mobility portfolio and Wi-Fi expertise, gives it a comprehensive small-cell solution for service providers that supports the transition to next-generation radio access networks.

http://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=1196947

• Ubiquisys investors included Accel Partners, Advent Venture Partners, Atlas Venture, 5 Continents Consulting Group (5CCG), Pacific Venture Partners, SerComm Corporation, UMC Capital Corporation, Yasuda Enterprise Development Co and T-Mobile Venture Fund.

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Colt: Largest Cloud Footprint in Europe

Colt Technology Services announced "the largest cloud footprint in Europe" via its data centers in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland.

Colt is using a standardised orchestration layer in these data centers to ensure that regardless of where the business is located, or where the applications are hosted, customers can access, provision, manage and automate their network, infrastructure and storage via a single, online portal.

In addition to enabling network, server and storage provisioning, Colt’s orchestration layer also links service management to flexible commercial frameworks in a simple-to-use online service request catalogue, accessible from anywhere, via any device. Service levels can be designed to reflect different business priorities and scaled up as required all the way from self-service through to a fully-managed service. Customer support is provided in 15 languages from Colt’s dedicated customer service centres.

“To date, CIOs have faced the choice between public cloud and outsourced IT services,” explains Jon Bennett, VP of Portfolio and Strategy. “But the ability to scale compute resource should not exclude flexible commercial and service levels that allow the CIO to guarantee business outcomes.”

“Our enterprise cloud services are designed to deliver scalable cloud solutions as well as flexible service and commercial levels delivered via our service catalogue. After consulting closely with our customers, it is clear that being able to offer infrastructure, platforms and workloads will give the CIO confidence that they can focus on delivering business objectives, rather than managing technology.”

http://www.colt.net/

Colt also operates a 22-country, 43,000km network that includes metropolitan area networks in 39 major European cities with direct fibre connections into 19,000 buildings and its 20 Colt data centers.

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MTS to Sell Allstream for C$520 Million to Naguib Sawiris

Manitoba Telecom Services (MTS) agreed to sell its Allstream division to Accelero Capital Holdings , an investment and management group, for $520 million, subject to certain customary adjustments.  The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2013, subject to receipt of Investment Canada approval and customary closing conditions.

Allstream provides enterprise communications services acress Canada and counts more than 65,000 businesses - large, mid-sized, and small - among its national customer base.  Allstream operates an IP network spanning 30,000 route kms across Canada, including 18,000 route kms of inter-city fiber and 8 cross border connections to the U.S.

Accelero is an investment and management group focused on telecommunication, digital media and technology. Accelero is controlled by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, Non-Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, is a renowned telecom entrepreneur.

"This transaction is the successful culmination of a diligent process to determine the best way to create shareholder value and drive strong, competitive and sustainable futures for both MTS and Allstream," said David Leith, Chair of the Board of Directors. "We believe this transaction represents attractive value for Allstream, is in the best interests of the Company, its customers, employees and business partners, and that it will increase the level of investment and competition in Manitoba and across the Canadian business market."

Pierre Blouin, Chief Executive Officer, said, "This transaction makes MTS a stronger, more focused and more valuable company. MTS goes forward as a pure-play telecom with a strong consumer franchise and significant free cash flow to support our dividend. We will also have sufficient capital to invest in wireless spectrum and to continue bringing fibre-to-the-home, 4G LTE wireless technology and other products and services to more communities across Manitoba, further solidifying our position as the undisputed market leader in the province."


http://www.mts.ca/
http://www.allstream.com/

• Naguib Onsi Sawiris is also known for being chairman of the telecommunications companies Wind Telecom and Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH)

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Telstra Activates 1500th 4G base station

Telstra turned on its 1,500th LTE base station. The network is expected to cover 2/3's of Australia's population by the end of June.  The company said it is deploying "dozens" of new base stations each week.

Telstra’s 4G milestones:

• activating its first 4G site in May 2011;
• activating its 1000th 4G site in May 2012; and,
• activating its 1500th 4G site in May 2013.

http://www.telstra.com.au/

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Google Acquires Makani Power for Power Generating Kites

Google will acquire Makani Power, a start-up that has been developing kites capables of holding wind turbines. The idea is for a tethered wing to generate 30 kW of electricity by flying in large circles. Financial terms were not disclosed. Makani is based in Alameda, California.

http://www.makanipower.com/

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CloudEthernet Forum Gets Underway

A new CloudEthernet Forum has been established to address the specific issues of scaling and applying suitable Ethernet services to meet the stringent demands of delivering cloud services.

The CloudEthernet Forum aims to provide a framework for industry stakeholders to collectively develop solutions that address technical challenges such as VLAN scaling, layer 2 performance and resilience across very large domains and consolidating storage network technologies onto Ethernet. The goal is to enable cloud service providers, carriers and enterprises to quickly and simply build and manage very large amounts of computing and storage capacity to meet the rapidly changing localized performance, scalability and regulatory requirements of cloud services.

The founding members of the CloudEthernet Forum include: Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, Equinix, HP, Juniper Networks, PCCW Global, Spirent Communications, Tata Communications and Verizon. The CloudEthernet Forum is an MEF organization but will operate independently. New members such as systems integrators, NEMs and service providers, including leading cloud providers, are encouraged to join.

"Four years ago we migrated our Ethernet services over SDH to native Ethernet over PBB and it is proving highly popular with our datacenter customers. They love Ethernet’s simplicity and scalability and want more. However, as datacenter networks become larger and more sophisticated, they are coming up against challenges, and the CloudEthernet Forum is committed to resolving those issues," stated James Walker, president of the CloudEthernet Forum and vice president of Managed Network Services, Tata Communications

"Establishment of the CloudEthernet Forum is a reflection of Ethernet's critical position in the future of the communications industry," says Ihab Tarazi, chairman of the board of the MEF and vice president of product technology at Verizon. "Ethernet is ideal for delivering dynamic high speed bandwidth for public and private clouds with reliability, scalability and high performance."

http://www.CloudEthernet.org

The CloudEthernet Forum is an independent MEF (Metro Ethernet Forum) organization. For more information, please visit

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Internet2 Establishes Direct Peering to Windows Azure

Internet2 has established a direct peering relationship with two Microsoft cloud services:  Windows Azure and Microsoft Office 365 Education. These services will enable unmetered access to both the high-performance computing and the communications infrastructure to aid collaboration.

The move to privately peer the Microsoft data centers to the Internet2 Network eliminates the need to traverse these very large data sets over the public Internet.

“Microsoft and Internet2 have agreed to establish direct peering to leverage the nation’s fastest research and education network in bringing the power and diversity of Microsoft cloud services to the entire education and research community,” said Shelton Waggener, senior vice president, Internet2.

“Big Data researchers need the power of a service like Windows Azure. With Internet2, they will be able to transfer very large data sets to and from Windows Azure across Internet2’s 100 Gigabit per second network,” said Kelli Trosvig, vice president for UW Information Technology and chief information officer, University of Washington. “This same high-performance will also be available for applications such as Office 365 Education.”

http://www.internet2.edu

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Ethernet's 40th Anniversary: From ALOHA to Ethernety

May 22nd marked the 40th anniversary of the day Bob Metcalf sketched out the basic concept of Ethernet.

The anniversary was marked in commemorative event at the Computer History Museum presented by the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), parc and NetEvents.

 In this video from NetEvents, Bob Metcalfe, UT Austin Professor of Innovation and Ethernet co-creator, sets the scene with reflections on how CSMA emerged from Hawaii, the early choices and challenges, and some ongoing implications of Metcalfe’s Law.

http://www.netevents.org.uk/celebrating-40-years-of-ethernet-innovation-introduction

 

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BT Tests 800G Super-Channel with Ciena

BT conducted a series of trials of 100, 200, and 400G, as well as an "800G super-channel," using equipment from Ciena.

The trials, which occurred in March 2013, ran over a 410 km network link between BT’s Adastral Park Research and Development Centre in Ipswich and the iconic BT Tower in Central London. The link used high Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD) fibre, which was unsuitable for traditional 10G operation but supported the higher rates due to Ciena's WaveLogic 3 transceivers, 6500 Packet-Optical and 4200 Advanced Services platforms.

BT said that for one trial, 400G of traffic was carried and monitored over the network using 16QAM modulation, and operated flawlessly alongside adjacent 40G and 100G QPSK-based wavelengths, reinforcing the smooth migration path offered by Ciena’s coherent technology.

"BT has always been a pioneer in the field of networking, and we can trace our roots back to the very first national telecommunications undertaking in the world – The Electric Telegraph Company. Since then, and with the recent explosion in global connectivity, we have constantly looked for new ways to future proof our infrastructure and provide more bandwidth for the next generation of applications and services. These trials prove that we’re heading in the right direction, and we’re very proud of our role in this latest milestone in the history of communications,” stated Neil J. McRae, chief network architect at BT.

http://www.btplc.com
http://www.ciena.com

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FCC Announces $300 Million in Connect America Second Round Funding

The FCC will allocate $300 million in a second round of Connect America Phase I incremental funding to further leverage private investment in rural America and accelerate the availability of broadband to consumers who lack access.  The funding is available to price cap 
carriers who will have an opportunity to deploy into newly eligible areas.

The FCC also adopted a process to challenge the eligibility of particular census blocks, establish two different per-location support amounts based on the existing level of Internet access ($550 for homes with low-speed Internet access and $775, as in the first round, for homes with only dial-up access), and make certain other rule changes to encourage participation and ensure accountability and oversight.

http://www.fcc.gov/document/commission-adopts-connect-america-phase-i-second-round-funding

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National Photonics Initiative Seeks to Boost U.S. Competitiveness

A new National Photonics Initiative (NPI) has been established with a mission to advance areas of photonics critical to maintaining US competitiveness and national security.

Backers of the NPI include the American Physical Society (APS), IEEE Photonics Society, Laser Institute of America (LIA), the Optical Society (OSA) and SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.

Specifically, the NPI was established to raise awareness about photonics and the impact of photonics on our everyday lives; increase collaboration and coordination among US industry, government and academia to advance photonics-driven fields; and drive US funding and investment in areas of photonics critical to maintaining US competitiveness and national security.

The first accomplishment of the NPI is a whitepaper with to guide government funding and private investment in five key photonics-driven fields: advanced manufacturing, communications and information technology, defense and national security, health andmedicine and energy. The group sees opportunities in 3-D printing, more efficient solar power, improved nuclear threat identification, more accurate cancer detection and the growth of Internet speeds and capacity.

"The EU, Germany, Korea, Taiwan and China all recognize the importance of photonics, and have taken action,” said SPIE CEO Eugene Arthurs. “The Department of Defense, for example, has long supported photonics, and we have seen the advantage provided to our troops. But now more photonics research is needed to maintain our national security in the face of growing non-traditional threats. The time is now for the US to make the right investments in the crucial capabilities of the future."

"Our objective is to direct funding intelligently to research, implementation, education and training, with the ultimate goal of restoring US competitiveness, thereby improving our security, our economy and our quality of life," said LIA Executive Director Peter Baker.

http://www.lightourfuture.org

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Mavenir Announces IMS Unified Access Gateway (UAG)

Mavenir introduced a Unified Access Gateway (UAG) for converged core network services across Circuit Switch (CS) and IP Multimedia System (IMS) networks.

The UAG is a standard IMS Session Border Controller (SBC) that supports the latest 3GPP features needed to introduce new services such as RCS/RCS-e and VoLTE services, including SR-VCC. It employs IMS Centralized Services (ICS), which connects legacy CS GSM/UMTS access networks directly to the IMS core network.  Additionally, it is a WebRTC Gateway that supports network services, web APIs and media mixing needed to extend IMS-based services to the web. Finally, it is also an ICS GW that supports the network services and service interworking functions needed to support GSM/UMTS devices from IMS.

Mavenir said its UAG will enable mobile operators to simplify and consolidate their networks, and enables them to increase investments in the IP based networks, reduce investments in legacy 2G/3G core networks while serving their 2G/3G subscribers.

“Mavenir’s vision is that IMS will become the mobile operators’ single, consolidated core network providing communication and mobility services across all access domains,” said Pardeep Kohli, President and CEO, Mavenir Systems. “Our Unified Access Gateway provides a solution for mobile operators who are challenged with the cost of maintaining parallel core networks while subscribers migrate to 4G LTE.”

http://www.mavenir.com

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Verizon Wireless Adds Samsung Galaxy S4

Verizon Wireless announced availability of the Samsung Galaxy S4.  

Pricing is set at $199 with a new two-year contract activation.  Key features include LTE connectivity, 13–megapixel camera, 5–inch full HD display, built–in infrared sensor, Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, etc.

http://www.verizonwireless.com

Separately, Samsung confirmed that the Galaxy has reached 10 million units shipped in its first month of availability.

Key specs on the Samsung Galaxy S4 include:

• 5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED (1920 x 1080) display, 441 ppi
• 1.9 GHz Quad-Core Processor / 1.6 GHz Octa-Core Processor, depending on market
• Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean)
• 13 megapixel rear camera
• 2.5G (GSM/ GPRS/ EDGE): 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
• 3G (HSPA＋ 42Mbps): 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz
• 4G (LTE Cat 3 100/50Mbps): up to 6 different band sets, depending on market
• Codec: MPEG4, H.264, H.263, DivX, DivX3.11, VC-1, VP8, WMV7/8, Sorenson Spark, HEVC
• WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (HT80)
• GPS / GLONASS 
• NFC,  Bluetooth® 4.0 (LE)
• IR LED (Remote Control), MHL 2.0
• 2,600 mAh battery.

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Argentina's ARSAT Upgrades to 100G with Alcatel-Lucent

ARSAT, a state-owned telecommunications operator in Argentina, will upgrade its network to 100G using Alcatel-Lucent’s Agile Optical Networking technology.

The first routes to be upgraded are Buenos Aires to Mendoza, and Río Gallegos to Ushuaia in the south, crossing the Magellan Strait.

Under the US$7.3 million contract, Alcatel-Lucent will supply 40G and 100G DWDM technology on its 1830 Photonic Service Switch (1830 PSS) platform as well as the 1350 Optical Management System.  Alcatel-Lucent will also provide its leading project management services as well as training and technical assistance for five years.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

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NSN Boosts Liquid Radio WCDMA Software

Nokia Siemens Networks announced several enhancements for its Liquid Radio WCDMA Software Suite to help mobile broadband manage the smartphone boom and substantially reduce the network signaling overload.

Fast Dormancy Profiling  -- a new Nokia Siemens Networks technology that identifies the legacy smartphones connecting to the network and eliminates the unnecessary signaling they often create. This application significantly reduces the air interface load on the Radio Network Controller (RNC).

Fast Cell PCH Switching --  also a Nokia Siemens Networks technology, the network learns how specific smartphones are using the network services and shortcuts the signaling process for rapid call set-up, faster response from mobile broadband services and reduced signaling.

High Speed Cell FACH  -- enables networks to support more smartphones and provide faster services for subscribers using lower data volumes. It also significantly decreases signaling load between the RNC, base station and smartphone.

“When people use smartphones, they stay connected to mobile broadband networks for longer periods of time and use a wider variety of services,” said Thorsten Robrecht, VP portfolio management at Nokia Siemens Networks. “As data traffic grows, there is a huge rise in signaling between smartphones and core networks to keep services active. Coping with this signaling is critical to maintain network services and deliver an outstanding smartphone experience for mobile broadband customers.

http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com/

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Vitesse Integrates MACSec into GE & 10GE PHYs for End-End Layer 2 Encryption

Vitesse Semiconductor introduced the first PHY transceivers to integrate MACSec technology for end-to-end, Layer 2 network security.

The new Vitesse SynchroPHY Gigabit Ethernet (GE) and 10GE devices enable network-wide Layer 2 MACsec encryption and preserve nanosecond-level IEEE 1588v2 accuracy.

Vitesse said this new paradigm of establishing Layer 2 encryption end-to-end, rather than link-by-link as is now the case, will prove to be especially useful for cloud services, mobile backhaul and other high-value communications. Until now, MACsec PHYs have traditionally been limited to link-based box-to-box applications primarily within cloud service data centers

Key elements of the Vitesse solution include:

VeriTime: the industry’s highest accuracy IEEE 1588v2 Precision Time Protocol

Intellisec: the industry’s first PHY technology to enable IEEE 802.1AE MACsec encryption.  Intellisec offers 256-bit encryption support, versus the 128-bit encryption typically today.

 “Vitesse’s approach enables a paradigm shift in mobile, cloud, and other critical infrastructure networks,” said Richard Interrante, product marketing director at Vitesse. “VeriTime delivers the industry’s de facto highest accuracy IEEE 1588v2 network timing and now we’ve again moved beyond our competitors with this latest generation incorporating Intellisec. Delivering low latency security while preserving network synchronization simply isn’t possible with traditional link-based MACsec technology. Vitesse is first to do this, making network-wide Layer 2 security a realistic and affordable option for carriers and other cloud providers.”

Sampling is underway.

• GE PHYs with copper and fiber media support 
• 10GE PHYs
  -  VSC8582-10: 2-port SGMII/QSGMII GE PHY
  -  VSC8584-10: 4-port SGMII/QSGMII GE PHY
  -  VSC8490-10: 2-port WAN/LAN/Backplane RXAUI/XAUI to SFP+/KR 10GE PHY
  -  VSC8491-10: 1-port WAN/LAN/Backplane RXAUI/XAUI to SFP+/KR 10GE PHY 

http:// www.vitesse.com/intellisec


In this video, Vitesse Semiconductor's Martin Nuss discuses Intellisec, a new technology that leverages MACsec protocol to extend security end-to-end.


 http://youtu.be/mVWxyMGKD2M

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Citrix Debuts XenMobile Enterprise Mobile Device and App Management

Citrix introduced XenMobile Enterprise, an integrated solution combining mobile device, app and data management, a unified corporate app store, mobile productivity apps and “one-touch” live support.

XenMobile Enterprise includes MDM tools for configuring, securing and provisionig mobile devices in an enterprise. Citrix is also including email, calendaring and web browsing, as well as secure document sharing, syncing and editing. It also integrates ShareFile, which allows users to view, edit and share data within a secure container on their mobile device. In addition, there is one-click access in the smartphone client, to the Citrix GoToAssist Service Desk and Remote Support, which  helps IT teams support corporate users.

Citrix also announced a mobile app market built for XenMobile.  Initially. Citrix will have over 80 apps from leading mobile app vendors. 

XenMobile Enterprise will be available in June 2013. 

http://www.citrix.com

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