Monday, June 8, 2015

Cisco Targets "Security Everywhere," Intros Firepower 9300

Cisco is rolling out a "Security Everywhere" initiative aimed at embedding security throughout the extended network – from the data center out to endpoints, branch offices, and the cloud. The goal is pervasive threat visibility and control for enterprises and service provider networks. To get there, Cisco is adding more sensors to increase visibility; more control points to strengthen enforcement; and pervasive, advanced threat protection to reduce time-to-detection and time-to-response, limiting the impact of attacks.

Cisco is launching the following set of solutions across the entire networking portfolio:

• Endpoints: With Cisco AnyConnect Featuring Cisco AMP for Endpoints, customers using the Cisco AnyConnect 4.1 VPN client now can easily deploy and significantly expand their threat
protection to VPN-enabled endpoints to continuously and retrospectively guard against advanced malware.

• Campus and Branch: FirePOWER Services solutions for Cisco Integrated Services Rou
ters (ISR) provides centrally managed Next-Generation Intrusion Prevention System (NGIPS) and
Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) at the branch office integrated in the network fabric, where dedicated security appliances may not be feasible.

• Network as a Sensor and Enforcer: Cisco has embedded multiple security technologies into the network infrastructure to provide broad threat visibility to rapidly identify users and
devices associated with anomalies, threats and misuse of networks and applications. New capabilities include:

o Broader Integration between Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Lancope StealthWatch: Enterprises can go beyond just mapping IP addresses to identifying threat vectors based
on ISE’s context of who, what, where, when and how users and devices are connected and access network resources. This provides greater contextual threat visibility with
StealthWatch for accelerated identification of threats.

o NetFlow on Cisco UCS: Extending Cisco’s network-as-a-sensor capabilities to the physical and virtual servers, customers now have greater visibility into network traffic
flow patterns and threat intelligence information in the data center.

Using the new embedded security capabilities, Cisco networks now have the ability to automate and dynamically enforce security policies. Customers can segment applications and
users throughout the network – across the extended enterprise to use policy to define which users can get which applications and what traffic can traverse the network then automate
security operations.

o TrustSec + ISE and StealthWatch Integration: StealthWatch can now block suspicious network devices by initiating segmentation changes, providing rapid response to identified
malicious activity. ISE can then modify access policies for Cisco routers, switches, and wireless LAN controllers embedded with TrustSec technology.

Hosted Identity Services provide a secure, 24/7, cloud-delivered service for the Cisco Identity Services Engine, a security policy management platform that unifies and automates secure
network access control. The new hosted service speeds time to deployment, supporting business growth and providing role-based, context-aware identity enforcement of users and devices permitted on the network, streamlining enterprise mobility experiences.

• pxGrid Ecosystem: Eleven new partners have joined the pxGrid Ecosystem with the addition of several new ecosystem technology categories, including cloud security and network/application performance management. pxGrid is Cisco’s security context information exchange fabric that enables security platforms to share information to drive better threat detection, mitigation and overall security operations.

Cisco is also expanding advanced threat-centric protection for its Evolved Programmable Network (EPN), which is its open network architecture designed to advance the adoption of Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). Cisco’s new service provider security solutions include the following:

• Cisco Firepower 9300 Integrated Security Platform is a carrier-grade, high-performance, scalable and modular multi-services security platform purpose-built for service providers, that
can scale security for increased data flows due to accelerated service demands and carrier class requirements.

• Expanded Advanced Orchestration and Cloud Capabilities enable Cisco’s new security solutions to integrate with the Cisco architecture and third-party SDN/NFV solutions, as
well as Cisco’s Adaptive Security Appliance Virtual (ASAv) with Cisco’s Network Service Orchestrator (NSO) and Application-Centric Infrastructure (ACI). These orchestration and cloud capabilities also include open APIs for integration with orchestration, Operation Support Systems/Business Support Systems, and Cloud Security-as-a-Service solutions.

• Advanced features such as secure containers to accommodate future security services and applications. Additionally, Cisco ASA firewall and third-party DDoS mitigation from Radware
are currently supported, with additional capabilities planned for the second half of 2015.

http://www.cisco.com

Gigamon and JDSU Develop Software-Defined Traffic Visibility

JDSU is developing closed loop integration plugins that support Gigamon’s Software Defined Visibility, a framework that allows customers, security and network equipment vendors, as well as managed service providers, to control and program Gigamon’s Visibility Fabric via REST-based APIs.

There are several use cases in which JDSU plans to utilize Software Defined Visibility:


  • Session-based Filtering – JDSU will take advantage of Gigamon’s Adaptive Packet Filtering capabilities to dynamically drop unwanted ‘streaming’ traffic such as Netflix or YouTube, thereby reducing the demand on monitoring appliance storage capacity.
  • IPv4 and IPv6 Traffic Filtering – As more networks begin deployment of IPv6 along with legacy IPv4 infrastructure, JDSU expects customers will need to selectively filter v4 and v6 traffic. Leveraging the intelligent filtering of the Gigamon Visibility Fabric, network administrators can rest assured knowing that they have comprehensive visibility and a future-proof path to simplify IPv6 adoption without creating new blind spots.
  • Reduce ‘Mean Time To Resolution’ – To assist with faster diagnosis of traffic anomalies, the ability to enhance captured packets that are subsequently stored on JDSU’s GigaStor appliances will improve diagnosis accuracy and focus. Through the addition of Gigamon’s “Flow Mapping” meta-data and “network neighbor” discovery information, Network Operators will be able to evaluate network incidents more effectively and isolate issues to specific segments of the network infrastructure.

“We are excited to be working with Gigamon to integrate with APIs that support Software Defined Visibility,” said Charles Thompson, senior director, Product Line Management for JDSU. “With this integration, we envision a multitude of possibilities where our customers can automate traffic visibility, so that they can focus their resources on other mission-critical activities.”

“Having partners like JDSU on board and adopting our recently released APIs accelerates our Software Defined Visibility market momentum,” said Ananda Rajagopal, VP of Product Line Management at Gigamon. “Not only is JDSU at the forefront of adoption, they are validating the market need for pervasive and active visibility. Their API-based development demonstrates the true power and flexibility that a programmatic framework can provide to quickly and automatically react to changes in network conditions.”

Gigamon's GigaVUE-FM 3.0 Fabric Manager offers a single pane-of-glass view of both physical and virtual nodes across the Visibility Fabric, while providing a wizard-based approach for configuring Flow Mapping and GigaSMART traffic policies. A single instance of GigaVUE-FM can manage hundreds of visibility nodes across multiple locations delivering more than a quarter of a million physical and virtual ports. Flow Mapping is a patented technology at the heart of Gigamon’s GigaVUE Visibility Fabric nodes that takes line-rate traffic at 1Gb, 10Gb, 40Gb or 100Gb from a network TAP or a SPAN/mirror port (physical or virtual) and then optimizes flows based on individual traffic profiles of the tools and applications that secure, monitor, and analyze the network infrastructure.

http://www.gigamon.com

Alibaba's Aliyun Announces Cloud Marketplace Alliance Program

Alibaba's Aliyun cloud computing arm, is launching a global Marketplace Alliance Program (MAP) to boost public cloud services worldwide. The MAP program will provide enterprises worldwide with access to Alibaba cloud computing’s public cloud solutions. Essentially, the program enables Aliyun to localize its cloud computing offerings by partnering with other leading players.

Aliyun has data centers in Beijing, Hangzhou, Qingdao, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Silicon Valley, and Dubai (under construction). As of June 30, 2014, Aliyun served more than 1.4 million customers directly and indirectly through independent service providers.

The initial Aliyun’s MAP partners include Intel, Singtel, Dubai holding company Meraas Holdings, Equinix, Hong Kong's PCCW, French website hosting and cloud services provider LINKBYNET, and Hong Kong public utility Towngas.

“The new Aliyun program is designed to bring our customers the best cloud computing solutions by partnering with some of the most respected technology brands in the world. We will continue to bring more partners online to grow our cloud computing ecosystem,” said Sicheng (Ethan) YU, vice president, Aliyun.

Commenting on the scheme, Raejeanne Skillern, general manager of Cloud Service Provider Business at Intel Corporation said, "For years Intel and Alibaba have collaborated on optimizing hardware and software technology across the data center for Alibaba's unique workloads. As a partner in Aliyun's Marketplace Alliance Program, Intel looks forward to continuing our collaboration to promoting joint technology solutions that are based on Intel Architecture specifically tailored to the rapidly growing market of international public cloud consumers."

“As one of the first global partners of Aliyun, Singtel will offer our customers even more choices in cloud infrastructure platforms in China and around the world,” said Lim Seng Kong, Singtel’s managing director (Global Enterprise Business). “With Singtel’s strong Managed Cloud services capabilities, extensive customer reach and strong suite of information and communications technology services, we can also provide the springboard for Aliyun to grow its footprint in the Asia-Pacific, which is one of the fastest growing markets for cloud services.”

http://www.aliyun.com

Coriant Supplies 100G for UNINETT's Arctic Optical Network

UNINETT, a non-profit provider of telecom and data network connections to Norwegian universities and research institutions, selected Coriant to build a new 100G-capable subsea optical transport infrastructure connecting Ny-Ã…lesund and Longyearbyen on the Svalbard archipelago. The network will enable UNINETT to scale optical transmission capacity and meet the low latency connectivity requirements of demanding, high-bandwidth scientific research and education traffic and applications.

The deployment uses the Coriant hiT 7300 Multi-Haul Transport Platform and the Coriant Transport Network Management System (TNMS), serving as Submarine Line Terminal Equipment (SLTE).  The Coriant hiT 7300 LH/ULH platform will provide UNINETT with coherent 100G connectivity between Ny-Ã…lesund and Longyearbyen in a DWDM subsea application spanning approximately 260 kilometers.

The northernmost civilian year-round settlement in the world, Ny-Ã…lesund is an important international research community that hosts a broad range of life, earth, and environmental scientists. Eleven institutions from ten countries have established permanent research stations in Ny-Ã…lesund, and an increase in research activities, including plans for a new astronomical research observatory, is one of the primary drivers behind the need for higher network capacities. Real-time and near-real time astronomy data transmission is one example of the types of research and education applications requiring reliable, high-speed connectivity.

“High-speed global collaboration and real-time exchange of media-rich data and applications are critical to research and educational institutions, and serve as the life blood of research communities like Ny-Ã…lesund,” said Vidar Faltinsen, Chief Technology Officer, UNINETT. “In order help us achieve our goal of bringing our customers state-of-the art broadband communications, we needed a proven technology partner that could deliver a highly reliable and flexible DWDM solution, with the service expertise to support network deployment and service commissioning in Svalbard’s particularly harsh environment. Coriant proved the ideal partner on all fronts.”

“Coriant has a wealth of experience in providing robust and reliable optical transport solutions for hybrid subsea and terrestrial networks,” said Uwe Fischer, Chief Technology Officer, Coriant. “We continue to build our industry leadership on superior photonic layer performance, stability, and scalability, with proven features such as active power transient management and integrated high-density LH/ULH ROADMs that ensure the high-availability required by UNINETT’s customers.”

http://www.coriant.com/company/press_release.asp?id=1226

SingTel Launches Software-Defined WAN based on Viptela

Singapore Telecommunications launched its SingTel ConnectPlus Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN), a cloud-based IP-VPN service available to enterprises in Asia Pacific, Australia, Europe and the U.S.

The Singtel ConnectPlus SD-WAN, which leverages software from Viptela, enables enterprises to simplify and centralize their network provisioning and policy management, and configure network requirements in real time.

Mr Lee Han Kheng, Vice President (Global Products), Singtel Group Enterprise said: “Singtel is empowering enterprises with the capability to adapt and programme their network operations based on their needs. Using a self-service portal, they can exercise dynamic control over network issues such as performance, bandwidth utilisation and security. Singtel ConnectPlus SD-WAN is one of several software-based innovations that we are implementing to help our customers enhance their networks and improve business productivity.”

“We are excited to partner Singtel to support their global hybrid networking strategy. By combining Singtel’s global reach and market-leading network services with Viptela’s SD-WAN technology, Singtel ConnectPlus customers can easily change their network requirements, regardless of the number of physical locations, networking devices and underlying transport technologies. This helps businesses reduce operating costs by providing one point of control for all their IP VPN, private line and Internet services anywhere in the world,” stated Amir Khan, CEO of Viptela.

http://www.singtel.com
http://www.viptela.com

Blueprint: What’s Wrong with the WAN?, ,   No comments


by Khalid Raza, CTO, Viptela Today’s WANs are built on largely the same infrastructure as they were 10 years ago.  Back then, demands by users and applications were more predictable, resulting in more expected traffic patterns and bandwidth requirements.  And there was no cloud.  And there was no virtualization. But things are different today.  Delay-sensitive real-time applications such as VoIP and video are now enterprise...





  • Viptela, Inc. is a software-centric networking company focused on transforming how Fortune-500 companies build and secure their end-to-end network infrastructure. Viptela improves the security, agility and performance of corporate IP networks for next-generation business applications. Viptela was founded in 2012 by a team of top-tier talent from Cisco, Juniper Networks, Alcatel-Lucent, and VMware. Viptela is backed by Sequoia Capital and headquartered in San Jose, CA. 

Telefonica and Bouygues Telecom Plan JV for France

Telefonica and Bouygues Telecom agreed to established a joint venture to provide telecommunications services to multinationals in France. The joint venture will use Bouygues’ domestic infrastructure in France and Telefonica’s global presence in 40 countries and service reach in more than 170.

The new Telefonica Global Solutions France will include its own dedicated marketing and sales resources committed to selling both Telefonica and Bouygues Telecom communication services whilst simultaneously managing the end-to-end commercial relationship with multinational companies. The “Telefonica” brand will be used.

Juan Carlos Lopez-Vives, CEO of Telefonica Business Solutions, said: “This agreement with our strategic partner Bouygues Telecom reflects our joint commitment to the MNC market and represents a significant step forward in the improvement of our value proposition for our customers, while reinforcing our position in the European market”.

Richard Viel, COO of Bouygues Telecom, commented: “Telefonica has been our strategic partner since 2011, bringing fruitful collaboration in all fields. Now we are happy to strengthen this alliance targeted on key accounts. A joint commercial approach was tested in 2014, and resulted in a booming performance in the MNC market thanks to the combined strengths of our leading 4G network and a truly global proposition.”

https://www.globalsolutions.telefonica.com/en/news/2015/06/03/telefonica-and-bouygues-telecom-create-telefonica-global-solutions-france-a-joint-venture-to-meet-the-needs-of-multinationals-in-france/

Menlo Security Raises $25 million for Isolation Platform

Menlo Security emerged from stealth to unveil its Isolation Platform, a new technology that eliminates the threat of malware from key attack vectors, including Web and email.

The solution does not use endpoint software. Instead, the Menlo Security Isolation Platform isolates and executes all Web content in the cloud and away from the endpoint. It uses patent-pending, clientless rendering technology, Adaptive Clientless Rendering (ACR), to deliver a non-executable, malware-free copy of the user’s session to their native browser, creating a transparent user experience.

The Menlo Security Isolation Platform is available now as a public cloud-based service or as a virtual appliance for on-premise deployment. The Platform is compatible with any hardware (desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone), any OS (Windows, MacOS, iOS, Android) and any browser (IE, Chrome, Safari, FireFox).

Menlo Security also announced $25 million in Series B funding, led by new investor Sutter Hill Ventures and joined by existing investors General Catalyst, Osage University Partners and Engineering Capital.

“Organizations and individuals should be able to interact online without the fear of being compromised,” said Amir Ben-Efraim, co-founder and CEO of Menlo Security. “By focusing on ease of deployment and a seamless user experience, the team at Menlo Security has reinvented isolation as a highly usable and scalable front line of defense against malware.”

Prior to emerging from stealth, Menlo Security in November 2014 announced $10.5 million in Series A funding to reinvent security. The new round of financing brings the total company funding to $35.5 million. Additionally, Stefan Dyckerhoff, managing director at Sutter Hill Ventures, is joining the Menlo Security’s board of directors.  

http://www.menlosecurity.com

Sunday, June 7, 2015

ONOS Advances its SDN Operating System with 3rd Release

A third version of the Open Network Operating System (ONOS), named Cardinal, has been released, adding several significant enhancements in the areas of Application Intent Framework, southbound interfaces and new distributed core features and capabilities.

ONOS, which was first released in December 2014, is currently deployed live in three research and education networks worldwide with more to come in Europe and Asia. These include SDN-IP peering application deployments at Internet2 in the U.S. and FIU/AmLight to South America as well as a BGP Peering Router deployment at CSIRO, Australia. It is also being used to enable proof-of-concept (PoCs) of multi-layer IP/optical networks and for the migration to SDN using the SDN-IP peering application.

Some Cardinal highlights:

  • Improves performance for flow operations, application intent processing and network topology maintenance by more than 25 percent.
  • Creates several new uses by enabling the central office to be re-architected as a data center (CORD).
  • Cardinal’s Application Intent Framework supports all the key solution POCs that will be demonstrated at the Open Networking Summit (ONS2015) conference with extensions such as MPLS and tunnel support added to the framework to support a wide variety of SDN applications.
  • A new flow-objective subsystem in the distributed core enables device agnostic SDN deployment. It allows apps to use a variety of OpenFlow switches with support for multiple tables without being concerned about the device specific details. It is definitely a big step forward towards the inter-operability and elimination of the solution silos that exist today.
  • At the southbound, NETCONF and PCEP interfaces are now available, and the TL1 interface will be used by two vendors for a few solution POCs although TL1 is not yet available from ONOS for open source distribution.

“The ONOS team has been running on all cylinders and continues to increase momentum with the help from the community,” said Bill Snow, vice president of Engineering at ON.Lab. ”The code base continues to add functionality, while keeping code quality high and continually improving performance. ONOS’ use cases really show its unique capabilities to transform service provider and mission critical networks.”

Download is available here: https://wiki.onosproject.org/display/ONOS/Downloads
http://onosproject.org/


Intel Security and VMware Introduce SDN-powered IPS

Intel Security and VMware introduced an SDN-based Intrusion Prevention services (IPS) solution for the protection of east-west traffic within the data center.  The security solution leverages the VMware NSX network virtualization platform to automate the distribution and enforcement of Intel Security’s McAfee Network Security Platform (NSP), providing Intelligent.

The idea is to extend the services inside the data center that Intel Security provides for north-south traffic at the perimeter of the data center.

The new integrated solution includes the McAfee NSP IPS-VM100-VSS (a new IPS-VM Series model designed for interoperability with VMware NSX), McAfee Network Security Manager, Intel Security Controller and VMware NSX network virtualization platform. The Intel Security Controller transparently runs as a broker between the VMware NSX infrastructure and the Intel Security’s McAfee NSP.  IPS protection can be dynamically and automatically provisioned to help protect intra-VM traffic based on the defined policies and requirements

“The McAfee NSP takes advantage of the VMware NSX platform’s distributed micro-segmentation enforcement and simplified automated provisioning, creating a zero-trust environment to automatically help protect organizations’ assets against advanced threats,” said Raja Patel, General Manager for the Network Security Business Unit, Intel Security.

"The tight integration between VMware NSX and Intel Security’s McAfee NSP means security controls follow application workloads, allowing customers to dynamically scale security services,” said Tom Corn, Senior Vice President, Security Products, VMware.

http://www.intelsecurity.com
http://www.vmware.com

Friday, June 5, 2015

Update on OPNFV and the Arno Release with Prodip Sen

OPNFV is an open source project under The Linux Foundation aimed at accelerating the introduction of NFV products and services. Prodip Sen, CTO of Network Functions Virtualization at HP and Chair of the OPNFV Project, provides a quick update of the community and its first release -- "Arno".

Arno provides an initial build of the NFV Infrastructure (NFVI) and Virtual Infrastructure Manager (VIM) components of ETSI NFV architecture. The baseline release enables continuous integration, automated deployment and testing of components from upstream projects such as Ceph, KVM, OpenDaylight, OpenStack and Open vSwitch.




See video: https://youtu.be/IJ47y4uh4yI

Massive Data Breach Raises Questions about Perimeter Defense

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) confirmed details of a massive data breach potentially impacting the personal records of 4 million current and past employees of the U.S. government.

OPM said it became aware of a cybersecurity intrusion affecting its information technology (IT) systems and data in April 2015 while it was in the process of updating its cybersecurity posture, adding tools and capabilities to its various networks.

Media reports attributed the attack to a Chinese state-backed hacker group known as “Deep Panda”, although both the OPM and FBI declined to comment on the specifics. Media reports also suggest that the stolen data was not encrypted.

The OPM network is believed to have been protected by the second generation intrusion detection and prevention system, known as EINSTEIN 2. A planned upgrade to EINSTEIN 3, which will be integrated as a Managed Security Service with leading Internet Service Providers (ISP), is being accelerated so as to cover all government network by the end of 2016.

Outside commentators noted that relying on a perimeter IDS, even one benefiting from signatures captured by national security agencies, may be an insufficient strategy for 2015 and beyond, compared to other solutions emphasizing network visibility for advanced persistent threats. A Bloomberg story posted Michael A Riley quotes a senior fellow in cybersecurity at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington as saying Einstein 3 is already obsolete and that the commercial security industry moving away from this type of perimeter defense.

http://www.opm.gov/
http://www.fbi.gov
http://www.whitehouse.gov
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_%28US-CERT_program%29
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-06/china-hackers-got-past-costly-u-s-computer-security-with-ease

HP to Resell ALU's IP+Optical for DCI

Alcatel-Lucent and HP are expanding their long-running alliance to now deliver enterprise data center networking, data replication and new storage architectures connected with IP and optical backbones.

The solutions, which are offered as part of the HP Complete Program in the Americas and EMEA, include Alcatel-Lucent’s IP edge platform, the Alcatel-Lucent 7750 Service Router and the Alcatel-Lucent 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) family of optical products.

The companies said the combination of the 1830 PSS optical platform with the HP 3PAR Remote Copy software can deliver synchronous replication over fiber up to 130 kilometers with encryption to reduce business risk. This solution further expands the HP and Alcatel-Lucent collaboration in Data Center solutions, after the recent launch of HP Distributed Cloud Networking (DCN) platform, which leverages the Virtualized Services Platform (VSP) from Alcatel-Lucent’s Nuage Networks SDN venture.

https://www.alcatel-lucent.com
http://www.hp.com


Ciena Sees Sales Momentum in Q2

Ciena reported fiscal second quarter 2015 revenue of $621.6 million as compared to $560.1 million for the fiscal second quarter 2014. Net income (GAAP) was $20.7 million, or $0.17 per diluted common share, which compares to a GAAP net loss of $(10.2) million, or $(0.10) per diluted common share, for the fiscal second quarter 2014.

"We delivered outstanding second quarter results that, when combined with our strong financial performance during the past several quarters, demonstrate increased operating leverage and sustained momentum in our business," said Gary B. Smith, president and CEO, Ciena. “This performance also reflects our industry-leading ability to deliver open, on-demand, software-driven networks for an increasingly diverse set of customers across the globe.”

Some highlights:

  • U.S. customers contributed 59.1% of total revenue
  • One customer accounted for greater than 10% of revenue and represented 19% of total revenue
  • Cash and investments totaled $816.7 million
  • Cash flow from operations totaled $37.8 million
  • Average days' sales outstanding (DSOs) were 80
  • Accounts receivable balance was $553.3 million
  • Inventories totaled $214.6 million
  • Product inventory turns were 5.3
  • Headcount totaled 5,108

http://www.ciena.com

Thursday, June 4, 2015

OPNFV Community Delivers Arno, its First Release

The OPNFV Project, which is the community based effort sponsored by the Linux Foundation to develop an open source platform to accelerate the introduction of Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), announced the availability of OPNFV Arno, its first software release.

Arno provides an initial build of the NFV Infrastructure (NFVI) and Virtual Infrastructure Manager (VIM) components of ETSI NFV architecture.

Key capabilities of OPNFV Arno:

Availability of baseline platform: Arno enables continuous integration, automated deployment and testing of components from upstream projects such as Ceph, KVM, OpenDaylight, OpenStack and Open vSwitch. It allows developers and users to automatically install and explore the platform.

Ability to deploy and test various VNFs: End users and developers can deploy their own or third party VNFs on Arno to test its functionality and performance in various traffic scenarios and use cases.

Availability of test infrastructure in community-hosted labs: Agile testing plays a crucial role in the OPNFV platform. With Arno, the project is unveiling a community test labs infrastructure where users can test the platform in different environments and on different hardware. This test labs infrastructure enables the platform to be exercised in different NFV scenarios to ensure that the various open source components come together to meet vendor and end user needs.

Allows automatic continuous integration of specific components: As upstream projects are developed independently they require testing of various OPNFV use cases to ensure seamless integration and interworking within the platform. OPNFV’s automated toolchain allows continuous automatic builds and verification.

“Only eight months after its formation, OPNFV has met one of its major goals by creating an integrated build, deployment and testing environment that accelerates NFV implementation and interoperability,” said Prodip Sen, chairman of the OPNFV board of directors. “With Arno, we now have a solid foundation for testing some of the key resource orchestration and network control components for NFV. This is great a testament to the power of an open source collaborative model and the strength of the NFV ecosystem.”

“NFV has gone from idea to reality so quickly. I am hearing from every major operator their plans to deploy SDN and NFV and see the OPNFV project as playing a critical role in this vision becoming a reality. It's great to see the OPNFV community has chosen OpenDaylight as a key component of their project and the Arno release,” said Neela Jacques, executive director, OpenDaylight.

“Delivering Arno in a short amount of time shows the potential of open source collaboration,” said Jonathan Bryce, executive director, OpenStack Foundation. “The OpenStack community looks forward to working closely with OPNFV and accelerating the evolution of NFV.”

“We are very happy to see the adoption of components of ETSI NFV architecture in Arno. This is a major milestone for OPNFV and the NFV ecosystem in building the integrated open source NFV platform. We congratulate the community and are looking forward to future releases,” said Dr. Steven Wright (AT&T), chairman of ETSI NFV ISG.

https://www.opnfv.org/arno


Equinix to Provide Direct Connect to Aliyun Cloud Services

Equinix signed an agreement with Aliyun, Alibaba Group's cloud computing arm, to provide direct access to Aliyun's cloud platform via the Equinix Cloud Exchange in Hong Kong and Silicon Valley. Aliyun is the largest public cloud service provider in China and operates the country's largest content delivery network.

This will provide multinational, Chinese, and North American enterprises with dedicated and secure access to the full suite of Aliyun's cloud services. In addition to the Aliyun cloud platform, Equinix will also offer direct access to additional cloud-based services from Aliyun, including SaaS-based applications.  Expansion to other Equinix facilities in Asia and North America is anticipated.

"Our multi-national enterprise customers are increasingly asking for access to the Aliyun cloud platform, as they deploy cloud-based applications across Asia. By providing this access in two strategic markets, we're empowering businesses to build secure, private clouds, without compromising network and application performance," said Chris Sharp, vice president, cloud innovation, Equinix.

"Aliyun is very excited about our global partnership with Equinix, who not only has a global footprint of cutting-edge data centers, but has also brought together the most abundant cloud players and tenants in the cloud computing ecosystem on its Equinix Cloud Exchange platform.  Connecting the Equinix ecosystem with our Aliyun cloud services on Cloud Exchange will provide customers with the best-of-breed choices and flexibility," said Sicheng Yu, vice president, Aliyun.

http://www.equinix.com

Avi Networks Integrates Cloud ADC with Cisco ACI

Avi Networks, a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California, has integrated its Cloud Application Delivery Controller with Cisco's Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI).

Avi Networks, which was founded by key engineers behind Cisco's Nexus data center platforms, offers a software-only load balancer that adopts the same approach taken by large cloud service providers, such as Amazon, Facebook and Google, in that it runs entirely on x86.  The hyperscale ADC separates the control plane from the data plane.  Avi is also bringing traffic analytics into its Layer 7 switching, enabling application flows to dynamically adapt to traffic conditions..

The newly announced integration with Cisco ACI establishes interoperability with the Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) using RESTful APIs. Avi use a common architecture as Cisco, including unified management and control planes, as well as the ability to scale data plane resources elastically, on-demand as application requirements dictate. The company says this approach provides end-users with better application delivery, security and load balancing, in addition to real-time visibility, monitoring, and integrated (inline) analytics of their on-premise and cloud-based applications.

“We are excited to announce the availability of the integration with Cisco ACI, which is one of the most important data center and cloud networking solutions,” said Umesh Mahajan, CEO of Avi Networks. “The Cisco ACI is a true application driven environment and it requires a complementary approach to application delivery to guarantee the proper end-user experience and application performance, which are fundamental for success in today’s era of cloud, mobile and virtualization technologies.”

“Cisco ACI has been built with a broad and deep ecosystem of partners to give our customers freedom of choice among vendors,” said Ish Limkakeng, VP, Cisco. “We are pleased to have Avi Networks join our ecosystem and to have them share our vision for automation and agility in the data center.”

Avi also cites its Inline Analytics capability as a key differentiator.  An inline analytics module integrated within the company's ADC aligns with the centralized and deep network infrastructure visibility available through the Cisco APIC solution.

http://www.avinetworks.com

  • Prior to co-founding Avi Networks in November 2012, Umesh Mahajan was VP/GM of Data Center Switching at Cisco, responsible for the Nexus 7000, MDS, NX-OS and DCNM families. Before that, he was Senior Director of Software Engineering at Andiamo, which was acquired by Cisco.  Avi's team also includes Murali Basavaiah (co-founder and Engineering Lead), who previously was VP Engineering at Cisco for NX-OS Software and Nexus 7000/MDS product; and Ranga Rajagopalan (Cheif Architect and CTO), who previously was Sr. Director of Engineering at Cisco and responsible for NX-OS systems/platform software for the Cisco Nexus 7000.

NTT Com Develops Multi-homed anti-DDoS

NTT Communications is testing an enhanced DDoS orchestrator system to detect, analyze and defend against distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. The pilot system was constructed by multiple security companies, including Arbor Networks, A10 Networks, and Radware Ltd. The user organizations include EHIME CATV Inc., INTERNET MULTIFEED Co., Interop Tokyo 2015 ShowNet, mixi Inc. and OKIT CORPORATION, among others.

NTT Com said its trial will test the operability of unique channel-control technology developed by NTT Com to minimize the negative effects, such as delays in normal communications, of implementing a DDoS defense. The testing environment incorporates NTT Com's unique channel-control technology (patent pending), which reports the Internet routes used by specific traffic and enabling traffic from a DDoS attack to be routed to optimized points in NTT Com's Global IP (GIP) and domestic OCN networks for Internet connection. The attacker's specific traffic is drawn to the system's DDoS defense devices, whereas normal communications experience only minimal delays.

NTT Com is Japan's first communications provider to conduct a multihomed anti-DDoS service that would be available to all companies using or providing Internet services.

http://www.ntt.com/aboutus_e/news/data/20150604.html

HP and Arista Offer Data Center Reference Architectures

HP announced a new partnership with Arista Networks to provide verified reference architectures for data centers.

The HP Converged Architecture with Arista is designed to support private, public and hybrid cloud applications across compute and storage, including all-flash solutions with HP 3PAR StoreServ. The companies said their open and flexible solutions deliver simplified provisioning and ongoing maintenance, via the application of Arista Extensible Operating System (EOS) and network programmable platforms, with HP OneView integration at its core.

“The joint reference architectures from HP and Arista will deliver a dramatically simplified path to convergence and cloud-efficiency for our joint customers,” said Ed Chapman, vice president of business development and alliances, Arista Networks, Inc. “This will allow customers to rapidly realize the benefits of a converged infrastructure to accelerate their business and improve time to value while remaining flexible for future business needs.”

In addition, HP announced enhancements to its OneView 2.0 management platform, which unifies processes, user interfaces (UI’s) and the application programming interfaces (APIs) across HP server, storage, and Virtual Connect networking devices. The enhancements include new server automation tools for defining firmware and driver baselines as well as server, LAN and SAN settings in one place and consistently provision or update those settings multiple times. Additionally, new profile mobility makes it possible to migrate and recover of workloads across server platform types, configurations, and generations.

http://www.hp.com/go/convergedsystem

NTT Com and Carrier Partners Aim for Improved Network Quality

NTT Communications and 22 of its global telecommunications-carrier partners agreed on a number of policies aimed at improving global network service quality.

During the Arcstar Carrier Forum 2015, which took place in Tokyo on June 2 and 3, the parties agreed to increase availability, decrease failure rates and strive for a number of other improvements measured by key performance indicators (KPI). These include:

  • Increase availability
  • Decrease failure rates
  • Reduce instances of long-term failure
  • Improve rate of determining reason for outage as failure occurs
  • Improve rate of on-time delivery to customer
  • Decrease lead time for line delivery

The Arcstar Carrier Forum is an international conference organized by NTT Com to consider strategies for strengthening Arcstar-branded managed network services for multinational corporations.

NTT Com Partner Carriers that Attended Arcstar Carrier Forum 2015

China: China Telecom Global Limited
Korea: KT Corporation
Hong Kong: Hutchison Global Communications Limited
Hong Kong: Wharf T&T Limited
Taiwan: Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd.
Philippines: Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company
Indonesia: PT Indosat tbk
Indonesia: PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia International
Vietnam: Vietnam Datacommunication
Malaysia: Telekom Malaysia Berhad
Thailand: CAT Telecom Public Company Limited
India: Tata Communications Ltd.
India: Bharti Airtel Limited
Australia: Telstra Japan K.K.
Australia: Singtel Optus Pty Limited
France: Orange Business Services
UK: Colt Technology Services
UK: Interoute Communications Limited
South Africa: Internet Solutions a division of Dimension Data
USA: Verizon Communications Inc.
USA: XO Communications
South America: Neutrona Networks

http://www.ntt.com/aboutus_e/news/data/20150603.html

BroadSoft Acquires mPortal for Mobile UC Design

BroadSoft announced its acquisition of mPortal, a privately-held firm that offers mobile-centric design and development capabilities.  mPortal’s mobile-centric design and development capabilities will provide the foundation for BroadSoft Design – which allows service providers and enterprises to customize and differentiate UC solutions built around BroadSoft’s UC-One solution. mPortal is based in McLean, Virginia. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“It is increasingly clear that a ‘one size fits all’ strategy for delivering unified communications is insufficient for meeting the superior and differentiated end-user experiences that businesses demand,” said Scott Hoffpauir, chief technology officer, BroadSoft. “The mPortal acquisition and launch of BroadSoft Design reaffirms our commitment of simplifying how our customers sell, deliver and support UC services, innovating to give service providers a competitive market advantage and accelerating market adoption of unified communications through a superior end-user experience.”

http://www.broadsoft.com