ADTRAN expands ProCloud subscription services

ADTRAN, a supplier of next-generation open networking solutions, has announced the launch of its ProCloud UC offering based on technology from BroadSoft, a provider of cloud communications, collaboration and contact centre solutions,  and the expansion its ProCloud subscription services suite.

ProCloud UC

ADTRAN has added the BroadCloud call control platform to its ProCloud subscription services suite to enable managed service provider (MSP) partners to expand their cloud-based unified communications (UC) offerings. ADTRAN noted that it is amongst the first network infrastructure partners to be selected by BroadSoft as a provider of advanced voice and networking infrastructure solutions.

The ADTRAN ProCloud UC cloud-based solution offers an integrated bundle designed to simplify the process of launching and supporting business communications services such as mobility, instant messaging, HD audio and video calling, conferencing and collaboration.

The partnership between BroadSoft and ADTRAN is expected to represent the first of a number of open network alliances that will enable ADTRAN's partners to increase revenue leveraging best-of-breed networking and application services.

New ProCloud subscription services

ADTRAN also announced it is expanding its ProCloud subscription services suite to encompass four solution categories: ProCloud UC, ProCloud Security, ProCloud Analytics and ProCloud Network Management.

The ProCloud subscription services suite is designed to facilitate the delivery of managed services by combining advanced cloud-based business applications and removing the need to work with multiple vendors and platforms. The expanded offering includes the following over the top (OTT) applications:

1.         ProCloud UC, offered in partnership with BroadSoft (see above).

2.         ProCloud Security, delivered through collaboration with TitanHQ and featuring web filtering, a cloud-based content control solution, and spam filtering, a cloud-based malware solution.

3.         ProCloud Analytics, offering customer insights enabled by Purple, a cloud-based WiFi analytics solution that provides businesses with real-time behavioural and demographic information on guest network users.

4.         ProCloud Network Management.

Existing ProCloud subscription services include ProCloud WiFi and ProCloud LAN.
http://portal.adtran.com/web/page/portal/Adtran/wp_newsroom_newsreleases

Read More

Telehouse Expands Cloud Interconnection to U.S.

Telehouse, a global provider of data centres, Internet exchanges and managed IT services, has announced the launch of Telehouse Cloud Link, which is currently available in the EMEA region, in the U.S.

Telehouse Cloud Link is a multi-cloud connectivity exchange that enables enterprises to manage access to multiple cloud services through a single, dedicated private connection.

Telehouse Cloud Link is designed to help customers simplify hybrid cloud infrastructures and accelerate data transfer between their network and cloud services by establishing direct, private connections to multiple cloud service providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform, as well as network on-demand including Teleshous's own NYIIX and LAIIX.

Telehouse launched the Telehouse Cloud Link connectivity exchange in March, with availability due from April this year. The service was launched via an agreement with cloud connectivity service Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute, through a direct connection into the Telehouse London Docklands campus.

The availability of Microsoft ExpressRoute expands the connectivity available at Telehouse London Docklands, which provides a location for enterprises and service providers to build their hybrid IT solutions, and for cloud providers to host infrastructure.

In January, Telehouse announced it had been selected by UNIFI-IX, a new Internet exchange, to host its services across the London Docklands campus. UNIFI-IX was established in 2016 with the aim of creating a global network for the exchange of traffic, either locally or globally, via a single port of entry to the exchange. Members can also create private VLAN's across the network regardless of geographical location.

Telehouse owns and operates 48 data centres worldwide, including two data centres in New York at 85 Tenth Avenue in Manhattan and 7 Teleport Drive in Staten Island, New York, as well as a facility in California located in downtown Los Angeles at 626 Wilshire Blvd.
http://www.telehouse.com/2017/04/telehouse-launches-advanced-cloud-interconnection-solution-united-states/

Read More

Telefonica selects Casa Systems Femto Cells

Casa Systems, a supplier of next-generation distributed and virtualised solutions for mobile, fixed broadband and cable access networks, announced that Telefónica Spain has selected it to supply 4G femto cells that will be deployed to improve in-building service and coverage for residential customers.

Telefónica serves around 349 million fixed, mobile and broadband commercial and residential accesses worldwide, and is seeking to increase the density of its mobile network to address growing demand resulting from new devices and applications. As part of this initiative it has selected 4G femto cells from Casa's Apex Ultra-Broadband 4G small cell solution offering.

By installing femto cells in its network, Telefónica can increase network capacity and availability for customers, as well as prepare for the future transition to the 5G.

Casa's end-to-end small cell solutions are complemented by the Axyom ultra-broadband software framework, which enables high-density transport and access concentration in a virtual multi-access edge-computing footprint located at the network edge. The solution provides support for both 3G/LTE and WiFi technology.

The Apex Ultra-Broadband small cells support 3G and 4G cellular, WiFi, LTE-A, 3.5 GHz CBRS and MuLTEFire access technologies, while the Axyom small cell manager provides a unified management framework designed to enable zero touch plug-and-play provisioning and autonomous optimisation to improve performance and help reduce opex.

These technologies combine with the virtual mobile EPC of the Axyom software framework to create an end-to-end mobile architecture designed to enhance mobile network performance and support the transition to 5G in the future.

In February at MWC Casa Systems announced the expansion of its mobile solutions portfolio to support the migration to providing 5G services. Casa's upgraded Apex small cells, Axyom small cell manager and virtual mobile EPC solutions, including S-GW, P-GW, MME and SAE-GW offerings, combine to create an end-to-end mobile architecture designed to meet the demands of 5G.

http://www.casa-systems.com/assets/press/17-04-12-Casa-Telefonica.pdf

Read More

UK's CityFibre launches Gigabit City Projects

UK infrastructure provider CityFibre announced that it will shortly begin work on the deployment of an ultra-fast, fibre network in the towns of Slough and Maidenhead in Berkshire, to the west of London.

For the project, CityFibre partner, Berkshire-based IT and telecoms specialist BtL Communications, will connect businesses across the network to provide with access to Internet services with up to gigabit speeds. The project will entail lighting 38 km of fibre from the Slough Trading Estate to the town centre, with a further 10 km to be deployed across the neighbouring town of Maidenhead.

CityFibre noted that customers are already connected to its fibre networks in the nearby towns of Reading and Bracknell in Berkshire.

CityFibre announced in late March that as part of its roll-out in the Thames Valley, businesses in Reading and Bracknell were able to subscribe to services over its new all-fibre network, with the first customers connected to the network. Launched in late 2016, the new fibre network was delivered by CityFibre as part of its national initiative to deploy fibre in UK cities, with services provided via its partner BtL Communications.

CityFibre operates a national network in the UK and claims it has launched Gigabit City projects in 41 cities. The company offers a portfolio of lit and dark fibre services over a network that connects around 28,000 public sites, 7,800 mobile masts, 280,000 businesses and 4 million homes.

CityFibre states it has launched Gigabit City projects in the following UK cities and towns: Aberdeen; Bracknell; Bradford; Bristol; Coventry; Doncaster; Edinburgh; Glasgow; Huddersfield; Hull; Leeds; Maidenhead; Milton Keynes; Northampton; Peterborough; Reading; Rotherham; Sheffield; Slough; Southend-on-Sea; and York.
https://www.cityfibre.com/news/gigabit-city-status-set-supercharge-connectivity-slough-maidenhead/

Read More

VMware to acquire Wavefront for Monitoring Technology

VMware, a major provider of cloud infrastructure and business mobility, announced an agreement to acquire Wavefront, developer of a metrics monitoring service for cloud and modern application environments based in Palo Alto, California, on undisclosed terms.

VMware noted that enterprises face growing challenges when monitoring applications, which comprise hundreds of microservices in containers with lifespans of seconds, across private and public clouds. To identify and resolve operational issues in dynamic cross-cloud environments, developers need new instrumentation for their applications and devops teams require advanced real-time analytics for their distributed systems to address problems before they impact the business.

Wavefront offers metrics monitoring designed to optimise clouds and modern applications by providing real-time operational insights based on millions of data points per second. Using the technology, operators and developers can interrogate real-time data streams to find ways to address issues, locate bottlenecks and test algorithms and models.

Provided as a cloud-hosted service, Wavefront ingests, stores, visualises and delivers alerts using streaming metric data from clouds and applications to help improve operational performance. Designed to scale to support the demands of large data centres, the service can measure, correlate and analyse across servers, devices, applications and end-users, as well as multiple public cloud and data centre attributes, SaaS, PaaS and IaaS environments and business metrics.

Wavefront's metrics monitoring capabilities will complement VMware's vRealize Operations platform for monitoring, troubleshooting and capacity planning across virtual environments. Through the combined offering, users will have a representation of their network, infrastructure and application environments utilising Wavefront with vRealize Network Insight, vRealize Operations and vRealize Log Insight.

Upon closing of the acquisition, which is expected to take place in the second quarter of this year, Wavefront will become part of the portfolio of VMware Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings. Additionally, VMware will leverage Wavefront's technology to advance the development of VMware Cross-Cloud Services, designed to help users manage and monitor modern application and their associated infrastructure across clouds.
http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases.html

Read More

AT&T teams with NI on mmWave Channel Characterisation

NI, a provider of platform-based systems to engineers and scientists, announced collaboration with AT&T to deliver fast and accurate tools for 5G millimetre Wave (mmWave) channel characterisation.

NI noted that with mmWave frequencies set to feature in future 5G systems, having been identified by the FCC, 3GPP and other standardisation bodies for use in 5G mobile networks. As a result, there will be a requirement for tools that can measure channel performance to show how wireless signals are affected in a specific environment, for example, how signals reflect off, or are blocked by, objects such as trees and buildings.

This means that wireless channel characterisation is key for wireless researchers defining 5G technologies as they work to design next generation wireless networks. As a leading company in the development of 5G, AT&T is working with NI to create accurate models that will help it to map out where network equipment needs to be sited to provide customers with a quality mobile experience.

As part of this effort, AT&T has developed a channel sounder, named internally the Porcupine, which is believed to be the first product of its kind and is proprietary to AT&T. The channel sounder provides real-time channel parameter measurement and monitoring capability utilising an architecture based on NI's mmWave Transceiver System.

The solution was developed using the NI mmWave Transceiver System and LabVIEW design software, which enabled AT&T and NI to define and develop an advanced channel measurement system, with the PXIe and LabVIEW FPGA providing the bandwidth, data and signal processing capability needed to meet the requirements of mmWave testing for 5G.

The one-of-a-kind design is claimed to provide a number of advantages, including allowing angle-of-arrival (AoA) measurements that would typically take at least 15 minutes to be completed using pan-tilt units to be performed within 150 milliseconds, with results displayed in real-time.

The AT&T channel sounder is designed to capture channel measurements where all the data is acquired and processed in real-time, whereas other approaches capture raw data and post-process it to characterise the channel, while delivering one-measurement every 15 minutes. In contrast, the Porcupine can provide approximately 6,000 measurements over the same period.

AT&T noted that the real-time measurement capability can eliminate the need to repeat experiments or to adjust the equipment to take multiple measurements from one location. For example, the Porcupine allows the measurement of 5G mmWave frequencies via drive testing, which has not previously been possible.

http://www.ni.com/newsroom/release/ni-and-att-collaborate-on-one-of-worlds-fastest-mmwave-channel-sounders-for-5g/en/

Read More

Windstream Launches SD-WAN Wholesale

Windstream launched an all-new Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) solution for the reseller community.

The company said its SD-WAN solution relieves the demanding pressures on today's networks by providing agility, visibility and control, as well as performance and operational efficiencies.

"This significant addition of SD-WAN to the current available portfolio of Wholesale solutions - including MEF 2.0 Certified Carrier Ethernet, MPLS and Dedicated Internet Access and more - enables a full-scale, flexible and powerful technology that positions resellers as trusted advisers to their end users," said Jeff Brown, director of product management and marketing for Windstream's Wholesale business unit. "By leveraging the reach of the Internet, Windstream Wholesale's SD-WAN solution combines end-user locations and services through an easy-to-use interface, eliminates the need for manual monitoring and allows our resellers to deliver a fully managed solution to their customers."

http://investor.windstream.com/investors/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=1020923

Windstream Introduces SD-WAN Powered by VeloCloud

Thursday, January 19, 2017  SD-WAN, VeloCloud, Windstream  No Comments

Windstream introduced its software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) solution powered by VeloCloud that uses SDN to dynamically route traffic over a combination of private and public access types to reach multiple locations. Windstream said its new service helps customers maintain control over their network from a convenient centralized location rather than requiring them to manage various routers, firewalls and switches. It also simplifies management

Read More

VeloCloud Establishes Security Ecosystem for SD-WAN

VeloCloud Networks, the Cloud-Delivered SD-WAN company, announced the launch of the SD-WAN Security Technology Partner Program and partnerships with security industry players IBM Security, Check Point Software Technologies, Fortinet and Zscaler.

VeloCloud's SD-WAN security technology partner program is designed to integrate its enterprise SD-WAN architecture with leading security solutions. The VeloCloud Cloud-Delivered SD-WAN enables enterprise customers to operate WANs, flexibly support applications and simplify branch office deployments while using their preferred interoperable security products for branch, data centre and cloud environments.

Through the partner program, VeloCloud is working with IBM Security to deliver the Secure SD-WAN service from IBM Managed Security Services, which is designed to enable zero-trust security and improved network performance along with reduced operational and telecom circuit costs.

VeloCloud's SD-WAN security partner program covers the three areas of the SD-WAN security framework, comprising network, cloud and management. This encompasses: network security interoperability in the branch and security VNF integration on the VeloCloud Edge; cloud security via direct connect from branch to cloud and security in IaaS through VeloCloud Edges and Gateways; and interfaces to security operations centres, SIEM solutions and security analytics.

Under the program, technology partners have access to the extensible VeloCloud Technology Partner SD-WAN API (for orchestration, control and data) and SDK, in addition to the VeloCloud VNF framework. Partners are also able to integrate and insert services using the VeloCloud VNF-ready platform development framework, which offers support for an integrated security VNF.

As part of the initiative, VeloCloud has also joined Fortinet's Fabric-Ready Partner Program, through which it has worked with Fortinet to validate technology integration and ensure interoperability with the Fortinet FortiHypervisor platform. Additionally, VeloCloud is a Check Point Open Platform for Security (OPSEC) partner and has created a joint solution with Zscaler that enables secure Internet access to on-premises and cloud hosted services.http://www.velocloud.com/news/2017/velocloud-introduces-comprehensive-sd-wan-security-ecosystem

Read More

Fujitsu Launches Cloud Service for CyrusOne

Fujitsu America announced the launch of secure global connectivity via its Fujitsu Cloud Service K5 offering to customers of CyrusOne, a global data centre operator serving the U.S., Europe and Asia, with K5 currently hosted at CyrusOne's Carrollton, Texas data centre.

Fujitsu Cloud Service K5, part of the ongoing global roll-out of its next-generation IaaS and PaaS cloud service, is claimed to be the first cloud computing platform to enable digital transformation through integrating traditional IT environments into new cloud-based technologies. The service is designed to accelerate application development and integrates enterprise-grade reliability, performance and scalability with the cost efficiency of open source-based cloud technology.

A key element of the Fujitsu Digital Business Platform MetaArc, K5 offers a suite of technologies designed to enable organisations to develop and deploy new cloud-native applications, termed Fast IT, or Systems of Engagement. K5 will also allow CyrusOne customers to leverage their traditional, Robust IT, installations, also termed Systems of Record, through integration into new cloud applications. The Fujitsu solution thereby enables organisations to utilise legacy systems while modernising IT environments.

CyrusOne customers can utilise K5 capabilities in the areas of application integration and development, as well as the wider capabilities of MetaArc to leverage automated multi-cloud delivery and management across all popular cloud platforms.

The Fujitsu MetaArc platform is designed to enable fast-track application development for the digitalisation of existing enterprise IT services, while accelerated release cycles will allow CyrusOne to more quickly test and launch new services. Through K5's open architecture and ability to run and manage workloads on any platform, with MetaArc new systems can run both within the public cloud and in an organisations IT environment.

As a result, leveraging the open source, OpenStack-based architecture of K5 CyrusOne will be able to reduce costs associated with its 35-plus carrier-neutral facilities, and enterprises will be able to reduce vendor lock-in.

Fujitsu's K5 service is available with four delivery models - public cloud, virtual private hosted, dedicated and dedicated on-premise – and applies the same approach across all versions.

Fujitsu noted that it is currently implementing the solution to transition its internal IT environment and migrating its 640 business systems and 13,000-plus servers to K5.

http://www.fujitsu.com/us/about/resources/news/press-releases/2017/fai-20170411.html

Read More

nbn of Australia trials Nokia universal NG-PON fibre technology

Nokia announced that Australia's nbn, which is deploying a national broadband network and recently reported it had passed 4.5 million premises, has tested its universal NG-PON fibre solution at the Nokia lab facility in Melbourne.

Nokia stated that the nbn trial achieved aggregate broadband speeds of 102 Gbit/s on a single fibre and demonstrated the dynamic provisioning of bandwidth to help support increasing data demand from residential and business customers.

Nokia's universal NG-PON technology converges TWDM-PON (also termed NG-PON2), XGS-PON and GPON technology on the same fibre and is designed to enable a straightforward upgrade path from the current technology utilised in FTTP deployments.

Designed to be deployed as an overlay on existing fibre networks, TWDM-PON and XGS-PON is designed to remove the time and cost associated with laying new fibre. TWDM-PON can support four or more wavelengths per fibre, each of which can support asymmetrical or symmetrical bit rates of 2.5 or 10 Gbit/s and delivering total capacity of 40 Gbit/s. XGS-PON utilises a single wavelength to support 10 Gbit/s symmetrical or asymmetrical bit rates.

nbn trialled the different PON technologies using Nokia's universal next-generation PON solution, which includes: TWDM-PON enabling 40 Gbit/s symmetrical bandwidth; XGS-PON providing 10 Gbit/s symmetrical bandwidth; and  GPON, offering 2.5 Gbit/s bandwidth.

Combined, the technologies delivered download and upload speeds of more than 102 Gbit/s in the aggregate over a single, shared fibre.

Nokia noted that the testing of TWDM-PON and XGS-PON technology is the latest in a number of trials nbn has conducted with Nokia using fibre and copper infrastructure. In October last year, Nokia and nbn trialled copper-based XG-FAST technology during which they demonstrated throughput speeds of up to 8 Gbit/s in lab conditions.

Conducted in nbn's North Sydney lab, the test achieved peak aggregate throughput of over 8 Gbit/s over a 30-metre twisted-pair copper cable, with a 5 Gbit/s peak rate achieved over 70 meters of twisted-pair cable.
http://www.nokia.com/en_int/news/releases

Read More

Poland's PSNC deploys ADVA 100G in PIONIER R&E network

ADVA Optical Networking announced that the Poland's Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC) has deployed the FSP 3000 equipped with 100 Gbit/s core technology into its PIONIER network for the research and education community.

PIONIER, a major European R&E network, links high-performance computer centres in five cities across Poland, as well as providing onward connectivity to the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland.

The new 96-channel 100 Gbit/s coherent long-haul solution provided by ADVA and installed by its local partner Alma is designed to enable Europe's scientific community to share large volume data sets and collaborate using high-bandwidth applications. The ADVA solution provides a new fully redundant GMPLS-based network connecting Polish supercomputing centres located in the cities of Poznań, Gdansk, Warsaw, Krakow and Wroclaw.

The new network offers 96 channels and supports reach of more than 3,466 km without the use of signal regeneration. In addition to ADVA FSP 3000 core transport technology, the solution employs the vendor's colourless, directionless and flexgrid multi-degree ROADMs, which serve to establish remote cross-connections at the optical layer to improve availability and simplify operations.

ADVA noted that PIONIER was one of the first national academic networks in Europe to implement its own 10 Gbit/s dark fibre network, and following the latest upgrade all links in the meshed infrastructure are able to transport 100 Gbit/s capacity. In addition, based on the modular design of the FSP 3000, the network can be scaled to 400 Gbit/s capacity and beyond in the future.

ADVA previously announced in September 2015 that it had partnered with PSNC to trial 400 Gbit/s coherent data centre interconnect (DCI) technology. The trial was conducted over 385 km of fibre between research centres in Poznan and Warsaw and involved the FSP 3000 CloudConnect platform. For the trial, the CloudConnect was configured with two 200 Gbit/s wavelengths operating at 16QAM within an optical super-channel; it also featured ROADMs and hybrid amplifiers.

http://www.advaoptical.com/en/newsroom/press-releases-english/

Read More

Rancher Labs Releases ultra-lightweight Container OS

Rancher Labs, a start-up based in Cupertino, California, released its ultra-lightweight container OS.

Key features of RancherOS include:

• Minimalist OS: Eliminates the need for unnecessary libraries and services
• Automatic configuration: Simplifies OS configuration by using cloud-init to parse the cloud-config files from multiple data sources
• Simple setup: Runs services inside containers orchestrated using Docker Compose service files, making setup as simple as running a Docker container
• Reduced footprint: Decreases resource requirements with a footprint three times smaller than that of other container operating systems in the market
• Extensive platform support: Supports Amazon EC2, bare metal, Digital Ocean, Docker Machine, GCE, KVM, OpenStack, Packet, Vagrant, VMware (experimental) and VirtualBox

“RancherOS is a minimalist Linux distribution that is perfect for running Docker containers,” said Sheng Liang, co-founder and CEO of Rancher Labs. “By running Docker directly on top of the kernel and delivering Linux services as containers, RancherOS delivers just what you need to build a containerized application environment.”

http://www.rancher.com

Read More

3 Hong Kong Upgrading Mobile Network using Huawei for 5G

Huawei announced an agreement with 3 Hong Kong, the mobile communications division of Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong under which it will implement a series of network upgrades designed to increase network capacity and coverage and prepare 3 Hong Kong's network for the 5G era.

Huawei noted that 3 Hong Kong is currently the only mobile operator in Hong Kong with 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz and 2600 MHz spectrum bands in service. 3 Hong Kong is re-farming spectrum to improve bandwidth efficiency as customer data usage patterns change, and having already re-farmed its 900 MHz spectrum for 4G in 2016, plans to complete re-farming of its 2100 MHz spectrum for 4G service in the second half of this year.

By the end of the year, the operator expects to have completed re-farming of its spectrum so that all five bands will be available for 4G service to help meet customer demand for data services.

In addition, 3 Hong Kong plans to utilise CA (carrier aggregation) technology to deliver a network leveraging 5CC (5 component CA), designed to provide customers with improved mobile service.

Specifically, to provide higher bandwidth 3 Hong Kong will combine 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz x2 and 2600 MHz spectrums with FDD and TDD 5CC CA technology, together with 4 x 4 MIMO and 256QAM modulation. This technology upgrade will provide customers with compatible terminals with data download speeds of over 1.2 Gbit/s. 3 Hong Kong plans to launch this network by the end of 2017.

Meanwhile, in tandem with enhancing its 4.5G network, 3 Hong Kong is planning for the deployment of 5G technologies, including network cloudification solutions, to enable the launch of services once the relevant technology standardisation is finalised.

As part of this effort, Huawei enables network cloudification via its CloudEdge, CloudRAN and CloudAIR solutions. CloudEdge implements core network resources in the cloud, allowing flexible network configuration; CloudRAN serves to centralise the management of baseband configurations in the cloud; and CloudAIR 'cloudifies' the air interface enable dynamic adjustment of spectrum formats and allocation of spectrum resources based changing network traffic patterns.

Huawei stated that 3 Hong Kong has already deployed CloudEdge technology on its core network, and is currently applying CloudRAN technology to its wireless access network. The operator is also planning to deploy CloudAIR technology to complete cloudification of its network.

Additionally, 3 Hong Kong is developing massive MIMO technology, and has deployed a massive MIMO base station with 2300 MHz TDD in Causeway Bay that has been utilised in field testing. Huawei noted that the test results indicate that a massive MIMO base station can provide over six times the capacity of a conventional 4G base station with the same spectrum with TDD single carrier of 20 MHz bandwidth.

http://www.huawei.com/en/news/2017/4/Huawei-3HongKong-5G

Read More

NEC partners with K-Opticom to trial vCPE over 10G EPON Internet connections

NEC and Netcracker Technology announced that they have conducted a successful trial in partnership with K-Opticom of Japan of a system combining network functions virtualisation (NFV) and 10 Gigabit Ethernet PON (EPON) technologies.

The companies claim that the trial verified for the first time that virtualised CPE (vCPE) can be successfully operated over 10 Gbit/s Internet connections.

K-Opticom is a provider of telecommunications services in the Kansai region of Japan based on its own fibre network, serving over 1.5 million residential subscribers. The company specifically offers the mineo mobile service through a MVNO arrangement and the eo denki electric power retailing service for residential customers.

NEC noted that vCPE provides CPE and other top-layer functions, such as dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) and network address translation (NAT), from data centres over Internet connections. vCPE is designed to allow the provision of enhanced home-based communications and to simplify home gateways, and the vCPE trial with K-Opticom delivered the following:

1.         By virtually establishing conventional CPE functions on the K-Opticom network, vCPE can support the provision of a secure communications environment, as well as facilitate the delivery of new services such as VoD, cloud storage and parental control.

2.         Enabled monitoring of communications status on devices such as computers and smartphones remotely at the request of the service user; allowing communications services top be improved and facilitating the prompt identification and resolution of faults.

NEC stated that based on the results of the trial with K-Opticom, the companies plan to conduct further trials in preparation for the full-scale roll-out of vCPE over 10 Gbit/s Internet services.http://www.nec.com/en/press/201704/global_20170411_02.html

Read More

Microsoft Acquires Deis for Kubernetes Management

Microsoft is acquiring Deis, a start-up specializing in Kubernetes container management technologies. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Deis has offices in San Franciso and Boulder, Colorado.

"At Microsoft, we’ve seen explosive growth in both interest and deployment of containerized workloads on Azure," stated Scott Guthrie - Executive Vice President, Cloud and Enterprise Group, Microsoft, in a company blog.

http://www.deis.com

Read More

Huawei Eyes the Public Cloud

Huawei is launching a major push to build public cloud infrastructure. In a keynote address at the Huawei Global Analyst Summit (HAS) in Shenzhen, Eric Xu, Huawei's Rotating CEO, said the ambition is to drive digital transformation by focusing on ICT infrastructure and smart devices.

"Beginning in 2017, Huawei will focus on public cloud services. We will invest heavily in building an open and trusted public cloud platform, which will be the foundation of a Huawei Cloud Family. This family will include public clouds we develop together with operators, and public clouds that we operate on our own."

http://www.huawei.com/en/news/2017/4/Huawei-Global-Analyst-Summit

Read More

IDC: Accelerating IT Infrastructure Spending for Public Clouds

Total spending on IT infrastructure products (server, enterprise storage, and Ethernet switches) for deployment in cloud environments will increase 15.3% year over year in 2017 to $41.7 billion, according to a new forecast from IDC.

"After the slowdown seen in 2016, we expect to see spending on IT infrastructure for public cloud deployments return to double-digit growth in 2017," said Natalya Yezhkova, research director, Storage Systems. "Growing demand for access to agile IT resources and proliferation of next generation workloads will continue driving adoption of cloud-based services. In turn, this move leads to a shift in IT infrastructure spending from traditional enterprise on-premises deployments to datacenters delivering cloud services and corporate private clouds."

Some highlights from IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Cloud IT Infrastructure Tracker:

• Public cloud datacenters will account for the majority of spending, 60.5%, while off-premises private cloud environments will represent 14.9% of spending. On-premises private clouds will account for 62.3% of spending on private cloud IT infrastructure and will grow 13.1% year over year in 2017.
• Overall, worldwide spending on traditional, non-cloud, IT infrastructure will decline 5.3% in 2017. However, it will still account for the largest share, 57.9%, of end user spending.
• In cloud environments, Ethernet switches will be the fastest growing technology segment at 21.8% year over year growth in 2017, while spending on servers and enterprise storage will grow 17.9% and 10.7%, respectively. 
• Long term, IDC expects spending on off-premises cloud IT infrastructure will grow at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.7%, reaching $47.2 billion in 2021. Public cloud datacenters will account for 80.4% of this amount. 

http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS42454117

Read More

Google Joins INDIGO Undersea Cable Project

A consortium comprising AARNet, Google, Indosat Ooredoo, Singtel, SubPartners and Telstra announced that they have entered into an agreement with Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) for the construction of a new subsea cable system.

On completion, the new INDIGO cable system (previously known as APX West & Central) will expand connectivity between Australia and South East Asia markets, and will enable higher speed services and improved reliability.

The INDIGO cable system will span approximately 9,000 km between Singapore and Perth, Australia, and onwards to Sydney. The system will land at existing facilities in Singapore, Australia and Indonesia, providing connections between Singapore and Jakarta.

The system will feature a two-fibre pair 'open cable' design and spectrum- sharing technology. This design will allow consortium members to share ownership of spectrum resources provided by the cable and allow them to independently leverage technology advances and implement future upgrades as required.

Utilising coherent optical technology, each of the two fibre pairs will provide a minimum capacity of 18 Tbit/s, with the option to further increase this capacity in the future.

In addition to Google, the INDIGO consortium is made up of: AARNet, a provider of national and international telecom infrastructure to Australia's research and education sector; Indosat Ooredoo, an Ooredoo Group company providing telecom services in Indonesia; Singtel of Singapore, with a presence in Asia, Australia and Africa; and SubPartners based in Brisbane, Australia, which focuses on delivering major telecoms infrastructure projects in partnership with other companies.

ASN will undertake construction of the subsea cable system, which is expected to be completed by mid-2019

https://www.singtel.com/about-Us/news-releases/

Read More

Calix unveils AXOS OFx OpenFlow Connector for ONOS/CORD

Calix of Petaluma, California, a provider of Subscriber Driven Intelligent Access solutions, has announced the completion of the AXOS OFx (OpenFlow) Connector for the ON.Lab vOLT-HA (virtual optical line terminal-hardware abstraction) open source project.

Leveraging the native NetConf/Yang interfaces of the Calix AXOS platform, OFx si designed to enable the rapid integration of the AXOS Software Defined Access platform into ON.Lab ONOS and CORD (Central Office Re-imaged as a Datacenter) networks.

Calix stated that AXOS OFx, which was implemented in under four weeks, represents the start of the anySDN era, and marks the first time that CORD has been extended to commercial OLT systems, thereby allowing service providers to advance with the plug-and-play adoption of CORD for production networks.

The new AXOS OFx Connector is the next step in Calix's ongoing involvement with the ON.Lab ONOS and CORD projects. The company noted that as service providers begin to implement a CORD architecture, OFx Connector and the vOLT-HA software will provide the integration layer and enable operators to integrate OSS and SDN controllers into their business systems.

In addition, the OFx and vOLT-HA solutions will allow new products such as Calix's AXOS E9-2 intelligent edge system to be quickly installed into the network without the need for integration work.

Calix noted that service providers seeking to leverage its anySDN technology offering can download AXOS Sandbox to enable integration and testing of production software releases of Calix systems virtually, without the need for Calix hardware.

AXOS Sandbox offers a virtualised AXOS system software implementation that complements the AXOS architecture and is designed to allow OSS/BSS integration in a risk-free environment. AXOS Sandbox provides virtual instances of production Calix system software, allowing partners to create a virtual network for testing of broadband services. As well as the management plane of AXOS systems, AXOS Sandbox also provides the data plane and control plane elements.

https://www.calix.com/press-release/2017/04--april-/calix-launches-axos-ofx-connector--the-worlds-first-sda-integrat.html

Read More

Huawei and Colt DCS partner on Hyper-scale Cloud

Huawei has announced at CeBIT 2017 a collaboration with Colt Data Center Services (Colt DCS), a unit of Colt Technology Services, under which the two companies will work together to address the market for hyper-scale cloud-based data centre solutions, with the aim of meeting industry requirements for dynamic, cost-effective and customer-oriented data centre infrastructure in the cloud era.

As a major hosting service provider, Colt DCS builds and operates data centres designed to reduce operating costs for carriers while ensuring high quality, reliable connectivity and security. Huawei's data centre solutions are designed to allow flexible deployment to enable tailored, cost-efficient solutions for a range of client requirements.

The new partnership between Huawei and Colt DCS is intended to leverage the experience, technology and resources of both parties to support development in the cloud era and advance the capabilities of data centre infrastructure.

Colt DCS, a unit of UK-based Colt, provides colocation and IT infrastructure solutions for enterprise customers. The company operates 29 data centres across Europe and Asia Pacific, with connectivity to a further 530-plus third party data centres across its network and private links into the major public cloud providers.

Recently, Colt DCS announced it had added private connectivity into public cloud providers Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure at its three London, UK and at three German data centres in Frankfurt, Berlin, and Hamburg. The service allows customers to consume connectivity services on-demand and in real-time via an intuitive online customer portal.

At the time, Colt DCS also announced that German Internet exchanges DE-CIX and BCIX would become available at its Frankfurt and Berlin data centres, respectively.

http://www.coltdatacentres.net/news-events/press-releases/colt-data-centre-services-huawei-announce-partnership-cloud-data-center-infrastructure/
http://www.huawei.com

Read More