Toshiba intros 10 TB HDD for video surveillance

Toshiba America Electronic Components introduced a 10 TB hard drive designed for 24/7 streaming operation scenarios, and is typically used for surveillance digital video recorders (SDVR), surveillance network video recorders (SNVR) and Hybrid SDVR. The 3.5-inch drive is optimized to support up to 64 camera streams. Higher capacity and transfer rates enable support for higher resolution camera streams to meet changing compliance mandates for surveillance data.

The MD06ACA-V Series features 7,200 rpm access performance, and the new 10TB model delivers a 58 percent increase in maximum sustained transfer rate when compared to Toshiba’s prior MD04ABA-V series, pushing it to 237MiB/s3.

Read More

Symantec names AWS as strategic infrastructure provider

Symantec has chosen Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its strategic infrastructure provider for the vast majority of its cloud workloads.

Highlights of the announcement: (1) Symantec is undertaking a major operational move to AWS (2) Symantec will leverage the global footprint of the AWS Marketplace to deliver its security services (3) Symantec has already built a data lake on AWS that collects tens of terabytes of data every day from 175 million endpoints and more than 57 million attack sensors.

“Our cloud-first approach to engineering requires a highly scalable and reliable infrastructure that helps our team deliver faster time-to-market and ensure that security remains our top priority,” said Raj Patel, Vice President, Cloud Platform Engineering at Symantec.

Read More

Amazon ML Solutions Lab Opens

Amazon Web Services is launching a program that connects machine learning experts from across Amazon with AWS customers "to help identify practical uses of machine learning inside customers’ businesses, and guide them in developing new machine learning-enabled features, products, and processes."

 The Amazon ML Solutions Lab combines hands-on educational workshops with brainstorming sessions. The idea is to help customers “work backwards from business challenges, and then go step-by-step through the process of developing machine learning-based solutions."

Machine learning workshops cover topics such as how to prepare data, build and train models, and put models into production.

https://aws.amazon.com/ml-solutions-lab

Read More

GSMA proposes reforms to Chile’s Digital Ecosystem

The GSMA is proposing that Chile's next president implement a series of reforms to Chile's digital ecosystem.

In the first round of voting held on  19 November 2017, former president Sebastián Piñera and current senator Alejandro Guillier prevailed as the candidates with the two highest vote counts for president. A run-off election will be held on 17 December 2017.

In its newly published report, ‘Keys to the Modernisation of Digital Ecosystem Regulation in Chile’, the GSMA urges the following reforms:

• Improve coverage by removing barriers to infrastructure deployment;
• Level the playing field by reducing regulatory burdens on existing services;
• Enhance the user experience by encouraging competition in quality of service;
• Optimise the use of radio spectrum, a key input for the industry and in particular for the development of the Internet of Things; and
• Create an institutional framework that can act across the digital ecosystem.

Chile currently has 27.5 million mobile connections (153 percent penetration) and about 13.6 million unique mobile internet subscribers (76 percent penetration).

“The institutional framework that regulates ICT must be reviewed urgently if Chile intends to maintain its regional leadership indicators,” said Sebastian Cabello, Head of Latin America, GSMA. “For example, a body empowered to act across the digital ecosystem will need to be created to address the dynamism of the current market and find effective solutions for the cross-cutting nature of digital issues that are currently addressed piecemeal by various government agencies.”

Read More

Edgecross Consortium gets underway in Japan

A new Edgecross Consortium has been established by NEC, Advantech, Omron Corporation, IBM Japan, Oracle Corporation Japan and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation with the goal of accelerating the market for edge computing.

The Consortium aims to contribute to the promotion of IoT in support of the "Society 5.0" vision proposed by the Japanese government. The mission is to enable data collection from all types of industrial equipment and devices regardless of vendor or network.

Initial activities of the Consortium will begin with the development of specifications for the Edgecross open software platform.

A meeting is scheduled for November 29, 2017 in Tokyo.

Read More

SD-WAN is Integral to MEF 3.0 - Nav Chander at Silver Peak

MEF is embracing SD-WAN as an integral part of the MEF 3.0 framework, says Nav Chander, Senior Director, Service Provider Marketing, Silver Peak, paving the way for exciting times ahead.

See video: https://youtu.be/MKn9BfdHBtI

Read More

MEF 3.0 - A Start for Carrier Interfaces

The MEF 3.0 is a great step in the right directions, says Mike Sapien, Chief Analyst, Ovum, but remember that it is just a first step for intercarrier interfaces.

See video:  https://youtu.be/Y10to_iC5JA

Read More

Russia's Hermitage Museum to host 5G trial

Rostelecom and Ericsson will carry out a 5G trial at the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

The test, which is scheduled for the first half of 2018, will feature Ericsson's latest 5G technology and use a mix of virtual reality, haptic technology, and robotics.The solutions include Ericsson Radio System which is prepared for 5G implementation. The network will be operated in the 3.5GHz frequency band and support LTE/LTE-Advanced devices.

Read More

Airtel Nigeria awards 3-year contract to Ericsson

Airtel Nigeria awarded a three-year contract to Ericsson to modernize and expand its packet core network. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The Evolved Packet Core solution includes the Ericsson Evolved Packet Gateway on the SSR 8000 platform which provides a split control and user plane operation, as well as the Ericsson SGSN-MME which supports multi-access, GSM, WCDMA, LTE and interworks with Wi-Fi and CDMA.

Awadhesh Kalia, CTO, Airtel Nigeria says: "As the Smartphone Network, we are constantly investing to ensure that we deliver on our promise of a seamless broadband experience for our customers. With the completion of the first phase of this project, we have already begun to see the transformation in our networks.”

Jonathan Adams, Head of Ericsson South and East Africa says: "As a longstanding partner, we are aware of Airtel’s unyielding commitment to delivering excellent services to their customers. Through this partnership, we will be deploying a comprehensive, reliable and future-proof suite of solutions that offers quicker time to market of new offerings and superior network performance.”

Read More

NVIDIA extends AI healthcare partnership with GE

NVIDIA is working with GE to bring the most sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) to GE Healthcare’s 500,000 imaging devices globally.

The partnership, which was detailed at the 103rd annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), includes a new NVIDIA-powered Revolution Frontier CT, advancements to the Vivid E95 4D Ultrasound and development of GE Healthcare’s Applied Intelligence analytics platform.

NVIDIA said its AI computing platform accelerates image processing in the new CT system by 2X.

NVIDIA notes that hhe average hospital generates 50 petabytes of data annually, through medical images, clinical charts and sensors, as well as operational and financial sources, providing many opportunities to accelerate data processing flows.

Read More

FCC Chairman sets Net Neutrality rollback vote for December 14

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai will bring his proposal to rollback Obama-era Net Neutrality rules to a vote at the commission's December 14th meeting.

Pai is calling his proposal the "Restoring Internet Freedom Order," which he believes will usher in a new era of investment for Internet infrastructure.

“For almost twenty years, the Internet thrived under the light-touch regulatory approach established by President Clinton and a Republican Congress. This bipartisan framework led the private sector to invest $1.5 trillion building communications networks throughout the United States. And it gave us an Internet economy that became the envy of the world. But in 2015, the prior FCC bowed to pressure from President Obama. On a party-line vote, it imposed heavy-handed, utility-style regulations upon the Internet. That decision was a mistake," stated Pai.

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel issued the following response: “Today the FCC circulated its sweeping roll back of our net neutrality rules. Following actions earlier this year to erase consumer privacy protections, the Commission now wants to wipe out court-tested rules and a decade’s work in order to favor cable and telephone companies. This is ridiculous and offensive to the millions of Americans who use the Internet every day. Our Internet economy is the envy of the world because it is open to all. This proposal tears at the foundation of that openness."

FCC Votes 3-2 to Adopt Open Internet Rules

Thursday, February 26, 2015  FCC, Net Neutrality, Regulatory  No Comments

The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to adopt a new set of Open Internet rules proposed by Commissioner Wheeler and backed by the Obama Administration. All of the new rules, which are based on the FCC's authority under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934, would apply to fixed and mobile broadband alike, while leaving room for reasonable network management and its specific application to mobile and unlicensed WiFi networks.

Here are the key provisions and rules of the Open Internet Order as outlined by the FCC:

Bright Line Rules:  The first three rules ban practices that are known to harm the Open Internet.

• No Blocking: broadband providers may not block access to legal content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices.
• No Throttling: broadband providers may not impair or degrade lawful Internet traffic on the basis of content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices.
• No Paid Prioritization: broadband providers may not favor some lawful Internet traffic over other lawful traffic in exchange for consideration of any kind—in other words, no “fast lanes.”   This rule also bans ISPs from prioritizing content and services of their affiliates. It also prohibits practices that target specific applications or classes of applications.  

A

Read More

Moving Software-based Networking Forward

Verizon is working with MEF to set standards and ensuring interoperability with customers and other carriers.

Think scale and more virtualization, says Eric Cevis, President, Verizon Partner Solutions.

See video:  https://youtu.be/ZKFfSvTY5SI

Read More

Verizon Partner Solutions: Driving SD-WAN

Verizon continues to experience heavy WAN bandwidth growth.

Greg Harris, Senior Manager, Verizon Partner Solutions, talks about the new SD-WAN service and the factors driving customer demand.

See video: https://youtu.be/schQOU50F-Y

Read More

MEF 3.0 - Accelerating SD-WAN

MEF 3.0 brings together all of the components that are needed to be successful in advanced services, says Shawn Hakl, Senior Vice President, Business Products, Verizon.  Here is his perspective.

See video:  https://youtu.be/eu7JI9Q3vvM

Read More

Advanced Networking at the new CenturyLink

Adam Saenger, VP of Networking Solutions at CenturyLink, talks about advanced services now that the company has completed its strategic merger with Level 3 Communications.

See video: https://youtu.be/lU4q-x9X_10

Read More

Meg Whitman to step down as CEO of HPE

Meg Whitman will step down as Chief Executive Officer of HPE, effective February 1, 2018. Antonio Neri, current President of HPE, will become President and Chief Executive Officer, and will join the HPE Board of Directors. Whitman will remain on the Board of Directors.

Whitman joined HP in 2011. During her tenure, Whitman led the company's separation from HP Inc., which was the largest corporate separation in history.  She also led the subsequent spin off and mergers of HPE’s Enterprise Services and Software businesses, as well as strategic acquisitions including Aruba, SGI, SimpliVity and Nimble Storage.

“I’m incredibly proud of all we’ve accomplished since I joined HP in 2011.  Today, Hewlett Packard moves forward as four industry-leading companies that are each well positioned to win in their respective markets,” said Meg Whitman, CEO of HPE. “Now is the right time for Antonio and a new generation of leaders to take the reins of HPE. I have tremendous confidence that they will continue to build a great company that will thrive well into the future.”

Neri, 50, joined HP in 1995 as a customer service engineer in the EMEA call center.  He went on to hold various roles in HP’s Printing business and then to run customer service for HP’s Personal Systems unit.  In 2011, Neri began running the company’s Technology Services business, then its Server and Networking business units, before running all of Enterprise Group beginning in 2015.

Separately, HPE reported Q4 net revenue from continuing operations of $7.7 billion, up 5% from the prior year and up 5% when adjusted for divestitures and currency. Fourth quarter GAAP diluted net EPS from continuing operations was $0.23, up from GAAP diluted net EPS from continuing operations of $0.19 in the prior year.

Fiscal 2017 fourth quarter segment results

• Enterprise Group revenue was $6.9 billion, flat year over year, up 1% when adjusted for currency, with a 10.6% operating margin. Servers revenue was down 5%, down 5% when adjusted for currency, Storage revenue was up 5%, up 5% when adjusted for currency, Networking revenue was up 21%, up 21% when adjusted for currency, and Technology Services revenue was up 2%, up 3% when adjusted for currency.
• Financial Services revenue was $1.0 billion, up 24% year over year, net portfolio assets were up 1%, and financing volume was flat year over year. The business delivered an operating margin of 7.7%.

“With strong top line revenue growth, earnings above our previous outlook and our second consecutive quarter of sequential margin improvement, our fourth quarter results are a reflection of the progress we have made over the past two years to transform HPE into a nimble, focused and innovative organization,” said Meg Whitman, CEO of HPE.

Read More

France-IX deploys Coriant Groove G30 Network Disaggregation Platform

France-IX, the leading Internet Exchange in France, has deployed the Coriant Groove G30 Network Disaggregation Platform in major data center sites in the Paris metro area to support high-capacity, low latency nx100G optical connectivity. Initially, three data center sites were connected this summer. The deployment will continue on the entire France-IX backbone during 2018.

Coriant said its G30 solution enables France-IX to simplify network operations and deliver affordable 100G services to its member community, which includes major carriers, high-growth international carriers, public cloud providers, content delivery networks, content and hosting service providers, as well as video game developer and digital distribution companies.

“A key part of our strategy is to anticipate Internet traffic growth and maximize the performance of our network to meet our members’ expectations for reliable and affordable Internet exchange services – today and into the future,” said Simon Muyal, Chief Technical Officer at France-IX. “After rigorous analysis of competing DWDM solutions, we selected the Coriant Groove G30 for its cost-competitive system density, power efficiency, and ease of operations that enables us to quickly scale optical capacity as the service demand cycles of our member community accelerate.”

Read More

Talari Networks names Patrick Sweeney as CEO

Talari Networks, which specializes in SD-WAN solutions, named Patrick Sweeney as its new Chief Executive Officer, replacing Mark Masur, who will remain as chairman on Talari’s board of directors.

Previously, Sweeney served in multiple executive roles over his 16 years at SonicWall and Dell. Sweeney helped take network security company SonicWall private under Thoma Bravo in 2010, and in 2012 sold the company to Dell where he served as Vice President of Security Marketing in the Dell Software Group. In 2016, Sweeney helped spin out SonicWall from Dell as an independent company under private equity firm Francisco Partners.

“Talari is one of the original founders of the SD-WAN space. We have a huge base of loyal customers with thousands of deployments around the world. Our customers have given us an industry-leading Net Promoter Score, validating that our solutions and support are enterprise-class,” said Sweeney, CEO, Talari. “Now the market has kicked into hyper-growth gear, timing is everything and we intend to take full advantage of this moment! We will accelerate our success by increasing our sales capacity, implementing a 100% channel model, and continuing to lead with SD-WAN technical innovations in cloud, mobility and the distributed workforce.”

Talari is based in San Jose, California.

Read More

GCP trims pricing for cloud GPUs, SSDs

The Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is trimming the cost of NVIDIA Tesla GPUs attached to on-demand Google Compute Engine virtual machines by up to 36 percent. In US regions, each K80 GPU attached to a VM is priced at $0.45 per hour while each P100 costs $1.46 per hour.

This lowers the cost of running highly parallelized compute tasks on VMs and GPUs.

GCP is also lowering the price of preemptible Local SSDs by almost 40 percent compared to on-demand Local SSDs. In the US this means $0.048 per GB-month.

Read More

Netflix and Deutsche Telekom reach international deal

Deutsche Telekom announced an international partnership with Netflix covering all Deutsche Telekom subsidiaries.

• Netflix is now available in 4K to EntertainTV customers in Germany.
• In Poland, Netflix is available as part of T-Mobile offers since 2016. Most recently the parties launched a new offer where T-Mobile Netherlands combined its strong Unlimited data offer with a Netflix promotion giving customers a six months gift offer for the Netflix service.
• Additionally Deutsche Telekom customers in Germany, Poland, Croatia, Greece and Romania can get unlimited streaming of Netflix over mobile networks with the participation of Netflix in the respective video zero rating offers (StreamOn) providing Deutsche Telekom customers the ultimate mobile video experience.

“We want to ensure the best content offering and TV experience for our customers and will work with Netflix to further expand our great partnership”, noted Thomas Kicker, Senior Vice President Group Partnering of Deutsche Telekom.

Read More