Telefónica and Huawei test 5G-V2X Radio for uRLLC Assisted Driving

Telefónica and Huawei are running a Proof-of-Concept (PoC) testbed for 5G based vehicle communication networks (known as 5G-V2X) in their 5G Joint Innovation Lab at Madrid.

The 5G-V2X test is based on the latest 5G NR specs and includes advanced services such as vehicles platooning, extended sensors, advanced driving and remote driving, among others.

The so-called Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communication (URLLC) mode for 5G NR offers the flexible design to support services with low latency and high-reliability requirements.

Huawei said the PoC demonstrates that URLLC can effectively support V2X with higher system capacity and better coverage. The exercise achieved 99.999% reliability with a low latency of 1ms required for autonomous driving in a typical macro cellular outdoor environment, such as dense urban, suburban and rural areas.  In the 5G-V2X PoC, a novel self-contained frame structure for radio transmission was used, both from the base station to the vehicle and from the vehicle to another vehicle. This allows much faster transmission feedback, enabling very low-latency communications. The great flexibility of the NR system framework allows the support of some advanced features, like Polar coding for small V2X packet error correction, an optimized HARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) procedure for increased transmission reliability, or an ‘Inactive State’ for instantly sending short packets to control the car maneuver. To further enhance performance, another key technology, ‘SCMA-based (Sparse Coded Multiple Access) Grant Free Access, was tested.

Mr. Enrique Blanco, Telefónica Global CTIO, said: “This PoC between Telefónica and Huawei is another step towards 5G commercialization and a fully connected society. We will strengthen our collaboration by verifying 5G key technologies. Multiple novel use cases will be developed and provided to our customers.”

Dr. Wen Tong, Huawei Fellow and Huawei Wireless CTO, said: “We are pleased with our further collaboration with Telefónica in 5G technologies. The 5G-V2X PoC is another joint effort to pave the way for commercialization of 5G and lay a solid foundation to realize the 5G vision of enabling cooperative autonomous driving.”

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Nokia and Qualcomm conduct 5G NR testing

Nokia and Qualcomm Technologies completed 5GNR interoperability testing in the 3.5Ghz and 28Ghz spectrum compliant with the global 3GPP 5G NR Release 15 standard.

The testing, which was complete at Nokia's 5G center of excellence in Oulu, Finland and using the commercially available Nokia AirScale base station and device prototypes from Qualcomm, will provide the basis for 5G NR field trials with operators in 2018.

Marc Rouanne, President of Mobile Networks, Nokia said: "These tests by Nokia and Qualcomm Technologies are important to the progress of 5G. Importantly, they demonstrate how we have quickly applied the 3GPP Release 15 specifications that were set in December, using our AirScale base station - which has been shipped to more than 100 customers - together with a prototype Qualcomm Technologies UE. Now, we can look forward to commencing standards-based, over-the-air 5G NR trials with operators."

Cristiano Amon, president of Qualcomm Incorporated, said: "The successful completion of an end-to-end interoperable connection based on the global 5G NR standard is a significant step on the path to launching 5G NR commercial networks and devices starting in 2019. We look forward to further collaboration on standard-compliant field trials with Nokia and global operators on the path to commercialization."

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Zayo to open dark fiber route via Prineville, OR

Zayo announced plans for a new long haul dark fiber network between Reno, Nevada and Umatilla, Oregon -- a distance of 600 miles (1,000 km).

Zayo said the project is anchored by a webscale customer.

The route, which will be fully underground, connects the two cities via Prineville, Oregon.

“The new route completes a piece of the puzzle that the western U.S. needs to connect the dots between content companies’ core data center locations in a way no other carriers can provide,” said Jack Waters, CTO and president of Fiber Solutions at Zayo. “As more companies add data centers in Oregon and Nevada, Zayo is well positioned to provide them with high-capacity fiber infrastructure.”

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SiTime reaches big milestone: 1 billion timing devices shipped

SiTime Corporation, which specializes in MEMS timing devices, announced a big milestone - the cumulative shipment of over 1 billion timing devices.

SiTime's MEMS timing devices are used in a wide range of applications such as mobile phones, tablets, fitness trackers, cameras, automobile, autonomous vehicles, rockets, earthquake detection systems, etc.

The company estimates the market for all timing devices is $6 billion, and SiTime supplies 90% of the MEMS timing components sold.

"SiTime is redefining timing technology, and we've only just begun our journey," said Rajesh Vashist, CEO of SiTime. "SiTime is uniquely focused on solving the most difficult timing problems for the electronics industry. That is why customers are using our timing products in self-driving cars, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence systems, and 5G infrastructure. We believe that our timing components will be the device of choice for the next few decades."

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Intel intros Xeon D-2100 for edge

Intel introduced a system-on-chip processor in its Xeon line that is architected to address the needs of edge applications and other data center or network applications.

The new Intel Xeon D-2100 processors include up to 18 “Skylake-server” generation Intel Xeon processor cores and integrated Intel QuickAssist Technology with up to 100 Gbps of built-in cryptography, decryption and encryption acceleration.

Intel said this processor will be supported by system software updates to protect against the Spectre and Meltdown security exploits.

In addition to edge deployments in communications service provider networks, other use cases for the Intel Xeon D-2100 processor include:

• Storage: The Intel Xeon D-2100 processor is an option for density-optimized, lightweight hyperscale cloud workloads such as dynamic web serving, memory caching, dedicated hosting and warm storage.
• Content Delivery Networks (CDNs): The processors can bring higher performance to content delivery at the network edge, which is critical to keep latency low for streaming media to viewers and those working in media fields with massive files.
• Enterprise networks: The processor family also targets entry enterprise SAN and NAS storage, midrange routers, network appliances, security appliances, wireless base stations and embedded midrange IoT usages, among others.

“To seize 5G and new cloud and network opportunities, service providers need to optimize their data center and edge infrastructures to meet the growing demands of bandwidth-hungry end users and their smart and connected devices,” said Sandra Rivera, senior vice president and general manager of the Network Platforms Group at Intel. “The Intel Xeon D-2100 processor allows service providers and enterprises to deliver the maximum amount of compute intelligence at the edge or web tier while expending the least power.”

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Infinera posts quarterly sales of $196 million

Infinera reported GAAP revenue for the quarter was $195.8 million for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 30, 2017. This compares with $192.6 million in the third quarter of 2017 and $181.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2016.

GAAP net loss for the quarter was $(74.0) million, or $(0.50) per share, compared to $(37.2) million, or $(0.25) per share, in the third quarter of 2017 and $(36.3) million, or $(0.25) per share, in the fourth quarter of 2016. Non-GAAP net loss for the quarter was $(18.6) million, or $(0.12) per share, compared to $(17.0) million, or $(0.11) per share, in the third quarter of 2017, and $(17.0) million, or $(0.12) per share, in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Non-GAAP gross margin for the year was 39.3% compared to 48.3% in 2016.

“In Q4 we made some difficult but necessary decisions to reposition the company for crisper execution and increased focus on our go to market strategy,” said Tom Fallon, Infinera’s Chief Executive Officer. “With our full product refresh nearing completion, positive sales momentum ending the year, and a significant pipeline of opportunities, we enter 2018 with confidence that our recent positive revenue trajectory will continue.”

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Rubrik to acquire Datos IO

Rubrik, agreed to acquire Datos IO, a market leader in backup and recovery for NoSQL databases and big data file systems. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The acquisition of Datos IO will extend Rubrik’s reach into mission-critical cloud applications and databases increasingly adopted by application and DevOps teams at Fortune 500 companies.

The companies said they share a common vision for building a control plane that can automate, orchestrate, and secure data in the cloud.

Datos IO’s flagship platform RecoverX pioneers a radically new approach to comprehensive data management for modern cloud applications built on modern NoSQL databases (MongoDB, Cassandra, Couchbase, Amazon DynamoDB) and big data file systems (Cloudera, Hortonworks). Datos IO has filed 22 patents in application-aware data management for enterprise use cases of backup and recovery, test/dev refresh, in-place analytics, and cloud mobility. Fortune 100 companies have chosen Datos IO to protect and manage their cloud applications enabling digital transformation, including three of the top Fortune 15 companies and the world’s largest home improvement retailer.

“As enterprises adopt NoSQL cloud databases to undertake digital transformation and AI initiatives, the need to manage and recover applications and data is becoming top of mind. We are excited to have Datos IO join the Rubrik family to accelerate innovation in how enterprises manage and recover this modern application stack,” said Bipul Sinha, Co-Founder and CEO, Rubrik.

Rubrik Raises $180M for Cloud Data Management

Monday, May 01, 2017  Funding, Rubrik, Silicon Valley, Start-Ups  No Comments

Rubrik, a start-up based in Palo Alto, California, closed $180 million in Series D funding for its cloud data management solutions.

Rubrik's platform delivers automated cloud data backup, instant recovery, offsite replication and data archival capability. One Intel-powered appliance manages all data in the cloud, at the edge, or on-prem for backup, DR, archival, compliance, analytics, and copy data management. The company said it is on an annual run rate approaching $100 million.

The latest investment round was led by IVP with strong participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Greylock Partners, bringing total equity raised to $292 million. 

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Market Update for India

We think of India as having one of the fast growing mobile market in the world. There is a huge population of unconnected or under connected citizens with a strong desire to join the online economy. Most likely, that connection will be mobile broadband.

While India does indeed have the faster growing mobile operator—Reliance Jio, which zoomed from zero to 160 million in only 16 month (for comparison, Verizon has 116.3 million retail connections) – the nation is shrinking month by month in terms of total mobile lines in operation.

How can this be? One aspect of the Indian market is that SIM cards are relatively cheap, and monthly service plans are also inexpensive.  Even for high-flying Reliance Jio, the average revenue per user (ARPU) per month is only 154 rupees (approximately $2.41).  On top of this, most users are enrolled in pre-paid plans. There is also the aggressive promotions whereby operators make great offers just to more SIM cards activated. As a result, many people with financial means will pick up multiple mobile phones and SIM cards, never bothering to cancel them is the ongoing maintenance cost is low enough.

This tends to distort the reported figures for market growth and gives us an unreliable picture of the relative strengths of each operator.

A consolidation is certainly underway. Of India’s twelve mobile operators, only five gained subscribers while seven operators experience declines. The winners are Bharti, Vodafone, Idea, Reliance Jio and BSNL. The losers are Aircel, Reliance, Tata, Telenor, MTNL, Sistema, and Quadrant.

The total number of wireless subscribers (GSM, CDMA & LTE) in India dipped for a second quarter in a row in Q3 2017 to 1,183.04 million, down from from 1,186.79 million at the end of Jul-17, according to the latest figures compiled by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) . Urban subscribers numbered 684.77 million compared to 498.28 million rural subscribers. Wireless teledensity declined from 92.12 at the end of Jun-17 to 91.56 at the end of Sep-17.

Some metrics:

• Monthly ARPU GSM Full Mobility Service including LTE – 84 rupees
• Monthly ARPU CDMA Full Mobility Service – 125 rupees
• Minutes of Usage (MOU) per subscriber per month - GSM Full Mobility Service including LTE - 437
• Total Outgoing Minutes of Usage for Internet Telephony – 283 million
• Average Data Usage per subscriber per month – GSM (2G+3G+4G) - 1,610 MB
• Average outgo per GB data for GSM including LTE (2G+3G+4G) – 21.22 rupees
• Gross revenue for telecom operators in India (mobile and fixed) rose by 2.27%. The government statistics show that monthly Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for Access Services was 88.09 rupees (US$1.37) as of 30-September-2017.
• Not surprisingly, the number of wireline subscribers declined from 24.00 million at the end of Jun-17 to 23.67 million at the end of Sep-17 with quarterly decline rate of 1.37%.  However, it is strange that the number of Internet subscribers declined from 431.21 million at the end of Jun-17 to 429.23 million at the end of Sep-17, registering a quarterly growth rate of -0.46%.

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Orange Business and Cisco team on SD-WAN

Orange Business Services has expanded the capability of its global SD-WAN with the first onboarding of a Cisco SD-WAN virtual network function (VNF) on the Cisco Enterprise Network Compute System (ENCS). This platform, which delivers a fully functional virtualized solution for network services, is part of the Orange universal customer premise equipment (uCPE) offer.

Orange said that thanks to uCPE central orchestration, it can provide automated Cisco SD-WAN deployment, based on Viptela technology, in minutes on all enterprise sites, wherever they are located. The uCPE can run multiple additional functions, such as security, which can be orchestrated centrally and chained as required. This means that enterprises can dynamically adapt the branch office configuration to optimize user experience.

“This work strengthens our long-standing partnership with Cisco. Together we are bringing innovations in SD-WAN and the wider network to our customers worldwide. These developments will help realize the promise of intent-based networking, which will use artificial intelligence to automatically orchestrate networks based on predicted user demand. This will help improve application performance, security and business continuity,” said Pierre-Louis Biaggi, vice president, Connectivity, Orange Business Services.

“SD-WAN provides the essential foundation for Service Providers to transform their network services,” said Sachin Gupta, senior vice president, product management for Cisco Enterprise Networking. “One of the truly global providers, we are excited Orange is accelerating the adoption of SD-WAN technology leveraging Cisco’s ENCS platform. Our partnership will accelerate customers’ transformation to cloud and digital while delivering new-age capability for simplified operations, application visibility and performance."

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QCT showcases Central Office 2.0

• Quanta Cloud Technology (QCT) has opened a demonstration lab in San Jose, California to showcase its “Central Office 2.0” solutions, including:
• QxStack NFV Infrastructure with Red Hat OpenStack Platform - with data plane calibration and Enhanced Platform Awareness (EPA) enabled for optimized network performance
  QCT Central Office Re-architected as a Datacenter (CORD) Ready POD for central office and edge computing – the world’s first fully integrated open source infrastructure ready for customer validation
  QCT Rackgo R Vertical Integration with OpenStack – an Intel RSD-based full-featured rack level solution with easy deployment and scalability

QCT said “Central Office 2.0” represents its vision for the next-generation Central Office to advance edge computing for high-performance and low-latency 5G applications, such as IoT, autonomous vehicles and virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR).

“QCT’s long-term collaboration with Intel and Red Hat now extends to the Telco space,” said Mike Yang, President of QCT. “With our partners, we directly address emerging requirements in the Telco market with an optimized NFVI Platform that supports carrier-grade infrastructures and delivers a practical software-defined networking solution for disaggregating the control and data plane and providing performance consistency on IA-based systems. Through these strategic partnerships with industry-leading hardware and software providers in the 5G infrastructure space, we’ve developed high-performance open platforms that are aimed at lowering Telco CAPEX and provide a competitive OPEX advantage for increased margins over the long-term.

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Pensa releases automation software for NFV

Pensa, a start-up based in Mountain View, California, released software for intelligent automation of Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) services.

The company said its Maestro NFV uses intelligent automation and advanced modeling to help CSPs design, validate and deliver NFV network services. The software ensures that network designs are correct and that they will work as intended, reducing the risk of human error. The key benefits of Pensa Maestro NFV include:

• Enabling CSPs to simplify and accelerate the deployment of NFV solutions
  Enabling CSPs to bring new revenue-generating services to market faster
  Enabling CSPs to intelligently automate NFV solution design, build and test processes to reduce manual errors, lower costs, and increase business velocity

"The digital services revolution has begun, but communication service providers are stuck with legacy infrastructure and processes that hold them back," said Pensa CEO Tom Joyce. "There are huge opportunities on the horizon for telcos and CSPs, but to participate they must use NFV. Before now, it has been very hard to make this technology simple, reliable, and fast. Pensa's mission is to help our customers transition to NFV faster."

"We began development of this solution for NFV back in 2014, before many people were thinking about the complexity of designing these networks," said Ujwal Setlur, co-founder and CTO of Pensa. "Today we have years of experience engineering customer solutions for NFV. Early customer deals and the introduction of Pensa Lab last years allowed us to harden our technology to the point where we are proud to call Maestro NFV carrier-class."

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Open Compute Project measures its market impact

The Open Compute Project Foundation (OCP) has engaged IHS Markit to determine the adoption and impact of OCP gear in the technology industry.

IHS Markit interviewed OCP members, suppliers and service providers, as well as incorporated their own in-depth industry research to determine non-board member revenue by region and vertical, as well as provide a forecast through 2021. OCP Board member companies include Facebook, Goldman Sachs, Intel, Microsoft and Rackspace. Equipment markets explored in this study included servers, storage, network, rack, power and peripherals.

Some preliminary findings:

• 2017 OCP YoY growth from non-board member companies was 103%
• The 5-year CAGR (compound annual growth rate) is 59%, while the total market growth is expected to be in the low single digits
• Servers account for almost 75% of non-board OCP revenue in 2017, with rack, power, peripherals and other (primarily WiFi and PON, or passive optical networks) expecting the highest growth rates
• The America’s represented the majority of non-board OCP revenue in 2017, through hyperscaler, telco and financial industry adoption, while EMEA has a forecasted CAGR of 70%, primarily driven by telecommunications firms
  EMEA revenue from non-board member companies is expected to surpass $1 billion (US) by 2021, while Asia Pacific is expected to surpass EMEA in adoption as early as 2020

“OCP is excited to work with IHS Markit to get an independent view of our ability to influence the market through adoption. This study creates a baseline for us to measure our progress against, as well as gives us insight into projected growth in regions and markets. It also provides a view into perceived value as well as barriers for adoption. While we are pleased with the initial indicators, we also recognize we have much to do to continue our momentum,” stated Rocky Bullock, CEO for the Open Compute Project Foundation.

In th

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MACOM and ST team to bring GaN on silicon to mainstream RF

MACOM and STMicroelectronics have agreed to develop GaN (Gallium Nitride) on Silicon wafers to be manufactured by ST for MACOM’s use across an array of RF applications.

MACOM said the deal provides it with increased Silicon wafer manufacturing capacity and improved cost structure. This could displace incumbent Silicon LDMOS and accelerate the adoption of GaN on Silicon in mainstream markets. ST and MACOM have been working together for several years to bring GaN on Silicon production up in ST’s CMOS wafer fab. As currently scheduled, sample production from ST is expected to begin in 2018.

“This agreement punctuates our long journey of leading the RF industry’s conversion to GaN on Silicon technology. To date, MACOM has refined and proven the merits of GaN on Silicon using rather modest compound semiconductor factories, replicating and even exceeding the RF performance and reliability of expensive GaN on SiC alternative technology,” said John Croteau, President and CEO, MACOM. “We expect this collaboration with ST to bring those GaN innovations to bear in a Silicon supply chain that can ultimately service the most demanding customers and applications.”

“ST’s scale and operational excellence in Silicon wafer manufacturing aims to unlock the potential to drive new RF power applications for MACOM and ST as it delivers the economic breakthroughs necessary to expand the market for GaN on Silicon,” said Marco Monti, President of the Automotive and Discrete Product Group, STMicroelectronics. “While expanding the opportunities for existing RF applications is appealing, we’re even more excited about using GaN on Silicon in new RF Energy applications, especially in automotive applications, such as plasma ignition for more efficient combustion in conventional engines, and in RF lighting applications, for more efficient and longer-lasting lighting systems."

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MACOM's quarterly revenue dips to $131 million

MACOM reported revenue of $130.9 million for its fiscal first quarter ended December 29, 2017, a decrease of 13.7%, compared to $151.8 million in the previous year fiscal first quarter and a decrease of 21.3% compared to $166.4 million in the prior fiscal quarter.

The company cited difficulties in China.

The was a GAAP net loss from continuing operations was $17.0 million, or $0.49 loss per diluted share, compared to net loss from continuing operations of $2.2 million, or $0.04 loss per diluted share, in the previous year fiscal first quarter and net loss from continuing operations of $1,000, or $0.21 loss per diluted share, in the prior fiscal quarter.

Non-GAAP adjusted gross margin was 53.7%, compared to 57.2% in the previous year fiscal first quarter and 58.1% in the prior fiscal quarter;

“As expected, the first quarter was challenging across the board, as we dealt with the full impact of the geopolitical downturn in China,” remarked John Croteau, President and CEO of MACOM. "While it is still too early to call the exact slope of the recovery, we continue to believe that December was the bottom of the cycle for MACOM, and we expect demand will progressively strengthen through the remainder of the year.

“We expect 2018 will be a transitional year in our served markets, as the technology landscape shifts in anticipation of the next major wave of infrastructure investments in Cloud Data Centers and 5G Telecom. Although these shifts will likely moderate the pace of recovery, we believe they will ultimately lead to multiple breakout opportunities that play directly to our strengths."

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Lumentum reports a record quarter, sales rise to $404.6 million

Lumentum reported record net revenue for the fiscal second quarter of 2018 was $404.6 million, with GAAP net income of $204.8 million, or $3.17 per diluted share.  Net revenue for fiscal first quarter of 2018 was $243.2 million, with GAAP net income of $7.1 million, or $0.11 per diluted share. For comparison, net revenue for the fiscal second quarter of 2017 was $265.0 million, with GAAP net income of $11.8 million, or $0.19 per diluted share.

Non-GAAP net income for the fiscal second quarter of 2018 was $107.8 million, or $1.67 per diluted share. Non-GAAP net income for fiscal first quarter of 2018 was $27.8 million, or $0.43 per diluted share.
"We achieved record revenue and profitability and exceeded our guidance for the second quarter driven by strong demand and execution in our 3D sensing, ROADM, industrial and telecom pump laser businesses. Our performance demonstrates the power of Lumentum's proprietary capabilities, which leverage many years of experience across multiple end markets," said Alan Lowe, President and CEO. "Our proven capabilities position us well for the future as demand for our industrial lasers and ROADMs is strengthening, and 3D sensing opportunities are broadening to more customers and end markets."

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OPNFV verification program

The OPNFV Project is launching a verification program to facilitate both vendor self-testing and third-party lab testing or Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) components.
The OPNFV Verified Program (OVP) establishes an industry threshold based on OPNFV capabilities and test cases. The initial version will test and verify NFV infrastructure components and features, including NFVI, VIM, underlying cloud infrastructure, basic packet forwarding, IPv6, and VPN.

"We are breaking new ground by leveraging open source platforms to measure compliance of commercial products," said Heather Kirksey, VP, Community and Ecosystem Development, The Linux Foundation. "This is a huge step for the industry, and speaks to the power of open, community-driven solutions to help the ecosystem in real-world deployments. I am incredibly proud of the collaborative work that has gone into establishing this set of common NFV platform requirements to aid the industry on the path towards robust NFV deployments."

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Chasing the next virtual network opportunity

by James E. Carroll

For tennis fans, all attention is currently on the city of Melbourne, where the final rounds of the Australia Open are underway. For those interested in the future of cloud connectivity, the focus goes to the city of Brisbane, where an Australian upstart is making a name for itself in the emerging Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) category. Potential users of NaaS could include large multinational, governments, other cloud providers. service providers including mobile network operators, and mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). We expect to see many mobile operators transition to virtual networks over time and this could be one model.

Founded in 2013, Brisbane-based Megaport has built what it considers to be the world's first SDN interconnection fabric linking enterprises with equipment in colocation data centres to leading cloud service providers.

Megaport says its elastic fabric is "the reason cloud connectivity will scale." The company developed and runs its own proprietary software stack for automating virtual connections across the fabric. It offers APIs that would enable customers to automate connections across its service. Megaport owns and operates its own core network infrastructure, including fibre and transport for each market and between inter-city data centres. This footprint now covers major cities in Australia, Asia Pacific, North America, and Europe – a total of 37 major markets in 19 countries. Unlike with best-effort public Internet access, Megaport is able to provide strict SLAs because it controls the transport network and the switching fabric, and the Layer 2 access inside the colo data centre.

The ASX publicly-listed company has reported steady revenue growth over the past year as it quickly scales its service. For its fiscal quarter ending 31-December-2017, revenue was A$4.68 million, up 12.7% sequentially. The total number of customer ports increased in the quarter to 2,259, up 9% sequentially.

From Virtual Layer 2 to Virtual Layer 3

Just this week, Megaport is unveiling a virtual router service that enables customers to rapidly and privately connect at Layer 3 without the need to own or manage routers or physical infrastructure.  The Megaport Cloud Router (MCR), which rides the company’s same physical network, aims to make it easier for companies to expand their service footprint through virtual Points of Presence (PoPs), and peer with ecosystem partners worldwide. It does so by removing the need to own physical routers or network infrastructure. Megaport said its service also enables cloud to cloud connectivity. Customers can use its cloud router to move workloads and data between Cloud Service Provider (CSP) environments.  Customers can create virtual routers within routing zones around the world to enable global coverage and support localized routing decisions. In addition, networks service providers connect to Megaport can use MCR to set up virtual PoPs around the world.

“As a Network as a Service company, it’s imperative that Megaport continues to innovate solutions that abstract complexities in the network buying experience,” said Vincent English, Chief Executive Officer, Megaport. We’ve moved further up the stack by expanding our SDN’s capabilities to address Layer 3 IP routing and support a broader set of customers with varying technical capabilities and business needs. With Megaport Cloud Router, there’s no need for a deep understanding of Layer 3 intricacies to take advantage of IP routing features. Cloud to cloud connectivity is one of several new use cases unlocked by MCR which provides powerful options for enterprises architecting next-generation multicloud and hybrid cloud solutions. Our customers can move beyond the constraints of their physical network and rapidly establish virtual Points of Presence to unlock unique peering and interconnection opportunities around the world.

Company leadership

Megaport was founded by Bevan Slattery, who currently serves as Chairman of the business. Over his career, Slattery built multiple successful Australian IT and telecommunications companies including Superloop and NextDC.  He also co-founded PIPE Networks which grew to become Australia’s largest Internet Exchange and Australia’s third largest metropolitan fibre network provider, selling to TPG in May 2010.

Megaport is headed by Vincent English, who previously was Chief Financial Officer for Digicel Group. Prior to joining Megaport, Vincent was for Digicel Group, the global mobile network operator active in  31 markets in the Caribbean and South Pacific.  Megaport’s engineering team is led by Tim Hoffman (CTO), who previously led the Global Network team at Twitter, responsible for worldwide infrastructure, including all interconnection, backbone and content distribution infrastructure, and global data centres.  In this role, Hoffman negotiated peering agreements with some of the largest Internet backbone providers. Eric Troyer serves Megaport's Chief Marketing Officer. Troyer previously was Director of Network Edge and Interconnection Strategy at Microsoft where he led planning and engineering teams tasked with network expansion and IP capacity acquisition to scale Microsoft’s cloud strategy. Working at Equinix, he drove the Equinix Internet Exchange product

Building the Ecosystem

Customers connect to its fabric via a single, physical "mega-port" at any of the 185 colo data centres in which is present. This physical port enables the set-up and tear-down of virtual ports to any of the other parties connected to the global Megaport network. The concept is simple. Once a sufficient number of parties are on-board, Megaport benefits from the "n-squared" magic of networks. The company is now poised to enter that rapid growth phase.

Megaport has been prolific in forming partnerships with key players for cloud. These can be sorted into the following categories:

• Cloud Service Providers: Alibaba, AWS, Microsoft, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud
• Data Centre Operators: now present in 185 data centres worldwide, including those of CyrusOne, Digital Realty, EdgeConnex, 4 Degree Data Centres, IO, Cyxtera, vXchnge, QTS, FORTRUST, Stream Data Centers 
• Network and Managed Service Providers: Aqua Comms, Cloudlogix, GT, Seaborn Networks, Rackspace

In the last category of network service providers, we see two subsea cable operators. This is interesting because it means that enterprises attached to the Megaport fabric now have the ability to activate transoceanic capacity on a short-term basis and via a simple web portal. The partnership with Aqua Comms, which was announced in November 2016, allows customers to turn on elastic interconnectivity services to Aqua Comms’ transatlantic subsea network between New York, Dublin, and London.  Consumption is be based on cloud computing models, including month-to-month services – a huge gain in provisioning flexibility compared with the old system of negotiating 20-year contracts (IRUs).

In its home country of Australia, which is probably its most developed market, Megaport is already providing a similar capability to the U.S.  Dedicated capacity between Sydney and Los Angeles now enables its enterprise customers in Australia and New Zealand to connect to multi-national cloud nodes in North America.

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Reliance Jio continues its rapid rise

by James E. Carroll

How fast can a network grow from zero to 160 million subscribers? Ask Reliance Jio, the brainchild of billionaire investor/entrepreneur/tycoon Mukesh Ambani and his Reliance Industries Ltd.
Reliance Jio only first launched commercial service on 5th September 2016.

Its market debut has been described as an earthquake for the Indian telecoms market, and the start of a price war that is drawing the casualties from the nation’s twelve mobile operators. In addition to cut-rate tariffs and the promise of unlimited LTE mobile data for an extended period, the company tapped into the energy and graces of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chairman Ambani even dedicated the new company to “”realising the Prime Minister’s inspiring vision of Digital India for 1.2 billion Indians. Despite this connection, Jio immediately drew complaints from other operators for what they saw as anticompetitive behaviour.

From the starting line on 05 September 2016, Jio rocketed ahead to become the fastest growing mobile operator ever seen. In the first month, Jio enrolled 16 million lines. The 50 million threshold was passed on the 83rd day. The 100 million milestone came on 22 February 2017. As of 31 December 2017, Jio passed the 160 million subscriber milestone, adding 27 million gross user lines in the fourth quarter alone.

As the Indian market tends to experience greater churn rates and a higher percentage of prepaid users, Jio’s net additions for the quarter amounted to 21.5 million.  In Q3 2017, the company enrolled 19.5 million lines, indicating that Jio’s remarkable clip continues.

Six months after launch, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) ordered Jio to withdraw the 3 months complimentary, unlimited mobile broadband offer for new subscribers, arguing that such a generous offer distorted the market.

This week, Reliance Jio is reporting its second quarterly profit in its brief history and even as it continues to spend aggressively to build out its network.

For its most recently fiscal quarter, Reliance Jio reported standalone revenue from operations of  6,879 crore  rupees  (US$1.7 billion), and up 11.9% over trailing quarter. Standalone EBITDA  amounted to 2,628 crore rupees (US$411.8 million) and the EBITDA margin was 38.2% (trailing quarter at 23.5%).  Standalone net profit amounted to 504 crore rupees (US$78.9 million).
Before we become too enamored of this operator, it is critical to note the very low ARPU levels in the Indian telecoms sectors compared to those in developed economies.

Jio’s average revenue per user per month is just154 rupees (approximately $2.41)  

At these levels, continued investment in the latest generation of imported networking equipment will require commitment from the parent firm, Reliance Industries, or the emergence of adjacent opportunities, such as mobile banking or shopping services that could be commercialized with the very large subscriber base.

Additional metrics disclosed by Jio

• World’s largest mobile data consumption network – first Exabyte network in the world
• Total wireless data traffic of 43,100,00,000 GB (9.6 GB per subscriber per month) 
• Total voice traffic of 311,130,000,000 minutes
• Video consumption has crossed 2,000,000,000 hours per month on the network (13.4 hours of video consumption per subscriber per month)
• On track to achieve 99% population coverage during the year
• Only network to deploy pan-India 4G across the 800MHz/ 1800MHz/ 2300MHz bands 

Acquiring more infrastructure

Earlier this month, Jio agreed to acquire network infrastructure assets of Reliance Communications Limited and its affiliates. Jio was the winning bidder in a sale mandated by the lenders of Reliance Communications.

The sale includes assets under four categories – Towers, Optic Fiber Cable Network, Spectrum and Media Convergence Nodes, specifically:

• 122.4 MHz of 4G Spectrum in the 800/900/1800/2100 MHz bands
• Over 43,000 towers, amongst the top 3 independent tower holdings in India
• ~ 1,78,000 RKM of fiber with pan India footprint
• 248 Media Convergence Nodes, covering ~5 Million sqft used for hosting telecom infrastructure

The deal was valued at US$$3.77 billion, according to media reports. Reliance Communications said it will use the proceeds for debt repayment and that it retains its other businesses including its enterprise networking practice, its data centers, and its subsea cable network.

Jio’s management said the assets are strategic in nature and are expected to contribute significantly to the large-scale roll-out of wireless and Fiber to Home and Enterprise services in India.

Here’s what we know about Jio’s physical network. 

The Jio All-IP digital platform is built on Cisco’s Open Network Architecture and Cloud Scale Networking technologies featuring IP/MPLS, spanning areas including Data Center, Wi-Fi, Security and Contact Center solutions. Jio has laid more than 185,000 miles (or 300,000 KM) of fiber, and built India’s largest cloud data center to build platforms for applications and vertical solutions. Cisco claims a leading role at this layer of the network.

Nokia provided optical core and metro solution for Reliance Jio Infocomm's (Jio) pan-India 4G LTE network to support traffic growth created by the operator's initiative to deliver broadband connectivity for all of India.  As part of this deployment, Nokia is providing a 100 Gbit/s transport network that spans 90,000 km designed to enable Jio to offer high-capacity broadband services to underserved regions throughout India, as well as support nationwide long-distance (NLD) service.

In March 2017, Ericsson announced that it was providing its OSS fulfilment suite as part of Jio's broadband network deployment.

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China Unicom deploys Nokia's AirGile cloud-native core network

China Unicom will deploy a cloud-native core network based on Nokia's AirGile technology to enable the delivery of Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) and Voice-over-Wi-Fi (VoWiFi), and lay the foundations for the future evolution to 5G. The installation will occur in seven Chinese provinces: Sichuan, Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Hainan, Yunnan, Gansu and Hunan. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The deployment of the Nokia cloud-native core network also enables new services such as 'one-number, multi-devices'. The network will include Nokia AirGile cloud-native core technologies as well as the Nokia AirFrame data center, NetAct, CloudBand and Session Border Controller. Nokia will also act as a product and systems integrator.

In 2017 Nokia and China Unicom began interoperability with other vendors' equipment, enabling China Unicom to be the first operator to deploy a three-layer decoupled network architecture using network functions virtualization to decouple hardware and software and ensure flexibility allowing each network layer to evolve independently.

Gao Bo, head of the China Unicom customer business team at Nokia Shanghai Bell said: "Nokia has the breadth of technology and services expertise to provide an end-to-end cloud native core for China Unicom. The network will deliver new capabilities and allow China Unicom to accelerate the launch of new services, while new agility will help enable a smooth transition toward 5G in the future."

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Broadcom sweetens its bid for Qualcomm

Broadcom boosted its unsolicited bid to acquire Qualcomm to $121 billion, or $82 per share, consisting of $60.00 in cash and the remainder in Broadcom shares.

Broadcom described the bid as its "best and final offer", saying that it is prepared to pay to Qualcomm "a significant "reverse termination fee" in an amount appropriate for a transaction of this size in the unlikely event we are unable to obtain required regulatory approvals."

Several conditions were placed on the new offer, including that Qualcomm completes its own acquisition of NXP on current terms or that this merger be sracapped. A second condition is that Qualcomm not delay or adjourn its annual meeting past March 6, 2018.

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