Does open source help or hurt the problem of increasing network complexity?
Bikash Koley, CTO of Juniper Networks, responds.
Bikash Koley, CTO of Juniper Networks, responds.
Sunday, October 14, 2018
Orange joins Google's Dunant transatlantic cable project
Orange is joining Google's Dunant transatlantic project, which is a 6,600km submarine cable connecting the United States to the French Atlantic coast. The system is expected to be ready for services late 2020.
As the French landing partner, Orange will build and operate the landing station on the French Atlantic coast and provide the backhaul service to Paris. In parallel, Orange will benefit from fiber-pairs with a capacity of more than 30 Tbps per pair.
Commenting on the collaboration, Stéphane Richard, Chairman and CEO of Orange, said: “I am extremely proud to announce this collaboration with Google to build a new, cutting-edge cable between the USA and France. The role of submarine cables is often overlooked, despite their central role at the heart of our digital world. I am proud that Orange continues to be a global leader in investing, deploying, maintaining and managing such key infrastructure. Google is a major partner for Orange and this project reflects the spirit of our relationship.”
Google is planning a new transatlantic subsea cable system linking the east coast of the United States to Europe to bolster its global network.
Dunant, which is named in honor of Swiss businessman and humanitarian Henri Dunant, will be a four-fiber pair cable system spanning over 6,400km from Virginia Beach to the French Atlantic coast.
Google has selected TE SubCom to build the Dunant submarine cable system. Activation is expected in late 2020.
Henri Dunant was the founder of the Red Cross and recipient of the first Nobel Peace Prize.
As the French landing partner, Orange will build and operate the landing station on the French Atlantic coast and provide the backhaul service to Paris. In parallel, Orange will benefit from fiber-pairs with a capacity of more than 30 Tbps per pair.
Commenting on the collaboration, Stéphane Richard, Chairman and CEO of Orange, said: “I am extremely proud to announce this collaboration with Google to build a new, cutting-edge cable between the USA and France. The role of submarine cables is often overlooked, despite their central role at the heart of our digital world. I am proud that Orange continues to be a global leader in investing, deploying, maintaining and managing such key infrastructure. Google is a major partner for Orange and this project reflects the spirit of our relationship.”
Google to build private "Dunant" cable from Virginia to France
Google is planning a new transatlantic subsea cable system linking the east coast of the United States to Europe to bolster its global network.Dunant, which is named in honor of Swiss businessman and humanitarian Henri Dunant, will be a four-fiber pair cable system spanning over 6,400km from Virginia Beach to the French Atlantic coast.
Google has selected TE SubCom to build the Dunant submarine cable system. Activation is expected in late 2020.
Henri Dunant was the founder of the Red Cross and recipient of the first Nobel Peace Prize.
Google commissions own subsea cable from CA to Chile
TE Subcom has been awarded a contract by Alphabet, the parent company of Google, to build a subsea cable from California to Chile. A ready-for-service date is expected in 2019.
The Curie Submarine Cable will be a four fiber-pair subsea system spanning over 10,000 km from Los Angeles to Valparaiso. It will include a branching unit for future connectivity to Panama.
The project is believed to be the first subsea cable to land in Chile in 20 years.
The Curie Submarine Cable will be a four fiber-pair subsea system spanning over 10,000 km from Los Angeles to Valparaiso. It will include a branching unit for future connectivity to Panama.
The project is believed to be the first subsea cable to land in Chile in 20 years.
Google Cloud intros container-native load balancing
Google Cloud Platform is launching container-native load balancing for applications running on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) and Kubernetes on Compute Engine.
Customers are able to program load balancers as IP port pairs using network endpoint groups (NEGs), and load balancing directly to the containers. The new NEG abstraction layer that enables container-native load balancing is integrated with the Kubernetes Ingress controller running on GCP.
This represents a new data model abstraction layer on GCP, which Google says reaffirms "containers as first-class citizens on GCP."
https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/containers-kubernetes/introducing-container-native-load-balancing-on-google-kubernetes-engine
Customers are able to program load balancers as IP port pairs using network endpoint groups (NEGs), and load balancing directly to the containers. The new NEG abstraction layer that enables container-native load balancing is integrated with the Kubernetes Ingress controller running on GCP.This represents a new data model abstraction layer on GCP, which Google says reaffirms "containers as first-class citizens on GCP."
https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/containers-kubernetes/introducing-container-native-load-balancing-on-google-kubernetes-engine
Zayo continues building metro fiber networks in Europe
Citing demand from hyperscale, cloud and data center providers as well as enterprise customers, Zayo announced expansions of its fiber networks in four European markets, including London, Paris, Dublin and Amsterdam.
“These success-based network expansions will drive greater value for existing and new customers in Europe, with a focus on carriers and wireless operators, cloud service providers, technology, financial services and data-driven enterprises,” said Annette Murphy, managing director, Zayo Europe. “We continue to focus on leveraging our robust network, meeting the demand for the highest capacity, lowest latency fiber routes between key customer locations.”
Highlights:
“These success-based network expansions will drive greater value for existing and new customers in Europe, with a focus on carriers and wireless operators, cloud service providers, technology, financial services and data-driven enterprises,” said Annette Murphy, managing director, Zayo Europe. “We continue to focus on leveraging our robust network, meeting the demand for the highest capacity, lowest latency fiber routes between key customer locations.”Highlights:
- In London, Zayo is building a new fiber route from Hatfield, Hertfordshire to Stratford, East London, as part of a strategic ring outside of the city. The new route provides a new option for long haul routes from Dublin to Amsterdam and enhanced diversity for data center customers in Enfield.
- In Paris, Zayo is expanding its fiber footprint in La Defense, where it currently serves dozens of customers located there over its high-capacity fiber network.
- In Dublin, a multinational company has selected Zayo for a fully diverse dark fiber ring around the metro area. The high-fiber count solution will significantly improve latency for the customer, with the potential for follow-on sales to many companies that have a presence in Dublin or are considering investment and relocation in Ireland. The new routes complement Zayo’s existing T50 fiber network in Dublin.
- In Amsterdam, Zayo is upgrading and expanding its fiber network between Schiphol-Rijk and the Amsterdam Science Park. The park is among Europe’s largest centers of science, research and innovation and home to multiple data centers. The upgrade is driven by a data center operator based in the Schiphol-Rijk data center campus.
Intel + Ovum: How big is the 5G opportunity?
How big is the 5G opportunity?
Well, according to a newly released “5G Economics of Entertainment Report” commissioned by Intel and conducted by Ovum, it is forecast that over the next decade (2019-2028) media and entertainment companies will be competing to win a share of a near $3 trillion cumulative wireless revenue opportunity.
Experiences enabled by 5G networks will account for nearly half of this revenue opportunity (close to $1.3 trillion).
“5G will inevitably shake up the media and entertainment landscape. It will be a major competitive asset if companies adapt. If not, they risk failure or even extinction. This wave of 5G transformation will not be the purview of any singular industry, and now is certainly the time for all business decision-makers to ask: Is your business 5G-ready?” stated Jonathan Wood, general manager of Business Development & Partnerships, 5G Next Generation and Standards at Intel
Some highlights:
Well, according to a newly released “5G Economics of Entertainment Report” commissioned by Intel and conducted by Ovum, it is forecast that over the next decade (2019-2028) media and entertainment companies will be competing to win a share of a near $3 trillion cumulative wireless revenue opportunity.
Experiences enabled by 5G networks will account for nearly half of this revenue opportunity (close to $1.3 trillion).
“5G will inevitably shake up the media and entertainment landscape. It will be a major competitive asset if companies adapt. If not, they risk failure or even extinction. This wave of 5G transformation will not be the purview of any singular industry, and now is certainly the time for all business decision-makers to ask: Is your business 5G-ready?” stated Jonathan Wood, general manager of Business Development & Partnerships, 5G Next Generation and Standards at Intel
Some highlights:
- 2022: 5G accounts for nearly 20 percent of total telecom revenues – $47 billion of $253 billion
- 2025: more than 55 percent of total revenues – $183 billion of $321 billion
- 2028: nearly 80 percent of total revenues – $335 billion of $420 billion. The average monthly traffic per 5G subscriber will grow from 11.7GB in 2019 to 84.4GB per month in 2028, at which point video will account for 90 percent of all 5G traffic.
NTT DOCOMO invests in a quantum dot laser start-up
NTT DOCOMO announced an equity investment in QD Laser, a start-up developing semiconductor laser parts, retinal scanning laser eyewear, and other products based on an innovative quantum dot laser technology.
QD Laser, which is an offshoot of Fujitsu and was founded in 2006, is based in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa, Japan. The company is leveraging nanocrystal technology for the mass production of quantum dot lasers capable of operating stably even under high temperatures. In 2018, QD Laser applied its advanced technologies to install a compact laser projector with extremely small output into a spectacle-type device, and successfully commercialized the world’s first retinal scanning laser eyewear that directly projects an image onto the user’s retina for image display. The technology could help patients with ametropia or corneal opacity and weak-sighted individuals.
QD Laser, which is an offshoot of Fujitsu and was founded in 2006, is based in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa, Japan. The company is leveraging nanocrystal technology for the mass production of quantum dot lasers capable of operating stably even under high temperatures. In 2018, QD Laser applied its advanced technologies to install a compact laser projector with extremely small output into a spectacle-type device, and successfully commercialized the world’s first retinal scanning laser eyewear that directly projects an image onto the user’s retina for image display. The technology could help patients with ametropia or corneal opacity and weak-sighted individuals.Riverbed improves cloud app visibility to Kubernetes
Riverbed released an updated version of its SteelCentral Digital Experience Management (DEM) solution that provides greater visibility of cloud-native apps and into cloud-based networks.
With this new release, AppInternals, SteelCentral’s APM solution, significantly enhances its support for modern cloud-based application architectures with full visibility into transactions, containers, and services running within Kubernetes, Pivotal Cloud Foundry and Red Hat OpenShift. SteelCentral APM helps companies running applications in Docker containers and Pivotal Cloud Foundry, to reduce performance issues and drive better user adoption.
Some highlights of the new SteelCentral release:
“As cloud adoption has become ubiquitous, cloud deployments and the applications themselves have become increasingly complex and distributed. Ensuring performance of the end-user experience, apps, networks and cloud vendors themselves is a daunting challenge,” said Mike Sargent, Senior Vice President, General Manager for SteelCentral at Riverbed. “This latest release of Riverbed SteelCentral delivers rich visibility into both the application and network performance of hybrid and cloud environments, as well as the most comprehensive approach to truly measure and manage the digital experience. With our end user experience focus and supporting big data platform, Riverbed SteelCentral is delivering end-to-end performance monitoring at a scale unmatched by any other vendor.”
With this new release, AppInternals, SteelCentral’s APM solution, significantly enhances its support for modern cloud-based application architectures with full visibility into transactions, containers, and services running within Kubernetes, Pivotal Cloud Foundry and Red Hat OpenShift. SteelCentral APM helps companies running applications in Docker containers and Pivotal Cloud Foundry, to reduce performance issues and drive better user adoption.
Some highlights of the new SteelCentral release:
- Packet visibility in the cloud – the new release of a AppResponse Cloud solution collects and analyzes packet information for Amazon Web Services (AWS) deployments
- Flow visibility in the cloud – SteelCentral NetProfiler’s capabilities extended to monitor flow across cloud environments and between the cloud and the enterprise
- App visibility for cloud native apps – introduction of AppInternals integrations with Kubernetes, Pivotal Cloud Foundry and Red Hat OpenShift to help companies maintain visibility as applications are developed and implemented in the cloud, and manage the complexity of the modern multi-stack app ecosystem.
“As cloud adoption has become ubiquitous, cloud deployments and the applications themselves have become increasingly complex and distributed. Ensuring performance of the end-user experience, apps, networks and cloud vendors themselves is a daunting challenge,” said Mike Sargent, Senior Vice President, General Manager for SteelCentral at Riverbed. “This latest release of Riverbed SteelCentral delivers rich visibility into both the application and network performance of hybrid and cloud environments, as well as the most comprehensive approach to truly measure and manage the digital experience. With our end user experience focus and supporting big data platform, Riverbed SteelCentral is delivering end-to-end performance monitoring at a scale unmatched by any other vendor.”
Exablaze hits 100 picosecond resolution for layer 1 tap/replication
Exablaze, which offers high precision. layer 1 network monitoring/timestamping devices, introduced a solution for high performance compute (HPC), high-frequency trading (HFT), and telecommunications network applications. It offers 100 picosecond resolution network timestamping, high-density port count, deep aggregation buffers and high-rate, load-balanced outputs. The new unit features an internal memory hierarchy with 32GB of deep buffer memory.
Dr Greg Robinson, Exablaze Chairman, said, "The ExaLINK Fusion HPT maintains Exablaze's enviable position as a world-leading, high impact innovator. This device exemplifies our continuing commitment to customer-centric development." He added, "This product has undergone extensive early testing, demonstrating outstanding results and user satisfaction. We're confident that a wide range of users will find this device a highly valuable addition to their network monitoring infrastructure."
The Fusion HPT builds on the robust foundations of the ExaLINK Fusion product series. The company says all its ExaLINK Fusion products offer extensive layer 1 tap/replication functions, replacing bulky and inflexible optical tap infrastructure.
The ExaLINK Fusion HPT is available in 16, 32, and 48 port varieties with SFP+ and QSFP connectivity options.
Exablaze is based in Melbourne, Australia.
Dr Greg Robinson, Exablaze Chairman, said, "The ExaLINK Fusion HPT maintains Exablaze's enviable position as a world-leading, high impact innovator. This device exemplifies our continuing commitment to customer-centric development." He added, "This product has undergone extensive early testing, demonstrating outstanding results and user satisfaction. We're confident that a wide range of users will find this device a highly valuable addition to their network monitoring infrastructure."
The Fusion HPT builds on the robust foundations of the ExaLINK Fusion product series. The company says all its ExaLINK Fusion products offer extensive layer 1 tap/replication functions, replacing bulky and inflexible optical tap infrastructure.
The ExaLINK Fusion HPT is available in 16, 32, and 48 port varieties with SFP+ and QSFP connectivity options.
Exablaze is based in Melbourne, Australia.
Thursday, October 11, 2018
Google Cloud Platform expands its enterprise networking
Google Cloud Platform introduced several additions to its enterprise networking portfolio.
Cloud NATBeta - a Google-managed Network Address Translation service that lets enterprises provision application instances without public IP addresses while also allowing them to access the Tnternet for updates, patching, config management in a controlled and efficient manner. Outside resources cannot directly access any of the private instances behind the Cloud NAT gateway, thereby helping to keep your Google Cloud VPCs isolated and secure.
Firewall Rules LoggingBeta - allows enterprises to audit, verify, and analyze the effects of firewall rules. For example, it provides visibility into potential connection attempts that are blocked by a given firewall rule. Logging is also useful to determine that there weren't any unauthorized connections allowed into an application. Firewall log records of allowed or denied connections are reported every five seconds, and can be exported to Stackdriver Logging, Cloud Pub/Sub, or BigQuery.
Managed TLS Certificates for HTTPS load balancersBeta - load balancing customers can now deploy HTTPS load balancers, Google taking care of provisioning root-trusted TLS certificates for you and manage their lifecycle including renewals and revocation.
https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/networking/simplifying-cloud-networking-for-enterprises-announcing-cloud-nat-and-more
Cloud NATBeta - a Google-managed Network Address Translation service that lets enterprises provision application instances without public IP addresses while also allowing them to access the Tnternet for updates, patching, config management in a controlled and efficient manner. Outside resources cannot directly access any of the private instances behind the Cloud NAT gateway, thereby helping to keep your Google Cloud VPCs isolated and secure.
Firewall Rules LoggingBeta - allows enterprises to audit, verify, and analyze the effects of firewall rules. For example, it provides visibility into potential connection attempts that are blocked by a given firewall rule. Logging is also useful to determine that there weren't any unauthorized connections allowed into an application. Firewall log records of allowed or denied connections are reported every five seconds, and can be exported to Stackdriver Logging, Cloud Pub/Sub, or BigQuery.
Managed TLS Certificates for HTTPS load balancersBeta - load balancing customers can now deploy HTTPS load balancers, Google taking care of provisioning root-trusted TLS certificates for you and manage their lifecycle including renewals and revocation.
https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/networking/simplifying-cloud-networking-for-enterprises-announcing-cloud-nat-and-more
Google Cloud Storage adds regional replication
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) introduced more data storage replication options within regions and between regions. This allows customers to move large data sets across regions using Google infrastructure for ensuring availability and business continuity.
Some highlights:
Some highlights:
- A new dual-regional option for replicating data, which is especially beneficial for analytics or big data workloads. Customers are able to write to a single dual-regional bucket without having to manually copy data between primary and secondary locations.
- Nearline and Coldline data now geo-redundant in multi-regional locations, raising the availability of archival data stored this way.
- A new look coming for Cloud Storage choices.
- A new Cloud Storage C++ library so developers can customize their applications.
- A new dual-regional option available in beta
Deutsche Telekom outlines 5G program
Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges outlined an eight-point program for rolling out 5G that targets coverage to 99% of Germany's population by 2025. The company is aiming to launch commercial 5G operation will launch in 2020 when terminal devices are available in sufficient numbers. Already 22,000 of the company's 27,000 mobile sites are already 5G-ready thanks to fiber-optic connectivity and the single RAN technology.
Speaking at the Telekom Netze-Tag event in Berlin, Höttges repeated his commitment to continue investing around 5.5 billion euros annually in the build-out of broadband networks in Germany.
He called on representatives from the political and industrial worlds to cooperate with network providers to pave the way for "the best 5G infrastructure in the world."
“Companies, authorities, and citizens in Germany are entitled to the best-performing digital infrastructure. In urban centers and rural areas alike. Broadband for everyone instead of a digital divide remains the objective. We will only achieve this objective by working together, not by competing with one another,” said Tim Höttges at the BDI conference in Berlin. “Not possible is not an option – gigabit networks for Germany.”
Some highlights:
https://www.telekom.com/en/media/media-information/archive/working-hard-on-the-5g-roll-out-in-germany-545412
Speaking at the Telekom Netze-Tag event in Berlin, Höttges repeated his commitment to continue investing around 5.5 billion euros annually in the build-out of broadband networks in Germany.
He called on representatives from the political and industrial worlds to cooperate with network providers to pave the way for "the best 5G infrastructure in the world."
“Companies, authorities, and citizens in Germany are entitled to the best-performing digital infrastructure. In urban centers and rural areas alike. Broadband for everyone instead of a digital divide remains the objective. We will only achieve this objective by working together, not by competing with one another,” said Tim Höttges at the BDI conference in Berlin. “Not possible is not an option – gigabit networks for Germany.”
Some highlights:
- 5G coverage to 99 percent of the German population by 2025.
- Targetting 90 percent 5G area coverage by 2025. This level can be achieved with 4G in 2021.
- The DT Group will invest 20 billion euros in Germany by 2021.
- All mobile base stations will be equipped to run initial 5G applications such as the NB-IoT
- DT is also speeding up the installation of new antenna sites. It currently operates 27,000 antenna sites and will be adding at least 2,000 each year. The number of antenna sites will reach 36,000 by 2021.
- DT is currently running a 5G test cluster in central Berlin.
https://www.telekom.com/en/media/media-information/archive/working-hard-on-the-5g-roll-out-in-germany-545412
Snowflake adds $450 million in funding for data warehousing
Snowflake Computing, a start-up based in San Mateo, California, closed $450 million in additional growth funding led by Sequoia Capital and including existing investors: Altimeter Capital, Capital One Growth Ventures, ICONIQ Capital, Madrona Venture Group, Redpoint Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures and Wing Ventures. New investor Meritech Capital also joined this round, which raises Snowflake’s pre-money valuation to $3.5 billion.
Earlier this year, Snowflake announced $263 million new venture funding in a round led by ICONIQ Capital, Altimeter Capital and newcomer Sequoia Capital.
This second round brings Snowflake’s total amount raised to $923 million.
Snowflake is headed by Bob Muglia, who previously was president of Microsoft’s $16 billion Server and Tools Business, responsible for products such as Windows Server, SQL Server, System Center and Windows Azure. Snowflake recently announced its availability on Microsoft Azure and its continued support for Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Snowflake has offered data warehousing services since 2015. It claims 1,000 active customers, including Netflix, Office Depot, DoorDash, Netgear, Ebates and Yamaha.
“Learning to be data-driven is an imperative for every organization today, and a data-driven organization must be in control of its data,” Snowflake CEO Bob Muglia said. “Snowflake is the most powerful data warehouse in the world for analytics solutions. That power delivers the security, control and business answers needed to enable data-driven organizations. This is driving spectacular growth for our company, and this latest funding round will provide Snowflake with the resources we need to serve our rapidly growing set of new and existing customers around the world.”
Earlier this year, Snowflake announced $263 million new venture funding in a round led by ICONIQ Capital, Altimeter Capital and newcomer Sequoia Capital.
This second round brings Snowflake’s total amount raised to $923 million.
Snowflake is headed by Bob Muglia, who previously was president of Microsoft’s $16 billion Server and Tools Business, responsible for products such as Windows Server, SQL Server, System Center and Windows Azure. Snowflake recently announced its availability on Microsoft Azure and its continued support for Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Snowflake has offered data warehousing services since 2015. It claims 1,000 active customers, including Netflix, Office Depot, DoorDash, Netgear, Ebates and Yamaha.
“Learning to be data-driven is an imperative for every organization today, and a data-driven organization must be in control of its data,” Snowflake CEO Bob Muglia said. “Snowflake is the most powerful data warehouse in the world for analytics solutions. That power delivers the security, control and business answers needed to enable data-driven organizations. This is driving spectacular growth for our company, and this latest funding round will provide Snowflake with the resources we need to serve our rapidly growing set of new and existing customers around the world.”
EXFO posts Q4 sales of US$69 million
EXFO reported sales in its fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 of US$69.2 million compared to US$63.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2017. Annual sales improved 10.8% to US$269.5 million in fiscal 2018 from US$243.3 million in 2017. IFRS net loss amounted to US$4.0 million, or US$0.07 per share, compared to net earnings of US$0.8 million, or US$0.02 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2017. In fiscal 2018, IFRS net loss totaled US$11.9 million, or US$0.22 per share, compared to net earnings of US$0.9 million, or US$0.02 per share, in 2017.
Bookings totaled US$63.1 million for a book-to-bill ratio of 0.91 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 compared to US$66.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2017. Overall for fiscal 2018, bookings increased 6.3% to US$267.7 million for a book-to-bill ratio of 0.99 from US$251.8 million in 2017.
Gross margin before depreciation and amortization* attained 60.4% of sales in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 compared 61.9% in the fourth quarter of 2017. Gross margin before depreciation and amortization included restructuring charges of 0.7% of sales in the fourth quarter of 2018 and 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2017. In fiscal 2018, gross margin before depreciation and amortization reached 61.0% of sales compared to 61.2% in 2017. Gross margin before depreciation and amortization included restructuring charges of 0.2% of sales in 2018 and 0.7% in 2017.
"During fiscal 2018, we made significant progress to strategically transform EXFO into a supplier of software-intensive, end-to-end solutions and analytics for fiber, mobile and virtualized networks," said Philippe Morin, EXFO's Chief Executive Officer. "While communications service providers are undergoing fundamental changes to their business models and network architectures with upcoming 5G and IoT deployments, EXFO has positioned itself as a supplier of choice delivering superior network performance, service reliability and subscriber insights through the acquisitions of Astellia and Ontology. Although these transformations are mostly unfolding according to plan, I am disappointed with our financial results in 2018 due to deal delays and the current market environment," Mr. Morin added. "Nonetheless, we have planned significant improvements for 2019 with an increased focus on execution."
Bookings totaled US$63.1 million for a book-to-bill ratio of 0.91 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 compared to US$66.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2017. Overall for fiscal 2018, bookings increased 6.3% to US$267.7 million for a book-to-bill ratio of 0.99 from US$251.8 million in 2017.Gross margin before depreciation and amortization* attained 60.4% of sales in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 compared 61.9% in the fourth quarter of 2017. Gross margin before depreciation and amortization included restructuring charges of 0.7% of sales in the fourth quarter of 2018 and 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2017. In fiscal 2018, gross margin before depreciation and amortization reached 61.0% of sales compared to 61.2% in 2017. Gross margin before depreciation and amortization included restructuring charges of 0.2% of sales in 2018 and 0.7% in 2017.
"During fiscal 2018, we made significant progress to strategically transform EXFO into a supplier of software-intensive, end-to-end solutions and analytics for fiber, mobile and virtualized networks," said Philippe Morin, EXFO's Chief Executive Officer. "While communications service providers are undergoing fundamental changes to their business models and network architectures with upcoming 5G and IoT deployments, EXFO has positioned itself as a supplier of choice delivering superior network performance, service reliability and subscriber insights through the acquisitions of Astellia and Ontology. Although these transformations are mostly unfolding according to plan, I am disappointed with our financial results in 2018 due to deal delays and the current market environment," Mr. Morin added. "Nonetheless, we have planned significant improvements for 2019 with an increased focus on execution."
MegaFon's CEO steps down
Russia's MegaFon announced the resignation of its General Director and CEO, Sergey Soldatenkov, who will leave the company before the expiration of his contract in 2019.
MegaFon's Board of Directors appointed Gevork Vermishian to take over his positions. Vermishian is currently Executive Director.
Sergey Soldatenkov commented: “I have decided that the time has come to hand the reins to Gevork. I have been involved with the Company since its creation, almost 20 years ago. Throughout this time we have been at the forefront of innovation: we were the first to launch new products and services, we surprised clients and competitors, and we were not afraid to change the sector nor, most importantly, to change ourselves. However, we have been conscious for a long time of the need for a management succession plan. With this in mind, we asked Gevork to take on the role of Executive Director last October, with a view to having me focus on strategy and government relations and having Gevork take on operational issues. In this way it was possible to gradually transition responsibilities to Gevork, and I believe that he is now ready to take over my responsibilities as well and assume full control of the management of the company."
MegaFon's Board of Directors appointed Gevork Vermishian to take over his positions. Vermishian is currently Executive Director.
Sergey Soldatenkov commented: “I have decided that the time has come to hand the reins to Gevork. I have been involved with the Company since its creation, almost 20 years ago. Throughout this time we have been at the forefront of innovation: we were the first to launch new products and services, we surprised clients and competitors, and we were not afraid to change the sector nor, most importantly, to change ourselves. However, we have been conscious for a long time of the need for a management succession plan. With this in mind, we asked Gevork to take on the role of Executive Director last October, with a view to having me focus on strategy and government relations and having Gevork take on operational issues. In this way it was possible to gradually transition responsibilities to Gevork, and I believe that he is now ready to take over my responsibilities as well and assume full control of the management of the company."ADTRAN delivers 2nd gen Gfast capable of 2 Gbps
ADTRAN launched its 2nd generation Gfast products allowing for the transparent extension of FTTH service capabilities.
The company is the first to deliver Gfast solutions that conform with Amendment 3 of the ITU-T G.fast standard, which doubles the usable spectrum from previously 106 Mhz to 212 MHz. With Amendment 3, Gfast is now capable of providing an aggregated bandwidth of 2 Gbps, delivering fiber-like speeds for Multi-Dwelling Units (MDUs) and other applications which require leveraging the existing phone or cable television wiring infrastructure.
ADTRAN said the increased capacity also helps operators with additional deployment flexibility, as for the first time Gfast-based services can be delivered to locations where these need to coexist with existing VDSL2 services while still maintaining the ability to deliver symmetric Gigabit speeds. The company has Gfast deployments underway with Tier 1 carrier networks in Asia, Australia, North America and Europe.
“Second generation Gfast solutions can allow operators, municipalities and regulatory agencies another delivery path to meeting the goal of delivering Gigabit speeds to consumers,” IHS Markit Principal Analyst, Service Provider Technology, John Kendall said. “The current Gfast market is set for strong growth as leading service providers are ramping deployments as a natural extension of their fiber investment strategies and Gigabit service rollout plans.”
“In today’s global economy, having access to Gigabit services has become playing stakes for any carrier that wants to compete for residential services,” ADTRAN Director of Portfolio Management, Broadband Solutions, Werner Heinrich said. “By delivering the industry’s most complete SD-Access solution set, including fully Gigabit-capable Gfast solutions, ADTRAN is providing our customers with the opportunity to expand the reach of their fiber broadband services and open the way into the Gigabit Society for many more of their subscribers.”
https://www.adtran.com/index.php/adtran-delivers-first-2nd-gen-gfast-solutions-as-worldwide-deployments-ramp
The company is the first to deliver Gfast solutions that conform with Amendment 3 of the ITU-T G.fast standard, which doubles the usable spectrum from previously 106 Mhz to 212 MHz. With Amendment 3, Gfast is now capable of providing an aggregated bandwidth of 2 Gbps, delivering fiber-like speeds for Multi-Dwelling Units (MDUs) and other applications which require leveraging the existing phone or cable television wiring infrastructure.
ADTRAN said the increased capacity also helps operators with additional deployment flexibility, as for the first time Gfast-based services can be delivered to locations where these need to coexist with existing VDSL2 services while still maintaining the ability to deliver symmetric Gigabit speeds. The company has Gfast deployments underway with Tier 1 carrier networks in Asia, Australia, North America and Europe.“Second generation Gfast solutions can allow operators, municipalities and regulatory agencies another delivery path to meeting the goal of delivering Gigabit speeds to consumers,” IHS Markit Principal Analyst, Service Provider Technology, John Kendall said. “The current Gfast market is set for strong growth as leading service providers are ramping deployments as a natural extension of their fiber investment strategies and Gigabit service rollout plans.”
“In today’s global economy, having access to Gigabit services has become playing stakes for any carrier that wants to compete for residential services,” ADTRAN Director of Portfolio Management, Broadband Solutions, Werner Heinrich said. “By delivering the industry’s most complete SD-Access solution set, including fully Gigabit-capable Gfast solutions, ADTRAN is providing our customers with the opportunity to expand the reach of their fiber broadband services and open the way into the Gigabit Society for many more of their subscribers.”
https://www.adtran.com/index.php/adtran-delivers-first-2nd-gen-gfast-solutions-as-worldwide-deployments-ramp
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Juniper's Rami Rahim: Engineering Simplicity is the new mantra
The battle against complexity is the biggest problem facing networking today - and the biggest problem for the IT industry overall -- said Rami Rahim, CEO of Juniper Networks, at the company's NXTWORK event in Las Vegas.
Engineering simplicity is now "the guiding star" for everything going on inside the company, according to Rahim, because otherwise the transition to multicloud networking will be choked by the overlapping systems policies and management frameworks.
Rahim described the industry transition from the Scale-up Era of the late 90s, to the Scale-out Era that powered Web 2.0, to the emerging Multicloud Era.
The scale-out architecture was successful in many regards but the sheer number of elements in the network brought reliability challenges because mean time between failure (MTBF) rates meant that something could break every day. Software-defined networking helped solve this issue, but now automation tools are needed to manage the complexity.
Hyperscale cloud providers have the resource to build and deploy automation, but enterprises need them as well. The multicloud era means that operations may reside across many domains with separate management. Getting past this roadblock requires deep visibility and automation. The goal must be to operate networks with the least amount of human interaction possible.
Juniper is proposing a 5-step journey to multicloud.
Juniper's answer for simplifying cloud automation is its Contrail Enterprise Multicloud solution.
"It's not about building better networks, it's about making networking better," said Rahim.
Bikash Koley, Juniper's CTO talked about the architecture for unifying the company's solutions for the multicloud era, including its Contrail framework, Junos OS, and a new "ATOM" API stack for integrating telemetry and intent.
Engineering simplicity is now "the guiding star" for everything going on inside the company, according to Rahim, because otherwise the transition to multicloud networking will be choked by the overlapping systems policies and management frameworks.
Rahim described the industry transition from the Scale-up Era of the late 90s, to the Scale-out Era that powered Web 2.0, to the emerging Multicloud Era.
The scale-out architecture was successful in many regards but the sheer number of elements in the network brought reliability challenges because mean time between failure (MTBF) rates meant that something could break every day. Software-defined networking helped solve this issue, but now automation tools are needed to manage the complexity.Hyperscale cloud providers have the resource to build and deploy automation, but enterprises need them as well. The multicloud era means that operations may reside across many domains with separate management. Getting past this roadblock requires deep visibility and automation. The goal must be to operate networks with the least amount of human interaction possible.
Juniper is proposing a 5-step journey to multicloud.
Juniper's answer for simplifying cloud automation is its Contrail Enterprise Multicloud solution.
"It's not about building better networks, it's about making networking better," said Rahim.
Bikash Koley, Juniper's CTO talked about the architecture for unifying the company's solutions for the multicloud era, including its Contrail framework, Junos OS, and a new "ATOM" API stack for integrating telemetry and intent.
Juniper revs new Ethernet switches for the multicloud world
Juniper Networks introduced a new line of Ethernet switches designed for the new era of multicloud networking, where the assumption that distributed enterprises will access resources from multiple data centers is a reality.
The rollout includes new switches for the enterprise data center, campus, and branch, as well as a new cloud-based management platform called Sky Enterprise. Junos remains central to all of the new products and the rest of the existing switching portfolio.
“The promise of multicloud is to deliver an infrastructure that is secure, ubiquitous, reliable and fungible and where the migration of workloads will be a simple and intuitive process,” said Bikash Koley, chief technology officer at Juniper Networks. “For IT to be successful in becoming multicloud-ready, it is critical organizations consider not only the data center and public cloud, but also the on-ramps of their campus and branch networks. Otherwise, enterprises will face fractured security and operations as network boundaries prevent seamless, end-to-end visibility and control.”
Highlights of the announcement include:
The rollout includes new switches for the enterprise data center, campus, and branch, as well as a new cloud-based management platform called Sky Enterprise. Junos remains central to all of the new products and the rest of the existing switching portfolio.
“The promise of multicloud is to deliver an infrastructure that is secure, ubiquitous, reliable and fungible and where the migration of workloads will be a simple and intuitive process,” said Bikash Koley, chief technology officer at Juniper Networks. “For IT to be successful in becoming multicloud-ready, it is critical organizations consider not only the data center and public cloud, but also the on-ramps of their campus and branch networks. Otherwise, enterprises will face fractured security and operations as network boundaries prevent seamless, end-to-end visibility and control.”
Highlights of the announcement include:
- A new QFX10002-60C "universal" switchfor data center spine, data center edge and data center interconnect (DCI). It features 60x100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) deep-buffer interfaces.
- A new QFX5210-64C 64x100GbE port spine switch
- A new QFX5200-48Y 48x25GbE top-of-rack switch
- A new QFX MACsec line card addition for the QFX10000 modular switches. This card provides 30-port 100GbE connectivity for encrypted traffic in and between data centers.
- Juniper Sky Enterprise - a cloud management service that enables operators to deploy, configure and manage switching and security devices, reducing change errors by up to 90 percent. Sky Enterprise also gives network operators visibility into wireless access points using Aerohive Hive Manager NG API integration.
- New EX2300 and EX4300 compact switches for campus networks. The EX4300 multigig switch supports POE++ for new applications and MACsec to enable a secure on-ramp to the cloud. The EX9250 switch is a compact campus core that gives enterprises multiple fabric options by supporting both Junos Fusion and EVPN-VXLAN.
- New NFX150 Network Services Platform for branch offices. This combines native branch security and hybrid WAN functionality with wireless 4G and LTE connectivity between branches. Built as an extensible platform, it can run third-party virtual network functions (VNFs).
- Contrail SD-WAN with new subscription-based pricing: Juniper’s Contrail SD-WAN solution bundles the SRX Series Services Gateway and the NFX Series with the platform and orchestration software required for multicloud-ready SD-WAN. New subscription pricing bundles provide several physical and virtual endpoint options with secure SD-WAN management.
Juniper and Nutanix expand partnership for multiclouds
Juniper Networks and Nutanix expanded their existing partnership with an aim on simplifying enterprise multicloud architectures.
The goal is better integration and automated management between network, security, compute and storage.
Specifically, Juniper’s Contrail Enterprise Multicloud will integrate with Nutanix APIs to provide enhanced network visibility for virtualized workloads, ultimately facilitating automated fabric management.
Additionally, Juniper’s Unified Cybersecurity Platform together with Nutanix’s software-defined networking offering, Flow, and AHV hypervisor, intends to secure applications with microsegmentation in enterprise cloud, as well as provide a hardened security posture that prevents lateral propagation of threats. Enterprises will be able to deploy the vSRX integrated virtual firewall in their Nutanix environment, extending the same capability across multicloud architectures with a single point of control using vSRX on-premises and in AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform.
“As enterprises race toward multicloud, they are burdened with complexities that arise during each stage of the journey. By integrating Contrail Enterprise Multicloud and Juniper’s Unified Cybersecurity Platform with Nutanix’s Enterprise Cloud, we are delivering an end-to-end secure and automated multicloud environment spanning compute, storage and networking for our customers,” said Bikash Koley, Chief Technology Officer, Juniper Networks.
“The future of enterprise infrastructure is multi-cloud - that’s no longer up for debate. Networking shouldn’t be the complex burden holding companies back from this transition, and that’s why we’re so committed to working with our partners like Juniper to offer our joint customers seamless, secure networking fit for the multi-cloud world,” said Raja Mukhopadhyay, VP of Product Management, Nutanix
The goal is better integration and automated management between network, security, compute and storage.Specifically, Juniper’s Contrail Enterprise Multicloud will integrate with Nutanix APIs to provide enhanced network visibility for virtualized workloads, ultimately facilitating automated fabric management.
Additionally, Juniper’s Unified Cybersecurity Platform together with Nutanix’s software-defined networking offering, Flow, and AHV hypervisor, intends to secure applications with microsegmentation in enterprise cloud, as well as provide a hardened security posture that prevents lateral propagation of threats. Enterprises will be able to deploy the vSRX integrated virtual firewall in their Nutanix environment, extending the same capability across multicloud architectures with a single point of control using vSRX on-premises and in AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform.
“As enterprises race toward multicloud, they are burdened with complexities that arise during each stage of the journey. By integrating Contrail Enterprise Multicloud and Juniper’s Unified Cybersecurity Platform with Nutanix’s Enterprise Cloud, we are delivering an end-to-end secure and automated multicloud environment spanning compute, storage and networking for our customers,” said Bikash Koley, Chief Technology Officer, Juniper Networks.
“The future of enterprise infrastructure is multi-cloud - that’s no longer up for debate. Networking shouldn’t be the complex burden holding companies back from this transition, and that’s why we’re so committed to working with our partners like Juniper to offer our joint customers seamless, secure networking fit for the multi-cloud world,” said Raja Mukhopadhyay, VP of Product Management, Nutanix
Implementing Multicloud - Bikash Koley explains
Juniper Networks is actively pursuing an enterprise multicloud strategy that it describes as a seachange for networking, but how is it actually implemented in its products?
Bikash Koley, CTO of Juniper, explains.
https://youtu.be/Jiap6F-NNF4
Bikash Koley, CTO of Juniper, explains.
https://youtu.be/Jiap6F-NNF4
Nokia intros open and programmable access network slicing
Nokia introduced an open and programmable fixed access network slicing solution that partitions the fixed access network into autonomous slices and delivers for operators the Network-as-a-Service.
Nokia said its solution enables operators to scale to a virtually unlimited number of discrete network slices that can be independently operated, for example to run 5G mobile transport, wholesale or business services.
The new solution is built around Nokia's cloud-native software platform Altiplano and open standards. It allows operators to establish full control and autonomy for each slice they manage, plus determine the performance metrics for the network and services they deliver to customers.
It uses open interfaces and YANG data models to create a virtual slice that looks, feels and operates just like a physical network.
Each service provider runs its own dedicated controller with a dedicated view of their slice of the network. This provides operators with the control and flexibility to deliver differentiated broadband services in a multi-vendor network environment. Equipment from different vendors can sit alongside each other, in different slices or on the same slice. The solution also makes it easier to share the physical network by enabling operators to automate challenging processes such as rules, regulations and multi-vendor integration.
Nokia notes that has been actively involved in the work that led to the publication of TR-370 on Fixed Access Network Sharing (FANS) by the Broadband Forum and is currently involved in the specification of the YANG modules that are used to achieve FANS.
Federico Guillen, president of Nokia Fixed Networks, said: "I believe that virtual network slicing will form the basis for everything the fixed access industry does going forward. It can provide a more elegant and powerful way to monetize ultra-broadband deployments, help accelerate the delivery of new services, spread investment risk, reduce complexity and unlock new business opportunities that allow service providers to better serve their end-customers."
https://onestore.nokia.com/asset/202253
Nokia said its solution enables operators to scale to a virtually unlimited number of discrete network slices that can be independently operated, for example to run 5G mobile transport, wholesale or business services.
The new solution is built around Nokia's cloud-native software platform Altiplano and open standards. It allows operators to establish full control and autonomy for each slice they manage, plus determine the performance metrics for the network and services they deliver to customers.It uses open interfaces and YANG data models to create a virtual slice that looks, feels and operates just like a physical network.
Each service provider runs its own dedicated controller with a dedicated view of their slice of the network. This provides operators with the control and flexibility to deliver differentiated broadband services in a multi-vendor network environment. Equipment from different vendors can sit alongside each other, in different slices or on the same slice. The solution also makes it easier to share the physical network by enabling operators to automate challenging processes such as rules, regulations and multi-vendor integration.
Nokia notes that has been actively involved in the work that led to the publication of TR-370 on Fixed Access Network Sharing (FANS) by the Broadband Forum and is currently involved in the specification of the YANG modules that are used to achieve FANS.
Federico Guillen, president of Nokia Fixed Networks, said: "I believe that virtual network slicing will form the basis for everything the fixed access industry does going forward. It can provide a more elegant and powerful way to monetize ultra-broadband deployments, help accelerate the delivery of new services, spread investment risk, reduce complexity and unlock new business opportunities that allow service providers to better serve their end-customers."
https://onestore.nokia.com/asset/202253
Micron to invest $100 million in AI start-ups
Micron announced plans to invest up to $100 million in startups focused on artificial intelligence (AI), with twenty percent aimed at startups led by women and other underrepresented groups. The company has been investing in tech start-ups in its sector since 2006 via its Micron Ventures arm.
Micron will also offer a $1 million grant for universities and non-profit organizations to conduct research on AI.
"We are pleased to bring together the industry's brightest thinkers, researchers, innovators and technologists to discuss AI, machine learning and deep learning," said Micron President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. "These trends are at the heart of the biggest opportunities in front of us, and increasingly require memory and storage technologies to turn vast amounts of data into insights that accelerate intelligence."
The announcements were made at the inaugural Micron Insight 2018 event in San Francisco, which included leaders from Amazon, BMW, Google, Qualcomm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Visteon, along with author, cosmic explorer and MIT professor of physics, Max Tegmark.
http://bit.ly/MicronFoundation
Micron will also offer a $1 million grant for universities and non-profit organizations to conduct research on AI.
"We are pleased to bring together the industry's brightest thinkers, researchers, innovators and technologists to discuss AI, machine learning and deep learning," said Micron President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. "These trends are at the heart of the biggest opportunities in front of us, and increasingly require memory and storage technologies to turn vast amounts of data into insights that accelerate intelligence."
The announcements were made at the inaugural Micron Insight 2018 event in San Francisco, which included leaders from Amazon, BMW, Google, Qualcomm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Visteon, along with author, cosmic explorer and MIT professor of physics, Max Tegmark.
http://bit.ly/MicronFoundation
