Kinetic Edge Alliance targets major U.S. metros

Vapor IO, a start-up developing an infrastructure edge computing platform, is leading a new Kinetic Edge Alliance (KEA) to bring together the technology, assets and deployment partners to bring edge capabilities to major U.S. metro markets.

The key idea is to leverage Vapor IO’s Kinetic Edge, an infrastructure architecture that uses software and high-speed connectivity to combine three or more micro data centers that ring a metro area into a single logical data center.

The plan calls for tower-connected infrastructure for edge computing reaching nearly 50% of the nation’s population by the end of 2020. The Alliance will focus on the first six Kinetic Edge markets: Chicago, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles and Seattle. Chicago, the first Kinetic Edge city, has two Kinetic Edge sites online today with a third coming online later in Q1.

KEA includes Deployment Partners — Federated Wireless, Linode, MobiledgeX, Packet and StackPath — and Technical Partners — Alef Mobitech, Detecon International, Hitachi Vantara, New Continuum Data Centers, Pluribus Networks, and Seagate Technology.

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ONF launches Converged Multi-Access and Core Initiative

The ONF has launched a Converged Multi-Access and Core (COMAC) initiative for delivering next-generation services over both mobile and broadband networks.

The new COMAC Reference Design, which leverages the ONF’s Strategic Plan and ONF’s Reference Design working model, will enable Service Providers to program network slices combining various access and core technologies.

Carriers supporting the COMAC initiative include AT&T, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, Google, and Türk Telekom.

The COMAC Reference Design will specify the common requirements agreed to collaboratively by the ONF operators, and will provide a blueprint for an open source approach to address the space.

Highlights

Converged Access: COMAC access architecture is built on disaggregated RAN (leveraging the O-RAN RU/DU/CU architecture), disaggregated mobile core, and disaggregated Broadband Network Gateway (BNG) components.  Elements from each are then redistributed and aggregated into a unified access layer, creating a SDN powered control plane and P4 powered user plane that each contain elements of the RAN CU, Mobile Core and BNG.  This reformulated and highly optimized stack can thus manage high-speed subscriber traffic regardless of a user’s access link.  COMAC will offer different implementation choices for 4G & 5G RAN as well as PON, WiFi, DOCSIS and fixed wireless broadband connectivity.
Converged Core: COMAC integrates unified subscriber management, blending Mobile MME, HSS and BNG-Authentication and billing functions into a common platform that will enable operators to manage their user base as a unified whole rather than as distinct and isolated service offerings.

The COMAC Open Source Project is crafting an Exemplar Platform (EP)with the support of operators AT&T, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, Google Cloud, Sprint and Türk Telekom and a supply chain ecosystem including Adtran, Intel, Radisys, GSLab and HCL.

https://www.opennetworking.org

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ONF begins Open Evolved Mobile Core Project

ONF is also launching an Open Mobile Evolved Core (OMEC) project, leveraging its earlier work for its Central Office Re-architected as a Data Center (CORD) initiative, and serving as an ‘upstream project’ to the newly launched COMAC project.

The OMEC project, which is being developed in collaboration with Sprint, is built using an NFV (Network Function Virtualization) architecture that is optimized for Intel platforms and tested for scale. OMEC is compliant with the 3GPP architecture, includes the following EPC and Charging components:

• SGW-C, PGW-C (Includes embedded PCEF), SGW-U, PGW-U, MME, HSS, HSS Database, Diameter Capability, PCRF, Forwarding Policy Control SDN Controller, CTF, CDF, SGX Billing Router
• Operational tools, including CLI, Logging and Statistics Interface APIs to VNFs
• DPDK based traffic generator for testing S1u and Sgi user planes
• CI/CD tools for deployment automation for bringing up core network VNFs, associated networking, package installation, provisioning, and configuration.

"Sprint is excited to be co-launching the OMEC project addressing the need for an open mobile core.  Sprint’s Clean CUPS Core for Packet Optimization (C3PO) project along with other elements are being contributed as seed code for the launch of OMEC.  We plan to conduct field trials using OMEC for edge applications this year, and we’re thrilled to be working with the ONF to build a broader community to leverage and build upon OMEC,” stated Ron Marquardt, Vice President of Technology, Sprint.

https://www.opennetworking.org

Update on ONF's SDN Enabled Broadband Access

Thursday, December 06, 2018  ADTRAN, ONF, SEBA  

Here's an update on the SDN Enabled Broadband Access reference design developed by Open Networking Foundation (ONF), presented by ADTRAN's Kurt Raaflaub. https://youtu.be/psvPvGUT_W4 SEBA is a lightweight platform based on a variant of R-CORD. It supports a multitude of virtualized access technologies at the edge of the carrier network, including PON, G.Fast, and eventually DOCSIS and more. SEBA supports both residential access and wireless...

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eir to invest EUR 500 million in FTTH across Ireland

eir announced plans to invest EUR 500 million in its FTTH network with the goal of passing an additional 1.4 million premises across Ireland.  The fixed network upgrade programme also aims to push top speeds to 10 Gbps.

"Ireland's Fibre Network", the next step in the evolution of eir's network and the expansion of the telecoms infrastructure of Ireland, will pass 180 towns and cities, including every town in the country with more than 1,000 premises.

The investment will follow the completion in June this year of eir's FTTH roll-out to 335,000 rural premises, at a cost of €250 million to eir and with no public subsidy. By June this year, eir will have invested more than €600m in fibre broadband, delivering high-speed fibre broadband to more than 80% of the premises in Ireland or 1.9 million homes and businesses across the country.

CEO of eir, Carolan Lennon said: "I am delighted to announce this substantial investment of more than half a billion euro, which is a key step in the evolution of eir’s network, and indeed of the entire telecoms infrastructure in Ireland. This ambitious project will see 180 towns and cities passed, including every town in the country with more than 1,000 premises. We will deliver not just the fastest and most extensive fibre network in Ireland, but also one of the most extensive in the whole world. We are also investing to improve eir’s customer care by bringing these services back in-house and provided by 750 new eir employees at three new regional hubs in Sligo, Cork and Limerick. Ultimately this investment will mean that eir customers will enjoy the fastest broadband speeds and the best mobile network supported by best in class customer care."

Carolan also said: "eir is by far the largest investor in telecoms in Ireland and over the past five years we have spent €1.5bn on our network. In June we will complete our €250 million rollout of broadband to 335,000 rural premises. While there is still more to be done to deliver high-speed broadband to everyone in rural Ireland, we are proud that our significant investments in rural Ireland to date has helped bring high-speed broadband to more than 90% of the population according to European Commission data, and Ireland is now in the top 25% of EU countries for rural high-speed broadband coverage. Our €1 billion capital investment programme over the next five years will deliver the very best fixed and mobile experience for all our customers across Ireland."

https://www.eir.ie/pressroom/eir-launches-0.5-billion-fixed-network-investment-programme/

• As of 30-September-2018, eir reported a broadband base of 925,000 customers, growing by 22,000 or 2% year on year, driven by growth in both retail and wholesale divisions. 651,000 customers were using the fibre-based high-speed broadband service, representing an increase of 77,000 customers year on year. 70% of broadband customers are connected to the fibre network, which represents a 36% penetration of fibre premises passed.
  
  eir's mobile base stood at 1,046,000 customers, decreasing by 11,000 year on year. The postpay subscriber base increased by 34,000 customers or 6% year on year. Postpay customers represent 52% of the total mobile base, an increase of 3 percentage points year on year.

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Vertical Systems: 2018 U.S. Carrier Ethernet LEADERBOARD

CenturyLink retains top position in Vertical Systems Group's 2018 U.S. Carrier Ethernet LEADERBOARD.

Six companies achieved a position on the 2018 U.S. Carrier Ethernet LEADERBOARD as follows (in rank order based on year-end 2018 retail port share): CenturyLink, AT&T, Verizon, Spectrum Enterprise, Comcast and Windstream.

To qualify for a rank on this LEADERBOARD, network providers must have four percent (4%) or more of the U.S. Ethernet services market. Shares are measured based on the number of billable retail customer ports in service as tracked by Vertical Systems Group.

“Despite its relative maturity, the Ethernet market continues to expand at a healthy pace. U.S. port installations grew more than twelve percent in 2018, in line with our forecasts,” said Rick Malone, principal of Vertical Systems Group. “However, revenue growth is not keeping pace with port growth due to falling prices and changing service mixes. One notable catalyst is the deployment of SD-WAN, which is resulting in customers shifting from switched Ethernet services to dedicated Internet access.”

Highlights of Vertical’s year-end 2018 U.S. Ethernet market share analysis:

• U.S. retail Ethernet customer installations grew to more than 1.1 million ports, up 12 percent from year-end 2017.
• Six Ethernet providers qualify for the 2018 LEADERBOARD, as compared to seven in 2017 and nine in 2016.
• Cox dropped out of the LEADERBOARD and into the Challenge Tier on slower than market port growth.
• Four Incumbent Carriers (CenturyLink, AT&T, Verizon, Windstream) and two Cable MSOs (Spectrum Enterprise, Comcast) are represented on the latest LEADERBOARD.
• The two Cable MSOs (Spectrum Enterprise and Comcast) had the highest port growth in the second half of 2018.
• Ethernet pricing declined in 2018 across all port speeds for the six service types tracked by Vertical (i.e., EPL, EVPL, DIA, Access to VPN, Switched Metro and VPLS).
• Each of the 2018 U.S. LEADERBOARD companies has received MEF CE 2.0 certification.
• In addition to the LEADERBOARD providers, all other companies selling Ethernet services in the U.S. are segmented into two tiers as measured by port share.

More: https://www.verticalsystems.com/2019/02/14/2018-us-ethernet-leaderboard/

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Lumos lights up 10G PON in rural Virginia with ADTRAN

Lumos Networks is deploying ADTRAN's 10G fiber access portfolio to deliver network-wide 10Gbps or 10G fiber services for small business customers in rural Virginia.

Lumos Networks, which has been an ADTRAN customer for nearly a decade, is using the ADTRAN Total Access 5000 fiber broadband platform as the cornerstone of its access network. The carrier is now using the ADTRAN software-defined access (SD-Access) architecture.

“The number of applications that require more robust broadband services continues to grow for both residential and small business customers, especially with emerging technologies accelerating network demands,” said Lumos Networks SVP and General Manager Diego Anderson. “Our partnership with ADTRAN positions us to create reliable connections with our customers while delivering a level of distinguishing service and support over a fiber-based infrastructure. The initial product offering will include tiered symmetrical speed profiles of two, four and eight gigabits per second for delivering higher-speed solutions to meet evolving customer requirements. We also anticipate increasing speed profiles in the future based on the flexibility provided within this platform.”

“Lumos Networks is committed to serve as the leading provider of fiber broadband services in each of its markets so that its customers can reap the benefits that next-generation 10G services bring to communities and individual customers,” stated ADTRAN’s Vice President and Head of Sales for the Americas Harris Razak.

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Conterra deploys Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform

Conterra Networks, which provides services to enterprise, government and wholesale carriers in 22 states across the United States, has selected Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform as its core switch.

Additionally, Conterra is expanding its deployment of Ciena’s 5170 Service Aggregation Switch, which enables Conterra to expand its offerings of MEF-compatible services such as E-Line and E-LAN services. Conterra is using Ciena’s network management software, providing end-to-end visibility of its services across all transport, switching, and packet network elements.

“Today’s unpredictable data traffic patterns make it difficult to scale and grow in a secure way, something Conterra prioritizes to benefit its customers. Ciena’s packet-optical networking platforms will facilitate Conterra’s efforts to deliver new levels of capacity, flexibility and resiliency,” stated Eric Danielson, Vice President of Regional Sales, Ciena.

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Vantage Data Centers raises $675M in debt and equity financing

Vantage Data Centers, which operates wholesale data centers in six strategic markets (Silicon Valley; Northern Virginia; Phoenix; Quincy, Washington; Montreal and Quebec City, Canada), raised more than $180 million in equity capital from existing investors and approximately $495 million in debt financing.

Vantage plans to use the funds for various growth initiatives, including the 4Degrees Colocation acquisition that closed in January and the build-out of the first data center on the company’s second campus in Santa Clara.

“The capital we raised over the last 90 days will help fund the explosive growth we’re experiencing and anticipate seeing throughout 2019 and beyond,” said Sharif Metwalli, CFO, Vantage Data Centers. “We have been executing on our growth and development and are well prepared to continue our current trajectory. This capital accelerates the funding of our long-term strategic plan.”

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Arista posts Q4 sales of $596 million, up 27% YoY

Arista Networks reported fevenue of $595.7 million for Q4 2018, an increase of 5.8% compared to the third quarter of 2018, and an increase of 27.3% from the fourth quarter of 2017. GAAP gross margin was 62.9%, compared to GAAP gross margin of 64.2% in the third quarter of 2018 and 65.7% in the fourth quarter of 2017. GAAP net income was $170.3 million, or $2.10 per diluted share, compared to GAAP net income of $103.8 million, or $1.29 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2017. Non-GAAP net income was $182.2 million, or $2.25 per diluted share, compared to non-GAAP net income of $137.3 million, or $1.71 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2017.

"We are pleased with our solid 2018 financial performance and continued momentum across cloud titan and enterprise verticals. Arista is earning a strategic role with customers deploying transformative cloud networking,” stated Jayshree Ullal, Arista President and CEO.

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NVIDIA expects return to sustained growth

NVIDIA reported revenue of $2.21 billion for its fourth quarter ended Jan. 27, 2019, down 24 percent from $2.91 billion a year earlier, and down 31 percent from $3.18 billion in the previous quarter. GAAP earnings per diluted share for the quarter were $0.92, down 48 percent from $1.78 a year ago and down 53 percent from $1.97 in the previous quarter. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $0.80, down 53 percent from $1.72 a year earlier and down 57 percent from $1.84 in the previous quarter.

For fiscal 2019, revenue was $11.72 billion, up 21 percent from $9.71 billion a year earlier. GAAP earnings per diluted share were $6.63, up 38 percent from $4.82 a year earlier. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $6.64, up 35 percent from $4.92 a year earlier.

“This was a turbulent close to what had been a great year,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “The combination of post-crypto excess channel inventory and recent deteriorating end-market conditions drove a disappointing quarter."

“Despite this setback, NVIDIA’s fundamental position and the markets we serve are strong. The accelerated computing platform we pioneered is central to some of world’s most important and fastest growing industries – from artificial intelligence to autonomous vehicles to robotics. We fully expect to return to sustained growth."

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Supermicro sales exceed guidance

Super Micro Computer, which supplies server and storage solutions, expects to report the following financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2018:

• Net sales in a range of $915 million to $925 million compared to its previous guidance range of $830 million to $890 million
• GAAP and non-GAAP gross margin in the range of 13.9% to 14.1%
• GAAP fully diluted earnings per share in the range of $0.25 to $0.30; non-GAAP fully diluted earnings per share in the range of $0.57 to $0.61
• Cash flow from operations of $42 million and capital expenditures of $4 million
• GAAP gross margin for the fiscal second quarter of 2019 that the Xompany expects to report is in the range of 13.9% to 14.1% and GAAP fully diluted earnings per share is in the range of $0.25 to $0.30.

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Google commits $13 billion to U.S. data centers and offices in '19

Google plans to invest $13 billion throughout 2019 in data centers and offices across the U.S., with major expansions in 14 states. This follows $9 billion invested in 2018 in data centers and office facilities.

For 2019, the investments will include data centers and offices across the U.S., with major expansions in 14 states.

In a blog post, Google CEO Sundar Pichai notes that Google is:

• expanding its presence in Chicago.
• developing new data centers in Ohio and Nebraska
• expanding its Wisconsin office
• doubling its workforce in Virginia
• opening a new office in Georgia
• expanding data centers in Oklahoma and South Carolina
• developing a new office and data center in Texas
• building a new office o=in Massachusetts
• building its new Google Hudson Square campus in NYC
• opening a new data center in Nevada
• expanding its office in Washington
• developing new offices in Los Angeles including the Westside Pavillion, and the Spruce Goose Hangar.

https://www.blog.google/inside-google/company-announcements/investing-13-billion-2019/

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Cisco posts 7% YoY growth, increases dividend and stock buyback

Cisco reported quarterly revenue of $12.4 billion for the period ending 20-January-2019,  7% year over year (normalized to exclude the divested SPVSS business for Q2 FY 2018). GAAP net income was $2.8 billion or $0.63 per share, and non-GAAP net income of $3.3 billion or $0.73 per share.

For Cisco, growth has picked up in EMEA. The enterprise and public sectors are doing well, while the Service Provider segment is the only one currently contracting.

Revenue by geographic segment was: Americas up 7%, EMEA up 8%, and APJC up 5%. Product revenue performance was broad-based with growth in Applications, up 24%, Security, up 18%, and Infrastructure Platforms, up 6%.

Product orders are growing at 8% Y/Y, with the Americas up 7%, EMEA up 11%, and APJC up 6%.

The company reported strong customer uptake for its Catalyst switches and for SD-WAN. Switching sales recorded double-digit growth, routing sales declined, wireless saw double-digit growth, data center server sales declined and security generated double-digit revenue growth.

"We are very pleased with our strong performance in the quarter," said Chuck Robbins, chairman and CEO of Cisco. "Our teams are executing incredibly well, aggressively transitioning to a software model and accelerating our pace of innovation. We are redefining and connecting every domain of the networking infrastructure to deliver the agility, operational efficiency and security our customers require to embrace multicloud, edge computing and digital transformation."

Cisco also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.35 per common share, a 2-cent increase or up 6% over the previous quarter's dividend.  Cisco's board of directors has also approved a $15 billion increase to the authorization of the stock repurchase program.

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Equinix sees record bookings for its 200 global data centers

Equinix reported 2018 annual revenues of $5.072 billion, an increase of 16% year-over-year; 9% growth on a normalized and constant currency basis. Net income amounted to $365 million, a 57% increase over the previous year.

Some highlights:

• Achieved record global gross and net bookings in the 4th quarter
• Equinix has 36 expansion projects underway and has entered Hamburg, Muscat and Seoul as new markets
• Strong bookings across all three regions (Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific) in Q4 with record EMEA bookings, and the second-best booking performance to date in the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions. 
• Equinix bookings this quarter spanned across more than 3,000 customers, with a quarter of those customers buying across multiple metros.
• Enterprises continue to leverage Equinix's highly distributed and cloud-enabled global platform to locate their infrastructure closer to the interconnected digital edge. 
• In Q4, 60% of total recurring revenues came from customers deployed across all three regions, and 86% of total recurring revenues came from customers deployed across multiple metros. 
• Interconnection revenues continued to outpace colocation revenues in Q4, growing 10% year-over-year on an as-reported basis and 12% on a normalized and constant currency basis

http://investor.equinix.com

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CenturyLink cuts dividend and increases CAPEX

CenturyLink reported revenue of $5.78 billion for the fourth quarter of 2018, compared to $6.01 billion for the fourth quarter of 2017 on a pro forma basis. Diluted loss per share was ($2.26) for the fourth quarter of 2018, compared to diluted earnings per share of $1.06 for pro forma fourth quarter 2017. There was a non-cash goodwill impairment charge for the consumer business of $2.726 billion in the fourth quarter of 2018.

In addition, CenturyLink's Board of Directors announced plans to reduce the company's annual dividend to $1.00 from $2.16, beginning with the Board's next dividend declaration.

"CenturyLink's focus on disciplined execution in 2018 enabled us to make significant progress integrating Level 3, including achieving our originally announced synergy target more than two years earlier than expected," said Jeff Storey, president and CEO of CenturyLink. "In 2019, we are shifting our focus from integration to transformation.  We are focused on profitable revenue growth in our business markets and believe the scope and scale of our global assets, along with our innovative product portfolio, position us to succeed."

"In addition to this focus on growth, we are shifting our capital allocation priorities and reducing the annual dividend to $1.00 from the current $2.16.  Strong business fundamentals allow us to make the important decision to lower our leverage target to 2.75x to 3.25x Net Debt to Adjusted EBITDA and accelerate our timeframe to reach that target, while still returning significant cash to shareholders and continuing to invest in revenue and EBITDA growth initiatives."

On a conference call, CenturyLink disclosed plans to raise its CAPEX spending by approximately $500 million to expand its fiber networks, enhance its enterprise portfolio, etc.

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Telefónica picks Ixia for Global Network Visibility Architecture

Telefónica has selected visibility solutions from Ixia for monitoring their physical and virtual networks worldwide.

Ixia’s visibility solutions deployed by Telefónica include:

• Ixia’s Network Packet Brokers (NPBs), which deliver intelligent, sophisticated and programmable network flow optimization and provide visibility and security of business assets enabling monitoring teams to quickly resolve application performance bottlenecks, troubleshoot problems, improving network monitoring and security tools
• Ixia’s network tap products, including optical fiber taps, copper taps and tap aggregators, for visibility into network traffic to help maintain optimal performance and security
• Ixia Fabric Controller (IFC) for centralized management of NPBs to create a security and monitoring fabric that operates as a single, cohesive layer

“As the growth in data continues and service providers embrace virtualization, 5G and other new offerings, the need to ensure network performance, security and quality of experience is greater than ever,” said Mark Pierpoint, president of Ixia Solutions Group at Keysight Technologies. “Working with one of the world’s leading service providers, as well as our local partners, has enabled Ixia to deliver a worldwide visibility architecture which meets Telefónica’s need for a cost-effective visibility solution delivering unmatched business insight.”

Ixia visibility solution deployments have been completed for Telefónica in Spain, Germany, UK, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, and Centro America (Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama) with ongoing projects in several other locations.

Ixia is a unit of Keysight Technologies.

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Mexico's GTAC deploys Infinera for nationwide backbone

Grupo de Telecomunicaciones de Alta Capacidad (GTAC) has deployed the Infinera mTera universal switching and transport solution to scale long-haul service capacity and increase efficiency in its nationwide fiber backbone.

The mTera deployment interconnects major cities across Mexico, including Mexico City, Estado de México, Guadalajara, Puebla, Hermosillo, Queretaro and Ciudad Juarez, among others. Working with the Infinera global services organization, GTAC was able to deploy and turn up end-user customer services over 51 sites in 10 weeks.

“We are excited to be a solutions partner to GTAC and help them transform their fiber optic infrastructure to deliver enhanced value to their customers,” said Bob Jandro, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales at Infinera. “In addition to providing a scalable foundation for growth, the innovative universal switching capabilities of our mTera platform make it an ideal solution for metro and long-haul core networks experiencing traffic growth driven by mobile, cloud and video services and applications.”

Infinera adds Advanced Data Encryption to mTera Platform

Monday, December 10, 2018    

Infinera released Layer 1 Optical Transport Network (OTN) data encryption capabilities on its mTera Universal Switching Platform.

The mTera platform offers network operators the flexibility to define any interface with OTN, Multiprotocol Label Switching-Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) or Carrier Ethernet switching, decreasing network complexity while accelerating new service deployment across metro, regional and long-haul networks.

Highights of the Infinera mTera Universal Switching Platform:

• Scale up to 7 Tb/s in a single shelf or 12 Tb/s in a paired shelf configuration
• Easily migrate Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET)/Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) to packet-optical technologies
• Minimize regens with reach of over 5,000 kilometers (km) in terrestrial networks and over 12,000 km in submarine networks
• Most solutions on the market bulk encrypt all the data going through a transponder, providing no ability to differentiate services across the interface. Conversely, the mTera platform provides Layer 1 OTN data encryption in a multi-terabit, multi-layer switching platform, enabling network operators to differentiate services by selectively encrypting individual or multiple services. The optional Layer 1 OTN data encryption technology on the mTera platform is enabled via software and can be applied at wire speed to 100 gigabits per second, 10 Gb/s and sub-rate leased line services with Ethernet, OTN or SONET/SDH, as well as other client interfaces.

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Intel demos 112G PAM-4 Transceiver I/O

Intel posted a new video demonstrating 112G PAM-4 I/O performance with a transceiver built with its "Falcon Mesa" 10nm FPGAs. The 112 Gbps serial transceiver is targeted at next-generation data center, enterprise, and networking environments.



https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/programmable/next-gen-10nm-technology/overview.html

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Sierra Wireless Q4 revenues rise 10% YoY

Sierra Wireless reported Q4 2018 revenue of $201.4 million, an increase of 9.7% compared to $183.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2017. Product revenue was $178.2 million, up 5.3% year-over-year, and Services and other revenue was $23.2 million, up 63.0% compared to the fourth quarter of 2017. Net loss was $3.8 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2018 compared to net loss of $3.5 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2017. Non GAAP Net earnings amounted to $9.0 million, or $0.25 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2018 compared to net earnings of $9.2 million, or $0.28 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Quarterly revenue for the three business segments was as follows: (i) Revenue from OEM Solutions was $148.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2018, up 6.4% compared to $139.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2017; (ii) Revenue from Enterprise Solutions was $30.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2018, down 5.1% compared to $31.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2017; and (iii) Revenue from IoT Services was $22.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2018, up 89.1%, compared to $11.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2017, driven by the contribution from Numerex and organic subscriber growth.

“We are accelerating the transformation of the company into a global IoT solutions and services provider. We are centralizing our R&D, combining our global sales team and driving efficiency programs throughout our operations,” said Kent Thexton, President and CEO of Sierra Wireless.

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Juniper expands 5G portfolio with new routers, line cards, silicon

Juniper Networks unveiled a major refresh to its metro, edge and core solutions to accelerate service providers’ 5G transformation.

The rollout builds on Juniper's introduction last year of an MX Series 5G Universal Routing Platform powered by a new generation of its custom ASICs promising extensive programmability and performance improvements for supporting resource-intensive applications like 5G and secure SD-WAN-based managed services. The company says these new solutions, combined with its Contrail software, will help service providers achieve a holistic approach to infrastructure transformation that is cloud-centric, secure, and automated

Highlights:

• Introducing the 1 RU ACX700 Universal Metro Router to serve access applications with IPsec transport. It supports the precise timing and bandwidth requirements for 5G and meets the environmental requirements for deployment at remote, hardened sites such as street cabinets. The platform offers 24x10GbE and 4x100GbE port densities. The router is based on merchant silicon. Commercial availability is expected in early 2020.
• Introducing the 3 RU ACX700 Universal Metro Router with 2.4 Tbps of total system performance in a temperature-hardened form factor for both pre-aggregation and aggregation. The route is based on merchant silicon. Commercial availability is expected in early 2020.
• Introducing the MPC11E line card for the MX2000 Series 5G Universal Routing Platform. The new line card is powered by Juniper’s Penta Silicon, delivering a three-fold increase in line card and system capacity with 4 Tbps per slot capacity for high-capacity edge routing platforms. The Juniper Penta Silicon-powered MPC11E line card is expected in the second half of 2019.
• Introducing new Triton Silicon capable of delivering 400GbE native MACsec support. The new Triton Silicon will enable leading 100GbE and 400GbE density in Juniper's PTX10008 and PTX10016 Universal Chassis. The new Juniper Triton silicon promises a ~70 percent power efficiency gain (~0.15 watts per gigabit) over existing Junos Express Plus silicon, leading to a 380% bandwidth increase over the previous generation line cards in the PTX10008 and PTX10016. The new Triton Silicon-powered 14.4Tb line cards for the PTX10008 are expected to be available during the second half of 2019.

“Service providers seek agility, cost savings and new services from 5G networks, but capitalizing on these benefits requires a complete transformation of infrastructures, operations and services. With today’s announcement, Juniper Networks is giving service providers the building blocks required to create 5G-ready networks built for simplicity and agility that are capable of supporting immense traffic demands for the future. By combining the attributes of secure and automated cloud architectures, Juniper is ushering in the next era of service provider networking,” stated Brendan Gibbs, Vice President, Product Management, Juniper Networks.

Juniper refreshes MX edge routers powered by own Penta silicon

Tuesday, June 12, 2018  Juniper  

Juniper Networks introduced its new MX Series 5G Universal Routing Platform powered by a new generation of its custom ASICs promising extensive programmability and performance improvements for supporting resource-intensive applications like 5G and secure SD-WAN-based managed services.

The new "Penta" silicon, which leverages 16nm geometry, functions as the packet forwarding engine for the MX series. It delivers a 50 percent power efficiency gain (0.5 watts per gigabit) over the existing Junos Trio chipset, which leads to a 3x bandwidth increase for the MX960, MX480 and MX240. Juniper designed the Penta silicon with native support of both MACsec and an IPsec crypto engine – an industry-first – that can originate and terminate thousands of IPSec sessions without sacrificing performance. Additionally, Juniper Penta supports flexible native Ethernet support (FlexE).

Juniper Penta silicon features:

• 16nm with Integrated 3D HBM Memory reducing packaging by 83% over the 4th Generation Trio silicon 
• 500G Full Duplex / 1T Half Duplex 
• 50Gbps SERDES 
• Fully Programmable Packet Pipeline 
• Fully Fungible Integrated Databases for FIB, ACLs, Tunnels, Telemetry, and more… 
• Built-in FlexEthernet Support 
• Built-in MACSec & IPSec Tunnel Encryption Engine (Industry First)

A second major innovation with the platform is open hardware-accelerated 5G Control and User Plane Separation (CUPS), which enables operators to separate the evolved packet core user plane (GTP-U) and control plane (GTP-C) with a standardized Sx interface. This allows service providers to scale the control plane and the user plane independently as needed for added flexibility and investment protection.

Juniper said its MX Series 5G platform is the first networking platform to support a standards-based hardware accelerated 5G user-plane in both existing and future MX routers to enable converged services (wireless and wireline) on the same platform while also allowing integration with third-party 5G control planes. Juniper expects this will lower total cost of ownership by as much as three to four times over software-based user plane implementations for MXs deployed in the field.

In addition, the rollout expands Juniper Universal Chassis system. The previously announced PTX and QFX Universal Chassis gains two new MX variants: MX10008 and MX10016. The 13-RU MX10008 and 21-RU MX10016 Universal Chassis bring industry-leading and space-saving scale for edge routers at 19.2Tbps and 38.4Tbps, respectively.

Juniper pushes ahead with 400G based on its own silicon

Tuesday, July 24, 2018    

Juniper Networks is bringing 400GbE capabilities across its wide-area network, data center and enterprise portfolio starting in the second half of 2018, including 400GbE in backbone, peering, data center interconnect, scale-out metro core, telco-cloud services and hyperscale data center IP fabrics. The announcement includes product refreshes for Juniper’s PTX, QFX and MX series platforms based on the company's recently announced 400GbE-capable Juniper...

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