Wednesday, February 8, 2023

Verizon delivers managed Private Wireless for NFL

Verizon Business announced a five-year partnership deal with the National Football League (NFL) to deliver a Managed Private Wireless Solution across each of the 30 U.S. NFL stadiums. 

This solution includes full support for coach-to-coach communications on the field .

Verizon said its Managed Private Wireless solution was successfully piloted during all five international NFL games this season spanning across the UK, Germany and Mexico. This included deployment and management of the private wireless technology, testing and coordination and in-game operational support.

“In an NFL game, every moment matters – seconds matter – as the margin between winning and losing is miniscule. The backbone of world-class play on-the-field is communication,” said Sowmyanarayan Sampath, CEO, Verizon Business. “The NFL understands and leans into the power of innovation and technology and this Managed Private Wireless solution deployment is a testament to how the NFL uses the latest technology for the game.”

Verizon will showcase this solution in a 30-second commercial spot “Next Season Starts Now,” slated to air immediately following the Super Bowl LVII broadcast on Feb. 12. 

This solution is part of the broader Verizon Business Connected Venue approach, which is rooted in its 5G investment in more than 75 large public venues in the United States, including some of the most iconic major sports and music venues. 

https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-named-nfls-official-private-wireless-network

Dell'Oro: Private Wireless projections revised downward again

Private wireless is not materializing as fast as initially expected, leading Dell'Oro Group to again revise its projections downward. This time the primary source is the traditional wide-area private wireless segments. On the bright side, private small cell RAN revenue projections remain on track to surpass $1 B by 2027.

"Even with revenues coming in below expectations, our long-term position remains unchanged – we still firmly believe that private wireless is a massive opportunity," said Stefan Pongratz, Vice President at Dell'Oro Group. "At the same time, market opportunity is not the same as a forecast and given the current progress, it will clearly take some time for the private wireless market to reach its full potential.  In fact, our current forecast is for private wireless to reach roughly 10 percent of its potential by 2027," continued Pongratz.

Additional highlights from the Private Wireless Advanced Research Report:

  • Total private wireless RAN revenues – including wide-area (traditional and new) and small cells – are projected to grow at a 24 percent CAGR between 2022 and 2027. For reference, public RAN (Total RAN minus private RAN) is projected to decline at a 2 percent CAGR over the same time period.
  • 5G is dominating in China while LTE is currently dominating outside of China – 5G NR is projected to surpass LTE by 2026.
  • Preliminary findings suggest the largest public RAN suppliers, including Huawei, Ericsson, and Nokia, are well positioned in this initial private LTE/5G phase. Meanwhile, enterprises and operators appear more willing to try out non-traditional RAN suppliers in some private wireless settings.
  • Risks are broadly balanced. On the upside, the 5G enterprise puzzle has still not been completely solved. The successful launch of private 5G services by suppliers with strong enterprise channels and/or the successful introduction of a new device could accelerate the demand for 5G in the enterprise. On the downside, 5G awareness is improving but it will take some time for enterprises to fully understand the value of private LTE/5G. Pricing also needs to evolve as the competitive landscape for turnkey solutions improve – some of the price points we see right now for 3- and 5-year leases run the risk of squelching penetration, especially in the mid-market Wi-Fi like segment. 

https://www.delloro.com/news/private-wireless-projections-revised-downward-again/

Qualcomm debuts 5G NR-Light modem

Qualcomm introduced its Snapdragon® X35 5G Modem-RF System, the first 5G NR-Light modem-RF system design for the gap in between high-speed mobile broadband devices and extremely low-bandwidth NB-IoT devices. 

NR-Light is targeted at 5G peripherals, including wearables, requiring long battery life.

In addition to Snapdragon X35, Qualcomm Technologies also announced Snapdragon X32 5G Modem-RF System, a modem-to-antenna solution built to lower complexity and fuel cost-efficient NR-Light devices.

Qualcomm claims 200 Mbps down and up to 100 Mbps up.

“Snapdragon X35 brings together key 5G breakthroughs expected from the world’s leading wireless innovator,” said Durga Malladi, senior vice president and general manager, cellular modems and infrastructure, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “The world’s first 5G NR-Light modem features a cost-effective, streamlined design with leading power efficiency, optimized thermal, and reduced footprint. Snapdragon X35 is poised to power the next wave of connected intelligent edge devices and empower a wide spectrum of uses. We look forward to working with industry leaders to unleash what’s possible with a unified 5G platform.”

https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2023/02/qualcomm-introduces-the-world-s-first-5g-nr-light-modem-rf-system

Dell'Oro: Campus switch sales to approach $100B over 4 years

Nearly $100 billion will be spent on campus switches over the next five years, according to Dell'Oro Group, which is now forecasting a “digestion period” in 2024, followed by a quick recovery and long-term growth.

“Despite rising concerns about the challenging macroeconomic environment and a tough comparison with the prior year, we expect campus switch sales to continue to grow in 2023, reaching a record revenue level by year-end,” said Sameh Boujelbene, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group. “ Extraordinary levels of backlogs and rising prices underpin our optimism for 2023. As we head into 2024, however, we expect the market to go through a correction period. Our most recent interviews with some of the Value-Added Resellers (VARs) and System Integrators (SIs) revealed that some of their customers have already started to ask them to put product delivery on hold until they “digest” the equipment they have on hand.

“Nevertheless, despite some short-term fluctuations in market performance caused by the unbalance between supply and demand, we expect sales to resume their long-term growth in 2024. Our interviews revealed that the fundamental growth drivers remain in place and that digital transformation initiatives will propel growth in the campus switch market for many years to come,” added Boujelbene.

Additional highlights from the Ethernet Switch – Campus 5-Year January 2023 Forecast Report:

  • 5/5.0 adoption will accelerate but shipments are expected to comprise only less than 15 percent of total campus switch ports by 2027.
  • Power-Over-Ethernet (PoE) ports are forecast to comprise more than half of the total campus switch port shipments by 2027.
  • Despite some short-term headwinds, China is expected to gain four points of revenue share over our forecast period.
  • The IT/OT convergence is expected to increase over our forecast horizon but adoption may take time given the very long 10-30 year lifecycle of industrial networking equipment.
  • The introduction of artificial intelligence capabilities will continue to play a key role in vendors’ competitive positioning in the market.

https://www.delloro.com/news/campus-switch-sales-to-approach-100-b-between-2023-and-2027/

Windstream powers Security Service Edge (SSE) with Cato

Windstream Enterprise introduced a managed Security Service Edge (SSE) solution powered by Cato Networks.

SSE can be quickly deployed to secure all endpoints, users and applications.

SSE from Windstream Enterprise, powered by Cato Networks, delivers the following integrated security capabilities:

  • Secure Web Gateway (SWG), which protects users against phishing attacks and malicious websites.
  • Firewall as a Service (FWaaS), which provides end-to-end traffic segmentation, restricting access to locations, applications and resources.
  • Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), which provides secure remote access to applications on-premises and in the cloud for every user, device and location.
  • Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), which controls access to cloud applications, extending enterprise security policies to the cloud and enabling regulatory compliance.
  • Next-Gen Anti-Malware (NGAM) for protecting connected sites, cloud resources and users against known and unknown malware.
  • Managed Detection & Response (MDR) for ongoing network monitoring and alerting on compromised endpoints.
  • Data Loss Prevention (DLP) for detecting and preventing sensitive data from leaving the organization, protecting critical information, customer data and intellectual property, and complying with industry regulations.
  • Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) for monitoring network traffic and blocking malicious content, providing protection against a wide range of cyberthreats such as ransomware, lateral movement, vulnerability exploitation and other network-based attack.

“Cato provides the world’s first SSE platform that converges the capabilities of SWG, CASB, DLP, ZTNA, and FWaaS into a single, cloud-native software stack, allowing full visibility and consistent policy enforcement other vendors are still working to develop,” said Shlomo Kramer, co-founder and CEO of Cato Networks. “The combination of Windstream Enterprise’s market-leading service portfolio and delivery capabilities with Cato’s proven and mature SSE platform will accelerate our joint customers’ security stack consolidation and transformation journey.”

“Windstream Enterprise can automate all the elements of a modern security framework and increase the value by further automating SD-WAN network control, unified communications and more, giving customers a simple, single-pane-of-glass understanding of their entire environment,” said Michael Fiacco, chief revenue officer, Windstream Enterprise. “It’s this comprehensive delivery of integrated technology—backed by our industry-first service guarantees and our dedicated team of cybersecurity experts—that creates real value for our customers and helps them succeed in their businesses, on their terms.”

https://www.windstreamenterprise.com/sse

Nokia expands Lab-as-a-Service for enterprises

Nokia is expanding its Lab-as-a-Service (LaaS) solution to include the validation testing of industrial user equipment and third-party devices connecting people and machines over Nokia digital automation cloud (DAC) and modular private wireless (MPW) networks. T

Nokia LaaS, which is supported by a dedicated device testing facility in Bangalore, India, will enable enterprise customers to assess how devices and equipment working over 4.9G/LTE and 5G private wireless networks, will support their implementation of Industry 4.0 use cases. Leveraging Nokia Digital Automated Cloud (DAC) and Modular Private Wireless (MPW) customers will be able to see how enterprise, third-party or Nokia Industrial devices such as handhelds, fieldrouters, dongles and wearables will connect machines and people and how that can advance their digitalization journey.

Device validation consists of standardized testing packages. Vertical segments will benefit from Nokia’s extensive network, connectivity knowledge and rapid access to a range of pre-tested validation services. Enterprises can ensure any device functions well within a Nokia private wireless environment, and guarantee they meet the performance requirements of any use case.

The new Nokia LaaS device validation capabilities complement an already extensive range of services supporting chipset, device manufacturers, communication service providers (CSPs) and enterprises who want to introduce new elements in their devices and networks. These include the development testing of equipment and applications, certification, proof of concept testing of solutions and features and factory acceptance testing.

Stephan Litjens, Vice President of Enterprise Campus Edge Solutions of Nokia, said: “Nokia is committed to supporting our enterprise customers to achieve their digitalization goals in the most intuitive ways. Device validation will be an essential part of Lab-as-a-Service, allowing them to accelerate service adoption. Enterprises will be able to experiment with devices, use cases, with no up-front investment, to see how they deliver the greatest value from their operations over private wireless networks using Nokia DAC or MPW. In addition, by opening the dedicated facility in Bangalore, we can extend these capabilities to even more enterprise customers across the world.”

Lumen trims its fiber rollout target

Lumen Technologies reported revenue of $3.800 billion for the fourth quarter 2022, compared to $4.847 billion for the fourth quarter 2021 and compared to Modified1 Revenue of $4.022 billion for the fourth quarter 2021.

The company reported a net Loss of $(3.069) billion for the fourth quarter 2022, which included a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $3.271 billion, compared to reported Net Income of $508 million for the fourth quarter 2021. The reported diluted loss per share was ($3.08) for the fourth quarter 2022, compared to diluted earnings per share of $0.50 for the fourth quarter 2021. 

“This year brings significant change for Lumen as we pivot to growth with a new leadership team and an energized group of highly skilled employees to execute on our plan,” said Kate Johnson, president and CEO of Lumen. “In 2023 we will be investing in and optimizing Lumen as we drive our five core priorities: develop customer obsession, innovate and invest for growth, build a reliable execution engine, radically simplify Lumen, and further develop our culture.”

On a conference call, Lumen executives said the company is lowering its residential Quantum Fiber expansion target from 12 million to between 8 million and 10 million lines. The new plan is to focus on markets where the company can be profitable, rather than deploying fiber as quickly as possible.

Lumen also confirmed that Colt has exercised its option to acquire the Lumen EMEA business following the completion of a French consultative process. The parties expect to enter into adefinitive purchase agreement in the next couple of days. 

https://ir.lumen.com/events-and-presentations/event-details/2023/Lumen-Technologies-Inc-Q4-2022-Earnings/default.aspx#events-presentation

Ekinops announces MEF 3.0 certification for Ethernet portfolio

Ekinops' entire Ethernet Access Device portfolio, supported by its unique OneOS6 network operating system, has been certified under the MEF 3.0 Carrier Ethernet compliance program of the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF).

This certification marks an important milestone in the validation of Ethernet related services supported by the OneOS6 network operating system, confirming its status as a uniquely consolidated system to support Layer 2 (L2), Layer 3 (L3), Voice, SD-WAN and Virtualized services.

MEF 3.0 certification is now available for various 1647 and 1651 platforms, supporting E-Line, E-Lan, E-Tree, E-Access and E-Transit services. Depending on the platform, it is possible to use the same hardware platform to deliver L2, L3 or SD-WAN services, thus reducing the amount of equipment which must be validated and maintained for various services.

“MEF certification is an important signal to the market that Ekinops’ family of Ethernet Access Devices conforms to some of the highest standards in the telecoms industry.” said Sylvain Quartier, VP Marketing and Product Strategy for Access at Ekinops. “Demonstrating that our devices are certified by independent and international standard bodies has never been more important. MEF 3.0 certification is a powerful hallmark that will instill confidence in our worldwide operator customer base.” 

Bermuda's Paradise Mobile deploys Mavenir

Paradise Mobile, a newly established cloud-native Communications Service Provider (CSP) in Bermuda, is powering its 4G and 5G network with Mavenir.

Paradise Mobile’s brand new network is being built from the ground up with containerized, open, interoperable components and O-RAN based radios. Mavenir is providing Paradise Mobile a complete end-to-end network, including system integration. The network is being built with software components from Mavenir’s comprehensive portfolio, including:

  • MAVcore: IMS, Voice, Converged Packet Core, and Messaging
  • MAVapps: Digital BSS – Mavenir’s Digital Enablement Platform (MDE)
  • MAVair: Open Virtualised Radio Access Network (Open vRAN), and the OpenBeam radio portfolio

Antonio Correa, Senior Regional VP at Mavenir, said, “Mavenir is pleased to be enabling Paradise Mobile to create an advanced, agile, and fully automated network that delivers increased efficiency and capacity across the markets that Paradise is launching in. Mavenir’s software driven, cloud-native mobile network components can be deployed with ease and flexibility, giving Paradise Mobile the ability to deploy new monetizable services with a quick time-to-market.”

Tuesday, February 7, 2023

Verizon hits 1.26 Gbps upload speed with 5G mmWave

Verizon achieved an upload speed of 1.26 Gbps in lab testing of its 5G Ultra Wideband technology. The lab work and trials in the field focused on optimizing the customer experience, and used 20 MHz of LTE spectrum and 400 MHz of mmWave spectrum from the 28 GHz band. The trials used devices currently commercially available and were completed in a live network test environment.

“We have achieved remarkable speed in downloading using various combinations of spectrum in our world-class spectrum portfolio,” said Adam Koeppe, Senior Vice President of Technology Planning at Verizon. “This new achievement indicates how much additional performance we can unleash for our customers on the uplink as we aggregate different combinations of spectrum.”

Past trials have shown extraordinary download speeds with various combinations of spectrum reaching 4.3 Gbps download speeds by aggregating Verizon’s mid-band C-band spectrum with high band mmWave spectrum. 

Verizon won C-Band licenses for between 140-200 MHz in all available markets, and began in the first 46 areas deploying up to 60 MHz, quickly expanding to an additional 30 markets deploying up to 100 MHz in many of those. Over the next few years, as additional spectrum is cleared by satellite companies, Verizon will be able to deploy 5G Ultra Wideband on all available bandwidth that it has licensed, up to 200 MHz. Every piece of equipment being deployed today is capable of using the full 200 MHz of bandwidth. When the full breadth of spectrum is accessed, Verizon said customers can expect peak download speeds to reach 2.4 Gbps, up from the 900 Mbps experienced with 60 megahertz deployed.

Verizon holds a total of 2,035 MHz of spectrum – 294 MHz in Sub 6 GHz spectrum (low and mid band) and 1,741 MHz of mmWave spectrum (high band).

  • Low band: Verizon’s low band spectrum (nationwide 700 MHz licenses and 850 MHz spectrum) continues to provide the best 4G LTE experience in the industry and now also supports nationwide 5G service, giving customers in over 2,700 markets access to 5G. Low band signals travel great distances and penetrate through walls and dense foliage very effectively.
  • High band: Verizon’s mmWave build is a critical differentiator and the company continues to expand its mmWave footprint to deliver game changing experiences for the densest parts of the network. mmWave brings the benefits of highly predictable signal waves leading to greater efficiency and less interference for customers, and also boasts huge capacity. mmWave service is ideal to deliver 5G service in high-usage areas like cities, venues, and stadiums for years to come.
  • Mid-band: Verizon’s mid-band spectrum assets include AWS, PCS, CBRS and C-band spectrum. C-band provides a valuable middle ground between capacity and coverage for 5G networks, and is enabling greater speeds than 5G on low band spectrum and greater coverage than mmWave spectrum for both mobility and home broadband solutions. The addition of C-band spectrum paves the way for Verizon to provide its differentiated service of 5G Ultra Wideband service to millions of customers, now covering more than 175 million and growing quickly.


Dell'Oro: Data Center infrastructure spend to the $35B in 2027

Data center physical infrastructure (DCPI) revenues are forecast to grow at an 8 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2022 to 2027, to above $35 billion, according to a new report from Dell'Oro Group. Macroeconomic uncertainty and lingering supply chain constraints are currently short-term headwinds, however, long-term growth is forecast to remain resilient supported by sustainability-minded cloud and colocation data center expansions and on-premises enterprise modernization.

“Next generation processors and accelerators, from the likes of AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA, are rapidly changing the power and thermal management requirements for data center physical infrastructure,” said Lucas Beran, Principal Analyst at Dell’Oro Group. “The Thermal Design Power (TDP) of these semiconductor components continues to rise, with TDPs of 350W and 400W for the latest generation of CPUs, and up to 700W for GPUs. And product roadmaps show further increases from here. This is ultimately leading to higher rack power densities, with architectural changes in backup power, power distribution, and thermal management required.

“At the same time, data center sustainability has risen to the top of decision making, planning, and design criteria in the industry. This has opened the door for a significant technology transition during this forecast period – the transition from air to liquid-based thermal management.  The two primary technologies, direct liquid cooling and immersion cooling (single-phase and two-phase), are forecast to grow significantly and reach $1.7 billion, or 24 percent, of thermal management revenue by 2027,” continued Beran.

Additional highlights from the Data Center Physical Infrastructure 5-Year January 2023 Forecast Report:

  • DCPI revenue growth is forecast to remain resilient in 2023, growing 9 percent, supported by historically high DCPI vendor backlogs.
  • Asia Pacific (Excluding China) is forecast to grow at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period, followed by EMEA and China.
  • Data Center Thermal Management is forecast to grow at the fastest rate of any market segment during the forecast period, surpassing $7 billion in vendor revenues in 2027.
  • The Service Providers (Top 10 Cloud, Rest-of-Cloud, Colocation, and Telco) customer segment is forecast to grow at a double-digit CAGR during the forecast period, while the Enterprise customer segment (Large Enterprise, Rest-of-Enterprise) is forecast to grow at a much lower rate.

Dell'Oro: Service Provider router growth through 2027

The Service Provider (SP) Router and Switch market is projected to expand through 2027, with market revenues growing at a 2 percent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2022 to 2027, according to a new report from Dell'Oro Group. Global cumulative SP Router and Switch market revenues are expected to approach $77 billion by 2027. Wide adoption of 400 Gbps technology-based products will persist as the key driving force of growth. Telecommunication and Cloud SPs will continue investing in network upgrades to accommodate increasing traffic levels and to benefit from the economic efficiency of 400 Gbps technology.

"Our Forecast growth projections remain largely unchanged compared to our previous forecast," said Ivaylo Peev, Senior Analyst at Dell'Oro Group. "We anticipate continuing market uncertainty and worsening macroeconomic conditions in the first few years of the forecast period as economists are projecting a high possibility of recession in Europe and North America. However, we expect the global SP Router and Switch market to stabilize in the second half of the forecast period, as we assume that the underlying fundamentals of the SP Router market remain healthy," added Peev.

Highlights from the Service Provider Router and Switch 5-Year January 2023 Forecast Report:

  • 400 Gbps-capable routers built on the newest generation of high-capacity ASICs offer the benefits of higher speeds per port with decreased energy consumption, thus reducing the total number of ports required and, in turn, the size of the chassis. The higher-speed per port also lowers the cost per bit per port. Combined with the reduced energy consumption and the smaller, rack space-saving format of the router, transitioning to 400 Gbps ports enables SPs to make more economically efficient investments and lower operating costs.
  • In the SP Core Router segment, we expect revenue to increase at a 4 percent CAGR from 2022 to 2027 and growth to be largely driven by the adoption of 400 Gbps technology.
  • The combined SP Edge Router and SP Aggregation Switch segment is expected to grow at a 1 percent CAGR, approaching $12 B in 2027. The dominant growth driver in the segment will remain the expansion of mobile backhaul networks to support the adoption of 5G radio access networks (RAN), followed by increasing residential broadband deployments.
  • We project a decline in the IP mobile backhaul market in China, with SPs shifting their investments to Core and Metro networks, and we expect increasing demand for SP Core Router products as a result.


https://www.delloro.com/news/sustained-service-provider-router-growth-expected-through-2027/


Estonia's Greenergy Data Centers deploys Juniper

Estonia's Greenergy Data Centers (GDC), which claims to be the largest and most energy-efficient data center company in the Baltics, has deployed Juniper’s cloud-ready data center and AI-driven enterprise solutions. 

The GDC data center is a 14,500-square-meter, 31.5-megawatt facility. The Juniper network supports the company’s integrated building and power management system, with thousands of telemetry sensors that facilitate the delivery of safe, reliable power. Hundreds of motion-activated thermal cameras connect to the network in support of GDC’s efforts to provide the highest levels of physical security.

Juniper said GDC is using Mist AI for visibility into its wireless network and an easier way to build and configure the network, resulting in less cost, increased productivity, improved efficiency and reduced errors. Juniper Access Points and Juniper EX Switches deliver faster, more reliable connectivity in Greenergy’s network operations center, day-use client offices, assembly rooms and warehouse. Juniper cloud services, driven by Mist AI, streamline and automate most network operations.

GDC uses Juniper QFX Series Switches for its core network, the Juniper vSRX Virtual Firewall for next-generation, virtualized firewall services, and the Juniper vMX Universal Routing Platform for carrier-grade, virtualized routing.


Kyndryl posts revenue of $4.3 billion, raises guidance

Kyndryl reported revenues of $4.3 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2022, a year-over-year decline of 6% and a 3% increase in constant currency. The company reported a pretax loss of $138 million and a net loss of $106 million, or $0.47 per diluted share, in the quarter, compared to a net loss of $731 million in the prior-year period. Adjusted EBITDA of $580 million compares to $679 million of pro forma adjusted EBITDA in the prior-year period, primarily driven by unfavorable currency movements of approximately $125 million. In the nine months ended December 31, cash flow from operations was $769 million, and adjusted free cash flow was $407 million.

“We’re encouraged by the stronger sequential margins and significant cash flow we delivered in the quarter. Our three-A initiatives are positively impacting both our current bottom line and the future earnings associated with our signings,” said Kyndryl Chief Financial Officer David Wyshner. “We have the right strategy in place and are executing against it to power future growth and enhanced profitability.”

Kyndryl is raising its revenue outlook for its fiscal year beginning April 1, 2022 and ending March 31, 2023 to reflect higher constant-currency revenue growth and currency effects, and is reaffirming its outlook for adjusted EBITDA and adjusted pretax margins. 


Cisco's unified SASE now integrates with its Viptela SD-WAN

Cisco’s unified SASE solution, Cisco+ Secure Connect, now supports integration into Cisco SD-WAN fabrics using Viptela technology. The unified solution converges networking and security to provide customers with a single platform and a streamlined operational model that simplifies and scales the visibility, management and control over a hybrid work environment. Cisco says its converged operating model also provides IT teams with enhanced visibility and control over the network, making the experience easy for them to manage.

Two additional news items from this week's Cisco Live event in Amsterdam:

  • Cisco introduced new cloud services in IoT Operations Dashboard to increase industrial asset visibility, securely manage assets from anywhere and provide Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) customers with a seamless path to cloud automation for Operational Technology (OT) teams.
  • Cisco ThousandEyes introduced support for OpenTelemetry, unlocking internet and cloud intelligence across a wide range of monitoring and IT platforms for expanded visibility, correlated insights and optimized digital experiences.

https://newsroom.cisco.com/c/r/newsroom/en/us/a/y2023/m02/cisco-connects-and-protects-with-new-cloud-tools-across-networking-security-and-operations-to-provide-greater-visibility-and-control-over-networks.html

A10 reports record sales of $77.6 million, up 9.9%

A10 Networks reported record revenue of $77.6 million for its fourth quarter ended December 31, 2022, up 9.9% year-over-year. GAAP gross margin was 79.7%. GAAP net income was $18.0 million, or $0.24 per diluted share, compared with GAAP net income of $10.7 million, or $0.13 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2021.

“Strong demand for our proprietary security-led solutions drove record revenues for the quarter and the full-year, with continued broad-based growth across both enterprises and service providers and in each key geographic region, on a constant-currency basis,” said Dhrupad Trivedi, President and Chief Executive Officer of A10 Networks. “Increasingly, A10 is positioned as a diversified, differentiated security solutions provider, structured to mitigate fluctuations from any single customer or region. While we are not immune from recessionary impacts, our industry leadership makes our offerings a priority over discretionary investments. We remain well-positioned for continued success with both enterprise and service provider customers.”

“In 2022 we successfully navigated supply chain constraints, maintained robust gross margins and effectively managed our operating expenses, which drove profitability and free cash flow,” added Trivedi. “With revenue growth that outpaced operating expenses, we were able to grow our bottom line faster than our top line. 

Monday, February 6, 2023

EU advances DETERMINISTIC6G project

Ericsson and KTH are coordinating a new project called DETERMINISTIC6G that aims to develop the technology enablers that are essential for time-sensitive technology needed for 6G.

Central to the project is the concept of deterministic communication, being the property of guaranteeing communication latency and reliability. In total, the consortium consists of ten partners that combine mobile network leadership (Ericsson, Orange) with visionary applications and vertical ecosystem insights (B&R, IUVO, and SSSA), paired with leading research institutes (KTH, University of Stuttgart, and Silicon Austria Labs) and two highly innovative SMEs (Cumucore, Montimage).  

A central focus of the project will be on the interplay between future 6G networks with highly time-synchronized networks called Time Sensitive Networking (TSN). The challenge in these settings is that wireless systems like 6G can be subject to strong random variations, which is incompatible with technologies like TSN. How to overcome these challenges is an open research problem. DETERMINISTIC6G will tackle this problem by a combination of new wireless transmission design and advanced machine learning algorithms, leading to 6G wireless transmission with deterministic latency behavior.  

In addition to this, the project will also consider consequences and novel approaches for time synchronization, network security as well as the integration of computational nodes into 6G systems. A final point on the research agenda is how to make future networks aware of subsequent, upcoming changes that are important for the running of applications. Networks like 6G will have additional means to acquire fine-grained information about such changes in comparison to the networks of today.  

Magnus Frodigh, Vice president and head of research of Ericsson Research, says: “I have high expectations on DETERMINISTIC6G, a 6G technology enabler project focused on deterministic communication. With a unique consortium combining expertise from both the wired and wireless domains, DETERMINISTIC6G has the potential to shape the foundations of 6G systems with respect to time-critical applications.”  

James Gross, a professor with the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science School at KTH and the project’s technical manager, adds: “This project can shape the technological foundations of future 6G systems.”  

The project has received EU funding from the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking.

https://www.deterministic6g.eu

Keysight participates in four European 6G projects

Keysight Technologies is participating in four projects that are a part of the 6G Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS-JU), a research and innovation program co-funded by the European Union (EU):

  • 6G-SANDBOX, which will combine digital and physical nodes to deliver fully configurable, manageable, and controllable end-to-end networks for validating new technologies and research advancements for 6G.
  • CENTRIC, which will enable sustainable user-centric 6G networks based on air-interfaces that use artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
  • Imagine-B5G, which will implement an advanced, easily accessible, secure, and programmable end-to-end beyond 5G platform leveraging best-of-breed network functions and cloud native principles.
  • 6G SHINE, which will pioneer the main technology components for short range extreme communications in entities, replacing some of today’s wired connections.

Giampaolo Tardioli, Vice President, 6G and Next Generation Technology at Keysight, said: “Keysight is committed to actively participating in four exciting projects resulting from the first 6G SNS call, The projects will benefit from our advanced solution expertise, enabling cross-industry stakeholders to spark meaningful and sustainable innovation. The establishment of a reference testbed early in the innovation cycle enables the industry to confidently make sound technical standards choices. Keysight’s contributions to 6G SNS will advance several important technologies expected to be used to realize the industry’s 6G vision, including short-range communications and AI-enabled programmable networks.”

Stream B - Research for revolutionary technology advancement towards 6G - SNS JU (europa.eu)

Nokia expands its microwave radio portfolio for extending 5G

Nokia announced the availability of the UBT-m XP, a new E-Band high-powered Ultra-Broadband Transceiver for its Wavence product family for extending coverage in both dense urban and rural environments.

Nokia’s newest E-Band radio is a high-capacity outdoor unit with a small, light form factor and the highest transmit power available on the market.

Another addition to the portfolio is Nokia SteadEband, a stabilized three-foot antenna that combats common E-Band issues, which include tower vibrations and movements due to thermal effects. 

Nokia said it has achieved a 12-kilometer-long link using the Nokia UBT-m XP and the SteadEband antenna.

Nokia also announced the launch of the Outdoor Channel Aggregator (OCA) to support mobile operators looking to expand the reach and capacity of their networks for rural broadband applications. The OCA aggregates multiple UBT-T XP radios, Nokia’s high-capacity, high-power, outdoor dual-band radio, for N+0 operations and allows for increased throughput with improved system gain of up to 10 dB compared with traditional aggregation methods. This is important in increasing the link distance or to optimize OPEX/CAPEX by removing the requirement for larger antenna or repeater systems.

Finally, Nokia is also introducing the Carrier Aggregation High Density (CAHD) card, which adds ‘single pipe’ capacity to the backhaul to support the link distance. The innovative CAHD module enables 10 Gbps backhaul capacity over multiple channels and supports seamless migration from existing low-capacity backhaul to high capacity hence preserving an operator’s investment.

Giuseppe Targia, Vice President, Microwave Radio Links at Nokia, said: “We are further strengthening our industry-leading Wavence portfolio with the addition of these next-generation products. The winning combination of the UBX-m XP and the SteadEband offers our customers a high-performance transport solution with leading capacity and coverage for both urban and rural environments. Microwave links are cost-efficient and fast to deploy, representing a robust alternative to fiber backhaul.” 

The Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act

A proposed “Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act” or FACT Act would require the FCC to publish a list of every entity that both holds an FCC license or authorization and has sufficient ties back into authoritarian regimes, including the Chinese Communist Party.

The bill was introduced last week by Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), and Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) introduced the “Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act” or FACT Act. 

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr issued the following statement in support of the legislation:

“I applaud Congresswoman Stefanik’s, Congressman Khanna, and Congressman Gallagher’s strong leadership and thoughtful work to counter the malign influence of the Chinese Communist Party and other authoritarian state actors. This bipartisan legislation would strengthen American’s national security, and I encourage Congress to move quickly in passing this common sense bill."

“It is vital that we provide a full and transparent accounting of every entity with ties back into the CCP—and the governments of other authoritarian regimes—that are operating inside America’s tech and telecom markets, yet there has never been a public disclosure when it comes to those networks of relationships. This only makes it more difficult for the public and private sector alike to assess the likelihood that those connections can be leveraged to harm America’s national security interests. We know that the CCP is engaged in a widespread and coordinated campaign to surveil Americans, and they are willing to use every tool at their disposal to advance their malign goals."



>