Cisco adds AI across its networking and security portfolios

Cisco introduced new integrations across its networking and security portfolios, enabling IT teams tp manage more of their campus and branch secure networking technologies from a unified AI-driven cloud platform.

“As a market leader in both networking and security, and with visibility into over 1 billion endpoints, Cisco is in a unique position to build the industry’s premier AI-driven, secure and simple networking management platform, Cisco Networking Cloud,” said Jonathan Davidson, EVP and GM, Cisco Networking. “Whether it’s autonomous operations or simply delivering a trouble-free experience to an end user, endpoint and network data is key to AI-driven intelligence. The best data produces the best result, and Cisco has the best data.”

Some highlights:

New Integrations with Cisco Secure Access: deeper integrations between Cisco Networking and Security Cloud platforms. These innovations with Cisco Secure Access, Cisco’s Secure Services Edge (SSE) solution, deliver a unified approach to networking and security management, and automated monitoring of the digital experience, providing insights from network, device and application performance metrics. These integrations are available today with Catalyst SD-WAN and ThousandEyes.

Enhanced security posture reporting for OT assets: Industrial organizations can now utilize the Security Posture report for comprehensive details on OT asset inventories, top vulnerabilities and highest cyber risks to help reduce the attack surface.  These features are available with Cisco Cyber Vision and available as part of our hardened industrial-grade routers, switches, and firewalls.

Cloud Monitoring for Catalyst Wireless: First introduced as a capability for Catalyst switching, customers can now view select Catalyst wireless devices in the Meraki dashboard. This new capability gives Cisco customers a complete, cloud-managed view of their access networks. Cloud Monitoring for Catalyst Wireless supports the Catalyst 9800 Wireless Controllers and most Catalyst Wi-Fi 5 Wave 2, Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E access points.

Catalyst 9300-M Cloud-Managed Switch Models: Cisco is continuing its journey to a single, unified hardware architecture with the new Catalyst 9300-M switches which will be managed natively from the Meraki dashboard. This is the first step in the evolution towards full cloud management for the Catalyst switching portfolio.

Cisco UCS X-Series Direct: An extension of Cisco’s UCS X-Series Modular System, the new Cisco X-Series Direct is built for environments where customers need connectivity and compute power at the edge to support more applications with less infrastructure

Cisco AI Validated Designs: Cisco is expanding its offering of converged and hyperconverged validated designs addressing new use cases, leveraging recently announced Cisco Validated Solutions and AI/ML blueprint for data center networks. These designs can accelerate AI/ML deployments and minimize risks by helping customers build high performance compute and data center network fabrics with automation and visibility tailored for a variety of AI-driven enterprise use cases.  

https://newsroom.cisco.com/c/r/newsroom/en/us/a/y2024/m02/cisco-adds-new-security-and-ai-capabilities-in-a-crucial-step-toward-cisco-networking-cloud-vision.html

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OIF to showcase Interoperability at OFC 2024

Addressing the unprecedented demand for next-generation data center networking, artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) and disaggregation applications.OIF will showcase the interoperable solutions from 47 member companies at the upcoming OFC 2024 in San Diego. 

OIF’s OFC demo this year features nine new participating companies and marks a 38 percent increase in participants compared to the OFC 2023 demo. The live and interactive multi-vendor demonstrations in booth #1323 will feature interoperability solutions in 800ZR, 400ZR and OpenZR+ optics, Energy Efficient Interfaces (EEI) & Co-Packaging, Common Electrical I/O (CEI) channels and Common Management Interface Specification (CMIS) implementations that are addressing the speed, power and density challenges that will define the industry landscape for the next decade.

“OFC 2024 serves as an unparalleled platform for OIF members to spotlight their collaborative efforts in driving the evolution of optical networking solutions,” said Mike Klempa, OIF Physical & Link Layer Interoperability Working Group Chair and Alphawave Semi. “This year’s historic, largest-ever interoperability demonstration not only underscores the capabilities of OIF member companies in addressing the industry’s pressing demands, but will also unveil multiple industry-firsts, once again positioning OIF and its work as driving the industry and designing real solutions for pressing network challenges.”

https://www.oiforum.com

https://youtu.be/INuCVaPuUF4

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Lumen charts progress following European divestiture

Lumen Technologies reported Q4 2023 revenue of $3.517 billion, down from $3.800 billion a year earlier. Reported net loss was $(1.995) billion for the fourth quarter 2023, which included a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $1.9 billion, compared to reported Net Loss of $(3.069) billion for the fourth quarter 2022, which included a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $3.271 billion.

During the quarter, Lumen completed the $1.8 billion divestiture of its EMEA business and the sale of select CDN contracts.

Capital expenditures for the quarter amounted to $821 million, compared to $833 a year earlier.

"In 2023, we outlined big, multi-year, strategic priorities including strengthening our balance sheet, executing on key programs to turn the core business around by 2025, and igniting new growth by delivering disruptive innovations that help our customers solve their next-gen networking needs," said Kate Johnson, president and CEO of Lumen. "I am pleased to report that we delivered our 2023 EBITDA and free cash flow guidance, and we made material progress on our strategic priorities."

https://ir.lumen.com/home/default.aspx

Colt takes over Lumen’s European networks

Wednesday, November 01, 2023    

Colt Technology Services, headquartered in London, completed its acquisition of Lumen Technologies’ European, Middle Eastern, and African (EMEA) business. Colt paid US$1.8 billion cash for the assets, which included Lumen’s entire terrestrial and subsea networks, data center and network services in the region. The deal also includes Lumen’s trans-Atlantic subsea networks, the regional employees and customers contracts.Regarding the Internet backbone...

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Lumen expands NaaS from 23 data centers to 136 across North America

Wednesday, November 01, 2023    

Lumen Technologies has expanded its  Network-as-a Service (NaaS)   from 23 data centers to 136 across North America.  Through data center partners, Lumen has extended its NaaS reach to Digital Realty and Equinix Fabric customers in several key markets, including Ashburn, Va., Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, San Francisco, Seattle, and Toronto. Lumen Internet On-Demand is now available to these...

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ZEDEDA raises $72M for Edge AI and Computing

ZEDEDA, a start-up based in San Jose, California, announced $72 million in Series C funding for its edge management and orchestration software.

ZEDEDA, which says it now has tens of thousands of nodes under management, reduces the cost of managing and orchestrating distributed edge infrastructure and applications while increasing visibility, security and control. Its platform provides a unified orchestration experience across hardware, software, networks and cloud that delivers visibility, control and security. 

The latest funding was led by Smith Point Capital, founded by former Salesforce Co-CEO Keith Block. The company has now raised over $127 million in total since its founding. Hillman Company, LDV Partners, Endeavor Catalyst Fund and Forward Investments (DEWA) joined Smith Point Capital as new investors in the company. In addition, ZEDEDA saw strong support from returning investors in this round, including Lux Capital, Almaz Capital, Coast Range Capital, Juniper Networks, Emerson Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, 5G Open Innovation Lab, Rockwell Automation and Porsche Ventures.

https://zededa.com/

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Arm's quarterly revenue rises 14% yoy on AI trends

Arm reported revenues of $824 million for its fiscal third quarter and three months ended December 31, 2023, up 14% year-over-year, with record royalty revenue and strong growth in licensing revenue. Non-GAAP operating profit increased 17% year-over-year to $338 million resulting in a 41.0% non-GAAP operating margin.

"Arm delivered another quarter of record revenues driven by continued adoption of the world’s most pervasive compute platform," said Rene Haas, CEO. “More customers moving to higher-value Armv9 technology combined with market share gains in cloud server and automotive resulted in strong royalty growth.  The AI wave drove licensing growth as these new devices require Arm’s performant and power-efficient compute platform."

Some highlights

• Royalty revenue of $470 million, up 11% year-over-year was driven by the semiconductor industry recovery and the rapidly increasing penetration of Armv9-based chips, which typically command a higher royalty rate.
• Better than expected license revenue of $354 million, up 18% year-over-year, and strong bookings were due to strong demand for more advanced Arm CPUs as companies increase investment in AI across all end markets.
• During the current quarter, Arm’s customers reported that they had shipped 7.7 billion Arm-based chips for the September quarter shipping period. This takes the cumulative number of Arm-based chips reported as shipped to 280.3 billion.

https://investors.arm.com/financials/quarterly-annual-results

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Lumen appoints Dave Ward as CTO

Lumen Technologies named Dave Ward as its new Chief Technology Officer, reporting to Lumen CEO Kate Johnson starting next week and serve as a member of the executive team.

Ward joins Lumen from PacketFabric, a start-up in the NaaS sector, where he was the chairman and CEO. Prior to leading PacketFabric, he was a Senior Vice President, CTO-Engineering and Chief Architect at Cisco Systems, and served as a Fellow at both Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks.

"My entire career has been committed to inventing the capabilities and improving the experience of the Internet," said Ward. "Lumen's unmatched network and innovative technologies will help drive that reinvention for businesses and I'm looking forward to joining this impressive team, and great culture, and helping the company deliver new capabilities that will give its customers unparalleled simplicity and connectivity."

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NETGEAR posted Q4 revenue of $189 million, down 24% yoy

NETGEAR reported fourth quarter 2023 net revenue of $188.7 million, a decrease of 24.3% from the comparable prior-year quarter.

Fourth quarter 2023 GAAP operating loss of $2.9 million, or (1.5)% of net revenue, as compared to operating loss of $12.2 million, or (4.9)% of net revenue, in the comparable prior-year quarter.

Fiscal 2023 net revenue of $740.8 million, a decrease of 20.6% from the prior year.

Bryan Murray, Chief Financial Officer of NETGEAR, commented, “I’m pleased with our fourth quarter results where NETGEAR delivered revenue and operating margin near the high end of our updated guidance. Thanks to the strong market reception of our leading WiFi 7 products, stabilization of our SMB business and our continued disciplined expense management, this quarter demonstrates the progress in our core long-term growth and profitability strategy. Despite a more promotional environment in the U.S. retail networking market, our premium CHP products remain resilient and once again outperformed the market, growing double digits sequentially and more than 30% year over year. Spurred by the success of our recently released Orbi 97x WiFi 7 mesh system, our premium products increased to approximately 25% of our CHP retail business. In addition to the solid performance of our products, we were able to exceed our paid subscriber target for the year, ending the fourth quarter with 877,000 paid subscribers and service revenue of over $11 million in Q4.”

Mr. Murray continued, “Although channel inventory compression constrained the topline across both our CHP and SMB businesses during the year, the strong contribution of our premium products powered us to equal our highest annual gross margin performance since 2007. As we progress through the WiFi 7 upgrade cycle, we believe our CHP product mix will continue to shift towards our higher-margin products. While channel inventory compression will continue to constrain SMB growth in the next few quarters, we are confident in the business’ ability to generate long-term revenue and margin expansion for NETGEAR.”

https://investor.netgear.com/financials/quarterly-results/default.aspx

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Verizon Business adds NaaS Cloud Management

Verizon Business introduced Network as a Service (NaaS) Cloud Management, a new service that allows businesses to control application components and network architecture across multiple cloud environments -- public, private and hybrid -- all on one unified online portal. 

This new service bridges the complexities of managing across public, private, and hybrid cloud environments through a single, streamlined online portal. Specifically tailored to integrate with Verizon Business' NaaS offerings, this solution greatly simplifies the multi-cloud management landscape, forming a key part of the NaaS flexible service-model fabric.

The move towards multi-cloud networking has been increasingly embraced by enterprises for its flexibility in hosting applications across diverse cloud environments, each with its own set of accessibility, compatibility, and data sovereignty considerations. However, this approach brings its own set of challenges:

• Streamlined Connectivity Across Clouds: NaaS Cloud Management addresses the challenge of linking workloads across various cloud platforms, facilitating smoother application connections and faster response times.
• Enhanced Visibility and Control: The solution offers a unified view into the health and performance of cloud networks and applications, allowing for better oversight of network traffic, cloud connections, and issue management.
• Simplified Integration: Users can easily establish connections between different cloud environments (public, private, and hybrid) and network infrastructure at the edge, promoting secure interactions among cloud service providers, data centers, and end users while upholding security standards.
• Standardization of Workload Connectivity: By offering a consistent approach to security protocols, governance, and configurations, NaaS Cloud Management simplifies the complexities of multi-cloud networking into an integrated workflow, aiding in business transformation efforts.
• Single Management Portal: Customers gain the ability to swiftly provision and manage secure cloud connectivity services across various cloud service providers through one centralized management portal.

“The NaaS Cloud Management solution can revolutionize the way IT teams deploy and manage cloud applications and monitor multi-cloud connections, making the process simpler and more user-friendly than ever before,” said Debika Bhattacharya, Chief Product Officer, Verizon Business. “Being able to deploy workload connections quickly between different environments empowers organizations to scale cloud engineering and development processes, mitigate risk, and operate with minimal friction.”

https://www.verizon.com/business/resources/solutionsbriefs/naas-cloud-management-solution-brief.pdf

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Verizon tests Ericsson's Low-Latency, Low-Loss, Scalable Throughput

Verizon recently tested Ericsson's Low-Latency, Low-Loss, Scalable Throughput (L4S) capabilities for optimizing the Verizon 5G network.

L4S is designed to enable content providers to use the specific, robust network resources needed for a variety of time-critical applications, including entertainment, gaming, AR/VR, real-time video conferencing, Vehicle to Everything (V2X) communications, teleoperated driving, and drone operations, which all have in common the need for fast and consistent throughputs and the ability to meet desired latency targets in real time.

Upon integration into the network, L4S will synergize with a suite of cutting-edge technologies to deliver the requisite speed, latency, and overall performance necessary for enhanced solutions. This includes Active Queue Management, caching strategies, Mobile Edge Compute (MEC) capabilities, the Verizon Cloud Platform (VCP), a fully virtualized 5G standalone core, virtualized Radio Access Network (RAN), artificial intelligence, network slicing, and comprehensive orchestration. Together within Verizon’s 5G ecosystem, these technologies will underpin sophisticated applications such as extended reality (XR) experiences, real-time vehicle communication, robotic coordination in manufacturing environments, instant data gathering from myriad sensors in logistics centers, or drones capturing and transmitting video with minimal delay.

The L4S trial, conducted in Ericsson’s D-15 5G innovation and co-creation lab in Santa Clara, CA, tested an XR application using an XR virtual reality headset over Ericsson’s 5G stand alone core connecting to Verizon’s C-Band spectrum. The trial demonstrated how enabling L4S signaling in the Radio Access Network allowed content providers to adjust the rates at which they sent their data packets, thereby markedly improving the performance of urgent, high-bandwidth applications over Verizon's 5G network. The results showed latency reduction by up to fifty percent, 

 “While the first wave of 5G saw massive network infrastructure deployments, increased 5G adoption, and rapid ecosystem building, the second wave of the 5G era will be characterized by widespread innovation built on speed, massive capacity, low latency, security and reliability,” said Adam Koeppe, Senior Vice President of Network and Technology Planning for Verizon. “Just as we worked to evolve 4G after its initial launch into a high-performance network, we are now evolving the Radio Access Network providing 5G technology by introducing advanced technology features that will push the boundaries of what this service can provide to our customers.”

 “Our goal from the beginning has been to create a transformational 5G network. That requires a redesigned, newly architected, fully virtualized network that can fundamentally manage mobile data differently than we have in the past,” said Koeppe. “With our virtualized Verizon Cloud Platform (VCP) core architecture, spectrum choices, virtualized RAN, owned and upgraded fiber footprint, edge platform capabilities and infused intelligence, we are leading the industry in introducing advanced technology and capabilities into the 5G network.”

 https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-and-ericsson-collaborate-innovative-5g-feature-enhance-user-experience

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ESnet acquires transatlantic capacity on Aqua Comms

Aqua Comms signed a long-term lease agreement for Trans-Atlantic subsea spectrum with Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) the high-performance network built to support scientific research, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science and managed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for 25% of a fibre pair between New York, Dublin and London. 

This agreement represents ESnet's first venture into acquiring Trans-Atlantic spectrum capacity. ESnet plays a crucial role for the Department of Energy's (DOE) research community, acting as its essential data network. It supports a vast number of scientists across all national labs, supercomputing centers, and major scientific projects, while also connecting with over 270 other research and commercial networks globally.

The deal secures a quarter-fibre-pair for 15 years, offering a dedicated 5 terabits per second (Tbps) connection. This substantial data channel is a key part of ESnet's strategy for the Atlantic, designed to handle the expected surge in data from DOE's scientific collaborations and facilities. This includes preparing for the upcoming high luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, which will significantly increase data volumes.

 “Scientific research has entered the exascale era, and researchers need to be able to rapidly, seamlessly, and reliably move vast quantities of data from instruments to high-performance computing facilities to their human collaborators all over the world — and back again,” said ESnet Executive Director Inder Monga. 

“ESnet is committed to continuing to build a robust, redundant network ready to serve the Department of Energy’s research ecosystem now and for the long-term future.” Jim Fagan, CEO at Aqua Comms, said, “Subsea Spectrum offers the scalability and control of dark fibre at a fraction of the cost allowing customers to plan for their long-term network needs. By working with Aqua Comms, ESNet can be confident in our expertise and leading global subsea engineering services as we continue to demonstrate that we are at the forefront of the technology supporting the needs of our customers with high-bandwidth, efficient network services.”

https://aquacomms.com/latest-news/aqua-comms-announces-trans-atlantic-subsea-spectrum-agreement-with-energy-sciences-network/

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Credo intros 112G PAM4 SerDes supporting 800G and 1.6T designs

Credo Technology introduced its newest 112G PAM4 SerDes Intellectual Property (IP) family on TSMC’s N3 and N7/N6 process technologies. The SerDes IP can be used by other silicon companies to develop chips for 800G and 1.6T connectivity

These two new SerDes IPs complement Credo’s available IP in TSMC’s N5 process technology, which also includes the enhanced N4 version of the 5nm node. This comprehensive SerDes IP family supports a wide range of demands including long reach plus (LR+), long reach (LR), medium reach (MR) and very short reach plus (VSR), for applications including AI, machine learning, high performance compute, switching, security, and optical deployments.

Credo’s DSP-based 112G PAM4 SerDes architectures were developed and proven on TSMC’s 12nm process technology. The 12nm technology was then integrated into Credo’s  family of 112G per lane connectivity products for both copper and optical applications at 800G and 1.6T port rates. Credo then ported the 12nm, 112G SerDes to more advanced process technology nodes (N7/N6, N5/N4, and N3) – allowing customers to integrate the silicon proven technology into monolithic ASICs and chiplets.

Jeff Twombly, Vice President of Business Development commented, “Credo is committed to delivering industry leading performance combined with outstanding energy efficiency across the newest optimal process technologies and for a wide variety of reaches. By selecting from our broad portfolio of 112G PAM4 IP, our customers can design complex, monolithic chips rapidly and cost effectively for demanding applications.”

https://credosemi.com/credo-launches-112g-pam4-serdes-ip-for-tsmc-n3-process-technology/

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HPE says "business as usual" during merger process

One month after agreed to acquire Juniper Networks, the companies said they are continuing business as usual while working through the merger process.

In a blog post, Antonio Neri, Preside and CEO of HPE, writes: "We are pursuing this acquisition because we believe the combination of HPE and Juniper Networks will radically change the networking industry – not by eliminating products from either portfolio – but by creating greater choice in this sector. The incredible thing about a combination like this one is that there are strong offerings on both sides and by bringing them together, we will be accelerating value and flexibility for all of our customers. While it is too early for us to make any decisions or announcements regarding future product roadmaps, my commitment is that all HPE portfolio decisions will continue to be made carefully and thoughtfully."

Some additional key points:

• The merger aims to leverage AI-driven networking solutions, enhancing HPE's portfolio with high growth and margin areas, complementing the HPE Aruba Networking portfolio.
• The combined efforts aim to address customer challenges more effectively, creating a full-service networking company with a customer-centric product development approach.
• The acquisition's closure is anticipated for late 2024 or early 2025, with a commitment to minimal disruption during the transition.

https://www.hpe.com/us/en/newsroom/blog-post/2024/02/hpe-and-juniper-networks-accelerating-value-for-customers.html

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Broadband Forum bring disaggregation to access nodes

Broadband Forum released two technical reports:

•  TR-477 ‘Cloud CO Enhancement – Access Node Functional Disaggregation’ -  specifies the necessary architecture, NF definitions, requirements, interfaces and protocols associated with the Disaggregated OLT (D-OLT) software component enabling the deployment of OLTs withdisaggregated functionalities into a CloudCO architecture.
• MR-477 ‘Access Node Hardware Disaggregation’ -  extends the principle of disaggregation between the control and user planes onto the Access Nodes themselves, e.g., an OLT in a fibre network. In effect, this disaggregates control and management plane functions from the Access Node so that these can become virtualized functions within the CloudCO.

Broadband Forum says the releases provide network operators with a migration path from one of their largest network investments – existing Access Nodes such as Optical Line Terminals (OLTs) and Multi-Service Access Nodes (MSANs) – to a new disaggregated software-driven model approach.

“SDN-enabled Access Node disaggregation introduces new flexibility in the deployment of the management and control planes by supporting legacy investment and extending the principles of disaggregation, as well as using whitebox hardware and software solutions for future Access Node architecture,” said Bruno Cornaglia of Vodafone who also serves as a Broadband Forum SDN/NFV Work Area Director. “The latest standard will help network operators protect their investments, diversify the supply chain, and accelerate the transition to new physical layer access technologies.”

https://www.broadband-forum.org/2024-02-06-broadband-forum-extends-principles-of-network-disaggregation-onto-access-nodes

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Dell’Oro: XGS-PON to fuel new spending cycle beginning in 2025

A new report by Dell’Oro Group predicts that sales of Broadband Access Equipment are expected to decline by 1 percent from 2023, with the first half of 2024 seeing continued weakness followed by an improved spending environment in the second half of the year. Ongoing subsidization efforts, the shift from copper to fiber, and the rollout of cable distributed access architectures will all propel the Broadband Equipment market from 2025 on. 

“Although the inventory corrections seen in 2023 will continue through the first half of 2024, the second half of the year is expected to be the turning point towards renewed growth,” said Jeff Heynen, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group. “Service providers still have the same goals of increasing their fiber footprint, increasing the bandwidth they can offer their customers, and improving the reliability of their broadband services through the distribution of intelligence closer to subscribers,” added Heynen.

Additional highlights from the Broadband Access & Home Networking 5-Year January 2024 Forecast Report:

• PON equipment revenue is expected to grow from $10.8 B in 2023 to $11.8 B in 2028, driven largely by XGS-PON deployments in North America, EMEA, and CALA and early 50 Gbps deployments in China.
• Revenue for Cable Distributed Access Equipment (Virtual CCAP, Remote PHY Devices, Remote MACPHY Devices, and Remote OLTs) is expected to reach $1.3 B by 2028, as operators continue their DOCSIS 4.0 and early fiber deployments
• Revenue for Fixed Wireless CPE is expected to reach $2.5 B by 2028, led by shipments of 5G sub-6GHz and a growing number of 5G Millimeter Wave units.
• Revenue for Wi-Fi 7 residential routers and broadband CPE with WLAN will reach $9.3B by 2028, as the technology is rapidly adopted by consumers and service providers alike.

https://www.delloro.com/news/broadband-equipment-spending-expected-to-pick-up-2nd-half-of-2024/

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A10 posts Q4 revenue of $70M, in-line with expectations

Citing market conditions related to North American service provider customers’ capital expenditures, A10 Networks reported quarterly revenue of $70.4 million, in-line with guidance and down $7.2 million (9.3%) year-over-year. Sequentially, revenue increased 21.9%, reflecting delayed orders from the third quarter as expected. Non-GAAP net income amounted to $18.5 million (representing 26.2% of revenue), or $0.25 per diluted share (non-GAAP EPS) compared to non-GAAP net income of $18.4 million (23.7% of revenue) or $0.24 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Continued strong demand for our solutions and shift to focus on Enterprise customers partially mitigated broadly reported headwinds with Service Provider customers related to depressed capital expenditures and longer sales cycles,” said Dhrupad Trivedi, President and Chief Executive Officer of A10 Networks. Revenue from enterprise customers increased 8.6% on a full year basis.

“Simultaneously, A10 continues to deliver solid execution and we believe our business model positions us to navigate this challenging period better than others,” continued Trivedi. “We maintained our target gross margin level of 80 – 82% and EBITDA margin of 26 – 28% despite the revenue challenges, demonstrating our proven ability to allocate resources to the best strategic opportunities for future growth while driving operating efficiencies We were able to deliver flat full year EPS on a constant-currency basis in spite of a challenging macro environment. Over the last three years, we have delivered Adjusted EBITDA growth of 14%. We expect to grow our non-GAAP EPS in 2024 compared to 2023, enabling us to continue investing in future innovative solutions and returning capital to shareholders.”

https://investors.a10networks.com/news-events/events-presentations/default.aspx

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NTT, NEC and partners develop DCX optical path algorithm

NTT, NEC Corporation, the Politecnico di Torino, Columbia University, Duke University, and Dublin University have developed a Data Center Exchange (DCX) solution designed to automate the complex process of setting optical wavelength paths. 

The DCX technology relies on an intelligent algorithm that calculates the optimal path based on factors that influence data flow, such as the quality of optical signals and the specific equipment in use.

The practical application of DCX has already been demonstrated on a Linux-based open platform, utilizing a variety of open interface architecture tools. Field validation efforts, conducted in collaboration with university partners on the NSF COSMOS testbed in Manhattan, have successfully simulated the DCX service, showcasing its efficiency and effectiveness.

The partners said they are committed to enhancing the performance of DCX technology further and advocating for its standardization. This initiative aims to make optical wavelength path setup quicker and more streamlined, allowing data centers to more adeptly adjust to fluctuating connectivity demands. This development is particularly vital for the management of large-scale, decentralized data center operations and is poised to have a transformative impact on telecommunications and IT infrastructures worldwide.

Here is a blog post by NTT's Daniel O'Connor:

https://group.ntt/en/magazine/blog/tdcc/

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Verizon has deployed 130,000 O-RAN capable radios

Verizon has now deployed over 130,000 O-RAN capable radios which includes the massive MIMO radios as part of the previously announced 15,000 O-RAN compliant virtualized cell sites with O-RAN compliant baseband units in its commercial Radio Access Network. 

The deployment is part of Verizon's multi-year upgrade of its network architecture that consolidates, simplifies, and modernizes its core and access networks. Virtualization and orchestration are key components of this modernization. Along with many vendor partners, Verizon has been leading the charge of the design, development, and deployment of virtualized Radio Access Network technology. This move to a cloud native, container-based, virtualized architecture has led to more flexibility, faster delivery of services, greater scalability, and significant cost efficiency in the network.

Verizon said the deployment underscores its commitment to driving O-RAN standards and technology in the industry.

“Verizon is fully supportive of O-RAN technology and is focused on commercializing an operationally sound O-RAN architecture,” said Adam Koeppe, SVP of Technology Planning at Verizon. “Our commitment to developing O-RAN standards and to deploying compliant equipment in our active Radio Access Network is helping to drive the industry forward which will result in a variety of tangible benefits for our customers who expect leading-edge technology from Verizon.”

https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-advances-o-ran-technology

• Early in 2019 Verizon announced the virtualization of the core network with a cloud-native, containerized architecture. 
• In 2020, it announced that the achievement of fully virtualized baseband functions – the heaviest portion of computing on the Radio Access Network. 

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Nokia reaches patent deal with vivo

Nokia signed a multi-year patent cross-license agreement under which vivo will make royalty payments to Nokia. The arrangement will make catch-up payments to cover the dispute period. The agreement resolves all pending patent litigation between the parties, in all jurisdictions. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Nokia said it will begin recognizing net sales from this agreement, including catch up payments covering the periods of non-payment, in Q1 2024. Nokia Technologies is progressing towards the conclusion of the smartphone licensing renewal cycle and is making good progress in its growth areas of automotive, consumer electronics, IoT and multimedia. It remains confident that its annual net sales run-rate will return to EUR 1.4 to 1.5 billion in the mid-term.

Jenni Lukander, President of Nokia Technologies, said: “This is the sixth major smartphone patent license agreement we have signed in the past thirteen months, and we have now almost completed our smartphone license renewal cycle. Together these licensing agreements demonstrate Nokia’s significant contribution to developing key technologies relied upon by the entire smartphone industry and they will provide long-term stability to our licensing business for years to come.”  Lukander added: “We are delighted to have reached an agreement with vivo which reflects mutual respect for each other's intellectual property rights. vivo is one of the leading players in the global smartphone industry. We look forward to bringing more innovation to their users around the world through our collaboration.”

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NXP posts Q4 sales of US$3.42 billion, ahead of expectations

NXP Semiconductors reported Q4 2023 revenue of $3.42 billion, up 3 percent year-on-year. Full-year revenue was $13.28 billion, up 1 percent year-on-year.

Fourth quarter GAAP gross margin was 56.6 percent, GAAP operating margin was 26.5 percent and GAAP diluted Net Income per Share was $2.68. Full-year GAAP gross margin was 56.9 percent, GAAP operating margin was 27.6 percent and GAAP diluted Net Income per Share was $10.70.

“NXP delivered full-year 2023 revenue of $13.28 billion, an increase of 1 percent year-on-year. In the fourth quarter, revenue was $3.42 billion, an increase of 3 percent year-on-year, above the mid-point of our guidance range. In review, NXP delivered solid results throughout 2023, reflecting strong execution, consistent gross margin, and healthy free cash flow generation despite a challenging semiconductor market environment. We are navigating a soft landing by managing what is in our control, especially limiting over shipment of products to customers,” said Kurt Sievers, NXP President and Chief Executive Officer.

https://investors.nxp.com/financial-information/financial-information-0

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Intelsat validates Arctic Circle high-speed aircraft connectivity

 Intelsat completed a series of historic test flights to the Arctic Circle demonstrating that airlines that require inflight internet connectivity on long-haul flights at extreme northerly latitudes can access low-latency, high-throughput service at any point on their route map. The test flights were completed on Intelsat’s test aircraft, a CRJ-700 regional jet equipped with an Electronically Steered Array (ESA) antenna.

• On December 17, 2023, Intelsat operated its test aircraft from Seattle, Washington to Anchorage, Alaska. Anchorage is located at roughly 61° north, making it the northernmost city served by major airlines, anywhere on the planet. This flight was operated using Intelsat’s fleet of geostationary (GEO) satellites, proving high-throughput GEO service is available using Intelsat ESA at all global airline hubs.
• On December 18, 2023, Intelsat operated a roundtrip flight from Anchorage to Utqiaġvik, Alaska (formerly Barrow, AK). Utqiaġvik is situated at a latitude of 71° north, the same as many polar routes connecting Asia, North America and Europe. This flight was operated using OneWeb’s fleet of low Earth orbit satellites and demonstrated that high-speed, low latency performance is available even in a challenging geographic region that previously never had inflight internet service.

“The two tests validated the capabilities of Intelsat’s multi-orbit solution for airlines,” said Pat Walsh, senior vice president of Engineering. “As the aircraft traveled due north from Anchorage into the Arctic Circle, we seamlessly connected to the OneWeb low-earth orbit constellation delivering 150 megabits per second inflight and on the ground in Alaska. In addition, near the polar region, Intelsat’s GEO operations exceeded expectations, delivering a reliable, high-speed connection all the way to Anchorage.”

Intelsat connectivity to expand to all Airbus aircraft

Tuesday, September 19, 2023    

Intelsat announced that its inflight connectivity (IFC), which uses its LEO and GEO satellites, will be available to airlines and aircraft lessors through Airbus’ Airspace Link (HBCplus) solution. Intelsat will be the largest service provider in the manufacturer’s flexible IFC service catalogue.Airbus offers airlines the option of choosing their Ku-band ESA terminal, specifically designed to enable simultaneous connections to Intelsat's GEO and LEO...

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