Verizon Joins the ONOS Project

Verizon has joined the ONOS project, the open source SDN Network Operating System (ONOS) for service providers and mission-critical networks and a Linux Foundation Collaborative Project.

"Verizon recognizes the potential of ONOS as an open source SDN platform and the service provider solutions it enables, as well as the promise it holds to transform the networking industry," said Brian Higgins, Vice President of Network Planning at Verizon. "By joining the partnership, we hope to advance open source SDN and NFV solutions based on ONOS and to help shape the future of this ecosystem."

Partners that are funding and contributing to ONOS include AT&T, NTT Communications, SK Telecom, China Unicom, Alcatel-Lucent, Ciena, Cisco, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Huawei, Intel, NEC and Verizon. Non-funding members who are collaborating and contributing to ONOS include ONF, Infoblox, SRI, Internet2, Happiest Minds, KISTI, KAIST, Kreonet, NAIM, CNIT, Black Duck, Create-Net, Criterion Networks, ETRI, ADARA Networks, ClearPath Networks, ECI, BUPT FNL, Radisys and the broader ONOS community.

http://www.onosproject.org

ONOS Enters 5th Release for Carrier-Grade SDN

Thursday, December 03, 2015  ONOS, SDN, Standards  No comments

ONOS, the open source SDN networking operating system for Service Provider networks, released its fifth generation platform. "When we initially released ONOS, our goal was to provide a solid platform that would act as a base on which ON.Lab, its partners and the community could rapidly develop a number of SDN applications," said Thomas Vachuska, Chief Architect at ON.Lab's ONOS project. "ONOS' growing list of SDN and NFV use cases and solutions...

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Ciena to Offer Hardened Version of ONOS Open-Source Software

Wednesday, December 16, 2015  #SDN, Ciena, ON.Lab, ONOS  No comments

Ciena announced plans for commercial version of the Open Networking Operating System (ONOS). Blue Planet ONOS will extend Ciena’s Blue Planet network orchestration software to enable highly-scalable, flow-based control of data center networks. Ciena said its hardened version of ONOS, to be marketed as Blue Planet ONOS, will give service providers the ability to take advantage of the cumulative software expertise of the open source community combined...

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ONOS Project Joins Linux Foundation

Wednesday, October 14, 2015  #SDN, Linux, ONOS, Standards  No comments

The initiative to develop the Open source SDN Network Operating System (ONOS) will now be managed as a collaborative project under The Linux Foundation. The partnership will focus on creating disruptive SDN solutions featuring open source software platforms, white boxes, a range of network control and management applications and the ability to rapidly create and deploy innovative services. By becoming a Linux Foundation Collaborative Project, ONOS...

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Instart Logic Raises $45 Million for Content Delivery Acceleration

Instart Logic, a start-up based in Palo Alto, California, raised $45 million in Series D funding for its application delivery solutions.

Instart Logic uses software-defined architecture to accelerate application delivery. The company's end-to-end platform combines machine learning for performance and security with a content delivery network (CDN) for application delivery, and is designed for DevOps and mobile-first applications.

The funding round was led by new investor Geodesic Capital and included other new investors, including the Stanford-StartX Fund and Harris Barton Asset Management, as well as existing investors including Hermes Growth Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Four Rivers Group, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Tenaya Capital. Additionally, the company announced a strategic investment from Telstra Venture.

https://www.instartlogic.com/technology

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Dell'Oro: 25 Gbps Spurs Cloud to Upgrade Data Center

Technology transitions will propel sales of the Ethernet Switch market over the next five years as 25 Gbps data center upgrades for cloud operators, according to a recently published report by Dell’Oro Group. Likewise, 2.5/5.0 Gbps technology will spur enterprises to upgrade campus networks.

“All areas of the Ethernet Switch market are undergoing significant transitions to next generation technologies that provide higher speeds and increased functionality during the next several years,” said Alan Weckel, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group.  “The Cloud is driving the data center through at least three major product cycles by 2020, starting right now with the migration towards 25 Gbps, and the magnitude of the Cloud will cause several records to be set in the Ethernet Switch market during each product cycle.  At the same time, Enterprise campus switching is moving away from 1 Gbps, toward 2.5/5.0 Gbps, to support higher bandwidth access points with security being a feature most customers are looking towards as they evaluate their upgrade path,” Weckel added.

The Ethernet Switch – Layer 2+3 5-Year Forecast Report also predicts the bulk of the revenue growth during the forecast period will come from 25 Gbps and 100 Gbps while both 10 Gbps and 40 Gbps will decline significantly.

http://www.delloro.com

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Citrix Appoints New CEO - Kirill Tatarinov

Citrix announced the appointment of Kirill Tatarinov as President and CEO.

Kirill Tatarinov most recently served as Executive Vice President of the Microsoft Business Solutions Division (MBS) with responsibility for the Microsoft Dynamics business across development, sales, marketing, and operations. Prior to joining MBS in 2007, Mr. Tatarinov led the Management and Solutions Division at Microsoft, where he was in charge of the Microsoft Windows management technologies and products, including Microsoft System Center, as well as Windows Server solutions. Before joining Microsoft in 2002, Mr. Tatarinov was Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for BMC. Tatarinov earned a master’s degree in systems engineering from Moscow University of Transport Engineering and a master’s in business administration from Houston Baptist University.

http://www.citrix.com

Citrix's CEO Steps Down, Elliot Mgt. Exec Joins Board

Tuesday, July 28, 2015  Citrix, People  No comments

Mark Templeton has decided to step down as president and CEO of Citrix Systems. He has served in that position since 1998. The Citrix Board has initiated a CEO search process and has retained Heidrick & Struggles to assist with the process of identifying and evaluating candidates.

Citrix also announced a cooperation agreement with Elliott Management Corporation, an investment firm whose affiliated funds own approximately 7.5 percent of the company’s common stock.  Elliott’s Jesse Cohn has been appointed to the Citrix board of directors to replace Asiff Hirji who has decided to step down from the company's board, effective immediately. In addition, as part of its continuing board evolution process, the company will commence a search for an additional independent board member, mutually agreeable to Citrix and Elliott, who will replace a current board member when appointed. In addition, Elliott and certain of its affiliates have agreed to customary standstill, voting and other provisions for a period of at least a year. Citrix has also formed an operations committee, which will work closely with the company’s management team on a comprehensive operational review focusing on improving Citrix’s margins, profitability and capital structure.

https://www.citrix.com/news/announcements/jul-2015/cooperation-agreement.html

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OpenStack Foundation Charts NFV Adoption by Telcos

Global telecom providers are accelerating their adoption of Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) to increase network agility and mitigate costs. OpenStack has emerged as the NFV infrastructure platform of choice, according to a new released report from The OpenStack Foundation.

The report discusses the adoption and business cases driving NFV deployment among the world’s leading telecom providers.

Some highlights:

• NFV is changing the networking landscape by offering telecom providers a way to significantly diminish reliance on expensive, proprietary hardware.
• NFV dramatically increases the speed and agility with which new network services are provisioned for clients when compared with traditional networks that rely on proprietary, purpose-specific networking hardware. 
• Telecom providers are the driving force behind the development of NFV technology, which leverages cloud computing, software and automation for networking infrastructure. NFV promises to expand the portfolio of revenue-producing services and reduce CapEx and OpEx burdens.
• The adoption of NFV is considered to be in its early stages, but the NFV market is projected to grow dramatically. 
• Infonetics Research forecasts a fivefold increase in the NFV market, reaching $11.6 billion by 20191. 
• SNS Research estimates a compound annual growth rate of 54 percent between 2015 and 20202. 
• A 2015 Heavy Reading global survey found that nearly 60 percent of telecommunication professionals are actively exploring NFV.
• AT&T, Bloomberg LP, China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, NTT Group, SK Telekom and Verizon are among the organizations documented using OpenStack and NFV in the new report.

Titled “OpenStack Foundation Report: Accelerating NFV Delivery with OpenStack,” the report was developed by an OpenStack community team comprising telecommunications company representatives and other telecom-focused members. The report is available to download free of charge from the OpenStack website.

http://www.openstack.org/telecoms-and-nfv/

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FireEye Acquires iSIGHT for $200 Million in Cash

FireEye has acquired privately-held iSIGHT Partners, a provider of cyber threat intelligence for global enterprises, for $200 million in cash. The transaction closed on January 14, 2016. Additionally, the former iSIGHT shareholders will have the opportunity to earn an additional amount of $75 million in cash and equity upon the achievement of a threat intelligence bookings target on or before the end of FireEye’s second quarter of 2018.

The iSIGHT intelligence network monitors and mines global cyber threat development and thousands of threat actors. iSIGHT’s nearly 350 dedicated staff includes more than 250 cyber threat intelligence experts across 17 countries, covering 29 languages. iSIGHT has invested nearly $100 million over eight years to build out its cyber intelligence capability.  The company is based in Dallas.

FireEye said the acquisition positions it as the world’s most advanced and comprehensive private cyber threat intelligence operation, with the size and scope of the combined FireEye, Mandiant and iSIGHT cyber threat intelligence capability rivaling the largest intelligence operations in the world.

Customers of both companies will benefit from lower business risk through higher fidelity alerts, context to prioritize threats and the strategic insights to proactively prepare for threats that might target their industry or region. Existing iSIGHT customers will continue to have access to iSIGHT products. FireEye plans to add new intelligence subscription models that include industry vertical specific slices, similar to FireEye’s planned offerings with Visa, so existing and new customers will be able to purchase new threat intelligence products tailored to their organization’s specific threat profile.

FireEye’s existing customer base will see immediate value in their existing subscriptions through increased protection from the iSIGHT intelligence network, which will feed core threat intelligence into the DTI ecosystem that is continually refreshed every 60 minutes.

“This acquisition extends FireEye’s intelligence lead with an offering no one else in the industry can match,” said David DeWalt, FireEye chief executive officer and chairman of the board. “The biggest mistake most people make is thinking threat intelligence is a collection of virus definitions in a shared database. Forward-looking security organizations - from governments to the private sector - know threat intelligence is the key to establishing a robust security posture tuned for the threats targeting each organization. As the cyber operations become integrated with physical, geopolitical and competitive conflict, an intelligence-led approach to security will be key in detecting the most sophisticated threats and responding to them quickly and effectively.”

“Until now, only governments and large enterprises have been able to achieve intelligence-led security, but with the combined resources of FireEye, Mandiant and iSIGHT, we can make the benefits of intelligence-led security available to a broad range of organizations,” said John Watters, iSIGHT’s founder and chief executive officer prior to the acquisition. “We’re bringing iSIGHT together with intelligence teams inside of FireEye and Mandiant that are among the best in the industry, fusing victim-based intelligence with attacker-based, over-the-horizon insights derived from iSIGHT’s global cyber-threat ecosystem. When coupled with the technology and services of FireEye and Mandiant, this intelligence capability is a game changer for the industry and enables an intelligence-led security model that other security companies will be hard pressed to replicate.”

http://www.fireeye.com

FireEye Acquires Mandiant for $1 Billion

Friday, January 03, 2014  Cyber Security, FireEye, Mergers and Acquisitions  No comments

FireEye acquired privately held Mandiant in a transaction valued at around $1 billion.  The deal consists of
21.5 million newly issued shares (NASDAQ: FEYE), options to purchase shares of FireEye stock, and approximately $106.5 million of net cash to the former Mandiant security holders.

Mandiant is a leading provider of advanced endpoint security products and security incident response management solutions. It has more than two million endpoints installed globally. The solution is designed to tell a company when it has been compromised and what the material impact of the breach is. The company was founded in 2004 by Kevin Mandiant and is based in Washington, D.C..

The acquisition, which recognizes the ever-increasing intensity of cyber attacks and follows nearly two years of collaboration, creates the industry’s leading advanced threat protection vendor with the ability to find and stop attacks at every stage of the attack life cycle. The transaction closed on December 30, 2013.

The combination of FireEye and Mandiant brings together two highly complementary companies, each a recognized leader and innovator in security, and creates an organization uniquely qualified to meet organizations’ needs for real-time detection, contextual threat intelligence, and rapid incident response.

FireEye offers a purpose-built, virtual machine-based Multi-Vector Virtual Execution (MVX) engine that conducts signature-less analysis atop a patented, virtualization technology purpose-built for security. The MVX engine is designed to provide scalable, accurate, and timely protection across the primary threat vectors - Web, email, file, and mobile.. FireEye now has more than two million virtual machines deployed worldwide, providing real-time, dynamic threat protection to more than 1,500 government, enterprise, and small and mid-sized customers.

Mandiant’s endpoint products are already integrated with the FireEye platform.  The companies have been collaborating for 2 years.

FireEye said the combined organization unifies the critical components required to provide state-of-the-art cyber security: the most complete library of actionable threat intelligence on advanced threats and a product suite that can apply that intelligence to detect and prevent attacks on both the network and on endpoints.

“Organizations today are faced with knitting together a patchwork of point products and services to protect their assets from advanced threats,” said David DeWalt, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of FireEye. “Together, the size and global reach of FireEye and Mandiant will enable us to innovate faster, create a more comprehensive solution, and deliver it to organizations around the world at a pace that is unmatched by other security vendors.”

http://investors.fireeye.com
https://www.mandiant.com

In February 2013, A highly publicized report from Mandiant, a security consulting firm based in Arlington, Virginia, linked cyber attacks on over 140 U.S. corporations to a specific unit of China's People's Liberation Army.

The report, called "APT1: Exposing One of China’s Cyber Espionage Units," details how it has the PLA's Unit 61398 systematically carried out spear-phishing attacks and stole confidential data from leading companies across multiple industries.  Mandiant claims the widespread attacks are on-going.  

In addition to describing the methodology of the attacks, the Mandiant report provides domain names, MD5 hashes of malware and X.509 encryption certificates associated with the attackers.

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Ciena Announces WaveLogic Encryption

Ciena introduced its WaveLogic Encryption solution for delivering optical-layer encryption to match high capacity infrastructure needs – from 10G to 100G, 200G and beyond, from metro to ultra-long haul distances.

Ciena said its WaveLogic Encryption solution is FIPS-certified and meets the highest security standards recognized globally in the industry. Powered by Ciena’s WaveLogic 3 Extreme chipset, the solution provides software programmable modulation to enable both 100G encryption with QPSK modulation and 200G encryption with 16QAM modulation. WaveLogic Encryption is protocol agnostic, meaning it simultaneously encrypts any traffic type coming into the network, including Ethernet, Fibre Channel, OTN, IP, SONET, and SDH. It encrypts the entire wavelength before the data leaves the building or data center, and transports it transparently with virtually no added latency, making efficient use of network resources and maintaining quality of end-customer experience.

Additionally, Ciena’s software-based MyCryptoTool features a dedicated management user portal that provides full control to the end enterprise user or security officer to manage all security parameters.

“Safeguarding critical data has become a major priority in today’s web-scale world. Previous infrastructure solutions have been cumbersome to manage and burdened by separate boxes, impacting throughput and latency. Our new WaveLogic Encryption solution is simple to deploy and provides a strong and effective defense with an additional level of protection to enable end-to-end security,” stated Francois Locoh-Donou, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Ciena.

The solution will be generally available in the first calendar quarter of 2016.

http://www.ciena.com

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Crehan: Data Center Ethernet Switch Market to Hit $15 Billion by 2020

A confluence of faster data center Ethernet switch upgrades will propel the market to $15 billion by 2020, according to Crehan Research's latest Data Center Switch Long-Range Forecast Report. The firm projects that 100 gigabit Ethernet (GbE) switching will ramp strongly by the second half of this year, and that 400GbE will experience robust growth in 2018. The firm also predicts the adoption next year of dedicated 25GbE switch ports by customers who prefer not using breakout cables on 100GbE switching to connect to 25GbE server and storage ports.

"While we expect the initial ramp in 100GbE and 400GbE data center switching to be driven by the largest hyper-scale cloud service providers, we also anticipate strong interest from other segments of the market, with subsequent increased adoption," said Seamus Crehan, president of Crehan Research.

The report further predicts that despite the upcoming growth in 25GbE, 100GbE and 400GbE, 10GbE will remain an important technology through 2020, and will likely comprise the majority of network connections in many enterprise data centers. "With so many different speeds, we are seeing more granular segmentation in the Ethernet switch market," Crehan said. "We seem to be moving away from the one-size-fits-all deployment model that once prevailed."

http://www.crehanresearch.com/

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Dell Networking Disaggregates its OS from Hardware

As the next step in its Open Networking initiative launched two years ago, Dell Networking introduced its Operating System 10 (OS10), a fully-open, unmodified Linux distribution that will be offered as one of several options for purchasers of Dell data center switches. In addition to its own OS10 network operating system, Dell offers network OSes from its partners, including Big Switch, Cumulus and Pluribus.

The new Dell OS10 is designed to introduce new levels of software flexibility and programmability in large-scale data center environments. OS10 is comprised of a base module and various optional application modules. Some highlights:

OS10 Base Module – The OS10 Base Module is available for free and runs a fully-open, unmodified Linux distribution. Linux is one of the most widely-used operating systems and can provide a common language across multiple IT layers including networking, storage and compute. The OS10 Base Module can leverage the Linux community-based benefits which can help enhance its programmability, portability, and flexibility for the application layer above it.

Below it, the OS10 Base Module employs the Open Compute Project Switch Abstraction Interface (SAI) that enables a common, programmer-friendly language between vendor network operating systems and the particular silicon residing on the physical switch. Today, SAI helps web-scale companies and cloud providers take advantage of the latest silicon innovation by enabling them to program the switches more granularly.

OS10 Application Modules – On top of the base module, OS10 can support traditional networking functions (L2/L3 protocols) from Dell as well as numerous third-party, native Linux, and open source applications such as IP, fabric and security services combined with management and automation tools. This allows customers to tailor IT operations for different use case and operational processes.

“Modern, software-defined, data centers require a fresh approach to operations – not just for the network, but across compute and storage elements as well,” said Tom Burns, vice president and general manager, Dell Networking and Enterprise Infrastructure. “OS10 gives customers a future-ready springboard to innovate their networks and data center infrastructure more quickly and consistently, affording customers greater efficiency and capability at scale.”

http://www.dell.com

Dell Intros New Open Data Center Switches

Monday, April 27, 2015  Data Centers, Dell, Switching  No comments

Dell Networking introduced three new open switches for data centers and featuring support for the Open Network Install Environment (ONIE) to allow for a zero-touch install of all pre-qualified operating systems, including Dell Networking OS9 and third party options.


Dell said the rollout reinforces its strategy to pursue open architectures in the new era of software-defined data centers.

"These advancements are another example of Dell helping our customers to future proof and accelerate the financial and performance rewards the software-defined data center promises," said Arpit Joshipura, vice president, product management and strategy, Dell Networking. "The new products announced today offer customers complete flexibility to take advantage of open networking environments and new computing models as well as the revenue streams these network infrastructures will allow."

The rollout includes:

Dell Networking Z9100-ON - a 100GbE fabric switch in a 1RU fixed form factor for aggregation and access layers. It and offers multi-rate switching (10/25/40/50/100GbE). The Z9100 is designed for cloud, HPC and Web 2.0 applications that require a range of options in switching rates in high-density environments and excels in Big Data analysis and where high performance, low latency requirements exist. The fabric switch offers up to seven times the density per RU versus a competing switch.1

Dell Networking S4048-ON - a low-latency 10/40GbE Top-of-Rack (ToR) switch designed for the software-defined data center. It offers advanced features supporting large hardware tables, VXLAN and expanding buffering. It is designed for Web and Cloud service providers with Linux and open source-heavy environments. The S4048 provides a low latency 10GbE switching in HPC and business sensitive deployments that require the highest bandwidth and low latency, while cutting in half the latency versus a competing switch.

Dell Networking S3048-ON - designed for enterprise and mid-market customers with an existing 1GbE installed base. It is Dell’s first entry into 1GbE open networking switching.　The S3048 is a ToR equipped with next-generation 1GbE silicon, a complete OS9 feature set including VLT, OpenFlow, Open Automation, Cloud Stack integration with OpenStack, Microsoft, VMware, Docker and others, while offering up to half the power consumption and costs up to 50 percent less than the current generation of Dell 1GbE switches.

Dell today also announced IP Infusion, Inc. as a new ecosystem partner in support of its Open Networking initiative.

http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/press-releases/2015-04-23-dell-networking-data-center-innovation

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Plexxi Lands Investment from Google's Venture Arm

Plexxi disclosed a strategic investment from GV (formerly Google Ventures). Financial terms were not disclosed.

Plexxi said GV’s investment enables it to continue to scale its networking product offerings and company operations to meet the needs of the emerging cloud builder community and drive adoption of software-defined architecture in data centers.

“Plexxi takes an innovative approach to high performance networking infrastructure,” said Rich Miner, General Partner at GV. “Plexxi’s platform has evolved at a rapid pace, and the company’s networking infrastructure products give companies the tools they need to maintain large scale networks that are more agile and efficient.”

“GV invests in companies that have their eye on the future, offer disruptive innovation and drive market change,” said Rich Napolitano, CEO of Plexxi. “We are at the dawn of the next great era of IT, the Cloud Builder generation, and Plexxi has developed a transformative data center network solution that promises to become the standard for future public and private cloud agility. We are thrilled to have GV join our investor team and become a key partner in this huge market opportunity.”

Plexxi investors also include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Matrix Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners.

http://www.plexxi.com

• Plexxi is headquartered in Nashua, N.H.

Plexxi Raises $35 Million for SDN

Tuesday, September 15, 2015  #SDN, Data Centers, Plexxi, Start-ups  No comments

Plexxi, a start-up pioneering next-generation converged networking solutions, raised a $35 million round of financing .

Plexxi’s products – Plexxi Control and the Plexxi Switch – and market solutions create an optimized network that dynamically helps applications perform better.

The round was led by a new investor with participation from existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Matrix Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners. This brings Plexxi’s total funding to $83 million.

“We are experiencing a generational shift to a new era of IT in which applications and data are rapidly increasing demand for a new agile and scale-out networking architecture,” said Rich Napolitano, CEO of Plexxi. “Plexxi represents a transformative converged networking and application-centric approach to traditional legacy networking. 2015 has been a record-breaking year for Plexxi as we gain a foothold in federal, financial services, education and service providers markets here in the United States and around the world.”

http://www.plexxi.com/

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F5 Posts Q1 Revenue of $489.5 Million, up 6% YoY

F5 Networks reported Q1 2016 revenue of $489.5 million, reflecting 6 percent growth from $462.8 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2015. GAAP net income was $89.7 million ($1.28 per diluted share), compared to $89.1 million ($1.21 per diluted share) in the first quarter a year ago. Excluding the impact of stock-based compensation and amortization of purchased intangible assets, non-GAAP net income was $120.6 million ($1.73 per diluted share), compared to $114.2 million ($1.55 per diluted share) in the first quarter of last year.

“We continue to see growth in software sales, driven by strength in security modules and sales of our virtual editions,” said John McAdam, F5 president and chief executive officer. “Security remains a key driver of growth for the business, with million dollar plus security deals up year over year. In addition, our operating model continues to drive solid profitability and cash generation, with cash flow from operations at a record $204 million for the quarter."

“Over the medium to long term, we are confident the superior performance and breadth of functionality in our portfolio of hybrid solutions, including new BIG-IP appliances and VIPRION blades, as well as new security solutions and high performance versions of our software-only Virtual Editions, will spur the growth of product revenue in the second half of the fiscal year."

https://f5.com/

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Telsta Launches SDN-based PEN Exchange & Marketplace

Telstra launched its new SDN-based PEN Exchange and PEN Marketplace -- two new enhancements to its global Software Defined Networking solution, enabling organisations to identify and connect their network circuits on-demand with other PEN customers. The two new enhancements were designed to satisfy customers’ growing needs for secure, high bandwidth on-demand, and built on the expansion of the Telstra PEN Platform to the optical layer across 26 PEN Points of Presence worldwide in 2015.

The new PEN Marketplace is an online portal that allows organisations to instantly order virtual network functions – such as firewalls and routers – on-demand and based on their preferred vendor.

“The launch of our new PEN Exchange is the natural next step in our SDN strategy and means we now have the unique capability to dynamically connect network circuits between PEN Exchange customers, linking different people and business sites easily and cost effectively. With provisioning time measured in minutes rather than months, PEN Exchange customers can also use a new application programming interface, which triggers additional capacity depending on their changing bandwidth needs,” stated Jim Clarke, Telstra’s Head of International Products and Pricing, Telstra.

http://www.telstraglobal.com/dynamicnetworks

 Telstra Extends its Global SDN into the Optical Layer

Tuesday, May 12, 2015  #100G, #SDN, Australia, Telstra  No comments

Telstra has extended its new global Software Defined Networking (SDN) Platform into the optical layer, enabling high-bandwidth provisioning up to 100G and automated fault restoration across its global Points of Presence (PoPs).

The announcement follows Telstra's recent acquisition of Pacnet, a provider of connectivity, managed services and data centre services to carriers, multinational corporations and governments in the Asia-Pacific region.  The Pacnet Enabled Network (PEN)an SDN-based service delivery platform with automated provisioning capabilities.

Telstra now operates 25 PEN Points of Presence across eight countries – including Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, the US and the UK. Additional connectivity options into public Cloud services to bridge hybrid Cloud deployments are available too.

Jim Clarke, Telstra’s Director of Marketing, Product and Pricing – International, said the extension of SDN and Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) capabilities into Layer 1 followed the announcement last month that Telstra had added nine Telstra PEN PoPs to Pacnet’s existing footprint of sixteen PoPs across Asia, creating a globally connected on-demand networking Platform.

“Extending our global PEN platform into the optical layer is the natural next step in our SDN strategy and by providing this infrastructure on demand, we’re able to significantly shorten the provisioning cycle times and better meet our customers’ growing high-bandwidth needs.

“This is an exciting milestone in Telstra’s SDN journey and by leveraging our high quality infrastructure assets and Pacnet’s leadership in early adoption of SDN technology, we will continue to innovate and deliver cost-efficient virtualised network resources to our customers,” Mr Clarke said.

“We believe it’s time for global networks to evolve. The applications of tomorrow require a different kind of network and this latest enhancement to the PEN Platform means we now have the unique capability to provide customers with on-demand provisioning of their network services up to 100G, whenever they want it and wherever they are based.

“Furthermore, Telstra plans to extend virtualisation to its suite of Managed Services offerings which means we can now, more than ever, deliver the choice and flexibility our customers require, in an age of bandwidth hungry applications, fuelled by distributed computing, big data and mobility,” Mr Clarke concluded.

http://www.telstra.com.au/

In March 2015, Infinera announced that Pacnet, which operates submarine cable systems connecting 15 cities in the Asia-Pacific region, has deployed the new Infinera Open Transport Switch (OTS) software to extend virtualization into the optical layer of its network. Pacnet’s existing Intelligent Transport Network is based on the Infinera DTN-X packet optical transport networking platform.

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Big Switch Secures $48.5 Million in Series C Funding

Big Switch Networks raised $48.5 million in a Series C funding round.

The company, which is based in Santa Clara, California, said it experienced more than 300% growth in 2015 with customers wins across the US, APAC and EMEA regions, and in verticals including tech, financial services, government, service providers, and higher education.  The company has two products and three use cases, which have played a critical part in its growth, including accelerated adoption with Enterprise and Carrier customers of both Big Monitoring Fabric, a next generation network monitoring fabric, as well as Big Cloud Fabric, the industry’s first data center fabric built using whitebox or britebox switches and SDN controller technology.

Big Switch also named former NetApp CEO, Dan Warmenhoven, as well as seasoned venture capitalist Gary Morgenthaler to its Board of Directors.

The new funding includes participation from both new and existing investors, including Morgenthaler Ventures, Silver Lake Waterman, Index Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Accton, CID Group, MSD Capital, among others. This brings total funding to $94 million since the company was founded in 2010.

“I am pleased that our performance continues to earn the trust of our customers, partners, and investors, all of whom believe in our mission to disrupt the status quo of networking,” said Douglas Murray, CEO, Big Switch Networks. “Dan Warmenhoven’s knowledge and operational experience scaling NetApp from hyper-growth startup through maturity will be invaluable as Big Switch continues to scale and as we introduce our core products to new customers in more markets around the world. I am also thrilled to have Gary Morgenthaler join the board to share his invaluable experience as one of Silicon Valley’s pre-eminent investors.”

http://www.bigswitch.com

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Arista Updates its Extensible OS for Hybrid Clouds and Containers

Arista Networks announced a major upgrade to its open and programmable Arista EOS (Extensible Operating System) based on three building blocks: Infrastructure, Hybrid Cloud and Container Support.

Arista EOS, which features a state-driven, publish-subscribe-notify architecture built for cloud networking, now introduces NetDB, a network-wide state repository that increases network scalability, agent efficiency, and resilience.

Some highlights:

Infrastructure - NetDB expands the network roles for Arista’s spine platforms, enabling EOS to now support in excess of 1 million routes and 100,000 tunnels for increased cloud scale. NetDB also provides the ability to aggregate the network state of all EOS devices to a common point through the CloudVision platform and, from there, stream network-wide telemetry data to improve network operations visibility and historical analytics.

Hybrid Cloud - Arista EOS features support for workload migration between private and public workloads and CloudVision management for hybrid cloud solutions. By delivering appropriate EOS Tracer tools for cloud-bursting, enterprise customers can now seamlessly execute their hybrid cloud roadmap. This bridges the gap between private and public clouds.

Container Support - Arista EOS extends its virtualization support by adding both the ability to run Docker containers on EOS, as well as improved physical and virtual visibility with Container Tracer. Container support in EOS offers customers the flexibility to load container-based applications directly onto the Arista EOS platform. Complementing visibility tools for bare metal and hypervisor designs, Container Tracer delivers advanced monitoring capabilities for emerging container-based applications.

“The infrastructure underlying a network operating system is the foundation for delivering a flexible and resilient solution to customers. Arista EOS, originally built on a state-sharing database, has proven stable and scalable in the largest cloud networking environments. Today’s NetDB introduction represents our continued investment in Arista EOS, as it evolves to meet the changing needs of the cloud,” said Ken Duda, CTO and Senior Vice President of Software Engineering for Arista.

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8327500062634719808#editor/target=post;postID=9105821876244975384


https://www.arista.com/en/company/news/press-release/1235-pr-20160119

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Hibernia Trims Latency on Transatlantic Route with Innovative Backhaul

Hibernia Networks said it has further reduced latency on its new Hibernia Express transatlantic cable route connecting New York to London by means of newly acquired backhaul infrastructure.

Specifically, the company said that to further reduce latency beyond the already industry leading performance of sub 58.95ms on the high density traffic London to New York route, it has procured alternative backhaul routes in the United Kingdom as part of its phase one deployment. The low latency services delivered over Hibernia Express are relied upon by customers for mission critical applications across numerous segments, including financial firms, content providers, and web-centric companies. Hibernia Express latency on the subsea cable connecting North America and UK is RFCS tested at 44.92ms.

“At Hibernia Networks we are unwavering in our commitment to provide the industry leading network performance that our most demanding customers entrust us to deliver,” states Omar Altaji, CCO of Hibernia Networks. “Customers rely on our low latency, high capacity connectivity solutions to ensure their ability to stay competitive in today’s networked world.”

http://www.hibernianetworks.com/hibernia_express

• Hibernia Express utilizes a 6-fiber-pair submarine cable, with a portion of the fibers optimized for lowest latency and a portion optimized for 100X100 Gpbs design capacity.  Hibernia Express follows the most direct route between the UK and North America.

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Riverbed Acquires Ocedo for SD-WAN

Riverbed announced the acquisition of Ocedo, a leading provider of software-defined networking and SD-WAN (software-defined wide-area-network) solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Ocedo, which is based in Karlsruhe, Germany, developed an advanced software-defined branch office networking solution, with a portfolio of products that include secure gateways, wireless access points and switches, and an integrated cloud management system that enables zero-touch provisioning and centralized control of remote devices and network services.

Riverbed said the acquisition furthers its strategy to deliver next-generation, software-defined networking solutions that provide superior application performance and business agility for today’s hybrid enterprises. Ocedo fuels Riverbed’s Project Tiger initiative, announced in Fall 2015, in which Riverbed plans to bring to market a new suite of application-centric SD-WAN solutions that will eliminate the need for traditional branch routers, provides cloud-based zero-touch provisioning & management, and will be based on a new software operating platform that enables agile service-chaining for Riverbed-native and 3rd-party services and applications. Riverbed plans to launch an initial SD-WAN solution in Q1 2016 to complement and expand the Riverbed Application Performance Platform.

“Ocedo is a compelling and strategic acquisition for Riverbed. Their innovative software-defined networking solutions perfectly complement our own strategic investments in R&D, expanding our position to aggressively compete in the emerging markets for software-defined networks and SD-WAN, bringing disruption to the multi-billion dollar branch router market,” said Jerry M. Kennelly, Riverbed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “As the industry goes through one of the largest transformations in a decade, with cloud and hybrid IT environments requiring a different approach to networking, Riverbed is well positioned to help businesses reap the benefits of newer and superior network architectures that are application-centric and software-defined.”

http://www.riverbed.com

Ocedo Enters Enterprise SDN Equipment Market

Monday, October 20, 2014  #SDN, Germany, Start-ups  No comments

Ocedo GmbH, a start-up based in Karlsruhe, Germany, announced its entry into the enterprise SDN market.

Ocedo is developing a range of cloud managed and SDN enabled network equipment to connect wired, wireless and wide-area networks. The Ocedo System enables IT departments and MSPs to roll-out entire networks remotely from the cloud, track network activity in a “single pane of glass”, and provision network configuration changes in real time.

“SDN is ready to move beyond the data center and provide innovation in distributed enterprise networks,” said Jan Hichert, Ocedo CEO. “Ocedo’s focus is on making networking radically simpler for today’s agile, growing organizations.”

Ocedo was started by the founders of Astaro, a network security vendor that over the course of a decade engineered networks for thousands of organization around the globe, and was acquired by Sophos in 2011.

http://www.ocedo.com

https://www.ocedo.com/en/hybrid-wan.html

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ZTE Posts Record Revenue & Profit

ZTE reported full-year 2015 revenue of RMB 100.8 billion (approx US$15.33 billion), 23.8% higher than in 2014, and the first time annual revenue has exceeded RMB 100 billion.

Net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company will be RMB 3.78 billion (US$574 million) in 2015, compared with RMB 2.63 billion a year earlier, according to preliminary unaudited results published by ZTE today, based on accounting standards of the People’s Republic of China. This represents an annual increase of 43.5%.

The company attributed its growth to higher sales of 4G LTE network solutions internationally, in addition to China. The company also posted increased sales of optical network solutions as demand for broadband networks strengthens.

The growth in annual revenue was also driven by increased sales of high-end routers in overseas markets, while ZTE posted higher revenue from sales of Enterprise ICT solutions including Smart City and Data Center solutions to companies and government departments. In addition, ZTE also boosted sales of 4G smartphones outside China, as well as terminal products for homes.

At the end of 2015, ZTE’s gearing ratio improved to 63.9%, compared to 75.25% a year earlier, reflecting the stronger profitability of the company’s operations and better capital management. The company strengthened cash flow management, with cash received for the sales of goods and rendering of services exceeding RMB 105 billion, achieving substantial growth in cash inflows from operating activities and net cash flows from operating activities.

http://wwwen.zte.com.cn/en/press_center/news/201601/t20160119_447513.html

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IronScales Raises Seed Funding for IPS with Phishing Mitigation

IronScales, a start-up based in Israel, announced $1.5 million in seed funding for its development of an intrusion prevention system with an automated phishing-mitigation response.

IronScales said its crowd-wisdom-based phishing-mitigation solution helps protect enterprises from cyber-crimes whereby criminals attempt to deceive employees into revealing sensitive information such as usernames and passwords so they can then install spyware, remote-access Trojan horse attacks or ransomware. The IronScales solution is currently in use by dozens of customers in the financial sector, as well as security and telecom companies.

The $1.5 million round was led by RDSeed, an investment arm of Rafael Development Corporation (RDC).

"Phishing is an insidious threat to enterprises, but the existing solutions targeting the problem simply did not go far enough,” said Eyal Benishti, IronScales CEO. “That’s why we created IronScales, not only to raise awareness of phishing attacks but to then empower employees to actually block them. When workers understand how to spot phishing attacks, they become powerful assets in helping protect their enterprises from attack.”

http://ironscales.com/

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Polaris Wireless Prevails in Patent Dispute Against TruePosition

Polaris Wireless, which provides high-accuracy, software-based wireless location solutions, prevailed in a patent dispute filed by TruePosition.  The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington D.C. affirmed Polaris’ wins at the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) and District Court. All asserted claims were found to be invalid. The complaint was brought by TruePosition in 2012.

http://www.polariswireless.com

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GENBAND Prevails in Patent Dispute with Metaswitch

GENBAND prevailed in a patent dispute with Metaswitch Networks.  A jury in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has found that Metaswitch infringed on seven GENBAND patents that cover a range of VoIP technology used in session border controllers and integrated softswitches.

https://www.genband.com/media-center/press-releases/jury-finds-metaswitch-infringes-7-genband-voice-over-ip-patents

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