Netronome Signs Partners for its Agilio Server-Based Networking

Netronome announced partnerships with Broadband, Colfax International and DSCon to bring its Agilio Server Networking Platform to end-users in North America, Western Europe, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Broadband, Colfax and DSCon join existing Netronome worldwide channel partners in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.

“The Agilio server-based networking platform enables businesses of all sizes to dramatically increase the efficiency of their Cloud, SDN and NFV-enabled data center compute infrastructure, delivering up to 5X higher throughput while reducing CPU requirements by up to 80 percent compared to traditional NICs,” said Ken Way, senior vice president of worldwide sales at Netronome.

http://www.netronome.com

Netronome's Agilio Server Networking Accelerates Cloud Data Centers

Tuesday, January 26, 2016  #cloud, Data Centers, Netronome, Silicon  1 comment

Netronome introduced its Agilio Server Networking Platform for transparently offloading server-based networking data paths, such as open virtual switch (OVS), Juniper Networks Contrail vRouter, and Linux firewall.

The company said its hardware and software-based Agilio platform delivers up to 5X higher throughput while reducing CPU requirements by up to 80 percent compared to traditional NICs and server-based networking implemented in software.

Server-based networking is being widely deployed in cloud data centers to handle virtualization, firewalls, load balancing, telemetry, zero-trust security using micro-segmentation, virtual network functions (VNFs) and application-based analytics. The big cloud providers (AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google) are using server-based networking in their mega data centers. Netronome's Agilio solution accelerates such server-based networking functions by offloading compute-intensive flow and tunnel processing from the CPUs.

The Agilio CX intelligent server adapters (ISAs) are based on Netronome's own flow processing silicon (NFP-4000) and software architecture (Agilio Software). The Agilio ISAs use onboard memory to support up to two million security policies, and deliver 28Mpps of throughput using hardware-based acceleration.

The Agilio server-based networking solutions include:

• Production-ready Agilio Software currently supports OVS v2.3 and v2.4, with support for OVS v2.5, Linux Firewall, and the Juniper Networks Contrail vRouter expected during the first half of 2016.  The Agilio host software package is open sourced, has been up-streamed to relevant Linux repositories and is available at https://github.com/Netronome/nfp-drv-kmods
• The Agilio CX family of intelligent server adapters includes standard PCIe Gen3 low-profile adapter cards for customer deployments. 10 and 40GbE configurations of the intelligent server adapters are in production now, with additional 25, 40 and 50GbE configurations expected to sample during the middle of 2016

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ONF Extends its Open SDN Software with OpenDaylight Support

The second release of Atrium, an open SDN software distribution from The Open Networking Foundation (ONF), extends support for the OpenDaylight platform into the Atrium software router.

Specifically, the router in the new Atrium release is built on the OpenDaylight framework and controls OpenFlow hardware switches using Quagga’s open-source implementation of the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), a control plane protocol for Internet routing. The most important features of Atrium’s first release, namely flow objectives and device drivers, are implemented in the OpenDaylight Device Identification and Driver Module (DIDM) that allows the router to work across multiple different OpenFlow v1.3 hardware pipelines. The work on this portion was contributed almost entirely by Criterion Networks and Wipro. Hardware from NoviFlow interoperates with the OpenDaylight implementation of Atrium, with additional vendors to follow.

This release of Atrium also improves the ONOS version (Atrium 2015/A) by improving scalability and stability and by adding experimental support for the Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP), following interoperability demonstrations and testing in AsiaPac, Europe, and North America. Performance and scale test contributors include Criterion Network Labs (CNLabs) and improvements to the basic router have come from ON.Lab.

In addition, this version of Atrium includes a new feature called the Leaf-Spine Fabric. This is the first Layer 2/3 Clos network fabric built in open source, on Open Compute Project (OCP) hardware, and with SDN principles and notable contributions from ON.Lab, Broadcom, and Accton. The Atrium fabric is designed to scale up to 16 racks, using well-established design principles of Layer 3 down to the Top of Rack (ToR) switch, where packets from Layer 2 are switched within a rack and Layer 3 routed across racks. The fabric is set for a field trial with a major operator soon, as part of the Central Office Re-architected as Data Center (CORD) project with ON.Lab.

“In this release of Atrium, the porting to OpenDaylight provides a large and vibrant community with a new vehicle for adopting open SDN,” said Bithika Khargharia, director of Product and Community Management for the Open Networking Foundation and principal architect of Solutions and Innovation at Extreme Networks. “ONF is actively creating an ecosystem and the architecture needed to assist network operators to more easily build custom solutions and allow vendors to take advantage of common building blocks, reducing their development costs and improving interoperability.”

“We are excited by this latest Atrium release incorporating OpenDaylight as we strive to make the adoption of open SDN broader and easier,” said Dan Pitt, executive director of the Open Networking Foundation. “Application developers seek portability across various control planes and we hope this sets an example of how it can be done. I am especially grateful to our members Criterion Networks and Wipro for undertaking this porting, and to the OpenDaylight community for their collaboration and support.”

“Including OpenDaylight integration within Atrium 2016/A provides greater opportunities for operators and vendors to adopt open SDN architectures,” said Neela Jacques, executive director of OpenDaylight. “The increase of open SDN projects within the industry through community contributions shows that the industry is on the right path to accelerating commercial adoption of open SDN. We look forward to continued collaboration with ONF as the industry evolves its approach to open, programmable networks enabled by open source SDN.”

http://www.opensourcesdn.org

ONF Readies Atrium Open SDN Software Release

Tuesday, June 09, 2015  #SDN, ONF, Open  No comments

The Open Networking Foundation (ONF) announced its "Atrium" open SDN software distribution, integrating previously standalone open source components.

Atrium, which will be released by the end of the month, incorporates the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), the Open Network Operating System (ONOS), and Open Compute Project (OCP) components. The software elements run in either controllers or switches, communicating via the OpenFlow protocol, and include plugin opportunities for other switching solutions to help foster an open ecosystem of interoperable, hardware-based OpenFlow switches.

Atrium 2015/A components include:

• Documentation for installation, configuration, and operation
• A snapshot of ONOS verified to work with the white-box software stack as well as other vendor switches that have provided a driver for their pipeline
• A BGP peering application that runs on ONOS and includes the Quagga BGP stack
• A collection of OpenFlow v1.3 device drivers in ONOS, meant for talking to vendor equipment with different hardware pipelines
• Indigo OpenFlow client together with Open Network Linux and OFDPA for the OCP white-box switches
• Mininet with the use of Open vSwitch (OVS) to emulate the hardware pipelines of the switches involved; (hardware pipelines represent a sequence of match-action tables in an OpenFlow switch)
• Full testing suite for functionality test

http://www.opensourcesdn.org
https://www.opennetworking.org

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Brocade Debuts Virtual Core for Mobile, Announces SDN/NFV/Mobile Edge Partners

Brocade introduced its Virtual Core for Mobile (VCM), a fully virtualized Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) suite of products that supports network slicing with independent localization and scaling of the control and user planes—ahead of the targeted standardization date established by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

Brocade said its VCM transforms mobile networks by eliminating expensive and proprietary hardware devices, long upgrade cycles and over-provisioning.  Depending on specific network and deployment requirements, the same software package can serve as a complete vEPC or a combination of mobility management entity (MME), home subscriber server (HSS), serving gateway (S-GW) and packet data network gateway (P-GW). The overall deployment model of the Brocade VCM can be used to create network slices that are optimized for IoT traffic profiles to enable a mobile packet core-as-a-service offering for hosting MVNO services or to support non-traditional, innovative services from mobile operators.  The solution interoperates with all major radio and 3G/LTE core network equipment through standard interfaces and bridges 5G capabilities to older networks.

Brocade also announced new technology partnerships targeting SDN, NFV and mobile edge computing and aimed at providing mobile operators with an open network for the demands of 5G. These include Coriant, Rift.io, MetaSwitch and Openet.

Brocade and Coriant are working together to deliver virtualized mobile networking-as-a service for enterprise bandwidth-on-demand provisioning as well as multidomain programmability and control via a web-based service portal. This collaboration enables capabilities such as mobile network slicing.
Brocade and Rift.io are working on network-intelligent and proximity-aware orchestration to help mobile operators deploy virtual network function (VNF) capabilities in data centers and in the right virtual location within the mobile network.
Brocade is collaborating with MetaSwitch and Openet to deliver pre-integrated NFV solutions, including a complete virtual IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) VoLTE solution. Brocade and Openet are collaborating to provide MVNOs and mobile virtual network enablers (MVNEs) with machine-to-machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions.

Brocade's Mobile Edge Computing platform, which is based on its vRouter, offers mobile edge virtual infrastructure capabilities that integrate routing, IPsec termination, and network firewall functions with the virtualization infrastructure in the host operating system. Applications partners include PeerApp, Saguna, and Vasona, providing capabilities in the areas of video serving and optimization; video caching; network visualization and analytics; network optimization; and VoLTE local routing.

The Brocade open mobile networking ecosystem also includes partners that extend the company’s solutions for network visibility and wireless networking. Network visibility partners include Avvasi, EMC, Guavus, and Viavi. Wireless networking partners include Aerohive, Aruba, and Ruckus.
 
“Today’s announcements solidly plant Brocade in the business of delivering innovative networking solutions that help MNOs and MVNOs solve their most critical business and technology problems,” said Kevin Shatzkamer, chief technology officer of mobile networking, Brocade. “The combined offerings for vEPC, mobile edge computing and network visibility provide a future-proof technology foundation well in advance of 5G availability which will help MNOs accelerate new revenue streams today. Brocade is committed to working with partners in our open mobile networking ecosystem, in order to bring new innovations that put mobile operators on the path to delivering 5G services enabled by New IP infrastructures.”

http://www.brocade.com

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Sequans Shows its Monarch LTE Cat M Chip

Sequans Communications unveiled its "Monarch" LTE Cat M chip, compliant with the 3GPP Release 13 LTE Advanced Pro standard that defines new narrowband capabilities of LTE for machine-type-communications (LTE MTC).

The Sequans Monarch chip supports the vast new range of low data use, ultra low-power, cost-sensitive, narrowband IoT applications such as smart energy meters, industrial IoT sensors, asset trackers, smart city controllers, and consumer wearables. The design integrates baseband, RF, RAM, and power management are integrated in a single, tiny 6.5 x 8 mm FC-CSP package. Monarch supports both of the narrowband categories defined in the Release 13 standard: Cat M1, 1.4 MHz bandwidth; and Cat M2, 200 kHz bandwidth.

Monarch also includes: 1) a programmable RF filtering technology that enables the simple design of a single worldwide SKU that supports nearly any LTE band and enables global roaming; and 2) Sequans’ exclusive low power technology, Dynamic Power Management (DPM), that dynamically adapts chip-level power profiles in real time based on traffic patterns and use cases, making possible 10-15 years2 of battery life in real-world IoT applications.

“Monarch is the industry’s first Cat M1/M2 chip and it is highly optimized to address the size, cost and power requirements of IoT applications,” said Georges Karam, Sequans CEO. “We’ve innovated to minimize power consumption, reduce the bill-of-materials, and simplify implementation of a global-ready device to maximize Monarch’s market reach. The release of Monarch extends Sequans’ LTE for IoT leadership–proven last year with the introduction of our Cat 1 chipset, Calliope–and highlights Sequans’ strong commitment to perfecting the use of LTE for IoT, now including an entire new class of narrowband devices.”

Monarch chip features

• Narrowband LTE UE categories M1 and M2
• Compliant with 3GPP Release 13 (LTE Advanced Pro) for machine type communications (MTC)
• Single chip 6.5 x 8 mm FC-CSP package
• Integrated baseband, RF transceiver, memory, and power management
• Supports extended DRX and PSM network features for long sleep duration use cases
• Includes Sequans’ proprietary Dynamic Power Management (DPM) technology for 10-15 years2 of battery life
• Programmable RF filtering for global band support in a single-SKU design
• Optimized for half-duplex FDD (HD-FDD) operation; also supports full-duplex FDD and TDD
• Throughput:
• LTE UE category M1 (1.4 MHz bandwidth) up to 300 kbps DL/375 kbps UL in HD-FDD
• LTE UE category M2 (200 kHz bandwidth) up to 40 kbps DL/55 kbps UL in HD-FDD
• Supports wide variety of embedded and host operating systems
• Low power serial interfaces

Sequans’ StreamliteLTE product family now includes Monarch, Calliope and Colibri LTE chipset platforms.

http://www.sequans.com

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Huawei Unveils Five Initiatives for Digital Transformation in Telecom

Huawei outlined its five 'Big Initiatives' for the telecom industry:

• Big Video – Everywhere, 
• Big IT – Enabling, 
• Big Operation – Agile, 
• Big Architecture – Elastic, 
• Big Pipe – Ubiquitous.

The company announced innovative solutions for 4.5G, Internet of Things (IoT), 2K/4K video, and Safe City. The Big Initiatives and the innovative solutions represent Huawei's long term commitment to building a Better Connected World through extensive collaboration in the industry.

"Digital transformation is a new engine for telecom industry growth, and it will also empower the innovation of other industries," said William Xu, Executive Director of the Board and Chief Strategy Marketing Officer of Huawei, in London, "Huawei will continue to open up platform capabilities to help carriers to build an open, collaborative, and win-win industry ecosystem to accelerate digital transformation."

http://www.huawei.com/en/mwc2016

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NETSCOUT Intros Flagship Packet Flow Switch for Carriers

NETSCOUT introduced its new flagship blade and chassis Packet Flow Switch -- the PFS 6010 -- designed for Service Providers who have migrated to 100G networks and require monitoring visibility infrastructure that scales with their networks and allows them to leverage investments in existing 1G or 10G monitoring tools.

The PFS 6010 features a 6Tbps non-blocking fabric architecture with port density from 60 to 600 ports in a single chassis. Advanced packet conditioning capabilities include packet slicing, header stripping and de-duplication to ensure their networks are managed efficiently.

NETSCOUT said its new PFS 6010 solves a critical challenge that organizations managing large networks encounter: scaling access to network traffic with the growing need for service assurance, performance management, application management and additional security systems.

“This is a strategic expansion of our portfolio, enabling packet flow switches to scale to the needs of the world’s largest and most innovative service providers who need application visibility,” said Brian McCann, vice president and general manager of NETSCOUT’s Packet Flow Switch Business Unit. “With 6Tbps performance and up to 600 available ports, the PFS 6010 offers the industry’s most scalable packet flow switch solution, supporting advanced traffic optimization, filtering and flow balancing functionality in a single system that support speeds from 1G to 100G.”

Key features and capabilities of the PFS 6010 include:

• Massive scalability supports the largest data center and mobile network deployments, with up to 600 ports of 10G or 60 ports of 100G in a single chassis
• Carrier class reliability and application performance with a non-blocking 6Tbps line rate fabric and fully redundant architecture
• Advanced flexibility easily accommodates various traffic types and requirements, from 1G to 10G to 40G to 100G, with aggregation, replication, load balancing and advanced packet conditioning functionality
• Highly modular 15RU 10-slot chassis, where each blade can be selected and deployed based on speeds, port density and functionality required

http://www.netscout.com/product/service-provider/ngenius-6000-series-packet-flow-switch-service-provider/

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EMC's New VCE Hyper-Converged VxRail Packs up to 76TB of Flash

EMC introduced its new VCE hyper-converged VxRail Appliance family for VMware environments.

The VxRail Appliance family brings together EMC rich data services and leading systems management capabilities with VMware's hyper-converged software that includes VMware vSphere, vCenter Server and VMware Virtual SAN.

The jointly engineered VCE VxRail Appliances tightly integrate virtualization, compute, storage and data protection in one system with a single point of support.

Entry systems for small and medium businesses and remote offices start at a list price of $60,000 and options for performance intensive workloads have more than 76 TB of flash – over 2X more flash than any other hyper-converged appliance.

"The new VCE VxRail Appliance family puts IT organizations on a path to eliminating complexity and collapsing cost structures with hyper-converged infrastructure while leveraging their existing VMware investments. The VxRail Appliance completes our broad portfolio of Vblock, VxBlock and VxRack Systems to provide customers with a converged infrastructure that meets nearly every workload from the edge to the core regardless of size," said Chad Sakac, President, VCE, the Converged Platforms Division of EMC.

http://www.emc.com

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Sierra Wireless Offers Smart SIM for Device-to-Cloud IoT

Sierra Wireless announced its Smart SIM technology and connectivity service for IoT.

“Our Smart SIM technology allows us to provide our customers with a connectivity service designed for the coverage and quality of service that their IoT use cases require,” said Emmanuel Walckenaer, Senior Vice President, Cloud and Connectivity Services at Sierra Wireless. “When combined with our IoT Acceleration Platform, this unique, fully integrated device-to-cloud service accelerates our customers’ time-to-market.”

Sierra Wireless said its Smart SIM automatically selects networks based on the best service available in any given location. It comes with multiple operator profiles already installed, effectively combining several MNO roaming SIMs into one physical Smart SIM. The on-board patented applet then intelligently selects the best available regional network operator at any given time. This results in better coverage and service up-time. In the event a device loses network signal, whether in-transit or otherwise, the Smart SIM will detect this and re-establish the connection with another network automatically.

Sierra Wireless noted that it has more than 700,000 SIM subscribers globally that count on its connectivity offering to power their IoT deployments.

http://www.sierrawireless.com

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LiveAction Raises $36 Million for Visibility Software

LiveAction, a start-up based in Palo Alto, California, announced a $36 million Series B round of financing for its enterprise IT network visibility software platform.

LiveAction, which was initially developed to aid the U.S. Department of Defense in the operation of its networks, provides real-time big data analytics for decision-making and deep integration with routers and switches for unparalleled network control.

LiveAction features unique interactive topology and end-to-end flow visualization. It can be used to simplify voice, video and application troubleshooting in real time and provide historical playback with its network DVR capability.

New York-based venture capital and private equity firm Insight Venture Partners led the investment round with participation from prior investors Accelerate-IT Ventures and Cisco Investments.

“In 2014, we completed our Series A round, led by AITV and Cisco, and invested those proceeds to build a powerful visibility platform used by many of the biggest companies in energy, finance, retail and healthcare. Closing our Series B financing enables us to globalize LiveAction,” said Darren T. Kimura, CEO and chairman of LiveAction. “Insight Venture Partners have helped build successful infrastructure software companies including SolarWinds, Veeam, and Quest Software, and we are looking forward to accelerating our growth via this partnership.”

http://www.liveaction.com

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Mitsubishi Electric Develops 1Tbps Multi-subcarrier Optical Transceiver

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has developed a multi-carrier optical transceiver capable of one Terabit per second (1 Tbps) rates -- a 10-fold improvement over current mainstream commercial transceivers, which operate at up to 100 Gbs) per optical receiver.

Mitsubishi Electric said it achieved the 1Tbps transmission rate with existing optical fibers by using a multi-subcarrier technology that transmits 11 light waves (subcarriers) simultaneously in a single channel by using an optical comb, a device that creates a series of discrete, synchronized optical waves equally and densely spaced in the channel. While conventional methods would require 11 receivers for the same number of subcarriers, this new technology only requires a single receiver due to the use of densely spaced, synchronized subcarriers in a single channel and novel multi-subcarrier signal processing algorithms. No major changes are required to the existing optical network infrastructure, keeping the cost of deploying this new technology quite low.

Usually, when using subcarriers for optical communication, each subcarrier undergoes different signal distortions, which results in damaged data like video distortion on the receiving end. To avoid this problem, Mitsubishi Electric used pilot signals to accurately realign the subcarriers at the receiver. Known pilot symbols are periodically inserted into the transmitted signal, which serves as a landmark for correct orientation of all subcarriers and prevents data damage.

The experiment also achieved a spectral efficiency of 9.2b/s/Hz, which as of January 2016, was the highest in the world in a 1Tbps transmission using a single optical receiver.

http://www.mitsubishielectric.com/news/2016/0215.html

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IBM Positions Latest Mainframe for Encrypted Hybrid Clouds

IBM unveiled a new mainframe is enabled and optimized for hybrid cloud environments for mid-sized organizations.

Some highlights of the new system:

• Security embedded into hardware – The new z13s has advanced cryptography features built into the hardware that allow it to encrypt and decrypt data twice as fast as previous generations, protecting information without compromising performance.
• Intelligent security capabilities – IBM is integrating mainframe technology with IBM Security software solutions to create a more secure foundation for a hybrid cloud infrastructure. IBM also is offering a new Cyber Security Analytics service to z Systems customers that can help identify malicious activity by learning user behavior over time.
• Expanded partner ecosystem – IBM is working with leaders in the cyber security industry through the "Ready for IBM Security Intelligence" partner program to help deliver enterprise-wide solutions and offerings tailored to specific client needs. The new partners for z Systems are BlackRidge Technology, Forcepoint (a joint venture of Raytheon and Vista Equity Partners) and RSM Partners.

IBM estimates that he typical enterprise can face an average of 81 million security incidents annually. The z13s includes an updated cryptographic and tamper-resistant hardware-accelerated cryptographic coprocessor cards with faster processors and more memory, providing encryption at twice the speed as previous mid-range systems. A new z Systems Cyber Security Analytics offering delivers an advanced level of threat monitoring based on behavior analytics. The solution, being developed by IBM Research, learns user behaviors and is then able to detect anomalous patterns on the platform, alerting administrators to potential malicious activity.

"Fast and secure transaction processing is core to the IBM mainframe, helping clients grow their digital business in a hybrid cloud environment," said Tom Rosamilia, senior vice president, IBM Systems. "With the new IBM z13s, clients no longer have to choose between security and performance. This speed of secure transactions, coupled with new analytics technology helping to detect malicious activity and integrated IBM Security offerings, will help mid-sized clients grow their organization with peace of mind."

http://www.ibm.com/systems/z/

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NTT Com Expands Focus on Managed Services

The NTT Group will transfer its 100% holding of Atlas IT S.A. to NTT Com on April 1 2016.

NTT Com said it intends to develop a strong leadership position in global managed network, infrastructure and applications services to augment its network, data center and cloud services. Atlas IT will change its name to NTT Com Managed Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of NTT Com. The new company, which already provides remote infrastructure and application management services to mid-market and enterprise customers in EMEA, North America, Asia and Australia, will be tasked with accelerating this global expansion of managed services.

Shigeru Kitabatake SVP Managed Services commented - “With the financial support of NTT Com we believe the new NTT Com Managed Services business will help us realise our ambition to be a global leader in managed networks, infrastructure and application management.”

Damian Skendrovic, who will take the post of CEO NTT Com Managed Services, added, “After several years of successful growth, I am delighted that Atlas IT has been chosen to lead the global expansion of NTT Com’s managed services business. With the direct backing of NTT Com we are well positioned to realize our global ambitions and better serve our expanding global customer base.”

http://www.ntt.co.jp

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Amdocs: VoLTE Call Drops Are 4-5 Times Higher Than 2G/3G

VoLTE call drops can be four to five times higher than calls on 2G or 3G networks, according to newly published research from Amdocs that analyzed more than 25 million voice and data connections from 80 different network operators around the world in the past 12 months.

"The Amdocs State of the RAN research reinforces the sheer strain mobile networks are under,” said Ann Hatchell, head of network marketing at Amdocs.

Some highlights:

• VoLTE call drops can be four to five times higher than calls on 2G or 3G networks: VoLTE is an important and strategic service for operators as it offers operating expense (OPEX) and capital expense (CAPEX) reductions through the promise of repurposing 2G and 3G services. However, this study suggests that the quality of experience VoLTE provides initially, post-deployment, can be less stable than the traditional voice service it replaces, requiring aggressive tuning by the operator.
• Network data demand is increasing every year: Research suggests that the volume of mobile data usage is growing across the world at approximately 60 percent year-on-year, particularly with increased demand for video on devices providing better entertainment opportunities to mobile users. However, with only 5 to 15 per cent of Wi-Fi traffic going through mobile devices that is able to be accurately described as Wi-Fi offload, the study highlights that service providers need to offload more traffic from cellular networks to Wi-Fi networks, in order to realize greater cost and operational efficiencies.
• Seventy-five percent of network traffic in cities is in-building: In times of network congestion, indoor users face up to a 25 percent increase in network issues compared to outdoors users. By understanding and visualizing the real-world patterns of demand, coverage and congestion, operators could effectively target network optimization efforts at these problem areas to deliver a consistent, quality of network experience.
• Music and sport events create their own mobile ecosystems: SMS is still the killer app with an average of 70 percent of attendees at a concert or sporting event sending at least one text message during it, which causes spikes in network usage. Therefore, there is a need to manage network capacity during an event, with network cells around an event’s location carrying approximately 50 percent more traffic than the cells inside a stadium for example. This indicates there is considerable communication with fellow event attendees while going to the venue through email, text and social media. Meanwhile, it was also seen that international roamers upload almost 50 percent more data while at events than non-roamers.
• International roamers suffer poorer network experience: Despite the fact that international roamers can offer operators greater revenues than a corresponding locally-based subscriber, their network experience can be up to 25 percent worse. There is an opportunity for operators to realize greater monetization of services by isolating profitable international roamers, understanding their distinct usage patterns, and optimizing the network to better target them.

http://solutions.amdocs.com/2016SOTR.html

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Baicells Builds 4G Small Cells Supporting LTE-U with Radisys

Baicells, a network equipment supplier based in Beijing, has selected Radisys’ CellEngine TOTALeNodeB LTE small cell software to deliver LTE in unlicensed spectrum functionality for its Light4G small cell solutions. China Mobile has completed field trials of Baicells’ solution and deployments are planned for later this year.

Baicells’ Light4G small cell solution combines LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) technology with small cells, enabling mobile operators to provide high-capacity LTE mobile service at lower cost, thus reducing their CapEx and OpEx. The Baicells’ small cell integrates Radisys’ TOTALeNodeB software, enhanced with LTE-U functionality, on the Intel® Transcede LTE System-on-Chip (SoC) processors.

“We’re excited about this strategic design win for Radisys, and the opportunity to support Baicells’ solution trials and deployments in China today and in North America in the near future,” said Tom McQuade, general manager, CellEngine and Trillium Software, Radisys.

http://www.radisys.com
http://www.baicells.com/

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Comcast Suffers Widespread Outage

Comcast experienced a widespread outage on Monday, February 15th impacting customers in major markets across the United States.  The company confirmed that services as of 1:22 p.m. ET.

http://corporate.comcast.com/comcast-voices/information-about-215-service-interruption

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LG Stylus 2 to Debut at #MWC2016

LG Electronics (LG) is taking the wraps off its new LG Stylus 2 at next week's Mobile World Congress 2016 in Barcelona.

Key specs:

• Display: 5.7-inch HD In-Cell Touch (1280 x 720)
• Chipset: 1.2GHz Quad-Core
• Camera: Rear 13MP / Front 8MP
• Memory: 1.5GB LPDDR3 RAM / MicroSD
• Battery: 3,000mAh (removable)
• Operating System: Android 6.0 Marshmallow
• Size: 155 x 79.6 x 7.4mm
• Weight: 145g
• Network: LTE / HSPA+ / GSM
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b, g, n / Bluetooth 4.1 / USB 2.0
• Colors: Titan / White / Brown

http://www.lg.com

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AT&T Unveils 5G Roadmap - First Trials This Year

AT&T will begin 5G trials this year.  The first lab test with Ericsson and Intel will begin in Q2, followed by outdoor trials over the summer. 5G field trials to fixed locations in Austin will begin before the end of this year.

AT&T expects 5G to deliver speeds 10-100 times faster than today’s average 4G LTE connections. Customers will see speeds measured in gigabits per second, not megabits. 5G latency is expected to be in the range of 1 to 5 milliseconds.

“New experiences like virtual reality, self-driving cars, robotics, smart cities and more are about to test networks like never before,” said John Donovan, Chief Strategy Officer and Group President, AT&T Technology and Operations.

“These technologies will be immersive, pervasive and responsive to customers. 5G will help make them a reality. 5G will reach its full potential because we will build it on a software-centric architecture that can adapt quickly to new demands and give customers more control of their network services. Our approach is simple – deliver a unified experience built with 5G, software-defined networking (SDN), Big Data, security and open source software.”

AT&T said technologies such as millimeter waves, NFV, and SDN will be among the key ingredients for future 5G experiences. AT&T Labs has been working on these technologies for years and has filed dozens of patents connected with them.

Some additional notes:

Data traffic on AT&T’s wireless network grew more than 150,000% from 2007 through 2015, driven largely by video.
More than 60% of the data traffic on the AT&T network was video in 2015.
AT&T already has 14 million wireless customers on its virtualized network and will millions more this year.

http://about.att.com/story/unveils_5g_roadmap_including_trials.html

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Qualcomm Announces First Gigabit Class LTE Modem

Qualcomm introduced its sixth-generation discrete LTE multimode chipset -- the Qualcomm Snapdragon X16 LTE modem, which is built on a leading-edge 14nm FinFET process -- and the Qualcomm RF Transceiver, WTR5975 - the world’s first single-chip RF IC supporting Gigabit Class LTE, LTE-U and LAA with 5 GHz unlicensed band support.

The Snapdragon X16 LTE modem represents the first instantiation of Qualcomm's new, advanced modem architecture and is the first commercially announced Gigabit Class LTE chipset designed to deliver fiber-like LTE Category 16 download speeds of up to 1 Gbps.  It supports up to 4x20 MHz downlink Carrier Aggregation (CA) across FDD and TDD spectrum with 256-QAM, and 2x20 MHz uplink carrier aggregation plus 64-QAM for uplink speeds up to 150 Mbps.

Qualcomm said this new architecture will enable it to rapidly evolve its modem product line to address a wide range of connected applications, ranging from ultra-fast mobile broadband to power-efficient connectivity for Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

The Snapdragon X16 LTE modem also supports Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), the global standard for LTE in unlicensed spectrum, becoming the mobile industry’s first commercially announced LTE Advanced Pro modem. LTE Advanced Pro, beginning with 3GPP Release 13, marks an important next phase for 4G that will expand the technology into new applications and usage models, establishing the foundation for unified and more capable connectivity platforms into the next decade.

The Snapdragon X16 LTE modem is designed to reach Gigabit Class LTE speeds using the same amount of spectrum as Category 9 LTE devices. By using carrier aggregation and 4x4 MIMO, the Snapdragon X16 LTE modem can receive 10 unique streams of data using only three 20 MHz carriers. Its support for 256-QAM boosts the peak throughput of each stream from ~75 Mbps to ~100 Mbps, with additional gains possible with modem data compression. Additionally, with support for LAA as well as LTE-U, this combination reduces the amount of licensed spectrum required – to 40 MHz or less – to vastly expand the number of operators that can deploy Gigabit Class LTE speeds around the globe.

In addition to the advanced connectivity feature sets, the new modem and transceiver support Snapdragon All Mode, including all major cellular technologies (LTE FDD, LTE TDD, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, EV-DO, CDMA 1x, and GSM/EDGE), frequency bands, Carrier Aggregation band combinations, LTE dual SIM, LTE Broadcast, HD and Ultra HD Voice over LTE (VoLTE) with single radio voice call continuity to 3G and 2G.

“In addition to serving as a significant milestone for the mobile industry, the Snapdragon X16 LTE modem is a powerful testament to Qualcomm Technologies’ continued technology leadership in all things wireless,” said Cristiano Amon, executive vice president, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and president, QCT. “Not only does the Snapdragon X16 blur the lines between wired and wireless broadband, but marks an important step toward 5G as we enable deeper unlicensed spectrum integration with LTE and more advanced MIMO techniques to support growing data consumption and deliver an even faster and smoother user experience.”

Sampling is underway and the first commercial products are expected in second half of 2016.

https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2016/02/11/qualcomm-announces-mobile-industrys-first-gigabit-class-lte-modem

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IBM Cloud Receives DISA Impact Level 5 Authorization

The U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has authorized IBM Cloud services at the highest security levels – known as Impact Level 5 – for Controlled Unclassified Information as defined by the Department of Defense (DoD). This pavesthe way for DoD agencies seeking to take advantage of the innovations cloud can offer and manage sensitive data.

DISA has granted the company a Conditional Authority to Operate IBM Cloud services hosted at the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory (ABL) data center in West Virginia, which is owned by the Department of the Navy and leased by IBM.

IBM noted that it is the first cloud provider with a direct connection to the DoD's internal network known as the Nonsecure Internet Protocol Router Network (NIPRNet). The authorization granted by DISA will enable other DoD agencies the opportunity ultimately to streamline their authorizations by leveraging the thorough process DISA followed.

"Department of Defense agencies have the opportunity to embrace commercial cloud best practices and technology with the security of a government-owned facility," said Sam Gordy, General Manager for IBM Federal. "It will also provide DoD agencies with an ideal option to launch workloads in a hybrid cloud that can be easily integrated with their on premise systems. DoD is serving as a strong model to other cabinet level agencies in the federal government."

http://www.ibm.com

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Qualcomm Shows Snapdragon Wear 2100 Processor

Qualcomm introduced its Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor for the next generation of wearable devices requiring always-on connectivity with low power usage for long battery life.

The processor is available in two versions: tethered (which uses Bluetooth and Wi-Fi) and connected. In the connected version, the processor’s next-generation LTE modem, which also includes low power Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, is engineered so users can stream music, answer calls, send messages, and much, much more, all directly via their wearable.

Some highlights:

• CPU - Quad ARM Cortex A7 up to 800 1.2 GHz optimized for wearables
• GPU - Qualcomm Adreno 304 GPU, OpenGL ES 3.0
• DSP - Integrated modem DSP shared for modem, GNSS, sensor processing, keyword detection and audio
• Audio - Fluence noise cancellation technology
• Modem - X5 LTE
• Global Mode - LTE FDD and TDD, WCDMA (DC-HSDPA, DC-HSUPA), TD-SCDMA, EV-DO and CDMA 1x, GSM/EDGE
• Wi-Fi - 802.11n (2.4 GHz)

https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon/processors/wear-2100

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