ADTRAN's NG-PON2 hits latency requirements for 5G

ADTRAN has demonstrated non-service impacting wavelength agility and ultra-low latency with its NG-PON2 solution, which the company is positioning as an SD-Access strategy for mobile networks.

While PON technologies have not previously addressed the low latency requirements for 5G backhaul, crosshaul, and fronthaul applications, ADTRAN has demonstrated non-service impacting wavelength switching in less than 50 milliseconds on its NG-PON2 OLTs. ADTRAN has also demonstrated sub-20 microsecond network latency through NG-PON2, enabling it to support 5G fronthaul applications .

The company also says its NG-PON2 wavelength agility delivers the reliability required to support Service Level Agreements (SLA) for mission critical applications. Non-service impacting wavelength agility also provides increased network resiliency and real-time elastic capacity, and delivers a mechanism to optimize utilization of available optical wavelengths in the access network.

“Network operators are looking for a more cost-effective, scalable and highly available network architecture to ensure that 5G services can be delivered anywhere, to anyone, at home, work or play,” said Ryan McCowan, Director of Portfolio Management for Fiber Access & Aggregation at ADTRAN.

https://www.adtran.com/index.php/adtran-upgrades-ng-pon2-to-support-5g-and-mission-critical-services

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Plexxi teams with Decision Lab for real-time analytics

Plexxi and Decision Lab announced a strategic partnership combining Plexxi's Hyperconverged Networking (HCN) software and Decision Lab's real-time analytics for the Plexxi network fabric. The companies will co-develop an integrated set of software tools that collect fabric data path and control path statistics and provide users with analytics dashboards that will present customers with critical insights into their Plexxi datacenter network.

“We are very excited to work with Decision Lab to bring real-time analytics to the Plexxi HCN fabric,” said Rich Napolitano, Plexxi CEO. “Their unique expertise in scale-out architectures, large scale data collection and visualization, and machine learning will enable Plexxi to offer real-time insights to our customers at any scale. We welcome Decision Lab into the next-generation data center ecosystem that will enable users to realize reduced operational complexity and cost.”

http://www.decisionlab.io
http://www.plexxi.com/

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ADTRAN Launches Gigabit Accelerator Program

ADTRAN launched a Gigabit Accelerator Program to help service providers to accelerate their delivery of gigabit services, especially in rural areas.

ADTRAN's Gigabit Accelerator Program includes a gigabit FTTH starter kit, installation services, training, marketing support and access to gigabit community partners.

ADTRAN notes that smaller carriers often face barriers to rolling out gigabit services, in addition to the cost of new access equipment, such as:

• the cost of installing, testing and commissioning this equipment and the technical resources to do so;
• the lack of quality marketing resources to help acquire new customers more rapidly, thus affecting their return on investment; and,
• the lack of access to broadband use-cases and industry resources that would streamline community outreach, accelerate community buy-in, lead to higher service take-rates, and reduce barriers to construction.

http://www.adtran.com

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Microsoft acquires Cycle Computing for cloud HPC

Microsoft has acquired Cycle Computing, a start-up specializing int cloud orchestration of High-Performance Computing (HPC) resources. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Cycle Computing describes its CycleCloud software suite as a cloud orchestration, provisioning, and data management platform for Big Compute, Big Data, and large technical computing applications running on any public, private, or internal environment. The tool suite helps manage cloud workflows.

Cycle Computing said it is joining Microsoft because Azure has a massive global footprint, powerful infrastructure, InfiniBand support for fast networking and state-of-the-art GPU capabilities.

Microsoft Azure's Jason Stowe writes: "We’ve already seen explosive growth on Azure in the areas of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and deep learning. As customers continue to look for faster, more efficient ways to run their workloads, Cycle Computing’s depth and expertise around massively scalable applications make them a great fit to join our Microsoft team. Their technology will further enhance our support of Linux HPC workloads and make it easier to extend on-premise workloads to the cloud."

https://cyclecomputing.com/cycle-computing-joining-microsoft/

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Ericsson: commercial gigabit services within reach with LAA

Ericsson provided a quick update on its activities with Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), a technology which it says will enable commercial gigabit services in the near future.

LAA allows operators to use unlicensed spectrum in combination with their licensed spectrum. The technology is designed to co-exist with other unlicensed spectrum technologies such as WiFi via a feature termed 'listen before talk', which allows fair coexistence between LTE-LAA and WiFi.

Recently, Telstra, in partnership with Ericsson and Qualcomm, became the first carrier to launch a commercial Gigabit LTE network. The gigabit downlink performance is enabled by LTE Advanced features including 4x4 MIMO, 3CA (Three Carrier Aggregation) and higher order modulation (256QAM). On the uplink, Telstra's new network capability uses 64QAM and 2CA (Two Carrier Aggregation) for a peak upload speed of up to 150 Mbps. NETGEAR's Nighthawk M1 Mobile Router (MR1100) leverages 4x4 MIMO and is equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon(TM)  X16 LTE modem.

In June, AT&T and Ericsson conducted a live LTE-LAA technology field trial, during which initial wireless data rates of more than 650 Mbps were achieved in downtown San Francisco.

Also in June, T-Mobile completed the nation’s first mobile broadband data session live in the field using License Assisted Access (LAA) on its commercial network.

Italian operator TIM has achieved speeds of nearly 1Gbps on its live advanced 4G network in Milan using Ericsson’s LAA technology.

Ericsson, Verizon and Qualcomm achieved a speed of 953 Mbps in a joint commercial network deployment in Boca Raton, Florida. This is the fastest announced speed leveraging LAA technology achieved in a real-world, dynamic network environment in the US.

South Korean operator SK Telecom  and MTS, the largest mobile network operator in Russia, have all recently completed their own LAA trials.

Ericsson introduced its micro Radio 2205 for LAA. Designed for unlicensed spectrum use, Ericsson’s micro solution provides small dimensions, flexible mounting and superior performance. Qualcomm Technologies provided a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 mobile platform device, with Gigabit LTE capability thanks to the integrated Snapdragon X16 LTE modem.

https://www.ericsson.com/en/news/2017/8/reaching-gigabit-milestones-with-ericsson

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Ericsson joins Zain Kuwait-led utilities transformation project

Zain Kuwait is leading one of the largest utilities digital transformation projects in the Middle East that will oversee the deployment of a smart metering solution, including an Enterprise and Cloud Billing solution and Multiservice Delivery Platform.

As the sole technology partner in the Zain-led consortium, Ericsson will provide a range of Managed Services for improved network operations and security, and for Internet of Things applications. Furthermore, the cross-industry Ericsson Multiservice Delivery Platform will help digitalize channels for consumer interaction, offering personalized and user-friendly services for all types of devices through self-service portals. Additional Ericsson solutions will provide important features for areas such as customer care, post- and prepaid services, performance management, event planning, and analysis of network data.

The project will be completed by 2024.

https://www.ericsson.com/en/press-releases/2017/8/ericsson-joins-zain-kuwait-led-utilities-digital-transformation-project

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Aerohive: Growth in 802.11ac Wave 2 Dual 5 GHz APs

Aerohive Networks is reporting that sales of its dual 5 GHz-based 802.11ac Wave 2 access points accounted for 45 percent of its access point sales in Q2 of 2017. Dual 5 GHz delivers greater network efficiency and performance. Aerohive features artificial intelligence-assisted, software-definable radios (SDR) coupled with RF-IQ technology that can dynamically optimize dual 5 GHz environments for maximum efficiency and performance.

Aerohive said its AP250 and AP550 have both 802.11ac 5 GHz fixed and software-definable radios that can transmit on either the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band. This allows the APs to operate in either 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz mode or dual 5 GHz mode. The latest updates enable these Aerohive access points to autonomously adapt with current environmental and client conditions, mitigating congestion challenges and providing higher network capacity and performance gains. These access points result in a better ROI than fixed-band radios, as both fixed and software-defined radios can be used at all times to serve clients.

“The entire networking world is moving toward the software-defined model, which is what makes the dual 5 GHz solution so compelling,” said Changming Liu, chief technology officer and founder, Aerohive Networks. “We uniquely overcame many technical challenges to isolate radios to support simultaneous dual 5 GHz operation in a compact AP form factor, and give control back to the end user instead of the vendor, with software-defined radios that let them deploy the radio in the best mode they see fit for their environment. This not only gives the end user the best Wi-Fi experience, but also dramatic cost savings by deploying one AP instead of two with less interference, equipment, cabling, and power consumption.”

http://www.aerohive.com/

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Equinix brings AWS Direct Connect to NY

Equinix has established connectivity into Amazon Web Services (AWS) Direct Connect service in the New York region, enabling all Equinix customers in the New York metro the ability to access AWS Direct Connect at all available speeds via Equinix Cloud Exchange or Equinix-provided metro connectivity options.

The Equinix New York campus consists of eight data centers that serve as business hubs for approximately 825 companies across multiple industries, with a high concentration of financial services and media firms. In addition to directly connecting to AWS, Equinix New York customers can choose from a broad range of network services from 125 providers.  Equinix New York data centers are also home to the Equinix Financial eXchange, a large community of financial market participants that exchange data in close proximity to each other to optimize their electronic trading operations.

The addition of New York brings the total number of Equinix metros offering AWS Direct Connect service to seventeen: Amsterdam, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt, Los Angeles, London, Munich, New York, Osaka, Sao Paulo, Seattle, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Warsaw and Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia.

http://www.equinix.com

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NeoPhotonics appoints new CFO

NeoPhotonics announced the appointment of Elizabeth “Beth” Eby as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, replacing Sandra Waechter, Interim Chief Financial Officer, effective immediately.

Beth Eby brings to NeoPhotonics more than 25 years of financial experience at Intel Corporation where she most recently held the position of Vice President of Finance and Group Chief Financial Officer for Intel’s Internet of Things Group. Prior to that she was Vice President of Finance and Group Controller for Corporate Financial Planning & Reporting where she was responsible for all financial, audit committee and SEC reporting. Over the course of her career Ms. Eby also held finance leadership roles related to cost and manufacturing, sales and product planning, including two multi-year assignments in Asia. Ms. Eby obtained a MBA degree from Carnegie Mellon Graduate School of Business and a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from University of Michigan.

http://www.neophotonics.com

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Trend Micro brings Deep Security to AWS GovCloud

Trend Micro is now offering its Deep Security agent in the recently launched Amazon Web Services (AWS) GovCloud Marketplace.

Trend Micro said its Deep Security provides cloud protection from a single agent that scales seamlessly, helping government organizations maintain continuous compliance. .

https://www.trendmicro.com/aws/

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Extreme posts strong quarterly results

Extreme Networks reported quarterly revenue of $178.7 million, GAAP gross margin of 56.9%, and GAAP net income of $12.2 million, or $0.11 per diluted share.

"Led by solid organic growth and continued execution of our recently acquired WLAN business, we concluded 2017 with one of our strongest performances in recent years," stated Ed Meyercord, President and CEO of Extreme Networks.  "During our fourth quarter, revenue from our Extreme solutions portfolio generated organic growth of 6% driven by record wireless performance that was at or above current industry growth rates, while our non-GAAP gross margins expanded by 230 basis points year-over-year to 57.1% through our high-quality solution selling strategy and disciplined approach to discounting.  Even more noteworthy, for the first time since 2013, we achieved positive GAAP earnings, while delivering non-GAAP earnings at or above our expectations for the ninth consecutive quarter.

"The successful integration of our WLAN acquisition validates our pursuit of accretive acquisitions and we are poised to build on this momentum with the recent closing of the Avaya networking business acquisition and the pending closing of the Brocade data center networking business acquisition.  Heading into fiscal 2018, we plan to leverage our expanded market share and significant cross selling opportunities supported by the combination of these transformative acquisitions, greater penetration across our target verticals and the continued introduction of new products and services.   We anticipate these actions will enable us to reach critical mass and build on our leadership position in the enterprise networking industry as we continue to deliver software-driven, end-to-end, wired and wireless networking solutions for enterprise customers," concluded Meyercord.

http://investor.extremenetworks.com

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Verizon Offers Virtual Network Services on AWS

Verizon Enterprise Solutions has extended its Virtual Network Services (VNS) onto the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud,

Verizon said its VNS service on AWS will provide customers with the end-to-end visibility and the control needed to effectively manage mobile-to-cloud transactions.

Verizon VNS on AWS, which is now commercially available, lets AWS users control network and security policy from the enterprise edge directly into their Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) instance. Enterprise customers leveraging AWS will be able to operate an “elastic” hybrid network that can be altered to meet dynamic business requirements – such as the number of company locations and users, bandwidth required by application, storage and backup requirements, and application use by employee – all through Verizon and AWS.

“With this enhancement, Verizon will help enterprise and government organizations to confidently implement mission critical solutions in the cloud,” said Shawn Hakl, vice president of networking and innovation, Verizon. “This offering will help our enterprise customers be able to balance agility, performance, cost and security necessitated by the growth of mobile-to-cloud applications and the Internet of Things.”

"Global businesses trust Verizon to help them implement the right technology strategy to achieve their goals," said Joshua Hofmann, global lead partner ecosystem, Amazon Web Services, Inc. "Verizon’s deep networking and services experience, as well as the scale and flexibility of AWS, provide an invaluable combination for enterprises looking to become more agile, create new efficiencies and grow their business into the future.”

http://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-enterprise-solutions-extends-networking-service-cloud

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Amazon Macie protects sensitive cloud data

Amazon Web Services (AWS) introduced Amazon Macie, a new security service that uses machine learning to help customers prevent data loss by automatically discovering, classifying, and protecting sensitive data in AWS. The service protects data stored in Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), with support for additional AWS data stores coming later this year.

AWS said its fully managed service continuously monitors data access activity for anomalies, and generates detailed alerts when it detects risk of unauthorized access or inadvertent data leaks. Amazon Macie recognizes sensitive data such as personally identifiable information (PII) or intellectual property, and provides customers with dashboards and alerts that give visibility into how this data is being accessed or moved. Customers pay only for the GBs of Amazon S3 content classified and the AWS CloudTrail events analyzed,.

https://aws.amazon.com/macie

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Huawei Launches X-Haul 5G Mobile Bearer Solution

Huawei released its "X-Haul" 5G-oriented mobile bearer solution for providing flexible access capabilities, implementing agile network operations based on a cloud architecture, enabling end-to-end network slicing, and supporting smooth evolution from 4G bearer networks to 5G bearer networks.

Huawei said its solution addresses the three major 5G application scenarios defined by 3GPP: enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC), and ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communication (uRLLC). Each of these scenarios impose high requirements on bearer network bandwidth, latency, connections, and O&M.

The Huawei X-Haul offers full fronthaul and backhaul coverage, supporting IP, microwave, and OTN access technologies.

For backhaul scenarios in areas that have a high population density, Huawei is offering a 50GE/100GE adaptive network slicing router, which provides seamless 100GE compatibility even when providing 50GE base station access. Huawei is also offering a 5G-ready microwave solution, where smooth capacity upgrades are supported through the use of a same frequency band or inter-frequency band Carrier Aggregation (CA) technology, which enables any-media 10GE to site. For fronthaul scenarios, Huawei is offering a 100G Full-outdoor WDM device, which is deployed at the same site as the base station to save optical cable resources.

Huawei X-Haul introduces a cloud-based architecture, with centralized orchestration through the Network Cloud Engine for various network media such as IP, optical and microwave. The device plane introduces Segment Routing, EVPN and OSP-TE protocols, simplifying bearer device control plane protocols and unifying the service model to implement the whole automated management life cycle of the bearer network. This improves the efficiency of network-wide O&M tenfold.

Huawei X-Haul uses the Flexible Ethernet (FlexE) to implement end-to-end network slicing and help operators accelerate new service innovation. FlexE can divide a single physical Ethernet port into multiple Ethernet flexible hard pipes based on timeslot scheduling, implementing service statistical multiplexing in the same slice while without services affecting each other in different slices. Through the Network Cloud Engine, end-to-end coordination between FlexE-based network slices and wireless and core networks is achieved, with support for the flexible slice creation, on-demand bandwidth adjustment, on-demand service-level agreement (SLA) assurance and rapid fault location for each network slice. This enables one network to serve multiple purposes, maximizing backhaul network value.

Huawei X-Haul also introduces highly cost-effective 50GE technology at the access layer, which reduces CAPEX by 30%, while enabling smooth future upgrade to 100GE based on FlexE. At the aggregation and core layers, which use the IP + optical two-layer architecture, the IP layer supports 200GE/400GE interfaces, and the optical layer implements one-hop transmission of wavelengths. Single-wavelength bandwidth can be expanded on demand to 200G/400G. This enables 4G-to-5G bearer network evolution, which will maximize operator investment.

"The 5G era is approaching, and the shape that service modes will take is not yet certain. The Huawei X-Haul solution fully supports 4G/5G bearing, so as to effectively support operators' new service development and expand the business blueprint. In the future, Huawei will continue to promote joint innovation with operators in the 5G field around the world, and join hands with upstream and downstream industry partners to promote the sustainable development of the 5G industry," stated Jeffrey Gao, president of Huawei Router & Carrier Ethernet Product Line.

http://www.huawei.com

See also Project 5G-Xhaul
http://www.5g-xhaul-project.eu

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VMware posts strong Q2, raises guidance

Citing broad strength across its portfolio, VMware announced preliminary financial results for its fiscal 2018 second quarter, saying it now expects revenue to be between $1.894 billion and $1.906 billion, an increase of 11.9% to 12.6% from the second quarter of 2016.

• License revenue for the second quarter is expected to be between $727 million and $737 million, an increase of 12.9% to 14.4% from the second quarter of 2016.
• GAAP operating margin for the second quarter is expected to be between 17.5% and 19.3%, and non-GAAP operating margin is expected to be between 30.5% and 31.1%. GAAP net income per diluted share for the second quarter is expected to be between $0.78 and $0.86 per diluted share, and non-GAAP net income per diluted share is expected to be between $1.15 and $1.19 per diluted share.

VMware also increased fiscal 2018 guidance as follows:

• Total Revenue: Approximately $7.830 billion, up approximately 10% compared to fiscal 2016
• License Revenue: Approximately $3.075 billion, up approximately 10% compared to fiscal 2016
• GAAP Operating Margin: Approximately 20-21%
• Non-GAAP Operating Margin: Approximately 32.7%
• GAAP Net Income Per Diluted Share(1): Approximately $3.19-$3.47 per diluted share
• Non-GAAP Net Income Per Diluted Share(1): Approximately $5.08 per diluted share
• Diluted Share Count: 413 million

http://www.vmware.com

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ADTRAN Adds NG Firewall to its ProCloud Subscription

ADTRAN has expanded its ProCloud Subscription Services Suite with the addition of NG Firewall Powered by Untangle, which delivers content filtering, ransomware, malware and threat protection, application based shaping for bandwidth optimization, virtual private networks (VPN), etc.

ADTRAN's NG Firewall leverages cloud-based architecture that enables its MSP customer to deliver a customizable security service for business owners.

"ADTRAN's ProCloud Subscription Services Suite is a visionary program designed to equip MSPs with profitable best in breed solutions for small and medium business owners," said Scott Devens, chief executive officer of Untangle. "NG Firewall is a great addition to the portfolio and will enable ADTRAN's partners to tackle the challenges small businesses face in an increasingly threatening landscape where cybersecurity is critical."

Untangle, which is headquartered in San Jose, California, specializes in cybersecurity for the "below-enterprise" market, including businesses, home offices, nonprofits, schools and governmental organizations.

http://www.untangle.com
http://www.adtran.com

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Hulu Uses AWS for new live TV service

Hulu has selected Amazon Web Services (AWS) to launch its new, over-the-top (OTT) Live TV service, which launched in May 2017.

AWS said its list of media companies and broadcasters running their media supply chains and OTT delivery pipelines now includes Amazon Video, AOL, BBC, Channel 4, C-SPAN, Daily Voice, Discovery Communications, Flipboard, GoPro, Guardian News & Media, Hearst Corporation, LIONSGATE, NDTV, Netflix, News International, News UK, Newsweek, PBS, Simfy Africa, Sony DADC, SoundCloud, Spotify, Time Inc., and United Daily News.

“Hulu is redefining the television experience for viewers and we have set the technical bar much higher by bringing live TV into the mix,” said Rafael Soltanovich, Vice President, Software development at Hulu. “We selected AWS as our cloud provider because of its leading breadth and depth of capabilities. The elasticity, agility, and security they provide were key to deploying our new service. Putting our stream ingest, repackaging, DVR storage, and origin serving on AWS freed us from having to build out data centers and led to a faster time to market with higher availability.”

http://www.aws.amazon.com

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ADVA Completes MRV Acquisition

ADVA Optical Networking completed its previously announced acquisition of MRV Communications. The deal was valued at $69 million when it was first announced in July.

http://www.advaoptical.com

• MRV Communications was founded in 1988 by Prof. Shlomo Margalit and Dr. Zeev Rav-Noy. The company is headquartered in Chatsworth, California and has R&D centers in Chelmsford, MA, and Yokneam, Israel.
  
• In 2016, ADVA acquired Overture Networks to expand its Carrier Ethernet portfolio and create a NFV product suite, named Ensemble. Earlier this year, Ensemble was selected by Verizon for its virtual uCPE solution.

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Francisco Partners invests $200m in Ericsson's iconectiv

Francisco Partners has invested US$200 million to acquire a 16.7% ownership in iconectiv, an independent subsidiary owned by Ericsson that develops connectivity solutions used by more than 1,200 service providers, regulators, enterprises, and content providers worldwide.

iconectiv is also the global leader in providing numbering solutions and most recently was designated by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to serve as the Local Number Portability Administrator in the U.S.

http://www.iconectiv.com/

• iconectiv, which is based in Bridgewater, New Jersey, was founded as Bellcore in 1984. The company changed its name to Telcordia in 1999. In 2012, Ericsson acquired Telcordia for $1.5 billion in cash from Providence Equity Partners and Warburg Pincus.

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Microsoft announces enterprise blockchain framework

Microsoft introduced its "Coco" Framework for advancing enterprise adoption of blockchain technology.

Microsoft said its Coco Framework reduces the protocol complexity of blockchain while meeting the high-transaction speed, distributed governance and confidentiality requirements of enterprise networks. The Coco Framework by design will be compatible with any ledger protocol and can operate in the cloud and on premises, on any operating system and hypervisor that supports a compatible TEE. Initial Coco Framework implementations will include R3 Corda, Intel Hyperledger Sawtooth, J.P. Morgan Quorum, and Ethereum.

When integrated with a blockchain network, key benefits of the Coco Framework include these:

• Transaction speeds of more than 1,600 transactions per second
• Easily managed data confidentiality without sacrificing performance
• A comprehensive, industry-first distributed governance model for blockchain networks that establishes a network constitution and allows members to vote on all terms and conditions governing the consortium and the blockchain software system

“Blockchain is a transformational technology with the ability to significantly reduce the friction of doing business,” said Mark Russinovich, chief technology officer of Azure at Microsoft. “Microsoft is committed to bringing blockchain to the enterprise. We have listened to the needs of our customers and the blockchain community and are bringing foundational functionality with the Coco Framework. Through an innovative combination of advanced algorithms and trusted execution environments (TEEs), like Intel’s Software Guard Extensions (SGX) or Windows Virtual Secure Mode (VSM), we believe this takes the next step toward making blockchain ready for business.”

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-microsoft-s-coco-framework-for-enterprise-blockchain-networks/

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