China’s 21Vianet data center operator upgrades with Juniper routers

21Vianet, the largest carrier-neutral data center service provider in China, has deployed Juniper Networks' MX Series Universal Routing Platforms using segment routing traffic engineering (SR-TE) protocols.

21Vianet operates a network of over 50 data centers in more than 20 cities nationwide where it houses more than 51,000 network cabinets offering over 2000G of port capacity and providing over 1000G of dedicated high-speed cloud access for its ever-growing user base across the world’s second largest economy.

Juniper says 21Vianet's latest upgrade has not just successfully increased the capacity, scale and stability of its network – but also provided the platform for much-improved efficiency and automation via the implementation of SR-TE protocols, allowing 21Vianet to pass on lower operational costs and management workloads to its customers, all while greatly improving the end-user experience. The implementation of the EVPN-MPLS/VXLAN protocol was applied to support application mobility, allowing network administrators to easily migrate applications within and between various data centers, allowing for operational efficiency while optimizing network traffic flow. The application of segment routing protocols has also enabled simplified traffic management across 21Vianet’s multiple network domains, all while fulfilling the demands of increased bandwidth capacity.

“21Vianet has rapidly established itself among the largest and most influential service providers within the IDC industry in China. We are proud to have helped drive that growth and data center development over the years and are honoured to have once again enabled their latest upgrades in support of their accelerated market expansion. We remain committed to our vision of enabling organizations with our experience-first approach toward networking and we are confident that this ever-deepening relationship with 21Vianet can be a continued growth catalyst for the long-term development of the IDC industry across China and beyond.”

https://newsroom.juniper.net/news/news-details/2021/Chinas-Largest-Carrier-Neutral-Data-Center-Service-Provider-21Vianet-Selects-Juniper-Networks-to-Power-Expanded-Interconnected-Data-Center/default.aspx

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Prosimo targets secure app delivery with multi-cloud networking

Prosimo, a start-up based in Santa Clara, California, emerged from stealth to unveil its Application eXperience Infrastructure (AXI) platform for secure application delivery in multi-cloud environments. The platform is positioned for multi-cloud networking, Zero Trust with Identity Aware Proxy, app micro-segmentation, access to lift-and-shift VMware on AWS, Azure or GCP, app-infrastructure modernization for Kubernetes and service mesh apps, and etc.  

Promiso, whose co-founders Ramesh Prabagaran (CEO) and Nehal Bhau (CTO) were part of the founding team at Viptela that was acquired by Cisco for its SD-WAN solutions, will offer an integrated "infrastructure stack" that provides secure access, app experience, real-time insights and quantified recommendations for multi-cloud. Prosimo  AXI platform is powered by machine learning and works with the platform’s Application-driven Intelligent Results engine (AIR) and AXI Edge.  The platform handles both user-to-app and app-to-app requirements, preventing multiple fragmented initiatives in the cloud. 

The company says this level of integration enables it to offer a per application SLA that includes secure access and optimized connectivity while managing cost. Prosimo says its early customers have experienced:   

• Up to 90% improvement in page load with improved app performance 
• 99% reduction in attack surface with increased security 
• Up to 60% savings in cloud spend 
• Up to 90% reduction in deployment time 

“Our mission is to make infrastructure transparent and secure and to deliver multi-cloud apps with the experience required at scale and controlled by the customer,” said Ramesh Prabagaran, co-founder and CEO of Prosimo. “A new architecture will define how applications should be delivered especially from the cloud -- we are set to lead this trend to help enterprises meet the ever changing needs of cloud applications. We are humbled to see large enterprises validate our vision by taking steps to modernize their stack.”  

The company also announced $25 million in seed and Series A funding co-led by General Catalyst and WRVI Capital with participation from Nepenthe Capital. Dr. Steve Herrod, managing director at General Catalyst, and Lip-Bu Tan, managing partner at WRVI Capital, have joined the board.  

https://www.prosimo.io/

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Who is Prosimo? CTO presentation

https://youtu.be/58YMebmBJwM

Prosimo, a start-up based in Santa Clara, California,  has launched its Application eXperience Infrastructure (AXI) platform for ensuring secure application experiences across multi-cloud environments.

In this 40-minute presentation, Nehal Bhau, Co-founder & CTO, Prosimo, shares his insights on the SD-WAN market, Prosimo's vertically integrated stack and its method to leverage the global infrastructure of the top cloud providers.

Think per application SLAs that include secure access, optimized connectivity and managed cost.

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T-Mobile and Lumen partner on 5G + Edge Computing

T-Mobile U.S. and Lumen Technologies agreed to expand their existing relationship to allow access to Lumen's Edge Computing platform over T-Mobile's 5G network, enabling enterprises to build, manage and scale applications across distributed environments. As part of this collaboration, T-Mobile will also become a preferred wireless connectivity partner for Lumen.

“By pairing America’s largest and fastest 5G network with Lumen’s enterprise solutions, we can break down industry barriers and deliver unparalleled network reach to enterprise and government organizations looking to optimize their applications across networks,” said Mike Katz, EVP of T-Mobile for Business. “With our leading 5G network, Lumen and T-Mobile have the opportunity to accelerate business innovation in an era where the network is more critical than ever.”

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CommScope offers Wi-Fi 6 APs for hotels, MDUs, open spaces

CommScope expanded its Wi-Fi 6 access point (AP) portfolio with new indoor RUCKUS H550 and outdoor RUCKUS T350 models designed for the hospitality industry and MDUs. 

The H550 AP powers the hyper-connected room, enabling hotel, apartment, dormitory and other multi-dwelling unit (MDU) owners and operators. It can be hidden discretely behind or next to cabinets, desks or televisions, providing PoE pass-through for VoIP phones and TVoIP.

The T350 AP delivers high-performance outdoor connectivity in a compact form factor, enabling it to meet the aesthetic requirements of smart spaces, community Wi-Fi installations, airports and other large public venues. In addition to built-in IoT capabilities the T350 includes a USB port to support additional wireless protocols. The T350 is built to handle the harshest outdoor conditions, including extreme temperatures, humidity, wind, salt and fog.

The new APs, like all other RUCKUS APs and switches, serve as data sources for the artificial intelligence (AI)- and machine learning (ML)-powered network analytics capabilities available in RUCKUS Analytics, for use in networks managed by RUCKUS Cloud and SmartZoneOS-based network controllers.

SmartZoneOS powers a family of high-scale physical and virtual network controllers for use by service providers and large enterprises to manage wired and wireless networks. New enhancements to SmartZoneOS include:

• Interoperability with Google’s Orion Wifi, which enables network operators to participate in the global cellular offload market;
• Native integration of Hotspot 2.0 (including Release 3) and RadSec, which simplifies OpenRoaming operations for service providers, enhances subscriber, guest and visitor convenience and opens new opportunities for roaming-driven revenue;
• A re-architected user interface that improves administrator experience through easy navigability, new search and “favorites” functionality, and faster response time; and
• Social login functionality, which makes it easier than ever for operators to facilitate a positive guest experience, and an enhanced captive portal that simplifies operations for administrators.

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Telefónica and Liberty Global advance their JV planning in the UK

Liberty Global and Telefónica will appoint Lutz Schüler as Chief Executive Officer and Patricia Cobian as Chief Financial Officer of the proposed 50-50 joint venture combining Virgin Media and O2. The merger is subject to approval by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK.

Lutz Schüler joined Virgin Media in 2018 as Chief Operating Officer and has been CEO at Virgin Media since June 2019. Prior to that, Schüler spent more than seven years as CEO of Unitymedia GmbH, Liberty Global’s highly successful German operation, which was sold to Vodafone in 2018. During his tenure at Virgin Media he has transformed business performance with the acceleration of 1 Gig broadband, the rollout of new entertainment and smart WiFi services and the market’s first fixed-mobile bundles. Schüler is a 27-year veteran of the telecoms industry, beginning his career at T-Mobile Deutschland in 1994 and later serving in various senior management roles, including Chief Operating Officer, with Telefonica’s O2 German subsidiary from 1998 to 2010.

Patricia Cobian is currently Chief Financial Officer for O2, a position she has held since 2016. During a 15-year career with Telefónica she has held a number of senior management positions. Before taking on her current role, Cobian was Director for Business Development in Telefónica Europe, where she led strategy, marketing innovation and played a key role in a number of partnerships, spectrum auctions, infrastructure sharing deals and key acquisitions and divestitures in the region. She also led the post-merger integration planning of Telefónica Deutschland with ePlus. Before joining Telefónica, Cobian was a consultant with the TMT and Corporate Finance practices of McKinsey & Company.

Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global, and José Maria Alvarez-Pallete Lopez, CEO of Telefonica, commented: “We are about to embark on an exciting new chapter for Virgin Media and O2, and Lutz and Patricia are the right leaders to deliver on our ambition to create the UK’s national connectivity champion. Together they will build a strong, diverse and dynamic team that will bring more choice, more value and world-class innovation to over 46 million fixed and mobile customers and the broader consumer and enterprise market.”

Liberty's Virgin Media to merge with Telefónica's O2

Thursday, May 07, 2020  Mergers And Acquisitions, O2, Service Providers, Telefonica, UK, Virgin  

Liberty Global plc and Telefónica SA will merge their operating businesses in the U.K. to form a 50:50 joint venture focused on broadband + mobile + video + entertainment consumer services. O2 is the largest mobile platform in the UK, while Virgin Media claims to be the nation's fastest broadband network.

The "fully-converged" JV is also expected to become a leading challenger in the B2B space as the combination will accelerate the adoption of converged fixed-mobile services to Virgin Media’s and O2’s existing business customers.

The JV will have an approximate annual turnover of £11 billion, and 46 million mobile, home, and business connections.

The companies cite significant operating benefits for the JV, with estimated run-rate cost, CAPEX and revenue synergies of £540 million on an annual basis by the fifth full year post closing, equivalent to a net present value of approximately £6.2 billion post tax and net of integration costs, as well as significant synergies from the accelerated usage of existing tax assets. The vast majority of the benefits relate to demonstrable cost and CAPEX synergies, with an annual run-rate of approximately £430 million out of which approximately 80% are expected to be achieved by the third full year after the closing.

CAPEX synergies:

• Use of existing infrastructure to provide services for each entity’s customers at lower cost compared to standalone / wholesale capabilities;
• Migration of Virgin Media mobile traffic to Telefonica UK’s network;
• Combination of regional and national network infrastructures and IT systems;
• Reduction in combined marketing expenditures;
• Potential to reduce general and administration costs; and 
• Site rationalization

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Zayo to expand its fiber network in Florida

Zayo announced the final phase of construction for a network expansion in Central Florida, including Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Bradenton, Lakeland, Orlando, Daytona Beach, Palm Bay and the surrounding areas. The additional 2,600 route miles of fiber will complement Zayo’s existing network, spanning 13 million fiber miles and providing connectivity to customers located in over 400 markets worldwide.

Zayo notes that this new fiber is installed completely underground, supporting network stability by protecting against weather-related events. Zayo is the owner and operator of the fiber, resulting in a more seamless customer experience.

“In addition to the first-ever Private Dedicated Network solutions in the state, the quality, density and diversity of our network provide a significant advantage to our customers,” said Marty Snella, SVP of Strategic Implementation. “Our expanded footprint in Florida underscores our commitment to extending global reach opportunities to the businesses and organizations that are fueling impressive growth and innovation.”

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Verizon Business teams with AWS on mobile edge computing

Verizon Business and Amazon Web Services (AWS) will be expanding their 5G collaboration to deliver private mobile edge computing (MEC) to enterprise customers in the U.S. 

The solution will fully integrate Verizon’s Private 5G networks and Private Edge platform with AWS Outposts, a fully managed service that offers the same AWS infrastructure, services, APIs, and tools to virtually any datacenter, co-location space, or on-premises facility for a truly consistent hybrid experience.  The platform supports unified connectivity, compute and storage, without having the need for the customer to own extensive networking and IT infrastructure. The new, fully managed private MEC solution will support a wide range of industrial manufacturing applications, such as autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), predictive maintenance, quality assurance, and near real-time monitoring and hazard alerts. Verizon’s Private 5G Edge platform will give customers a reliable, secure, high bandwidth, low latency connection to AWS services, APIs, and tools running on AWS Outposts. Additionally, two smaller AWS Outposts — 1U and 2U form factors — will give customers options to deploy AWS on-premises in space-constrained locations.

The companies said their solution will enable real-time enterprise applications like intelligent logistics, predictive maintenance, robotics, factory automation, etc. Corning will be the first company to leverage this private MEC solution.

“Verizon’s 5G is the platform for 21st century innovation and customers are looking to rapidly innovate, improve performance, and create new revenue streams,” said Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business. “Developers are already creating new latency-dependent solutions that run on the Verizon/AWS public MEC service launched last year. Our private MEC offering will unlock that same potential for enterprise customers who need to maintain a secure, closed environment in factories, warehouses and other facilities.”

“Private MEC is a natural expansion of our collaboration with Verizon,” said Dave Brown, Vice President Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) at AWS. “Customers are already leveraging AWS Wavelength's ability to provide ultra-low latency access to end users for use cases like video distribution, inference at the edge, AR/VR, and connected vehicles. Now, Private 5G MEC from AWS and Verizon brings ultra-low latency to dedicated, closed, on-premises environments for use cases such as autonomous mobile robots, quality assurance, and hazard alerting.”

“We’re living through one of the greatest communications evolutions in history – and at the center of it all are optical networks. At Corning, our vision is to accelerate the ways in which innovation improves people’s lives and brings the world closer together, which includes partnering with industry leaders such as Verizon and AWS to make the promise of 5G a reality,” said Michael A. Bell, senior vice president and general manager of Corning’s Optical Communications business. “We believe 5G will revolutionize the way people and companies interact with technology, and we’re excited to advance these developments in our own plant, where we manufacture the optical cable needed to support the networks. Now, with Verizon’s 5G network and mobile edge computing solution using AWS Outposts, we’re leveraging technologies like autonomous mobile robots to demonstrate how manufacturers can increase efficiency.” 

Verizon 5G Edge with AWS Wavelength now available in eight cities

Tuesday, December 01, 2020    

Verizon has activated its 5G Edge with AWS Wavelength service in Las Vegas, its eighth mobile edge computing location.  Verizon and AWS announced their partnership at AWS re:Invent in 2019 and have since launched mobile edge computing (MEC) capabilities in Atlanta, the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, Dallas, Las Vegas, Miami, New York and Washington, DC, with plans to add two additional cities by year end.Verizon 5G Edge with AWS Wavelength...

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Measuring the latency of AWS Wavelength on Verizon 5G

Tuesday, December 01, 2020  AWS  

AvidThink recently performed a series of basic throughput and latency tests on AWS Wavelength on Verizon’s network: Part 1 - https://avidthink.com/analysis/aws-wavelength-verizon-real-world-perspective/ Part 2 - https://avidthink.com/analysis/aws-wavelength-verizon-real-world-perspectives-part-2/ In this video, Roy Chua, founder and principal of AvidThink, and Jim Carroll, Editor of Converge! Network Digest, discuss the test methodology...

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DISH picks Palo Alto Networks to help secure 5G network

DISH Network has selected Palo Alto Networks to help secure its upcoming cloud-native, OpenRAN-based 5G wireless network.

DISH will leverage Palo Alto Networks for container security, secure network slicing, real-time threat correlation and dynamic security enforcement. DISH will use Palo Alto Networks' industry-first, cloud-native security offering, including the VM-series and CN-series Next-Generation Firewalls, as well as Prisma Cloud. Financial terms were not disclosed.

"As part of our efforts to revolutionize wireless connectivity, it's imperative that we integrate security into our 5G network from the ground up. As a result, we are incorporating innovative, next-generation vendors to provide our network with 5G-native security solutions from day one of deployment," said Marc Rouanne, Chief Network Officer, DISH. "Palo Alto Networks is a leading security provider that excels  at safeguarding enterprises, mobile networks and cloud platforms."

"5G promises much more than increased browsing speeds on mobile devices. When built as a secure network, 5G can bring massive business transformation and enable smart supply chains, autonomous transportation, smart manufacturing, mass adoption of the Internet of Things and much more," said Lee Klarich, Chief Product Officer, Palo Alto Networks. "This is why we are delighted to help DISH achieve its vision to build a first-of-its-kind, open, secure 5G network."

http://www.paloaltonetworks.com

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Crehan: growth in 25GbE, 50GbE, 100GbE NICs, as well as SmartNICs

Data center customers deployed seven million more server-class Ethernet Network Interface Card (NIC) ports in 2020 than in 2019, resulting in a new record high for this market, according to a recent report from Crehan Research. Most of the new deployments were 25 gigabit Ethernet (GbE), 50GbE, and 100GbE NICs. This, in combination with a strong increase in SmartNIC adoption, drove revenue growth well above the year’s robust shipment growth.

Even with these strong results in 25GbE, 50GbE and 100GbE NICs as well as SmartNICs, Crehan’s report indicates that these technologies are still mostly in the early stages of adoption and should have numerous years of growth ahead.

“More users, deploying more applications requiring more bandwidth, fueled strong demand for both faster and smarter server-class Ethernet NICs,” said Seamus Crehan, president of Crehan Research. “Although there are factors specific to the pandemic that helped accelerate demand, these are still long-term trends that will continue to drive increased server-class Ethernet NIC deployments.”

Other noteworthy results from Crehan’s Server-Class Ethernet Adapter & LOM/Controller (NIC) report include:

• 200GbE NICs started to ship in 2020, with Nvidia currently driving these volumes.
• 100GbE NICs saw particularly strong demand in the latter half of 2020, helped by the arrival of server platforms for artificial intelligence workloads, such as Facebook’s Zion. Broadcom and Nvidia were the main drivers of this strong 100GbE NIC growth.
• Intel accounted for the majority of total server-class Ethernet NIC shipments in 2020.

“We have entered a period of increased server-class Ethernet NIC innovation, as vendors and data center operators look for different and creative ways to address the new vectors of bandwidth demand coming from areas such as artificial intelligence, 5G and Edge computing, and disaggregated compute and networking,” Crehan said.

https://www.crehanresearch.com/

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HE-NET deploys Padtec's 200G in Bahia, Brazil

HE-NET, the largest telecom operator in the state of Bahia, Brazil, has deployed Padtec's 200 Gbps transponders, optical amplifiers, and route protection systems to upgrade its optical network.

The upgrade will light up the provider’s new routes in Bahia – two optical rings that connect the main municipalities in the south and southwest of the state. Padtec has also supplied the OTDR (Optical Time-Domain Reflectometer) solution, which allows operators to remotely and automatically monitor the performance of their optical networks over long distances.  The OTDR is produced by Padtec using technology developed by VIAVI.

HE-NET also uses the latest Padtec NMS+ platform which allows monitoring and managing data traffic on its new DWDM optical routes in real time. 

For Helder Araujo, HE-NET’s Executive Director, states “In recent years, HE-NET has stood out as the provider with the highest speed broadband services in its coverage area according to the main measurement sites in the country... Our goal is to continue to be recognized for offering a unique connectivity experience and this is only possible with significant investments in infrastructure and innovation in products and services. In that regard, Padtec’s DWDM solution is an important ally for the evolution of our optical networks” he adds.

https://www.padtec.com.br/en/padtec-lights-up-a-200-gbs-optical-system-for-he-net-in-bahia/

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OpenFive intros Die-to-Die PHY

OpenFive, a SiFive Business Unit, introduced a Die-to-Die (D2D) PHY that complements the company’s existing D2D Controller to offer complete D2D interface solutions for various packages including substrates and interposers.

OpenFive said its new D2D PHY helps disaggregate large SoC die into smaller die, resulting in better yield, cost and power savings. It features up to 16Gbps NRZ signals with clock forwarding architecture. Each channel, comprising of 40 IOs, can provide effective throughput of up to ~1.75Tbps/mm. Users can stack up multiple channels to further increase overall throughput. The PHY also features built-in PLL, programmable output drivers, and link training state machines.

“The D2D subsystem, including both the controller and PHY, provides best-in-class latency, performance and power profile for various IO, CPU and analog chiplets,” said Ketan Mehta, Sr. Director, Product/Application Marketing, SoC IP, at OpenFive.

“OpenFive’s die-to-die connectivity IP solution will enable widespread integration of proven solutions from chiplet ecosystem partners,” said Mohit Gupta, SVP and GM SoC IP at OpenFive. “As a custom ASIC and IP provider, OpenFive is well-positioned to provide an entire chiplet solution to our customers at any stage of development, whether it be during design, integration, manufacturing, or testing of Known-Good-Die (KGD).”

http://www.openfive.com/ip

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LG exits the smartphone business

 LG Electronics confirmed that it is closing its mobile business unit on a global basis. The company said its strategic decision to exit the incredibly competitive mobile phone sector will enable it to focus resources in growth areas such as electric vehicle components, connected devices, smart homes, robotics, artificial intelligence and business-to-business solutions, as well as platforms and services.

LG plans to continue to develop mobility-related technologies such as 6G to help further strengthen competitiveness in other business areas. 

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America's $100 billion broadband surge - Fiber Broadband Association's Gary Bolton

President Biden's American Jobs Plan is calling for a historic investment of $100 billion over 8 years to "bring affordable, reliable, high-speed broadband to every American", including for the more than 35 percent of rural Americans who lack access to broadband at minimally acceptable speeds. The goal is 100% coverage. If approved by Congress, the plan would set off a wave of network construction.

In this interview, Gary Bolton, President, Fiber Broadband Association, shares his insights on the proposal and how it could be carried out.

https://youtu.be/g6bdQHt9bVE

2:42 - Is the $100 billion plan justified? Is there a way to calculate if this figure is warranted?

5:06 - Is there any evidence that communities with fiber broadband get an economic boost from the investment?

8:06 - Will the funding be directed exclusively at the last mile fiber connection or will it also include other necessary upgrades to metro and regional infrastructure?

11:09 - How will the plan be administered? Via the FCC or other government agencies?

15:07 - America values the competitive marketplace. Will there be restrictions or guidelines with this funding as to whether the networks must provide open access to other broadband providers?

17:46 - What does the timeline look like from proposal to legislation to Congressional vote, to actual project funding? 

https://youtu.be/g6bdQHt9bVE

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AT&T perspective: Defining Broadband For the 21st Century

The question of how broadband should be redefined above the current 25/3 (downlink/uplink) threshold is expected to drive subsidy decisions and technology direction in the massive infrastructure bill backed by the Biden administration.

In a blog posting on March 26, Joan March, AT&T's Executive Vice President of Federal Regulatory Relations, argues that key considerations will be whether the future broadband service needs to be symmetric and whether gigabit speeds are practical or even necessary for rural users.

https://www.attpublicpolicy.com/wireless/defining-broadband-for-the-21st-century/

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5G adoption is tracking 3X as fast as LTE

 Global adoption of 5G is happening at 3X the pace as with 4G LTE, according newly released statistics from the trade organization 5G Americas.

According to data provided by Omdia, the world added 385.5 million 5G subscribers between Q4 2019 and Q4 2020 to reach 401 million 5G connections globally, shrugging off the challenges of a global pandemic and economic headwinds. 

Chris Pearson, President, 5G Americas said, “5G is in its early stages of fulfilling its full potential, as the industry has just finished the second inning of a nine-inning baseball game. In the second full year of commercially available 5G, the industry went from 15.4 million to 401 million subscribers. The uptake of 5G connections will accelerate significantly over the next few years.”

Some highlights from 5G Americas:

• Omdia projects that by the end of 2025, global 5G connections will reach 3.4 billion. Regionally, the number of connections is forecast to reach 451 million in North America and 167 million in the Caribbean and Latin America by the end of 2025.
• From a commercial availability standpoint, an additional 105 5G networks went live globally in 2020, bringing the total up to 163 5G networks. The number of commercial 5G networks is expected to reach 277 by the end of 2021, according to data from TeleGeography. The growing availability of 5G-enabled devices has also blossomed, with the Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) noting there are now 628 5G devices announced, of which 404 were commercially available by the end of February 2021.
• In addition to 5G, 4G LTE connections also experienced healthy growth in 2020, surpassing year-end projections of 5.73 billion to reach a total of 6 billion connections. Of those, 499 million 4G LTE connections are from North America and 407 million from Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Broken down regionally, North America had 19.96 million 5G connections and 499 million LTE connections by the end of Q4 2020. For the region, this amounts to a 4098% annual growth in 5G, and a gain of over 19.5 million 5G connections over the year. Meanwhile, 4G LTE gained over 22 million connections in 2020, which represents 4.7% growth.
• With 5G just beginning in Latin America and the Caribbean, the region saw 6340 5G subscriptions added in the year of 2020. In contrast, LTE continued its strong growth, ending Q4 2020 with 407 million LTE subscriptions (13% YoY growth). 

According to Jose Otero, Vice President of Caribbean and Latin America for 5G Americas “"Two elements can contribute to the proliferation of new commercial 5G networks in Latin America and the Caribbean. First, the increased availability of 5G-ready devices, especially for fixed wireless services. Second, governments' efforts to accelerate the launch of 5G networks that include spectrum assignment processes, 5G incubator projects, spectrum auction announcements and incentives for 5G trials.”

The number of networks using 4G and 5G wireless technologies are summarized here, as of March 2021:

Global

• 5G:  163
• LTE Advanced: 340
• LTE: 678

North America 

• 5G: 10
• LTE Advanced: 11
• LTE: 20

Latin America & Caribbean

5G: 13

• LTE Advanced: 48
• LTE: 124

*Source: TeleGeography and 5G Americas

https://www.5gamericas.org/5g-achieves-mass-market-appeal/

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DC BLOX begins data center construction in South Carolina

 DC BLOX initiated construction of its Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina data center. The data center, designed to Uptime Institute’s Tier III standards, will be the first-of-its-kind multi-tenant data center in South Carolina. The facility will be capable of protecting Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), providing enterprises and government entities throughout South Carolina access to a highly efficient, secure and interconnected data center.

DC BLOX’s Greenville data center is set upon an 8.5-acre campus in the Global Business Park off of Interstate 85. Upon full build-out, the facility will feature six distinct data halls with 54,000 square feet of data center space with a full critical load capable of supporting 18MW of power. The data center will also feature approximately 7,000 square feet of secure storage and shared and dedicated office space.

“With the first Tier III-designed data center now under construction in South Carolina, businesses adopting digital transformation strategies are set to have access to the most reliable and interconnected facility in the State,” comments Mark Masi, Chief Operating Officer of DC BLOX. “Whether it’s a prime location, cloud storage, disaster recovery, or an expanded data center footprint, we are proud to bring this state-of-the-art data center campus to South Carolina. Now, even more companies can leverage reliable and efficient data center services and private, high-speed, low latency network access to cloud providers and applications at scale.”

http://www.dcblox.com

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Yugabyte raises $48 million for database-as-a-service

 Yugabyte, a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California, secured $48 million in venture funding for its open source distributed SQL databases for Internet-scale operations.

The funding will also be used to further accelerate enterprise adoption of Yugabyte’s commercial products. Yugabyte Platform, a self-managed private database-as-a-service offering available on any public, private, or hybrid cloud or Kubernetes infrastructure and Yugabyte Cloud, a fully-managed database service currently available on AWS and Google Cloud, have seen broad adoption in the past 12 months. Yugabyte also recently announced YugabyteDB 2.4, a major update including hardened enterprise-grade security features, enhanced multi-region deployment capabilities and significant performance improvements.

The funding round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with additional participation by Greenspring Associates, Dell Technologies Capital, Wipro Ventures and 8VC. 

“Today’s business environment demands flexibility and elasticity from database solutions, and distributed SQL is now critical for any organization where developer productivity and application uptime are top priorities. YugabyteDB makes something as fundamental and feature rich as PostgreSQL truly cloud native, resilient, elastic, and distributed,” said Kannan Muthukkaruppan, Co-Founder and President, Yugabyte. “With companies of all kinds accelerating their digital transformation initiatives, technologies that help them accelerate, like YugabyteDB, are in high demand. This new round of funding will position Yugabyte to meet this increased enterprise demand and power our global expansion into key markets.”

http://www.yugabyte.com

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BridgeComm pushes Free Space Optical to 100 Gbps

BridgeComm will demonstrated its point-to-point free space optical solution operating at speeds beyond 100 Gbps at the Hampton Inn in Sneads Ferry, NC, in conjunction with a global conference April 6-15. The demo is enabled by BridgeComm's extensive work in free space optical technology and Nokia's network equipment and services backed by Nokia Bell Labs.

"We are excited to bring our point-to-point (P2P) technology out of the lab and in front of customers," said Barry Matsumori, BridgeComm CEO. "By incorporating our optical wireless communications with Nokia's industry-leading infrastructure telecommunication tools, we can support the diverse demands for data, speed and security end-users require beyond the reach of fiber and without the compromises of radio communications."

BridgeComm and Nokia will leverage existing commercial technology to design, construct and operate a private wireless network. The largely virtualized network will be based on standardized 3GPP architectures and allow for a cost-efficient yet highly scalable network testbed that will enable rapid experimentation of applications. Each connected private wireless location will 

http://bridgecomminc.com/demo_p2p.html

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TSMC vows $100 billion to upgrade its capacity.

TSMC is planning to spend up to $100 billion over the next three years to significantly upgrade capacity amidst the global shortfall in semiconductor manufacturing, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

The Taiwanese company has previously announced a record capital expenditure budget of $28 billion for 2021 including its investment in a new fab in Arizona.

The disclosure comes one week after Intel announced plans to invest $20 billion in its own facilities and to enter the contract manufacturing business.

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