AMS-IX Internet Exchange Hits Milestone of 3 Tbps Peak Traffic

AMS-IX (Amsterdam Internet Exchange) has broken the data transfer speed record of 3 Terabits per second (Tbps) for the first time on September 14th -- an all time record for The Netherlands. Last year in September, peak speed on AMS-IX was 2.4 Tbps.

“Breaking this barrier makes us really proud”, says Job Witteman, CEO at AMS-IX. “In the past year some great, international organisations for who the Internet is of vital importance, connected to AMS-IX. The data traffic that is being exchanged via AMS-IX, keeps on growing. In July 2010, when we reached the barrier of 1 Tbps, we never expected to reach the 3 Tbps barrier this fast. This proves that the continuous expansion of our network, the increase of existing connections, adding exchange locations to our network and improving technical support is profitable.”

https://ams-ix.net/technical/statistics

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New Spec Targets Low Cost 100G for Data Centers

An industry consortium released a detailed specification (revision 1.0) for low cost 100G interfaces targeting data center applications.

The CWDM4 architecture employs 4 lanes of 25 Gbps using Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing (CWDM) technology to transport 100G optical traffic across duplex single mode fiber (SMF). The specification is designed to take advantage of Forward Error Correction (FEC) on the host port, in accordance with IEEE 802.3bj KR4 RS FEC.  The consortium said its spec was developed through a broad review process, soliciting detailed feedback from a large group of industry experts from more than 40 companies that include system OEMs, optical component vendors, chip vendors, and fiber cabling
manufacturers.

“The CWDM4 MSA has achieved a key milestone today in the push towards mass adoption of 100G interfaces in data center applications,” said Vladimir Kozlov, Founder and CEO of Lightcounting Market Research. “Achieving revision 1.0 allows the industry to move forward in developing a common, ubiquitous optics platform for next generation data center applications.”

The CWDM4 MSA consortium was formed earlier this year by Avago Technologies, Finisar, JDSU, Oclaro, and Sumitomo Electric. Over the past six months, the group has grown to include Brocade, ColorChip, Hitachi Metals, Juniper Networks, Kaiam, Mitsubishi Electric, Neophotonics, Oplink, Skorpios Technologies, and SiFotonics.

http://www.cwdm4-msa.org/

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Ericsson to Acquire Fabrix for Cloud DVR

Ericsson agreed to acquire Fabrix Systems, a provider of cloud storage, computing and network delivery for cable and telecom cloud DVR deployments, for US$95 million.

Fabrix Systems, which has offices in Princeton, New Jersey and and Israel, developed a software-based, scale out, network attached storage (NAS) system that leverages the available processing resources on the cluster to also perform distributed computing. It features a "Shared Nothing" architecture and a Storage and Processing Grid that integrates media workflows and can ingest, store, process and stream massive amount of media.  The company has 103 employees and was founded in 2006.

Per Borgklint, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Unit Support Solutions at Ericsson says, "We are investing significantly across our TV platform and video-network areas to extend our market leadership position. Our Media Vision 2020 shows that traditional TV is shifting rapidly towards TV Anywhere and Ericsson's leadership in broadcast, video and networks places us in a unique position to enable the most demanding customers to define and deliver the future of TV. Fabrix Systems further positions Ericsson to help customers deliver on the Networked Society's global demand for personalized video content on any screen, at any time."

http://www.ericsson.com/news/1855552
http://www.fabrixsystems.com/

• Fabrix Systems is headed by Mr. Ram Ben-Yakir, who was previously a cofounder of Elgix Ltd. Previously, he was Vice President of Engineering with Bandwiz Inc. where he was responsible for developing a Multicast VOD Server, and a video assets P2P distribution system.

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Google Lures Start-ups to its Cloud

Google is launches an incentive program to lure early-stage start-ups to uses its cloud platform.

Google Cloud Platform for Startups offers $100,000 in Cloud Platform credit, 24/7 support and access to Google's technical solutions team.

The offer is open to start-ups globally who have received less than $5 million in venture funding and who less than $500K in revenue.

Google also announced that Audi is using its cloud to power the Audio Connected Car initiatives.

https://cloud.google.com/developers/startups/

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MTN Picks Huawei for Managed Services in African Markets

South Africa-base MTN  awarded a five-year managed services contract to Huawei covering the six countries in which the group operates globally, including Ghana, Cameroon, Guinea and Benin.  The contract encompasses a range of services such as managed network operations, network performance management and spare parts management.  Financial terms were not disclosed.

MTN has been a long-term partner of Huawei in managed services.  In the next five years, Huawei will continue to operate, optimize, transform and improve MTN’s operations and services with Huawei’s Managed Services Unified Platform (MSUP) and support from its global expertise in MAI (Measure, Analyze, Improve), to ensure greater efficiency and business value can be achieved at MTN.

http://www.huawei.com

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Honda Rides NTT Com's SDN-Powered Enterprise Cloud Service

NTT Communications is providing a global enterprise cloud service that Honda Motor Co. is leveraging for its global supplier network.

Specifically, NTT Com has been providing the automaker with its Enterprise Cloud service from delivery centers in Japan and Singapore since 2013. To date, Honda has increased its file-sharing speed by a factor of 14, while reducing operating costs by 30% on an annual basis. Honda is currently planning to expand its use of Enterprise Cloud infrastructure in other key areas of its global business.

NTT Com’s Enterprise Cloud, the first private cloud to deploy Software Defined Networking (SDN), is built on global cloud infrastructure provided from 11 delivery centers in 9 countries. The service leverages SDN to provide flexible support for critical enterprise applications.

Honda’s global network encompasses more than 10,000 suppliers and 54 countries. In 2011, it began reorganizing its internal system for development, procurement and production in specific markets, aiming to strengthen cross-group collaboration to quickly launch price-competitive products that meet local demands. Such collaboration requires the sharing of CAD and other huge data files with suppliers globally, but Honda experienced difficulties with differing systems and security levels among its many markets, resulting in slow data transfers along with added time and cost to introduce new systems.

http://www.ntt.com/enterprise_cloud_e

In May 2014, NTT Communications introduced a suite of NFV-enabled services that can be instantly activated online and are powered by Virtela's global SDN platform.  Virtela Technology Services was acquired by NTT Com in January 2014.

The new services are offered via a pay-per-use model under NTT Com’s Arcstar Universal One portfolio, which are delivered to enterprise customers in more than 190 countries/regions worldwide. The new services will become officially available for sales starting from July 2014.

NTT Com said the new cloud-based network services make branch office networking more asset-light, agile, scalable and economical.  The launch includes the following four new cloud-based network services:

• Cloud-Based Application Acceleration: Optimizes application performance over the IP-VPN network, enabling global IT consolidation and faster access to cloud-hosted applications
• Cloud-Based Firewall: This service offers Firewall, IPS, and URL Filtering options, and enables secure Internet access at branch offices using the nearest of 50 Local Cloud Networking Centers distributed globally
• Cloud-Based IPSEC VPN Gateway: Establishes quick enterprise network connections from public cloud or any site with Internet access
• Cloud-Based SSL VPN: Enables remote workers or partners using any device to access the enterprise network.

"While many industry experts and service providers have long been speaking about the potential of NFV, we are excited to become the first service providers to commercialize NFV-enabled services on a global scale," says Takashi Ooi, NTT Com’s Vice President of Enterprise Network Service.

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Equinix Delivers High Precision Time from Perseus Telecom for Financial Firms

Equinix has begun offering "High Precision Time" by Perseus Telecom to financial firms colocated in its major data centers around the world.

The service can be used by companies in the financial industry to time-stampi trades with NIST (The National Institute of Standards and Technology) timing.  Equinix and Perseus have simplified this task by offering High Precision Time to Equinix customers in Chicago (CH1), Frankfurt (FR2), London (LD4), New York (NY4) and Tokyo (TY3).

Equinix said that by offering financial firms a standardized method of time-stamping trades globally, it enables them to more efficiently and cost effectively connect to the NIST time scale in Boulder, Colo. through the very data centers in which trades are occurring.

"With its network-rich data centers and savvy customer base ready to embrace new technology, Equinix was a natural partner in making High Precision Time globally available. We anticipate great demand for our solution and are looking at deepening our relationship with Equinix in Hong Kong, São Paulo, Singapore, Sydney and Toronto to proliferate our offering," stated Dr. Jock Percy, CEO, Perseus Telecom.

http://www.equinix.com
http://perseustelecom.com/

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HP Acquires Eucalyptus to Accelerate Hybrid Cloud Adoption

HP agreed to acquire Eucalyptus, a developer of open source software for building private and hybrid enterprise clouds. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Eucalyptus, which is based in Goleta, California, offers open source software for building private clouds that are compatible with AWS APIs.

Eucalyptus Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Marten Mickos, will join HP as senior vice president and general manager of the Cloud business, reporting to Meg Whitman, chairman, president and chief executive officer of HP. In this role, Mickos will lead the HP Cloud organization in building out the HP Helion portfolio, based on OpenStack technology. Prior to Eucalyptus, Mickos was CEO of MySQL, which he grew from a garage start-up to the company providing the second most widely used open source software in the world.

“The addition of Marten to HP’s world-class Cloud leadership team will strengthen and accelerate the strategy we’ve had in place for more than three years, which is to help businesses build, consume and manage open source hybrid clouds,” said Whitman.

“Eucalyptus and HP share a common vision for the future of cloud in the enterprise,” said Mickos. “Enterprises are demanding open source cloud solutions, and I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to grow the HP Helion portfolio and lead a world-class business that delivers private, hybrid, managed and public clouds to enterprise customers worldwide.”

Martin Fink, who currently leads HP’s Cloud business, will remain in his roles as chief technology officer of HP and director of HP Labs, where he will focus on innovation and creating groundbreaking solutions like The Machine. Fink will also continue to lead HP’s Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) business.

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/hp-news/press-release.html?id=1790521#.VBKHly5dXTg

https://www.eucalyptus.com

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D-Link Ships 802.11ac Unified Wireless Access Point

D-Link introduced a high power, 802.11ac unified wireless access point with advanced radio management and security features.

The DWL-8610AP delivers maximum wireless signal rates of up to 450 Mbps using the 2.4 GHz band, and 1300 Mbps using the 5 GHz band.  It can be powered using the included AC to DC adapter, or directly through the network cable using Power over Ethernet from any switch or midspan injector that supports IEEE 802.3at.

The AP can be flexibly deployed as an autonomously managed, standalone wireless access point, or as a centrally managed access point controlled by a D-Link Unified Wireless Switch or Wireless Controller. Some additional features include:

• Band Steering: detects and steers 5 GHz capable clients away from the overcrowded 2.4 GHz network to the less congested 5 GHz network.
• Load balancing: ensures maximum performance by limiting the maximum number of users per access point.
• Beamforming technology: enables even greater reach. By focusing the wireless signal at connected devices, it guarantees continuous fast wireless speeds, even under heavy network utilization or in areas that have bad wireless signal. 
• Plenum-rated chassis: adheres to strict fire regulations for placement in air passageways.

http://www.dlink.com/dwl-8610ap

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Ericsson to Offer SAP Mobile Secure for Enterprises

Ericsson and SAP are collaborating to securely deliver network-enabled cloud solutions, which will provide users with secure access to their business apps and content on mobile devices.

Under the agreement, Ericsson will offer SAP Mobile Secure, a set of cloud-based solutions, combined with an IT managed service offering, expanding its portfolio of services available for its 400+ mobile network operators.

The companies said the partnership will bring together SAP Mobile Secure with the stability and scalability offered by Ericsson IT managed services and service delivery capabilities.  Worldwide, Ericsson manages networks that serve 600 million subscribers and additionally provides managed services for networks that serve 1 billion subscribers.

"With its heritage in mobile security, SAP is known for its ability to develop flexible offerings that can be tailored to the needs of any enterprise," said said Per Borgklint, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Unit Support Solutions, Ericsson. "With the increased focus of mobile workforce productivity, this solution will enable fast deployment using the software-as-a-service delivery model.  By using this model, we can serve both small enterprises that might not have expertise in IT security as well as the Fortune 100 companies with complex needs that require more customization."

"As mobile network operators (MNOs) strive to support the changing mobile needs for enterprises, the planned EMM solution from Ericsson and SAP will allow them to better address these needs with faster time to market and minimal infrastructure cost," said Rick Costanzo, executive vice president and general manager, SAP Mobile Solutions. "While demand for mobile traffic is increasing, controlling the costs of their network and driving innovation will be the keys to success for mobile network operators. Through Ericsson's long-term relationships with every major telecom operator worldwide and SAP's proven ability to deliver the most complete and scalable cloud-based mobile security solution, this collaboration will provide MNOs with new service offerings, new revenue streams and stronger ties with their customers."

http://www.ericsson.com/news/1855103

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Dell'Oro: VDSL and GPON Drive Strong Q2 Access Market

Total second quarter Access revenue, including PON, DSL, and Cable, surged 12% over the year-ago period, according to a new report from Dell'Oro Group.  This growth was driven by a greater than 30% increase in VDSL port shipments and more than 40% increase for both GPON OLT port and ONT unit shipments.  The report shows that year-on-year growth was driven by higher shipments across all regions for both technologies.

“EMEA and North America accounted for the vast majority of VDSL shipments with Western Europe being especially strong as an increasing number of operators deploy vectoring products, which can significantly increase bandwidth while using existing copper infrastructure,” said Steve Nozik, Principal Analyst of Access research at Dell’Oro Group.  “For GPON, China continues to dominate the market but there was also significant growth in other regions especially Southeast Asia, Southern Europe and the Middle East,” Nozik added.

The report shows that in the second quarter, Alcatel-Lucent continued to hold the lead for VDSL port shipments, significantly ahead of the next two top vendors, Huawei Technologies and ADTRAN.  For GPON, Huawei Technologies and ZTE were the top two vendors due largely to their market leadership position in China, followed by Alcatel-Lucent in the number three position.

http://www.delloro.com/news/vdsl-and-gpon-drive-strong-second-quarter-access-market-growth

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Ericsson Intros Cloud-enabled Media Mgt Services

Ericsson introduced new end-to-end, cloud-enabled media management services under its Broadcast and Media Services portfolio.

The company said broadcasters can use the power of public or private cloud resources to better manage secure contribution, archiving and media processing. Cloud services promise better security, agility, and efficiency while reducing upfront costs often associated with hardware and infrastructure.

Ericsson's Cloud Functionality will include:

• File receipt gateway: Mechanisms used to send files for processing, including connectivity, accelerators and content encryption
• Verification: Services that verify content is received as expected and compliant with specified standards
• Transformation: Services that prepare content for multiple platforms and territories
• Delivery: Services for the packaging and delivery of video content to its final destination

http://www.ericsson.com/news/1855184

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JDSU to Split in Two: Optics and Network Enablement

JDSU announced plans to split into two publicly traded companies:

• An optical components and commercial lasers company (“CCOP”) consisting of JDSU’s current Communications and Commercial Optical Products segment. The CCOP company, with its long-standing reputation for optical innovation and quality, serves a $7.4 billion optical communications market expected to grow at a compounded rate of 11 percent over the next four years.  It also addresses an approximate $2.5 billion commercial lasers market, growing at a forecasted 7 percent annually.
  
• A network and service enablement company (“NSE”) consisting of JDSU’s current Network Enablement, Service Enablement and Optical Security and Performance Products (OSP) segments. The stand-alone NSE company will be a leader in its core businesses, addressing an approximate $7 billion network and service enablement market expected to grow at 6-8 percent annually. The NSE company will primarily focus its investments in higher growth markets, particularly software supporting virtualized and software-defined networks. The optical security business addresses an approximate $1.1 billion market growing at an expected 6-8 percent.

“Over the past five years, JDSU has invested heavily in innovation that is well aligned with the industry’s best growth opportunities, including cloud networking, data center expansion and software-defined networks,” said Tom Waechter, JDSU president and CEO.  “These opportunities extend beyond the traditional telecom ecosystem and now include web services, over-the-top, enterprise and other customers. We believe two fundamentally focused companies best position us to stay ahead of the accelerating pace of technology change and to compete even more effectively across the unique markets we serve today.”

http://www.jdsu.com

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T-Mobile US Pushes Ahead with Wi-Fi Calling

T-Mobile US announce its latest "Un-carrier" move: a push to enable Wi-Fi calling and texting for its Simple Choice smartphone customers.  The capability will now be supported by every smartphone it sells.

T-Mobile said its disruptive approach is to leverage every available technology to deliver coverage in places unreachable by any cellular network.

“Wi-Fi Un-leashed is a game changer. This is like adding millions of towers to our network in a single day,” said John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile. “The difference between us and the traditional carriers is that they’ll do everything they can to make more money off you. We’ll do everything we can to solve your problems, and today, that’s about uniting Wi-Fi with our data strong network for unprecedented coverage.”

In addition to enabling T-Mobile customers to use any public or private Wi-Fi connection they can access like a T-Mobile tower for calling and texting, the Un-carrier has rolled out next-generation Wi-Fi calling and texting on its network. This supports high-quality HD voice, fast call setup times, fewer dropped calls and seamless voice coverage between T-Mobile’s nationwide Voice over LTE (VoLTE) network and Wi-Fi with compatible smartphones.

T-Mobile customers can also make free Wi-Fi calls to the United States from anywhere outside the country − all using their existing T-Mobile number with no app to install and no additional IDs or numbers to manage − wherever they have Wi-Fi.

T-Mobile is also introducing Personal CellSpot, a Wi-Fi home router that features patent-pending technology that prioritizes voice calls. Starting September 17, every Simple Choice customer with a broadband connection and a Wi-Fi-calling ready smartphone can get a T-Mobile Personal CellSpot completely free of charge with a $25 refundable deposit.

http://www.tmobile.com

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Infonetics: Data Center and Enterprise SDN Market Soars 192%

In-use for SDN Ethernet switch revenue, including branded Ethernet switches, virtual switches, and bare metal switches, grew more than 10-fold in 2013 from the prior year, driven by significant increases in white box bare metal switch deployments by very large cloud service providers such as Google and Amazon, according to a newly published report by Infonetics Research.

Some highlights:

• Vendors are seeding the market with SDN-capable Ethernet switches in the data center and enterprise LAN
  
• The leaders in the SDN market will be solidified during the next 2 years, as 2014 lab trials give way to live production deployments
  
• Bare metal switches are the top in-use for SDN-capable switch use case in the data center and are anticipated to account for 31% of total SDN-capable switch revenue by 2018
  
• Infonetics forecasts the “real” market for SDN—that is, in-use for SDN Ethernet switches and controllers—to reach $9.5 billion in 2018
  
• The adoption of SDN network virtualization overlays (NVOs) is expected to go mainstream by 2018

“There is no longer any question about software-defined networking (SDN) playing a role in data center and enterprise networks. Data center and enterprise SDN revenue, including SDN capable Ethernet switches and SDN controllers, was up 192% year-over-year (2013 over 2012),” reports Cliff Grossner, Ph.D., directing analyst for data center, cloud, and SDN at Infonetics Research. “The early SDN explorers—NEC in Japan and pure-play SDN startups in North America—were joined in 2013 by the majority of traditional switch vendors and server virtualization vendors offering a wide selection of SDN products.”

http://www.infonetics.com/pr/2014/Data-Center-and-SDN-Market-Highlights.asp

#SDNforecast

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Cyan Extends its Packet-Optical + SDN with MPLS-TP

Cyan announced a series of new features to its Cyan Z-Series Packet-Optical Transport (P-OTP) and Blue Planet SDN platforms, including support for MPLS-TP, support for additional Carrier Ethernet 2.0+ capabilities, hitless software upgrades, traffic policing and shaping, and support for a new 100G DWDM coherent CFP.

Some highlights of the enhancements:

• 8-degree, 96 channel ROADM – Cyan is adding to the existing family of single-slot 2- and 4-degree ROADM modules to support more flexible topologies and high-density 10G, 100G, and future 400G applications.
  
• Integrated amplifier modules – Cyan is introducing a new family of integrated Erbium Doped Fibre Amplifier (EDFA) modules, which provide extended optical reach for metro, regional, and long-haul applications.
  
• Four new APIs for SDN-powered packet-optical infrastructure: Optical Services, SNMP Trap Forwarding, Physical and Logical Inventory, and Site Manager API.
  
• Support for MPLS-TP - over the coming months, Cyan will roll out new MPLS-TP capabilities for the Z-Series PSW modules that will ensure highly reliable and predictable delivery of Ethernet services between metros and across an MPLS core. When coupled with Cyan’s Blue Planet SDN Platform, MPLS-TP capabilities will enable resilient and scalable packet transport along with advanced end-to-end control, multi-vendor management, and service orchestration. Cyan also will ensure interoperability between existing PBB-TE networks and new MPLS-TP deployments.

“Over the years, Cyan has been associated with many industry firsts; we brought to market the first family of purpose-built packet-optical transport platforms and the first SDN and NFV orchestration platform optimized for network operators and the WAN,” said Mark Floyd, CEO, Cyan. “With today’s enhancements, we have further enriched our offerings and solidified our position as the network transformation leader.”

http://www.cyaninc.com

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Infonetics: Ethernet Switching Up 11% to $5.4B in 2Q14

The global Ethernet switch market grew 11% to $5.4 billion in 2Q14, a result of better than anticipated results at #1 Cisco and strong results by a number of smaller players including Arista, Brocade, HP, Huawei, Juniper, and ZTE, according to Infonetics Research's most recent Ethernet Switches report, which tracks unmanaged, web-managed, and fully-managed fixed and chassis switches by port speed (100M, 1G, 10G, 40G, 100G).

Some highlights:

• Year-over-year growth accelerated from 2% in 1Q14 to 6% in 2Q14
• Switching growth was well balanced across small- and medium-sized business (SMB) and enterprise accounts, and the public sector is showing signs of stabilization
• Web-managed and fully-managed fixed switches posted strong growth from 2Q13 to 2Q14, while unmanaged and chassis switches declined
• 100G ports grew over 50% sequentially in 2Q14, and over 3,000 ports were sold;
• 100G on fixed switches will start shipping in 3Q14, which is expected to sustain current market growth rates
• Asia Pacific is the key growth region for Ethernet switches right now, but not all countries are faring equally: China is delivering very strong growth and the rest of APAC is accelerating, while Japan is trending flat to slightly down

"The Ethernet switching market recovered in the second quarter of 2014 after a slow first quarter, but revenue growth remains challenged as vendors compete aggressively against each other, white-label solutions gain greater traction, and large data center operators negotiate more favorable terms," notes Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise networks and video at Infonetics Research.

Continues Machowinski: "So while overall switching demand remains healthy, revenue is growing at only half the rate of port shipments."

http://www.infonetics.com/cgp/login.asp?id=914

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ALU Virtualizes its Velocix Content Delivery Network

Alcatel-Lucent is rolling out a series of enhancements to its Velocix Content Delivery Network (CDN) solution to enable pay-TV operators to better manage their networks and set a new standard for the customer experience of IP video services. The new capabilities bring this CDN solution in line with Alcatel-Lucent's NFV portfolio.

The company said its goal with these improvements is to decouple the software that controls and routes traffic on a network from the physical infrastructure that provides compute and storage resources. This greatly reduces the time needed to install or expand the CDN. Virtualization also gives operators the agility to instantly create a new CDN cache in case of a hardware failure, minimizing any potential disruption in quality of service.

Specifically, the Velocix Virtual CDN will use automatic resource allocation to create an ‘elastic CDN’ capable of adjusting capacity to both planned and unexpected changes in demand, for example during a popular sporting event or due to a viral video. After the peak, computing resource can be released for other applications.

Additional new capabilities include:

• The reporting capability of the Velocix CDN has been extended to give operators greater visibility of the traffic flowing through the network without increasing any additional latency or load. Patented Bell Labs techniques are used to measure the quality of video streamed to customers without the need for network probes or for installing software on customers’ devices.
• Integration with the network routing control plane enables the CDN to learn automatically from changes in the IP infrastructure and optimize the cache selection accordingly. For example, when a new IP address is assigned to a user, the CDN adapts dynamically to make sure customers are always served from the optimal cache.
• The Velocix Universal Network Application Programming Interface (UNAPI) also enables unprecedented integration with external systems to develop customized applications for network configuration, content management and reporting.
• Velocix Proxy Language provides a powerful way to dynamically control how content is cached and processed. Using an industry standard programming language (LUA), a pay TV provider can modify how a request is treated depending, for example, on a user’s location or device. This opens up a wealth of personalization opportunities to improve the customer experience or traffic management on the network. It also allows a service provider to bring the web traffic for their pay TV service onto the same CDN as the video traffic.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

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365 Data Centers Pulls in Funding for Expansion

365 Data Centers announced $16 million in Series B funding and a $55 million credit facility for the expansion of its co-location business.

The announcement comes a few months after 365 Data Centers announced a new management team, corporate identity and 365 Quick Start, which makes data centers more accessible.  The company cityes triple-digit percentage YOY sales growth and broken its all-time quarterly sales record by over 20 percent.

The new funding came from existing investors Crosslink Capital and Housatonic Partners.  The credit facility came from Fortress Credit Corp., an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group.

"365 Data Centers brings greater flexibility and accessibility to clients through solutions that simplify colocation services to bring them more in line with cloud consumption models. This new financing allows us to continue executing on our growth strategy, whether organically or by acquisition," said John Scanlon, CEO, 365 Data Centers. "We've put together an experienced management team, created a strong growth plan, and delivered great results in a matter of months. We have the faith and support of capital markets behind us, and when talent meets capital, good things happen."

http://www.365datacenters.com

In April, 365 DataCenters, which was previously known as 365 Main, announced a corporate rebranding as it focuses on colocation services for small and medium enterprises.  The company operates in sixteen markets across the U.S.

In this video interview, John Scanlon looks at the colocation opportunity with small to medium-sized businesses especially as they make the transition from on-premise infrastructure to hybrid cloud solutions. The company's goal is to make data centers more accessible to small customers by eliminating long-term commitments.

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Google Hangouts Now Offering Free Calling

Google began offering free voice calls from Hangouts on Android, iOS and the web to regular telephone numbers in the U.S. and Canada.  International calls can be made a low rates.

The new capability represents the integration of Google Hangouts with Google Voice.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/09/call-me-maybe-introducing-free-voice.html

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