Fast growth continues in the big clouds

Over the past few weeks, the world’s biggest public cloud companies released their quarterly financial reports and not surprisingly, cloud services remain red hot, with several companies continuing to report triple digit growth rates. Here is a round-up of the latest numbers from Alibaba, Amazon Web Services, Google, Microsoft and Tencent.

Alibaba

For its March quarter, Alibaba reported that its Aliyun cloud business grew 103% YoY to RMB 2,163 million ($314 million). The business recorded an adjusted EBITA margin of 8%. For all of FY 2017, Aliyun had an 121% growth rate. Many expect that Aliyun's future growth will be propelled by the parent company's amazing ecommerce operations. For the 3 months ended March 2017, Alibaba reported overall revenue RMB 38,579 million ($5,605 million), an increase of 60% year on year. In addition to the Aliyun cloud revenue, Alibaba also recorded revenue from digital media and entertainment of RMB 3,927 million ($571 million), up 243% year on year. Annual active buyers on Alibaba's China retail marketplaces reached 454 million, an increase of 11 million from the 12-month period ended in December 2016.

Alibaba Group's Daniel Zhang, CEO, stated that it had another outstanding quarter and fiscal year, demonstrating its ability to engage and monetise the half a billion consumers across its platforms. He added that core commerce segment continued its significant growth and strong cash flow at large scale, enabling aggressive investment in cloud computing, digital media and entertainment to drive the digital transformation of the economy and high-quality consumption across China.

AWS

For Q1 2017, Amazon Web Services recorded net sales of $3.661 billion, up 43% from $2.566 billion a year earlier. Operating expenses rose 41% from $1.962 billion a year earlier to $2.771 billion, while operating income rose 47% from $604 million to $890 million.

During the quarter, AWS announced it will open an infrastructure region with three Availability Zones in Sweden in 2018. The company currently operates 42 Availability Zones across 16 infrastructure regions worldwide, with another five Availability Zones across two AWS Regions in France and China expected to come online this year.

Google

Ironically, Alphabet is the least transparent of the major players in disclosing the progress of its cloud initiatives. Google's mission consists in organising all of the world's information, and this data about its own operations would be very useful to investors and for the industry. The Q1 2017 quarterly report merely states that revenue from businesses other than search/advertising amounted to $3.1 billion, up 49% year on year. The other category could include anything from cloud operations, to self-driving cars or Internet balloons. This unit scored a faster growth rate than the core advertising revenue, which grew at an 18.8% annual clip to reach $21.4 billion.

Microsoft

Selected figures for Microsoft’s commercial cloud revenue (includes commercial cloud, Azure, Office 365 commercial, Dynamics 365 and some other properties):

FY15 - $5.8 billion, 44% gross margin.

FY16 - $9.5 billion, 45% gross margin.

FY17 (estimated) - $14.8 billion, ~50% gross margin.

Breaking out specifically for Azure, on the quarterly financial call Microsoft reported that Azure revenue grew 93% YoY, with Azure compute usage more than doubling compared to Q1 2016. Azure Premium services grew even faster, at a triple digit rate, although the company did not elaborate.

In the investor Q&A session, company CFO Amy Hood said she is 'extremely confident' in the Azure business and that with its growth rate it will become an increasing percentage of the company's overall revenue. A slide in her presentation showed a pie chart of revenue for Server products and Cloud Services revenue. In 2015, Azure revenue was only a thin slice, perhaps about 10% (hard numbers not posted). For 2018, the chart showed Azure revenue representing about 28% of the pie.

Microsoft is not guiding to an acceleration in capex next year and has stated that capex rate will remain the same to meet growing customer demand. So, one can assume that Microsoft will be 'sweating' its cloud infrastructure more and more over time. Though the capex budget may not be accelerating, the current levels have enabled Microsoft to rapidly build new data centres around the world while investing in some interesting (and expensive) assets, such as the shared transatlantic cable system with Facebook.

In a Microsoft investor update presentation on May 10, Satya Nadella said he is looking at Azure as a $4.5 trillion opportunity. This very big number represents far more than the cumulative total of moving all IT spending to the cloud. By ensuring that the Azure stack is built into the backend of applications across vertical industries, Microsoft is betting that it will be able to capture value from businesses ranging from autonomous vehicles to precision medicine.

Tencent

On May 17th, China's Tencent Holdings reported Q1 2017 total revenue of RMB 49,552 million ($7.182 billion), an increase of 55% over the first quarter of 2016; operating profit was RMB 19,27. Meanwhile, Tencent's social platforms are booming, with QQ IM now on 860.6 million users, Mobile QQ with 678.0 million users, and Weixin and WeChat with 937.8 million users (up 23% YoY). It is also interesting to note that during the quarter, Tencent's capex was RMB 2,108 million, down 49% YoY.

Mr. Ma Huateng, chairman and CEO of Tencent, said that it delivered a strong set of operating and financial results for the first quarter of 2017, noting that smart phone games, payment related services, digital content subscriptions, PC games and social advertising businesses all contributed to broad-based revenue growth.

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Infinera's New Cloud Xpress 2 DCI Platform Enters GA

Infinera announced the general availability of the new Infinera Cloud Xpress 2 data center interconnect (DCI) platform. The Cloud Xpress 2 has already been deployed in major internet content provider (ICP) networks.

The Cloud Xpress 2, which delivers 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) services between data centers, is the first platform deployed in live networks featuring the Infinera Infinite Capacity Engine (ICE4), powered by Infinera’s FlexCoherent Processor and fourth-generation photonic integrated circuit (PIC).

Infinera cited the following key capabilities for the Cloud Xpress 2:

• Simple, open, automated. Like all models in the Cloud Xpress Family, the Cloud Xpress 2 is designed for plug-and-play installation with simplified provisioning and support for data center automation using open software-defined networking (SDN) application programming interfaces (APIs), zero-touch provisioning (ZTP) and streaming telemetry.
• Plug-and-play capacity-reach. The Cloud Xpress 2 is based on ICE4, which incorporates Infinera’s unique PIC technology to deliver a 1.2 terabits per second (Tb/s) super-channel output. Also, offering extended reach without external amplification, the Cloud Xpress 2 delivers the highest plug-and-play capacity-reach of any compact DCI platform, simplifying system design, deployment and operations.
• High density and low power. With 1.2 Tb/s of line-side capacity in a single rack unit, and very high power-efficiency, the Cloud Xpress 2 is designed to fit easily into space and power-constrained data center environments.
• Instant Bandwidth. The Cloud Xpress 2 incorporates Infinera’s unique Instant Bandwidth technology, the industry’s only software defined capacity (SDC) solution, allowing customers to software-activate line-side bandwidth in 100 Gb/s increments as and when needed in minutes, aligning with their bandwidth demands.
• Built-in encryption support. The Cloud Xpress 2 supports built-in hardware-based data encryption employing advanced industry standards and enabling 100 percent encryption of data transmitted between data centers. Built-in encryption support is an increasingly critical requirement for many DCI operators.

“Infinera has taken optical transport to the next level, by integrating ICE4 technology into Intelligent Transport Network platforms,” said Stuart Elby, Senior Vice President of Cloud Network Strategy and Technology at Infinera. “Major ICPs are deploying the Cloud Xpress 2 for its extreme simplicity, multi-terabit scalability and efficiency. The early adoption of the Cloud Xpress 2 underscores our customers’ need for a purpose-built DCI solution to enable continued rapid growth in their hyperscale networks.”

https://www.infinera.com/infinera-cloud-xpress-2-now-generally-available-deployed-internet-content-provider-networks/

See video: https://youtu.be/f2Cg1qBhp0U

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Ericsson selects Verizon managed SD WAN for IT transformation program

Ericsson announced that as part of its ongoing enterprise IT transformation initiative, the company has selected Verizon's Managed Services offering to accelerate the transformation of its corporate IT environment.

Ericsson stated that the initial implementation will focus on the deployment of Verizon's Managed Software Defined WAN (SD WAN) service, integrated with virtualised security services and Managed Enterprise RAN (E-RAN) solutions.

Verizon’s Managed SD WAN and Managed E-RAN solutions are part of the company's Network-as-a-Service offerings. The management layer supporting these services is a joint development effort that incorporates Ericsson's Dynamic Orchestration, Closed loop service assurance and Automated Validation and Onboarding Platform (AVOP).

Under the agreement, Ericsson will consume virtualised network functions (VNFs) as a utility via a pay-as-you-go, usage-based model. The solution will enable Ericsson to expand the global reach of its corporate IT infrastructure utilising Verizon's Global IP network for public and private networking solutions.

https://www.ericsson.com/en/news/2017/6/ericsson-selects-verizon-for-business-transformation

• Ericsson unveiled its Dynamic Orchestration solution in May. The solution is designed to facilitate the introduction and closed-loop automation of services across physical and virtual networks as part of the company's strategy to enable IT transformation for its customers. Dynamic Orchestration offers a flexible, modular solution for the management of existing technologies, while also enabling the provision and control virtualisation capabilities.

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Danish ISP Stofa and DOCOMO Pacific select ARRIS

ARRIS, a global supplier of communications and entertainment solutions, announced that Danish TV and Internet service provider Stofa has selected the company to transform its cable broadband network to enable gigabit broadband speeds and introduce new, enhanced services including future ultra HD TV channels, streaming and digital services.

The strategic collaboration between Stofa and ARRIS centres on a technology migration across Stofa's sites in Denmark. For the project ARRIS is delivering a new headend-to-home network solution based on DOCSIS 3.1 technology and a distributed architecture designed to increase network capacity, allow operational efficiencies and deliver faster connectivity and next-generation services to subscribers.

The ARRIS solution specifically includes its latest generation E6000 Converged Edge Router and NC2000 nodes with RemotePHY (R-PHY) modules to enable support for DOCSIS 3.1. In addition, performance management is supported by ARRIS ServAssure suite, enabling Stofa to monitor the network in real time, optimise performance and prevent or resolve outages.

Stofa, part of the SE Group, an energy and telecoms group providing electricity, energy optimisation, broadband fibre and cable TV services to more than 700,000 consumers.

Separately, DOCOMO PACIFIC, a subsidiary of Japan's NTT DOCOMO, announced it is partnering with ARRIS International for a program to offer an advanced whole home TV service that will feature live, on demand and streaming capabilities for customers in Guam and the Mariana Islands.

DOCOMO PACIFIC has selected ARRIS' MG1 video gateway to enable the new services. The MG1 solution is designed to allow subscribers to stream the same content to multiple IP devices as well as the main TV, while DVR functionality enables recording and playback at home and on the go.

The operator will also deploy ARRIS' E6000 Converged Edge Router to deliver its newly launched 100 Mbit/s high-speed broadband service and establish an upgrade path to offering gigabit speeds.

DOCOMO PACIFIC provides TV, online, mobile, phone and enterprise solutions in Guam and the Marianas. The company provides services to over 70 million mobile customers in Japan.

http://ir.arris.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=87823&p=irol-news

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Extreme to acquire Avaya networking for $100m with winning bid

Extreme Networks announced that, having entered into an asset purchase agreement under which it would serve as primary bidder in a sale under the bankruptcy code to acquire Avaya's networking business for approximately $100 million, it has been approved as the winning bidder to acquire the Avaya business.

Under the bidding process, the assets of Avaya's networking business unit will be sold to Extreme for approximately $100 million, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the asset purchase agreement entered into on March 7th. The final agreement has been approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York and is expected to close on or soon after July 1, 2017, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

As previously announced, Extreme anticipates that the transaction will be accretive to cash flow and earnings for its fiscal year 2018 starting July 1st, and expects to generate over $200 million in annualised revenue from the acquired networking assets. Extreme noted that the announcement builds on the strategy to expand its portfolio of data centre, core, campus and edge networking solutions via strategic acquisitions.

In mid-May, Avaya reported second quarter revenue for the period ended March 31, 2017 of $804 million, compared to first quarter revenue of $875 and prior year second quarter revenue of $904 million. For the second quarter it reported a net loss of $6 million, versus a net loss of $102 million in the first quarter and a net loss of $103 million in the 2106 second quarter.

For the third quarter ended march 31, 2017 Extreme reported revenue of $149 million, versus second quarter revenue of $148 million and revenue of $125 million for the prior year third quarter. The company reported net income of $11.6 million versus $12.7 million in the second quarter and net income of $3.5 million in the third quarter of 2016.

Avaya filed voluntary petitions under chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in January this year, and in March entered into an asset purchase agreement under which Extreme would act as primary bidder in a section 363 sale under the bankruptcy code to acquire Avaya's networking business for approximately $100 million.

Avaya announced on January 19th that it was filing under chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, stating that its foreign affiliates were not included in the filing and would continue normal operations.

Extreme noted that in October 2016 it closed its acquisition of the wireless LAN business from Zebra Technology, which is expected to generate over $115 million in annualised revenue in fiscal year 2018. In March, Extreme announced an agreement to acquire the data centre switching, routing and analytics business of Brocade Communications Systems from Broadcom on closing of Broadcom's acquisition of Brocade. The Brocade transaction is expected to result in $230 million in annualised revenue.

Regarding the transaction, Ed Meyercord, president and CEO of Extreme Networks, said, "This strategic acquisition will be a further milestone in the execution of Extreme's growth strategy and establishes Extreme as the third largest competitor in its enterprise markets and the only company exclusively focused on delivering… end-to-end, wired and wireless enterprise IP networking".

http://investor.extremenetworks.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=1028483

https://www.avaya.com/en/about-avaya/newsroom/news-releases/2017/pr-us-170531b/

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Ixia to demo 400 GBE PAM4 OSFP and QSFP-DD

Ixia, a provider of network testing, visibility and security solutions, announced that as part of efforts to illustrate the readiness of the emerging technology it is showcasing for the first time a series of advanced 400 Gigabit Ethernet live demonstrations at Interop Tokyo in June at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.

During Interop Tokyo, leveraging its forward error correction (FEC) and physical coding sublayer (PCS) Ixia will showcase 400 Gigabit Ethernet technology via eight pulse amplitude modulation (PAM4) electrical lanes, defined as 400GAUI-8 within IEEE802.3bs, utilising third party direct attached copper cable solutions, including:

1.         What Ixia claims is the first public showcase of a 400 Gigabit Ethernet PAM4 OSFP test solution in partnership with TE Connectivity.

2.         A 400 Gigabit Ethernet PAM4 QSFP-DD demonstration in collaboration with Cisco and Foxconn Interconnect Technology (FIT).

Ixia is also demonstrating its 400 Gigabit Ethernet CFP8 interface using the MSA-compliant LR8 extended reach transceiver module from Finisar operating over single mode fibre. The Ixia CFP8 test system is compliant with the IEEE802.3bs 400GAUI-16 electrical interface.

Ixia noted that it is supporting and collaborating with multiple multisource agreement (MSA) development groups to help improve the operation and efficiency of 400 Gigabit Ethernet technology, notably:

• Octal Small Form Factor Pluggable (OSFP), a new pluggable form factor featuring eight high speed electrical lanes that can support 400 Gbit/s rates and addresses the higher power requirements of 400 Gbit/s optics.

• Quad Small Form Factor Pluggable Double Density (QSFP-DD), a new pluggable form factor that offers backwards compatibility with QSFP28 while quadrupling aggregate switch bandwidth and maintaining port density.

 https://www.ixiacom.com/company/newsroom

* In March of this year, Ixia announced that at OFC 2017, in collaboration with Cisco and FIT, it would demonstrate 400 Gigabit Ethernet with QSFP-DD over PAM4 electrical lanes.

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CenturyLink appoints Level 3's Jeff Storey as president

CenturyLink, which in October 2016 entered into an agreement to acquire Level 3 Communications for approximately $34 billion, has announced that upon closing of the CenturyLink-Level 3 transaction Jeff Storey, currently president and CEO of Level 3, will become CenturyLink president and chief operating officer.

The company noted that, as previously announced, after the closing of the transaction Glen F. Post III will continue as CEO of CenturyLink. It is expected that Mr. Storey will succeed Glen Post as CEO of CenturyLink effective January 1, 2019, at which time Mr. Post will then become executive chairman of the company's board.

In addition to the appointment of Jeff Storey as COO, Glen Post's direct reports after the closing of the Level 3 acquisition will be as follows: Stacey Goff, EVP, general counsel and chief administrative officer; Sunit Patel, EVP and CFO; and Scott Trezise, EVP, human resources.

CenturyLink also announced that Harvey P. Perry, formerly vice chairman of the board of CenturyLink, has been appointed board chairman, effective immediately, replacing William A. Owens, who retired from the board as of May 24th. In addition, W. Bruce Hanks, a member of the CenturyLink board, has been named vice chairman, also effective immediately. Mr. Storey is one of four Level 3 board members who will join the CenturyLink board at closing of the transaction.

http://news.centurylink.com/news/centurylink-announces-ceo-succession-plan

• In early May CenturyLink named the senior leadership team following the acquisition of Level 3, which includes: Clay Bailey as SVP, transformation; Aamir Hussain as EVP, CTO and network operations; Dean Douglas as EVP, North America enterprise; Maxine Moreau as EVP, consumer; Girish Varma as EVP, IT and managed services; Laurinda Pang as EVP, global accounts management and international; and Gary Gauba as SVP and chief relationship officer.
• The two companies stated that they continue to expect the transaction to close by September 30th this year.

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Keysight and UC San Diego demo phased array link in 28 GHz

Keysight Technologies, a supplier of test and measurement technology, and the University of California San Diego announced a demonstration of what they claim is fastest bidirectional phased-array link in the 28 GHz 5G band.

The demonstration jointly carried out by Keysight and UC San Diego included a 64-element array that achieved a data rate of 12 Gbit/s operating at 0 degrees centigrade and over 8 Gbit/s over all scan angles at up to +/-50 degrees centigrade in azimuth and +/-25 degrees centigrade in elevation over a link distance of 300 metres. The array also delivered data rates of up to 18 Gbit/s over shorter distances.

Keysight stated that the bit-error-rate achieved during the demonstrations was less than 10-7 at maximum scan angles. Additionally, it noted that the results did not rely on calibration on the 64-element phased-array, thereby helping to reduce implementation costs.

The 64-element phased array, based on a low-cost PCB, consumed approximately 7 to 11 W of DC power in both transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) modes leveraging UC San Diego system-on-a-chip (SoC) designs that utilise a third-generation silicon germanium (SiGe BiCMOS SBC18H3) process from TowerJazz.

For the demonstration, UC San Diego used Keysight's Signal Studio software to define and generate the 16QAM and 64QAM waveforms with both single and multiple carriers. In addition, Keysights 81199A Wideband Waveform Center software enabled the team to link Tx and Rx units, as well as improve error vector magnitude (EVM) performance. The team also used Keysight’s 89600 VSA software to perform demodulation, channel equalisation and analysis of advanced signals.

To speed the prototyping process, the Keysight M8195A arbitrary waveform generator, E8267D PSG vector signal generator and DSOS804A high-definition oscilloscope, were used, also supporting link equalisation and performance measurements across modulation bandwidths at up to 3 GHz frequencies.

http://about.keysight.com/en/newsroom/pr/2017/01jun-nr17044.shtml

• Previously, last December Keysight and UC San Diego announced they had demonstrated what was claimed as the longest bidirectional phased-array link in the 60 GHz band. At a link distance of 300 metres, the 32-element array achieved a data rate of greater than 2 Gbit/s over all scan angles up to +/-45 degrees ,with data rates of 4 Gbit/s at 100 metres and 500 Mbit/s at 800 metres over most scan angles.
• It was noted that the phased array consumed 3 to 4 W of DC power in transmit (Tx) or receive (Rx) modes using SoC designs developed by UC San Diego and also based on the third-generation SiGe BiCMOS SBC18H3 process from TowerJazz.

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AT&T to Acquire Vyatta from Brocade

AT&T agreed to acquire Vyatta® network operating system and associated assets of Brocade Communications Systems. Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal is contingent on the completion of Broadcom's acquisition of Brocade.

The Vyatta network operating system, including its virtual network functions (VNFs) and distributed services platform, software under development as part of its unreleased roadmap, existing software licenses, and related patents and patent applications. AT&T plans to hire certain Brocade employees associated with that business, who are located mainly in California and the UK.

AT&T said the Vyatta software bolstera its ability to deliver cloud or premises-based VNFs, starting with its previously announced SD-WAN cloud service with VeloCloud.

“Our network transformation effort lets us add new features quicker than ever before at a much lower cost,” said Andre Fuetsch, chief technology officer and president of AT&T Labs. “Being able to design and build the tools we need to enable that transformation is a win for us and for our customers.”

Vyatta could also boost AT&T’s white box platform capabilities. In late March, AT&T completed a trial with a handful of companies and industry groups to design and build its own white box switches to manage data traffic more efficiently across our network.

http://www.att.com
http://www.broadcom.com

• Brocade acquired Vyatta in 2012.

A Complicated Chain of Mergers and Acquisitions

Saturday, April 01, 2017  Mergers And Acquisitions, OND Commentary  No Comments

A convoluted set of interrelated mergers over the past two years has brought together players from Singapore, Irvine, San Jose, Suwanee (Georgia) and the UK, with the various companies in play including ARRIS, Avago, Avaya, Broadcom, Brocade, Extreme, Motorola Mobility, Pace and Ruckus. For customers, employees and investors in these companies, such transactions are always disruptive to some degree, while for the wider networking industry it is...

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Extreme to Acquire Brocade's Switching Business for $55 Million

Wednesday, March 29, 2017  Broadcom, Brocade, Extreme Networks, Mergers And Acquisitions  No Comments

Extreme Networks agreed to acquire Brocade Communications Systems' data center switching, routing, and analytics business from Broadcom following Broadcom's acquisition of Brocade. The deal is valued at $55 million in cash, consisting of $35 million at closing and $20 million in deferred payments, as well as additional potential performance based payments to Broadcom, to be paid over a five-year term. The sale is contingent on Broadcom closing its...

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Big plans for next gen satellite constellations – Part 1

One thing about the space industry that is a certainty, people like to think big. Just as the mobile networking industry is wrapping up the big 4G LTE network rollouts across the six inhabited continents, while setting its sights on much denser 5G infrastructure, the satellite industry is setting the stage for new generation of broadband satellite constellations. While some see a growing saturation of mobile coverage, augmented by FTTH, xDSL and cable modem fixed line services, the satellite proponents point out that there are billions of people in the developing countries without dependable Internet access.

An FCC study recently found that more than 39% of Americans living in rural areas lack access to advanced telecommunications capability, as compared to 4% of Americans living in urban areas, and approximately 41% of Americans living on Tribal lands lacking access to advanced telecommunications capability. For such unserved or underserved markets broadband satellites promise ubiquitous coverage in rural and hard-to-reach places, especially islands without an undersea cable connection. Satellites also offer an 'incremental user advantage' over mobile infrastructure. This means that if there is one user residing outside the network footprint, the mobile or fixed line network would require the deployment of new equipment closer to this user. For satellite, there is no additional cost from adding just one user from its very wide footprint. This series will look at two recently floated broadband satellite proposals: SpaceX and Ligado Networks.

Elon Musk's SpaceX – massive ambition

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is widely known for its Falcon reusable rocket designs and long-term mission to colonise Mars. The Hawthorne, California based company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk. Its first big milestones include launching and recovering its Dragon spacecraft in 2010 and becoming the first private company to successfully send a spacecraft to the International Space Station in 2012. It currently has about 6,000 employees; investors include Google, Fidelity, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Founders Fund, Valor Equity Partners and Capricorn. SpaceX believes its reusable launch system is the magic that will significantly bring down the cost of getting into space. Beginning in 2017, SpaceX has entered a schedule of launches on behalf of commercial customers and its NASA contract to transport goods and soon astronauts to the International Space Station.

The SpaceX LEO plans

Earlier this month, Patricia Cooper, VP, Satellite Government Affairs for SpaceX, unveiled an ambitious plan for low-earth orbit satellites during testimony in front of the U.S. Senate's Committee on Commerce, Science & Technology. Her testimony centred on a new generation of U.S.-based LEO satellites. The advantage of LEO positioning is that the satellite can deliver much lower latency versus satellites parked in a geostationary orbit at distances of 22,000 miles. However, large constellations of LEO satellites are needed to maintain continuous coverage.

SpaceX follows a vertically-integrated approach from design, development, production, launch and operations. The company says it is already the world's largest launch services provider, measured by missions under contract. Its upcoming launch manifest current has 70 mission bookings. As of May 16th, the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle has successfully launched 33 times. SpaceX plans to leverage technology advances like dynamic beam forming and phased array antennas in space and on the ground, as well as optical inter-satellite links to establish a 'mesh network' in space through which the satellites will communicate with each other.

First SpaceX design points:

•   Initially, the SpaceX system will consist of 4,425 satellites operating in 83 orbital planes (at altitudes ranging from 1,110 km to 1,325 km).

•   The system will require associated ground control facilities, gateway earth stations, and end user earth stations.

•   The system will use Ka- and Ku-Band spectrum.

•   Target customers include residential, commercial, institutional, governmental, and professional users worldwide.

SpaceX has separately filed for authority to operate in the V-Band, where the company has proposed an additional constellation of 7,500 satellites operating even closer to Earth. To implement the system, SpaceX will utilise the availability of significantly more powerful computing and software capabilities, which will enable SpaceX to allocate broadband resources in real time, placing capacity where it is most needed and directing energy away from areas where it might cause interference to other systems, either in space or on the ground.

In terms of CPE, SpaceX is developing a relatively small flat panel roughly the size of a laptop. It will use similar phased array technologies to allow for highly directive, steered antenna beams that track the system's LEO satellites. In space, the satellites will communicate with each other using optical inter-satellite links, in effect creating a mesh network overhead that will enable seamless network management and continuity of service.

Space X is seeking regulatory clearance to expand the umbrella coverage of the LEO constellation with the more intensive coverage from the VLEO constellation. The company anticipates launching its first prototype satellites by the end on the year. Operation launch is anticipated in 2019 and the company hopes that the remaining satellites will be launched in phases through 2024, when the system will reach full capacity with the Ka- and Ku-band satellites. Naturally, SpaceX intends to use its own Falcon 9 rocket, leveraging significant launch cost savings afforded by the first stage reusability now demonstrated with the vehicle.

At this stage in the project, it looks as though SpaceX is planning to design, launch and operate the broadband satellite constellation on a global basis, with the first prototype launch expected in 2018. So far, it has apparently filed for regulatory permits only in the U.S. Proceeds from the network operations presumably will be used to fund the company's Mars ambitions.

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Australia's nbn passes 5m premises, 2.2m customers connected

nbn, responsible for building a national broadband network in Australia, which in April reported it had reached 4.5 million homes passed and 2 million connected customers, has now announced a further significant roll-out milestone with 5 million homes and businesses now able to connect to retail services over the nbn network.

nbn, which is constructing a new and upgraded wholesale broadband network to provide communities across Australia with access to fast broadband from retail service providers, aims to deliver universal high speed access across Australia and a goal of connecting 8 million homes and businesses by 2020.

nbn noted that under its multi-technology mix (MTM) model, FTTN and HFC deployments are driving the increased rollout rate, with the two technologies together now serving around half of the 5 million premises that are able to connect to retail services over the nbn network. It noted that the rate of nbn network deployment is currently averaging 250,000 premises made serviceable each month in the year to date.

The company forecasts that the roll-out pace will increase further over the three months from April to June, during which period it expects to make a further one million premises serviceable as it approaches the target for financial year 2017 of 5.4 million premises ready for service (RFS). Retail services on the nbn network are currently available to nearly one in two Australians. The network is scheduled to be three quarters completed by mid-2018 and complete by 2020.

nbn stated that customer activations are also increasing, with 2.2 million premises now using retail services over the nbn network, with approximately 130,000 new premises signing up with retail service providers each month.

Reported by state, nbn noted that RFS premises are as follows: New South Wales – 1,572,676; Queensland – 1,041,981; Victoria – 1,105,618; Tasmania – 235,452; South Australia – 410,191; Western Australia – 513,300; Northern Territory – 88,645; and Australian Capital Territory – 67,209.

http://www.nbnco.com.au/corporate-information/media-centre/media-releases/Five-million-premises-can-connect-to-the-nbn.html

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Poland's PSNC deploys ADVA FSP 3000 CloudConnect for 400G connectivity

ADVA Optical Networking announced that the Poland's Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC) has deployed its FSP 3000 CloudConnect platform with QuadFlex 400 Gbit/s technology into the PIONIER network, a regional R&E network that links high-performance computing centres in five cities across Poland, as well as providing onward connectivity to the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland.

The open ADVA data centre interconnect (DCI) solution deployed by PSNC is transmitting large data loads utilising the 16QAM modulation format. The 96-channel network, which connects supercomputing centres in Poznań and Warsaw, is designed to remove data capacity restrictions and enable researchers to share large data sets. The new solution will help Poland's R&E community to collaborate, share their findings and more reliably access data-intensive applications.

Based on the ADVA FSP 3000 CloudConnect platform, the new infrastructure incorporates the vendor's QuadFlex technology to enable transport at 400 Gbit/s over 385 km reach without the need for signal regeneration. The system is configured with two 200 Gbit/s wavelengths operating at 16QAM within an optical super-channel. ADVA noted that the new high-capacity link forms a key section of the PIONIER network operated domestically by PSNC.

Designed to provide scalability and bandwidth optimisation, the FSP 3000 CloudConnect platform offers energy efficiency in a compact footprint, and is claimed to require less rack space than competing solutions.

http://www.advaoptical.com/en/newsroom/press-releases-english.aspx

• Earlier this year, ADVA announced that PSNC had deployed the FSP 3000 equipped with 100 Gbit/s core technology into its PIONIER network. The 96-channel 100 Gbit/s coherent long-haul solution provided by ADVA offers reach of over 3,466 km without signal regeneration and provides redundant GMPLS-based networking between supercomputing centres in the cities of Poznań, Gdansk, Warsaw, Krakow and Wroclaw.

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Henan Unicom selects Huawei all-optical for smart hotels

Huawei announced that it is partnering with Henan Unicom, the Henan branch of China Unicom, to deploy a new smart hotel solution based on all-optical access that is designed to promote the digital transformation for the hotel industry.

Huawei noted that in recent years, Henan province's rapid economic growth has led to the development of local tourism, and as a result the number of hotels in the city has increased substantially. As part of efforts to enhance services for visitors, Henan Unicom plans to provide intelligent information services for middle- and high-end hotels in the city.

To address the requirements of the hotel sector, Huawei has developed its smart hotel solution based on all-optical access for Henan Unicom. The solution integrates the high-capacity converged optical line terminal (OLT), MA5800, fibre routed inside buildings and converged smart gateways. The company noted that a MA5800-based GPON network is able to provide coverage for 128 rooms over a single fibre. The solution supports access at rates up to 10 Gigabit Ethernet, as well as providing control of lights and appliances via external intelligent devices.

The Huawei solution delivers exclusive WiFi access for each hotel room, eliminating the effects of poor WiFi coverage and bandwidth sharing. The solution features converged smart gateways that support both wired broadband and wireless WiFi access in one box, providing hotel occupants with IPTV access and HD video and 4K video on demand services.

The Huawei solution also supports centralised operation and maintenance (O&M) via NMS, thereby removing the need for skilled IT support and reducing management costs. In addition, the smart hotel solution is designed to allow the evolution to next-generation PON access technologies.

http://www.huawei.com/en/news/2017/6/Huawei-HenanUnicom-Smart-Hotels

• In April, Nokia announced a live trial in China Unicom's commercial network in Shandong using the Nokia Virtualized Services Router (VSR) and involving more than 5,000 residential subscribers, designed to enable China Unicom to accelerate the delivery of broadband utilising a flexible network based on virtualised network functions (VNFs).
• In 2016, Nokia announced an expanded partnership with China Unicom for the supply of its high-capacity core router, the 7950 Extensible Routing System (XRS). At the time Nokia stated that China Unicom had initially deployed the 7950 XRS into metro networks in Beijing, Shandong, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Inner Mongolia and Qinghai, and under the expanded agreement would deploy it in Heilongjiang, Henan, Zhejiang and Hunan to enhance fixed and mobile broadband services.

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Germany's NetCologne and ZTE demo G.fast@212 MHz

ZTE and NetCologne, a regional network operator in the great Cologne-Bonn area of Germany and a subsidiary of utility company GEW Köln, which in March announced with ZTE the launch of the pilot phase of a G.fast roll-out, have jointly announced the G.fast@212 MHz profile ultra-broadband solution at the ANGACOM broadband exhibition in Cologne.

In what the companies claim is the first demonstration of G.fast@212 MHz, the technology is being tested over a live network. As part of the demonstration ZTE and NetCologne showcased the access rate profile of G.fast@212 MHz reaching more than 1.8 Gbit/s, with a download rate 1.6 Gbit/s and upload rate of around 200 Mbit/s. ZTE's G.fast solution is designed to enable NetCologne's fibre-to-the-building (FttB) access network to support gigabit bandwidth.

NetCologne stated that it is committed to providing the city of Cologne and surrounding regions with reliable, advanced telecom services, and has cited a target of reaching 260,000 homes. The company operates four data centres and offers a service portfolio that includes voice and data services and distribution of TV services for both residential and business users, as well as business ICT solutions.

http://www.zte.com.cn/global/about/press-center/news/2017Ma-5/0531ma2

• NetCologne and ZTE signed the agreement defining their strategic partnership in February of this year. Under the terms of the agreement, ZTE will provide NetCologne with advanced network equipment including G.fast distribution point units (DPUs) and terminals.
• ZTE's multi-port G.fast DPU supports G.fast@212 MHz and flexible uplink selection among PON/point-to-point/DSL (PON/P2P/DSL) technologies. The solution also features multiple power supply options, allowing it to self-adapt for a range of deployment scenarios.
• Through the agreement, ZTE will help NetCologne to upgrade its existing VDSL network to a G.fast network. This solution will enable NetCologne to cost-effectively provide access at rates approaching 2 Gbit/s while utilising the existing copper infrastructure, without the need for fibre reconstruction in the residential network.

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City of Celina in Texas to require fibre in new developments

The city of Celina in Texas announced that, following a unanimous decision by the city council to approve the Easement Ordinance amendment at the recent May city council meeting, developers will be required to install optical fibre lines and conduits in all new developments within the boundaries of the city.

The city of Celina, located approximately 40 miles from Dallas, stated that, through the Celina Economic Development Corporation (EDC), it is designing and shortly plans to begin the construction of an 86-mile fibre backhaul network across the city. In addition, through developer and building ordinances and other public-private partnerships, Celina is aiming to build a fibre network to serve a further 64 sq miles across the city to connect all residential, business and municipal rooftops to this fibre backbone.

The city noted that the ordinance that has been passed states that: '…a fibre optic network in the city of Celina is a fundamental aspect of the infrastructure required to educate, create jobs, promote public safety, improve citizens' standards of living and deliver essential services'.

The planned open access network for Celina is intended to enable faster communication and Internet speeds for consumers and businesses and to establish the first Gigabit City in the state of Texas. Celina's Gigabit City is specifically committed to providing connectivity with a minimum speed of 1 Gbit/s symmertical to all residential and business premises across the city.

Describing the project, Scott Stawski, secretary and board member of the Celina EDC, said, "(The network) is approximately only 8% built out, but there is a clear line of sight to being 100% built out in 20 years… because the city is building the gigabit infrastructure now, it will become more attractive to potential new businesses and companies looking to establish in a community with the fastest connectivity in the state of Texas".

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170531005948/en/Gigabit-City-Initiative-Approved-Celina-Texas-City

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AT&T Foundry and Caltech plan Alliance for Quantum Technologies

The AT&T Foundry innovation centre in Palo Alto, California announced that it is teaming with the California Institute of Technology to form the Alliance for Quantum Technologies (AQT), with the aims of bringing together industry, government and academia to accelerate the development of quantum technology and to address practical applications.

The collaboration will also establish a research and development program named INQNET (INtelligent Quantum NEtworks and Technologies), which will focus on meeting demand for capacity and security in communications leveraging advanced quantum networking technologies.

Under the new initiative, AT&T and Caltech, through AQT and INQNET, are seeking to create the model for technology development between academic institutions, industry and national laboratories. One of the first demonstrations of intelligent and quantum network technologies will involve quantum entanglement distribution and benchmarking and validation studies utilising commercial fibre provided by AT&T.

AT&T noted that quantum networking is expected to enable a new era of super-fast, secure networking, and through the AT&T Foundry it will support testing of relevant technologies for commercial applications.

AT&T explained that quantum computers will be unlike current systems, being effectively complex physics experiments employing cryogenics for cooling, lasers and other solid-state, electronic, optical and atomic devices. As a result, transitioning quantum computing from the R&D lab into the real world for practical applications will mean solving numerous technical and engineering challenges.

The science behind quantum computing is complex, extending across disciplines such as physics, engineering, computer science and applied mathematics, with the fundamental concept involving the application of the laws of quantum mechanics to processing and distributing information.

Such quantum computing systems are expected to provide exponentially greater computing power, while quantum networking entails linking quantum computers and devices together to create faster and more secure networks with capabilities beyond what is possible using conventional processors.

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

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Ciena reports revenue of $707.0 million, up 10% YoY

Ciena reported revenue of $707.0 million for its fiscal second quarter 2017,  as compared to $640.7 million for the same period last year. Net income (GAAP) for the fiscal second quarter 2017 was $38.0 million, or $0.25 per diluted common share, which compares to a GAAP net income of $14.0 million, or $0.10 per diluted common share, for the fiscal second quarter 2016.

“We delivered outstanding second quarter performance across all financial metrics, underpinned by positive market dynamics and a growing competitive advantage," said Gary B. Smith, president and CEO, Ciena. "We continue to win as an innovation powerhouse with global scale and deep customer relationships across a broad set of applications and market segments."

http://www.ciena.com/about/newsroom/press-releases/Ciena-Reports-Fiscal--Second-Quarter-2017---Financial--Results.html

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Netnod deploys ADVA FSP 3000 CloudConnect with 400G

ADVA Optical Networking announced that Netnod based in Stockholm, the leading Internet exchange operator in the Nordic region, is deploying its FSP 3000 CloudConnect with QuadFlex 400 Gbit/s technology to establish its new Optical IX service.

The newly installed transport infrastructure, which also incorporates ADVA's ROADMs and FSP Network Hypervisor, is designed to enable Netnod to offer customers complete traffic control as well as connectivity options at rates up to 100 Gbit/s. Leveraging the new Optical IX service, operators will be able to access faster, more cost-efficient and more easily managed data transport services.

The new 96-channel infrastructure features ADVA's open optical layer technology, enhanced with FSP 3000 QuadFlex 400 Gbit/s capabilities, to deliver increased capacity via support for two 200 Gbit/s wavelengths operating at 16QAM within an optical super-channel.

Integrating dynamically operating ROADMs to provide automated control, the directionless optical transport system also provides greater flexibility. This capability allows Netnod’s customers to opt to interconnect across the optical, physical or data link network layer, as well as offering the facility to select single ports or use fully redundant options.

Additionally, utilising ADVA's multi-degree ROADM technology and FSP network hypervisor, Netnod is provided with the foundation for implementing software-defined networking (SDN).

Regarding the project, Lars Michael Jogbäck, CEO at Netnod, commented, "With a scalable platform built to accommodate significant increases in capacity, Netnod can offer more choice of how they connect and exchange traffic… with ADVA, Netnod is taking network automation to the next level… by offering a flexible, future-proof infrastructure with SDN in the optical layer, Netnod can continue as the choice for access to the highly-interconnected Nordic region, as well as the Russian and Baltic markets".

http://www.advaoptical.com/en/newsroom/press-releases-english.aspx

• Separately, Netnod announced that it had selected ADVA and Arista as its technology partners for the new Optical IX service, designed for operator and CDN customers. It stated that the Optical IX platform was expected to launch in Netnod Copenhagen in the third quarter, followed by Netnod Stockholm in the fourth quarter of this year.

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Comcast to offer DOCSIS 3.1 n Oregon and SW Washington

Comcast announced that it is launching a new DOCSIS 3.1-based Internet service providing speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s for residential customers throughout its Oregon/southwest Washington region, which it believes will be among the fastest and expansive service in the region, also offering access to its national WiFi network with more than 17 million hotspots.

The company's new 1 Gigabit internet service in Oregon/SW Washington area utilises DOCSIS 3.1 technology to deliver higher speed broadband over the existing communications lines installed in most customer's homes. To access the new service, customers simply need to install a new DOCSIS 3.1-compatible cable modem.

Earlier in May, Comcast launched Xfinity xFi, a platform designed to provide a simple digital dashboard that allows customers to set up their home WiFi network, see what devices are connected, troubleshoot issues and set parental controls. Outside the home, Xfinity Internet customers also have access to nearly 17 million WiFi hotspots nationwide.

http://corporate.comcast.com/news-information/news-feed?sort=date#news-feed

• The gigabit service launch in Oregon and southwest Washington follows Comcast's recent announcement that it was introducing DOCSIS 3.1-based gigabit Internet service for residential customers throughout Utah, specifically in the markets of Salt Lake City, Provo and North Ogden. In 2016, Comcast announced consumer trials of the DOCSIS 3.1-based gigabit Internet service in parts of Atlanta and in Nashville, Tennessee.
• In January this year, Comcast Business announced it was offering DOCSIS 3.1-based Internet service to business customers in its Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit and Nashville service areas.
• Comcast announced in February 2016 year plans to bring gigabit Internet speeds to residential and business customers utilising DOCSIS 3.1 technology, and during the year announced it was launching an advanced consumer trial of DOCSIS 3.1 technology-based Internet service offering speeds up to 1 Gbit/s to residential customers in Chicago and Detroit.

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Mavenir and 6WIND collaborate on 4G/5G, NFV

6WIND, a provider of high-performance networking software, announced that Mavenir based in Richardson, Texas, which focuses on enabling network transformation for service providers, has extended its long-term partnership to deliver advanced solutions for 4G, 5G and network functions virtualisation (NFV) services such as media resource function (MRF), evolved packet core (EPC), virtual RAN (vRAN) and session border controller (SBC) products.

Under the expanded agreement, to enable high packet processing capacity and performance across its next-generation telecom networking solutions Mavenir has extended its license agreement with 6WIND to include the 6WINDGate TCP stack.

In addition to the 6WIND software, Mavenir is able to leverage 6WIND's Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK) expertise, network software design skills and licensed support. The TCP stack addition complements a range of DPDK-based Layer 2 to Layer 4 6WINDGate stacks that are widely incorporated in the Mavenir product suite.

Mavenir's expanded partnership specifically provides access to the following 6WIND software and features:

1.         Networking performance acceleration and portability, including 6WINDGate source code for Linux networking; accelerated Layer 2 to 4 networking stacks for application performance and portability across hardware platforms; and the TCP termination module for scaling TCP-based application performance.

2.         Virtualisation readiness, enabling a smooth upgrade path from bare metal to virtual deployments utilising the same software.

http://www.6wind.com/news-events/press-releases-2017/6wind-press-may-31-2017/

http://www.mavenir.com/newsfeed

• Recently, 6WIND announced its Secure Site-to-Site VPN solution for data centre inter-connection, based on the 6WIND Turbo IPsec software for networking at rates of 10 Gbit/s and beyond. 6WIND Turbo IPsec is designed to enable IPsec VPNs on COTS servers with claimed costs of less than 50% that of legacy hardware systems. 6WIND Turbo IPsec can be deployed on bare metal servers or in a virtual machine to support the transition to virtualisation

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