U.S. Commerce Dept. bans exports to ZTE

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has imposed a denial of export privileges against Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corporation (ZTE) of China.

The ban prohibits companies or individuals from participating in any way in an export transaction with ZTE. The order prohibits "Carrying on negotiations concerning, or ordering, buying, receiving, using, selling, delivering, storing, disposing of, forwarding, transporting, financing, or otherwise servicing in any way, any transaction involving any item exported or to be exported from the United States that is subject to the Regulations."

“ZTE made false statements to the U.S. Government when they were originally caught and put on the Entity List, made false statements during the reprieve it was given, and made false statements again during its probation...  Instead of reprimanding ZTE staff and senior management, ZTE rewarded them.  This egregious behavior cannot be ignored,” said Secretary of Commerce Ross.

In a press statement, ZTE said it is aware of the denial order activated by the United States Department of Commerce and that it is currently assessing the full range of potential implications.

https://www.commerce.gov/sites/commerce.gov/files/zte_denial_order.pdf

U.S. Dept. of Commerce Ruling Hits ZTE and Suppliers

Monday, March 07, 2016  China, Iran, Legal, Silicon, ZTE  No Comments

The U.S. Department of Commerce has added ZTE to the list of entities involved in "activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States."

The Export Administration Regulations (EAR) listing, which limits the availability of most license exceptions on U.S. technology sales to ZTE, was driven by a finding that ZTE willingly resold restricted U.S. technology products to Iran during the period of economic sanctions,

The move could block U.S. semiconductor companies from selling to ZTE, potentially impacting a wide range of networking gear and mobile devices.

ZTE said it is working expeditiously towards resolution of this issue and that it is fully committed to compliance with the laws and regulations of the jurisdictions in which it operates.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2016-05104.pdf

FBI Opens Criminal Investigation into ZTE Shipments to Iran

Saturday, July 14, 2012  China, Legal, ZTE  No Comments

The FBI has opened a criminal investigation into whether ZTE shipped U.S.-made networking components and surveillance equipment to Iran.  According to various news sources, including Reuters, The Washington Post and The Smoking Gun, various documents have emerged, including a shipping manifest, related to a $130 million sales contract between ZTE and the Telecommunications Company of Iran.  Equipment reportedly includes systems from Cisco, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Juniper, Microsoft, Oracle and Symantec.

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A10 Networks cites deployment of its DNS solution by tier-1 Cloud Service Provider

A10 Networks announced a global tier-1 Cloud Service Provider has selected and deployed its Thunder TPS (Threat Protection System) with its Non-stop DNS solution across multiple data centers to ensure resilience from escalating cyber-attacks, and scale its mission critical DNS services.

A10 said it worked with the Cloud Service Provider to create an innovative Non-stop DNS solution to prevent anticipated DNS meltdowns due to DDoS attacks on their DNS infrastructure. The solution, utilizing Thunder TPS, was first deployed in 2017 to provide Non-stop DNS services for the Cloud Service Provider. At the heart of the new solution is a ground-breaking authoritative DNS cache from A10 that achieves unprecedented levels of scale and performance while protecting the backend DNS servers.

Key benefits of A10 Thunder TPS Non-stop DNS:

• Highly scalable authoritative DNS cache server to eliminate the impact of DNS DDoS attacks
• 150x DNS performance vs a typical DNS server
• Up to 35M queries per second (QPS)
• Impedes attacker reconnaissance by responding in a manner that is indistinguishable from the backend authoritative DNS servers
• Absorbs massive attacks while limiting the volume of queries to the backend DNS servers
• Enhances the experience of legitimate users by reducing DNS response time especially when placed at the network edge in global service provider networks
• Ease of integration with detection and management systems via OpenAPI (aXAPI) to automate tasks

“High profile outages caused by attacks on critical infrastructure have demanded the creation of new solutions,” said Raj Jalan, CTO, A10 Networks. “The A10 Networks Non-stop DNS solution enables any service provider to avoid costly downtime by keeping DNS infrastructure operational despite the largest targeted attacks.”

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Microsoft announces security tools

Microsoft announced several new intelligent security tools to help enterprises more easily secure their data and networks against today's biggest threats and emerging threats aimed at IoT and edge devices.  The rollout includes:

• Azure Sphere -- microcontroller unit (MCU) for connected devices. Microsoft describes Azure Sphere as "a holistic platform for creating highly secured, connected MCU devices on the intelligent edge." Azure Sphere will boast more than five times the power of legacy MCUs, an OS custom built for IoT security, and a turnkey cloud security service that guards every Azure Sphere device. 
• New intelligent security features for the Microsoft 365 commercial cloud offering. 
• Microsoft Secure Score and Attack Simulator -- makes it easier for organizations to determine which controls to enable to help protect users, data and devices by quickly assessing readiness and providing an overall security benchmark score. I
• Attack Simulator -- a part of Office 365 Threat Intelligence, lets security teams run simulated attacks — including mock ransomware and phishing campaigns — to event-test their employees' responses and tune configurations accordingly.
• Windows 10 update -- now in preview, Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) works across other parts of Microsoft 365 to include threat protection and remediation spanning Office 365, Windows and Azure. Also in the upcoming Windows 10 update, are new automated investigation and remediation capabilities in Windows Defender ATP, leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to quickly detect and respond to threats on endpoints, within seconds, at scale.
• Conditional Access -  provides real-time risk assessments to help ensure that access to sensitive data is appropriately controlled, without getting in the way of users' productivity. Microsoft 365 is now adding the device risk level set by Windows Defender ATP to Conditional Access in preview to help ensure that compromised devices can't access sensitive business data.
• A new security API for connecting Microsoft Intelligent Security Graph-enabled products as well as intelligence from solutions built by customers and technology partners to greatly enhance the fidelity of intelligence.
• A new Microsoft Intelligent Security Association for security technology partners - Palo Alto Networks and Anomali join PwC and other existing partners as founding members of the new association.

"As last year's devastating cyberattacks demonstrated, security threats are evolving and becoming even more serious," said Brad Smith, president of Microsoft. "The tech sector's innovations need to accelerate to outpace security threats. Today's steps bring important security advances not just to the cloud, but to the billions of new devices that are working on the edge of the world's computer networks."

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ADTRAN launches cloud-managed residential Wi-Fi

ADTRAN introduced a new cloud-managed whole home mesh Wi-Fi solution enabling Service Providers to deliver ubiquitous coverage, automated Wi-Fi performance enhancements and improved security.

The ADTRAN SDX 810-RG and 810-AP enhance ADTRAN’s SD-Access portfolio enabling Enterprise-Class Wi-Fi functionality in the home. Highlights include:

• Zero-touch deployment
• Platform for machine learning to maximize performance & adapt to the environment
• Dynamic Steering matches consumer with best available signal
• Air Time Fairness ensures a fast lane for newer devices
• Leverages Mosaic Suite tools to automatically provide security updates and parental controls

“Consumers will see a dramatic improvement in how their Wi-Fi performs throughout their home—Wi-Fi that just works,” ADTRAN Wi-Fi Technology and Strategy Manager Ken Fernandes said. “We’re bringing ADTRAN’s proven enterprise-class technology to resolve new challenges in the home around coverage, interference and capacity.”

Watch the video

https://vimeo.com/250095184

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Zayo to open first data center in the London metro area

Zayo announced plans to open its first data center in the London metro area, will add 30,000 total square feet and 3.6 megawatts (MW) of critical power.

The new data center, which will be located in Feltham, UK, is driven by a commitment from a major anchor tenant. It will add 30,000 total square feet and 3.6 megawatts (MW) of critical power.

“This new data center strengthens our commitment to the UK, providing customers with an excellent option for colocation and high-capacity fiber connectivity,” said TJ Karklins, senior vice president of Zayo's zColo business segment. “This facility will offer low-latency connectivity to Slough, city center, and even around central London for connection directly to France and the rest of Europe. We look forward to delivering high-compliance, network-neutral solutions from our growing European platform.”

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Netronome adds eBPF/XDP offload tp SmartNICs

Netronome introduced a new eBPF/XDP offload capability for its Agilio SmartNICs, providing a foundation for building high-performance, kernel-compliant firewalls, DDoS protection and load balancing products that complement and build on the momentum in the Linux community.

The new high-performance offload provides an interface to any technology stack that utilizes the underlying flexibility and scalability of eBPF with the performance of XDP.

XDP allows users to eliminate kernel bypass through the provision of performance at the base of the kernel stack, eliminating the need for users to have to choose between scalability and performance.

Netronome said its upstreamed, kernel-based offload and just-in-time (JIT) compiler, combined with the existing low power Agilio CX 10/25/40GbE SmartNICs, Agilio CX 25/50GbE OCP v2.0 SmartNICs and the new Agilio FX 10/25GbE SmartNICs, allow operators building infrastructures for data center core and enterprise edge applications to marry the benefits of the eBPF framework with transparent hardware acceleration.

“The extremely important shift to eBPF/XDP for securing valuable user data is happening now at large data centers,” said Niel Viljoen, CEO and founder of Netronome. “As one of the top networking companies contributing to the Linux community in this vital space, we are proud to be in the forefront bringing true software-defined security with hardware acceleration to the industry as it braces for the tsunami of data growth from new applications and devices.”

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xRAN Fronthaul V1.0 spec is released

The xRAN Forum approved and released its first xRAN Fronthaul Specification Version 1.0.

The xRAN Fronthaul Specification addresses several key operator-defined requirements, including:

• BBU – RU interoperability based on well specified control, user and management plane interfaces.
• Efficient bandwidth scaling as a function of user throughput and spatial layers to address increasing bandwidth needs and Massive MIMO deployments.
• Support for LTE, NR, associated features, 2T – 8T RU products and Massive MIMO beamforming antenna systems.
• Advanced receivers and co-ordination functions.
• Ethernet based transport layer solutions.
• Extensible data models for management functions to simplify integration.

The xRAN Forum was established in October 2016 with the mission to enable best-of-breed RRUs and BBUs for a wide range of deployment scenarios.

“Our vision to develop, standardize and promote an open alternative to the traditionally closed, hardware-based RAN architecture is becoming a reality,” said Dr. Sachin Katti, Professor at Stanford University and Director of the xRAN Forum. “Our operator members have been very focused and clear on requirements and our ecosystem of contributing members have risen to the challenge. The Fonthaul Specification is the first of several open interface specifications we expect to be released in 2018.”

“The release of the xRAN Fronthaul Specification is a groundbreaking advancement toward enabling an open RAN architecture to support next-generation products and services,” said Bill Stone, Vice President, Network Technology Development and Planning at Verizon. “xRAN compliant radios coupled with virtualized basebands provide much needed flexibility to support rapid development and deployment of RAN products. By adopting xRAN specifications, we will be able to speed innovation, increase collaboration, and be more agile to a quickly evolving market.”

“We are pleased to have worked with xRAN members in reaching the key milestone of delivering the first open xRAN fronthaul specification," said Dr. Hiroshi Nakamura, EVP and CTO of NTT DOCOMO. "We believe that the completion and publication of this specification will contribute in further advancing the RAN and in expanding the ecosystem in the 5G era. DOCOMO will keep contributing to this activity with the experience we had in realizing multi-vendor interoperable RAN with our partners using common interfaces for our LTE network.”

“The xRAN Fronthaul Specification is a foundational component in the xRAN architectural vision and vital to accelerating the worldwide deployment of next-generation RAN infrastructure network operators demand,” said Alex Jinsung Choi, SVP Research & Technology Innovation, Deutsche Telekom. “Going forward, by connecting these specification activities to the broad architectural scope in ORAN, we can ensure the implementations across a wider community of suppliers to promote both innovation and open market competition."

“xRAN’s release of this jointly-developed open specification creates the first wave of a positive sea change for our industry, transforming the way next-generation RAN infrastructure will be built, managed and optimized,” said Andre Fuetsch, CTO and President AT&T Labs. “Equipment that supports open specifications from xRAN (and ORAN in the future), combined with increasing RAN virtualization and data-driven intelligence, will allow carriers to reduce complexity, innovate more quickly and significantly reduce deployment and operational costs.”

http://www.xran.org/resources/

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Vodafone UK tests 3.4 GHz spectrum for 5G

Vodafone UK completed the first test of 3.4 Gigahertz (GHz) spectrum for 5G across an existing live network between Manchester and the company’s headquarters in Newbury, Berkshire.

The test used Massive MIMO combined with 3.4 GHz spectrum running over the core 4G network. Vodafone's site in Manchester was its contact centre, which houses around 1,000 customer service employees

The company described the test as a major milestone in UK telecommunications, as it is the first time that the 3.4 Gigahertz (GHz) radio frequency allocated for 5G has been used in the UK, and noted that is was carried out just a week after Vodafone secured the largest slice of 5G spectrum in Ofcom’s auction.

Vodafone UK Chief Executive Nick Jeffery said: “5G will improve the quality of our lives and transform how we work. This next generation technology will enable medical services that could save lives, from remote surgery to remote care for the elderly. It will enhance industrial applications, from automated systems to robotics, helping manufacturers across the UK boost their productivity. And it will enable families to share their experiences with loved ones wherever they are, thanks to innovations like augmented reality."

UK completes spectrum auction - EE and Vodafone gain 5G bands

Thursday, April 05, 2018  Auction, Ofcom, Spectrum, UK  No Comments

Ofcom, the official telecoms regulator in the U.K., completed the auction of 190 MHz of spectrum across two frequency bands: 40 MHz in the 2.3 GHz band, which will be used to increase 4G mobile broadband capacity; and 150 MHz in 3.4GHz, which has been earmarked for 5G.

Here are the results:

EE won 40 MHz of 3.4 GHz spectrum at a cost of £302,592,000.

Hutchison 3G UK won 20 MHz of 3.4 GHz spectrum at a cost of £151,296,000.

Telefónica UK won all 40 MHz of 2.3 GHz spectrum available, at a cost of £205,896,000; and 40 MHz of 3.4 GHz spectrum at a cost of £317,720,000.

Vodafone won 50 MHz of 3.4 GHz spectrum at a cost of £378,240,000.

Airspan Spectrum Holdings, which would have been a new entrant to the UK mobile market, failed to win spectrum in either band.

The total value of the winning bids amounts to £1,355,744,000.

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Former CEO of Alaska's Quintillion is accused of fraud

Elizabeth Ann Pierce, the former CEO of Quintillion, a telecommunications firm building a subsea and terrestrial fiber network in Alaska, has been arrested and charged with fraud by U.S. federal authorities.

The allegations accuse Pierce with a scheme to use forged guaranteed revenue contracts to fraudulently induce investors to invest more than $250 million in the fiber optic cable network in Alaska. The faked documents reportedly assured that Quintillion would collect hundreds of millions of dollars in future revenue, but proved to be worthless. The fraudulent activity is said to have occurred between 2015 and 2017.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: "To realize her plan to build a fiber optic system that would service Alaska and connect it to the lower 48 states, Elizabeth Ann Pierce allegedly convinced two investment companies that she had secured signed contracts that would supposedly generate hundreds of millions of dollars in guaranteed future revenue from the system.  As it turned out, those sales agreements were worthless because the customers had not signed them.  Instead, as alleged, Pierce had forged counterparty signatures on contract after contract.  As a result of Pierce’s deception, the investment companies were left with a system that is worth far less than Pierce had led them to believe."

In a statement, Quintillion says it "self-reported" last year to the U.S Department of Justice when it became aware of the alleged actions and that it is cooperating with authorities. The company says the ongoing investigation has not impacted its network operations. An interim CEO, George Tronsrue III, was appointed last August when Pierce abruptly resigned.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/manhattan-us-attorney-announces-arrest-former-ceo-alaska-based-fiber-optic-company

In December 2017, Quintillion announced the activation of commercial service on its new subsea fiber optic cable system serving five northern Alaska communities: Utqiaġvik, Wainwright, Point Hope, Nome, and Kotzebue.

Installation of the Alaska Arctic portion of the international Quintillion Subsea Cable System was completed in early October.

Quintillion’s subsea and terrestrial fiber optic network spans 1,400 miles, including a subsea trunk line from Prudhoe Bay to Nome with branching lines to the five communities.

Quintillion is aiming to extend its Arctic subsea cable system westwards to Asia (phase 2) and then eastwards to Europe (phase 3).

In July 2015, Quintillion Subsea Holdings awarded a turnkey contract to Alcatel-Lucent for the design and construction of a submarine cable system in Alaska from Prudhoe Bay to Nome.

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Comcast and Netflix expand partnership

Comcast will begin offering Netflix subscriptions in its new and existing Xfinity packages.

Comcast first launched Netflix on its X1 platform in 2016, offering voice control and seamless access to the Netflix service through its platform. Since then Netflix has become one of the most popular voice searches and highly-viewed services on the platform.

“Netflix offers one of the most popular on demand services and is an important supplement to the content offering and value proposition of the X1 platform,” said Sam Schwartz, Chief Business Development Officer, Comcast Cable. “Netflix is a great partner, and we are excited to offer its services to our customers in new ways that provide them with more choice, value and flexibility. The seamless integration of Netflix with the vast Xfinity entertainment library on X1 present a unique and comprehensive experience for customers.”

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Nokia and Telia look to combine 5G with Industry 4.0

Nokia and Telia conducted a 5G trial at the end of March to test its usefulness in real-world applications of 'Industry 4.0', the industrial trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies.

Specifically, Nokia and Telia worked with Intel and Finnish software startup Finwe to provide a 5G radio access network operating in the 28 GHz frequency band for a "Conscious Factory" in Oulu, Finland.

The Nokia AirFrame data center solution, equipped with Intel Xeon Scalable processors, delivered network edge and core cloud flexibilities and capabilities.

Nokia said the use of Multi-access Edge Computing together with 5G allows data to be processed close to where it's needed, dramatically reducing latency. The Finwe video application was used to monitor and analyze a video feed of a process on one assembly line. The application leveraged machine learning to immediately alert the assembly line operator of any inconsistencies in the process so they could be corrected in real-time, ensuring high-performance, reliability and quality.

In a second trial, the Nokia AirFrame data center solution, Nokia's Multi-access Edge Computing platform and Finwe's video analytics application were installed at Telia's centralized data center in Helsinki, approximately 600 km from the Nokia Conscious Factory in Oulu.

Janne Koistinen, director of 5G Program at Telia Finland said: "Under our '5G Finland' initiative we are working with companies such as Nokia to accelerate the fourth industrial revolution in the country. In this trial, we could show how we can extend our service offering to new industry customers to enable efficiencies that will advance their production capabilities."

Marc Rouanne, president of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said: "Nokia's 5G capabilities allow operators such as Telia to leverage machine learning and automation by opening up network data and intelligence. As we continue to deliver machine learning capabilities in Nokia's ReefShark chipsets and develop advanced algorithms we will further enhance our radio performance, allowing customers to take advantage of new business opportunities in the 5G and IoT world."

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The LF Networking Fund adds iconectiv (Telcordia)

iconectiv (Telcordia Technologies)  has joined The LF Networking Fund (LFN), a new open source networking initiative created by The Linux Foundation. The focus of LFN is to increase collaboration and operational excellence across networking projects, including Open Platform for NFV (OPNFV), to help deliver a new generation of services.

“The move to hybrid networks that combine physical assets with virtual functions promises enhanced operational efficiencies and speed-to-market for new kinds of services for customers globally,” said Alex Berry, Executive Vice President, Information Solutions, iconectiv. “The Linux Foundation understands the successful integration of these two worlds will require the collaboration of network architects and operators. We intend to offer our intimate knowledge of interconnection and network and operations management to help ensure the full rollout and adoption of hybrid networks.”

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Etisalat, Singtel, Softbank and Telefonica form Cyber Security Alliance

Four leading global carriers - Etisalat, Singtel, Softbank, and Telefónica -- agreed to create a Global Telco Security Alliance that will offer enterprises access to a comprehensive portfolio of cybersecurity services. The group will share network intelligence on cyber threats and leverage their joint global reach, assets and cybersecurity capabilities to serve customers worldwide. The partners will also develop a joint technology roadmap to create advanced cyber security applications for the Internet of Things as well as solutions that use predictive analytics and machine learning. The alliance will also consider joint investments in SOCs, cybersecurity platforms and innovative start-ups.

The four carriers and their subsidiaries have a combined customer base of more than 1.2 billion customers in over 60 countries. Between them, they operate 22 world-class Security Operation Centres (SOCs) and employ more than 6,000 cybersecurity experts.

Francisco Salcedo, Senior Vice President at Etisalat Digital said: “With digital technologies gaining widespread adoption and driving innovation across industry verticals, the security landscape has evolved. Organisations now face a new breed of threats and need to manage digital risks in their environments. Today’s strategic alliance will give us a unique opportunity to work hand in hand with our telecom counterparts and deliver innovative security services for digital risk management.”

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ADTRAN enhances its Mosaic Subscriber Experience Suite

ADTRAN announced a significant expansion to its Mosaic Subscriber Experience Suite adding two new applications that give service providers network and subscriber intelligence, as well as remote in-home device management. The enhancements include:

• Mosaic Subscriber Insight – personalizes the subscriber experience through a network intelligence tool that improves business operations, drives new service adoption and increases customer loyalty.
• Mosaic Device Manager – streamlines the subscriber experience through a device management tool that empowers service providers to monitor and maintain in-home customer devices and Wi-Fi networks remotely.
  

“Our enhanced Mosaic portfolio enables service providers to meet the ever-increasing expectations of the ultra-connected customer, who expects a seamless experience whether at home, work or on vacation,” ADTRAN Subscriber Solutions & Experience Portfolio Management Director Jeremy Harris said. “These innovations help provide analytics, lower costs, gain visibility to subscriber behavior and build customer loyalty—everything needed to thrive in a competitive marketplace.”

These two Mosaic software applications join the previously announced:

• Mosaic Activate – orchestrates one-click broadband service activation increasing revenue velocity, improving customer satisfaction and lowering the cost of subscriber adds.

ADTRAN Introduces Mosaic Software Tools

Wednesday, August 23, 2017  ADTRAN  No Comments

ADTRAN introduced its Mosaic Subscriber Solutions & Experience, described by the companyt as a new category of software products to help service providers transition their access infrastructure to a more open, programmable and scalable network.

Mosaic Activate, which has been shipping for several quarters, is the initial software product released under the Mosaic Subscriber Solutions & Experience umbrella. The software streamlines the pre-provisioning steps typically required before new customer service activation, allowing services to be configured from the edge of the network via a web interface. ADTRAN said service providers will realize a tenfold productivity increase leveraging the same number of network management resources to activate new services, accelerating new customer turn up by eliminating the swivel chair operations traditionally involved.

“The Mosaic Subscriber Solutions & Experience portfolio demonstrates our passion for staying hyper-focused on our customers to solve real world challenges,” said Jeremy Harris, director of Portfolio Management at ADTRAN. “We believe that software offers the possibility to orchestrate every task, data driven machines can securely manage the network, and end users deserve a blissful experience. This is the network that consumers want and that service providers desperately need, and we plan to make this a reality.”

http://www.adtran.com/index.php/mosaic-home

Watch the video

https://vimeo.com/250095184

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Commscope and Ericsson collaborate on CBRS testing

CommScope and Ericsson have successfully completed interoperability testing of their equipment for use in  Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) deployments.

Specifically, the interoperability test confirmed that CommScope’s Spectrum Access System (SAS) and Ericsson’s radio infrastructure with CBRS spectrum support will work together as part of a CBRS network.

The companies said this SAS–Citizens Broadband Radio Service Device (CBSD) interoperability testing, which was the first using the Wireless Innovation Forum’s release 1.2 specifications, included a battery of scenarios to verify that both products meet governmental requirements and industry protocols, as well as CommScope’s and Ericsson’s respective quality standards.

“CommScope’s team of architects, developers and engineers have been building an industry-leading SAS for nearly two years,” said Tom Gravely, vice president of research and development, Network Solutions, CommScope. “Completion of interoperability testing with a major radio equipment provider such as Ericsson validates our SAS design and readies us for commercial deployment.”

“Ericsson offers a comprehensive portfolio of CBRS network solutions that will help operators of all sizes deploy in this spectrum quickly and successfully,” said Paul Challoner, vice president of Network Product Solutions, Ericsson. “Additional milestones need to be reached for CBRS to become a reality, but we are pleased to complete interoperability testing with CommScope as part of the developmental process.”

In a CBRS network, a SAS and CBSD work together to ensure that the appropriate wireless signals are transmitted and received between the core network and end-user devices, while managing interference. An Environmental Sensing Capability (ESC) works with the SAS to identify the wireless signals of incumbent users to avoid interference from CBSDs. CommScope is one of four ESC operators conditionally approved by the FCC to provide SAS and ESC services.

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Nutanix cites sales traction with U.S. federal government

Nutanix reported strong adoption of its AHV hypervisor by U.S. federal government customer, saying 74 percent of all Nutanix Enterprise Cloud OS nodes sold to federal agencies in 2017 leveraged AHV, compared to 30 percent adoption by the Nutanix worldwide customer base, based on a rolling four-quarter average.

Some highlights:

• added nearly 100 new customers in 2017, including component organizations within the U.S. Departments of Defense, Commerce, Interior, Energy, Health and Human Services, the U.S. Federal Court system and federal systems integrators
• 20 new federal customers with total investments valued at more than $1 million each, an 82 percent increase from the number of customers in previous fiscal year
• 320 unique federal customers at the end of 2017

“The demands on federal IT customers couldn’t be higher. They are facing increasing pressure to modernize systems and implement heightened security, all while reducing costs,” said Dheeraj Pandey, co-founder and CEO of Nutanix. “Nutanix’s momentum in the federal vertical demonstrates that customers are increasingly turning to Nutanix to meet these needs—pulling back from ‘one-size-fits-all’ public cloud strategies and placing a greater emphasis on hybrid ecosystems to modernize their legacy systems. We are eager to continue to partner with federal customers to achieve these goals.”

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Zscaler implements FIPS 140-2 validated encryption

Zscaler is now offering FIPS 140-2 validated encryption within Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) and Zscaler Private Access (ZPA), including the Zscaler application (Z-App).  Zscaler partnered with SafeLogic to provide FIPS compliant crypto libraries.

FIPS 140-2 is the U.S. government standard used to ensure that cryptographic modules meet the necessary security levels for confidentiality and integrity of Sensitive but Unclassified (SBU) information.

“FIPS 140-2 validation was the logical next step for us in the process of achieving our FedRAMP Certification,” says Stephen Kovac, Vice President of Global Government and Compliance at Zscaler. “It shows Zscaler’s continued commitment to build our security cloud to meet the stringent and evolving public sector security regulations.”

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ZTE gains Chair of new IEEE Next Gen V2X Study Group

ZTE has been designated as the chair of newly formed IEEE 802.11 NGV SG (Next Generation V2X Study Group), which will look at the requirements for adopting recent 802.11 technologies for new V2X applications, specifically for higher throughput applications, better reliability/efficiency, and extended range as well.

The goal of the NGV SG is to define the scope and develop the PAR and CSD for an IEEE 802.11 standard on Next -Generation V2X while maintaining backward compatibility with 802.11p. Sun Bo, a ZTE standard expert, was designated as the chair of the IEEE 802.11 NGV SG.

ZTE noted that two of its researchers have also taken on key leadership roles in international standards developments. Zhou Jingyi was designated as the chair of the Numbering Adhoc under IEEE-SA NewCom. Sun Bo was elected as the chair of WPAN WG under China NIST recently.

ZTE also holds the vice chair of 3GPP RAN2, the vice chair of IEEE P1934 WG, rapporteurs of two important ETSI MEC ISG projects, and is a board member of OpenFog Consortium.

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Intel ships FPGA-powered accelerator cards for Xeon servers

Intel's FPGA-powered accelerator cards are featured in a new range of Xeon processor-based servers coming from major OEM customers, including Dell EMC and Fujitsu.

Both Dell EMC and Fujitsu will incorporate a complete Intel hardware and software stack in their individual offerings, consisting of Intel Programmable Acceleration Cards with Arria 10 GX FPGA and the Intel Acceleration Stack for Intel Xeon Scalable processor with FPGAs.

“We are beginning our adoption of Intel Programmable Acceleration Card with Arria 10 GX FPGA with PRIMERGY server and engaging our priority customers. The FPGA acceleration benefits enable operators to tackle the opex constraints while still achieving scale, performance and adaptability,” said Kenichi Sakai, corporate executive officer and head of Data Center Platform Business Unit of Fujitsu.

Dell EMC PowerEdge R640, R740 and R740XD servers incorporating Intel FPGA acceleration are now available for volume deployment with more to come.

“We are at the horizon of a new era of data center computing as Dell EMC and Fujitsu put the power and flexibility of Intel FPGAs in mainstream server products,” said Reynette Au, vice president of marketing for the Intel Programmable Solutions Group. “We’re enabling our customers and partners to create a rich set of high-performance solutions at scale by delivering the benefits of hardware performance, all in a software development environment.”

Intel first announced sampling of the card in October 2017 with the promise to make it commercially available in 1H 2018.

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AT&T and Crown Castle expand strategic relationship

AT&T and Crown Castle announced a new and expanded long-term leasing deal for wireless network infrastructure.

Under the new agreement, leasing management and operations are streamlined to improve the efficiency and flexibility under which AT&T can deploy new technologies and increase network capacity. In addition to macro sites, the new agreement covers small cell deployments. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The companies said the new agreement will enable AT&T to speed up the deployment of 5G technologies and the execution of our FirstNet build.

"This agreement marks a significant milestone in our relationship with Crown Castle," said Susan Johnson, executive vice president – Global Connections and Supply Chain, AT&T. "It establishes a market-based framework and simplifies the lease management and administration process. This will allow us to streamline network projects to better serve our customers."

"We are pleased to expand our longstanding strategic relationship with AT&T," said Mike Kavanagh, Chief Commercial Officer, Crown Castle. "We look forward to continuing to support AT&T's growth by providing our infrastructure assets to meet their network needs for years to come."

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