Verizon Media validates 100GbE QSFP28 to 400GbE QSFP-DD upgrade in OLS

Verizon Media, which operates a high-capacity content delivery network, validated a seamless upgrade from Inphi's 100GbE QSFP28 optics to its 400GbE QSFP-DD over the same production Open Line System. The demonstration consisted of adding a 400ZR from an Arista 400G switch into a 100GHz DWDM channel without affecting any of the existing 100GbE waves.

Verizon Media's CDN needs connect super PoPs with low latency and high capacity DWDM interconnects. Verizon Media is advancing the disaggregation of optics, switching, and optical line systems in preparation for an enormous surge in data driven by cloud, HD video and 5G applications.

“To ensure our CDN remains ready for the web of tomorrow, we must constantly stay at the leading edge of technology to drive scalability of our network, while building the most price competitive and efficient infrastructure possible,” said Nitin Batta, Principal Infrastructure Architect, Verizon Media. “The solutions and roadmap offered by COLORZ products will allow us to rapidly, easily and cost effectively add terabits of capacity in response to customer demands.”

Inphi said both of its COLORZ optical platforms use a single Silicon Photonics Integrated Circuits technology for all transmit and received functions. With a strong market adoption of over 100,000 units COLORZ deployed, COLORZ II will further benefit from a strong industry support with a multi-vendor ecosystem and a well-accepted interoperable 400ZR standard.

“As data center network traffic continues to grow exponentially, it is critical for infrastructure suppliers to continue providing innovative scalable solutions,” said Tomas Maj, Sr. Director, Marketing, Optical Interconnect at Inphi Corporation. “COLORZ products continue to open new possibilities for DCI total cost of ownership reductions, while providing a seamless upgrade path to 400G.”

COLORZ is the industry’s first Silicon Photonics 100G PAM4 platform solution for 80km DWDM Data Center Interconnects (DCIs) in QSFP28 form factor. Utilizing advanced Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM4) signaling, COLORZ delivers up to 4Tb/s of bandwidth over a single fiber and allows multiple data centers located up to 80km of each other to be connected and act like a single data center.

COLORZ II is the industry's first 400ZR QSFP-DD pluggable coherent transceiver for cloud DCIs to major cloud operators and OEMs. COLORZ II enables large cloud operators to connect metro data centers at a fraction of the cost of traditional coherent transport systems and allows switch and router companies to offer the same density for both coherent DWDM and client optics in the same chassis. This eliminates a layer of network connectivity that was previously required and supports high capacity DWDM connectivity directly from data center switches. 

https://www.inphi.com/products/colorz

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Samsung and KDDI demo 5G network slicing

KDDI, in collaboration with Samsung, demonstrated a 5G end-to-end (E2E) network slicing demonstration with a RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) in Tokyo, Japan. 

The demonstration showcased new use cases using 5G E2E network slicing on a virtual network that ties together Samsung’s virtualized core, virtualized RAN, and orchestration.

Key capabilities shown included low latency, guaranteed throughput and the creation of multiple slices. Furthermore, a RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) that managed radio resources to guarantee required service levels, was demonstrated. Samsung and KDDI aim to standardize E2E network slicing in an international standard organization. 

“The demonstration provides a foundation that will allow KDDI to offer new 5G commercial services leveraging its 5G commercial networks,” said Toshikazu Yokai, Executive Officer, General Manager of Mobile Network Technical Development Division at KDDI. “Working with Samsung, we will continue to accelerate growth in advanced 5G technologies to benefit our customers.”

“This collaboration with KDDI on 5G E2E network slicing is a significant step towards new business models using 5G technology,” said Taiyeon Kim, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Technology Service Team, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “This demonstration spotlights how Samsung’s advanced 5G solutions can support KDDI and open up new business opportunities by unlocking the full power of their 5G commercial network.”

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MWC Barcelona rescheduled for June 28

 Mobile World Congress Barcelona has been rescheduled for June 28th to July 1st, 2021.

The dates for Mobile World Congress Shanghai have been moved ahead to February 23-25, 2021.

Mats Granryd, Director General, GSMA said: “With a continuously changing global outlook and following consultation with our board and membership and our top exhibitors, we have taken the careful decision to reschedule MWC21 Shanghai in February, and MWC21 Barcelona in June. The health and safety of our exhibitors, attendees, staff and the people of Barcelona are of paramount importance.”

Pau Relat, President of Governing board of Fira de Barcelona, said: “We fully support the GSMA’s decision to reschedule the dates for MWC Barcelona and are deeply committed to making the best possible 2021 edition with an extraordinary participation of companies and visitors. The long-standing partnership between the MWC, Fira and the city of Barcelona has been a very successful one for everyone, and I’m sure it will continue to be so in the future.”

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Nokia's Worldwide IoT Network Grid service builds on Equinix

Equinix has been selected as a strategic supplier for Nokia's Worldwide IoT Network Grid (WING) managed service.

Nokia's WING allows operators without an IoT footprint to gain fast entry to the IoT market or to help operators expand an existing IoT business.

Specifically, Nokia is leveraging Equinix IBX data centers to deploy both core and edge nodes to support mobile, IoT and cloud connectivity at global scale. 

Nokia WING will use Platform Equinix to support markets across the globe in areas such as IoT data traffic and device density, as well as local regulatory environments (such as GDPR). Nokia is leveraging Equinix's global data center footprint to enable the efficient collection from, and distribution across, multiple networks and clouds. Additionally, Nokia and Equinix are exploring edge architectures and deployment models that can improve the performance of use cases relating to cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning and IoT.

"Nokia WING offers a superior IoT service experience for operators through global network presence, unified orchestration and consistent service level agreements. This deal will support our efforts to manage IoT-related data analysis on a global basis," said Ankur Bhan, Head of WING, Nokia.

"Nokia needed access to multiple markets and ecosystems to connect to NSPs and enterprises who want a play in the IoT space. By directly connecting to Nokia WING, mobile network operators can capture business value across IoT, AI and security, with a connectivity strategy to support business transformation," states Jim Poole, VP, Equinix.

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Rakuten Mobile teams with Equinix

 Rakuten Mobile Singapore Pte. selected Platform Equinix as a foundation to deliver its Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP) to global operators and enterprise customers. 

Rakuten Mobile intends to offer RCP as a set of key technologies and services that allows governments, telecom companies and enterprises a way to easily build and deploy fully cloud-native network services at speed and low cost. With plans underway to roll out RCP on a global scale, Rakuten Mobile selected Platform Equinix after a thorough evaluation process to address its dynamic needs.

The deployment with Equinix will be completed in phases, with initial deployment in Singapore, the location of Rakuten Mobile's international headquarters, and Los Angeles with future expansions planned across the U.S., EMEA and Asia-Pacific. 

"We are thrilled to collaborate with Equinix to support the global expansion of our telecommunications business through Rakuten Communications Platform. Equinix's global footprint, enterprise-grade facilities and strong network capabilities make it the ideal partner for us to bring the deployment of cloud-native mobile networks to telecom and enterprise companies around the world," said Tareq Amin, Chief Technology Officer, Rakuten Mobile.

"Today marks the beginning of a strong and solid collaboration with Rakuten Mobile. The first phase of deployment in Singapore and Los Angeles lays ground for future international expansion of its mobile business. With Platform Equinix, Rakuten Mobile can take advantage of our global footprint and solid network ecosystems to deliver high-speed, low-latency and secure services to its customers around the globe. We look forward to furthering this collaboration and are excited to see what the future holds," said Justin Dustzadeh, Chief Technology Officer, Equinix.

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CrowdStrike to acquire Preempt Security for $96 million

 CrowdStrike agreed to acquire Preempt Security, a start-up offering Zero Trust and conditional access technology for real-time access control and threat prevention, for approximately $96 million.

Preempt, which was founded in 2014 by Ajit Sancheti and Roman Blachman, offers a conditional Access for continuously detecting and preempting threats based on identity, behavior and risk. The company is based in San Francisco.

CrowdStrike said it plans to offer customers enhanced Zero Trust security capabilities and strengthen the CrowdStrike Falcon platform with conditional access technology. The addition of Preempt's technology to the CrowdStrike Falcon platform will help customers achieve end-to-end visibility and enforcement on identity data.

“Hybrid work environments will become the norm for many organizations which means that Zero Trust security with an identity-centric approach and detecting threats in real-time are critical for business continuity. With the addition of Preempt Security’s capabilities, the CrowdStrike Falcon platform will provide enhanced protection against identity-based attacks and insider threats,” said George Kurtz, co-founder and chief executive officer of CrowdStrike. “Combining Preempt's technology with the CrowdStrike Falcon platform will help customers achieve end-to-end visibility and enforcement through identity, behavior and risk-based decisions to stop attacks in real time.”

“We are thrilled about joining CrowdStrike, the industry leader in stopping breaches that shaped modern endpoint security and pioneered the Security Cloud,” said Ajit Sancheti, Preempt’s co-founder and chief executive officer. “Combining Preempt’s identity security expertise with CrowdStrike’s incredible scale and threat telemetry, we will be able to offer customers complete protection for hybrid workloads and remote workforces wherever they are.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2LfkdjW-9Q

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Vapor IO and AlefEdge target the mobile edge

Vapor IO announced a partnership with AlefEdge, which is developing a Software-Defined Mobile Edge (SD-ME) platform and APIs for enterprises and developers.

AlefEdge will deliver its SD-ME services on the Vapor IO Kinetic Edge platform, nationwide. The Software Defined Mobile Edge allows enterprises to deploy edge computing on top of private wireless networks, creating a low-cost path to edge-enabled mobile applications, such as factory robotics, IoT, and other use cases that benefit from applications delivered at the edge of the network.

The companies said their collaboration provides the critical architecture to support enterprise customers with 'near-prem' requirements that demand ultra-low latency and high bandwidth. Available first in Pittsburgh and Atlanta, SD-ME enables 5G-style immersive and intelligent applications to work over contemporary business environments.

"A programmable mobile Edge has been out of reach for most of today's enterprises because of the complexity of both deployment and application development," said Ganesh Sundaram, CEO of AlefEdge. "Placing our service atop Vapor IO's Kinetic Edge platform enables us to quickly deploy nationally and support 'near prem' workloads in the top 36 US Markets. Our services allow enterprises to leverage shared resources while maintaining the benefits of on-prem IT without the overhead of on-site management. The Kinetic Edge platform offers the most performant and resilient edge computing network, with a consistent experience across geographies."

"Vapor IO has an aggressive rollout plan that spans the entire U.S.," said Cole Crawford, CEO at Vapor IO. "Together with partners like AlefEdge we are building the next chapter of the Internet. We are especially excited about AlefEdge's SD-ME and its ability to deliver Enterprises the flexible and secure architectures, along with seamless integrations and new APIs to digitally transform their work environments. For the first time, enterprises in our target markets will have the ability to easily subscribe to AlefEdge's SD-ME services and quickly integrate them into their network."

• In January of this year, Vapor IO announced its series C financing, raising a total of $90 million to build out its Kinetic Edge platform in 36 U.S. markets by the end of 2021. The first 36 markets to feature the Kinetic Edge platform are (in alphabetical order): Atlanta, Austin, Birmingham, Boston, Buffalo, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Stamford/Hartford/New Haven, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Fort Myers, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Orlando, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, Providence, Raleigh, Rochester, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Syracuse, Tampa and Washington D.C.

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AT&T to bring 5G to three USAF bases

 AT&T will bring 5G connectivity to more than 24,000 military personnel on U.S. Air Force bases Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado; Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska; and Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.

The U.S. Air Force is testing AT&T's Networking-as-a-Service capabilities at these three bases as an element of its strategy to transform and modernize its networking infrastructure to support air, land and cyber operations.

AT&T said its solutions and services are provided to these bases under Other Transaction Authority (OTA) Agreements issued by the Air Force to fund its Enterprise IT-as-a-Service (EITaaS) program. The program aims to use commercial networking services to deliver enhanced speed, security and capabilities and an efficient and improved user experience, including near-ubiquitous wireless connectivity across the bases.

“We’re proud and honored to bring AT&T 5G and other highly innovative commercial networking-as-a-service capabilities to the Air Force,” said Anne Chow, Chief Executive Officer, AT&T Business. “We are helping the Air Force optimize the value of our 5G and other networking capabilities at these 3 bases and stand ready to work with them to extend these services across the entirety of the Air Force if they so choose.”

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Verizon expands 5G Edge with AWS Wavelength in Atlanta, NY, DC

 Verizon has added AWS Wavelength capabilities in three new locations: Atlanta, New York and Washington, DC. Verizon and AWS launched the mobile edge computing (MEC) platform last month in Boston and the Bay Area and plan to add five more cities by year end.

The AWS Wavelength service targets latency-sensitive use cases like machine learning inference at the edge, autonomous industrial equipment, smart cars and cities, Internet of Things (IoT), and augmented and virtual reality. The idea is to position AWS compute and storage services at the edge of Verizon’s 5G network.

The companies said that by moving AWS compute and storage services to the edge of Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network, innovators can develop applications with ultra-low latencies that will support next generation use cases ranging from self-driving cars to autonomous industrial equipment. Three examples:

• Zixi’s Software-Defined Video Platform (SDVP) enables live broadcast-quality video delivery over any IP network. The company’s currently testing how a major broadcaster’s 4K live broadcast feed can be delivered over 5G using AWS Wavelength. The end game is to test how content providers can distribute live streams across broadcast media workflows with super-low latency without the need for satellites.
• YBVR is building a next-generation VR video platform and is testing how they can utilize 5G and Wavelength to stream live 8K Ultra HD (UHD) video to sports fans and concert goers, allowing simultaneous users to choose various camera views with ultra-low latency.
• CrowdVision is testing how 5G and AWS Wavelength can provide the throughput and low latency needed to help detect pedestrian movements using video or LiDAR and artificial intelligence to provide live data about everything from crowd congestion to traffic flows, queues and wait times in venues like airports and arenas.

“Watching businesses build transformational applications on the world’s first 5G mobile edge computing platform with AWS Wavelength shows how our 5G Ultra Wideband network matters to customers TODAY and is already impacting how businesses operate and consumers live, work and play,” said Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business. “When it comes to innovating on 5G and MEC, we’re only scratching the surface.”

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Microsoft intros Azure Orbital - Ground-station-as-a-Service

 Microsoft unveiled Azure Orbital, a new ground station service that enables satellite operators to communicate to and control their satellites, process data, and scale operations directly with Microsoft Azure. 

In addition to bringing better cloud connectivity to remote locations, Microsoft believes the new service will be especially useful for  meteorology, oceanography, agriculture, geology, and defense and intelligence communities who most often use satellites that are in a non-geostationary orbit (NGSO), including low-earth orbit (LEO) or medium-earth orbit (MEO). This is because a substantial amount of ground stations are required to establish contact with orbiting satellites within a specific time window to downlink the data to Earth.

Azure Orbital will figure out the ground station connectivity and then on-ramp satellite-collected data directly into Azure. 

The initial service is now in testing.

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/introducing-azure-orbital-process-satellite-data-at-cloudscale/

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SES signs on as MEO satellite partner for Microsoft Azure Orbital

 SES signed a multi-year agreement with Microsoft to be an Azure Orbital partner as well as to accelerate and expand the use of Microsoft Azure across its operations and jointly develop cloud-based video and data connectivity managed services.

Under the arrangement, SES will be co-locating and managing O3b mPOWER gateways with Microsoft Azure locations so its customers are always only “one-hop” away from their Azure cloud services anywhere in the world. More specifically, SES will be the medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite partner for Microsoft Azure Orbital. The two companies also agreed to make joint investments in Azure Orbital ground stations for the MEO and Earth Observation segments that SES will deploy and manage based on its industry expertise, with the first Earth Observation gateway being located at Quincy, Western Australia.

The Microsoft partnership is expected to bring improved network performance for SES customers as they route over Microsoft’s global network and inject value-added, cloud-based managed services such as enhanced security, SD-WAN, and other network functions into the service chain.

Additionally, to support customers migrating to the cloud, SES has established a corporate cloud cross-functional team responsible for driving cloud adoption within its own enterprise and operations, and defining, developing and launching seamless cloud, content and connectivity solutions across all of the company’s key market segments. These cloud-based solutions will enable SES customers to enjoy the agility, flexibility and cost-optimisation they require in capitalising on new revenue opportunities. Under the corporate cloud initiative, SES is also moving its IT systems and operations to cloud-based automated services and applications.

“With the breadth and scope of Azure’s global platform and capabilities, Microsoft emerges as an ideal partner in our accelerated transformation into a cloud-first enterprise delivering cloud-based video and data managed services,” said JP Hemingway, CEO of SES Networks who leads SES’s corporate cloud initiative. “We believe our customers – from dense urban areas to remote and rural locations around the world – will be best served by a ‘new space’ ecosystem that enables them to be more agile, scale flexibly and seize new revenue opportunities.”

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Arm expands its Neoverse data center server CPU porfolio

Arm is unveiling two new platforms in its Neoverse silicon portfolio for data centers CPUs: 

• the Arm Neoverse V1 platform, delivering a single-threaded performance uplift of more than 50% over N1 and aimed at applications more reliant on CPU performance and bandwidth. Neoverse V1 supports Scalable Vector Extensions (SVE), which enables execution of single-instruction multiple dispatch (SIMD) integer, bfloat16, or floating-point instructions on wider vector units using a software programming model that’s agnostic to the width of the unit. Arm says SVE will ensure portability and longevity of the software code, along with efficient execution. Potential markets include high-performance cloud, HPC, and machine learning.
• the Neoverse N2, which is the second-generation N-series platform, and aimed at the scale-out performance needs of applications across a range of use cases, from cloud to SmartNICs and enterprise networking, to power-constrained edge devices.  Neoverse N2 offers 40% higher single-threaded performance, compared to Neoverse N1, and retains the same level of power and area efficiency as Neoverse N1.

Arm's Neoverse roadmap now extends from 7nm devices currently in production, to 5nm designs in 2021 and 3nm in 2022.

Arm cited growing momentum for its Neoverse silicon across a range of data center applications. Operating systems and hypervisors, Xen, KVM, Docker containers, and, increasingly, Kubernetes have all announced support for Arm. 

http://www.arm.com

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NETGEAR's latest DOCSIS 3.1 cable modems deliver 2.5 Gbps

NETGEAR released its next generation of high-speed DOCSIS 3.1 cable modems capable of delivering 2.5 Gbps performance.

Nighthawk CM2000 and CM2050v 2.5 Gbps modems feature:

• 2.5x internet speeds–– The next generation DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem with 2.5 gigabit ethernet port support up to 2.5x faster speeds than the first generation DOCSIS 3.1 modem.
• Multi-gig internet speed system–– Experience a new generation of cable modems that deliver up to 2.5 Gbps Multi-Gigabit Internet.
• Latest DOCSIS 3.1 technology— Join the new generation of cable modem with built in DOCSIS 3.1 modem. Experience the world’s fastest cable Internet download speed and up to 10X faster than DOCSIS 3.0ii.
• Backward compatible–– Fully backwards compatible to 32x8 channel bonding in DOCSIS 3.0 mode.
• Power savings–– Energy efficient to reduce cable modem power usage.
• Save money–– Save up to $168 per year by eliminating monthly cable modem rental fees.
• Multi-gig WiFi router support––Works best with routers with 2.5Gbps WAN Port, such as: Orbi WiFi 6 Mesh systems (RBk852, RBK853), Nighthawk RAX120 or the Nighthawk RAX200 WiFi 6 routers
• The Nighthawk CM2050V 2.5Gbps Internet Speed Cable Telephony Modem is certified for easy set up with Comcast Xfinity Voice Plan and includes two telephone.

“At NETGEAR we are continually pushing forward with innovation to provide the latest technology for the greatest advancement in performance when it comes to one’s network connection,” said David Henry, senior vice president of Connected Home Products for NETGEAR. “With these two new modems, the CM2000 and the CM2050v, we are now offering the capability to bring multi-gig internet into the home over cable.”

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AT&T and Microsoft target global IoT

 AT&T is working with Microsoft to deliver an integrated IoT solution with Azure Sphere. The companies will offer an AT&T powered "Guardian" device with Azure Sphere along with an AT&T global SIM that enables connectivity in more than 200 countries across 500 carriers. The solution enables enterprises to easily connect existing equipment to the cloud and to Azure IoT Central. Customers can connect their devices and machines to their own cloud environment without the need to connect to a Wi-Fi through a third party network connection that may not meet their high security standards.

“Our work with AT&T is a prime example of how the convergence of secure cloud computing and network technology helps businesses unlock new customer value and continuously simplify every aspect of our personal and professional lives,” said Corey Sanders, corporate vice president, Microsoft Solutions.

“AT&T and Microsoft share the belief that technology should serve people,” added Mo Katibeh, executive vice president and chief product and platform officer, AT&T Business. “Working with Microsoft we can offer a truly global solution with strong security and data insights that can help a broad array of industries simplify operations, manage costs, and become more agile in any market.”

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CityWest upgrades fiber infrastructure in British Columbia with Fujitsu

CityWest will upgrade its fiber optic network across western British Columbia using Fujitsu Network Communications' 1FINITY platform and Virtuora Network Control solution.

CityWest selected Fujitsu 1FINITY T300 Transport and L100 Lambda blades, along with the Virtuora Network Controller (NC), significantly increasing bandwidth and performance, as well as network efficiency. The compact modular 1FINITY T300 enables speeds up to 200G in a small footprint, helping to reduce power consumption and space constraints. In addition, the centralized provisioning and management capabilities of Virtuora NC allow CityWest to improve network automation, thereby reducing operational expenses.

CityWest is deploying the 1FINITY blades in a ring configuration, building in network redundancy to help protect against any point of failure and avoid lengthy mean time to repair (MTTR), ensuring the best possible customer service across a wide geographic region.

“At CityWest we remain true to our vision to deliver a superior customer experience, investing in 100G technology that will allow us to meet subscriber bandwidth needs well into the future,” said Donovan Dias, vice president, sales and project management, CityWest. “We opted to work with Fujitsu because performance, efficiency and network redundancy are all critical to our capability to deliver exceptional telecommunications and entertainment services to the consumers and businesses we serve, connecting our local communities to the world.”

“We are pleased to work with CityWest to advance innovation that allows delivery of enhanced speed and connectivity across the province, today and tomorrow,” said Annie Bogue, head of sales and marketing, Fujitsu Network Communications, Inc. “With the unrivaled flexibility, scalability and efficiency of the 1FINITY platform, CityWest can grow at their own pace with the latest technology in a disaggregated architecture.”

https://www.fujitsu.com/us/about/resources/news/press-releases/2020/fnc-20200922.html

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Intel appoints Saf Yeboah-Amankwah as Chief Strategy Officer

 Intel appointed Safroadu (Saf) Yeboah-Amankwah as senior vice president and chief strategy officer, where he will be responsible for the global strategy office, including Intel Capital, and will work with the executive team on developing and driving growth-oriented strategies. Yeboah-Amankwah will report to CEO Bob Swan.

Yeboah-Amankwah joins Intel from McKinsey & Company, where he was most recently a senior partner and global head of the Transformation Practice for the Telecom, Media and Technology (TMT) practice, based in Washington, D.C. He is also the global lead of Client Capabilities for the TMT practice. Previously he served as managing partner for South Africa and head of McKinsey’s TMT and Digital practice for Africa, among other roles.

Yeboah-Amankwah received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a former board member of the United Negro College Fund.

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Netcracker advances Turkcell's OSS transformation project

Turkcell completed the next phase of its OSS transformation as part of an ongoing engagement leveraging Netcracker’s Digital OSS solutions. This most recent phase encompasses several new enhancements, such as network inventory management, migration of network resources for residential customer services from legacy inventory management systems as well as auto-discovery and reconciliation. It also includes the creation of a joint delivery team to implement change requests based on network improvement and growth using Agile methodology.

Previously, Netcracker worked with Turkcell to deploy IP/MPLS networks, broadband aggregation networks and GPONs across physical and service layers while enabling FTTB (fiber-to-the-building) network deployment and CRM integration.

“Both our business operations and the end customer will greatly benefit from the latest deployment phase,” said Kerem Kiziltunc, Director at Turkcell. “Our investments in a new user interface and streamlined service fulfillment process will allow us to decommission legacy systems faster. This also expands on our long-standing alliance with Netcracker, which gives Turkcell consolidated management of our network and provides us with the tools to be successful as we go down the path of advanced mobile networks and new digital services.”

“Turkcell is a pioneer in the mobile space, and we are honored to play a critical part in their move towards 5G and the advanced services it will enable,” said Yaniv Zilberman, Vice President of Sales, Europe, at Netcracker. “We value our ongoing partnership with Turkcell and look forward to their continued success.”

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Amazon Sidewalk envisions a shared network for neighborhoods

 Amazon is advancing its plans for Sidewalk, a crowd-sourced network of consumer devices to be operated by Amazon at no charge to customers. The idea is to leverage the connectivity of devices throughout a neighborhood to help simplify new device setup, extend the low-bandwidth working range of devices, and help devices stay online even if they are outside the range of their home WiFi.

Amazon envisions that its network of Sidewalk-enabled devices could help its device users to find lost pets or valuables, to enable smart security and lighting, or to provide diagnostics for appliances and tools that lose their primary connectivity. Other applications for Sidewalk could include sensors for tracking packages, lost/stolen items, smart irrigation, etc 

The Amazon Sidewalk network will be enabled by customers with a Sidewalk Bridge, which is a capability that Amazon has already built into many existing Echo devices, Ring Floodlight Cams and Ring Spotlight Cams. The owners of these devices will be asked to contribute a small portion of their Internet bandwidth.  Amazon will then pool together this connectivity to create a shared network that benefits all Sidewalk-enabled devices in a community. Information traveling over the Sidewalk network will be encrypted. Amazon also promises to cap the maximum bandwidth used by a Sidewalk bridge owner.

Amazon Sidewalk uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), the 900 MHz spectrum and other frequencies to extend coverage.

Semtech confirmed that it is working with Amazon to bring its long-range, low power LoRa platform to the Sidewalk network.

Amazon is also working with Nordic Semiconductor, Silicon Labs and Texas Instruments to enable chip sets that will power new devices.

https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Sidewalk/b/?node=21328123011

https://www.semtech.com/lora

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Australia's NBN turns its attention to premium business services

Australia's NBN Co announced plans to invest up to A$700 million in a multi-faceted package of initiatives over the next three years to support business innovation, productivity and growth.

NBN Co said its goal is to significantly expand the national reach for Internet retailers to offer solutions based on wholesale business nbn Enterprise Ethernet services, increasing choice and availability for businesses across the country. 

• The creation of up to 240 nbn Business Fibre Zones across Australia, including a presence in 85 regional centres. All businesses within these zones will have access to Enterprise Ethernet, at significantly reduced wholesale prices. In total, these zones are expected to cover more than 700,000 business premises. nbn is disclosing the locations of the first 130 nbn Business Fibre Zones, including 61 in regional locations such as Bunbury, Mount Gambier, Devonport, Shepparton, Port Macquarie and Rockhampton. 
• Businesses in nbn Business Fibre Zones will see Enterprise Ethernet pricing reduced, some by up to 67 percent, giving thousands of regional businesses access to the same support as businesses in capital city centres, at the same wholesale price. Enterprise Ethernet is NBN Co’s fastest symmetrical wholesale product and premium-grade business offering. It has options for prioritised traffic, high capacity and symmetrical upload and download wholesale speeds from 10Mbps to close to 1Gbps, as well as enhanced 24/7 support through the business nbn Operations Centre with a dedicated team located in Australia. 
• NBN Co has allocated $50 million over three years to work with local councils and state and territory governments to identify opportunities to extend business-grade services outside designated nbn™ Business Fibre Zones.
• When an Internet retailer places an order for Enterprise Ethernet, for an estimated 90 per cent of business premises in the national nbn network footprint, NBN Co will not charge the retailer for building the fibre. Plus, if an Internet retailer signs up for a three-year Enterprise Ethernet plan, NBN Co will not charge the retailer an up-front connection cost.

"Having helped level the playing field for residential internet services with the rollout of the nbn™ network, we are now turning our attention to accessibility for our premium-grade business services, helping businesses in regional areas access the benefits of competition, enhanced broadband support services, and better wholesale nbn prices for the digital services they need to succeed," stated NBN Co Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Rue.

https://www.nbnco.com.au/corporate-information/media-centre/media-statements/business-fibre-initiative

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Windstream cuts debt by over $4 billion in Chapter 11

 Windstream Holdings emerged from Chapter 11 restructuring as a privately held company, having reduced its debt by more than $4 billion, or approximately two-thirds, and gaining access to approximately $2 billion in new capital. 

Windstream unveiled a new corporate logo and announced its commitment to three lines of business:

• Windstream Enterprise: Windstream’s nationwide, cloud-optimized network and award-winning software solutions – such as SD-WAN, UCaaS and OfficeSuite UC – help businesses across the U.S. manage today’s most complex IT and networking challenges through an industry-leading customer portal, WE Connect.
• Kinetic by Windstream: residential broadband with speeds up to 1 Gig, extensive TV & entertainment options, home network security, optimal Wi-Fi control and reliable voice services through a fiber-based network and 5G fixed wireless service. Small and midsize businesses can choose from cloud-based collaboration and communication tools along with wireless internet backup.
• Windstream Wholesale: nationwide optical transmission, providing flexible and customized high-capacity bandwidth and transport services to content and media providers, cloud and data center operators, international carriers, cable operators, wireless carriers, traditional network service providers, etc.

“Today marks the start of a new era for Windstream as an even stronger, more competitive company,” said Tony Thomas, president and chief executive officer of Windstream. “With the completion of our financial restructuring, we now have an enhanced balance sheet and a robust capital investment program to expand 1 Gig Internet service in rural America and maintain our product and software leadership in SD-WAN and UCaaS for enterprise customers. We are also pleased to continue our strategic partnership with Uniti Group and expand our mutually beneficial relationship. With the support of our new owners and current operational momentum, Windstream will continue advancing our long-term growth objectives while providing our customers with quality and reliable services.”

Mr. Thomas continued, “I would like to thank our customers, vendors and business partners for their ongoing support throughout this process. I would also like to extend my deepest gratitude to the Windstream team for their dedication to our customers and continued commitment to delivering essential telecommunications services during this unprecedented healthcare crisis.”

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