U.S. scrambles to assess damage from nation-state cyberattack

U.S. government officials warned that the cyberattack identified earlier this week has compromised dozens of federal government networks and likely thousands of private networks globally.

The FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) announced a Cyber Unified Coordination Group (UCG) to coordinate a whole-of-government response to the infiltration of U.S. government networks arising from the SolarWinds backdoor hack.

CISA issued an Emergency Directive instructing federal civilian agencies to immediately disconnect or power down affected SolarWinds Orion products from their network.

CISA said the infiltration "poses a grave risk to the Federal Government and state, local, tribal, and territorial governments as well as critical infrastructure entities and other private sector organizations."

Some notes from CISA about the attack:

• Compromises began at least as early as March 2020
• This is a patient, well-resourced, and focused adversary that has sustained long duration activity on victim networks.
• The SolarWinds Orion supply chain compromise is not the only initial infection vector this APT actor leveraged.
• Not all organizations that have the backdoor delivered through SolarWinds Orion have been targeted by the adversary with follow-on actions.
• Organizations with suspected compromises need to be highly conscious of operational security, including when engaging in incident response activities and planning and implementing remediation plans. 
• The adversary is making extensive use of obfuscation to hide their C2 communications. 
• CISA has observed the threat actor adding authentication tokens and credentials to highly privileged Active Directory domain accounts as a persistence and escalation mechanism. In many instances, the tokens enable access to both on-premise and hosted resources.

Some recommendations from CISA:

• Out-of-band communications guidance for staff and leadership;
• An outline of what “normal business” is acceptable to be conducted on the suspect network;
• A call tree for critical contacts and decision making; and
• Considerations for external communications to stakeholders and media.

https://www.cisa.gov/ 

https://us-cert.cisa.gov/ncas/alerts/aa20-352a

Microsoft President Brad Smith stated "this latest cyber-assault is effectively an attack on the United States and its government and other critical institutions, including security firms." 

Microsoft also noted that the initial list of victims includes not only government agencies, but security and other technology firms as well as non-governmental organizations.

https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2020/12/17/cyberattacks-cybersecurity-solarwinds-fireeye/

• On December 13, FireEye discovered a supply chain attack trojanizing SolarWinds Orion business software updates in order to distribute malware. The attacker is using multiple techniques to evade detection and obscure their activity, which includes espionage and data theft. FireEye has released signatures to detect this threat actor and supply chain attack in the wild. 

https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2020/12/evasive-attacker-leverages-solarwinds-supply-chain-compromises-with-sunburst-backdoor.html

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Linux Foundation marks first release of DENT Network OS

 The Linux Foundation announced the first code release of DENT, a  Network Operating System (NOS) for Disaggregated Network Switches in campus and remote enterprise locations. The project aims to address the specific needs of distributed enterprise edge networking, such as a simplified networking OS stack that is low cost and Linux-based. DENT enables an open community to build this solution without complicated abstractions. It also promises to treat ASICs and switching silicon as any other hardware.

Initial supports of DENT include Innovium, Arcadyan, Aviz Netorks, Alpha Networks, Amazon, Delta Electronics, Marvell, NVIDIA, Edgecore Networks, and Wistron NeWeb (WNC).

The Arthur release – aptly named after Arthur Dent, the protagonist character of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy– uses the recently released Linux 5.6 Kernel and leverages SwitchDev to simplify integrations, eliminate complex abstractions and SDK change management, and support existing Linux tool chains. 

“With the Arthur release, we’re witnessing the makings of an open network operating system, control plane and management plane that will transform how enterprises address their distributed edge challenges,” said Arpit Joshipura, general manager, Networking, Edge and IoT, at The Linux Foundation. “The DENT community has grown quickly and executed on this first major code release at a time when the entire industry is rethinking the future of retail and campus environments.”

https://dent.dev/

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Intel and Samsung achieve 5G SA Core capacity of 305 Gbps / server

Samsung and Intel achieved a record 5G SA Core data processing capacity of 305 Gbps per server – equivalent to hosting more than 200,000 users simultaneously live-streaming standard definition videos – as well as latency improvement in a mobile network environment with commercial features enabled. 

To achieve this result, Samsung’s 5G SA Core used the 2nd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processor and the Intel Ethernet Network Adapter E810 with Enhanced Dynamic Device Personalization (DDP). The companies said the Intel Ethernet Network Adapter E810 with Enhanced DDP is capable of optimizing data distribution and transmission functions across the network adapter and the CPU cores, resulting in higher performance. Samsung and Intel were able to implement a simplified system configuration and boost packet processing and overall network performance.

“Through close collaboration with Intel, we were able to achieve an industry-leading performance with our 5G SA Core,” said Sohyong Chong, Senior Vice President and Head of Core Software R&D, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung’s cloud-native 5G SA Core, through its highly flexible and scalable design, will enable our customers to launch 5G services more swiftly and cost-effectively.”

“The transition to 5G Standalone Core is essential to achieve the full potential of 5G,” said Alex Quach, Vice President and General Manager, Wireline and Core Network Division, Intel Corporation. “This milestone achieved with Samsung is a verification of how strong industry collaboration and the use of innovative technologies can enhance performance to accelerate this transition and pave the way to new network and edge services.”

https://news.samsung.com/us/samsung-achieves-305gbps-5g-sa-core/

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T-Mobile rolls out Location-Based Routing and Next Gen 911

 T-Mobile US is rolling out  Location-Based Routing and Next Generation 911 connectivity over IP – two critical advancements for pinpointing the location of callers, reducing the need for call transfers, and enabling a more efficient and effective 911 communication system.

Location-Based Routing (LBR) significantly cuts the need for 911 call transfers by leveraging low latency device-based location technology that at allows the network to connect more 911 callers directly to the appropriate 911 call center. T-Mobile says some areas with LBR enabled have experienced up to 40 percent fewer call transfers. LBR is currently enabled in parts of Texas and Washington State, and T-Mobile is working with 911 authorities to expand the capability nationwide.

Next Generation 911 (NG911) transitions 911 to an all-IP-based system. This is expected to improve the system’s ability to manage call overload, natural disaster response, and interoperability between jurisdictions. NG911 also paves the way for future forms of communications. Alert systems like crash detection will become more effective, sending notifications and actionable data directly to 911 dispatchers instead of third parties. T-Mobile has established some level of NG911 connectivity in all or part of Delaware, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington state, with plans to expand both NG911 connectivity and capability nationwide as public safety networks are ready.

"As the Un-carrier we innovate and push the wireless industry forward with technology firsts like this for the sake of consumers everywhere. Nowhere is that more important than driving improvements in public safety,” said Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile. 

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T-Systems enters strategic collaboration agreement with AWS

T-Systems and Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced a multi-year Strategic Collaboration Agreement to manage the digital transformation of companies more quickly, efficiently and securely. 

T-Systems said the agreement will spur it to build out capacity in both solutions and people through a strong training and enablement program. The ICT service provider intends to train 3,000 additional AWS experts as part of the new collaboration.

Regarding security, AWS and T-Systems agreed to closely collaborate to achieve the targets recently set by the European regulation.

“Since the beginning of our relationship with AWS, we have built up expertise in AWS technology and combined it with our extensive experience from major transformation projects. Our customers appreciate this,” explained Adel Al-Saleh, member of the Deutsche Telekom Board of Management and CEO T-Systems.

https://www.t-systems.com/us/en/about-t-systems/news/t-systems-and-aws-expand-collaboration-365120

Deutsche Telekom aligns with Microsoft Azure

Thursday, December 10, 2020  Deutsche Telekom, Microsoft  

Deutsche Telekom and Microsoft announced a seven-year strategic agreement to help customers of all sizes accelerate their cloud transformation initiatives. 

"We have agreed on the framework for joint strategic growth with our long-term partner Microsoft. We are delighted," said Adel Al-Saleh, member of the Deutsche Telekom Board of Management and CEO of T-Systems. "This partnership will enable us to enhance services for our customers. We will also be supporting each other with digitalization and network build-out." 

Highlights

• Telekom plans to migrate the majority of its internal IT workloads to the public cloud by 2025 and Azure is a central part of that strategy. Through a companywide training program, thousands of Telekom employees will learn how to maximize the benefits of Azure. 
• Telekom will also offer its customers direct access to the Microsoft cloud through Azure ExpressRoute. 
• Telekom will offer Microsoft 365, including Microsoft Teams. As part of this, the companies have started a project for German schools to reimagine traditional approaches to education, enabling remote learning through cloud-based IT infrastructure, modern devices and the cloud productivity and collaboration applications within Microsoft 365. 
• Telekom will help its customers with moving their SAP environments to Azure. SAP solutions on Azure offer enterprise-grade security, and business continuity and reduce hardware expenses, making it easier for start-ups and smaller organizations to get started. 

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Singapore's StarHub leverages ADVA’ s Layer 1 encryption

StarHub is using ADVA's FSP 3000 ConnectGuard Optical Layer 1 encryption technology to power a fully-managed service enables local enterprises, government agencies and multinational corporations to harness telco-grade encrypted connectivity for their users and systems across multiple locations.

The StarHub SDS Secured Service delivers highly-reliable and robustly protected enterprise connectivity on protocols including Ethernet, Fibre Channel and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH), and with a choice of speeds ranging from 1Gbit/s to 100Gbit/s. Physical layer encryption throughout the network ensures all customer data has the most rigorous defense available. Key security features for customers include protocol-agnostic hardware-based encryption with the lowest latency possible and 100% throughput. Security is also enhanced through simple certificate enrolment protocol-based automation and manual operations, as well as a strictly separated encryption domain manager. What’s more, the solution features automated procedures for authentication, services creation and regular key generation. As the only technology of its kind cleared to transport NATO-restricted data, the ADVA FSP 3000 ConnectGuard Optical encryption solution meets the most stringent international standards and regulatory requirements.

“We’re excited to be StarHub’s technology partner as it takes this key step. The StarHub SDS Secured Service offers a major boost to the business community in Singapore, providing the protection as well as the speed and guaranteed uptime needed for the most sensitive and critical data transport,” commented Erik Lindberg, VP, sales, APAC, ADVA.

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SPIE 2021 Photonics West will be virtual, March 6-11

SPIE Photonics West, which normally convenes in San Francisco, will be held as an interactive, virtual conference 6-11 March 2021.

“The SPIE Digital Forum platform was developed to help people share results and make connections during the pandemic, and we’ve continued to fine-tune our virtual platform and digital offerings throughout this year,” says SPIE CEO Kent Rochford. “We’ll be implementing the latest improvements during Photonics West and are excited to release them to our attendees, presenters, and exhibitors. These forums, as always, ensure the professional discussion, innovation sharing, and networking opportunities that the SPIE community values and relies on to advance its research, product development, and engineering collaborations.”

"It's been a challenging year for our entire community, and I know that I am not alone in my desire to meet in person to exchange ideas, research, technological advances, and new products," says 2020 SPIE President John Greivenkamp. "We are hopeful of being able to gather in person later in 2021. In the meantime, I invite you to join us online at one or more of these dynamic conferences and look forward to seeing you there."

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Molex acquires Fiberguide Industries

Molex has acquired Fiberguide Industries, a manufacturer of customized optical fiber solutions based in Caldwell, Idaho. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Molex said Fiberguide will help it address the stringent needs of medical applications, including high-power laser surgery, DNA sequencing and flow cytometry. Both Molex and Fiberguide bring extensive expertise in optical fibers, analytical probes and fully packaged assemblies to support  increasing demands for minimally invasive medical procedures. Additionally, a complementary portfolio of design capabilities provides customer-centric solutions for industrial monitoring and sensing as well as datacom applications that require reliable performance in extremely harsh environments. 

Fiberguide will join Molex's Polymicro business, a Phoenix-based provider of specialty optical fiber and fluidic-based products tailored for medical, industrial and datacom applications.

"Today, Molex is setting a new standard of excellence in the industry while fulfilling our vision of becoming the leading provider of specialty optical fiber products," said Jim Clarkin, GM of Polymicro. "Our combined capabilities give global customers a full array of products and complete solutions to meet emerging requirements for innovative laser-based optical systems."

• Polymicro was acquired by Molex in 2007. 

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RIP: Norman Abramson, co-founder of ALOHAnet

Norman Abramson, one of the founders of the ALOHAnet, passed away on December 1, 2020, at the age of 88.

In 1971, Abramson, who was a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, teamed up with faculty member Franklin Kuo, other colleagues and graduate students, to lauch ALOHAnet, the first wireless packet data network. ALOHAnet pioneered the use of medium access (ALOHA random access) and experimental ultra high frequency (UHF) for its operation. The concept of random access, allowing clients to transmit data when ready and allowing for packet collisions, was later adopted as the basis of Ethernet.

https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2020/12/04/in-memoriam-norman-abramson/

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The Secret of Cloud-First WANs

As CIOs plan for the post-pandemic era, there’s more focus on Cloud-First architectures that can better manage change, increase business agility and lower costs. 

Shashi Kiran, Chief Marketing Officer at Aryaka, draws from conversations with customers and partners to share his insights on key SD-WAN and SASE architecture attributes required for next-generation infrastructure deployments.

https://youtu.be/5p_Ce8QsgG0

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Nokia further outlines strategy

Pekka Lundmark, who was appointed President and CEO of Nokia earlier this year, outlined further updates to the company's strategy and operating model. A first look at the new strategy was provided on October 29 - see below). Nokia’s previously provided outlook for 2020 and 2021 remains unchanged. In connection with its Q3 2020 results, Nokia expects comparable* operating margin of 7-10% in 2021.

“We are positioning Nokia to lead in a changing world,” says Pekka Lundmark, President and CEO of Nokia. “The world faces big problems: environmental issues, resource scarcity, inequality and stalling productivity. Technology will be an essential part of the solution. As a result, we will see an increase in critical networks, which will extend to all corners of society...”

“We are well positioned to be a trusted partner for critical networks. We are experienced in creating both carrier-grade performance networks and working with the world’s most demanding webscales. We have a strong position in technologies that are important for critical networks, such as open and virtualized radio access networks and we are on course for a 100% cloud-native software portfolio,” says Lundmark.

Some highlights from the presentation:

Mobile Networks’ immediate focus will be on executing its turnaround and regaining 5G leadership. It will focus on leadership in ORAN and vRAN, maintaining scale with CSP customers and growing its enterprise-dedicated Private Wireless Networks business. It is expected to deliver comparable* operating margin of around zero percent in 2021, and significant improvement over the longer term.

Network Infrastructure (previously IP and Fixed Networks) will focus on the building blocks and essential solutions of critical networks, using its technology leadership in IP Networks, Optical Networks, Fixed Networks, and Alcatel Submarine Networks to drive digitalization across all industries. It is expected to deliver comparable operating margin in the high single digit range in 2021, and gradual improvement over the longer term.

Cloud and Network Services creates value for both service providers and enterprise customers as demand for critical networks accelerates, leading the transition to cloud-native software and as-a-service delivery models. It is expected to deliver comparable operating margin in the mid-single digit range in 2021, and significant improvement over the longer term.

Nokia Technologies will continue to monetize and grow the value of Nokia’s intellectual property and licensing revenue by investing in innovation and its world-leading patent portfolio as well as pursuing other licensing opportunities. It is expected to deliver a slight improvement in comparable* operating profit in 2021, relative to 2020, and stable performance over the longer term.

Group Common and Other, which predominately consists of corporate costs, is expected to be run in a lean manner, with costs directly embedded into the business groups whenever possible. Group Common and Other is expected to deliver a comparable* operating loss of approximately €200 million in 2021.

https://www.nokia.com/sites/default/files/2020-12/Nokia%20strategy%20update%20December%202020.pdf

Nokia's corporate re-organization focuses on four business groups

Thursday, October 29, 2020  Nokia  

Nokia announced a corporate re-organization that focuses on four business groups: 

• Mobile Networks, which will include mobile network products, network deployment and technical support services, and related network management. This business group will offer the full portfolio for customers wanting to buy mobile access networks. It will target leadership in key technologies such as 5G, ORAN and vRAN. The net sales of Mobile Networks in the last four quarters were approximately €10 billion. Tommi Uitto has been appointed as President of this business group.
• IP and Fixed Networks, which will include IP Routing, Optical Networks and Fixed Networks, as well as Alcatel Submarine Networks business, currently reported under “Group Common.” This business group will respond to the ever-increasing demand for higher capacity, greater reliability, faster speeds and lower costs. The net sales of IP and Fixed Networks in the last four quarters were approximately €7 billion. Federico Guillén has been appointed as President of this business group.
• Cloud and Network Services, which will include the existing Nokia Software business (excluding Mobile Networks network management), Nokia’s enterprise solutions, core network solutions including both voice and packet core, and managed and advanced services from its current Global Services unit. This unit will also act as a delivery channel of certain products from other business groups to enterprise customers. Cloud and Network Services will target growth by leveraging the industry transition to cloud-based delivery, network-as-a-service business models, and software-led value creation. The net sales of Cloud and Network Services in the last four quarters were approximately €3 billion. Raghav Sahgal has been appointed as President of this business group.
• Nokia Technologies, which will remain largely unchanged. The net sales of this business group in the last four quarters were approximately €1.4 billion. Jenni Lukander continues as President of this business group.

A new Customer Experience organization will also be formed to strengthen customer relationships across all businesses.

“Our industry is undergoing profound changes. Industrial automation and digitalization are increasing customer demand for high-performance networks, with a trend towards open interfaces, virtualization, and cloud native software. This will revolutionize how we design, deploy, manage and sell our products and solutions,” said Pekka Lundmark, President and CEO. “As we work to renew our strategy, we will ensure we are well positioned to leverage these trends, improve our performance and position the company for long-term value creation.”

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Telia Carrier plugs Acacia's 400G coherent modules into Cisco routers

Telia Carrier is preparing to converge their IP and optical networking layers by plugging Acacia's 400G coherent modules directly into Cisco routers.

In preparation for this new solution, Telia Carrier has already deployed open line systems and terminal equipment that can support new 400G pluggable technology. 

Telia Carrier said it is one of the first network operators to perform full end-to-end validation of the solution. Leveraging Acacia's 400G QSFP-DD coherent modules with OIF 400ZR and OpenZR+ operating modes, the solution can support data rates from 100G to 400G depending on the desired reach. The modules also support client n x 100GbE multiplexing functionality as well as 400GE transport.

"Conventional architectures and technologies built on decades of accumulated complexity and yesterday's truths fall short in helping us keep up with customer demands for more, consistent bandwidth and a high-quality experience. Starting in the metro, standardized coherent pluggable modules are the next natural step in evolving cost structures, efficiency and scaling capabilities. This follows our global deployments of open optical line-systems and bandwidth-optimized switch-router silicon already powering thousands of 400GE capable ports in the network," said Staffan Göjeryd, CEO at Telia Carrier.

"Pluggable 400G coherent optical transceiver modules are important to enable service providers such as Telia Carrier to migrate to a more converged network architecture capable of enabling OpEx and CapEx savings, as well as a pay as you grow business model," said Fenghai Liu, Vice President of Product Line Management at Acacia Communications. 

https://www.teliacarrier.com/about-us/press-releases/tc-pluggables-using-acacias-modules-cisco.html

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Telefónica Germany's O-RAN trial employs ADVA's Ensemble Activator

ADVA is playing a key role in Germany’s first open radio access network (O-RAN) proof of concept (PoC), which is being conducted by Telefónica Germany / O2.

The multi-vendor PoC is built on ADVA’s Ensemble Activator running on Edgecore’s switching device. Developed as part of the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), the software frees mobile network operators (MNOs) from closed proprietary systems and enables them to create vendor-neutral disaggregated infrastructure with best-of-breed components. 

ADVA's pluggable OSA 5401 PTP grandmaster is providing crucial advanced synchronization functionality,  including the ability to send PTP sync information and corresponding messages with precise timestamping data. The OSA 5401 also makes this advanced operation compatible with 5G radio access points from third-party suppliers and augments the accurate timing needed.

“This PoC is an important stage in our journey towards open 5G networking. It shows how we can achieve the scale and agility needed for the widespread rollout of next-generation mobile services and underlines the benefits of vendor collaboration and interoperability,” commented Matthias Sauder, director, mobile access network, Telefónica Germany / O2. “With this open RAN pilot in our O2 live network, we’re highlighting what can be achieved when industry leaders from across the value chain cooperate closely together in an open environment. We’re also proving that a disaggregated model built on affordable software-empowered hardware can deliver transport infrastructure with new levels of efficiency – for 4G as well as 5G networks in the future.”

“By harnessing our high-performance NOS and compact timing solution, Telefónica Germany / O2 is taking a big step towards open and disaggregated 5G networking. This PoC shows how it will be able to utilize RAN technology from multiple vendors and leverage the full benefits of separated software and hardware,” said Eli Angel, VP, product line management, ADVA. “As we’re proving in multiple real-world trials with major MNOs, our Ensemble Activator is the ideal choice for turning third-party white box switches from a wide range of suppliers into disaggregated cell site gateways (DCSGs). What’s more, our OSA 5401 provides the strict timing and interoperability needed for an open model. To put it simply, our technology is the key to making open RAN work.”

https://www.adva.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/20201216-telefonica-germany-o-2-uses-adva-technology-in-countrys-first-open-ran-trial

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Quebec's Videotron launches 5G with Samsung

Videotron launched its 5G network with a rollout beginning gradually in Montréal and then extending to Québec’s other urban centers.

After many successful decades in the cable television and Internet access business, Videotron launched its initial wireless operation in 2010. As of September 30, 2020, Videotron was serving 1,452,600 mobile subscribers.

For the launch, Samsung has provided 5G RAN, which covers 600MHz, 700MHz, 2.6GHz and AWS spectrums. Moreover, Samsung’s 5G RAN supports both LTE and 5G NR, enabling convenient operation of a network, and saves installation space while reducing CAPEX and OPEX.

“This is a big day for Videotron!” says Jean-François Pruneau, President and CEO of Videotron. “5G technology is throwing the doors open to a world of marvels and Videotron is very enthusiastic about embarking on the path to this promising and exciting future, in which technology will truly serve the daily needs and wants of our families and businesses.”

“Samsung is pleased to support Videotron for its first 5G service. This commercial rollout will open up new exciting experiences for Videotron’s 5G users,” said Jeff Jo, President and CEO of Samsung Electronics Canada. “Together with Videotron, Samsung will leverage its successful 5G experiences to bring reliable and advanced 5G services to users in Canada.”

https://videotron.com/residential/p/mobile/5g/A-psku13630330e

• As of September 30, 2020, Videotron was serving 1,481,800 cable television customers and 452,900 subscribers to its Club illico video streaming service. Videotron is also the Québec leader in high-speed Internet access, with 1,773,600 subscribers to its cable service as of September 30, 2020. As of the same date, Videotron had 

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Fujitsu intros Virtuora Analytics to automate network operations

Fujitsu Network Communications introduced a set of cloud-native microapplications for transforming traditional network operations with the power of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). 

Fujitsu said its Virtuora Analytics Transformation (AX) provides deep analysis and network intelligence for complex datasets, to automate correlation, prediction and anomaly detection for proactive and automated resolution. Network service delivery in today’s hyper-connected, digital age requires a more agile operations model enabled by virtualized and cloud-capable infrastructure. The Virtuora AX solution combines powerful network data analysis with intelligent automation to constantly evaluate and improve service performance, as well as the digital infrastructure that powers it. Virtuora AX applies vendor-neutral data extraction, analytics and ML to enable a wide range of network-centric AI applications, including:

• Traffic prediction analysis
• Network operations management
• Optical line system fault predictions
• Hardware and call log anomaly detection
• OLS Design with real-time performance data.

“The inherent complexity of next-generation networks has raised the stakes for service providers, taking analytics, machine learning and AI from concept to critical need,” said Francois Lafontaine, vice president and head of the software business at Fujitsu Network Communications, Inc. “With the new Fujitsu Virtuora AX network intelligence solution, AI is now within reach for network service providers, enabling them to increase operational efficiencies, reduce downtime and improve overall customer experience for significant competitive advantage.”

https://marketing.us.fujitsu.com/rs/407-MTR-501/images/Virtuora%20AX%20Solution%20Brief.pdf

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DE-CIX Doubles Its Internet Exchange Footprint in North America

DE-CIX announced two new Internet Exchanges in North America: one now available in Chicago, IL, and one soon to be ready for service in Richmond, VA. The two locations expand upon and interconnect with DE-CIX North America’s existing multi-service interconnection platforms in the New York and Dallas metro markets. 

DE-CIX Chicago is available for service today in 12 facilities throughout the metro market including key carrier hotels 427 S. LaSalle and 350 E. Cermak. The fully redundant and distributed carrier and data center neutral IX and multi-service interconnection fabric of DE-CIX Chicago, launches with more than 10 networks connected day one. DE-CIX Chicago anchors the Midwest region for DE-CIX North America. Connectivity in and throughout Chicago reaches the east, west and southern coasts of the United States with direct connectivity to Canada, firmly positioning the market as a core interconnection point in North America. Until today, Chicago is the only core communications hub without a second major Internet Exchange. Similar to the Dallas market prior to DE-CIX Dallas’ launch in 2016, DE-CIX intends to create a second major IX in the Chicago market, offering the community increased choice and improved interconnection quality and services.

DE-CIX’s Richmond expansion, RVA-IX | Richmond Virginia Internet Exchange, leverages the market’s existing IX, illustrating the company’s eagerness to support community-lead IX initiatives. RVA-IX was launched in 2016 as a non-profit community by: SummitIG, Richweb, VA Skywire, Pixel Factory, and the Bank of Virginia. The RVA-IX has access points throughout the Richmond market with Pixel Factory Data Center, EdgeConneX, and QTS Datacenters. Through the asset acquisition of the RVA-IX, DE-CIX will take operational ownership, and will expand upon its interconnection capabilities benefiting the local and regional market. Integration into the DE-CIX interconnection ecosystem means that connected networks in Richmond will have access to more services, can reach other DE-CIX locations and more ASNs, and can enjoy increased redundancy and resilience.

“As we approach 2021, DE-CIX North America is embarking on a new era of interconnection. By announcing these two very important Internet Exchange locations for DE-CIX, Chicago and Richmond, we will have four key markets fortified for interconnectivity solutions,” comments Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX International. “The success of DE-CIX New York, now ranking among the top five IXs in North America with over 260 networks, and DE-CIX Dallas, which ranks among the top 20 IXs in North America with over 90 networks, solidifies our position in the market as the leading neutral interconnection platform provider for Internet peering and cloud connectivity.”

https://www.de-cix.net/

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Dish to raise $2 billion in bond sale to fund 5G buildout

DISH Network plans to sell $2 billion in convertible notes to help cover its 5G network buildout costs.

The company also expects to grant to the initial purchaser an option to purchase up to an additional $300 million aggregate principal amount of the notes to cover over-allotments, if any. 

DISH has previously announced plans to deploy an O-RAN architecture in its 5G network.

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Samsung and IBM team on 5G, edge and hybrid cloud

 Samsung Electronics and IBM announced a collaboration to provide enterprises with new solutions for mobile edge computing and end-to-end private 5G networks that run on open architecture and empower workers through 5G-enabled Samsung Galaxy devices.

The collaboration will combine Samsung’s Galaxy 5G mobile devices and advanced end-to-end enterprise network solutions with IBM’s network management, hybrid cloud, and edge computing offerings and network expertise, as well as its industry solutions driven by artificial intelligence, and Red Hat’s open architecture. The goal is to develop open, hybrid cloud solutions that enable enterprises to draw greater insights from data at the edge – from the factory floor to an oil rig or a regular office space – to improve operational performance, increase worker safety, and minimize downtime. Both companies also plan to explore how manufacturers can use private 5G or 4G networks and 5G mobile devices with Industrial IoT (IIoT) solutions.

 “The move to standalone 5G has accelerated the adoption of IIoT solutions and will require businesses to adopt an edge computing strategy that allows them to manage their IT environments from anywhere,” said KC Choi, EVP and Head of Global Mobile B2B Team, Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics. “We are excited to work with IBM to discover how our unique devices, mobile IoT and network solutions can provide frontline workers with access to better data and more actionable insights to take their business to the next level.”

https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-and-ibm-plan-to-help-businesses-embrace-the-fourth-industrial-revolution

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Mavenir targets OpenRAN radio ecosystem

Mavenir has formed a new business unit to develop production quality hardware and software for radio designs compatible with OpenRAN architecture. The goal is to enable vendors/partners to build radios for specific markets. Mikael Rylander will lead this Business Group as SVP and GM, Radio Business Unit, to focus on RRUs and RRU ecosystem.

“Our OpenRAN deployments and trials are gaining momentum globally. To further strengthen our roadmap and ongoing Radio Access strategic initiatives, I am pleased to announce the formation of an RRU Business Unit,” said Pardeep Kohli, President and CEO of Mavenir. “With our leadership in OpenRAN, we want to enable best-in-class partner ecosystem that can together deliver a portfolio of compelling OpenRAN radios. We will support this ecosystem with RRU software, expertise, facilitation of appropriate production sites and RRU validation with our vRAN products. These radios will be available for use by any OpenRAN vendor and not exclusively to Mavenir.”

In addition, Puneet Sethi will be joining Mavenir as SVP/GM, to lead the RAN Business Unit and focus on creating and delivering market leading CU and DU Software solutions. Mavenir’s CU and DU solutions are designed based on OpenRAN principles and are already deployed with multiple OpenRAN compliant 3rd party radios. Remaining committed to those OpenRAN principles, Mavenir’s CU and DU software solutions will work with both Mavenir radio unit products and 3rd party radio units, thereby offering customers the widest choice in the industry.

Puneet joins Mavenir most recently from Qualcomm where he helped establish Small Cells and RAN Infra Business ground up to its existing industry leading position in 5G

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Taiwan's Inventec picks Affirmed's 5G core for Industry 4.0 factory

Inventec, a leading Taiwanese manufacturer of consumer technology devices, has selected Affirmed Networks to deliver secure, private 5G networks for their smart manufacturing. 

Affirmed Networks is a division of Microsoft. Affirmed UnityCloud is a 5G SA core, cloud-native solution built on an open, webscale architecture. Affirmed has partnered with HPE Communication and Media Solutions for its 5G Subscriber Data Management and ASOCS to provide Inventec with a complete end to end 5G solution to enable this innovative use case for Industry 4.0.

The companies describe Inventec’s UnityCloud deployment as "the first fully Cloud-Native 5G Standalone network within the Industry 4.0 arena."

“Inventec has fully embraced the Industry 4.0 initiative, as it is in direct alignment with our focus on innovation and our digital transformation strategy,” said Albert Chen, Senior Vice President, Inventec.  “As the most critical component of IoT and Smart Manufacturing, connectivity must be ubiquitous, reliable and secure. After evaluating some of the more traditional approaches, we realized that the implementation of our own Private 5G network was the best way to ensure we had ‘always on’  coverage. Affirmed Networks was the obvious partner for us, as their innovative, cloud-native 5G standalone core delivers unrivaled performance that matches our Industry 4.0 needs.”

“Inventec is an example of an innovative company that seeks to use cutting-edge technology to deliver on its digital transformation objectives and ambitions,” said Sanjay Mewada, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer, Affirmed Networks. “Through their selection of Affirmed Networks as their 5G partner, Inventec is ensuring that its Smart Manufacturing initiative is equipped with the flexibility, security and performance required to deliver upon its Industry 4.0 vision.”

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