Friday, November 22, 2019

Operators Dish on Edge Computing Strategies at MEF 2019

LOS ANGELES — While MEF has firmly taken the mantle as a standards defining body for SD-WAN, the association and its members are starting to follow the same playbook applied in its early years to carrier Ethernet, to other pursuits like security in SD-WAN and edge computing.
           

Dish spectrum plays rise again

Answering a question that came up a lot this week in light of the C-band news, New Street Research analysts say Dish Network should be able to sell its licenses without the government taking the proceeds.
           

Verizon Business adds zero trust capabilities for enterprises

Verizon Business is throwing a shield around its private IP networks by embedding its software-defined perimeter (SSD) technology to create a zero trust architecture. Verizon's zero trust technology blocks connectivity to servers and applications from unknown devices, which makes corporate data virtually invisible to anyone that doesn't have approved access.
           

Sprint partners with Ooma on cloud-based VoIP for SMBs

Sprint teamed up with Ooma to deploy its new Omni phone business phone service that targets small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Omni, which is a cloud-based VoIP service, is provisioned over a high-speed internet connection to give SMBs some of the same features that large enterprises use, including a virtual receptionist for custom call answering and routing, ring groups, extension dialing, call park, and a mobile app for taking business calls on the go.
           

Telcos embrace containers at KubeCon 2019: 5G demo impresses

SAN DIEGO—KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2019 welcomed 12,000 attendees at the San Diego Convention Center, a 50% growth from the same event a year prior in Seattle. With application developers, infrastructure engineers, technology vendors milling through the cavernous exhibit halls, and filling the multitude of rooms, eager to soak up the latest on the hottest of technologies, the buzz was palpable.
           

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Nokia Argues Cloud Native Is Essential to 5G Core

The full arsenal of technology required to deliver on the promise of 5G hasn’t reached commercial networks yet, but the 5G core and, more importantly, its makeup is essential to realize that potential, according to Nokia. The 5G core, which will enable operators to deploy a Standalone 5G network that doesn’t rely on 4G infrastructure, must be cloud native, the Finnish vendor argued in a blog post.
           

Charter looks at more Wi-Fi for wireless offload

DALLAS – Craig Cowden, SVP of wireless technology at Charter Communications, said the company is considering using home-based Wi-Fi, that operates similarly to Comcast’s Xfinity Wi-Fi product, to help offload more traffic for its Spectrum Mobile service.
           

Loon lands contract in Peru

It turns out that Loon’s years of collaboration with Telefonica are paying off, with Loon signing a commercial deal to start serving Telefonica users in remote regions of the Amazon rainforest in Peru next year.
           

AT&T fires up 400G connection between Dallas and Atlanta

AT&T is out of the starter blocks for 400G with an optical connection carrying live traffic between Dallas and Atlanta. AT&T said the 400-gigabit optical connection was the first of its kind in the industry, as most vendors are targeting next year for the release of their 400G networking gear. Having a 400G connection allows AT&T to have a fat pipe to serve up new 5G and broadband services for its consumer and business customers.
           

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Madden: mmWave akin to Evel Knievel moment for 5G?

Remember Evel Knievel? He jumped over 13 buses on his motorcycle. He tried to jump the Snake River Gorge. He performed hundreds of risky stunts, and survived to a nice old age. I always had respect for his courage, to hit the ramp at top speed. But nobody knew what would happen, including Evel himself.
           

Verizon Drives SDP Into Its Zero Trust Architecture

Verizon’s Business Group has embedded its Software Defined Perimeter (SDP) service across its Private IP networks to create its new Zero Trust Architecture. The move continues the integration of assets acquired from Vidder last year, and what has been a multi-year process by Verizon to fortify its enterprise-focused connections.
           

VMware: 5G a ‘Fantastic and Interesting Challenge’ for Kubernetes

SAN DIEGO – Anyone attending this week’s KubeCon + CloudNativeCon event in San Diego would be forgiven for assuming that Kubernetes is the most stable, wonderful, and useful software platform to ever come down the pike. (Sorry Linux). But, there remains one significant market segment that could test the mettle and fortitude of the Kubernetes community: 5G.
           

Cisco Shakeup Hits Cloud, Networking Teams

Cisco is making major changes in its networking and cloud computing business in an effort to “strongly position the company against our competitors,” according to an internal email sent to employees by Cisco’s David Goeckeler and viewed by The Information.
           

Extreme Embeds Fabric Automation on Broadcom-Based Switches

Extreme Networks added capabilities to its data center Fabric Automation software and rolled out two new switches built on Broadcom’s Trident 3 switch ASICs. Both of the new switches, the SLX 9150 leaf switch and the SLX 9250 spine switch, ship with embedded Extreme Fabric Automation.
           

TIP Takes Off in Amsterdam

A combination of factors have given mobile operators an alternative way to execute their network plans thanks to developments initiated by the likes of the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), but alternative options always bring new challenges.
           

HPE Dumps Recent Acquisitions Into Its Container Platform

SAN DIEGO – Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) launched a new Kubernetes-focused platform that allows customers to deploy cloud native and non-cloud native applications on any infrastructure, public cloud, or edge location. The platform taps into a pair of recent software acquisition by the hardware giant and further builds on its as-a-service push.
           

ZTE Advances MEC, Network Slicing With China Mobile

ZTE and China Mobile say they have activated mobile edge computing (MEC) to enable end-to-end network slicing services on the operator’s nascent 5G network in a coastal South China province. China’s top mobile operator and its competitors — China Unicom and China Telecom — launched the world’s largest 5G network earlier this month.
           

MEF19 Day 2: Are Cloudy Times on the Horizon?

On Day 2 of MEF19, Heavy Reading's Sterling Perrin highlights how MEF's carrier members are early adopters in SD-WAN. Meanwhile, Perrin, along with Heavy Reading's Jennifer Clarke discuss the implications of bringing cloud computing providers into the MEF ecosystem.
           

Senators say the U.S. lacks a coordinated 5G strategy

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has sent a letter to Robert O’Brien, President Trump’s national security adviser, calling for a more coordinated national strategy on 5G. The eight senators cite concerns that China is leading on 5G, and that this poses a security threat to the United States.
           

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Rancher Labs K3s Rides Kubernetes to the Edge

Rancher Labs launched general availability of its k3s edge-specific Kubernetes distribution, which is designed for easier management of Kubernetes in resource-constrained environments. The company also announced the beta release of Rio, its new application deployment engine for Kubernetes that delivers a fully integrated deployment experience from operations to pipeline.
           

MEF Presses Managed Security in SD-WAN

LOS ANGELES — Security has dominated MEF 2019 as one of the most critical and pressing challenges for operators and vendors. The prevailing argument and hope here is that SD-WAN presents the industry with an opportunity to implement more robust and reliable network security.
           

Satellite companies suffer setback in C-band plan

While a lot of details have yet to be hammered out at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), wireless carriers both big and small expressed optimism about the prospects for a public auction of C-band spectrum for 5G. It’s unknown, however, how cooperative satellite companies will be under the new plan.
           

Rural carriers get another 90-day extension to work with Huawei

The Trump Administration gave U.S. companies a third 90-day extension to continue working with Huawei. The extension relates to the government’s Entity List, which effectively bans Huawei from buying components from U.S. companies without government approval. But the Entity List also affects rural carriers that have Huawei equipment in their networks, said Alexi Maltas, SVP and general counsel for the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA).
           

Monday, November 18, 2019

USAF: Kubernetes, Containers Saved 100 Years of Taxpayer Money

SAN DIEGO – The United States Air Force (USAF) has jumped aggressively into using Kubernetes and containers to speed up the deployment of applications across the military branch, including running applications on combat aircraft. While that is obviously very cool from a technology point of view, the move also saved 100 years of software development work for U.S. taxpayers.
           

Verizon's 5G Maps Have Arrived

Verizon took the wraps off detailed, street-level 5G coverage maps, which helped to blunt criticisms from the likes of T-Mobile. However, the maps also highlight the scale of Verizon's massive 5G undertaking.
           

Orange Taps ThousandEyes for Visibility Across Clouds, SD-WAN

ThousandEyes extended its watchful gaze over network intelligence vantage points today with a new Orange Business Services partnership. The companies say the partnership will provide end-to-end visibility and network performance insights across the internet, public clouds, and SD-WAN to enterprises and carriers.  
           

A10 Says Multi-Cloud Is Passé, Pushes Polynimbus

By now just about every enterprise — and every enterprise infrastructure vendor — has a multi-cloud strategy and uses services from multiple cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. So it seems a little late in the game for A10 Networks to roll out a multi-cloud blueprint, though calling it “polynimbus” does add an element of allure.
           

Disney+ Targeted by Hackers

Disney says there's 'no indication of a security breach on Disney+,' as it appears that some accounts have been compromised when consumers use the same credentials and passwords across multiple online accounts.
           

Wind River Advances 5G vRAN With Edge Cloud

Wind River today announced the commercial availability of a Kubernetes-based cloud platform designed to manage edge cloud infrastructure. Wind River Cloud Platform can manage physically separated infrastructure for virtual radio access networks (vRANs) and core data center sites, according to the software vendor.
           

AT&T Slapped With 'Sell' Downgrade

MoffettNathanson is skeptical that AT&T can hit financial guidance in 2020 and beyond and doubtful that AT&T's mobile business will be able to fully make up for struggles at its video and wireless business units.
           

Interview with Amdocs’ Parag Shah

In this interview, Parag Shah, SVP & Customer Business Executive at Amdocs, talks about the challenge of 5G evolution—in particular, how service providers will need to rethink how radio access network (RAN) deployment will work in the future. Considering the scope and scale of 5G New Radio (5G NR) deployment, service providers will need to think carefully about software infusion, data analytics, and the importance of heterogenous know-how.
           

Unlocking the Future of Business Aviation Connectivity

At 40,000 feet, travelers have rapidly evolving expectations for fast, fluid connectivity—for both business and entertainment. Business flyers expect to be access high-speed Internet as seamlessly as they do in their office, and all passengers want to be able to watch live, glitch-free streaming TV, regardless of data allowance or the particulars of their data plan. For nearly 15 years, Viasat has been making these peerless aviation connectivity happen—thanks to uniquely targeted combinations of Ku-band for global connections, Ka-band for faster Internet, and dual-band for the best of both solutions—including global coverage and redundancy.
           

Sunday, November 17, 2019

IBM Kicks Up Kubernetes Compatibility With Open Source

On the first day of KubeCon IBM kicked up its Kubernetes compatibility by announcing two new open source projects — Kui and Iter8 — along with advancements to existing open source Tekton and Razee. IBM has a long history contributing open source code, and today’s announcement comes as the vendor quickly moves to integrate its legacy software portfolio with Red Hat’s Kubernetes-focused OpenShift platform.
           

T-Mobile US Taps Sievert to Replace Legere As CEO

After almost 19 months, uncertainty still hangs over T-Mobile US’ proposed acquisition of Sprint, but questions about who will lead the company going forward have been answered. T-Mobile US today announced that Mike Sievert, who currently serves as president and COO, will assume the position of CEO on May 1, 2020.
           

Google Buys CloudSimple, Challenges VMware Cloud on AWS

Google today said it acquired CloudSimple, a startup that makes it easier for customers to move VMware workloads from their on-premises data centers into public clouds. The acquisition gives Google an edge as it competes against Amazon Web Services and that public cloud provider’s hybrid cloud service with VMware called VMware Cloud on AWS.
           

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