Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Monday, December 30, 2019

5G Put Down International Roots in 2019

5G was a nearly worldwide phenomenon in 2019. It was a year of many firsts in the United States and much of the rest of the world. Bragging rights are still very much tinted by the eyes of the beholder. The United States, China, South Korea, and some European countries are effectively battling for the lead and many others are close behind.

Brookfield snaps up Cincinnati Bell for $2.6 billion

Toronto-based conglomerate Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP has struck a deal to buy Cincinnati Bell for $2.6 billion. Under the terms of the cash-and-debt deal, Cincinnati Bell shareholders would receive $10.50 in cash for each share of common stock, or 36% above the company's $7.72 closing price on December 20.

Top 10 FierceWireless stories in 2019

Not surprisingly, the proposed merger between T-Mobile and Sprint garnered a lot of interest during 2019. News about Dish possibly entering the wireless market and upstart Rakuten also commanded readers' attention. These were some of the top stories on FierceWireless in 2019. 

Sunday, December 29, 2019

Vodafone Australia Blames 5G Delays on Huawei Ban

Australia’s third-largest mobile network operator signed a five-year contract with Nokia for the procurement and delivery of 5G equipment. Vodafone Hutchison Australia said it plans to begin deploying 5G services in the first half of 2020.

VMware Folds Pivotal Into New Modern App Biz Unit

VMware closed on its $2.7 billion purchase of Pivotal, folding those operations into a new business unit headed by a long-time VMware executive. The move also sets VMware up to take advantage of its newly acquired Kubernetes assets heading into 2020.

Cisco's Big 'Silicon One' Bet

Cisco is fundamentally changing its business strategy to support selling disaggregated components, in addition to integrated solutions, in a bid to win business from hyperclouds such as Amazon and Microsoft.

What's Bright, Shiny & Not GEM?

Cable operators are expanding their business services reach well beyond the traditional government, education and medical sectors to take in verticals like hospitality, agribusiness and even e-gaming.

Saturday, December 28, 2019

Top 5 Cybersecurity Predictions for 2020

When it comes to cybersecurity, the types of attacks and threat vectors are always a moving target pitting the white hats against the black hats in an epic battle for our networks that isn’t going to be won anytime soon. (Sorry to be a downer during the holidays.) But the good news is that technology is also ever evolving, and some of the smartest people are working on new ways to secure infrastructure and endpoints while also preventing future attacks from happening. While the brightest minds are working to solve those problems, we at SDxCentral are turning to the crystal ball to wildly speculate about what’s to come in the new year. Grab your tinfoil hat and a champagne cocktail, snuggle up in front of a warm fireplace, and check out our five security predictions for 2020. And if they don’t come true, AI wrote this.

Friday, December 27, 2019

2020 Preview: 5G marketing remains messy

This year already saw its share of confusion among consumers as U.S. operators launched initial 5G service, and 2020 could see additional growing pains when different flavors of the next-generation technology hit the masses.

Thursday, December 26, 2019

'What’s Dead May Never Die' — SD-WAN's Undying Story

“You know nothing John Snow,” and according to three of the leading SD-WAN providers, neither does Aviatrix CEO Steve Mullaney. The executive raised eyebrows earlier this month when he effectively called SD-WAN a dead man walking and predicted the market’s demise.

Huawei Battles Reigned in 2019

Huawei struck back at a new report that claims the China-based vendor benefitted disproportionately from government subsidies that bolstered the vendor’s operational advantage compared to its competitors. The discourse also puts a fitting bow on what has been a dizzying mix of hits and misses for Huawei in 2019.

Top 10 Money Moves of 2019 in SDxCentral's World

Finances remained a hot topic in the cloud and SDN space for 2019, as tens of billions of dollars were thrown at various mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings (IPOs), and through venture capital investments. Here are 10 of the biggest Money Moves of 2019 as compiled by the SDxCentral Editorial staff.

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Who Went Where: The Top Headcount Changes of 2019

Each year, technology and software companies make headlines as they drive change in the software-defined world. But every so often the people behind the scenes make headlines and changes of their own. This is why each month SDxCentral publishes its Headcount column tracking the latest executive hirings, promotions, and staff changes. Below we’ve compiled this year’s biggest Headcount moves as compiled by the SDxCentral Editorial staff.

Hyperclouds Muscle in on Telco Cloud

Hyperclouds such as Amazon and Microsoft are partnering with Verizon, AT&T and other telcos, seeking big opportunities on the edge and elsewhere. Look for that trend to accelerate in the new year.

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Monday, December 23, 2019

Meet Trump's New 5G Czar

President Trump named Robert Blair to lead his administration's 5G efforts. Blair has a background in national security issues, and just weeks ago defied a Congressional subpoena to testify about Trump's dealings with Ukraine.

Ciena Gets Ready to Leap Into 2020

The optical networking leader is pounding the table for webscale providers and telcos to move straight to 800G in the coming year, minimizing the competitive momentum of several vendors in the 600G space.

Chipmakers' Biggest Buys and Sells of 2019

The past year has been inundated by a wave of consolidation among chipmakers. Throughout 2019, billions of dollars changed hands as industry giants attempted to fill gaps in their product lines and bolster their positions in some of the world’s most competitive markets including data center connectivity, artificial intelligence (AI), and 5G networking.

Cable's Greatest Hits of 2019

Here's a curated recap of some of the top tech news and trends for cable, including the '10G' initiative, MSO mobile moves and the industry's troubled and complicated relationship with pay-TV.

Raynovich: What's next for SD-WAN? A bigger, bolder play

The run in SD-WAN has been fun to watch. Just a few years ago, discussions about how SD-WAN technology could transform the enterprise edge into a more flexible cloud model brought quizzical stares. Now, everybody and their cousin in the networking market are putting together an SD-WAN strategy.

2020 Preview: A new chapter in wireless competition

Throughout 2019 T-Mobile and Sprint’s pending merger dominated headlines as the “will they, won’t they” dragged on longer than expected after state AGs sued to block the deal. While we still don’t know the final outcome of that decision, it tees up major changes for the wireless industry in 2020. 

Looking back at 2019—the good, the band and the ugly

2019 was a tumultuous year for many wireless firms. Nearly 20 months after announcing its intent to purchase Sprint, T-Mobile still hasn’t closed the deal and is now in court battling to keep the acquisition on track. AT&T struggled with an activist investor resulting in the company agreeing to sell $10 billion in non-core assets. And Verizon is pushing to deploy 5G in 30 markets nationwide despite the fact that it reduced its employee headcount by 17,000 in the past year.

Sunday, December 22, 2019

5G Gains US Foothold in 2019

As the year comes to a close it’s important to note that 5G became a bonafide reality in 2019. All four of the nationwide operators in the United States have now deployed 5G services, and the country’s largest regional carrier plans to join the party in the first quarter of 2020.

Is AI the Antidote to Network Complexity?

Dreams of a future built on 5G networks and powered by IoT dominated the conversation at conferences in 2019. But for all these grand visions there’s a problem: How do you manage networks with millions of cell sites connecting billions of IoT devices? According to some the answer is better visibility enabled by artificial intelligence (AI).

Cisco Warns About Ongoing Security Exploit

Cisco’s Talos researchers have warned about an increase in exploitation attempts against its Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Firepower Appliance tied to a vulnerability initially discovered last year.

Why the Rise of SVOD Could Boost Pay-TV

Service providers have a great chance to take advantage of the OTT video phenomenon by melding streaming video services into their pay-TV packages and offering greater choice, convenience and navigation to consumers.

Friday, December 20, 2019

Wytec aims to upend MVNO industry with CBRS

A small firm based in San Antonio, Texas, wants to upend the MVNO industry in the U.S. so that cable operators are able to compete on par with mobile carriers. That means removing excess costs with which cable operators currently contend.

F5 Networks buys Shape Security for $1B

F5 Networks is ending the year with a bang by buying privately-held Shape Security for $1 billion. The deal, which is subject to certain adjustments, blends F5's expertise in protecting applications across multi-cloud environments with Shape's fraud and abuse prevention capabilities.

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Is VMware Winning the Cloud Wars?

Pundits said that cloud would kill VMware. The virtualization giant proved them wrong, and during its most recent quarter saw hybrid cloud and software-as-a-service (SaaS) represent more than 13% of its total revenue — a 40% increase compared to last year.

NTT DoCoMo Trials Homegrown 5G RAN

NTT DoCoMo says it has successfully completed trials of 5G network equipment in Thailand and Singapore. The Japanese-made gear was provided in a series of trials designed to elevate DoCoMo’s insights into the unique 5G requirements of global operators, including regional regulatory approvals, trading procedures, and compatibility with existing network equipment.

Lawmakers pass bipartisan anti-robocall bill

Legislation tackling robocalls has made its way through Congress with bipartisan support, as the Senate on Thursday approved a bill that enables stronger FCC action against illegal robocallers and requires carriers to provide call-authentication technology to consumers at no cost.

Power grab heats up over 6 GHz

A group of tech industry giants is challenging assertions made by AT&T in its analysis of the 6 GHz band for unlicensed use, saying just two assumptions cause AT&T to “exaggerate all of its interference predictions by more than 1000%.”

Boingo launches neutral host DAS at PDX

Boingo Wireless just last week revealed it's letting go of about 16% of its workforce, but it continues to rack up airport venues for neutral host cellular distributed antenna systems (DAS), announcing this week it has expanded its service to Portland International Airport (PDX).

China Mobile International opens doors on UK data center

China Mobile International announced on Thursday that it has opened its first European data center in the U.K. China Mobile International, a subsidiary of China Mobile, said the new data center, which opened earlier this month, serves as both an international exchange hub and an internet data center.  

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Instana Gifts Itself a Triple Acquisition

Tis the season for spending, and application performance monitoring (APM) provider Instana this week made money moves to further advance software construction insight with three acquisitions: BeeInstant of Ireland, StackImpact of Germany, and Signify, a technology from Jinspired.

Nvidia Strikes China Mobile Edge Supercomputer Deal

Nvidia has landed the world’s largest potential customer for the edge supercomputing platform it revealed just two months ago. The scope of the chipmaker’s deal with China Mobile is unclear, but it marks a major win for the vendor that underlines Nvidia’s ability to advance the nascent technology at scale.

Google Cloud’s 5 Boldest Moves of 2019

Google wants to oust top-ranked public cloud providers Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. And, according to media reports, it set a 2023 internal deadline to become a top-two player in the market. It’s an ambitious goal, to put it gently. While Google has been gaining, Amazon’s share of worldwide public cloud revenues has hovered around 40% for a few years, and Microsoft’s has increased to almost 20%, according to Synergy Research Group. For comparison: Google’s got around 10% of the market.

CenturyLink notches a large SD-WAN win with Braskem

CenturyLink landed an SD-WAN customer win that spans more than 50 locations across Latin America, North America, Europe and Asia. Those locations belong to Braskem, which is the largest thermoplastics resins producer in the Americas and a worldwide producer of biopolymers. The SD-WAN network will travel through more than 130 MPLS and dedicated internet links with a connection to the private cloud throughCenturyLink Cloud Connections.

Lowenstein: Reflections on the ‘Wireless Decade’

Industry analysts spend most of their time looking forward, but as we near the end of 2019, I think it’s important to take a moment and reflect on what could fairly be coined the ‘Wireless Decade’. Wireless/mobile was not only among the top stories in tech during the 2010s, but it was probably among the top five business stories of the past 10 years. Major tech players outside the traditional mobile ecosystem would either not exist, or would be a shell of what they are today, without smartphones and broadband wireless networks. Think Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Uber.

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Silver Peak, Ciena Tackle Enterprise SD-WAN Deployments

Silver Peak and Ciena announced a team up that will pair the SD-WAN vendor’s software platform on the optical giant’s universal consumer premises equipment (uCPE). That combo is aimed at developing new service delivery models for communications service providers (CSPs) and greater flexibility for global enterprise customers.

Ericsson Reveals Container-Based 5G ‘First’ With Telstra

Ericsson says it has, with an assist from Telstra, deployed the first cloud-native and container-based evolved packet core for 4G and 5G services. The Australian network operator launched limited 5G services on Ericsson equipment in May and has been building out its coverage to reach at least 35 cities during the first half of 2020.

AlefEdge, Packet, Federated Gel for Edge First

AlefEdge, Packet, and Federated Wireless combined their efforts on the live deployment of an edge area network in Massachusetts that used data center assets from an unnamed wireless infrastructure provider and the first use of the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum for such a network.

Eurobites: Allez le Vente de 5G Spectrum!

In today's regional roundup: The French government gives le lumière verte to the 5G license sale process; Huawei hints at European components production site; EE turns on its 5G service in six more locations (hello Sunderland!); Rohde & Schwarz's golden CATR reflector sees some action; mobile data prices in Africa; and more.

The Telecoms.com Podcast: A Year in Review

Download the audio on Soundcloud here: https://soundcloud.com/telecoms-podcast/the-year-in-review and subscribe on all podcast platforms! Only Scott and Iain were around this week so they decided to look back on the year in telecoms over a few beers, with 5G and politics looming large.

Google giving up on Turkey

Google has announced that new Android devices in Turkey will no-longer be sold with its own applications pre-installed following an antitrust dispute with authorities in the country.

Monday, December 16, 2019

Cisco Wins Latest Battle in War Against Chinese Counterfeiters

Cisco won a temporary legal ruling in federal court that orders four Chinese manufacturers to stop selling counterfeit networking equipment, The Wall Street Journal reports. The temporary injunction also requires online sellers, including Amazon, Alibaba, and eBay, to remove listings of the phony Cisco-branded products.

Intel Chip Flaw Plunderbolt Hits Secure Enclaves

Intel issued a patch for a major vulnerability in many of its processors that could allow attackers to change information stored on the chip’s secure enclave. The flaw, dubbed Plunderbolt by international researchers who discovered it, affects all Software Guard Extension (SGX)-enabled Intel Core processors from Skylake onward.

Dish’s Ergen testimony anticipated in T-Mobile/Sprint trial

Framing the “trial of the century” like a football game, analysts at New Street Research are gearing up for the second half, with the T-Mobile and Sprint this week getting a chance to argue their points for their proposed merger after most of last week involved opposing states presenting their case.

Altice Europe strikes a $1.7B deal for fiber in Portugal

Alice Europe's Portuguese subsidiary MEO has inked a deal with Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners to build what it says will be the first nationwide fiber wholesaler in Portugal. As part of the deal, MEO will sell off a minority equity stake of 49.99% in Altice Portugal's fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) assets for an initial price of $1.74 billion.

Blaber: Private 5G networks poised for take-off in 2020

In CCS Insight's recent survey of IT decision-makers, connectivity was ranked the sixth biggest priority for investment over the next 18 months (see IT Decision-Maker Workplace Technology Survey 2019). Security of networks, cloud services, devices and applications all featured as the leading priorities of IT decision-makers, along with cloud productivity and collaboration.

Enabling the Wireless Enterprise with URLLC: 5G, Wi-Fi and Edge

Enterprises increasingly see the benefits of a pervasive wireless environment which connects not only people on the premises – staff, tenants, contractors, visitors – but also sensors, cameras, machinery, vehicles, goods and pretty much anything within the confines of the business’s physical location. Wireless networks today primarily allow people to communicate with each other through data and voice. With 5G and Wi-Fi, wireless technologies will take on a central role in enterprise core operations, either replacing the wireline infrastructure at the edge or adding connectivity to processes that today are still done manually by humans.

The Evolution to Open vRAN

The 21st century communications landscape has been characterized by virtualization and digital transformation, as well as a preference for open source technologies rather than proprietary, monolithic solutions. The radio access network (RAN) is no exception: Open, virtualized RAN (vRAN) solutions give telecom operators the ability to realize performance gains, intelligence, fast adaptability, and dual connectivity between 4G and the forthcoming 5G network—all with a smaller price tag, compared with traditional hardware solutions. The open vRAN is a transformative technology, and it rises from a profound shift in the way mobile networks have been architected for decades.

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Eurobites: BT Says Adios to Spain

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Altice Europe sells almost half of its fiber Portugal unit to Morgan Stanley; Russian government seeks control of joint 5G venture; China stirs the Huawei pot in Germany; the Helsingør experiment.

China Telcos & Investors Hunt 5G Economic Value

Investment in 5G networks has been rapid in China, and early uptake strong, but the mobile operators, like their counterparts around the world, are still looking for ways in which they can generate financial returns from their 5G efforts.

5G RAN Vendor Choice Vexes Telenor, Contradictions Ensue

Telenor is walking back reports that it will completely ditch Huawei as it advances its 5G network deployment in Norway. The global operator, which is majority owned by the Norwegian government and has networks in Scandinavia and Asia, selected Ericsson to build its 5G radio access network (RAN) in Norway.

Cisco Buys Exablaze, Scores Ultra-Low Latency FPGA Tech

Cisco today said it reached a deal to buy Exablaze, a low-latency networking device maker, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition adds Exablaze’s field programmable gate array (FPGA) based devices to Cisco’s portfolio, which the networking giant says will boost its intent-based networking (IBN) strategy.

Intel Is $2B Serious About AI, Buys Habana to Target Nvidia

Intel is betting on a $2 billion acquisition of artificial intelligence (AI)-focused startup Habana Labs to bolster its position in the highly competitive data center processor space that the chip giant predicts will be worth more than $25 billion by 2024. Analysts noted the move could also highlight issues with its current Nervana platform.

Friday, December 13, 2019

Cisco opens up with new OS, silicon and routers

In the face of mostly flat revenues and competition from new startups, Cisco hasn't been sitting on its hands the past five years. Cisco's announcements on Wednesday were noteworthy on several fronts, including that it spent $1 billion on research and development for its Silicon One chip that will be used from pizza box switches all the way up to an 18-slot router chassis. 

AT&T goes high and low with 5G

AT&T said its 5G service, for both consumers and businesses, is now live in 10 markets. Consumers in Birmingham, Ala., Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Providence, R.I., Rochester, N.Y., San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., market areas can now access AT&T’s low-band 5G network using the Samsung Galaxy Note10+ 5G. 

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Google Transfer Service Mitigates Cloud Migration Migraines

Google Cloud announced beta availability of its Transfer Service for on-premises data this week as a free service. To further expedite cloud migration, the cloud provider claims that the new platform removes the technical complexities inherent with large-scale, online data transfers for moving customer’s on-premise data centers into the Google Cloud.

Rockbot CEO Aims to Shake Up B2B TV

Google-backed startup boots up OTT-delivered video service for restaurants, retail shops and other businesses that can complement (or possibly replace) TV services from cable and satellite TV providers.

Starry Eyes Commercial Market

Starry Internet COO Alex Moulle-Berteaux discusses the fixed-wireless player's ambitious expansion strategy with 5G, including plans to pursue small business owners and people who work from their homes.

Citrix gets personal with Workspace updates

While technology has grown by leaps and bounds, worker productivity hasn't always followed suit. In order to improve employee productivity, Citrix has added an intelligent feed and personalized workflows to its Workspace digital platform.

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Cisco Bets Its Business on 'Internet for the Future' Strategy

Cisco's audacious new "Internet for the Future" strategy, which comprises completely new silicon, operating system software and a new business model, is either going to drive Cisco's domination of Internet infrastructure for a generation to come -- or flop spectacularly. With a strategy as ambitious as Cisco's, there's no middle ground, says Light Reading's Mitch Wagner.

Fortinet Snaps Up SOAR Provider CyberSponse

Next-generation firewall and SD-WAN vendor Fortinet today announced the acquisition of CyberSponse, a security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) platform provider. The terms of the purchase were not disclosed.

Google, VMware Headline Linux Foundation’s ACT Program

The Linux Foundation has formed a new open source code licensing program that is headed by heavyweights Google, VMware, and Siemens. The Automated Compliance Tooling (ACT) program is looking to manage the responsibility and investment challenges facing open source code, which has seen considerable duress over the past year.

Ray Mota on Cisco's Network Vision

Ray Mota, CEO and principal analyst for ACG Research, dives into Cisco's 'Internet for the Future' strategy, noting that the key focus is on helping service providers boost capacity as they roll out 5G and other new services while keeping costs in line. That's important because customers are using more bandwidth but aren't paying more for it, notes Mota.

Cisco's SP Chief on 'Silicon One'

Jonathan Davidson, SVP and general manager of Cisco's Service Provider Business, outlines the key takeaways from the company's major new networking portfolio announcements, including the Silicon One chip launch, new router platforms, enhanced operating software and optical plans.

Senate Commerce Committee OKs C-band auction bill

Citing the need for the U.S. to win the race to 5G, the Senate Commerce Committee today voted for legislation directing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to initiate a C-band auction, with at least 50% of proceeds going to the U.S. treasury and 10% for rural broadband deployments.

Raynovich: Did Cisco just throw ACI under the bus?

Cisco Systems, one of the closely watched networking hardware companies on the planet, today made a pretty spectacular series of announcements: It's diversifying away from its core business model of selling integrated network systems and will independently sell a new proprietary switching and routing applications specific integrated circuit (ASIC), called Cisco Silicon One, which it will sell directly to customers with or without its own system, including its new routing software operating system, IOS XR7.

Verizon CEO emphasizes C-band for 5G

For its 5G strategy, Verizon has all the spectrum it needs to accomplish its stated near-term goals, but for the nation as a whole, C-band spectrum—3.7-4.2 GHz—will be vitally important to achieve the kinds of economies of scale the industry needs.

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Verizon CEO: Network Virtualization Is 60% Complete

Verizon’s journey to transform and virtualize its various networks under a common, unified framework is 60% complete, CEO Hans Vesterg said at a UBS investor conference. The journey hasn’t been easy, he explained, because Verizon’s network assets were previously divided among wireline and wireless, and new software layers are being added to blend operations onto a single platform.

Telefónica Defies US, Selects Nokia, Huawei for 5G

Telefónica today announced that Nokia and Huawei will be providing equipment for its 5G network in Germany, despite an ongoing campaign by the U.S. government to pressure its allies to remove and preclude the Chinese networking giant’s equipment from their networks.

Cato Networks blends SIEM insights into its platform

Cato Networks is the latest SD-WAN vendor to announce it has blended SIEM capabilities into its platform. But Cato is laying claim to being the first vendor to add SIEM, which stands for security information and event management, into a secure access service edge (SASE) platform at no additional cost.

Monday, December 09, 2019

Comcast Tests 2.5-Gig Gateway

Technicolor has been tapped for the 'XB7,' a new, speedier DOCSIS 3.1 gateway with 802.11ax (WiFi 6), MoCA 2.0 and IoT radios that's a big leap over the current-gen XB6 D3.1 gateway.

Microsoft, NTT Tap Azure, AI to Target Enterprises

Microsoft struck a multi-year deal with Japanese communications giant NTT to combine its Azure cloud platform and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities with NTT’s optical and wireless network to produce and support new enterprise-focused digital services.

McAfee Adds Containers to CASB, Cloud Security Platform

After teasing a new container security product last week at AWS re:Invent, McAfee today announced that Mvision Cloud for Containers is now available, and it integrates with the vendor’s cloud access security broker (CASB) and cloud security posture management (CSPM) technology.

Comcast's X1 Platform Means Business

Comcast Business's Christian Nascimento details how this fast-growing unit of the company has adapted Comcast's cloud-based video platform to service the commercial market, including restaurants, hotels and other hospitality venues.

How Viasat Changes the Satellite Game

Satellite internet is rising in prominence as an option for providing high-speed connectivity to locations outside the reach of traditional cable or dialup infrastructure. Although the industry has endured some challenges and attained a negative reputation over the years—because of cost concerns and lackluster performance—the market has rallied as costs have decreased and as private access to space has increased. Customers at home and in corporate airspace are now finding that satellite internet can be faster (sometimes much faster) than typical methods, offers high bandwidth without compromise, and—of course—doesn’t rely on a terrestrial tether to deliver the goods. 

Sunday, December 08, 2019

Ericsson Corruption Probe Takes $1B Bite

Ericsson spent 17 years bribing high-ranking government officials and falsifying financial documents as it failed to implement proper internal accounting controls, the company admitted in a settlement with the Department of Justice and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The settlement to that corruption investigation will cost the vendor $1.06 billion in penalties, though on the bright side that is less than the $1.23 billion financial provision Ericsson had set aside in September to to cover what it anticipated to lose as a result of the settlement and related costs.

Money Moves: November 2019

Here are some of the most prominent venture capital and merger and acquisition news items from the past month. If you’d like SDxCentral to report on your company’s VC or M&A activity, or if you have any tips on that activity, please send the information to Sydney Sawaya (ssawaya@sdxcentral.com).

Friday, December 06, 2019

VMware, Silver Peak Lead SD-WAN Pack; Cisco, Riverbed Lose Ground

The highly competitive SD-WAN market is still very much in flux and the latest Gartner Magic Quadrant WAN Edge Infrastructure report bears that out. While VMware and Silver Peak continued to lead the WAN market in 2019, according to the report, Cisco lost ground falling from a leader in 2018, to a “challenger” in this year’s report.

T-Mobile’s OnePlus 5G McLaren impresses, to a point

MAUI, HAWAII—I don’t do phone reviews very often. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I even reviewed a phone, so let’s not call this a “review” so much as my impressions with the OnePlus 7T Pro 5G McLaren for a short time. (I have used my share of devices over the years by virtue of being someone who covers the wireless industry, so there’s that.)

Thursday, December 05, 2019

Aviatrix CEO: SD-WAN Is Dead. AWS Killed It

LAS VEGAS — Networking didn’t get a lot of love at AWS re:Invent this week — CEO Andy Jassy’s three-hour keynote reportedly didn’t give him enough time to detail all of Amazon Web Services’ networking and security news. So the new AWS Transit Gateway capabilities flew a bit under the radar.

AWS Pins Enterprise Cloud Success on 4 Initiatives

LAS VEGAS — There are four key initiatives that determine whether an enterprise will be successful in the cloud, according to Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Andy Jassy. These differences oftentimes illuminate a clear separation between enterprises that successfully move to the cloud and those that don’t, he said.

Headcount: Firings, Hirings, and Retirings — November 2019

Here are some of the latest executive hirings, promotions, and staff changes. If you’d like SDxCentral to report on your company’s movers and shakers, or if you’ve got a tip about layoffs and restructuring, please send the information to Sydney Sawaya (ssawaya@sdxcentral.com).

Huawei fights FCC USF restrictions with new lawsuit

Huawei has stepped up its fight against U.S. restrictions and petitioned a federal appeals court to throw out a recent FCC ruling that bans service providers from using federal Universal Service Fund (USF) support to purchase the Chinese vendor’s telecom gear and services.

Adva takes the reins on optical research project

Adva is taking the lead position on a research project that is drawing a bead on expanding the capacity of optical metro and core networks. With financial backing from Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the OptiCON project is exploring technologies that will enable fiber infrastructure to support 10 times more throughput than it currently carries today.  

Verizon races to get 5G to all 30 markets by year’s end

MAUI, HAWAII—For some folks, the last month of the year is a time to start winding down, getting ready for the holidays and slowly detaching from the daily work grind. For Verizon engineers, it’s anything but that as they scurry to reach the 30 5G markets the company set for its goal by the end of this year.

Wednesday, December 04, 2019

AWS Chief Minimizes Impact of Declining Growth

LAS VEGAS — Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy downplayed the notion that the cloud platform is somehow losing steam because its growth rate, on a percentage basis, has been in recent decline. Amazon’s cloud business has experienced three consecutive quarters of declining cloud growth, but that doesn’t provide a full picture of AWS’ performance, Jassy said during a press conference at AWS re:Invent.

Huawei Slams FCC With Legal Appeal

Huawei filed a legal petition against the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) move to bar rural U.S. operators from using equipment from the China-based vendor because of national security concerns.

Martello Wraps Initial Test of 5G SD-WAN for IoT

Ottawa-based Martello Technologies has its eyes locked on a 5G SD-WAN future. The company announced it had wrapped up the initial phase of testing of its 5G SD-WAN offering as part of a project in collaboration with the Canadian government’s ENCQOR 5G testbed.

Qualcomm takes wraps off Snapdragon 865

MAUI, HAWAII—It took three years and 10,000 engineers to bring the Snapdragon 865 to life, and now it’s nearly ready for prime time, with devices based on Snapdragon 865 expected to be commercially available in the first quarter of 2020.

Qualcomm: 5G is all about sub 6 GHz and mmWave

MAUI, HAWAII—If there were any doubts about where Qualcomm stands when it comes to millimeter wave, Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon put those to rest, saying millimeter wave (mmWave) without a doubt will be one of the key spectrums used in 5G.

Data center and colocation openings pick up the pace - report

Data center and colocation construction projects picked up the pace in the second half of this year, according to research by IHS Markit. A total of 9.9 million square feet of data center capacity under construction is expected to open during the second half of this year, according to the IHS Markit | Technology Cloud and Colocation Data Center Building Market Tracker.

Tuesday, December 03, 2019

AWS Head Bemoans ‘Political Interference’ in JEDI Contract

LAS VEGAS — Amazon is gearing up for battle with the U.S. government over the process by which Microsoft was awarded a reported $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud contract. “We feel pretty strongly that it was not adjudicated fairly,” Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Andy Jassy said during a press conference at the AWS re:Invent show.

Verizon Beats the Edge Drum With AWS

LAS VEGAS – Verizon Edge, which marries the operator’s 5G network with Amazon Web Services’ (AWS’) Wavelength edge compute service, brings the computing platform much closer to the 5G network and, more specifically, much closer to the user, said Bill Stone, Verizon’s VP of technology development and planning.

Amazon Detective, McAfee Hunt Down the Baddies

LAS VEGAS — Amazon Web Services (AWS) rolled out three new security tools at re:Invent this week. Amazon Detective is a new service that the cloud giant says makes it easier for customers to conduct large-scale investigations. AWS IAM Access Analyzer, which is a new AWS identity and access management (IAM) capability that allows security teams and administrators to audit resource policies for unintended access. And finally, AWS Nitro Enclaves is a new Amazon EC2 capability that creates an isolated compute environment within an instance where customers can securely store sensitive data.

Amazon, Google, Microsoft Pace Q3 Hyperscale Capex, SRG States

After a slight dip in the first two quarters of 2019, hyperscale operator ramped up capex spending in the third quarter, representing a significant return to growth as hyperscale capex is now ahead of the record-setting levels seen in 2018, according to the latest numbers from Synergy Research Group (SRG).

AWS Graviton2 Platform Takes Dead Aim at Rivals

Amazon Web Services (AWS) made an aggressive push into the data center chip space with the unveiling of its purpose-built, Arm-based Graviton2 platform that will power instances within many of its core cloud services. The aggression is set to put pressure on its hyperscale cloud rivals and chip players.

Orange Business Service lands a sweet deal with Mars

Orange Business Services was picked by Mars to build a network that will connect more than 12,500 Mars Associates across more than 80 countries. Orange Business Services is building an intelligent automated network (IAN) for Mars, which makes M&Ms, Snickers, Twix and other food items.

T-Mobile lures new customers to 5G with free smartphones

T-Mobile’s debut of its nationwide 5G network yesterday included a special enticement for non-T-Mobile customers. Switch to T-Mobile and you can get a OnePlus 7T Pro 5G McLaren, which retails for $899.99, for free with 24 bill credits and a smartphone trade-in. Or, get a Samsung Note10+ 5G, which retails for $1,299.99, for free with 36 bill credits when you buy another device and add a line.

Monday, December 02, 2019

Cisco SD-WAN, ACI Anywhere Gain AWS Links

Cisco today deepened its ties with Amazon Web Services (AWS) announcing three new integrations aimed at helping campus, branch, and data center customers more easily secure, automate, and manage their connections to the cloud giant’s services.

AWS, Verizon Launch 5G Partnership at re:Invent

LAS VEGAS — Amazon Web Services and Verizon formed a 5G partnership that will embed AWS compute and storage at the edge of Verizon’s mobile networks. It will use AWS’ new edge computing service called Wavelength to allow developers to deploy ultra-low latency applications to mobile devices using 5G networks.

Deutsche Telekom Embarks on Edge Computing for IoT

T-Systems, a subsidiary of global operator Deutsche Telekom, unveiled an edge computing platform that delivers low latency for IoT applications in enterprise facilities. The EdgAir platform is designed to operate like a private cloud to ensure security and transmit data in less than 10 milliseconds, according to the IT services and consulting company.

Juniper SD-WAN Now Handles SD-LAN

Juniper Networks expanded its SD-WAN management console to now include its SD-LAN service that provides enterprises with a simplified approach to managing their SD-branch deployments. The vendor also launched a trio of new SD-branch devices targeted at the enterprise space.

Swisscom, Telstra use spectrum sharing for transglobal 5G call

Swiss operator Swisscom teamed with Telstra in Australia to demonstrate that it is possible to make a 5G data call using Ericsson’s dynamic spectrum sharing technology. Spectrum sharing allows operators to allocate some of their existing 4G LTE spectrum to 5G using existing radios (as long as they are 5G NR-capable).

GSMA revamps eSIM standard to appease DoJ anti-collusion probe

The U.S. Department of Justice Department Anti-Trust Division said it will drop its nearly two-year anti-collusion investigation of the GSMA and its mobile operator members —specifically AT&T and Verizon — over eSIM technology. The dismissal comes after the GSMA agreed to draft a new procedure that will give non-operator members more say in the eSIM process and make it easier for consumers to switch operators.

Sunday, December 01, 2019

Telefónica Reorients Around Tech, Waiting on 5G

Telefónica, like most operators, is facing a new era of rampant technological change and disruption that is forcing the company to make daring decisions about its path forward, said José María Álvarez-Pallete, chairman and CEO of Telefónica, during a press conference last week.

T-Mobile Leapfrogs Competitors With ‘Nationwide’ 5G

T-Mobile US once again beat its self-imposed deadline to activate nationwide 5G service. The operator, which has been battling for almost 20 months to merge with Sprint, says its 5G network running on 600 MHz spectrum is now live in more than 5,000 cities and towns.

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Friday, November 29, 2019

5G Is No Panacea for IoT

IoT has been a long time coming and the waiting game continues under 5G. Network operators, vendors, and device makers have been forcefully targeting the opportunity to connect anything anywhere for at least 15 years.

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