Netskope CEO: Don’t Fall for SASE Washing

Riding high on his company’s new $340 million investment, which puts Netskope at a nearly $3 billion valuation, CEO Sanjay Beri says the rest of the industry is finally coming around to his vision of cloud-delivered security. Eight years later, this vision that Beri drew on a napkin in 2012 has a name, and its name is SASE.

Money Moves: January 2020

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).

Headcount: Firings, Hirings, and Retirings — January 2020, Pt. 2

January was a big month for firings, hirings, and retirings. Thus we have broken up our monthly Headcount column into two parts to make it easier to digest. Here is Pt. 2 of the latest executive hirings, promotions, and staff changes that happened in January. You can check out Pt. 1 here. 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).

Mayors suing the FCC call its small cell rules a ‘land-grab’

Some mayors and other community leaders around the country are pretty steamed about the FCC’s new rules regarding small cells, and they’ll be making oral arguments in their lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) next week.

Verizon sticks behind ambiguous 2020 DSS rollout plan

While T-Mobile’s President of Technology Neville Ray threw water on Verizon’s dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) plans on Thursday, Verizon said it’s sticking by its prior public commitments.  

AT&T’s Stephenson weighs in on Huawei situation

U.S. Attorney General William Barr said yesterday the U.S. should be “actively considering” investments into Nokia or Ericsson to compete against Huawei in developing 5G technologies. 

Vodafone Ireland launches managed SD-WAN service

Vodafone Ireland has launched a new SD-WAN service, and announced an SD-WAN customer win with airline Ryanair. The operator didn't say which SD-WAN vendor it was using for its new managed service offering, but it has previously deployed Cisco's Viptela SD-WAN offering.

Orange pledges $1.6B to retrain employees worldwide

France-based Orange is forking out $1.6 billion to retrain some of its 148,000-employee worldwide workforce in the face of increased automation.

GSMA holds firm but this weekend could be carnage for MWC

Companies from all corners of the telecoms ecosystem will be having emergency meetings over the next few days to decide whether or not to pull out of the big show of the year.

Ericsson drops out of MWC over coronavirus, Nokia weighs plans

Ericsson has pulled out of MWC 2020 in Barcelona over health concerns from the novel coronavirus, while fellow telecom equipment giant Nokia seems to be weighing its own plans for the event.

Fortinet hooks SD-WAN deal with colocation giant Equinix

SD-WAN and firewall vendor Fortinet has landed an SD-WAN deal with colocation giant Equinix. In order to better serve enterprise customers, Fortinet has paired its Fortinet Secure SD-WAN with Equinix's Network Edge marketplace.

Carriers support Pai’s C-band plan as backlash commences

Executives from Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile stated their support for Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai’s proposal to get C-band spectrum cleared and available for a public auction, a plan that immediately saw backlash from some senators and public interest groups.

Trump throws his toys out of the pram over UK Huawei decision

US President Donald Trump reportedly gave UK PM Boris Johnson a major ear-bashing over the phone following the UK’s decision to allow Huawei in parts of its 5G networks.

US attempt to grab mid-band spectrum for 5G gets messy

The US telecoms regulator wants satellite companies to hand over 300 MHz of C-band spectrum, but the question of how compensation remains unresolved.

Major blow to MWC as Ericsson pulls out due to coronavirus

One of the biggest exhibitors at Mobile World Congress 2020 has decided the risk posed by the corona virus outbreak is too great.

Major blow to MWC as Ericsson pulls out due to corona virus

One of the biggest exhibitors at Mobile World Congress 2020 has decided the risk posed by the corona virus outbreak is too great.

T-Mobile’s Ray says ‘tough year’ ahead for DSS

T-Mobile’s president of technology indicated this year might not be so shiny for much anticipated dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) technology, citing vendor delays and technical challenges.

T-Mobile Disses DSS as Capacity Hog

T-Mobile US swiftly dismissed the capabilities of dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) during its earnings call yesterday, describing the technology as late, unnecessary for its current network deployments, and a drain on capacity.

Japan Government to Help Fund Subsea Cable Projects to Counter China

Japan is finalizing an action plan to support submarine cable projects, with the likes of NEC, NTT Communications and KDDI in line to benefit.

Daily Roundup: T-Mobile Disses DSS

In case you’ve been stuck in meetings all day, here are today’s top stories from SDxCentral. Also, make sure to subscribe to our daily newsletter to get these stories in your inbox.

AT&T Cites CNTT Progress on Road to SDN

AT&T highlighted ongoing progress on the Common NFVi Telco Taskforce (CNTT) that is looking to define and create virtual network function (VNF) reference architectures for NFV infrastructure (NFVi) to support carrier SDN deployments.

South Korean Operators Tout Skyrocketing 5G Subscriptions

South Korea’s mobile network operators — SK Telecom, KT Corp., and LG Uplus — proved once again that they are leading the advancement of 5G on multiple fronts. The trio of carriers reported earnings this week and shared some details about their 5G deployments, including adoption rates and new services coming to the fore.

South Korean Telcos Still Waiting for 5G Benefits

KT and SKT have witnessed declines in profitability after pumping money into their new 5G businesses this year.

Ericsson's MWC Decision Will Likely Start Domino Effect

As companies wait to see what others are doing before deciding whether to still attend MWC 2020, Ericsson's bold decision to withdraw looks like it will tip many towards following suit.

Eurobites: Trump Blows His Top at Boris Over Huawei – Report

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Deutsche Telekom tells Nokia to shape up; Orange to spend €1.5 billion on retraining exercise; Cellnex boosts coverage at Etihad Stadium.

Meet My Small Cell

Small cells are rolling out in neighborhoods all over the US. I decided to go find mine.

Local Officials Take on the Feds in Battle Over 5G Small Cells

Dozens of cities and city representatives are challenging FCC regulations intended to speed up the rollout of small cells for 5G. They argue such rules are unfair to taxpayers.

MWC at Risk as Ericsson Pulls Out on Coronavirus Concern

Swedish equipment maker said it would not be able to ensure the health and safety of its employees and customers.

Headcount: Firings, Hirings, and Retirings — January 2020, Pt. 1

January was a big month for firings, hirings, and retirings. Thus we have broken up our monthly Headcount column into two parts to make it easier to digest. Here is Pt. 1 of the latest executive hirings, promotions, and staff changes that happened in January. And check back tomorrow for Pt. 2. 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).

WiCipedia: Women in Tech Turn to TikTok to Expose Industry

This week in our WiC roundup: When women don't apply to jobs; the new social media scene spreading the tech word (for better or for worse); the skills women need to get hired; and more.

Pai proposes $9.7B in accelerated payments for C-band move

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai on Thursday revealed some details about his plan for opening up the C-band for terrestrial 5G, and that includes a proposed $9.7 billion in accelerated relocation payments for satellite operators to make room for 5G.

AT&T turns on more low-band 5G, as device sales inch forward

AT&T has expanded its low-band 5G service to more than a dozen additional cities, as the carrier aims to deliver nationwide coverage in the second quarter.

Nokia reports on ‘challenging’ 2019, puts 2020 focus on 5G chips

Rajeev Suri, Nokia’s president and CEO, said Nokia’s fourth quarter 2019 results were a strong end to “a challenging year.” For its Q4 2019 the company posted a profit of $618 million, up from $223 million in Q4 2018. Today, the company’s stock is trading at about $4, compared to a year ago when it was trading at about $6.15.

The EU starts hassling US tech companies again

Facebook and Qualcomm look set for another round of scrutiny from the European Commission around their business practices.

Twitter surges back after positive financial results

Three months ago the Twitter share price fell off a cliff thanks to a worrisome earnings call, but bad performance does not necessarily mean a bad company.

CenturyLink wins contracts from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

CenturyLink is pushing fiber to dams in Oregon and Washington to help the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers modernize its infrastructure.

Qualcomm cites coronavirus uncertainty, lowers guidance

During a conference call Wednesday that was mostly about Qualcomm’s success in 5G, the company said it was reducing the low end of its guidance for its second fiscal quarter due to “significant uncertainty” around the impact from the coronavirus on handset demand and supply chain.

Huawei sues Verizon in Texas for patent infringement

Huawei is not making any new friends in Washington, D.C., by filing two patent infringement lawsuits against Verizon. Verizon responded to the two lawsuits by calling them a publicity stunt and "a sneak attack on our company and our nation."

Extended reality emerges as hot focus for 5G

5G is a topic of considerable debate, with opinion polarized between the transformative impact it will have on devices, people, society and the economy, and a technology whose potential some people insist is vastly exaggerated. This is common with any new technology, but history shows that with the necessary tools in place, the market innovates and change becomes inevitable.

The death of Vodafone Idea starting to become a real prospect

Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read has reiterated his vow that no fresh funds would be injected into the Indian joint venture with Idea Cellular, painting a dreary picture for competition in the market.

Nokia finishes the year on a relative high

Finnish kit vendor Nokia banked a bit more profit than expected in Q4 2019, to finish a tough year on a slightly positive note.

Huawei hits out at Verizon with Texas patent lawsuit

Huawei has announced it has filed a patent lawsuit against Verizon with the District Courts of both East and Western Texas districts, covering several applications in its fixed line business unit.

Fortinet Caps Big Q4 With Equinix SD-WAN Deal, Small Hardware

Fortinet had a busy day, announcing a partnership with colocation provider Equinix, launching its smallest SD-WAN appliance yet, and reporting robust fourth quarter operating results.

Nokia Earnings Flatline on 5G Challenges

Nokia reached some semblance of stability during the final months of 2019 after suffering challenges related to costs and heightened competition amid the first wave of 5G deployments.

Telefónica, Deutsche Telekom, Others Put $13M Into Blockchain Startup Clear

The venture money for Israel-based startup Clear underscores not only the opportunity surrounding blockchain in the telecom space but also operators' interest in the technology.

Huawei Cops to Video Surveillance Chip Backdoor

Huawei today acknowledged a vulnerability affecting devices using its HiSilicon-branded video surveillance chips that could allow an attacker backdoor access.

Verizon Calls Huawei Lawsuit ‘PR Stunt,’ ‘Sneak Attack’

Huawei today filed a lawsuit against Verizon that accuses the U.S. carrier of illegally using 12 Huawei patents in its networks.

fuboTV Takes Flight With Viasat

fuboTV is the first virtual MVPD to lock in a distribution deal for in-flight services and tap into new open caching specs developed by the Streaming Video Alliance.

T-Mobile US Surges as Sprint Deal Stews

T-Mobile US formally closed its seventh quarter of business since it announced plans to acquire Sprint for $26.5 billion, and the result still lingers. Irrespective of the merger’s outcome, which awaits a federal judge’s decision and approval by the California Public Utilities Commission, the final quarter of 2019 was arguably its most consequential yet.

T-Mobile to Expand 5G Footprint in 2020

But execs don't have much new to say about the proposed Sprint merger.

Attorney General Barr: The US, Allies Should Take Nokia or Ericsson Stake for 5G

White House officials have reportedly discussed incentives for US private equity firms to buy stakes in Ericsson or Nokia for 5G. But there appears to be discord among Trump's appointees.

Satellite Firms Unimpressed With Pai's $9.7B Pitch for C-Band Spectrum

Several Canadian and European satellite companies aren't yet sure if they want to accept $9.7 billion to quickly free up valuable midband spectrum for 5G.

Cisco Likes Facebook’s WiFi Partner Program

Cisco joined Facebook’s Express Wi-Fi Technology Partner Program, which aims to deliver internet access to underserved areas, and said it will build network hardware and software that is compatible with Express Wi-Fi as part of this effort to bring more people online.

Daily Roundup: Nokia Earnings Flatline

In case you’ve been stuck in meetings all day, here are today’s top stories from SDxCentral. Also, make sure to subscribe to our daily newsletter to get these stories in your inbox.

Taking the Operators' Pulse on SD-WANs: Visibility, Security & Simplicity

Light Reading/Heavy Reading and MEF have teamed up once again to launch a global SD-WAN Strategies Survey focused specifically on the opportunities for managed SD-WAN services offered by network operators to enterprise customers.

KT's 5G Splurge Hits Profits in 2019

Results for 2019 show impact of South Korean telco's commitment to 5G, as the number of its 5G subscribers reaches 1.4 million.

Nokia Sees Light at End of 5G Tunnel

The Finnish equipment maker hailed good progress on cost cutting and is slowly building up its stock of more profitable 5G products.

Eurobites: EU Gets Its Claws Into Qualcomm (Again)

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Orange challenges boldly in Belgium; Swisscom's uphill struggle; Deutsche Telekom's love pants.

Taking the Operators' Pulse on SD-WANs: Visibility, Security & Complexity

Light Reading/Heavy Reading and MEF have teamed up once again to launch a global SD-WAN Strategies Survey focused specifically on the opportunities for managed SD-WAN services offered by network operators to enterprise customers.

MWC2020: All Roads Lead to Cloud Gaming

George Jijiashvili, senior analyst at Omdia, explains why cloud gaming and esports will be hot topics in Barcelona.

Podcast: Windstream's Managed Services Moves

This podcast examines how service providers are revamping their managed services and how Windstream is evolving from a traditional telco to a true managed services provider.

Huawei Back in Court With Patent Suit Against Verizon

The Chinese vendor has gone on the attack against Verizon, claiming the US service provider violated its intellectual property.

LG ditches and ZTE scales back on MWC due to coronavirus

The World Health Organisation declaring the coronavirus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern raises serious concerns about impact will this have on Mobile World Congress.

Amid Layoffs, Xilinx Warns of Pause in 5G Activities

Xilinx sells chips for 5G base stations, and had grand ambitions for its sales in the space. But last week the company announced layoffs and a "pause" in 5G buildouts.

Vodafone Ditches Huawei's Core Products in Europe at €200M Cost

Service provider took the decision to replace the Chinese vendor after regulators warned operators off using 'high-risk vendors' in sensitive parts of the network.

World Bank continues mission to make Africa more investable

The World Bank has selected Progressus to head-up the second phase of its ambitious African Regulatory Watch Initiative (RWI).

Vodafone claims dynamic spectrum sharing first

The point of DSS is to allow smooth transitioning between 4G and 5G by allowing them to share the same spectrum, dynamically.

UK AI watchdog reckons social media firms should be more transparent

The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation says there is strong public support for greater regulation of online platforms, but then it would.

Who Won the Q4 Cloud Wars?

Amazon remained far and away the winner of the cloud wars in the fourth quarter of 2019, but Microsoft continued to narrow the gap as it guns for the No. 1 cloud market share position.

A 6G Arms Race May Define the 2020s

With the telecom industry facing balkanization, the development of a global 6G standard might never happen.

Cisco Routers Power Telia Carrier 400GbE Network

Sweden-based Telia Carrier launched a 400 gigabit Ethernet (GbE)-ready network that is based on Cisco’s cloud-scale routing platform. The network powers Telia’s global backbone network that reaches 120 countries.

Verizon, T-Mobile ratchet network feud

For all their back and forth about who’s got the better network, Verizon and T-Mobile each received some good news and bad news via the Ookla Speedtest data over the weekend.

The US election will test social media censorship to breaking point

Electoral losers are increasingly blaming social media for their failure, but this year will demonstrate that censorship is not the answer.

Report: Cable's virtualization drives down hardware revenue

The cable industry's move to virtualization is driving down traditional hardware revenue at a faster clip, according to a report by Dell'Oro Group.

Three UK in a spot of bother as senior execs head for the exit

With Three’s big bet on Huawei proving to be somewhat of a disaster, two senior technologists are heading towards the exit.

Charter’s mobile service crosses 1M subscriber mark

Charter Communications said that its mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) service reached a total of 1.1 million mobile lines as of December 31, 2019. Charter added 288,000 Spectrum Mobile lines in the fourth quarter, with 948,000 mobile lines added in the full year 2019.

Former Worldcom CEO Ebbers dies at 78

After an early release from prison last month due to his declining health, former WorldCom CEO and president Bernie Ebbers passed away Sunday.

Carriers broke law disclosing customer location data, FCC says

More than a year after investigative news reports revealed that wireless customers’ real-time location data was being sold to third-party aggregators, the FCC has concluded that at least one unnamed carrier broke the law, and the agency intends to take enforcement action.

Peraso touts integrated antenna for 60 GHz fixed wireless

Peraso Technologies today announced its new PER-PAx patented series of phased array antenna solutions that complement the company’s 802.11ad chipsets.

Cyber-physical fusion, satellites, and the 6G promise

Japanese operators are lagging their counterparts in the U.S. and South Korea in deploying 5G, but when it comes to 6G, they are aiming to take the lead.

Verizon Super Bowl ad called out for hypocrisy

The purpose of Verizon’s ad at this year’s Super Bowl is not entirely clear, but the stick it has taken is very obvious, especially following the California wildfires blunder.

Loads of Brits plan to buy 5G phones but they’re not sure why – Amdocs

New research from telecoms software vendor Amdocs found 35% of UK plan to buy a 5G phone this year, but that most of them don’t really know why it’s better than 4G.

UK telcos are potentially helpless in the European roaming debate

Brexit is now a reality for the UK, and despite the telcos asserting their commitments to the roaming status quo, the financial burdens could become too great to swallow.

Nokia raises its OSS game

In the build up to MWC 2020 Nokia has got one of its announcements in early, in the form of the ‘cloud-native’ Network Operations Master software.

Italian telcos fined for pricing collusion

Telecom Italia, Fastweb, Vodafone and Wind Tre have been fined a total of €228 million after an investigation found the four telcos had co-ordinated price hikes for consumers in 2017.

US telcos in line for fine over non-consensual location data sales

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has written to member of Congress following the conclusion of a geo-location investigation. The result; the telcos have been breaking the law.

The Essential Omnichannel

It’s not front page news; omnichannel has been revered by the retail industry as the game-changing process that will move your business from being an option to being the only option.

Viasat: Connecting Rural America

According to a recent report from the FCC, Nearly fifteen million people in rural America don’t have access to high-speed internet. For these people, the ease of access that most of us enjoy—access to things like online shopping, news, weather, and life-enhancing services like distance learning and virtual doctor visits—is all but unavailable. Viasat, a provider of satellite-based, high-speed broadband services, uses its innovative technology to connect rural communities that the big telecommunications companies have forgotten.

Intel Ditches Nervana, High on Habana

Like a kid that just got a new toy, Intel has cast aside its line of Nervana neural networking processors (NNP) in favor of the shiny new ones from recently acquired Habana Labs.

Google Cloud Run Rate Hits $10 Billion

In a surprise move Alphabet reported Google Cloud revenue for the first time as part of its fourth quarter 2019 earnings release today.

HPE Buys Scytale, Embraces Open Source Security

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) today said it acquired cloud security startup Scytale for an undisclosed amount. The deal will boost HPE’s identity management technology as well as its credibility within the open source community.

Daily Roundup: NSA Ranks Cloud Security Risks

In case you’ve been stuck in meetings all day, here are today’s top stories from SDxCentral. Also, make sure to subscribe to our daily newsletter to get these stories in your inbox.

Nokia Claims NetOps First

Nokia today introduced a new suite of cloud-native software designed to automate mobile network operations in a 5G environment. Nokia Network Operations Master aims to alleviate technical complexities for operators with a series of new tools for troubleshooting, administration, software management, and configuration management.

Cable Access Hardware Revenues to Dip as Virtualization Takes Hold – Analyst

Sector set to see a 2% drop in revenues through 2024 amid a decline in revenues for a broader broadband access equipment market that includes DSL and FTTP, Dell'Oro predicts.

Cisco Meraki SD-WAN Sashays Into TPx Communications

TPx Communications added Cisco Meraki’s SD-WAN service to its newly launched MSx Networks managed service. The new SD-WAN offering is targeted at helping customers deploy and secure their local and wireless networks while connecting their branch offices.

Oracle Cloud Expansion Gusts Into 5 New Regions

Oracle’s Generation 2 Cloud expanded into five new regions including Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Melbourne, Australia; Osaka, Japan; Montreal; and Amsterdam.

Verizon, T-Mobile Butt Heads at Super Bowl

Verizon and T-Mobile took their 5G squabble to the Super Bowl this weekend, with each attempting to out-snark the other.

Vodafone Boasts Dynamic 5G Breakthrough

Operator says it has successfully tested dynamic spectrum sharing, a technique that can help bring 5G services to market quicker through improved coverage.

US Wireless Carriers Violated Federal Law in Sale of Location Data, FCC Says

The FCC has concluded its investigation into US wireless carriers' sale of their customers' location data, and found that 'one or more wireless carriers apparently violated federal law.'

CuriosityStream CEO: We're 'Insulated' From Studio Content Claw-Back

Streaming service focused on factual programming has more than 13 million subs, and is targeting 'hundreds of millions' as it pursues distribution deals around the globe, Clint Stinchcomb says.

Nokia Offers 5G Automation With Next Gen OSS

Finnish vendor dishes up cloud-native network operations software designed to help automate 5G network management processes.

Rural Broadband: Japan Eyes 5G, While Oz Seeks More NBN Cash

Asian governments are plotting different paths to solve the problem of rural broadband funding.

Tele2 Targets Further Cuts as Sales Remain Flat

Swedish operator plans another $100 million in cost reductions and says it will remove legacy IT systems and 'double functions' after its Com Hem takeover.

Ex-WorldCom Boss Bernie Ebbers Dies

The man behind the telecom sector's biggest-ever accounting fraud died at the weekend just weeks after he was released from prison.

Eurobites: MWC Organizer Plays Down Coronavirus Threat

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Altice makes moves in Israel; Italy fines operators for billing collusion; Belgian regulator proposes temporary spectrum licenses.