Saturday, February 08, 2020

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).

Friday, February 07, 2020

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).

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.

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.

Thursday, February 06, 2020

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

Wednesday, February 05, 2020

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.

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.

Tuesday, February 04, 2020

Monday, February 03, 2020

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sunday, February 02, 2020

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.

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.

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.

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