Saturday, June 05, 2021

Headcount: Firings, Hirings, and Retirings — May 2021

Here are some of the latest executive hirings, promotions, and staff changes that happened in May. 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 Dan Meyer (dmeyer@sdxcentral.com) for inclusion in the monthly headcount column.

Friday, June 04, 2021

AT&T's Elbaz says fiber deployment costs 'are getting better'

AT&T plans to boost its fiber build over the next several years. Immediately, it plans to increase its 15 million fiber customers by 3 million more customers across 90 metro areas this year. AT&T’s SVP of Wireless and Access Technology Igal Elbaz, who spoke at a UBS investor conference this morning, said, “We will continue at that pace to the point where we’re going to be able to cover 30 million customer locations by the end of 2025.”

Thursday, June 03, 2021

Cloudera Goes Private, Boosts SaaS Play

Less than three years after acquiring rival Hortonworks in a deal valued at more than $5 billion, enterprise data cloud provider Cloudera this week said it will be acquired by a pair of private investment firms for a similar amount. Cloudera also is acquiring data analytics firms Datacoral and Cazena.

Ericsson Sets RAN Disaggregation Limits

Ericsson continues to eschew the need and viability of open radio access networks. Unlike its closest competitor Nokia, which has gone so far as to call open RAN the future of the radio business, Ericsson isn’t buying it. 

Bell will use AWS Wavelength to power its 5G edge

Bell Canada will incorporate Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) Wavelength into its 5G network edge, making it the first Canadian operator to use Wavelength, which is Amazon’s cloud platform that’s designed specifically for edge computing. The Canadian service provider also said AWS is its preferred public cloud provider.

T-Mobile in ‘early innings’ of rural distribution game

T-Mobile boasts about its ambitions to cover huge portions of the U.S. with 5G, including in rural areas – which it promised to do before merging with Sprint – but it’s still in the early innings when it comes to actually reaching those areas and bringing distribution there.

Anterix adds Nokia and Motorola to private network team

Anterix has secured agreements with both Nokia and Motorola Solutions as it works to monetize its 900 MHz spectrum licenses by leasing them to utilities for private wireless networks. The company owns more 900 MHz spectrum than any other entity in the U.S., and has identified private networks for utilities as its primary business model.

Charter claims ‘fastest wireless speeds’ due to benefits of WiFi

There are several companies that conduct wireless speed tests, and the big three U.S. wireless carriers in the U.S. all claim to be “winners” in one category or another. But now, Charter Communications is jumping into the fray, claiming that its Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) service has the fastest overall speeds.

5.9 GHz fight shifts to court challenge

The 5.9 GHz band has been in the FCC’s crosshairs for years, and last fall, the agency decided to follow through with plans to allocate a portion of the band to Wi-Fi. After all, the band has laid fallow for much of the past two decades even though it was allocated for road safety.

A Remarkable Journey

In the last year, the world has developed a deeper appreciation for the importance of communications technologies. It is no secret now that we depend on our mobile devices and applications to stay connected to the world around us, but this is just the beginning. As we move into 5G, many new opportunities will arise, especially around advanced Enterprise applications. Communications service providers (CSPs), who have historically struggled to launch new services fast and competitively, have a unique opportunity to help build the digital applications of the future. By now, we know that AR/VR experiences, telemedicine services, autonomous vehicles, connected cities, and smart factories will all depend heavily on the 5G technology, and enterprises will depend heavily on CSPs to develop and deliver that technology. Being in this space for a long time, Dell Technologies is a leader in enterprise digital transformation. We understand the monetization opportunities to help our CSP customers lead in this space, and we are ready to help with their efforts to deliver on the promise of 5G.

Wednesday, June 02, 2021

SAP Packages Enterprise Services, Asserts No Cloud ‘Drama’

SAP continued its cloud push, rolling out a new enterprise initiative that provides a single portal for customers to access a basket of SAP’s services. The vendor also reiterated its cloud-neutral stance to counter the recent dissolution of a preferred cloud partnership with Microsoft.

VMware Counts 30K Security Customers

VMware increased its security customers 50% year over year and now counts almost 30,000 security customers globally, Patrick Morley, SVP and GM of VMware’s Security Business Unit, said during a keynote address at today’s VMware Security Connect event.

AT&T eyes multi-gig move as part of fiber plan

AT&T Communications CEO Jeff McElfresh highlighted the potential for the operator to boost average revenue per user (ARPU) by offering multi-gigabit capabilities on its fiber infrastructure, shedding more light on an ambitious network expansion plan.

Should Lumen pursue fiber deployments or sell mass markets biz?

Lumen is one of the last, big telco providers with legacy DSL copper plant in the United States. On earnings calls, it’s evident that Lumen is faced with a choice: either increase fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) passings to meet modern customer demand for high-speed internet; or unload its legacy DSL/fiber business, entirely.

SaaS success drives HPE growth in its fiscal Q2

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) landed back in the black in its fiscal Q2 2021 (ended April 30), with strong revenue growth driven by the company’s as-a-service offerings helping it swing to a profit from a steep loss a year ago.

Adtran helps developer enter multi-gig broadband game

Tavistock Development Company, a Florida real estate firm, is deploying Adtran’s Total Access 5000 10G fiber access platform with XGS-PON technology to provide multi-gigabit broadband services to its new Sunbridge master-planned community in Central Florida, the latest proof that the market for multi-gig broadband is broadening beyond the usual telco suspects. 

Tuesday, June 01, 2021

Cisco Hybrid-Cloud Efforts Gain Focus, Depth

Cisco continued its observability expansion this week, rolling out updates to its Intersight management tool and expanding the reach of its ThousandEyes platform. The moves target the vendor’s ongoing work in helping customers move and manage their applications in a hybrid-cloud environment.

Aruba, SASE Propel HPE Q2 Earnings

Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) Aruba intelligent edge business grew 17% year over year to $799 million during the second quarter of 2021 and provided a continued boost to the vendor’s overall earnings.

BT probes fiber’s future with hollow core trial

U.K. operator BT revealed it is trialing an advanced fiber technology that has the potential to slash latency by up to 50% compared to traditional fiber, a benefit it said could help lower mobile network costs and enable advanced used cases.

Monday, May 31, 2021

Cisco Hires Cloud-Native Veteran as First Open Source Head

Cisco recently upped its cloud-native game by hiring Stephen Augustus as its first head of open source. Augustus wants to further mix his efforts in the open source space with Cisco’s expanding push to help its customers put those open source efforts into practice.

Daily Roundup: Nutanix CEO Talks Layoffs

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

Sunday, May 30, 2021

Cato VP: Comprises Cripple SASE Competitors

Most secure access service edge (SASE) platforms available today are compromised in one way or another, Eyal Webber-Zvik, VP of product marketing at Cato, said during the company’s Global SASE Summit earlier this month.

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