A MEASURED APPROACH TO MAKING SD-WAN WORK MEASURABLY FOR YOU!

Managing enterprise network connectivity and circuit costs has always been a huge challenge. However, it is now possible to address this problem with an automated and, programmatic approach called SD-WAN or Software-defined Wide Area Networks. Building upon the idea of SDN, it extends software defined networking into an application that businesses can instantly use to quickly create a smart “hybrid WAN”.

Spotlight

Quality One Wireless

Quality One Wireless LLC is a global leader in wireless distribution, providing complete solutions to mobile device manufacturers, wireless operators and retailers. Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Orlando, FL, Quality One recently purchased the assets of Personal Communication Devices (PCD). The combined company operates in 26 countries globally under the Quality One brand.

OTHER ARTICLES
Network Infrastructure, Network Management

How to Increase Network Security with SD-WAN

Article | July 27, 2023

Network security today is losing the battle and a lot of it is blamed upon the traditional security devices. Imagine running next-gen IT Infrastructure secured by security tools made to secure legacy IT.Data breaches have increased substantially and IT professionals are continuously looking at new ways to improve their network security. In this scenario, SD-WAN emerges as one formidable option to implementthat will bolster your network security. Table of Contents: - What is SD-WAN? - How does SD-WAN work? - What are the main benefits of SD_WAN to network security? - What are the other advantages of SD-WAN? . Let’s dig into it. What is SD-WAN? SD-WAN stands for software-defined wide area network (or networking). A WAN is a connection between local area networks (LANs) separated by a substantial distance—anything from a few miles to thousands of miles. The term software-defined implies the WAN is programmatically configured and managed. So, it can be easily adapted quickly to meet changing needs. How does SD-WAN work? An SD-WAN connects end users to virtually any application, hosted at any location (e.g., in the public cloud or a company data center), via the best available or most feasible transport service, whether that’s an MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching), broadband, cellular or even satellite internet link. To deliver this level of flexibility and performance to users in digital workspaces, an SD-WAN utilizes a control function that continuously analyzes traffic flows across the WAN and intelligently directs traffic in accordance with current policies. Centralized control The primary means of control in an SD-WAN is centralized. It often resides in a SaaS application running on a public cloud. Control is decoupled from the hardware to simplify network management and improve the delivery of services. SD-WAN appliances (and virtual appliances) follow operational rules passed down from the central controller. This greatly reduces or eliminates the need to manage gateways and routers on an individual basis. Multi-connection, multi-transport SD-WAN gateways support hybrid WAN, which implies that each gateway can have multiple connections using different transports—MPLS, broadband Internet, LTE, etc. A virtual private network (VPN) is typically set up across each WAN connection for security. Consequently, the SD-WAN can be an overlay spanning a diverse communications infrastructure. Dynamic path selection Another feature of SD-WAN is dynamic path selection—the ability to automatically and selectively route traffic onto one WAN link or another depending on network conditions or traffic characteristics. Packets may be steered onto a particular link because another link is down or not working very well, or to balance network traffic across all available links. SD-WAN can also identify packets by application, user, source/destination, etc. and send them down one path or another based on those characteristics. Policy-based management Policy is what determines where dynamic path selection will steer traffic and what level of priority (quality of service, or QoS) it is given. Business intentions can be implemented as policies via the central management console. New and updated policies are translated into operational rules and downloaded to all SD-WAN gateways and routers under control. For example, to ensure the best performance for VoIP and interactive web conferences, a policy may be created by giving their packets transmission priority and routing them onto low-latency paths. Cost savings can be realized by sending file back-ups across a broadband Internet connection. WAN traffic that requires a high level of security can be restricted to private connections (e.g., MPLS) between sites and required to pass through a robust security stack when entering the enterprise. Service chaining SD-WAN has the ability chain itself together with other network services. WAN optimization (acceleration) is often combined with SD-WAN to improve network and application performance. Internet traffic leaving and entering a branch office may be routed across a VPN to a cloud-base security service to strike a balance between performance, security, and cost. Read more: GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR SD-WAN: FEATURES YOU NEED TO START USING TODAY What are the main benefits of SD_WAN to network security? Eliminate VPN concerns One of the first areas in which SD-WAN impacts security is when a company uses the internet as a method of transport. Before SD-WAN came along and companies were using internet as a backup or even a primary transport method, they would build a VPN or a DMVPN to ensure secure transport of their traffic. This introduces a couple of issues, the first of which is this proliferation of VPNs that has to be managed. The company must have firewalls sitting at their data center, along with a VPN device or firewall sitting in the remote locations to be able to do these VPNs. Every site is dependent on the effort to be up on the network. - Hamza Seqqat, Director of Solutions Architecture, Apcela Failover is an issue with this VPN approach, he said. Companies can’t seamlessly failover from a fiber-based type of transport without having to strike some keys in between. It's hard and expensive to do seamless failover. “Now you don't have to have firewalls for VPNs. You don't have to worry about building your own VPNs or encrypting your traffic,” Seqqat said. “Every SD-WAN product comes with a controller that takes care of things seamlessly. That means there is this smart software-defined engine that builds all these IPsec tunnels between all the locations as soon as you plug the device in. You're not actually having to build a VPN—the controller does it automatically for you, so all you have to do is give the device an IP address or enable DHCP and let it pick an IP address from the DHCP server. Suddenly it's on the network and its building tunnels to all the sites.” He added that the SD-WAN controller builds a full mesh, so it can talk to every one of the sites without having to go back to the data center. This feature alone can reduce a company’s security footprint significantly because the site-to-site traffic becomes secure, easy, and seamless. Reduce traffic going through security A second significant benefit of SD-WAN that impacts security strategy is that it reduces the amount of traffic that needs to go through security parameters because all site-to-site traffic is encrypted. This makes security a bit easier to manage.“For a lot of companies, when they do VPNs for site-to-site traffic, they have to go through firewalls or some kind of encryption mechanism, and that increases their security footprint. It increases the complexity and the cost of security,” Seqqat said. “SD-WAN changes how traffic is routed through security.” Seqqat gave an example of a site that has a gig worth of bandwidth, and out of that gig of bandwidth, some traffic goes to the internet and some goes to site-to-site. “Without SD-WAN, generally you would have to run that whole gig through a firewall, and the firewall will split the traffic into what goes to the data center and what goes to the internet,” he said. “When you do SD-WAN, you don't have to do that. You can separate the traffic at the SD-WAN with a split tunnel, so you take half of the traffic and push it through the firewall to go to the internet and the other half goes straight site-to-site without having to go through a security parameter. Now you have a firewall to handle 500 megs as opposed to a gig, and that makes a huge difference because most security products are based on throughput and utilization. So, that can bring some cost benefits and ease management as well.” Security inherent to SD-WAN A third area where SD-WAN changes security strategy is the fact that certain security features can be implemented directly through the SD-WAN platform, which reduces costs and complexity in the actual security platform. “This depends on what aspects of security you're talking about,” Seqqat said. “For example, security is included in the Silverpeak SD-WAN product, so the Silverpeak devices really do most of the security for you. You don't have to deploy another firewall on top of that. With Versa’s SD-WAN, you can virtualize the firewall, so there’s no need to deploy physical firewalls.” For sites that simply need very basic security, SD-WAN has some inherent security capabilities. It can do things such as allow and deny certain sites and limit traffic that goes to certain sites. When you look at most SD-WAN products, you can usually kind of steer toward one or another based on your security requirements. Deploying SD-WAN in itself can really eliminate the need for security at several locations or extend the security you have been using. - Hamza Seqqat, Director of Solutions Architecture, Apcela Simplify use of security platforms In his final point, Seqqat said SD-WAN providers are making a lot of progress in partnering with both cloud security providers and cloud service providers. By making traffic encrypted and secure via SD-WAN, security platforms will only have to deal with public internet traffic. “SD-WAN providers are really working towards partnering and certifying different security products,” he said. “Consider Zscaler as an example. Some SD-WAN products automatically route all your traffic through Zscalar, which does a cloud-based security parameter before it goes out to the internet or to cloud service providers.” Seqqat said the most important part comes in the fact that Zscalar is distributed across 35 or 40 data centers that are all security parameters. “Making that routing decision as to what data center your traffic goes through before it goes out to the Internet is extremely important to performance,” he said. “If your Office 365 instance is hosted in Seattle and your users in Europe are trying to reach that, which Zscalar data center the traffic is going to go through before it goes through the Seattle instance of O365 makes all the difference in what latency is going to be at round trip. “SD-WAN provides somewhat of an automation and optimization of how traffic goes through Zscalar data centers based on performance metrics. SD-WAN can pull latency and jitter and packet loss and all that kind of stuff, so there is some intelligence that happens when a routing decision is being made as to where user traffic is going to go for security scrubbing or security features before it goes out to the cloud provider or to the Internet. That’s a huge feature that comes into play whenever you deploy SD-WAN.” Read more: FOR SERVICE PROVIDERS SD-WAN IS A MIXED BLESSING What are the other advantages of SD-WAN? SD-WAN has many advantages when implemented well: More predictable and reliable application performance, which helps support users in any digital workspace, across all connections. Superior connection security for cloud applications, without the performance tradeoffs of MPLS backhauling. Congestion reduction due to lack of bandwidth or brownouts with aggregation of bandwidth via multiple bonded and disparate or redundant links. More reliable access to apps and fewer slowdowns due to congestion. Resiliency and redundancy with fast failover when outages impact WAN connections. Quality of service for prioritizing business-critical application traffic. Fast deployments that fuel business agility when bringing applications online at a branch office, or simply changing the configurations. Zero-touch provisioning allows fast set up of sites in minutes with local staff instead of hours or days. Reduced network transport costs and more flexibility through the use of MPLS-alternatives like broadband and cellular. Quick procurement of bandwidth from multiple transport services, contrast to the long lead times needed with legacy WAN carrier-based technologies. Simplified administration with a centralized console eliminates the complexity of configuring edge devices in the field. Deep SD-WAN analytics to monitor links for performance characteristics. Analytics benefit administrators who can use them when troubleshooting problems across the WAN. Simpler branch office infrastructure that doesn’t require management of as many single-function devices Intelligent traffic steering and dynamic path selection Integrated security with leading 3rd-party solutions, including those for SaaS security Conclusion Interest in SD-WAN among organizations is on the rise, and we hope to see a tremendous rise in its adoption in network security strategies over the next few years. Vendor selection will be one of the factor for successful implementation of SD-WAN, as many are quickly developing new and effective software-defined platforms. An ideal vendor would be the one who effectively addresses your specific pain points and is able to meet your current as well as future requirements. Read more: SD-WAN SECURITY: THE IMPACT OF ORCHESTRATED SERVICES MULTIPLICITY

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5G

5G Small Cells: The Future of Wireless Networks

Article | September 28, 2023

5G small cells form the backbone of the modern wireless networks. Learn more about this technology is revolutionizing 5G deployment and enabling various use cases across industries in this article. Contents 1 Introduction to 5G Small Cells for Modern Businesses 2 5G Small Cells: Overview 2.1 Characteristics of 5G Small Cells 2.2 How Small Cells Fit into 5G Architecture 3 Benefits of 5G Small Cells for Businesses 3.1 Improved Coverage and Capacity 3.2 Enhanced Network Performance 3.3 Lower Latency 3.4 Cost-effectiveness 4 Use Cases for 5G Small Cells 4.1 Urban Areas 4.2 Rural Areas 4.3 Indoor Environments 5 Conclusion 1 Introduction to 5G Small Cells for Modern Businesses Small cells are low-power radio access nodes that operate in licensed and unlicensed spectrum bands and are typically deployed in areas with high demand for wireless connectivity. They are a vital component of the 5G wireless network architecture and are designed to complement traditional cell towers, providing improved coverage, network capacity, and faster data speeds. Small cells come in several types, including femtocells, picocells, and microcells, and can be deployed according to the use case. 2 5G Small Cells: Overview 2.1 Characteristics of 5G Small Cells 5G small cells are characterized by small form factors and are designed to be compact and discreet for deployment in various settings, such as urban areas, rural areas, indoor environments, and public spaces. In addition, they consume less power than traditional cell towers, making them more energy-efficient. They also operate on high-frequency bands, which enables them to provide faster data speeds and lower latency than traditional cell towers, which makes small cells essential for 5G. The 5G small cell architecture can be deployed in dense networks, providing better coverage and capacity in areas where traditional cell towers may not be able to reach. Also, a 5G small cell antenna can be configured to provide seamless handoffs between cells, ensuring users have a consistent and uninterrupted wireless experience. These characteristics make them ideal for specific 5G use cases, which will be explored further in the article. 2.2 How Small Cells Fit into 5G Architecture Small cells and 5G evolution are closely linked, and this technology is an ideal solution for future wireless networks. They offer greater capacity, coverage, and flexibility than traditional cell towers, allowing them to meet the demands of an increasingly connected world. By operating on high-frequency bands and being deployed in dense networks, small cells in 5G can provide faster data speeds, lower latency, and better coverage than previous generations of wireless networks. Additionally, their small form factor and flexible deployment options allow for use cases like private 5G networks that revolutionize industries. 3 Benefits of 5G Small Cells for Businesses 5G networks will support a massive increase in connected devices, including smartphones, IoT sensors, and other devices. Small cells are critical for achieving the full potential of 5G networks and the exciting new applications and services they will enable. 3.1 Improved Coverage and Capacity 5G small cells offer improved coverage over traditional cell towers in certain situations, particularly in urban areas. Buildings and other obstacles interfere with wireless signals, so the connection quality decreases in areas with such infrastructure. By deploying small cells closer to users, the network can provide better coverage and capacity in these areas. Small cells can also be deployed indoors, providing better coverage and capacity in buildings and other enclosed spaces. This is important due to poor wireless range, signal interference from walls, and other obstacles. By deploying small cells indoors, the network can provide better coverage and capacity in these areas, improving the overall wireless experience for users. 3.2 Enhanced Network Performance The deployment of small cells enables network densification, which allows several devices to connect to the network simultaneously. This can help reduce network congestion and improve overall network performance, particularly in urban areas. They can also be configured to provide seamless handoffs between cells, ensuring that users have a consistent and uninterrupted wireless experience. This is important because users often move between different areas with different coverage levels and capacities, providing a streamlined experience. 3.3 Lower Latency Small cells are designed to operate on high-frequency bands, which enables them to provide faster data speeds and lower latency than prior generations of wireless networks. This is especially important for applications that require real-time communication, such as virtual reality, autonomous vehicles, and remote surgery. By providing faster data speeds and lower latency, small cells can help enhance these applications' performance, providing a better overall user experience. 3.4 Cost-effectiveness Small cells offer a cost-effective alternative to traditional cell towers, particularly in urban areas with high land and real estate costs. By mounting 5G small cell antennas on existing infrastructure, such as lampposts and buildings, deployment costs can be lowered. Additionally, small cells can be deployed in a modular fashion, allowing for targeted and cost-effective expansion based on the required coverage and capacity. This approach avoids large-scale and expensive deployments of new infrastructure. Moreover, small cells can be powered by low-cost, low-power sources like solar panels or batteries, reducing ongoing operational costs. Furthermore, small cells consume less power than traditional cell towers, resulting in lower energy costs. 4 Use Cases for 5G Small Cells 4.1 Urban Areas As discussed previously, small cell radio antennas in 5G can improve networks in dense urban environments, alleviating network congestion and improving data speeds. In addition, by deploying small cells in areas with high user demand, network operators can provide targeted coverage and capacity improvements to specific areas, ensuring that users have fast and reliable connectivity. 4.2 Rural Areas Small cells can be used to extend coverage to underserved or unserved areas by traditional cell towers. They can fill in coverage gaps, providing reliable connectivity to users in rural areas that may not have access to high-quality wireless services. This will enable use cases such as remote workforces in rural areas, smart agriculture, and distance education and training. 4.3 Indoor Environments Traditional cell towers may not be able to provide reliable connectivity indoors due to physical barriers such as thick walls and ceilings. Small cells can provide targeted coverage and capacity to specific areas, such as conference rooms or shopping malls, where users require high-quality wireless connectivity. In addition to improving range, small cells can help alleviate network congestion and improve data speeds in high-traffic indoor environments. 5 Final Thoughts Small cells are a crucial element in developing and implementing 5G technology. By leveraging a small form factor and high-frequency band usage, small cells facilitate the deployment of 5G networks in a more cost-effective and targeted manner than traditional cell towers. They support a wide range of use cases by providing reliable and high-quality wireless connectivity to a growing number of devices. They will continue to be a critical technology for businesses and organizations seeking to leverage the benefits of 5G technology.

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Network Management, Network Security

10 SD-WAN Projects to watch

Article | July 17, 2023

GlobalConnect and Versa Networks entered into a SD-WAN partnership last year. Under the terms of the collaboration, Versa’s Secure Cloud IP architecture, which is a next-generation software platform that delivers integrated cloud, networking and security services, accelerated the productivity of GlobalConnect’s 18,000sqm of data centre space and more than 42,000km of optical fibre network. “With the Versa Networks partnership, GlobalConnect aims to efficiently and securely manage more features with a higher level of flexibility,” said Sebastian Vad Lorentzen, head of SD-WAN engineering at GlobalConnect.

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HOW PRIVATE 5G NETWORKS CAN CHANGE THE WORLD

Article | June 9, 2021

In an increasingly digital world where every pillar of information is now online, lightning-fast connectivity, rock-solid reliability, and impenetrable security are transforming into essentials within the network industry. 5G transforms the connected ecosystem and pushes the boundaries of connectivity to lay the foundation of a faster, more secure, and sustainable future.

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Spotlight

Quality One Wireless

Quality One Wireless LLC is a global leader in wireless distribution, providing complete solutions to mobile device manufacturers, wireless operators and retailers. Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Orlando, FL, Quality One recently purchased the assets of Personal Communication Devices (PCD). The combined company operates in 26 countries globally under the Quality One brand.

Related News

5G

TOMIA and Cumucore Successfully Launch the First 5G SA Roaming Integration Between Two SEPP Vendors

PR Newswire | October 10, 2023

TOMIA, the market leader in roaming and interconnect monetization solutions, and Cumucore, the leading non-public network provider, announce the successful completion of the integration of their respective SEPPs (Security Edge Protection Proxy) to enable secure 5G Standalone (SA) roaming connectivity. This is the first record of successful 5G SA roaming connectivity with SEPP through different vendors. This milestone is a step forward in enabling 5G SA roaming and emerging services focused on enhanced Quality of Service (QoS) for the mobile operator community and private networks. By combining TOMIA's roaming optimization expertise and Cumucore's comprehensive connectivity solutions, this partnership presents an opportunity for the two vendors to test the functionality of the new built-in 5G security mechanisms in different roaming scenarios. TOMIA and Cumucore conducted a Proof of Concept (PoC) to validate their SEPP interoperability according to 3GPP guidelines from dedicated fully virtualized 5G packet core networks. Ilana Tidhar, TOMIA's Network Products Director, said, "Achieving the first 5G SA Roaming integration using SEPPs from different vendors leaves a significant mark in the industry. SEPP is a crucial function of 5G Roaming, not only for ensuring secure communications, but also for adding value to the roaming business. SEPP facilitates innovative use cases related to user experience, quality assurance, cost optimization, and beyond." "These successful results represent a clear benefit to our enterprise customers who seek to deploy a non-public 5G network. Mobility between public and private networks is crucial for many verticals, such as logistics and supply chains, nationally or internationally. SEPP communication is required to make it happen," commented Mika Skarp, Senior Product Manager at Cumucore. About TOMIA TOMIA creates innovative Roaming and Interconnect solutions for operators worldwide. It constantly evolves its products and integrates new technologies – such as VoLTE, 5G, IoT, BCE, A2P, and Cloud Numbers – to enable operators to embrace what's next. TOMIA forges meaningful relationships with its customers and allows them to do the same with their partners. TOMIA helps simplify increasing complexity. From agile trading solutions to automated billing and settlement, their market-leading products cover the entire wholesale agreement lifecycle. TOMIA has been partnering with hundreds of global operators for over 25 years. To learn more, visit www.tomiaglobal.com About Cumucore Cumucore specializes in developing fully virtualized non-public network core to be used in Industry 4.0 and Media verticals. It brings the best of Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Software Defined Networking (SDN) in ways that traditional vendors don't offer. Cumucore experts have spent more than a decade in mobile networks and have been working with NFV and SDN since 2013.

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5G

VIAVI Launches NITRO® Wireless, Delivering Cloud Intelligence and Automation to Accelerate 5G and 6G

PR Newswire | October 05, 2023

Viavi Solutions Inc. (VIAVI) (NASDAQ: VIAV) today announced the availability of NITRO® Wireless, a portfolio of solutions enabling all participants in the ecosystem – equipment manufacturers, service providers, semiconductor companies, software developers and system integrators – to accelerate technology development by validating performance at each stage in intelligent, intuitive and automated ways. The company will showcase NITRO Wireless at events around the globe, including Futurecom (São Paulo), FYUZ (Madrid), Network X (Paris) and India Mobile Congress (New Delhi). With 5G reaching a tipping point in terms of buildout and capabilities, leading service providers and their ecosystems are developing paths to 6G. Industrial applications such as large-scale private networks, smart cities and critical communications require higher throughput and lower latency to enable the real-time computing and communication of precise sensing, imaging and positioning data. The introduction of TeraHertz/Terabit/microsecond connectivity through the cloud, open networking in a multi-vendor environment, and AI/ML to automate network operation, all point to a fundamental re-architecting of the network, at the semiconductor, equipment, software and application levels. The resulting challenges of network performance, quality of service (QoS), security and energy consumption now need to be mitigated and simplified. NITRO Wireless brings together proven performance and interoperability test platforms used throughout the industry for 3GPP and O-RAN with cloud, intelligence, automation, and digital twin technology enabled by the Network Integrated Test, Real-Time Analytics and Optimization (NITRO) platform. As networks become more complex and layered, a focus on measuring and assuring experience from the user perspective – by emulating usage scenarios modeled on real network data – generates the essential intelligence to simplify the delivery of new technology. NITRO Wireless use cases include: RAN Intelligence - The NITRO Wireless TeraVM RIC Test trains the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) based on data from real network scenarios, the App Validation Engine (AVE) acts as an App "IQ test" to validate if the proposed changes improve RAN efficiency, and Geolocation exposes geolocated data to r/xApps including 24/7 insights on spatial distribution and mobility dynamics of subscribers. Private Network Intelligence – To support the high reliability and QoS requirements of Private Networks, NITRO Wireless offers signal analysis, timing and synchronization verification, antenna alignment, fiber certification, and coverage and performance testing from design to operation. Network Security – 5G RAN, 5G Core, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), Next Generation Firewalls, VPN and cloud security solutions all need to be compliant against the latest specifications, while ensuring network performance remains uncompromised. NITRO Wireless Open RAN Security Solution provides test coverage that includes 3GPP SCAS compliance, DoS and fuzzing attack, O-Cloud resource exhaustion, protocol validation, port scanning and open fronthaul security test. Digital Twin – Digital Twins can reduce business risk in multiple ways. Test software updates and introduce new services in a safe environment to pre-empt failures when deployed in the live network. NITRO Wireless Digital Twins combine tools such as RAN and Core emulators, assurance solutions, realistic traffic scenarios, and cyberthreats to mirror an operator's network in the lab, allowing network changes and challenges to be planned and implemented with results analyzed before action is taken on the live network. Military Communications – NITRO Wireless integration and test portfolio offers complete end-to-end and subsystem testing of 5G private military radio and core networks. These can be deployed on the ground, via HAPs or via satellite. "While 5G offers new opportunities with an exciting potential to offer connectivity and amidst the race to deploy these networks, it's vital that reliability, stability, and performance testing are done to ensure success. Network resiliency requirements, complexity and risk thresholds are introducing new dynamics," said Shamik Mishra, CTO Connectivity, Capgemini Engineering. "We are very happy to work closely with VIAVI at our '5G-Lab-As-A-Service' in Portugal and global O-RAN engagements to leverage the potential of this emerging technology and contribute to harmonize efforts for connectivity-driven transformation across the industry." "We're excited to work with VIAVI on helping move the industry forward to accelerate the adoption of Open RAN," said Lakshmi Mandyam, vice president, Service Provider Product Management and Partner Ecosystem, VMware. "Our companies share a vision of what it will take to address the challenges hindering adoption by simplifying the path for CSPs to test, profile, and certify third-party xApps and rApps through a common framework. VIAVI's leadership in Open RAN testing and VMware's leadership in RIC make this an ideal collaboration." With each generation, networks grow more layered, disaggregated and complex, said Ian Langley, Senior Vice President, Wireless Business Unit, VIAVI. NITRO Wireless cuts through the technology fog with cloud intelligence and automation based on VIAVI's trusted expertise in performance validation, so our customers can stay focused on the drivers of the top and bottom line. About VIAVI VIAVI (NASDAQ: VIAV) is a global provider of network test, monitoring and assurance solutions for telecommunications, cloud, enterprises, first responders, military, aerospace and railway. VIAVI is also a leader in light management technologies for 3D sensing, anti-counterfeiting, consumer electronics, industrial, automotive, government and aerospace applications. In 2023, we celebrate over 100 years of Network Transformation and Optical Innovation. Learn more about VIAVI at www.viavisolutions.com. Follow us on VIAVI Perspectives, LinkedIn and YouTube.

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Network Infrastructure

Arrcus Unveils Groundbreaking ACE-AI Networking Solution at MWC Las Vegas

Business Wire | October 03, 2023

Arrcus, the hyperscale networking software company and a leader in core, edge, and multi-cloud routing and switching infrastructure, is proud to introduce its trailblazing networking solution, Arrcus Connected Edge for AI (ACE-AI), designed to revolutionize the networking industry for AI/ML workloads. In the heart of today's digitally driven world, a monumental transformation is underway. Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) has emerged as a powerful force, reshaping entire industries and redefining our digital landscape. At the epicenter of this transformative wave is the exponential growth of datacenter network traffic, driven by GenAI applications. AI/ML workloads will be increasingly distributed – at the Edge, in colos, telco PoPs/datacenters and public clouds. This growth underscores the urgent need for networks to evolve to become distributed, open, lossless and predictable to cater to this revolutionary paradigm shift. "AI networking bandwidth is going to grow over 100% Y/Y in the second half of 2023 and throughout 2024 based on the remarkable growth in vendor revenue associated with AI/ML, and this class of networking bandwidth growth is nearly three times that of traditional data center networking,” said Alan Weckel, Founder and Technology Analyst at 650 Group. “We see AI/ML as a major catalyst for the growth of Data Center switching over the next five years and is likely to be distributed in nature. Arrcus' adaptable ACE-AI platform effectively addresses these demands with its open and flexible network fabric, designed to unify the distributed AI/ML workloads wherever they may reside.” Arrcus' innovative ACE-AI networking solution based on ArcOS delivers a modern, unified network fabric for optimizing GPU and other distributed compute resources with maximum performance for AI/ML workloads. Ethernet as the underlying technology is well suited to address the needs with its inherent benefits for scalability, reliability, flexibility and low latency and ACE-AI builds on Ethernet to seamlessly weave together the entire network infrastructure, spanning from the edge to core to multi-cloud, encompassing switching and routing. Communication Service Providers (CSP), Enterprises and Datacenter operators can now harness the potential of 5G and GenAI by pooling compute resources wherever they may reside across the network to drive business outcomes. “AL/ML workloads, Large Language Models (LLM) and compute-intensive applications like GenAI need to be delivered in a distributed fashion, to enable pooling of scarce, expensive compute resources as well as ensure low latency at the point of consumption,” said Shekar Ayyar, Chairman and CEO, Arrcus. “With Arrcus ACE-AI, Enterprises, CSPs and Hyperscalers now have the ability to transition from the legacy, single vendor networks, to a more modern, scalable, and software-defined network with lower TCO in support of their AI expansion plans.” For next-generation datacenters, ACE-AI enables traditional CLOS and Virtualized Distributed Routing (VDR) architectures, with massive scale and performance to provide lossless, predictable connectivity for GPU clusters with high resiliency, availability and visibility. Features like Priority Flow Control (PFC), intelligent congestion detection and buffering at ingress points to prevent packet drops, ensure lower Job Completion Times (JCT) and tail latency. In the always-on world of GenAI, network high availability is crucial and is supported with features like Hitless Upgrade, reducing software maintenance upgrade times to under 20ms. “High-performing, reliable and low-latency networks that are energy efficient are fundamental to bring the AI/ML disruption to reality. Ethernet with its standards-based approach is perfectly suited to deliver this critical connectivity to the distributed AI paradigm,” said Ram Velaga, senior vice president and general manager, Core Switching Group, Broadcom Inc. “We share Arrcus’ vision and are excited to collaborate with them to create a network fabric that is open, programmatic and first rate performance.” To leverage 5G to deliver GenAI applications at the edge, ACE-AI also benefits from innovations like SRv6 Mobile User Plane (MUP) to enable the automated delivery of network slicing simply, efficiently and cost effectively. Network visibility is paramount for GenAI workloads, and ArcIQ is a modern network visibility and analytics platform that provides networking professionals with real-time, deep views of the networks and devices with actionable insights for proactive incident management and faster troubleshooting. Open networks serve as the cornerstone of adaptability and rapid innovation, and Arrcus supports a wide range of energy conserving merchant silicon and hardware options from multiple ODMs, ranging in speeds from 1G to 400G, across shallow and deep buffer switches, granting customers unprecedented choices. "The AI revolution is underway and demanding a comprehensive reevaluation of network infrastructure development to effectively address requirements of Distributed AI," said Heimdall Siao, President of Edgecore Networks. "We are enthusiastic about our collaboration with Arrcus to build the next-generation infrastructure combining Edgecore's Open Networking platform with Arrcus versatile ACE AI solution." “To adequately address high performance, low latency needs of applications like GenAI, combined with 5G transport it is critical to transition from legacy networking to an open, disaggregated stack that leverages hardware platforms built on the latest merchant silicon combined with scalable, programmable networking stack,” said Vincent Ho, CEO of UfiSpace. “UfiSpace and Arrcus deliver a highly innovative solution to address the 5G and AI revolution.” As GenAI reshapes industries, Arrcus delivers networks to match this dynamism by providing open, lossless, predictable, and distributed networks to lay the foundation for datacenters to flourish in this transformative era. About Arrcus Arrcus was founded to enhance business efficiency through superior network connectivity. The Arrcus Connected Edge (ACE) platform offers best-in-class networking with the most flexible consumption model at the lowest total cost of ownership. The Arrcus team consists of world-class technologists who have an unparalleled record in shipping industry-leading networking products, complemented by industry thought leaders, operating executives, strategic partners and top-tier VCs. The company is headquartered in San Jose, California with offices in Bangalore, India, and Tokyo, Japan. For more information, go to www.arrcus.com or follow @arrcusinc.

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5G

TOMIA and Cumucore Successfully Launch the First 5G SA Roaming Integration Between Two SEPP Vendors

PR Newswire | October 10, 2023

TOMIA, the market leader in roaming and interconnect monetization solutions, and Cumucore, the leading non-public network provider, announce the successful completion of the integration of their respective SEPPs (Security Edge Protection Proxy) to enable secure 5G Standalone (SA) roaming connectivity. This is the first record of successful 5G SA roaming connectivity with SEPP through different vendors. This milestone is a step forward in enabling 5G SA roaming and emerging services focused on enhanced Quality of Service (QoS) for the mobile operator community and private networks. By combining TOMIA's roaming optimization expertise and Cumucore's comprehensive connectivity solutions, this partnership presents an opportunity for the two vendors to test the functionality of the new built-in 5G security mechanisms in different roaming scenarios. TOMIA and Cumucore conducted a Proof of Concept (PoC) to validate their SEPP interoperability according to 3GPP guidelines from dedicated fully virtualized 5G packet core networks. Ilana Tidhar, TOMIA's Network Products Director, said, "Achieving the first 5G SA Roaming integration using SEPPs from different vendors leaves a significant mark in the industry. SEPP is a crucial function of 5G Roaming, not only for ensuring secure communications, but also for adding value to the roaming business. SEPP facilitates innovative use cases related to user experience, quality assurance, cost optimization, and beyond." "These successful results represent a clear benefit to our enterprise customers who seek to deploy a non-public 5G network. Mobility between public and private networks is crucial for many verticals, such as logistics and supply chains, nationally or internationally. SEPP communication is required to make it happen," commented Mika Skarp, Senior Product Manager at Cumucore. About TOMIA TOMIA creates innovative Roaming and Interconnect solutions for operators worldwide. It constantly evolves its products and integrates new technologies – such as VoLTE, 5G, IoT, BCE, A2P, and Cloud Numbers – to enable operators to embrace what's next. TOMIA forges meaningful relationships with its customers and allows them to do the same with their partners. TOMIA helps simplify increasing complexity. From agile trading solutions to automated billing and settlement, their market-leading products cover the entire wholesale agreement lifecycle. TOMIA has been partnering with hundreds of global operators for over 25 years. To learn more, visit www.tomiaglobal.com About Cumucore Cumucore specializes in developing fully virtualized non-public network core to be used in Industry 4.0 and Media verticals. It brings the best of Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Software Defined Networking (SDN) in ways that traditional vendors don't offer. Cumucore experts have spent more than a decade in mobile networks and have been working with NFV and SDN since 2013.

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5G

VIAVI Launches NITRO® Wireless, Delivering Cloud Intelligence and Automation to Accelerate 5G and 6G

PR Newswire | October 05, 2023

Viavi Solutions Inc. (VIAVI) (NASDAQ: VIAV) today announced the availability of NITRO® Wireless, a portfolio of solutions enabling all participants in the ecosystem – equipment manufacturers, service providers, semiconductor companies, software developers and system integrators – to accelerate technology development by validating performance at each stage in intelligent, intuitive and automated ways. The company will showcase NITRO Wireless at events around the globe, including Futurecom (São Paulo), FYUZ (Madrid), Network X (Paris) and India Mobile Congress (New Delhi). With 5G reaching a tipping point in terms of buildout and capabilities, leading service providers and their ecosystems are developing paths to 6G. Industrial applications such as large-scale private networks, smart cities and critical communications require higher throughput and lower latency to enable the real-time computing and communication of precise sensing, imaging and positioning data. The introduction of TeraHertz/Terabit/microsecond connectivity through the cloud, open networking in a multi-vendor environment, and AI/ML to automate network operation, all point to a fundamental re-architecting of the network, at the semiconductor, equipment, software and application levels. The resulting challenges of network performance, quality of service (QoS), security and energy consumption now need to be mitigated and simplified. NITRO Wireless brings together proven performance and interoperability test platforms used throughout the industry for 3GPP and O-RAN with cloud, intelligence, automation, and digital twin technology enabled by the Network Integrated Test, Real-Time Analytics and Optimization (NITRO) platform. As networks become more complex and layered, a focus on measuring and assuring experience from the user perspective – by emulating usage scenarios modeled on real network data – generates the essential intelligence to simplify the delivery of new technology. NITRO Wireless use cases include: RAN Intelligence - The NITRO Wireless TeraVM RIC Test trains the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) based on data from real network scenarios, the App Validation Engine (AVE) acts as an App "IQ test" to validate if the proposed changes improve RAN efficiency, and Geolocation exposes geolocated data to r/xApps including 24/7 insights on spatial distribution and mobility dynamics of subscribers. Private Network Intelligence – To support the high reliability and QoS requirements of Private Networks, NITRO Wireless offers signal analysis, timing and synchronization verification, antenna alignment, fiber certification, and coverage and performance testing from design to operation. Network Security – 5G RAN, 5G Core, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), Next Generation Firewalls, VPN and cloud security solutions all need to be compliant against the latest specifications, while ensuring network performance remains uncompromised. NITRO Wireless Open RAN Security Solution provides test coverage that includes 3GPP SCAS compliance, DoS and fuzzing attack, O-Cloud resource exhaustion, protocol validation, port scanning and open fronthaul security test. Digital Twin – Digital Twins can reduce business risk in multiple ways. Test software updates and introduce new services in a safe environment to pre-empt failures when deployed in the live network. NITRO Wireless Digital Twins combine tools such as RAN and Core emulators, assurance solutions, realistic traffic scenarios, and cyberthreats to mirror an operator's network in the lab, allowing network changes and challenges to be planned and implemented with results analyzed before action is taken on the live network. Military Communications – NITRO Wireless integration and test portfolio offers complete end-to-end and subsystem testing of 5G private military radio and core networks. These can be deployed on the ground, via HAPs or via satellite. "While 5G offers new opportunities with an exciting potential to offer connectivity and amidst the race to deploy these networks, it's vital that reliability, stability, and performance testing are done to ensure success. Network resiliency requirements, complexity and risk thresholds are introducing new dynamics," said Shamik Mishra, CTO Connectivity, Capgemini Engineering. "We are very happy to work closely with VIAVI at our '5G-Lab-As-A-Service' in Portugal and global O-RAN engagements to leverage the potential of this emerging technology and contribute to harmonize efforts for connectivity-driven transformation across the industry." "We're excited to work with VIAVI on helping move the industry forward to accelerate the adoption of Open RAN," said Lakshmi Mandyam, vice president, Service Provider Product Management and Partner Ecosystem, VMware. "Our companies share a vision of what it will take to address the challenges hindering adoption by simplifying the path for CSPs to test, profile, and certify third-party xApps and rApps through a common framework. VIAVI's leadership in Open RAN testing and VMware's leadership in RIC make this an ideal collaboration." With each generation, networks grow more layered, disaggregated and complex, said Ian Langley, Senior Vice President, Wireless Business Unit, VIAVI. NITRO Wireless cuts through the technology fog with cloud intelligence and automation based on VIAVI's trusted expertise in performance validation, so our customers can stay focused on the drivers of the top and bottom line. About VIAVI VIAVI (NASDAQ: VIAV) is a global provider of network test, monitoring and assurance solutions for telecommunications, cloud, enterprises, first responders, military, aerospace and railway. VIAVI is also a leader in light management technologies for 3D sensing, anti-counterfeiting, consumer electronics, industrial, automotive, government and aerospace applications. In 2023, we celebrate over 100 years of Network Transformation and Optical Innovation. Learn more about VIAVI at www.viavisolutions.com. Follow us on VIAVI Perspectives, LinkedIn and YouTube.

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Network Infrastructure

Arrcus Unveils Groundbreaking ACE-AI Networking Solution at MWC Las Vegas

Business Wire | October 03, 2023

Arrcus, the hyperscale networking software company and a leader in core, edge, and multi-cloud routing and switching infrastructure, is proud to introduce its trailblazing networking solution, Arrcus Connected Edge for AI (ACE-AI), designed to revolutionize the networking industry for AI/ML workloads. In the heart of today's digitally driven world, a monumental transformation is underway. Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) has emerged as a powerful force, reshaping entire industries and redefining our digital landscape. At the epicenter of this transformative wave is the exponential growth of datacenter network traffic, driven by GenAI applications. AI/ML workloads will be increasingly distributed – at the Edge, in colos, telco PoPs/datacenters and public clouds. This growth underscores the urgent need for networks to evolve to become distributed, open, lossless and predictable to cater to this revolutionary paradigm shift. "AI networking bandwidth is going to grow over 100% Y/Y in the second half of 2023 and throughout 2024 based on the remarkable growth in vendor revenue associated with AI/ML, and this class of networking bandwidth growth is nearly three times that of traditional data center networking,” said Alan Weckel, Founder and Technology Analyst at 650 Group. “We see AI/ML as a major catalyst for the growth of Data Center switching over the next five years and is likely to be distributed in nature. Arrcus' adaptable ACE-AI platform effectively addresses these demands with its open and flexible network fabric, designed to unify the distributed AI/ML workloads wherever they may reside.” Arrcus' innovative ACE-AI networking solution based on ArcOS delivers a modern, unified network fabric for optimizing GPU and other distributed compute resources with maximum performance for AI/ML workloads. Ethernet as the underlying technology is well suited to address the needs with its inherent benefits for scalability, reliability, flexibility and low latency and ACE-AI builds on Ethernet to seamlessly weave together the entire network infrastructure, spanning from the edge to core to multi-cloud, encompassing switching and routing. Communication Service Providers (CSP), Enterprises and Datacenter operators can now harness the potential of 5G and GenAI by pooling compute resources wherever they may reside across the network to drive business outcomes. “AL/ML workloads, Large Language Models (LLM) and compute-intensive applications like GenAI need to be delivered in a distributed fashion, to enable pooling of scarce, expensive compute resources as well as ensure low latency at the point of consumption,” said Shekar Ayyar, Chairman and CEO, Arrcus. “With Arrcus ACE-AI, Enterprises, CSPs and Hyperscalers now have the ability to transition from the legacy, single vendor networks, to a more modern, scalable, and software-defined network with lower TCO in support of their AI expansion plans.” For next-generation datacenters, ACE-AI enables traditional CLOS and Virtualized Distributed Routing (VDR) architectures, with massive scale and performance to provide lossless, predictable connectivity for GPU clusters with high resiliency, availability and visibility. Features like Priority Flow Control (PFC), intelligent congestion detection and buffering at ingress points to prevent packet drops, ensure lower Job Completion Times (JCT) and tail latency. In the always-on world of GenAI, network high availability is crucial and is supported with features like Hitless Upgrade, reducing software maintenance upgrade times to under 20ms. “High-performing, reliable and low-latency networks that are energy efficient are fundamental to bring the AI/ML disruption to reality. Ethernet with its standards-based approach is perfectly suited to deliver this critical connectivity to the distributed AI paradigm,” said Ram Velaga, senior vice president and general manager, Core Switching Group, Broadcom Inc. “We share Arrcus’ vision and are excited to collaborate with them to create a network fabric that is open, programmatic and first rate performance.” To leverage 5G to deliver GenAI applications at the edge, ACE-AI also benefits from innovations like SRv6 Mobile User Plane (MUP) to enable the automated delivery of network slicing simply, efficiently and cost effectively. Network visibility is paramount for GenAI workloads, and ArcIQ is a modern network visibility and analytics platform that provides networking professionals with real-time, deep views of the networks and devices with actionable insights for proactive incident management and faster troubleshooting. Open networks serve as the cornerstone of adaptability and rapid innovation, and Arrcus supports a wide range of energy conserving merchant silicon and hardware options from multiple ODMs, ranging in speeds from 1G to 400G, across shallow and deep buffer switches, granting customers unprecedented choices. "The AI revolution is underway and demanding a comprehensive reevaluation of network infrastructure development to effectively address requirements of Distributed AI," said Heimdall Siao, President of Edgecore Networks. "We are enthusiastic about our collaboration with Arrcus to build the next-generation infrastructure combining Edgecore's Open Networking platform with Arrcus versatile ACE AI solution." “To adequately address high performance, low latency needs of applications like GenAI, combined with 5G transport it is critical to transition from legacy networking to an open, disaggregated stack that leverages hardware platforms built on the latest merchant silicon combined with scalable, programmable networking stack,” said Vincent Ho, CEO of UfiSpace. “UfiSpace and Arrcus deliver a highly innovative solution to address the 5G and AI revolution.” As GenAI reshapes industries, Arrcus delivers networks to match this dynamism by providing open, lossless, predictable, and distributed networks to lay the foundation for datacenters to flourish in this transformative era. About Arrcus Arrcus was founded to enhance business efficiency through superior network connectivity. The Arrcus Connected Edge (ACE) platform offers best-in-class networking with the most flexible consumption model at the lowest total cost of ownership. The Arrcus team consists of world-class technologists who have an unparalleled record in shipping industry-leading networking products, complemented by industry thought leaders, operating executives, strategic partners and top-tier VCs. The company is headquartered in San Jose, California with offices in Bangalore, India, and Tokyo, Japan. For more information, go to www.arrcus.com or follow @arrcusinc.

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Events