Today's Top Stories AT&T continues to make progress with its hybrid cloud services strategy, one that is focused on giving customers choice by establishing partnerships with other cloud and data center providers. Speaking at the Cowen Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, Steve Caniano, vice president, Networked Cloud Solutions for AT&T, said that it will continue to offer its own cloud services and give customers the ability to access other cloud services like Salesforce. "As I mentioned in terms of the hybrid marketplace that we see evolving, we see really customers wanting choice," Caniano said, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript. "We also see customers wanting enterprise class services to be able to move more serious applications to a cloud type of model. And so, when we introduce the initial AT&T cloud offerings, we did it in what we call the network-enabled fashion, which was really tightly integrating our VPN technology and services with our cloud in a way that seamlessly created on net services we thought about that." AT&T has created a three-pronged cloud strategy: putting all new applications in the cloud; extending VPN services into the cloud; and cloud-enabling cloud services that enterprise customers use from Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) and other providers. One of the clouds it is giving its customers access to is Salesforce. A key enabler of its partnership with Salesforce and others is its NetBond technology, which dynamically allocates VPN bandwidth, allowing customers to use as much or as little as they need. Caniano said that business customers want access to a number of different cloud services, some of which AT&T today does not provide. "What we heard from customers is that that's the type of configuration that they believe they need for a multitude of clouds that they want to access today," he said. "If you look at Salesforce, for example, which is the most recent partnership that we have announced, that's a very different type of cloud than AT&T would offer, for example, in that it's a purpose built SaaS application for unique use case." Besides Salesforce, the telco also established a pact with Equinix in February. Through that partnership, AT&T can enable other cloud providers to allow access to their services via AT&T NetBond from Equinix's growing set of global data center sites. "Equinix obviously is in the data center business and has tried to create communities, one of them being a cloud type of community," Caniano said. "I think they had been relatively successful in attracting a number of cloud providers into their various facilities of all different types of clouds, for example, from infrastructure to platform to SaaS type applications. And so we see potential synergy to be able to extend the NetBond into an Equinix facility and avail the various clouds that may reside there to also potentially come on that into a NetBond ecosystem." Cloud has become a major initiative for AT&T. The company has been implementing cloud for its business consumers and for its own internal IT operations. In 2013, AT&T put nearly 20 percent of its internal apps into the cloud and over the next three to five years, it will be an entirely cloud-based enterprise. For more:
- see the transcript (sub. req.) Related articles:
AT&T, Equinix enter new cloud services pact
AT&T, Cisco, CSC face cloud trademark infringement suit from BizCloud
AT&T, CSC form cloud service alliance
AT&T's Donovan: We're probably the most aggressive cloud company in the world Read more about: Cowen Technology Media Amp Telecom Conference Steve Caniano
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Service providers may be interested in adopting software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV), but Infonetics says their cautious outlook on these technologies is driving them to be more cautious with spending capital on new routers and switches. Evidence of this trend was seen in the first quarter of 2014 where the global carrier router and switch market, including IP edge and core routers and carrier Ethernet switches (CES), totaled $3.2 billion, down 13 percent from the fourth quarter of 2013 and up just 2 percent from the first quarter of 2013. "Last quarter, we identified the 'SDN hesitation,' where we believe the enormity of the coming software-defined networking and network functions virtualization (NFV) transformation is making carriers be more cautious with their spending," said Michael Howard, principal analyst for carrier networks and co-founder of Infonetics Research. "This hesitation reared its head in the first quarter of 2014, where global service provider router and switch revenue increased only 2% from the year-ago quarter." Howard added that "the current generation of high-capacity edge and core routers can be nursed along for a while as the detailed steps of the SDN-NFV transformation are defined by each service provider--and many of the largest operators in the world are involved, including AT&T (NYSE: T), BT (NYSE: BT), Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica, NTT, China Telecom, and China Mobile." Across the board, revenue for all product segments, including IP edge and core routers and carrier Ethernet switches (CES), declined by double digits sequentially in the first quarter of 2014. The same trend took place across all of the geographic regions (NA, EMEA, APAC, CALA), which declined from the previous quarter. However, every region but North America rose year over year. From a vendor perspective, the top four router and CES vendors maintained their positions, with Cisco in the lead, but Juniper rose to second place, while Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) rose to third and Huawei dropped to fourth place. For more:
- see the release Related articles:
Juniper's Q1 revenue rises 10% to $1.17B, beats estimates
Alcatel-Lucent core networking revenues jump 6.9 percent to $1.8B on strong IP routing, transport sales
Cisco's service provider orders down 5 percent year-over-year, but Q3 revenues beat expectations Read more about: Alcatel-Lucent, NFV
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Middle mile provider Sovernet Communications is now offering customers a transport option from Boston to its existing network in in New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. Carrier customers that need long haul Ethernet transport throughout Sovernet's 4,500 fiber route footprint will be able to get access to the Boston link from the One Summer Street Point of Presence (PoP). The Boston-based fiber connection provides carrier transport to a number of other major PoPs, including 60 Hudson Street in New York and 1 Sundial in Manchester, N.H. It also has complementary access to more than 50 central offices and PoPs through its Independent Optical Networks (ION) subsidiary. This new network extension will become another transport option service providers can use as they look to either extend their transport network or get access into other metro markets to satisfy their off-net requirements for multi-site business customers. Much of this network extension was funded by grants from the federal BTOP program and the state of Vermont. In 2010 it won a $33.4 million grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. For more:
- see the release Related articles:
Middle mile provider Sovernet wins 92-site network contract from state of Vermont
ION wraps up its $50M New York state middle mile project
Independent Optical Networks lights up new opportunities
Sovernet gets grant to build Vermont-based middle mile network Read more about: Network Extension, Sovernet Communications
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Comporium, an independent telco that touts itself as a provider of a quintuple play bundle, is the latest service provider to jump into the 1 Gbps fiber to the premises (FTTP) arena by providing its Zipstream service to Rock Hill, S.C., residential and business customers. Leveraging ADTRAN's Total Access 5004 platform, the telco's move is part of a larger economic and urban strategy--known as Knowledge Park--it is conducting with Rock Hill, Winthrop University and other community partners. The ADTRAN platform will enable the service provider to deliver services over fiber or existing infrastructure. Comporium said the goal of the Knowledge Park product is "to transform what it the city's historical center into a vibrant hub of entrepreneurial activity and 'knowledge economy' jobs." The service provider is offering two packages: a residential service for $99 a month and a business grade service for $299 a month. Businesses will receive additional services such as service level agreements (SLAs) and more email storage space. While the 1 Gbps service is going to provide area residents with high speed service that far surpasses its current offerings, Comporium said the 1 Gbps service will resonate with area businesses, particularly those that need high speed services such as website and software development and 3D printing services. Rock Hill is the second area where Comporium is offering its Zipstream service. Its affiliate company Home Telecom announced it would begin offering the service to customers in MeadWestvaco's new Nexton community in Summerville in December. Comporium is one of a growing handful of traditional telcos that has begun offering 1 Gbps FTTP services. TDS, for example, is giving its customers in Hollis, N.H., the option to upgrade from 300 Mbps to its new 1 Gbps service tier. For more:
- see the release Related articles:
TDS Telecom lights 1 Gbps fiber broadband service in Hollis, N.H.
C Spire adjusts requirements for Mississippi residents to its 1 Gbps FTTH service
Lawrence, Kan., proposes building its own 1 Gbps-capable FTTH network
Cox offers details on 1 Gbps rollout--will start out in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Omaha Read more about: 1 Gbps
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Cybersecurity software vendor Palo Alto Networks reached a settlement to pay Juniper Networks $175 million to resolve a patent dispute between the two companies. Under the terms of the agreement, Palo Alto Networks will make a one-time payment to Juniper of $75 million in cash and $100 in shares of common stock and warrants to purchase common stock. Both companies will dismiss all patent litigation pending in Delaware and California and license each other the patents involved in the infringement suits for the life of the patents. In addition, both companies agreed not to sue each other for patent infringement for eight years. Mark McLaughlin, CEO of Palo Alto Networks, said in its fiscal third-quarter 2014 earnings release that settling the suit with Juniper "allows us to further focus our resources and time on our customers and growing our business." The technology included in the patents was developed by Palo Alto Network founders Nir Zuk and Yuming Mao when they worked at Netscreen, which Juniper bought in 2004. Zuk and Mao, who departed Juniper in 2005 to found Palo Alto Networks, maintain that their technology did not violate the patents that Juniper now owns. For more:
- Silicon Valley Business Journal has this article
- see this release Related articles:
Integra Telecom adds Palo Alto Networks' platform to its cloud services suite
Juniper's router empire threatened by Nortel patent holder suit Read more about: Juniper Networks
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