Telefonica today announced a research-network trial of a basic IP/DWDM technology combination that flattens networks to an agile IP/MPLS edge and an agile optical core built around GMPLS. The project included Universal Edge routers from Juniper and Adva Optical DWDM core technology. Everyone is happy about the resulting reduction in capex and opex, and in…
The voice services space may be demonstrating the fate that any “basic” service of connection will face, and also some of the technical opportunities that could still be realized. Acme Packet, one-time darling of the financial analysts, has taken a hit and the “Why?” says a lot. Acme has been a provider of session border…
With Apple looking like it’s going to launch a 7-inch tablet, it’s hard not to see that form factor gaining a lot more traction. My surveys tell me that enterprises prefer that layout for many of their mobile-worker applications because it’s easier to carry and because most of these apps involve displaying something for on-site…
Telefonica has launched a bunch of new digital-service initiatives that are aimed at transforming the company’s revenue model, but interestingly most of them are aimed offshore rather than in-market. They’re working with Etisalat to add cloud and other mobile enhanced services to emerging markets, they’ve added mobile-billing options for online purchases in countries where credit…
The telcos, including some big national carriers, have announced their backing of Mozilla’s Firefox OS, a smartphone platform that’s supposed to bring down the price of smartphones. That’s obviously what’s behind the deal in the first place; telcos have become weary of subsidizing handsets to promote coolness. They’ve encouraged Microsoft and now it appears that…
Could storms in Virginia dispel some cloud momentum? I received the last of the responses to my spring survey of enterprises on Friday, and operators had already sent in their responses so the process of data analysis and interpretation can now begin. For subscribers to our journal, Netwatcher, the results will be in the July…
It’s recapitulation Friday, and there were some items of interest that were crowded out of my blogspace during the week. One deals with the important topic of SDN and OpenFlow. Extreme became the new kid on the OpenFlow block, which at one level is a good thing. The reason it’s not an unqualified good thing…
Google announced its tablet and some other things besides, and the question now is whether there’s some grand strategy at work here or just a bunch of geeks throwing products at a marketplace. I think there’s some thinking here, but whether it’s sound thinking remains to be seen. The Nexus 7 tablet is pretty much…
Google’s expected tablet announcement may be hours away, but some of the goals being set for it by the developers whose conference would be the platform for the launch seem unlikely to be fulfilled. Developers want a unified platform for Android, but Google has clearly lost control over the Android development process and may never…
The challenges with coming to terms with technical concepts in our Age of Hype is embodied in a story about SDN that appears in Network World. The story lists five drivers of SDN transition, which include mobility, the cloud, consumerization of IT, traffic patterns in data centers, and agile service delivery. The challenge is that…