Changes starting to take place behind the scenes in mobile networks may eventually pay dividends to anyone with a smartphone, a connected refrigerator or an IT department.Carriers have done things pretty much the same way for years, with cellular base stations at the edge of their networks feeding into a series of specialized appliances at central facilities. Now they’re virtualizing those networks in several ways, seeking the same rewards that enterprises have reaped by virtualizing data centers: efficiency and flexibility. The trend will be in full swing at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month.It’s good news for mobile users that they may not hear much about. A more efficient network leaves more free capacity for the video or application you want to run, and a more flexible carrier could quickly launch services in the future that you don’t even know you’ll need yet. The new architectures may even change how some businesses pay for mobile services.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Changes starting to take place behind the scenes in mobile networks may eventually pay dividends to anyone with a smartphone, a connected refrigerator or an IT department.Carriers have done things pretty much the same way for years, with cellular base stations at the edge of their networks feeding into a series of specialized appliances at central facilities. Now they’re virtualizing those networks in several ways, seeking the same rewards that enterprises have reaped by virtualizing data centers: efficiency and flexibility. The trend will be in full swing at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month.It’s good news for mobile users that they may not hear much about. A more efficient network leaves more free capacity for the video or application you want to run, and a more flexible carrier could quickly launch services in the future that you don’t even know you’ll need yet. The new architectures may even change how some businesses pay for mobile services.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The future of storage may not be in storage itself, but in the intelligence to manage it.Major storage vendors and startups alike are now pushing software-defined systems spanning anything from a set of arrays to a whole enterprise. On Tuesday, IBM placed a big bet on this trend, announcing the first product in a portfolio called IBM Spectrum Storage and saying it will invest $1 billion in storage software over the next five years.The strategy will see IBM offer its traditional storage systems in software form so customers can choose to buy them as appliance, software or service. The first Spectrum Storage product out of the gate is IBM Spectrum Accelerate, software that’s based on the company’s own XIV high-end storage appliance.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco Systems posted quarterly revenue and profit gains that included growth for its software-defined networking products, and Chairman and CEO John Chambers used the occasion to lay down the gauntlet to SDN rival VMware.The company’s revenue hit $11.9 billion in the fiscal quarter ended Jan. 24, up 7 percent from a year earlier. SDN, a new market that might imperil Cisco’s traditional network hardware business, was a strong point: Sales of the company’s recently introduced Nexus 3000 and 9000 data-center switches, key to its SDN architecture, grew 350 percent.Cisco claimed 1,700 total customers for its SDN architecture, called ACI (Application Centric Infrastructure), up from 970 the previous quarter.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Facebook is taking its crusade for open networking to a broader battlefield, using its 16-port “Wedge” switch design as the basis of a new modular platform that can link together racks of servers across a data center.The social networking juggernaut doesn’t intend to become a data networking vendor. It designs switches for its own needs and then open-sources its hardware designs so others can use them. In time, other companies could turn Facebook switch designs into products for sale, but Facebook won’t be directly involved, said Matt Corddry, director of hardware engineering at Facebook.GOOD LUCK: Geeky Ways to Celebrate Friday the 13thTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Facebook is taking its crusade for open networking to a broader battlefield, using its 16-port “Wedge” switch design as the basis of a new modular platform that can link together racks of servers across a data center.The social networking juggernaut doesn’t intend to become a data networking vendor. It designs switches for its own needs and then open-sources its hardware designs so others can use them. In time, other companies could turn Facebook switch designs into products for sale, but Facebook won’t be directly involved, said Matt Corddry, director of hardware engineering at Facebook.GOOD LUCK: Geeky Ways to Celebrate Friday the 13thTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Wi-Fi Alliance warned that LTE on unlicensed frequencies could interfere with Wi-Fi and said it plans to collaborate with the 3GPP cellular standards group to help prevent that.Mobile operators are starting to explore the use of the unlicensed 5GHz band for LTE even though many Wi-Fi networks rely on those frequencies. On Tuesday, Ericsson announced it’s testing unlicensed LTE with Qualcomm and that SK Telecom, T-Mobile USA and Verizon are interested in the technology.Most countries set aside large portions of the 5GHz band for use without a license, and Wi-Fi has become a major user of that spectrum. Mobile operators are allowed to use the band even though they have their own licensed frequencies, but LTE wasn’t developed to coexist with other networks in that kind of environment.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Wi-Fi may carry many voice calls within the next few years, but the technology required to make those calls is still young in some ways.Mobile subscribers have been talking and doing video chats over Wi-Fi for a long time using Internet-based services such as Skype. Now carriers are offering ways to call up friends and family over wireless LANs using their regular phone numbers.Wi-Fi calling made a splash last year when the iPhone 6 came out with the capability, though a number of Android and other devices also have it. T-Mobile USA and Sprint both allow Wi-Fi calling with selected smartphones. AT&T and Verizon, as well as EE in the UK, plan to follow.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Stephen Lawson