VMware has jumped into the hot NFV market with a platform that lets service providers run their network functions as virtualized applications from different vendors.
The company launched VMware vCloud for NFV on Monday at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where telecommunications and IT vendors and their carrier customers are all promoting NFV (network functions virtualization) as the future of mobile networks.
NFV takes back-end functions involved in managing services and subscribers out of dedicated appliances and turns them into virtualized applications that can run on generic hardware. This makes carriers faster and leaner, allowing them to roll out new services more quickly and be more flexible in how they run their networks. It’s also designed to help support the new demands that come with the Internet of Things.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
There’s a rumor that goes around cloud circles about how Amazon.com created what is now the multi-billion dollar infrastructure as a service (IaaS) cloud computing industry in the early 2000s.Some people wrongly assume that Amazon had spare, excess computing capacity from their ecommerce site that was used as the basis for Amazon Web Services' (AWS) cloud.It’s something that Benjamin Black has heard a lot. But it’s not true. And he would know: Black is widely credited with co-authoring the initial proposal at Amazon that led to the creation of AWS.“Why will that not die?” Black says about the rumor. “It’s totally false.”+MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: 10 Tips to not get burned by Microsoft and other cloud SLAs +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
European political youth organizations have demanded that European countries draft strict and clear net neutrality rules that prevent ISPs from discriminating against certain Internet traffic.In order to keep the Internet open, all data on the Internet should be treated equally, 51 youth organizations said in a manifest sent to European ministers on Monday.The ministers, gathered in the Council of the EU, are in the process of discussing a new EU telecom law as proposed by the European Commission and the European Parliament that contains clauses on net neutrality and roaming. The Parliament in April last year voted to enshrine net neutrality in EU law, so that all traffic would be treated equally and without discrimination. However, the Council is trying to get some traffic discrimination back into the draft.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In a wide-ranging discussion on stage at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday, Google senior vice president Sundar Pichai offered his views on lots of issues at the heart of the mobile telecommunications industry.He used the time to confirm Google’s plans to launch a mobile carrier in the U.S. and gave an update on progress of its ambitious Project Loon and Project Titan airborne Internet experiments. Here’s what else he said:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In a wide-ranging discussion on stage at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday, Google senior vice president Sundar Pichai offered his views on lots of issues at the heart of the mobile telecommunications industry.+ See our full coverage of MWC 2015 +He used the time to confirm Google’s plans to launch a mobile carrier in the U.S. and gave an update on progress of its ambitious Project Loon and Project Titan airborne Internet experiments. Here’s what else he said:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Hewlett-Packard will purchase Aruba Networks to boost its wireless networking business, the companies announced Monday.HP will offer $24.67 per share, giving Aruba a $3 billion value. The deal is worth $2.7 billion taking into account Aruba's debt and cash.MORE: 8 ways to celebrate Raspberry Pi's 3rd birthdayBy buying Aruba, HP will be able to help businesses beef up their wireless networks to meet the demands of an increasingly mobile workforce, the companies said.This is HP's first major acquisition since CEO Meg Whitman announced last year that the company would split into two. One half will focus on enterprise products and the other well sell printers and PCs.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Iran is ready to cooperate with Google and other global Internet companies to allow them to operate in the country, according to Iranian media reports.Talks are already under way with Google to place servers in Iran, according to a report Sunday from the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). The article quoted remarks made to local press by the country’s deputy minister of telecommunications and information technology, Nasrollah Jahangard.Similar negotiations are ongoing with several other major U.S. and European Internet companies, according to IRNA.In a separate report from the Fars News Agency (FNA), Iran’s semi-official news agency, Jahangard was quoted saying “We are ready to provide Google or any other company with Iran’s possibilities and facilities for service providing to the region.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The famous adage, attributed to many different wits, goes along the lines of "insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results."Well, maybe that's a bit harsh, but I think you could argue that an indication of intelligence is not repeating the same unproductive act over and over again. And if that's the case, then why do we always misplace things?Surely, the clever thing to do would be to always put things, like car keys, in the same place each time. Like when arriving home, for example. But some of the smartest people I know don't do that.And before we get into a debate about whether those folks are indeed smart—as they look for their keys, I can happily announce that the whole argument is about to become moot.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google’s ambitious efforts to bring balloon and aircraft-borne connectivity to underserved areas of the globe are pushing past some key milestones and the company expects a public launch in a few years.Both projects have captured the imagination of many for their ability to beam Internet signals from platforms high up in the sky to areas without cellular networks, but represent significant engineering challenges for Google—just the kind of thing the company likes, said Sundar Pichai, a senior vice president at Google, speaking at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.The oldest and perhaps best known of the two projects, Project Loon, seeks to use balloons flying around 20 kilometers (65,000 feet) above the Earth to deliver Internet signals. The company’s first experiments used a proprietary WiFi signal but that’s since changed to LTE cellular signals.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google’s ambitious efforts to bring balloon and aircraft-borne connectivity to underserved areas of the globe are pushing past some key milestones and the company expects a public launch in a few years.
Both projects have captured the imagination of many for their ability to beam Internet signals from platforms high up in the sky to areas without cellular networks, but represent significant engineering challenges for Google—just the kind of thing the company likes, said Sundar Pichai, a senior vice president at Google, speaking at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
The oldest and perhaps best known of the two projects, Project Loon, seeks to use balloons flying around 20 kilometers (65,000 feet) above the Earth to deliver Internet signals. The company’s first experiments used a proprietary WiFi signal but that’s since changed to LTE cellular signals.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Net neutrality, even after last week's big FCC vote in favor of it, continues to be a term many don't quite get. SNL took advantage of that this past weekend to spoof tech pundits, and even works a Vint Cerf character into the mix. (FYI, NSFW).MORE: Most Memorable SNL Tech Skits & Bits To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google has confirmed for the first time that it plans to offer connectivity directly to mobile users in the U.S., but a senior executive downplayed the competition it would be to major U.S. cellular carriers.Several reports have said the company is preparing a service that would be offered across an existing cellular network under a Google brand—a so-called “mobile virtual network operator” or MVNO. But the reports hadn’t been confirmed until Sundar Pichai, the company’s senior vice president, spoke at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday.“You’ll see us announce it in the coming months,” said Pichai.Pichai said it won’t be a full-service mobile network in competition with existing carriers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google has confirmed for the first time that it plans to offer connectivity directly to mobile users in the U.S., but a senior executive downplayed the competition it would be to major U.S. cellular carriers.
Several reports have said the company is preparing a service that would be offered across an existing cellular network under a Google brand—a so-called “mobile virtual network operator” or MVNO. But the reports hadn’t been confirmed until Sundar Pichai, the company’s senior vice president, spoke at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday.+ See our full coverage of MWC 2015 +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Nokia Networks and Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo are testing networks using extremely high frequencies that may someday deliver multi-gigabit speed to mobile devices.The companies’ technology trial is using 70GHz radios that today are about the size of a carry-on suitcase. Eventually, the technology will shrink down to about 5 millimeters across to fit in a mobile device.So-called millimeter-wave radios can pack a lot of data into a narrow beam, and the frequencies they’re designed to use aren’t in high demand these days. That’s why Nokia and other vendors see this technology as a key part of the future 5G mobile standard coming in 2020.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Nokia Networks and Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo are testing networks using extremely high frequencies that may someday deliver multi-gigabit speed to mobile devices.
The companies’ technology trial is using 70GHz radios that today are about the size of a carry-on suitcase. Eventually, the technology will shrink down to about 5 millimeters across to fit in a mobile device.
So-called millimeter-wave radios can pack a lot of data into a narrow beam, and the frequencies they’re designed to use aren’t in high demand these days. That’s why Nokia and other vendors see this technology as a key part of the future 5G mobile standard coming in 2020.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Samsung challenges Google, Apple on paymentsThe world’s biggest maker of Android phones launched a major challenge to Google Wallet on Sunday: it’s going to start a rival phone-based payment system beginning in the U.S. in the coming months. Samsung Pay will work first on the new Galaxy S6 and relies on the contactless NFC payment infrastructure also used by competitors—but with the added advantage that it will also be able to communicate with traditional magnetic card payment terminals.NXP buys Freescale to build a bigger chip companyTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Disaggregation seems to be all the rage in networking these days.HP is the latest to decouple merchant silicon-based hardware from operating system software, following Dell and Juniper. The strategy is to attract web-scale companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon who need the flexibility, choice, rapid deployment/decommissioning and cost efficiency of commodity “white box” switches capable of running a variety of software packages.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
New net neutrality rules just established in the U.S. may face a cool reception here at Mobile World Congress, where carriers are prime customers. Nokia’s CEO took an early shot on Sunday night.“There are some services that simply require a different level of connectivity and a different level of service,” Rajeev Suri said at a press conference on the eve of MWC. Those include self-driving cars and remote home health care, which are too important to rely on “best-effort” networks, Suri said.He’s also worried about premium services to consumers: “You just need to be able to differentiate the quality of service for higher-paying consumers,” Suri said. Otherwise, those customers may feel discriminated against, he said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
New net neutrality rules just established in the U.S. may face a cool reception here at Mobile World Congress, where carriers are prime customers. Nokia’s CEO took an early shot on Sunday night.
“There are some services that simply require a different level of connectivity and a different level of service,” Rajeev Suri said at a press conference on the eve of MWC. Those include self-driving cars and remote home health care, which are too important to rely on “best-effort” networks, Suri said.
He’s also worried about premium services to consumers: “You just need to be able to differentiate the quality of service for higher-paying consumers,” Suri said. Otherwise, those customers may feel discriminated against, he said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google’s venture arm has invested in Kobalt, a music publishing firm that counts Beck, Paul McCartney and the Foo Fighters among its clients.The US$60 million venture round also includes funding from the personal investment firm of Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell.Kobalt handles payment of royalties to singers and songwriters from streaming services like Spotify and video sharing sites like YouTube.Artists are concerned about how they’re compensated when people consume music via streaming services, Google Ventures managing partner Bill Maris told the Guardian newspaper. Kobalt’s technology can lessen musicians’ concerns about how they’ll get paid, he said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here