Network News: Cisco Unveils Mobile Network Platform

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Cisco (CSCO) introduced the ASR 5500 platform, as the foundation for mobile Internet networks. (Photo: Cisco Systems)

Here’s our review of some of today’s noteworthy links for the networking sector of the data center industry:

Cisco launches ASR 5500 for Mobile Internet.  Cisco (CSCO) introduced the ASR 5500 platform, as the foundation for mobile Internet networks. Worldwide mobile network traffic is expected to increase nearly 18-fold between 2011 and 2016. The new ASR 5500 platform was designed to capitalize on breakthroughs in software architecture optimized on new, purpose-built hardware, and addresses the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) movement, explosive growth in next-generation applications, and the rise of the Internet of things. The 5500 platform delivers a 10 times performance improvement in throughput, and an elastic packet core solution capable of integrating signaling, data, in-line services, and policy and charging control. It will also auto-size existing network resources to address dramatic variations in network behavior such as access (3G, 4G and Wi-Fi). "Change in the use of mobile networks is challenging network architects to build flexibility and elasticity into the mobile multimedia core in order to control its cost," said Michael kennedy, principal analyst at ACG Research. "Our analysis of the Cisco ASR 5500 multimedia core solution compared to a leading competitor's solution finds that TCO savings are up to 47 percent lower than the competitor. The savings are attributable to the Cisco ASR 5500's scale and integrated functionality that requires up to 65 percent fewer installed units."

Xsigo announces new data center fabric product line.  Xsigo Systems announced the general availability of the Xsigo Data Center Fabric product line.  The new product line features improved hardware and software products currently used in 300 fabric deployments. Primary products include the Fabric Director, Fabric Manager - a Software Defined Network (SDN) solution, and a Fabric Accelerator. New features include support for all five major hypervisors, support for new generations of HP, Dell, and IBM servers, up to 56 Gbps server-to-server communications using InfiniBand, and a new software performance manager to optimize data center efficiency. “Xsigo Data Center Fabric enabled Farrer and Company to deploy a Software Defined Network (SDN) architecture and move away from an inflexible hardwired solution,” Andy Beech, IT Operations Manager at Farrer and Company, said.  “Prior to Xsigo, each server had direct attached storage and ran a specific application.  With Xsigo, we can now quickly match resources to workloads.”

Ciena selected by Cable & Wireless.  Ciena Corporation (CIEN) announced today that it has been selected by Cable & Wireless Worldwide to deploy  high-capacity metropolitan networks in two key Asian commercial centres, Hong-Kong and Singapore. Cable & Wireless will meet timelines for integrated communications and data hosting services deployment with the Ciena 6500 Packet-Optical Platform, equipped with WaveLogic Coherent Optical Processors and coherent 100G and mesh networking. The project included planning for services supported by CWW’s current metro ring architectures, which are based on Ciena’s 4200 Advanced Services Platform. “Hong Kong and Singapore are both dynamic markets experiencing an explosive demand for bandwidth," said Gavin Tait, director, network planning and implementation, Asia, Cable&Wireless. "Cable & Wireless Worldwide is committed to being ahead of the curve with the most reliable, flexible and scalable network infrastructure that will fuel the success of our enterprise customers in those markets. We have partnered with Ciena to allow us to rapidly launch high-capacity services, remaining ahead of the competition and securing key enterprise customers.”