Network News: Juniper Targets Mobile Services

Here’s a roundup of some of this week’s headlines from the network sector:

Juniper enables mobile with new software and services.  On the heels of its SDN strategy announcement and Mobile World Congress this week, Juniper (JNPR) announced new software and services enabling mobile service providers to realize immediate benefits while laying the foundation to build software-defined networks (SDN). The company announced Junos Space Services Activation Director application, which enables service providers to provision thousands of seamless services, including multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) and Carrier Ethernet for mobile backhaul.  It was also announced that the Juniper Networks Mobile Control Gateway is now running as a virtualized function on the JunosV App Engine, providing signaling and control (SGSN/MME) functions to LTE, 3G and 2G radio access networks. "With mobile traffic growth exploding, operators need a virtualized Mobile Packet Core for scaling capacity up and down to both increase service velocity and control costs," said Dr. Ray Mota, managing partner, ACG Research.

Ciena and Telefonica launch 100G network in Brazil.  Ciena (CIEN)  announced that its 100G solution, architected with WaveLogic Coherent Optical Processors, has been deployed by Telefonica Vivo, in the first 100G active network in Brazil. The network includes 100G routes that connect the cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Praia Grande, Brazil. “Demand for capacity will continue to grow because of the increasing number of connections to public and private networks, as well as the business and consumer demand for applications such as video and remote storage," said Fabio Medina, vice president and general manager, Central and Latin America, Ciena. "Addressing this challenge requires a network that is future-proof and that combines intelligence, scalability and high capacity - and that is where Ciena’s intelligent infrastructure comes into play. We are thrilled to support Telefonica Vivo in building the country’s first 100G network, which will allow Brazilians to enjoy advanced, high-speed applications and services.”

Brocade selected by Redstone.  Brocade (BRCD) announced that UK managed service provider Redstone has selected Brocade to deploy a data center Ethernet fabric based on Brocade VCS Fabric technology, as a part of a major network upgrade. The Brocade VDX 6720 and 6730 Data Center Switches and VCS Fabric technology will be used across two data centers to provide a multitude of hosted cloud services on demand. "Over the last few years, we have seen a huge increase in demand for hosted services," commented Fraser Fisher, Managing Director at Redstone. "Our portfolio of offerings traditionally focused around co-location services, but more recently our customers have been looking for more sophisticated cloud-based solutions as data volumes skyrocket. With customers looking to move core applications off-premise, and leverage the operational benefits of applications such as VDI and VoIP, the importance of a network that can keep pace with demand increases exponentially."