Cisco
Cisco to lay off more than 4,000 as it shifts focus to AI and Cybersecurity
Reuters reports that Cisco Systems will cut thousands of jobs in its second round of layoffs this year. The number of people affected could be similar to or slightly higher than the 4,000 employees Cisco laid off in February, and will likely be announced as early as Wednesday with the company’s fourth-quarter results.
The San Jose, CA headquartered networking company plans to shift its product focus to higher-growth areas, such as AI and cybersecurity. It’s current set of products and services are listed here.
Cisco has been contending with weakening demand and persistent supply chain issues in its core business – routers and switches – that are used by ISPs and enterprise private networks. Two reasons for that are: 1.] the major cloud service providers design their own switch/routers or use bare metal switches (made by ODMs in Taiwan and China), and 2.] enterprise private/virtual private networks are being replaced by cloud network solutions.
- Global enterprise network sales have been declining. Dell’Oro Group reported sales contractions in Branch Routing and Campus Switching in 4Q-2023 and that is expected to continue throughout most of 2024. On premises data centers (which use Cisco Ethernet switches) are not growing. In its place……
- Enterprise spending on cloud infrastructure services is growing by leaps and bounds. It’s now nearing $80 billion per quarter. Cloud customers increased their spending on cloud services by $14.1 billion to $79.1 billion in the 2Q-2024, an increase of 22% year-over-year. It’s the third consecutive quarter in which the year-over-year growth rate was 20% or more, with generative AI being one of the factors behind the market acceleration.
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As a result of stagnant sales of its core networking products, Cisco has been pursuing a strategy aimed at diversifying its revenue streams. One of the most significant moves in this direction was the $28 billion acquisition of Splunk, a cybersecurity firm, which was finalized in March. This purchase is expected to boost Cisco’s subscription-based services, reducing its dependence on one-time hardware sales, which have been increasingly susceptible to market volatility.
Cisco’s major shift towards AI is a key part of its long-term strategy. In May, the company reiterated its ambitious goal of achieving $1 billion in AI-related product orders by 2025. This target is supported by a $1 billion fund launched in June, aimed at investing in AI startups such as Cohere, Mistral AI, and Scale AI. Over the past few years, Cisco has made over 20 AI-focused acquisitions and investments, highlighting its commitment to integrating AI into its product offerings.
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Over 126,000 employees have been laid off across 393 tech companies since the start of the year, according to data from tracking website Layoffs.fyi. That surely reflects their need to cut costs to balance huge investments in AI, analytics and related technologies.
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References:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/index.html#~products-by-technology
Cisco to Implement Second Round of Layoffs Amidst Strategic Shift to AI and Cybersecurity
Worldwide Enterprise Network Spending Follows Roller Coaster Trajectory
Cisco restructuring plan will result in ~4100 layoffs; focus on security and cloud based products
Dell’Oro: Campus Ethernet Switch Revenues dropped 23% YoY in 1Q-2024
Worldwide Campus Ethernet Switch [1.] revenues plummeted by 23% YoY in the 1st quarter of 2024 to a 2-year low, according to the Dell’Oro Group.
- The only two vendors that grew campus switch revenues year over year were Santa Clara, CA based Arista Networks and Ubiquiti [2.].
- Cisco’s campus switch revenues fell more than the worldwide average.
Note 1. With higher demand from new use cases for wired connectivity such as automation, analytics, and network visibility, and the need for new access switches to aggregate Wireless LAN access points, Dell’Oro Group is offering in-depth analysis specifically on Ethernet Switches built and optimized for deployment outside the data center, for the purpose of connecting users and things to the corporate Local Area Network (LAN).
“Basically, campus switches are really the networking gear to connect users and devices and laptops,” said Sameh Boujelbene, VP with Dell’Oro Group. “Access points are probably the number one application.”
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Note 2. Although headquartered in New York, NY, Ubiquiti wrote in a 2019 SEC filing:
“We use contract manufacturers, primarily located in China, Vietnam and Taiwan, to manufacture our products. Our relationships with contract manufacturers allow us to conserve working capital, reduce manufacturing costs and minimize delivery lead times while maintaining high product quality and the ability to scale quickly to handle increased order volume. Over the long term, our contract manufacturers are not required to manufacture our products for any specific period or in any specific quantity. If necessary, we expect that it would take approximately 3 to 6 months to transition manufacturing, quality assurance and shipping services to new providers.”
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“Vendor backlogs of campus switch orders have now been completely run down, and the market is in a multi-quarter digestion cycle,” said Siân Morgan, Research Director at Dell’Oro Group. “The shipments of most port speeds declined, and the Average Sales Price (ASP) also dropped on a YoY basis.
“However, in 1Q 2024, Arista had its third sequential quarter of (market) share gain, growing Campus Switch sales to large enterprises.
On the downside, Cisco’s Campus Switch shipments contracted sharply. This reduction contrasts with their shipments in 2023, when Cisco opened the “floodgate” for Catalyst and Meraki port shipments which had been on backorder,” added Morgan.
Additional highlights from the 1Q 2024 Ethernet Switch – Campus Report:
- The contraction in campus switch sales was broad-based across all regions, with the exception of Central America-Latin America (CALA).
- Some vendors bucked the price trend and were able to grow port ASPs thanks to richer product mixes.
- 5/5.0 Gbps switch ports are expected to return to growth as shipments of Wi-Fi 7 Access Points accelerate.
The Dell’Oro Group Ethernet Switch – Campus Quarterly Report offers a detailed view of Ethernet switches built and optimized for deployment outside the data center, to connect users and things to the Local Area Networks. The report contains in-depth market and vendor-level information on manufacturers’ revenue, ports shipped and average selling prices for both Modular and Fixed, and Fixed Managed and Unmanaged Ethernet Switches (100 Mbps, 1/2.5/5/10/25/40/50/100/400 Gbps), Power-over-Ethernet, plus regional breakouts as well as split by customer size (Enterprise vs. SMB) and vertical segments.
To purchase these reports, email [email protected]
References:
Campus Ethernet Switch Revenues Crash to a Two-Year Low in 1Q 2024, According to Dell’Oro Group
Dell’Oro: Optical Transport, Mobile Core Network & Cable CPE shipments all declined in 1Q-2024
Dell’Oro: Broadband network equipment spending to drop again in 2024 to ~$16.5 B
Telco and IT vendors pursue AI integrated cloud native solutions, while Nokia sells point products
The move to AI and cloud native is accelerating amongst network equipment and IT vendors which have announced highly integrated smart cloud solutions designed to migrate their telco customers into a new and profitable cloud future. The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), as the name suggests, is a vendor-neutral consortium dedicated to making cloud native ubiquitous. The group defines cloud native as a collection of “technologies [that] empower organizations to build and run scalable applications in modern, dynamic environments such as public, private and hybrid clouds. Containers, service meshes, microservices, immutable infrastructure and declarative APIs exemplify this approach.”
CNCF writes that the cloud native approach “enable[s] loosely coupled systems that are resilient, manageable and observable. Combined with robust automation, they allow engineers to make high-impact changes frequently and predictably with minimal toll.”
In particular, Ericsson, HPE/Juniper, Cisco, Huawei, ZTE, IBM, and Dell have all announced telco end to end solutions that provide a platform for new services and applications by integrating AI, automation, orchestration and APIs over cloud-native based infrastructure. Let’s look at each of those capabilities:
- AI (Artificial Intelligence): Leveraging AI capabilities allows telcos to automate processes, optimize network performance, and enhance customer experiences. By analyzing vast amounts of data, AI-driven insights enable better decision-making and predictive maintenance.
- Automation: Automation streamlines operations, reduces manual intervention, and accelerates service delivery. Whether it’s provisioning new network resources, managing security protocols, or handling routine tasks, automation plays a pivotal role in modern telco infrastructure.
- Orchestration: Orchestration refers to coordinating and managing various network functions and services. It ensures seamless interactions between different components, such as virtualized network functions (VNFs) and physical infrastructure. By orchestrating these elements, telcos achieve agility and flexibility.
- APIs (Application Programming Interfaces): APIs facilitate communication between different software components. In the telco context, APIs enable interoperability, allowing third-party applications to interact with telco services. This openness encourages innovation and the development of new applications.
- Cloud-Native Infrastructure: Moving away from traditional monolithic architectures, cloud-native infrastructure embraces microservices, containerization, and scalability. Telcos are adopting cloud-native principles to build resilient, efficient, and adaptable networks.
While each company has its unique approach, the overarching goal is to empower telcos to deliver cutting-edge services, enhance network performance, and stay competitive in an ever-evolving industry. These advancements pave the way for exciting possibilities in the telecommunications landscape. When fully integrated, these technologies will enable the creation of smart cloud networks that can run themselves without human involvement and do so less expensively — but also more efficiently, responsively and securely than anything that exists today.
Our esteemed UK colleague Stephen M Saunders, MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire– more below) notes that Nokia is not embracing smart cloud telco solutions, but is instead focusing on individual products. Last October, the company announced strategic and operational changes to its business model and divided the company into four business units. At that time, Nokia’s President and CEO Pekka Lundmark said:
“We continue to believe in the mid to long term attractiveness of our markets. Cloud Computing and AI revolutions will not materialize without significant investments in networks that have vastly improved capabilities. However, while the timing of the market recovery is uncertain, we are not standing still but taking decisive action on three levels: strategic, operational and cost. First, we are accelerating our strategy execution by giving business groups more operational autonomy. Second, we are streamlining our operating model by embedding sales teams into the business groups and third, we are resetting our cost-base to protect profitability. I believe these actions will make us stronger and deliver significant value for our shareholders.”
Steve says Nokia’s new divide-and-conquer strategy is being reinforced at its sales meetings, according to an attendee at one such gathering this year, with sales reps being urged to laser-focus on selling point products.
“The telco capex situation at the moment means Nokia — and others — have no choice but to examine every aspect of their business to work out how to adjust for a future CSP market that is itself going through dramatic change,” said Jeremiah Caron, global head of research and analysis at market research firm GlobalData Technology.
Most telcos are increasingly adopting cloud-native technologies to meet the demands of 5G SA core networks and to better automate their services.. However, some telcos are hesitant to fully embrace cloud-native due to concerns about complexity, cost, and reliability. Other challenges of cloud native are: changing the software development life cycle, privacy and security, guaranteeing end to end latency, and cloud vendor lock-in due to a lack of standards (every cloud vendor has their own proprietary APIs and network access configurations.
References:
https://www.silverliningsinfo.com/multi-cloud/report-smart-cloud-and-coming-paradigm-shift
https://www.fiercewireless.com/5g/op-ed-whither-nokia
Building and Operating a Cloud Native 5G SA Core Network
Omdia and Ericsson on telco transitioning to cloud native network functions (CNFs) and 5G SA core networks
https://www.ericsson.com/en/ran/intelligent-ran-automation/intelligent-automation-platform
https://www.huaweicloud.com/intl/en-us/solution/telecom/cloud-native-development-platform.html
https://sdnfv.zte.com.cn/en/solutions/VNF/5G-core-network/cloud-native
https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud-pak-for-network-automation
https://www.dell.com/en-us/dt/industry/telecom/index.htm#tab0=0
Steve Saunders (a.k.a. Silverlinings‘ Sky Captain), is a British-born communications analyst, investor, and digital media entrepreneur. In 2018 he was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to the telecommunications industry and business.
Verizon transports 1.2 terabytes per second of data across a single wavelength
Verizon has upgraded its optical to electrical conversion cards to send data at speeds of 1.2 Tbps on a single wavelength through the carrier’s live production network. The trials demonstrated increased reliability and overall capacity as well, Verizon said.
The trials, which were conducted in metro Long Island, N.Y., were in partnership with Cisco and included technology from Acacia, as well. They utilized Cisco’s NCS 1014 transceiver shelf and Acacia’s Coherent Interconnect Module (CIM 8). Verizon said the module features silicon semiconductor chips with 5nm complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) digital processing and 140 Gbaud silicon photonics using 3D packaging technology. In short, digital processing capabilities and transistor density both are increased.
Verizon said that it transmitted a 1.0 Tbps single wavelength through the Cisco NCS 20000 line system for more than 205 km. It traversed 14 fiber central offices (COs). The carrier said this is significant because progressive filtering and signal-to-noise degradation impact wavelengths as they pass through each CO. The trials also featured 800 Gbps transmission for 305 km through 20 COs — and a 1.2 Tbps wavelength that traversed three offices.
“We have bet big on fiber. Not only does it provide an award-winning broadband experience for consumers and enterprises, it also serves as the backbone of our wireless network. As we continue to see customers using more data in more varied ways, it is critical we continue to stay ahead of our customers’ demands by using the resources we have most efficiently,” said Adam Koeppe, SVP of Technology Planning at Verizon.
Image courtesy of Verizon
In addition to increasing data rates, the new optics technology from Cisco reduces the need for regeneration of the light signal (conversion to electrical and back to optical signals) along the path by compensating for the degradation of the light signal traveling through the fiber cable. This adds reliability and leads to a reduced cost per bit operating expense for more efficient network management.
Bill Gartner, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco Optical Systems and Optics, added, “This trial demonstrates our commitment to continuous innovation aimed at increasing wavelength capacity and reducing costs. The Verizon infrastructure built with the Cisco NCS 2000 open line system supports multiple generations of optics, thus protecting investments as technology evolves.”
In March, Windstream Wholesale said that it sent a 1 Tbps wave across its Converged Optical Network (ICON) between Dallas and Tulsa, a distance of 541 km.
References:
https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-fiber-technology-advancement-results
Verizon Touts 1.2 Tbps Wavelengths Over Production Network – Telecompetitor
https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-transports-800-gbps
AT&T, Verizon and Comcast all lost fixed broadband subscribers in 2Q-2023
Wipro and Cisco Launch Managed Private 5G Network-as-a-Service Solution
Wipro has announced a managed private 5G-as-a-Service solution in partnership with Cisco. The new offering enables enterprise customers to achieve better business outcomes through the seamless integration of private 5G with their existing LAN/WAN/Cloud infrastructure.
Managed private 5G from Cisco and Wipro supports organizations looking to enjoy the advantages of a private 5G network without having to acquire, run, and maintain one. The as-a-service solution benefits enterprise customers by minimizing the risks associated with upfront capital expenditure (Capex) investments and expedites technology adoption as Wipro and Cisco take on the technical, operational, and commercial risks of implementing the solution.
“Private 5G is already enabling connectivity for a wide range of use cases in factories, supply chains, university and enterprise campuses, entertainment venues, hospitals, and more,” said Masum Mir, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Provider Mobility, Cisco Networking. “We’ve created a simplified and intuitive private 5G solution with Wipro, leveraging the advantages of 5G, IoT, Edge and Wi-Fi6 technologies to improve customer outcomes.”
The managed private 5G solution is built on Cisco’s 4G/5G mobile core technology and Internet of Things (IoT) portfolio – spanning IoT sensors and gateways, device management software, as well as monitoring tools and dashboards. The solution is seamlessly built, run, and managed by Wipro for customers. To support the partnership, Wipro has created a dedicated private 5G lab to build, test, and demonstrate industry use-cases.
“Wipro and Cisco have a long history of building secure networks for enterprises and industries,” said Jo Debecker, Global Head of Wipro FullStride Cloud. “We are both dedicated to the partnership and delivering a secure, cloud-managed private 5G service to our customers. Because it is an as-a-service solution, it provides maximum benefits while minimizing the human resources and costs associated with owning a private network.”
Lourdes Charles, Vice President, 5G / Connectivity Services, Wipro Limited said, “Private 5G integration will put organizations on the cusp of a new revolution. We are delighted to expand our long-standing strategic relationship between Cisco and Wipro to include managed private 5G solutions for enterprise customers. To simplify the customer experience, the solution will validate mission-critical use cases, operations Service-Level Agreements, and lifecycle management. Wipro is fully committed through our 5G Def-i platform, to assist customers with their private 5G networks through best-in-class technology, pricing, and performance.”
“Wipro believes Cisco is very well positioned with extensive products and services to provide the complete stack for enterprise-converged network and security solutions,” the firm noted in an email to SDxCentral. “Cisco also brings integration with enterprise infrastructure and applications.”
IoT Analytics recently ranked Cisco as one of the market’s top software providers, touting its Cisco Edge Intelligence and IoT security offerings. The analyst firm also noted that spending on IoT software hit $53 billion in 2022, with the installed base of connected IoT devices surging to 14.4 billion units. The firm expects that device number to surge to 30 billion units by 2027.
Wipro says that 5G cellular network for enterprise running on both licenses and shared spectrum lays the foundation for:
ABI Research this week reported that more than 1,000 enterprise private networks have been deployed worldwide, despite a slowdown in public proclamations.
“This is actually a good sign for the private networks market,” Leo Gergs, senior analyst for 5G Markets at ABI Research, wrote. “Enterprises are beginning to see the deployment of private cellular connectivity as a competitive advantage and, therefore, do not want to talk about it too openly. Which is important as the market moves from the experimental phase toward commercializing private network deployments.”
Gergs added that this growth has now placed more pressure on the telecommunications industry to ensure those networks can handle increasingly complex and revenue-generating use cases. “The telco industry urgently needs to deliver on promises made to the enterprise community now. Otherwise, enterprise 5G will enter the history books as the technology that always overpromised and under-delivered.”
United Kingdom-based managed service provider Logicalis recently deployed Cisco’s private network with Logicalis overseeing the on-site engineering, including site preparation, ordering of solution components, organization of the spectrum, SIM management, staging, creation of customer profiles and core and RAN installation.
Chris Calvert, VP of private wireless services for Logicalis US, explained that Cisco is providing its Private 5G platform, which includes the 4G/5G core network that Logicalis’s 4G LTE and 5G service requires. That core is available as a single standalone (SA) core or a high-availability three-server cluster.
“Cisco really wanted this to be a managed services-only solution,” Calvert said. “Basically, Logicalis is Cisco’s customer. The combination of the industry expertise and the fact that we have a large managed-services practice were really the driving forces behind Cisco selecting Logicalis as one of only two manufacturers that can actually provide this solution currently.”
About Wipro Limited:
Wipro Limited is a leading technology services and consulting company focused on building innovative solutions that address clients’ most complex digital transformation needs. Leveraging our holistic portfolio of capabilities in consulting, design, engineering, and operations, we help clients realize their boldest ambitions and build future-ready, sustainable businesses. With over 250,000 employees and business partners across 66 countries, we deliver on the promise of helping our customers, colleagues, and communities thrive in an ever-changing world. For additional information, visit us at www.wipro.com.
About Cisco:
Cisco offers an industry-leading portfolio of technology innovations. With networking, security, collaboration, cloud management, and more, we help to securely connect industries and communities. Information about Cisco’s products is here.
References:
Cisco’s Private 5G story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdsyhsXicNk
Cisco and AT&T to expand connectivity for hybrid workforces
Cisco and AT&T today announced new solutions to enhance connectivity and advance the calling landscape for hybrid workforces. Whether on the shop floor, the top floor, at the branch office, the home office, or the commute in between, the modern workforce is not tethered to a single space, device, or geography. With the new offerings, including Cisco’s Webex Calling and SD-WAN solutions alongside AT&T mobile network, businesses of any size can offer employees a simple, secure, consistent experience to thrive in any setting.
The companies today announced plans that will help ensure a seamless and reliable mobile-first collaboration experience, allowing users the flexibility to take calls across multiple devices while traveling for work, running errands, and more.
With the dramatic increase in the use of mobile phones as the primary business device, enterprises need connectivity solutions that are easy to manage, secure, and provide the flexibility and reliability desired for work from anywhere. This integration addresses this need with key features including:
- Single number mobile identity: Combining the capabilities of an AT&T wireless smartphone with the native integration of Webex Calling will provide greater functionality and flexibility for on-the-go communication.
- Reduce costs: This integration helps enterprise customers lower costs by reducing or eliminating the need for traditional fixed business lines.
- Crystal clear voice: AT&T Cloud Voice with Webex Go allows users to securely make and receive business calls using AT&T’s fast, reliable nationwide mobile network and seamlessly elevate calls to a fully immersive Webex collaboration experience across the Webex App and devices1, with capabilities like closed captioning, noise removal, and white boarding.
- Fast, efficient, and secure collaboration: AT&T and Cisco’s joint solution will increase the ability to effectively and securely collaborate no matter the location, resulting in improved knowledge sharing and faster decision making.
AT&T Cloud Voice with Webex Go2 will be available for all Webex Calling users from Cisco partners in the United States later this year.
SD-WAN Connectivity without Compromise:
Demand for unified experiences over secure connectivity to the cloud and site-to-site continues to surge. Cisco and AT&T are working together to bring secure on-demand connectivity for SD-WAN with add-on services that may include over mobile 5G and fiber broadband to businesses of every size.
For small and medium businesses, AT&T is launching a new self-service option to simplify and accelerate SD-WAN deployment. Businesses can now easily connect, protect, manage, and scale their networks using AT&T Business Wi-Fi with Cisco Meraki.
For larger enterprises, AT&T SD-WAN with Cisco is a fully managed connectivity solution with embedded security and analytics. Enterprises can now confidently connect a user or device to any application in their multicloud using a secure access service edge (SASE)-enabled architecture. This delivers integrated security and application optimization for end-to-end visibility.
Cisco will also provide the ability to embed AT&T wireless connectivity into Cisco devices enabling zero touch provisioning for Cisco and AT&T customers, through AT&T Control Center powered by Cisco.
“The network is at the core of the modern workforce. The ability to get things done is no longer reliant on where you are, but how you are connected,” said Jonathan Davidson, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Cisco Networking. “Hybrid work only works when there is a seamless, consistent, and secure experience for workers, regardless of location. Together with AT&T, we are giving businesses what they need to securely connect everything and everyone—wherever they are. Because when everything is connected, then anything is possible.”
“Mobility is key to enabling hybrid work. Businesses want a seamless and reliable communication experience,” said Mike Troiano, Senior Vice President, Business Products, AT&T. “At the heart of our collaboration with Cisco is a shared vision to empower organizations with secure connectivity, unmatched reliability, and deep network expertise. By deeply integrating our technology, businesses can be assured their communications are built on a solid foundation. Together we are unlocking new levels of productivity, agility, and connectivity— enabling teams to thrive in the modern work landscape.”
Webex Go with AT&T’s Mobile Network
About AT&T:
We help more than 100 million U.S. families, friends and neighbors, plus nearly 2.5 million businesses, connect to greater possibility. From the first phone call 140+ years ago to our 5G wireless and multi-gig internet offerings today, we @ATT innovate to improve lives. For more information about AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), please visit us at about.att.com. Investors can learn more at investors.att.com.
About Cisco:
Cisco is the worldwide technology leader that securely connects everything to make anything possible. Our purpose is to power an inclusive future for all by helping our customers reimagine their applications, power hybrid work, secure their enterprise, transform their infrastructure, and meet their sustainability goals. Discover more on The Newsroom and follow us on Twitter at @Cisco.
NTT and Cisco launch IoT as a Managed Service for Enterprise Customers
NTT and Cisco have teamed up to launch a suite of repeatable IoT solutions that can be sold as a managed service. The partnership brings together NTT’s edge infrastructure, managed services, and IT systems integration expertise and Cisco’s IoT capabilities. Together, they promise to offer IoT services that encompass real-time data insights, enhanced security, improved decision-making, and reduced operational costs through predictive maintenance, asset tracking, and supply chain management.
NTT and Cisco are targeting opportunities in the manufacturing, transportation, healthcare and utility sectors, where they claim there is growing demand for edge computing and IoT solutions. The team has already begun working with Belgian public water distribution utility, Compagnie Intercommunale Liégeoise des Eaux (CISE). CISE has deployed thousands of LoRaWAN sensors on its infrastructure, giving it the visibility it needs to improve efficiency in the areas of water quality, consumption, distribution, and maintenance. It’s being delivered as a managed service by NTT and Cisco.
“We are accelerating our IoT business initiatives to deliver a powerful portfolio of repeatable services that can be tailored to meet customer demand for these kinds of solutions,” said Devin Yaung, SVP of group enterprise IoT products and services at NTT, in a statement. “We’re doubling down on NTT’s IoT capabilities to meet customer demand,” said Yaung. “What we’re doing is pulling together our collective knowledge and skillsets, and putting the full power of NTT behind it, to better service our customers and the increasing need to outfit or retrofit their organisations with the connectivity and visibility they need to improve day-to-day business operations.”
“We are excited to work together to help transition our customers to this IoT-as-a-service model so they can quickly realise the business benefits across industries and around the globe,” added Samuel Pasquier, VP of product management, industrial IoT networking, at Cisco.
According to IoT Analytics, global enterprise IoT spending is expected to grow 19% to $238 billion in 2023, up from $201 billion in 2022. By 2027, it could reach as high as $483 billion.
References:
https://iot-analytics.com/iot-market-size/?utm_source=IoT+Analytics+Master+People+List
Cisco 800G line card for Cisco 8000 Series Routers powered by Silicon One ASIC
Cisco today announced 800G innovations that continue to transform the economics and sustainability of the Internet for the Future, to help its customers connect the nearly 40% of the world’s population that remains unconnected or underserved.
As IoT devices grow from billions to trillions, demand for bandwidth grows not only from connecting devices with 5G and Wi-Fi, but also from the AI/ML workloads required to drive insights from IoT. Applications such as generative AI, search, language processing, and recommendation engines, are driving rapid growth of AI/ML clusters in data center environments that require more bandwidth over traditional workloads. AI/ML fabrics need to scale with denser spines that are critical to support the massive number of processors with low latency, in addition to capacity expansion in Data Center Interconnect.
While bandwidth growth seems unlimited, space and power are limited. Dense and power-efficient platforms are required. Cisco is doubling the capacities of communication service provider and Webscale customer backbones, metro core, and data center networks compared to 400G/100G modular solutions.
The new 28.8Tbps / 36 x 800G line card for Cisco 8000 Series Routers is powered by Cisco Silicon One [1] and lowers operational costs while protecting investments as communication service providers and cloud operators transform networks from 100G to 400G, and 800G capacities. Customers can benefit from carbon savings by using less hardware to scale, and equipment reuse.
Note 1. Cisco Silicon One is claimed to be the only unifying architecture enabling customers to deploy the best-of-breed silicon from Top of Rack (TOR) switches all the way through the web scale data centers and across the service provider networks with a fully unified routing and switching portfolio.
“We continue to expand 800G to more use cases, from AI/ML fabrics to the core, to help our customers meet their performance and sustainability goals,” said Kevin Wollenweber, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cisco Networking, Data Center and Provider Connectivity. “With our dense core and spine solutions using new double density line cards with Cisco Silicon One, we have accelerated the transition to 800G anywhere.”
Key Benefits of Modular Cisco 8000 Series Router Systems Powered by Cisco Silicon One P100:
- Economics: With up to 83% space savings, customers can build denser networks using much of the same infrastructure to support use cases such as 5G, IoT, broadband and AI/ML. Other benefits include:
- By doubling the capacity in the same chassis footprint, the Cisco 8000 Series Router platform has up to twice the space efficiency over 400G single chassis systems.
- These 800G single chassis systems can now support equivalent traffic loads with up to 6x more space efficiency compared to current 400G distributed chassis solutions, by delivering up to 15 Tbps per Rack Unit.
- New 800G modular systems can also provide the equivalent bandwidth capacity with up to an estimated 68% savings in power compared to 400G solutions to help reduce operational costs.
- Sustainability: With up to 68% power savings, the 800G systems can help customers meet their sustainability goals.
- Assuming a single 800G system is in use 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, the potential energy savings over 400G systems would reduce GHG emissions by up to 215,838 CO2e per year.
- This amount of carbon savings is estimated to be equivalent to reducing carbon emissions from charging 40 million smartphones or burning 366,923 pounds of coal a year [1]
- Customers can also reuse common equipment when upgrading to 800G systems to help cut down on e-waste.
- Architectural Innovations: Powered by Cisco Silicon One P100 ASICs and Cisco pluggable optics, the new line card offers massive throughput for Cisco 8800 Series modular systems. Key features include:
- Advanced 100G SerDes technology allows customers to double current 400G port densities and increase by 8-fold current 100G port densities in the same form factor, supporting 72 x 400G and 288 x 100G ports per slot.
- Ability to scale up to 800G to support increasing traffic demands with four, eight, twelve, and 18-slot chassis. Customers can scale up to 518 Tbps capacity with a single 18-slot modular 800G system.
- Pay-as-you-grow Flexible Consumption Model helps customers futureproof their deployments by right-sizing the network, adding capacity over time to better align to business outcomes.
- Cisco’s new generation of pluggable optics provide investment protection through backwards compatibility with existing QSFP pluggable transceivers.
- Operational Simplicity: With advanced visualization dashboards, services monitoring with actionable insights, and closed-loop network optimization customers can detect issues and troubleshoot faster.
- With the latest enhancements in Crosswork Network Automation the speed at which network elements and services can be added has been significantly improved.
- New IOS XR Path Tracing provides hop-by-hop visibility of the packet’s path through the network.
Industry Response:
“Based on our extensive market research and traffic analysis, we are forecasting continued growth in data traffic with fixed and mobile services, including for 5G, broadband, IoT and cloud. These trends are putting networks under increasing pressure, which is why scaling to 800G throughput in the future with solutions such as Cisco 8000 will be in demand, while helping service providers and cloud providers improve operational efficiency, sustainability, and user experience.” — Simon Sherrington, Research Director, Analysys Mason
“Together with Cisco, we seek new approaches to drive market differentiation and deliver business outcomes through agile, secure infrastructure at every stage of the technology journey. As a key enabler of the kingdom’s Vision 2030, we must ensure that our technology stays at the forefront of technological Innovations. With modular 800G innovations and Silicon One P100 on the Cisco 8000 Series, we continue to push towards new levels of cloud connectivity and digital transformation while benefiting from operational efficiencies that allow stc group to maintain providing a high-performing, lower cost-per-bit service to our customers.” — Bader Allhieb – stc Infrastructure, stc
“Colt is working towards ESG By Design, which means our firm commitment to sustainability spans every part of our business. It’s imperative that we work with partners that share our values and strive to build a better, cleaner planet. Cisco’s latest routing innovation shows its dedication to finding powerful and effective ways of scaling capacity, whilst mitigating the environmental impact. It marks an exciting next stage in the future of sustainable digital infrastructure.” — Kelsey Hopkinson, VP-ESG, Colt Technology Services
“With the implementation of Florida LambdaRail’s new FLRnet4 400G backbone, space becomes one of our primary concerns as we had exhausted our existing footprint in many of our sites. The combination of unbelievable forwarding capacity, operational efficiency, and the dependable IOS XR network operating system made the Cisco 8000 Series the obvious choice for our new network. We couldn’t be more pleased with our choice. We not only have a state-of-the-art network, but the Cisco 8000 series solution ensures there is enough opex savings to scale our network for years to come.” — Chris Griffin, Chief Network Architect, Florida LambdaRail
Supporting Resources:
- Read the Blog: Scaling the Internet for the Future with 800G Innovation, by Satish Surapaneni
- https://blogs.cisco.com/sp/scaling-the-internet-for-the-future-with-800g-innovationsMass-Scale Infrastructure for Core
- Cisco 8000 Series
- Cisco Silicon One
- Cisco Optics
- Crosswork Network Automation
- Cisco IOS XR Path Tracing
References:
Highlights of Qualcomm 5G Fixed Wireless Access Platform Gen 3; FWA and Cisco converged mobile core network
With 5G deployed in more than 90 countries globally, network operators are increasingly considering 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) to enable more homes and businesses can connect and enjoy the power of connected broadband experiences.
This week, Qualcomm unveiled its 5G Fixed Wireless Access Platform Gen 3, the world’s first fully-integrated 5G advanced-ready FWA platform. Besides benefitting from Snapdragon X75 capabilities, Qualcomm FWA Gen 3 key features include:
- Extended-range mmWave and Sub-6 GHz
- Qualcomm Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 with expert Multi-Link operation for blazing-fast lower latency, reliable connections, and mesh capability for seamless coverage
- Quad-core central processing unit (CPU) and hardware acceleration boosts
- Self-install capabilities facilitated by Qualcomm Dynamic Antenna Steering technology
- Qualcomm RF Sensing Suite to enable indoor mmWave Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) deployments
- Support for 5G Dual-SIM Dual Active (DSDA) and Dual-SIM Dual Standby (DSDS) configurations
Qualcomm FWA Gen 3 is claimed to be the world’s first fully-integrated 5G advanced (???)-ready FWA platform, which includes support for Sub-6 GHz, mmWave, and Wi-Fi 7 connectivity, and boosted with quad-core CPU and hardware acceleration to drive a wide range of applications and value-added services.
The new platform features:
- The recently announced Snapdragon X75 5G Modem-RF, enabling breakthrough 5G performance to achieve unmatched speeds, coverage, and link robustness
- Qualcomm QTM567 mmWave Antenna Module, providing reliable and extended mmWave coverage
- Wi-Fi 7 with 10Gb ethernet, delivering multi-gigabit speeds and wire-like latency to virtually every device in the home
- Converged mmWave-sub 6 hardware architecture, reducing footprint, cost, board complexity, and power consumption
These capabilities will help OEMs accelerate time to launch, improve performance, and lower development effort for building cutting-edge FWA CPEs at scale. The Qualcomm FWA Gen 3 provides a fully-integrated solution that enables product development for multiple mobile broadband product categories and enables OEMs to offer a diverse product portfolio to their customers.
Qualcomm FWA Gen 3 includes the following features:
- Increased coverage through extended range mmWave and extended-range sub-6GHz with eight receiver antennas and support for power class 1.5 (PC 1.5)
- Enhanced self-install capabilities with Qualcomm Dynamic Antenna Steering Gen2
- Qualcomm RF Sensing Suite to help accelerate indoor mmWave CPEs deployments
- Flexible software architecture with support for multiple frameworks, including OpenWRT and RDK-B
- The Qualcomm FWA Gen 3 encapsulates the next-gen modem-RF system technologies intended to springboard 5G forward with superior 5G speeds and flexibility. This breakthrough connectivity is enabled by several capabilities including:
- Unrivalled spectrum aggregation
- Multi-Gigabit speed
- Improved uplink coverage with FDD uplink MIMO and uplink carrier aggregation (CA)
- Significant performance increase with Wi-Fi 7 advanced features:
- Tri-Band support in the 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz spectrum bands with 320MHz and 4K QAM modulation
- Multi-Link technology enabling lower latency in heavily congested home environments
With WiFi 7 (IEEE 802.11be) and 5G connectivity, the platform offers consumers a faster and more reliable internet connection in the home. They can tap into the increased capacity and bandwidth offered by Wi-Fi and 5G to deliver multi-gigabit speeds, enabling consumers to connect all their devices and enjoy improved user experiences.
Qualcomm Resources:
Learn more about Fixed Wireless Access and its benefits here and here. Additionally, check out more on our latest Snapdragon X75 5G Modem-RF System enabling this technology here. Solutions such as this, powered by our one technology roadmap, including foundational 5G technologies, further position Qualcomm as the edge partner of choice for the cloud economy. Qualcomm makes an intelligently connected world possible.
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FWA and a Converged Mobile Core Network:
In a blog post today, Matt Price of Cisco states that FWA is a great tool for reducing the digital divide when it comes to accessibility and affordability. The economics for providing Internet services were in need of a change and FWA offers some good ones – reducing trenching requirements, increasing serviceable area, offering self-install customer equipment (CPE), and even providing a common wireless network architecture that can serve both Fixed Wireless Access and Mobile Access services. To achieve these goals, Cisco strongly recommends 5G service providers deploy 5G SA core networks, which the vendor has implemented as a converged 4G/5G core for T-Mobile US.
Other carriers, like Verizon [1.] have deployed a 5G NSA FWA network.
Note 1. Verizon has increasingly come to view FWA as an integral part of their broadband access offering everywhere that FiOS isn’t available. At the same time, the telco has argued (with increasing confidence) that the often-assumed capacity constraints on FWA are not only addressable, but that they are not an issue. Verizon views 5G FWA as a major growth opportunity- much more so than 5G mobile services, according to Sowmyanarayan Sampath, Executive Vice President and CEO of Verizon Business. It’s also interesting that Telkom in South Africa and Safaricom in Kenya have deployed 5G NSA networks for FWA but NOT yet for 5G mobile service.
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5G SA’s network architecture can flexibly deploy User Plane Function (UPF) nodes to anchor a FWA subscriber’s user plane traffic for peering at the nearest edge aggregation point. Unlike a typical mobile device such as a cell phone, fixed wireless devices are meant to be always-on and connected for serving end user devices. Meaning that the latency and reliability we commonly expect from traditional wireline services is expected from fixed wireless services too.
In 2022, T-Mobile US became the fastest growing U.S. Internet Service Provider—doubling their number of FWA customers in the past six months. With over 2 million FWA subscribers and counting, the scalability and flexibility of having a Converged Core has proven invaluable to T-Mobile. Being able to deploy UPF nodes for Fixed Wireless Access in remote locations while managing the Session Management Function (SMF) nodes at a central site(s) is effective for scaling the network, optimizing the usage of the transport infrastructure to deliver better end-user latency.
Scaling and extending Fixed Wireless Access with the flexible deployment of UPF nodes, optimizing the routing for user plane traffic. Source: Cisco
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It’s estimated that around 70% of communication service providers today offer a form of Fixed Wireless Access services, most of them still using 4G LTE, which delivers a fraction of the performance of fiber. Upgrading network architectures to meet the needs of new 5G services needs a smooth plan for the transition. Cisco believes that can begin in the mobile core network. With a Converged 4G/5G Core, communication service providers can migrate from 4G to 5G without disruption while scaling to serve the needs of millions of new subscribers.
For More Information:
Learn more about the Cisco Converged Core, and how we are helping rural communities bridge the digital divide. Find out how T-Mobile and Cisco Launched the World’s Largest Cloud Native Converged Core Gateway, read the December 2022 press release.
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References:
Next-level connectivity: Unveiling our new 5G FWA Platform | Qualcomm
https://blogs.cisco.com/sp/getting-to-the-core-of-the-digital-divide-with-5g-fixed-wireless-access
https://www.verizon.com/about/blog/fixed-wireless-access
Ericsson: Over 300 million Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) connections by 2028
Research & Markets: 5G FWA Global Market to hit $38.17B by 2026 for a CAGR of 87.1%
Dell’Oro: FWA revenues on track to advance 35% in 2022 led by North America
JC Market Research: 5G FWA market to reach $21.7 billion in 2029 for a CAGR of 65.6%
5G FWA launched by South Africa’s Telkom, rather than 5G Mobile
T-Mobile and Cisco launch cloud native 5G core gateway
T-Mobile US announced today that it has collaborated with Cisco to launch a first-of-its kind cloud native 5G core gateway. T-Mobile has moved all of its 5G and 4G traffic to the new cloud native converged core which provides customers with more than a 10% improvement in speeds and lower latency. The new core gateway also allows T-Mobile to more quickly and easily test and deliver new 5G and IoT services, like network slicing and Voice over 5G (VoNR) thereby expediting time to market.
The T-Mobile US 5G SA core is based on Cisco’s cloud-native control plane that uses Kubernetes to orchestrate containers running on bare metal. The companies said this frees up more than 20% of the CPU cores.
It also uses Cisco’s 8000 Series routers, 5G and 4G LTE packet core gateways, its Unified Computing System (UCS) platform, and Cisco’s Nexus 9000 Series Switches that run the vendor’s Network Services Orchestrator for full-stack automation.
“T-Mobile customers already have access to the largest, most powerful 5G network in the country, and we’re innovating every day to supercharge their experience even further,” said Delan Beah, Senior Vice President of Core Network and Services Engineering at T-Mobile. “This cloud native core gateway takes our network to new heights, allowing us to push 5G forward by delivering next-level performance for consumers and businesses nationwide while setting the stage for new applications enabled by next-gen networks.”
With a fully automated converged core gateway, T-Mobile can simplify network functions across the cloud, edge and data centers to significantly reduce operational life cycle management. The increased efficiency is an immediate benefit for customers, providing them with even faster speeds. The new core is also more distributed than ever before, leading to lower latency and advancing capabilities like edge computing.
“Our strategic relationship with T-Mobile is rooted in co-innovation, with a shared vision to establish best practices for 5G and the Internet for the Future,” said Masum Mir, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cisco Networking Provider Mobility. “This is the type of network every operator aspires to. It will support the most advanced 5G applications for consumers and businesses today and enables T-Mobile to test and deliver new and emerging 5G and IoT applications with simplicity at scale.”
The fully automated converged core architecture is based on Cisco’s cloud native control plane, optimized with Kubernetes orchestrated containers on bare metal, freeing up over 20% of the CPU (Central Processing Unit) cores. The converged core solution uses a broad mix of Cisco’s flagship networking solutions including the Cisco 8000 Series routers, 5G and 4G packet core gateways, Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS), and Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches with Cisco Network Services Orchestrator for full stack automation.
T-Mobile is the U.S. leader in 5G, delivering the country’s largest, fastest and most reliable 5G network. The Un-carrier’s Extended Range 5G covers 323 million people across 1.9 million square miles – more than AT&T and Verizon combined. 260 million people nationwide are covered by T-Mobile’s super-fast Ultra Capacity 5G, and T-Mobile plans to reach 300 million people with Ultra Capacity next year.
For more information on T-Mobile’s network, visit: https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/4g-lte-5g-networks.
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Cisco was part of T-Mobile US’ initial 5G SA core launch in 2020. This included the user plane, session management, and policy control functions. Those network functions run on Cisco servers, switching, and its virtualization orchestration stack.
This 5G work built on Cisco providing its packet gateway for T-Mobile’s 4G LTE mobile core, later adding its evolved packet core (EPC), and eventually virtualized the operator’s entire packet core in 2017. T-Mobile was also the first major operator to introduce Cisco’s 4G control and user plane separation (CUPS) in the EPC at production scale in 2018.
Cisco has also been core to 5G SA work by operators like Dish Network and Rakuten Mobile
References:
https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/t-mobile-selects-cisco-for-cloud-native-5g-core/2022/12/