Issue 47

NORTH AMERICA

THE TELECOM INDUSTRY’S MEDIA PLATFORM

Communications Services for any Location and any Application Rick Calder, GTT CEO

PCCW CEO Marc Halbfinger: Enhanced Connectivity

Verizon President Eric Cevis: Embracing a Reliable Network

StrataNet CEO Chris de Joselyn: Connecting Countries

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CONTENTS NORTH AMERICA

THE TELECOM INDUSTRY’S MEDIA PLATFORM

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GTT: Any Location. Any Application.

Connecting the World

Verizon’s Eric Cevis: Embracing a Reliable Network

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StrataNet Partners with PacketFabric to Expand its Network Coverage 8

Members Elected to INCOMPAS Board of Directors

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APTelecom Approaching 10 Year Anniversary

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HGC Extends Cloud Service Offerings to Africa

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MEF Announces Winners of 2018 Awards

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PCCW Global: Enhanced Connectivity 20

Connecting the Next Industrial Revolution

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NTT: Large Scale Bandwidth on a Global Level

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A New Approach for a Productive Cloud Migration

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Schneider is Helping to Build Out the Edge

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Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit 2018: A Resounding Success

EDITORIAL

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Editor in Chief - International & Senior ICT Analyst Toni Eid toni@telecomreviewna.com Editor in Chief - North America & Senior ICT Analyst Jeff Seal jeff@telecomreviewna.com Senior Graphic Designer Lara Maalouf Lead Analyst Group - Production Manager - Copy Chief information@telecomreviewna.com Advertising advertising@telecomreviewna.com Special Events - Photo Director Editor - Digital Properties info@telecomreviewna.com News Provided in Cooperation With AFP, the Global News Agency. The AFP agency delivers the news immediately and worldwide with a team of 2,900 staff including more than 1,400 staff journalists and 700 freelancers in 165 countries.

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Publication of any of the contents is prohibited.

- Year 9 - Issue 47 -

A Message for the ICT Industry in 2019

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orporate Social Responsibility (CSR, also called corporate sustainability, sustainable business, corporate conscience, corporate citizenship or responsible business) is a type of international private business selfregulation.

Recent public opinion polls looking at what Americans expect and want from big companies has at the top of the list how they treat their workforce including fair pay, benefits, etc. But the poll also looks at commitment to customers, the benefit or harm caused by products and services, impact on the environment, commitment to communities, and corporate leadership and governance.

The top 100 companies that ranked high on CSR: • Pay median workers 26% more than other companies; • Are 9 times more likely to have conducted gender pay equity analyses than other companies; • Are nearly 4 times more likely to have diversity targets; • Pay dramatically fewer fines for environmental, worker safety, or EEOC violations than other companies.

The key finding is that companies with a high CSR quotient have a 5% higher return-on-equity than other companies.

The digital transformation of society is one of the key barometers of success for your business. Telecom Review has embraced social responsibility in all of its activities and feels that CSR through business operations helps insure reliable communications for all. Please join us.

Jeff Seal Managing Partner Editor in Chief Telecom Review North America

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GTT owns and operates a top-ranked, Tier 1 global internet network and provides a comprehensive suite of cloud networking services to connect their clients to any location worldwide and any application in the cloud.

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elecom Review recently visited with Rick Calder at GTT to give readers an overview of what is driving GTT’s phenomenal growth. Rick was appointed as GTT’s president and CEO in May 2007. He brings over two decades of leadership experience in the telecommunications arena to GTT. Revenue Growth GTT recently reported that 3Q revenue grew 121% from 3Q 2017 and 37.3% compared to the second quarter 2018.

Rick told us, “This is a testament to our growth strategy. The third quarter was the first full quarter that included revenue from our acquisition of Interoute, a European fiber network provider, that closed in May 2018. That coupled with our expanding sales team led to a good quarter. We have four operating divisions and all of them performed well. We expect to maintain strong revenue growth next year through a combination of inorganic and organic strategic initiatives.”

GTT: Any Location.

Any Application.

Connecting the World

Global Network GTT has a global IP network that is ranked as one of the top 5 Internet backbones in the world . From 2009 to 2018 that is impressive growth.

“In our early days we did not own our own network. Our acquisitions yielded the Tier 1 IP backbone that we operate today and provides a key point of differentiation for our portfolio of cloud networking services. We have complemented our IP network with a fiber backbone network that includes

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three transatlantic cables as well as one of Europe’s largest fiber networks that was obtained through the Interoute acquisition. It is a high-performance network that our corporate clients have come to rely on. It helps our clients' CIOs connect their employees to any location around the world and to any cloud application. Many companies are moving their IT into the cloud and we see that demand rising,” Rick noted.

GTT Revenue Targets GTT’s revenue continues to grow and announced during the company’s third quarter 2018 earnings call a new financial objective of $3 billion in annualized revenue that it expects to achieve within the next three years.

In discussing how they meet these targets Rick replied, “Having a set of longer term financial objectives like this gives all of our employees a common goal. Our previous revenue objective was $2 billion and we should reach that in 2019. Our original target for that objective was 2021. We should reach the $3 billion objective by the end of 2021 so we are already working hard toward the achievement of that objective.”

Connecting Clients’ Employees Around the World GTT helps CIO’s connect their employees to any location around the

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world every application in the cloud.

Logistically that requires people and CAPEX. “We extend to the last mile utilizing more than 3,000 network supplier relationships across the globe for copper, fiber and wireless access, so we are able to hold down our CAPEX in that regard. We believe our extensive experience seamlessly connecting client locations with last mile access is a point of differentiation.”

GTT’s Network Growth GTT’s growth has been both organic and by acquisition. They have had large network acquisitions including Hibernia and Interoute. GTT’s Tier 1 IP network is built on a resilient fiber backbone, with Nx100G global capacity, and is engineered to deliver high-performance bandwidth when and where needed.

They run multiple, diverse and redundant fiber paths between 600+ PoPs around the world, ensuring reliable, high-quality traffic delivery even if a fiber route is compromised.

In 2018 GTT announced the completion of its acquisition of Interoute, operator of one of Europe’s largest independent fiber networks. “The acquisition of Interoute represents a major milestone in delivering on our purpose of connecting people across

We expect to maintain strong revenue growth next year through a combination of inorganic and organic strategic initiatives

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Our enhanced scale, expanded network footprint reinforce our position as a global leader in cloud networking

organizations, around the world and to every application in the cloud,” said Rick.

“Our enhanced scale, expanded network footprint and award-winning product capabilities reinforce our position as a global leader in cloud networking.

Multinational clients are already realizing the substantial benefits of this acquisition.”

In discussing GTT’s network and the Asia marketplace Rick noted, “Our fiber backbone serves our clients in the Americas and Europe well. We are also able to extend connectivity into Asia for those same clients who maintain Asian offices.”

New Technologies Keeping up with technology is always of great importance in your business. GTT has established a market leadership position in SDWAN to offer clients a more efficient networking platform to connect to cloud applications to improve the performance of their business. GTT’s SD-WAN leverages their global, Tier 1 IP backbone as well as their extensive experience as a provider of managed services. Their SD-WAN offering is available worldwide, with a broad range of access options per country.

GTT SD-WAN includes end-to-end encryption for secure data transmission across their network and the public internet. Customers may protect their internet bound traffic with the GTT integrated, network-based firewall solution. Advanced firewall features are also available for additional internet security, including protection against external threats like DDoS. GTT’s PoPs are located in the top data centers in the world, where they directly and securely connect clients to cloud service providers, such as Google, IBM Cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure, guaranteeing the highest possible performance for mission-critical applications and services.

In discussing new services for GTT, Rick told Telecom Review, “Our IP backbone allows us to provide new services that the clients need.

SD-WAN and cloud connectivity are services that are still growing rapidly and we are ideally positioned to capitalize on this trend. Having one of the top IP backbones in the world gives us the strength and flexibility to continue to build on our SD-WAN capabilities to meet the needs of our clients .”

Simplicity, Speed, and Agility in the Marketplace GTT is very nimble in serving their client base, leveraging this competitive advantage to acquire market share.

GTT offers a variety of billing options including flat rate, tiered and burstable service for true on-demand services without overpaying for idle capacity.

Alternatively, aggregate committed data rate (CDR) can be shared across multiple ports in diverse locations.

With this flexibility, their clients are guaranteed available bandwidth, when and as they need it.

“Our employees live by the company values of simplicity, speed and agility which makes us an attractive alternative to the incumbents. We compete in a large market and offer a comprehensive set of network assets and services that gives our clients an advantage.”

Serving Clients GTT operates a single business and operating support system called CMD (Client Management Database) to better serve clients across the entire client experience lifecycle. When asked what kind of differentiator this makes, Rick told us, “We developed CMD to have visibility into ordering, provisioning, inventory and ongoing

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service management for all of our clients through a single, uniform system. It is also a very effective tool that we leverage when we acquire new companies, swiftly migrating client data onto this platform. Getting the new companies into CMD is very important so that we may have a good picture of where we stand with the clients we gain through our acquisitions.”

Outlook for 2019 Rick was excited about 2019 and beyond. “SD-WAN and cloud connectivity continue to be strong growth drivers for the business. In addition, network security is important aspect of our roadmap. Network threats are in the news almost every day and it is important to mitigate that threat.”

Award Recognition GTT has received multiple industry awards. Most recently they won the Telecom Review Excellence Award for Best International Wholesale Provider.

"This year there were 367 nominations for the Telecom Review Excellence Awards. Winners were chosen based on recognized and demonstrated capabilities in their specific sector by an independent panel of 15 experienced industry veterans."

SD-WAN and cloud connectivity continue to be strong growth drivers for the busines

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FEATURE

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Members Elected to INCOMPAS Board of Directors Members of INCOMPAS, the internet and competitive networks association, elected companies to serve on the INCOMPAS Board of Directors for the 20182020 term during the annual membership meeting at the 2018 INCOMPAS Show.

These newly elected Board members join the others who are currently serving their 2017-2019 terms.

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t its first meeting with the newly elected directors, the Board elected Kurt Van Wagenen, President and CEO of FirstLight Fiber to serve as its Board

Chair. He will replace Deborah Ward, CEO of Televergence, who has served as Board Chair for five terms.

The Board also selected Michael B. Galvin, General Counsel of Granite Telecommunications LLC as Vice Chair; and Dale R. Schmick, COO of TerraCom, as Treasurer.

Rounding out the Executive Committee are four at-large members: Paula Boyd, Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs at Microsoft Corporation; Grey Humphrey, Chief Revenue Officer of Spirit Communications-Lumos Networks; Charles McKee, Vice President of Government Affairs Federal

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and State Regulatory for Sprint; and Deborah Ward, CEO of Televergence.

"I am honored that my peers selected me to serve as Board Chair of INCOMPAS, and I appreciate the trust they put in me to continue building on the strong momentum under the leadership of my predecessor Deb Ward," Van Wagenen said. "As we enter 2019, I look forward to collaborating with my colleagues on the Board and the highly capable INCOMPAS staff to carry on the excellent advocacy the association does on behalf of our industry, and to further enhance the business opportunities and benefits available to our robust and growing membership."

Companies joining the Board for the 2018-2020 term include: Small Company • Comspan Communications Inc. Mark Scully, President • Fatbeam - Greg Green, Co-Founder and President • Gorge Networks Inc. - Dan Bubb, President & CEO • IdeaTek Telecom LLC - Daniel Friesen, Managing Member and Innovation Officer • Mammoth Networks - Brian Worthen, CEO • Socket Telecom LLC - Carson Coffman, President • Telestax - Ivelin Ivanov, Co-Founder and CEO

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Medium Company • Crown Castle* - Chris Levendos, Vice President, Network Engineering and Operations • FirstLight Fiber - Kurt Van Wagenen, President and CEO • Inteliquent - Jon Clopton, Vice President of Network Cost, Planning and Carrier Relations • LOGIX Fiber Networks* - Patrick Lentz, CFO • TeleQuality Communications Inc. Tim Koxlien, CEO Large Company • Granite Telecommunications LLC Michael B. Galvin, General Counsel • GTT - Chris McKee, General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Corporate Development • Sprint - Charles McKee, Vice President, Government Affairs Federal and State Regulatory • Windstream - Thomas Whitehead, Vice President, Federal Government Affairs The 2019 INCOMPAS Show will take place November 4-6, 2019, at the Omni Louisville Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky.

"Louisville is an up-and-coming meeting destination in the heartland of America, and is reflective of the type of markets that our members seek to serve with competitive networks and innovative services," said INCOMPAS CEO Chip Pickering. "With a vibrant social and

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culinary scene, state-of-the-art meeting facilities, and convenient access to transportation, Louisville offers the ideal setting for our 2019 show."

Louisville is an easy drive from many popular East Coast and Midwest cities, and a quick and cost-effective flight from many other cities around the country. The convenience has encouraged five of the Top 25 tradeshows in the U.S. to hold their annual events in the city. The 2019 INCOMPAS Show host hotel - the Omni Louisville Hotel - is a luxury facility located only seven miles from the Louisville International Airport. In the heart of downtown, the Omni offers newly constructed meeting facilities and a variety of onsite dining options.

After a day of networking and deal making, 2019 INCOMPAS Show attendees will be able to take in the city's culture, walk down Main Street or take free public transportation throughout the city. While exploring Louisville, attendees will be able to enjoy Louisville's bourbon culture at many popular distilleries.

Come early or stay late to traverse the famous Kentucky Bourbon Trail, and visit the nearby Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory and Churchill Downs horse racing track. Join INCOMPAS at this bucket-list destination to experience the spirit of the city while taking in all the benefits The INCOMPAS Show has to offer.

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FEATURE

APTelecom Approaching

10 Year Anniversary Telecom and fiber consulting company APTelecom, announced several milestones and recognitions the company achieved in 2018.

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018 marked the successful completion of APTelecom’s 9th year in business. The company heads into its 10th year with a strong leadership presence, global footprint, and track record of sales and service success for its customers.

Among the most notable milestones the company achieved over the past year include: • Customer Growth and Expansion: APTelecom has supported a large number of customers to date globally, assisting in the commercialization of well in excess of $2.2bn in systems constructed since its inception in 2009.

• Global Presence and Client Reach: APTelecom has built its brand into a well-known global leader in telecom and fiber consulting services. The company has serviced clients across 22 countries, including emerging markets such as Africa, Cambodia, Guam, Indonesia, Singapore, the Caribbean and South America.

• Growth: In addition to its track record of being behind new systems that reach Ready for Service status (RFS), APTelecom has also developed a reputation for the quality of its general consulting practice, supporting not only new system builds, but also established operators seeking to monetize existing legacy assets.

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• Awards and Recognitions: APTelecom has established itself as the leading provider of telecom and fiber consulting services specializing in emerging markets.

The company has been honored with several prestigious global awards and recognitions, including the Telecom Review Excellence Award for the Best VAS Provider, being named the Sales Team of the Year by the Customer Sales and Service Awards, the Golden Bridge Business and Innovation Award for the Telecom, Cable, Broadband, and Voice category, the Silver Award in Network Products Guide's 10th Annual Hot Companies and Best Products Awards for its New System Pre-Sales in the 'IT Products and Services for Telecommunications' category and becoming the Bronze Winner for the 'Most Socially or Environmentally Responsible Company of the Year' category in the Best in Biz Awards International.

• State of Subsea: APTelecom signature corporate social responsibility (CSR) platform has donated more than US$200,000 to support Bloom Again Foundation, Friends International and other charities around the USA and globe.

• Media Accolades: APTelecom continues to be sought after by leading global media outlets across the world for its subsea, telecom and fiber industry expertise.

APTelecom’s management team has been featured in TechCrunch, IDG Connect, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Wired, as well as within recognized industry trade publications such as Telecom Review North America, Telegeography, CommsDay, and Fierce Telecom.

"We’re very proud to have surrounded ourselves with great customers, associates and peers over the past nine years,” said APTelecom Co-Founder and CEO Eric Handa. “We’re excited about what lies ahead for APTelecom, and look forward to continuing to support clients with a first-class level of service, strategy and results in the subsea cable, telecom and fiber community as we head into 2019 and beyond.”

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Verizon’s Eric Cevis:

Embracing a Reliable Network To deliver new best-in-class customer experiences and to ensure first-to-market leadership in the 5G era, Verizon recently announced a new operating structure focused on three customer-facing areas: Consumer, Business and Verizon Media Group.

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hese groups will be supported by a network and IT organization, and corporate-wide staff functions. The changes will be effective Jan. 1, 2019. Verizon expects to transition to financial reporting under the new structure during secondquarter 2019.

“This new structure reflects a clear strategy that starts with Verizon customers,” said CEO Hans Vestberg.

“We’re building on our network transformation efforts and the Intelligent Edge architecture to deliver new

customer experiences and optimize the growth opportunities we see as leaders in the 5G era. We’re focused on how our technology can benefit customers’ lives and society at large.”

Telecom Review recently sat down with Eric Cevis who is President of Verizon Partner Solutions in order to give our readers a good overview of Verizon’s network centric plan. In this role, he is responsible for domestic and international wholesale strategy; including marketing, sales, customers and wholesale business operations.

The investment in the network allows for a whole new ecosystem for new

services and applications as they evolve. These new services and applications continue to be developed at a very fast pace. “We have an intelligent network that exists today and we are expanding it for tomorrow," Eric told Telecom Review.

Eric told us, “We have embraced our reliable network to better serve the future.” We decided that we will focus on what we do best and that is to provide a network to transport everyone’s apps.”

Verizon has struck a deal with Corning to purchase up to 37.2 million miles of optical fiber and related hardware

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over the next three years, with Verizon planning to use that fiber to boost capacity and lower latency in its wireless network.

"The agreement calls for Corning to provide and Verizon to purchase up to 20 million kilometers (12.4 million miles) of optical fiber each year from 2018 through 2020, with a minimum purchase commitment of $1.05 billion."

The fiber will be used for network improvements "designed to improve Verizon’s 4G LTE coverage, speed the deployment of 5G, and deliver high-speed broadband to homes and businesses of all sizes." But while Verizon mentioned both mobile and home Internet service, this doesn't mean there will be any unexpected expansions of FiOS, Verizon's fiber-tothe-home service.

Verizon is piloting what it calls 5G wireless home Internet with customers in 11 markets in the first half of 2017. Those markets are Ann Arbor, Atlanta, Bernardsville (NJ), Brockton (MA), Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami, Sacramento, Seattle and Washington, DC. Verizon says it can deliver gigabit broadband speeds over wireless by bringing fiber closer to homes without the expense of bringing fiber all the way into each building. The 5G wireless trial will also bring a Verizon home Internet service to some places outside the company's landline telephone network territory in the Northeast US. Verizon's announcement said there's a shortfall in fiber supply in the industry but that the deal with Corning will ensure that they can meet construction schedules.

Eric went on to explain that Verizon is and will in the future be the “intelligent edge” to serve the digital economy of tomorrow.

Eric noted that they have three “centers of excellence” including: 1. Their global network for wave and ethernet services 2. Wireless transport 3. Voice and app platforms

Verizon continues to grow their transport business with more growth in wave. Eric noted that waves are a CAGR growth area for the company and they continue to innovate in that area with aggressive provisioning intervals that are best in class. Verizon is doing major builds in 30 days or less. They are also looking at mesh networking to further enhance the services provided to their customers Verizon and the City of Boston recently signed updated agreements to accelerate Boston’s plan to be one of the most technologically advanced cities in the nation. Building on the relationship formed in 2016, Verizon will expand its local wireless network, bring Fios Internet and TV to the city’s remaining neighborhoods not covered in the original franchise agreement, and collaborate with Boston on Smart Communities solutions. The company also announced further plans regarding its long-term lease of more than 450,000 square feet for its technology workforce at The Hub on Causeway.

These new wireless network enhancements will double Verizon’s original $300 million investment focused on building a 100% fiber-optic network across Boston announced in 2016.

“Our partnership with Verizon reflects one goal: to make sure all of Boston’s residents have access to the most

advanced digital technology both now, and in the future,” said Mayor Walsh.

“We’re making sure Boston is the best digital city in the nation, and through partnerships with companies like Verizon, residents will have better, more affordable options, as we work together to create inclusive growth for our city.”

“The City of Boston has been a tremendous partner for us, and a great leader in building the digital city of the future,” said Kyle Malady, Chief Technology Officer of Verizon. “Together we’re creating a platform of innovation with the latest technology that will benefit Boston residents, businesses, universities, first responders and visitors for decades to come.”

To further underscore this expanded technology partnership, Verizon will be contributing $1 million to the Boston Digital Equity Fund to help support programs that provide affordable access to broadband to underserved residents.

Wireless Network Enhancements Under a new 10-year agreement, Verizon will significantly expand its wireless small cell network to bring more speed and capacity to its existing 4G LTE network – named best in Boston by RootMetrics for the third straight time – and to pave the way for the eventual deployment of 5G services in Boston.

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The Industrial Internet of Things Opportunity As more and more devices connect—an estimated 20.4 billion by 2020—a wireless network that achieves new standards for speed, security, battery life and overall reliability is not a nice-to-have. It’s a necessity.

Jet turbines, windmills, trains, quarrying tools and the heavy machinery commonly referred to as “yellow iron” all reside in the IoT, and the sensors and monitors connected to these systems are often performing mission-critical functions. Any breakdowns or latency issues can result in lost time, lost money and even lost equipment.

Important tools to enhance their LTE network for customers, small cells are designed to complement traditional cell sites or towers, and are placed strategically to meet data capacity demand in areas of high customer usage. In many locations, small cells are “hiding in plain sight,” on existing structures like city traffic lights or utility poles.

The City of Boston will provide Verizon with a streamlined permitting process for the installation of new small cells. Verizon will provide a host of Smart Communities products and services that will enable Boston to achieve efficiencies in areas such as traffic management, safety and energy efficiency.

Fios Expansion Verizon and the City of Boston are amending the existing TV license agreement to expand Fios TV services.

More than half the homes in Boston now have access to this all-fiber network, and Fios service is available in Dorchester, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Roslindale, Roxbury, Seaport, South Boston and West Roxbury. The new amendment will enable Fios TV expansion as the fiber network is built in South Boston, South End, Allston, Brighton, Back Bay, Charlestown, East Boston, Fenway and Downtown.

Verizon isn’t just expanding its fiberbased wireless and wireline networks in Boston, it’s also expanding its presence

in the city. The company’s previously announced lease is for the top of the tallest office building built in Boston in two decades, and its presence at the Hub on Causeway will include 16 floors of innovatively designed space, of which, five floors will be reserved for incubators, accelerators, and partners.

Apps and IOT for the Future Verizon is currently and will be a strong player in the app platform business which means they will transport new services such as IOT for others.

The Internet of Things describes the interconnected universe of gadgets that make everyday life more convenient. But no discussion of IoT would be complete without examining one of its most fascinating—and biggest—subsets: The Industrial Internet of Things.

IoT takes this complex web of connectivity out of our homes and offices and into the wild: construction sites, mines, oil derricks and freighter fleets.

These can be linked industrial systems, often in harsh environments, producing reams of data that need to be analyzed and processed instantaneously.

Scaling a network to accommodate their sensitive, critically important data flows is an undertaking as massive as the machines that work across it. The IoT is not just about fridges ordering milk when the carton is low. That’s why Verizon has developed 5G Ultra-Wideband.

How 5G will help power the IoT To make better informed, faster business decisions, the speed and strength of the network must be a given. In testing, Verizon 5G Ultra-Wideband can provide speeds up to 20x faster than currentgeneration wireless. With that kind of responsiveness, the potential of the IoT to not only streamline, but supercharge the industrial sector will only grow.

Eric mentioned that Verizon chose CAT M as their IOT standard and it has proven to be a good decision. LTE Cat-M1 lowers the barrier of entry to the IoT world, providing a quick and easy way to develop, deploy and manage your machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions. When combined with their network, these devices are cost-effective, help support applications with low data needs and are able to stay in the field much longer without needing to change batteries.

LTE Cat-M1 also uses networking protocols that help improve IoT coverage with better in-building and in-ground penetration. And it provides comprehensive security, including authentication, credentialing and encryption tools to keep your communications protected.

Verizon has many more opportunities in the IOT space as industries are implementing more and more applications. This includes everything from railroads to the OTT players around the world. Eric told us that Verizon’s decision to do what they do best, providing a strong and reliable network, is the future for Verizon.

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StrataNet Partners with PacketFabric to Expand its Network Coverage StrataNet Group (StrataNet) tells us that PacketFabric has selected StrataNet to provide secure, private intra-Asia capacity, extending its disruptive Softwaredefined Network (SDN) platform into Asia.

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his strategic partnership will enable PacketFabric to reach the Asian continent, making PacketFabric’s network-asa-service platform accessible throughout StrataNet’s intra-Asia locations. In addition, StrataNet will gain instant access to 19 additional markets and more than 150 colocation facilities across the United States, as well as the ability to reach Europe.

With this partnership, StrataNet will be able to offer their customers instantaneous and private connectivity

to all locations on PacketFabric’s secure and scalable network.

The PacketFabric platform enables dynamic, real-time connectivity services between major carrier-neutral colocation facilities at terabit-scale.

PacketFabric reduces the sourcing and provisioning times of network services to minutes by leveraging an innovative, automated SDN-based network architecture and the latest in optical and packet-switching technology.

“Most of our focus had been on establishing a robust, reliable network footprint throughout the United States,” explains Chad Milam, President and COO, PacketFabric. “Our

partnership with StrataNet will allow us to bring our network to new markets in Asia and offer reliable, private access to network and cloud environments throughout our ecosystem, regardless of physical location. We couldn’t be more excited about redefining the way clients in the Asian market procure and manage network connectivity within the region and the rest of the world.”

“We’re excited to partner with PacketFabric,” states StrataNet CEO Chris de Josselin. “This mutually-beneficial partnership will also expand StrataNet’s North American footprint, enabling us to serve a wider range of customers beyond Asia across the continental United States, with an extremely fast time to market.”

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HGC Extends Cloud Service Offerings to Africa HGC Global Communications Limited (HGC), a fully-fledged fixed-line operator and ICT service provider with extensive local and international network coverage and infrastructure, announced a move to extend its cloud service offerings to Africa by collaborating with SAWASAWA, a leading African Application Service Provider. The two companies plan to provide customer organizations with a comprehensive portfolio of telecommunications, Blockchain and IoT Implementations, as well as cloud compute and storage services.

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GC reaches further into Africa to serve multi-cloud environments Digital transformation, along with dramatic advances in technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, data analytics, big data exchange and application programming interface (API) have given rise to a trend in building hybrid IT systems. These streamline operations by combining mission critical cloud and on-premise systems.

By collaborating, HGC and SAWASAWA will be able to offer customers a greater variety of value-added products and services. Companies of all sizes will benefit from featurerich cloud services in areas such as advanced data security, mobile and micro-payment APIs, network connectivity and scalable storage capacity.

This industry evolution began in Kenya, the technology hub for East and Central Africa, and provides an opportunity for HGC and SAWASAWA to develop a platform from which existing and prospective corporate customers can expand into Africa's addressable markets and other geographical areas.

HGC and SAWASAWA plan expansion of cloud service offerings As a leading international carrier and ICT service provider, HGC offers a full suite of end-to-end solutions meeting international standards that

FEATURE can be delivered to organizations in Africa. HGC guarantees data sovereignty, along with superfast and ultra-low latency network access to facilitate sustainable technological development in Africa.

HGC is also experienced as a pioneer in identifying untapped market opportunities.

Meanwhile, SAWASAWA presides over one of Africa's most innovative IT service portfolios, offering software development, hosting infrastructure design and implementation as well as micro-payments and blockchain solutions. By joining forces, SAWASAWA and HGC are able to offer end to end solutions leveraging our combined strengths and competencies.

Ravindran Mahalingam, Senior Vice President for HGC's International Business said: “This collaboration

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helps further reinforce our position in Africa's telecommunications industry at the same time as expanding our international presence. HGC and SAWASAWA will help create more business opportunities for local and regional corporations by providing them with a comprehensive range of leadingedge telecommunications and cloud services.”

Kagotho Kamau, Chief of Engineering at SAWASAWA said: “We are pleased to announce today's news and believe that this collaboration will provide a boost for Africa's rapidly growing demand for innovative and ground-breaking technology, required to solve business challenges unique to the African continent. HGC's expertise and proven track record combined with our strong presence in Africa makes us confident this collaboration will be a great success.”

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MEF Announces Winners of 2018 Awards Winners for the MEF 2018 awards recognized 21 companies for service, application, technology, and professional excellence and innovation. Winners were recognized during the MEF Awards Gala Dinner at MEF18 this week in Los Angeles, California. Of course, Telecom Review was there as the Global Telecom sponsor so we wanted to let our readers know the final results.

MEF received countless submissions this year from innovative companies showcasing transformative services and technologies,” said Nan Chen, President, MEF. “We are thrilled to see all of the excellent work from dozens of companies and thought leaders who are

helping accelerate the industry transition to assured services orchestrated across automated networks. We are pleased to congratulate this year’s award winners.”

Service Provider and Enterprise Application Award Winners Network & Service Innovation: • Global – AT&T • APAC – PLDT

• Europe – Colt • North America – AT&T Retail Service Provider of the Year: • Global – Verizon • APAC – PLDT • Europe – Colt • North America – CenturyLink & Spectrum Enterprise (tie) Wholesale Service Provider of the Year:

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• • • •

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Global – PCCW Global APAC – Tata Communications Europe – Colt North America – CenturyLink

Africa Service Provider of the Year – Liquid Telecom CALA Service Provider of the Year – Ufinet Special Awards • Best SD-WAN Managed Service, Network-Based – AT&T • Best SD-WAN Managed Service, OTT – AT&T • LSO Leadership – CenturyLink • Best Marketing – Verizon • Enterprise Application of the Year • Education – Colt • Financial – Tata Communications • Health – Spectrum Enterprise • Government – Spectrum Enterprise • Hospitality – Comcast Business • Media – CenturyLink • Retail – Tata Communications • Sports & Entertainment – Colt Technology Solutions Award Winners • Technology Provider of the Year – Ciena • Carrier Ethernet & IP – Nokia • LSO Leadership – Ciena

• • • • • •

NFV – RAD Optical – Ciena SD-WAN – Nuage Service Analytics – Accedian Service Assurance – Ciena & EXFO (tie) Service Automation – Amdocs & NEC/Netcracker (tie) • Multi-Vendor Solution – Infinera and NEC/Netcracker

Professional Award Winners • Industry Executive of the Year – Marc Halbfinger, CEO, PCCW Global • MEF Distinguished Fellow – Jack Pugaczewski, Distinguished Architect, CenturyLink • Accredited Training Partner of the Year – Carrier Ethernet Academy

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Connecting the Next Industrial Revolution The move from connecting users to connecting industries is driving the need for comprehensive connectivity platforms that can deliver a foundation for innovation.

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e are at the very beginning of another industrial revolution.

The success of this era will be directly related to the accessibility, agility, and performance of network connectivity. Across the ICT landscape, networking can be a powerful enabler for change if it can move from hindering innovation to enabling it.

In the fourth industrial revolution, the network cannot be the weakest link. We are moving from an age of electronics to a digitalised industry which requires networking to enable and accelerate an array of emerging technologies. It underpins the adoption of Cloud, Big

Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G. Unlike the steam engine in the first industrial revolution, networking isn’t freely available like water, but it will need to behave in the same way. It has to be ubiquitous, ready to be shaped to any use case and completely reliable.

Without a new networking model, we will see aspirations for smart manufacturing, autonomous vehicles, data-driven product development, global AI-powered logistics and smart cities initiatives delayed and, worse yet, never fully realised. The next industrial revolution will rely on the speed of developments in networking and at Epsilon, we’re ready to deliver the future.

Serving the Billions and Trillions So far, developments in networking have been focused on product rather than experience and outcome. Legacy service providers have offered ‘Best Effort’ products that serve the basic needs of users. That might have been voice or data services procured over the phone or through a sales representation via email. It is a manageable approach when there are only a finite number of users that can only consume that much service.

Gartner estimates that there will be more than 20 billion connected things by 2020 and that will require networking to be flexible and move at the speed of innovation. It will need the capacity to support large amount of IoT data delivered by sensors in a smart city

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or data feed that powers a centralised AI platform. At the same time, Cloud connectivity is becoming increasingly critical as more than $1.3 trillion in IT spending will be directly or indirectly affected by the shift to Cloud by 2022, according to Gartner. The connectivity will have to be as agile and flexible as the Cloud, enabling businesses to privately and securely connect to the Cloud seamlessly and on-demand.

faster and simpler to turn up network services. Today, a partner can register and begin procuring Ethernet services for inter-data centre, Direct Cloud and Internet Exchange connectivity, SIP Trunking and a growing number of high-performance communications services. We are putting you in control of your connectivity needs so you can move with new agility when serving your customers.

The road to success in this digitally connected world is not always linear.

Service providers must find new and creative ways to engage customers while focusing on developing usercentric products and services. Legacy processes in networking will inhibit enterprises’ digital transformation which includes continuous innovation and the adoption of new technology. In any industry today, having a fluid and intelligent networking model is a core success factor that will separate the leaders from the laggards.

• Hyper-scalability – We have deployed 100G across our global network so that partners can scale up to serve demands coming from new services. This is critical as global enterprises digitalise their operations, expand into new markets and transform their business in the Cloud.

Our partners can now procure 100G services on-demand from our Infiny platform and support high-capacity deployments across the globe.

Having a hyper-scalable network means faster growth and better enduser experience.

Accelerating the Revolution To support the revolution, service providers must demonstrate their preparedness and the steps they are taking to make new innovations a reality. At Epsilon, we have been refining our approach to networking for more than 15 years and shaping it to match the future needs of our partners. This has been about understanding where they are today and developing the solutions they will need tomorrow.

We have taken steps to ensure that our partners will continue to play a critical role and capture new revenue from new services. Our Infiny by Epsilon software-defined networking (SDN) platform has been developed to serve new demands from all kinds of businesses and support their growth in the new era.

To ensure our partners’ success in the next industry revolution, we have focused on five areas: • Digital Experience – We are delivering a self-service model for procuring a range of connectivity solutions. The entire experience is about removing the complexities from global connectivity, making it

• Seamless Integration – Our API-first strategy means we are developing APIs for internal uses as well as presenting our services to our partners via Network APIs. Partners can integrate the power of connectivity from Infiny directly into their existing platforms or solutions, giving them new services to support new verticals such as IoT solutions for the Oil & Gas industry or connecting Cloud-based applications for financial institutions. By using APIs, we help our partners expand their service portfolio and broaden their reach globally.

• Rapid Collaboration – We are making Cross-Carrier Automation a reality by interconnecting SDN platforms via APIs. Breaking conventional norms, we are transforming the way we partner through technical integrations. Services available on Infiny can be seamlessly added onto a partner’s platform without changing the user experience. As we grow our services and reach globally, our partners will also see more destinations come online and benefit from new services driven by CrossCarrier Automation.

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• A Growing Ecosystem – We are continually adding capabilities to Infiny and growing our Global Interconnect Fabric. The programmability of Infiny means that we can continually add service modules to the platform, enabling our partners to take advantage of the latest on-demand services.

In addition to that, we are rapidly adding new Points of Presence (PoPs), Cloud Service Providers and Internet Exchanges to help partners reach new markets and serve new customers.

Delivering a Foundation We are building a robust foundation for innovation, packaged as a simple yet powerful solution for our partners. No matter the industry they serve, they know they can leverage on-demand network services to support their business needs.

They can scale to serve connected industries and devices that are being deployed while relying on the same customer service excellence we have always delivered.

Most importantly, our business has been built to change. We are on a perpetual journey of evolution, continually shaping our services so that our partners can achieve the desired outcomes. That might be supporting an OTT application globally or connecting new-breed of enterprise services in some of the most challenging scenarios. We are ready to deliver the future wherever our partners are located and whatever their needs may be.

This will be the plumbing of the next industrial revolution.

Get in touch with us to learn more about our solutions and how we can support you in your next phase of transformation: Email info@epsilontel.com Contact number Singapore: +65 6813 4020 London: +44 207 096 9600 New York: +1 516 888 7818 Dubai: +971 4 444 9570

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NTT: Large Scale Bandwidth on a Global Level NTT Communications solves the world’s technology challenges by helping enterprises overcome complexity and risk in their ICT environments with managed IT infrastructure solutions. These solutions are backed by their worldwide infrastructure, including global tier-1 public and private networks reaching over 190 countries/regions, and more than 400,000 of the world’s most advanced data center facilities.

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onsistently ranked among the top networks worldwide, NTT Com’s Tier-1 Global IP Network covers North and South America, Asia, Europe and Oceania, and provides the best possible environment for content, data and video transport through a single autonomous system number (AS 2914).

Telecom Review recently visited with Michael Wheeler, Executive VP of the Global IP Network at NTT Communications to get a feel for their

operations, and growth. Michael is in charge of their global network IP network and oversees its operation.

Michael told us that NTT is consolidating its larger companies under one holding company under NTT Corporation by the third quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019. This entity will be called NTT, Inc., and Jun Sawada, current CEO of NTT Corporation, will also serve as its CEO. Estimated operating revenue of NTT, Inc. is approximately U.S. $38 billion with U.S. $20 billion already coming from outside Japan (consolidated figures, based on the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018).

By the third quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019, NTT Communications, Dimension Data, NTT DATA, NTT Security, and NTTi3 will be transferred to NTT, Inc. and will align together under its new leadership.

While making NTT Group more competitive and profitable, their global governance will also benefit from embracing and integrating their people's diverse talents, skills, and management experience in global markets. The new structure will leverage their expertise to its maximum potential.

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Expanding Global R&D Capability Further steps will include creating a new global innovation fund: NTT Venture Capital, L.P. (a limited partnership), which will help us evolve their global innovation. With this new fund, they will activate investment in high-growth areas such as digital technology. The fund is initially capitalized at 500 million USD. They will also intensify their R&D activities in global markets by using a global network of experts from advanced academic research institutions and venture-capital communities around the world.

Network Expansion Michael told us that they are in the top 5 of all global IP networks and they continue to grow. “We have a large number of 100g ports today compared to a few years ago. The volume of traffic has grown tremendously with 30-40% of our ports now being 100G. “Most of our content customers are now connected on at least 3 continents. We use a data driven approach to building new network and new PoPS. We always make sure that any expansion works from a financial perspective.”

NTT Communications is expanding its Tier-1 Global IP Network with a new Point-of-Presence (PoP) in Dublin, Ireland, at Equinix’s DB1 data center.

This new PoP will support the growing demand for high-quality IP transit services from global companies and organizations that have established their European headquarters and/or operational organizations in Dublin.

The PoP is located at Equinix’s DB1 data center in Dublin, one of the most densely connected IBX® facilities in Ireland. It is NTT Com’s first location in the city and reflects the company’s commitment to the expanding Internetcentric, cloud service, content and digital media community in the area.

NTT Com customers at DB1 will be able to connect to the Global IP Network at numerous capacity levels including 100G ports with confirmed diversity and direct connections to Amsterdam and London to ensure the highest reliability and the lowest latency in the IP services.

“The new PoP in Dublin fits our strategy to take NTT Com’s global backbone into some of the fastest-growing Internet markets,” said Michael. “This location will not only serve new customers looking for high-capacity, high-quality IP transit services but also many of our current global customers that have established operations or are considering expansions in the Dublin area. Overall, this is a very exciting market for us,” Wheeler added.

NTT also announce the expansion of its Tier-1 Global IP Network with a new Point-of-Presence (PoP) in Manchester, United Kingdom, at Equinix's MA4 Manchester IBX® data center, a strategically-located facility within the Manchester Science Park.

This expansion will enable NTT Com to further scale its offerings to Internet service providers (ISPs), contentoriented companies, cloud, hosting and

CDN providers in one of the UK's most populous areas. Manchester is home to some of Europe's leading producers of digital media, broadcasters, financial services organizations and enterprises.

Equinix's MA4 data center enables direct interconnection to IX Manchester and the London Internet exchange, LINX, as well as a wide range of network service providers and major cloud service providers. This facility features innovative cooling technologies and operates with the highest possible standards of energy efficiency, meeting very standard for security, resilience, quality and environmental management.

NTT Com customers at MA4 will be able to connect to the Global IP Network at numerous capacity levels including 100G ports with guaranteed physical path diversity to ensure the highest reliability and quality of services.

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Gartner, a research and advisory company, recently found that nearly 20 percent of organizations observed at least one IoT-based attack in the last three years. Gartner also predicts that by 2020 IoT will play a part in more than 25 percent of cyberattacks.

“IOT is not cache driven so the network needs to be prepared for the large volumes of traffic,” Michael said.

“IoT continues to gain momentum and, in response to that, businesses need to proactively protect against IoT-related cyberattacks,” added Wheeler. “Because of the growing universe of connected devices, software and carriers in the IoT ecosystem, there’s also a need for increased industry collaboration to ensure a seamless and secure IoT experience for everyone.”

Insights from recent Memcacheddriven DDoS attacks and incidents involving Mirai-infected IoT botnets show that industry cooperation plays a key role in keeping networks and users safe. “I think carriers feel the responsibility to collaborate and communicate as much as possible and do so in the context of our roles within the broader Internet,” Wheeler concluded on this issue.

"We are thrilled to extend our footprint into one of the UK's biggest tech hubs to serve a vibrant community of Internet-centric businesses and organizations," said Michael. "We chose this facility because it provides a centralized location, exceptional performance and reliability that are an excellent match to our fully redundant Tier-1 IP backbone," Wheeler added.

IoT Has Massive Potential to Innovate, But First Needs to Be Secure “The Internet of Things revolution has tremendous potential to enhance and improve daily life by enabling our devices to connect and communicate with our other devices,” said Michael.

“The key to facilitating the IOT is

creating a network foundation that enables these applications and services to function in a safe and secure manner.”

While the Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to drive the next wave of online innovation, it needs to be grounded on secure networks that prevent cyber criminals from hacking into the myriad of IoT-enabled devices that they are increasingly connecting.

According to results of the NTT Security 2018 Global Threat Intelligence Report, a survey of about 1,350 companies showed that nearly 60 percent of respondents see IoT as a potential security threat to their organizations.

Customization as Best Defense Against Cyberattacks The first half of 2018 has seen a wider and more varied range of cyberattacks focused on denial of service, route hijacking and crypto currency theft.

As a result, organizations are seeking customized security plans that align with their specific risk profile.

“When it comes to network security, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution,” said Wheeler. “It really comes down to assessing each business area that needs protection and, along the way implementing iterative enhancements that provide the comprehensive security solutions that are required. To achieve this, global network operators are increasingly working with each customer’s internal IT teams, thirdparty vendors and industry groups to ensure that solutions are as customized as possible for each client.”

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Having contingency plans in place can also help to mitigate the impact of any breaches that may occur.

“From a network security perspective, every company has to establish what they believe their risk profile is based on a number of factors, and then ultimately identify what they're going to do to address the risk profile that has been defined,” Wheeler added.

Growing Adoption of Automation in Global Networks Many carriers continue to leverage automation, including software defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV), as a strategic approach to reducing operational expenditures, improving customer experience and lowering the occurrence of human errors.

“Router maintenance is a great example of a non-standard way in which automation has improved our delivery of service to customers and increased efficiency,” said Wheeler.

“By using our automation system, we can pre-load all of the card swaps and configuration changes in advance so that a major migration is completed in just a few hours. In the past, this was a manual process that would have taken a few days of maintenance work.”

NTT Com has been a proponent of automation and SDN at the network management level for nearly two decades. “We’ve been incorporating automation within AS2914 since the late 1990s and, as a result, what we have today is extremely sophisticated and comprehensive,” said Wheeler. “Automation is a winwin as it creates efficiencies and reduces costs for carriers while, at the same time, improving their customers’ network experience.”

DDoS attacks can strike at any time, potentially crippling network infrastructure and severely degrading the performance and reachability of a website or other IP-accessible system. Depending upon the type and severity of an attack, the impact can result in significant losses in revenue and damaged assets and, most importantly, in unpleasant experiences for end users.

FEATURE "The security and protection of our network and our customers' networks is a top priority for our company," said Michael. "We are focused on providing a wide-ranging suite of services and tools for network security and protection, including mitigation of DDoS attacks and black hole filtering. DPS Max enhances our offering and gives customers more solution options and the opportunity to choose the level of support they need."

NTT Com's DPS product suite also includes DPS Control, DPS Core and DPS Detect. DPS Control is an entry-level tier of service intended for customers that don't require full mitigation assistance. DPS Core is the initial level of service for customers that need full DDoS mitigation support. DPS Detect provides an advanced level of service as it adds detection capabilities to help identify potential attacks using state-of-the-art technology while working with customer-defined thresholds.

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The new DPS Max offers the highest level of service and provides the features of DPS Core and DPS Detect, while adding automatic mitigation capabilities. With automitigation, Global IP Network customers are able to have an attack mitigated immediately because the company's DDoS mitigation platform detects attacks and automatically initiates mitigations based upon customer-defined thresholds. When the platform notices that an attack has ended, it automatically stops the mitigation, returning the customer's traffic to their normal, pre-attack routing.

Looking to the Future “In addition to the IOT growth for the future traffic we will see in the next years, AR and VR traffic that will need network availability as it grows.

Again, these are not cache driven products so the networks need to be ready, Michael noted. “We will be there for those data driven solutions that need large scale bandwidth on a global level!”

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A New Approach for a Productive Cloud Migration In light of new digital ecosystems, lowering costs and building a modern IT environment have become an objective that companies seek to achieve in order to develop their operations. One of the elements leading to achieve this is migrating data to the public cloud. However, for some, this type of migration can be accompanied by technological, operational, financial and security challenges. According to McKinsey, the best way though is progressively adopting hybrid-cloud solutions.

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he challenges that come with migration to public cloud has limited its adoption.

In fact, a survey by McKinsey shows that 60% of companies have migrated last year less than 10% of their workloads into the public cloud. That is why, a convenient solution for this issue will be the progressive blending of public and private cloud solutions.

Companies can highly benefit from public cloud platforms given the access they give them to a range of services and innovative offerings such as advanced analytics, machine learning and virtual reality without having to develop their own. On the other hand, private cloud platforms can offer some of the same automation features with more control over the security of the applications and data. In order to bring together the capabilities of the public-

cloud with the security of private-cloud, companies can adopt a progressive approach to combine both.

If companies are to adopt the progressive hybrid-cloud configuration, they have to take into account the cost. According to a financial-services company stated by McKinsey, “input/ output-intensive” (or “I/O-intensive”) applications—those that read or write a lot of data—were costly to host in the

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public cloud because the CSP charged hefty “egress” fees whenever web applications made data calls to the company’s private data center.

encompasses the elements of the process of migration itself such as managing firewall, testing, writing code, etc.

Aside the technology costs, migration to the cloud will result in daily expenses. For instance, the company still has to perform maintenance activities even if it’s using an infrastructure-as-a-service instead of a private infrastructure.

A recent study conducted by McKinsey found that companies with a dedicated cloud team migrated 52% of applications on average (from a minimum of 20% to a high of 95%), whereas companies without a dedicated cloud team migrated 29% of applications on average (between 8% and 55%).

In addition to the financial considerations, companies should prioritize the data and applications they want to migrate because it wouldn’t be very efficient to undertaken a complete migration of all data and applications to the cloud at the same time. That is why, before initiating the process, McKinsey advises to assess and explore several elements: • dependencies on other applications • security controls required by the application • services consumed by the application • data required by the application • the underlying technology architecture • the effort required to rewrite code and configurations and conduct testing • the costs of cloud-deployment options • the business risks of performing a migration One important challenge that companies can face when it comes to cloud migration is talent. In fact, some might consider the cloud as an infrastructure service and thus assign their existing infrastructure team to operate the services. However, the infrastructure team will face difficulties in performing this task due their incapacity to operate new support processes and deal with the right technologies.

Therefore, companies should have a dedicated cloud-delivery team to insure that the migration efforts are successful. Its main duties are to design, build and maintain the platform and train developers, in addition to the technical side of the job that

Automation appears to be a key element for the cloud team to be most productive. Cloud teams can write scripts that perform virtually every task involved in operating cloud platforms.

They can build tools and application programming interfaces that let software developers deploy cloud services on their own. Cloud-delivery teams that follow these approaches write more code than conventional system-administration teams, so they find it advantageous to follow agile methods.

“One company found that its cloud team supported some 400 images per full-time employee, compared with the 80 images per employee in its traditional operations group”, explained Mark Gu, consultant in McKinsey’s New York office. “As more applications

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get moved into the cloud, the cloud team’s head count can increase, and the traditional infrastructure team can be scaled back. In this way, dedicated cloud cells can eventually replace traditional infrastructure functions.”

Gu gave another example explaining the efficiency of this approach.

“One financial-services company’s cloud team chose to let application developers and systems engineers contribute to the cloud platform’s code base. Within two years, more than half of the application teams had voluntarily moved their applications to the cloud, and the remainder were eager to follow suit once essential capabilities were established.”

Cloud services are a corner stone in companies’ path towards digital transformation and innovation.

Migrating to public-cloud platforms is very beneficial however comes with many real challenges that can hamper the company’s digital journey. Hybrid-cloud platforms appear to be a great alternative for companies to optimize their performance and productivity while taking into account the cost, the migration process and the need to have a dedicated cloud team capable of completing the migration in the most rapid and productive way.

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PCCW Global:

PCCW Global:

Enhanced Connectivity Covering more than 3,000 cities and 150 countries, the PCCW Global network supports a portfolio of integrated global communications solutions which include Ethernet, IP, fiber and satellite transmission solutions, international voice and VoIPX services, managed network & security services and our expanding “as-aservice” solutions including OTT video and Unified Communications.

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ith so many ways to connect, Telecom Review thought it would be good for our readers to further understand their connectivity capabilities. We recently visited with Marc Halbfinger the CEO of PCCW Global in order to give our readers a good overview of this growing service provider. Marc told us that connectivity is their key service so we got a good idea of some of their recent initiatives.

Marc told us that “connectivity remains

indispensable” in today’s service provider marketplace. He also believes that open source will continue to grow and drive the “softwareization” of the networks.

Interconnection For the first time, Software-Defined Interconnection lets customers instantly provision direct connections to remote data centers, partners, and cloud services – with the click of a button PCCW Global announced the public launch of Console Connect, their Software-Defined Interconnect platform

when they purchased certain portions of the Company. Marc noted that their agile environment was such that they decided to transform PCCW to follow the Console Connect organizational process.

Console Connect is available immediately to customers all around the world, combines attributes never offered before to enterprises and service providers: • Tier 1 Global IP Network: PCCW Global’s extensive Tier 1 global IP network available in 150 countries around the world.

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• Ecosystem Partners: Console Connect enables access to major cloud service providers and business-critical applications.

• Automation software: Link data centers to each other, and to cloud providers, in seconds and on-demand with Console Connect’s simple-touse yet sophisticated SoftwareDefined Interconnect automation software.

• Networking community: Powerful social platform for knowledge sharing and growing the customers’ network and business.

Console Connect’s automated provisioning and routing is easy to use.

Built with customer experience at its heart, the Console Connect application has eliminated the complexity of network configuration so the customer can focus on its core business.

Customers are able to get started quickly with just one port and one cross-connect. Once the cross-connect

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is set up, business-critical applications and cloud partners can be connected with a click of a button.

The Software-Defined Interconnect can tie together enterprise data centers, headquarters to regional centers, and branch offices. Console Connect can link business partners and supply chain and get private access to public clouds, such as AWS, and other available IaaS providers.

Marc noted, “a three month process has been moved to a just minutes process.” It can also privately connect to critical commonly used applications and services such as video conferencing, unified communications and service desks to improve performance and security.

The complete solution includes the tools needed to manage multiple secure direct connections, monitor connection performance, and view bandwidth allocation and utilization.

At any time, the customer can adjust bandwidth up and down as needed.

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Ronnie Klingner, President of Mobility and Digital Solutions, PCCW Global, said, “Console Connect enables access to some of the major cloud service providers across the globe for customers to access through the platform, including AWS, Azure, and Alibaba. By the third quarter this year, we aim to have all major cloud service providers on board as well as additional major SaaS providers.”

Ms. Klingner added, “The PCCW Global IP network is at the heart of Console Connect. We go to many parts of the world that others do not. Owning the network enables us to offer unique flexibility on bandwidth and terms.

Other companies focus on the U.S. and Europe, and maybe one or two parts of Asia. PCCW Global is very diverse with presence all over North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and most markets in Asia. We are not starting from scratch. PCCW Global already serves a significant multinational customer base. It is far easier for our existing customers and

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Moreover, customers are able to take control of their own SD-WAN network through a centralized management portal that provides advanced visibility, configuration, reporting and troubleshooting capabilities.

Enabling cost effective access from the branch site to data center, SD-WAN complements PCCW Global’s existing Console Connect service, a global Software-Defined Interconnection® platform that provides automated, secure and predictable connectivity between the data center and business partners, major cloud service providers and business-critical applications across the globe. The service also supplements and enhances PCCW Global’s comprehensive suite of communication services that includes Global MPLS, Global Internet Access, Global Ethernet, Global UCaaS and Managed Cybersecurity Solutions. partners to join Console Connect’s platform, compared to other companies who may not yet have the scale of our global network. We are already here.”

The networking community is also unique to Console Connect, bringing customers and cloud providers together into an ecosystem where everyone can share information, discover new service providers, find partners in their supply chain, and build out their networks leveraging PCCW Global’s IP network.

The Console Connect community is created by network engineers for network engineers, designed for knowledge sharing and growing customers’ networks. Members receive a stream of posts, articles and events created by their peers in the networking community, and can connect and collaborate in real time with chat and messaging SD-WAN PCCW Global has launched a new global Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) service which complements existing fiber-based IP-MPLS services, providing enterprises with a secure, application aware network that continually optimizes for performance and cost in real time, and delivering a vastly improved user experience.

As enterprises seek to extract the most value from exciting new technologies such as cloud computing, data analytics and the Internet of Things, heavy demands on branch networks often lead to increasing complexity along with cost and resource-intensive WAN management.

PCCW Global’s new SD-WAN service addresses these challenges headon by simplifying multi-site WAN deployment and management.

The service optimizes traffic in real time by constantly adapting to meet changing business needs while simultaneously balancing performance and cost. Traffic is intelligently routed over a preferred network path from a combination of IP-MPLS, broadband and 4G LTE connections in order to meet predefined network and performance policies. The service is transport agnostic, so enterprises are able to make use of an existing PCCW Global MPLS network, or even connectivity provided by another service provider.

SD-WAN is easy for enterprises to deploy and integrate with their current network, resulting in minimal disruptions for end users while providing an integrated and seamless end-to-end user experience.

Over 80 countries across the US, Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Oceania will be covered during the initial launch phase of the service, which will continue to be expanded through both PCCW Global’s existing network as well as third party providers’ networks. PCCW Global’s MPLS network itself spans over 3,000 cities in 150 countries, with direct extensions available to all major cloud providers.

Mr. Jordick Wong, Senior Vice President, Product and Vendor Management, PCCW Global, said, “Globally, the need for intelligent and advanced business networks is growing substantially. Our SD-WAN service provides enterprises with an efficient and streamlined networking capability that maximizes their existing connectivity solutions and optimizes business-critical and cloud-based applications, ensuring an enhanced user experience without having to spend more on connectivity.”

Connecting the Cloud PCCW Global provides support for Google Cloud Partner Interconnect by providing enterprises direct, ondemand connections to the Google Cloud platform. PCCW Global’s Console Connect provides Google Cloud customers with fast, low-latency, and

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secure direct connectivity from the PCCW Global Tier 1 IP network which spans more than 150 countries around the globe.

Console Connect provides Google Cloud customers with on-demand, direct access to their businesscritical applications, and can connect any and all points in customer networks with simple-to-use, yet sophisticated, automation software that eliminates the complexity of network configuration. It also enables enhanced performance, visibility, monitoring, and security, while providing additional reach for Google Cloud Partner Interconnect customers.

Console Connect also brings enterprises and cloud providers together into a unique networking community created by and for network engineers from around the world. The complete solution includes the tools needed to manage multiple secure direct connections, monitor connection performance, and view bandwidth allocation and utilization. Google Cloud Partner Interconnect is available now across Europe, Asia and the Americas, and is one of the many cloud and SaaS providers offered via Console Connect.

Paul Gampe, Chief Technology Officer of PCCW Global, said, “Connecting the Google Cloud platform to Console Connect at multiple points around the world enables businesses to quickly establish secure and high-performance direct connections to business-critical workloads in the cloud. The agility and performance benefits of Google Cloud Partner Interconnect integrate perfectly with a superior cloud networking experience offered by Console Connect.”

Growing Network PCCW Global and the HENGTONG Group, have signed a cooperation agreement to connect China to Europe and Africa via the Pakistan East Africa Connecting Europe (PEACE) undersea cable project, a new high-speed connection which is planned to go live in early 2020. Marc noted that they are working with Alcatel and Huawei Marine and they are very happy with the design and construction process.

FEATURE When complete, the high-speed PEACE cable system will offer the shortest routes from China to Europe and Africa, interconnecting three of the world’s most populous continents whilst at the same time dramatically reducing latency, delivering a superior connectivity experience which will be ideal for a vast array of commercial and consumer applications.

Traditionally under-served, Africa has the fastest-growing youth population in the world and is a market particularly ripe for investment because of the rapidly growing number of Internet users and increasing demand for connectivity to, and across, Africa.

The backbone of the project will connect Pakistan, Djibouti, Egypt, Kenya and France, providing critical interconnections to key Asia, Europe, and Africa economic corridors, while other routes and connection agreements will stretch to South Africa, with planned landing points in route.

PCCW Global and HENGTONG will cooperate to steer the overall project.

Huawei Marine, is already engaged with the construction of a primary segment of the 12,000km-long PEACE cable. PCCW Global is the manager of the commercial side of the cooperation and is responsible for all capacity services and landing party arrangements, in addition to bundling capacity on the new submarine cable with existing network products and services.

Innovative new technologies are being deployed in the construction phase

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of the project which will enable each country's bandwidth allocation to be modified during the lifetime of the cable. Once the cable is live, individual cable stakeholders will have the ability to design the network to their own specifications, without impacting others using the same cable system.

The PEACE cable project also paves the way for PCCW Global and HENGTONG to collaborate on other regional connectivity projects as well as the establishment of smart cities across multiple continents.

Sameh Sobhy, Vice President, Middle East & North Africa, PCCW Global, said, “We are proud that the reputable industry leader – HENGTONG Group – has entrusted us and our expertise in cable planning and management to be the commercial channel for the PEACE project.”

Sun Xiaohua, Vice President, HENGTONG Marine, a subsidiary of HENGTONG Group, said, “We see the PEACE project as a strategic pivot for the HENGTONG Group to obtain our experience as a subsea cable investor and look forward to identifying new investing opportunities in this market in the future. We are extremely proud to have appointed PCCW Global as our key collaborator in this project and to achieve a more effective approach for the investment. It is the power of this cooperation that is spearheading the deployment and commercialization of better connectivity between Europe, Asia and Africa.”

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Schneider is Helping to Build Out the Edge Schneider Electric tells us that APC NetShelter® SX with Shock Packaging has achieved Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) Pre-rack and Ship Certification, expanding certification from one standard size to covering the entire product line. Telecom Review recently met with Steven Carlini, VP of Innovation and Data Center, at Scneider to get an overview of how they are enabling to deployment of Edge Data Centers and new 5G microcenter deployments.

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he NetShelter SX product line includes 13 preconfigured SKUs with Shock Packaging and thousands of customization options with configure and engineer-to-order factory processes such as the Micro Data Center Xpress SX 24U and 42U pre-integrated with all of the APC physical infrastructure. All of these products are now certified to ship as a pre-integrated package with Cisco UCS servers globally.

“This certification is crucial for our customers because it provides the assurance that our products are

certified for shipments with potentially millions of dollars of equipment inside,” said Dave Johnson, EVP, IT Division, Schneider Electric. “Schneider Electric is dedicated to our alliance with Cisco to ensure that we jointly provide our customers with the highest quality converged solutions that are the building blocks of the edge.”

ship in APC NetShelter SX racks with Shock Packaging.

Cisco UCS is a leader in converged infrastructure and is the foundation for NetApp FlexPod, Dell|EMC VBLOCK, IBM VersaStack, Pure Storage FlashStack, and Microsoft Azure Stack along with Cisco’s Hyperconverged solution HyperFlex. With the certification, all of these converged infrastructures can

“Tech Data is excited to see this expanded certification on the APC NetShelter SX products because we know from experience that the testing and packaging meet the highest quality standards,” said Maghen Hannigan, Director of Converged and Data Center Solutions, Tech Data. “This now

For IT channel partners, a combined Micro Data Center solution from APC saves both valuable integration floor space and time by not having to unbox, install, and configure during the integration process.

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gives us the ability to create a true end-to-end solution that saves our channel partners deployment time and money, while heightening the value we provide around converged data center solutions.”

APC Products Surpass International Safe Transit Association 3E Tests APC’s NetShelter SX with Shock Packaging underwent stringent testing procedures beyond the standard International Safe Transit Association 3E tests. To earn the Cisco certification, Schneider Electric invested heavily in testing and analysis to measure the forces placed on the equipment and the NetShelter’s ability to dampen them, ensuring reliable shipment.

EcoStruxure™ IT Expert, its cloud-based data center infrastructure management solution, with its release in North America. With IT Expert, Schneider Electric brings secure, vendor agnostic, wherever-you-go monitoring and visibility of all IoT-enabled physical infrastructure assets.

As part of Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure architecture, IT Expert operates with all IoT-enabled physical infrastructure assets like secure power and cooling — including the new, cloud-enabled Smart-UPS with APC SmartConnect. IT Expert addresses the data center industry’s need to simplify how data centers, distributed IT, and local edge environments are managed.

FEATURE Providing proactive recommendations and consolidated performance and alarming data, IT Expert can significantly reduce alarm noise and improve overall site resiliency.

Key benefits of EcoStruxure IT and its applications include: • Global visibility across the hybrid ecosystem regardless of location • Secure updates of mass configuration and firmware in a more simple and faster process • Vendor neutral data capture of device information, smart alarms, and monitoring of all connected devices through an open system

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may want to maximize their footprint with taller racks, at edge locations they may require a rack that can fit in a closet or underneath a desk, while on premise IT managers may prefer wider cabinets for easier access and maintenance. The certification also covers customization of NetShelter SX racks with Shock Packaging so customers and partners can venture outside the catalog, such as integrating their necessary APC accessories or customizing racks in signature colors, while maintaining peace of mind knowing the whole family of products is certified.

“APC by Schneider was the perfect company to partner with in the Micro Data Center solutions space,” said Dan Hanson, Senior Director, UCS Product Management, Cisco. “Through our Alliance, we are strengthening our commitment to delivering world-class Edge and IOT solutions that offer tremendous flexibility, resiliency, and deploy faster than ever.”

APC now offers more options for preintegrating a Cisco UCS in APC rack infrastructure and shipping it, providing an end-to-end solution for partners and a plug and play experience for end users, without voiding the UCS warranty. Reusable Shock Packaging meets the industry shipping standard ISTA 3E, protecting cabinets equipped with up to 2,000 pounds of IT equipment for reliable load, transport, unload, and deployment.

A Wide Range of Options for a Wide Range of Customer Needs The NetShelter SX family of products, the world's most versatile server rack enclosure with over 1 million units sold, comes in a wide variety of heights, widths, and depths for a wide range of customer needs. For example, for off-site colocation deployments, IT managers

For the ability to manage these many environments, Cisco and Schneider Electric provide the EcoStruxure™ IT platform with Cisco UCS manager integration, which can simplify data management and provide visibility of the power infrastructure across the two platforms through a single pane of glass.

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Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit 2018: A Resounding Success

Over 600 leaders from the global ICT industry were in attendance at the 11th edition of the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit, which was held in Dubai.

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he two-day Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit kicked off under the theme of ‘It’s all about Smart Networking’ and “Building the SMART Future”, and attracted participants from over 35 countries which illustrates the global reach of the conference.

Almunawara Development Authority, Cisco, CommScope, ConsenSys, du, Etisalat, Ericsson, Governance Dynamics, Huawei, IBM, ITC, Inwi, MYCOM OSI, Mavenir, MiCity, Microsoft, Nokia, NXN, Orange Egypt, Ripe NCC, Red Hat, PwC, PCCW Global, SES, Strategy, Sofrecom, Stratanet, TELUS, Toda.Network, Z-Park China, in addition to government delegates from several countries and industry players.

The Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit is recognized as one of the most important symposiums in the global ICT calendar with attendees from companies such as Alfa, ABS, Accenture, Amazon Web Services, Al Khalijiah, APTelecom, Almadinah

Founder of Telecom Review Toni Eid, officially opened the 11th edition of the conference and said the event represented the perfect platform for leaders within the ICT sector to share their insights into the challenges and opportunities presented by emerging

technologies, as the industry prepares itself for The Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Toni Eid said, “We are proud that the Telecom Review Summits have become an important event marked upon the agendas of most ICT leaders spanning the Middle East to Asia, Africa, Europe and North America.

Over the next two days we will share insights on the development of 5G and examine the key technologies required for smart cities. We will examine important topics such as key technologies for smart cities, how operators can find common understanding for technology, the future of smart cities, the need for

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data management and protection, and how to build a resilient smart city.”

The official opening keynote was delivered by Dr. Eesa Bastaki, president, University of Dubai, who explained in depth about technology’s role in education, research and innovation. According to him, quality education; research and business development; innovation, incubation and entrepreneurship centers; robust, secured, high-speed, seamless and reliable ICT Infrastructure are crucial to achieve a long-term sustainable, prosperous and productive lifestyle.

How is technology affecting our daily life? This topic was debated by Eid and Hatem Dowidar, CEO, Etisalat.

The discussion revolved around the impact of several technologies that Eid chose to present in a futuristic video explaining how our daily lives have transformed. The video laid the foundation for a very interactive discussion during which Eid raised a series of questions asking Dowidar about the changes that were

The Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit is recognized as one of the most important symposiums in the global ICT calendar

COVERAGE brought on by mobile applications, autonomous cars and mobile health, to name a few.

On mobile applications, Dowidar described how they are now part of our lives. He emphasized the positive impact they’ve had and insisted on countering every argument claiming that mobile applications have negatively affected employment.

“Technology is making our lives easier. Applications are creating jobs, so I don't accept the suggestion that the advent of these technologies will have an adverse impact on employment,” he said.

When asked about his stance on autonomous cars, Dowidar hailed this particular technological development in the transportation sector, notably for its environmental benefits. “Self-driving cars are going to completely revolutionize the transportation sector. Cars will become smarter. They will have a positive impact on the environment too as it will reduce our carbon footprint and eliminate congestion.”

Another important topic discussed at this debate was mobile health.

The CEO of Trace Media tackled technology’s impact on the health sector and explained how it had made remote medicine possible, thus allowing patients to receive a fast and accurate diagnosis.

“The implementation of AI in healthcare can prevent and detect problems in a much more effective way, which makes it more efficient for both the doctor and patient,” commented Dowidar.

However, the two CEOs agreed on the importance of data protection when it comes to mobile health. Patients’ personal data is very critical and have to be protected. Patients need assurance that their data is safe online in order to trust mobile health providers.

The debate concluded with an outlook to the future and what direction should mobile operators take in order to get ready for the advent of further

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new technologies that will certainly disrupt industries and markets.

The first day covered topics ranging from 5G and cybersecurity to capacity, data traffic and cloud.

Industry experts took part in informative panels to explain more about those topics and put their companies’ strategies into words.

An Jian, president, Carrier Network Business Group, Huawei Middle East, delivered a keynote entitled “5G inspiring the future”. He mainly focused on the benefits that 5G will bring to societies and economies and highlighted the fact that countries have already embarked upon their 5G journey. In fact, in his presentation, he explained that 154 carriers in 66 countries have already undertaken 5G tests and 110 markets are projected to deploy 5G in 2025.

“We are operator's best 5G partner,” said An Jian when talking about Huawei’s large experience and efforts in the field of 5G technologies. “We can enable operators to be among the first wave of those deploying 5G in the world.”

Matteo Maga, managing director, Communications and Media Industry Lead (AAPAC) at Accenture, then delivered an insightful presentation in which he outlined how he believes that telecommunication operators have the ability to disrupt the consumer and business market at incredible speeds, and claimed they should be capable of enabling new economic and business models.

Next on the agenda was the PCCW Global CEO who gave a very interesting presentation in which he explained how to move forward into a cloud-certified ecosystem. He asked the audience an important question: How are new business models reshaping behaviors and how to educate an enterprise on being agile? Enterprise agility is a trending topic nowadays and Halbfinger emphasized the importance of learning how to be agile.

Leaders from the telecommunications industry examined and explored the

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opportunities presented by digital transformation at the 11th edition of the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit.

NXN’s chief business officer, Labib Matta, moderated a panel discussion entitled “The Telecom Leaders Panel: How do telcos address the digital transformation opportunity?” Panelists included Hatem Dowidar, CEO, Etisalat International; Marwan Hayek, CEO, Alfa; Yasser Shaker, CEO, Orange Egypt; Ken Campbell, director general, Inwi; and Anthony Shiner, chief digital & innovation officer, du.

The panelists explained, each from his own point of view, how to embrace digital transformation and seize the opportunities that it presents. They all gave concrete examples on how their companies have embarked on their digital journey and how it has reflected on the countries where they operate.

Mounir Ladki, president and CTO, MYCOM OSI and Amir Rao, head of Global Technology Alliances – Telecommunications, Amazon Web Services delivered a joint presentation entitled “Building the future autonomic network with an open, cloud ecosystem”.

Ladki highlighted that networks are already approaching a point where it will be impossible for human beings to control them manually, notably with the emergence of real time, on-demand digital services. He emphasized the importance of intelligence and software as a key driver of autonomic network.

He said, “If automation was written by people, what happens when new devices will become connected? We need intelligence and software.”

Amir Rao then talked about how the cloud is core to the DSP strategy.

According to him, transforming into a DSP rests on 6 key pillars, enabled by the public cloud: rapid innovation, rapid scalability, new attitudes to risks, ecosystem native, real-time automated and subscription model.

During the first day of the event, different panels were organized to discuss a range of topics including 5G’s role in generating new economic value,

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cybersecurity measure in light of the digital era and capacity and data traffic.

communication service provider is now providing digital services.

Michael Yeung, Head of Software Engineering, Cisco, delivered the closing keynote of day 1, in which he focused on automation and how it has become a necessity nowadays citing different trends that are driving the need to automate.

EITC’s CEO highlighted that after The Industrial Revolution, the focus switched to automation, then we transitioned towards digital and then the focus became making digital ‘smarter’. Now we’re developing AIpowered robots, but warned that the objective behind every new technology should be people-centric.

Day 2 of the conference focused on smart cities and examined the characteristics and technologies that are required to create leading smart cities on a global scale.

CEO of EITC, Osman Sultan gave the opening keynote presentation which was entitled: From smart to SMART. Sultan delivered an engaging and interactive presentation that had the large crowd in attendance captivated as he explored the potential opportunities for operators in the smart city space.

The charismatic CEO began his presentation by focusing on talent, and said that recruiting the right talent and creating the right environment for them to prosper was critically important, as the telecommunication industry continues to undergo huge digital transformation in its efforts to create new business models. He said operators’ needed to think differently.

The CEO of EITC said, “Culture is the only thing that can't be replicated. This will force us to think differently, and as a result we will create a holistic workforce ecosystem. Talent will take your company from strategy to execution to culture.”

In relation to smart cities, Sultan claimed that Dubai has always been ‘smart’, and that it has served as a benchmark for technological progress over the last 20 years. However, he stressed that Dubai was more a city of ‘smart applications’ as oppose to being a cohesive all-encompassing smart city.

Sultan then turned his attentions to that of governance and said that the speed of legislation was lagging behind with regards to the speed of technological development. He also noted that every

He concluded a brilliant presentation by calling upon those within the ICT ecosystem to be brave and to seize the opportunities that are going to be presented by 5G and other emerging technologies.

Smart health was also discussed during the 2nd edition of ‘Building the SMART Future’ conference. H.E. Ghassan Hasbani, deputy prime minister and Minister of Public Health in Lebanon, delivered a keynote on how technology has revolutionized the health sector and what the future holds for patients willing to embrace digital in health.

Different panels were organized to discuss a range of topics including 5G’s role in generating new economic value

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COVERAGE

Telecom Review’s 11th Leaders’ Summit Honors the Best of the ICT and Telecom Industry Telecom Review continued its dedication and commitment to the ICT industry and exceeded all expectations by holding the best and largest networking event for high-level ICT executives. Over 600 leaders from the global ICT industry were in attendance at the 11th edition of the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit Those in attendance traveled from 39 different countries to attend the event.

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n the first evening of the event a Gala Award Dinner was held to present the winners of the 2018 Telecom Review Excellence awards. These awards recognize industry leaders for their industry recognized achievements and hard work in 2018, and are a special way for Telecom Review to help celebrate the winner’s success.

This year there were 367 nominations for the Telecom Review Excellence Awards. Winners were chosen based on recognized and demonstrated capabilities

in their specific sector by an independent panel of 15 experienced industry veterans.

Commenting on the gathering of Industry Leaders, Jeff Seal, Managing Partner of Telecom Review North America noted, “Once again Telecom Review has brought together the world leaders of the ICT/ telecom industry to recognize their achievements.”

This year’s Excellence Award winners were as follow: 1. Best VAS Provider -StrataNet 2. Best Nonprofit- RIPE 3. Best Digital BSS Provider- ACCENTURE 4. Best Customer Service Provider- Tata

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5. Best Carrier Enterprise Service-Nokia 6. Best Asian Operator- PTCL 7. Best Cloud Provider-Ericsson 8. Most Innovative Product/ ServiceOperator -du 9. Most Innovative Product/Solution– TELUS, CISCO, Sauga 360 10. Best Middle Eastern Operator-Etisalat 11. Best African Operator- Maroc Telecom 12. Best Industry Vendor-HUAWEI 13. Best 5G Innovation-HUAWEI 14. Best New Smart City Initiative du 15. World`s Best Smart City /Toronto Best Smart City MENA: Dubai 16. Best Smart City Platform- NXN 17. Best Telecom Brand- Nokia 18. Best Middle Eastern Wholesale Operator-Etisalat 19. Best Infrastructure DeploymentStrataNet 20. Best International Wholesale Operator- GTT Leader Merit Awards 1. Industry CEO of the Year- Operators Mr ZIAD SHATARA-Umniah 2. Woman of the Year in ICT- Catherine Michel, CTO Sigma Systems About Telecom Review Telecom Review is a leading media platform that covers a broad spectrum of issues that inform the modern and educated reader. Building on the expertise and skills of its management team and media professionals, Telecom Review provides its readers with quality industry coverage through research, analysis and insightful articles rich in content and style.

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demands of both the customer and the provider.

In the case of the MDU, the MPO can be used between the service entrance cabinet in a basement or closet to feed subsequent aggregation points on each of the floors. This gives the provider a feeder path for each floor with the added benefit of a plug-and- play solution. In this scenario, the technician would push or pull the assembly to the desired floor and then simply plug the MPO into an aggregation assembly. This then becomes the breakout point to feed that floor. When the MPO assembly is a pre-connectorized solution, no splicing is needed and subsequently, even an entry level technician is able to make the connection.

Additionally, this connection takes only a minute to make as opposed to 30-50 minutes. That is the real advantage of the MPO in the MDU environment.

Delivering Fiber Faster with Less Labor MDUs (multi-dwelling units) and MTUs (multi-tenant units) have similarities that pose some significant challenges to the fiber optic service provider – paramount being the challenge of getting fiber to the individual units. Compounding this is the ever-shrinking pool of fiber trained technicians available to the provider. To address both of these issues, the industry is increasingly turning to product manufacturers for help.

Products that are small, tech friendly and of good quality are a must if the providers are going to be able to meet the demands of their customers.

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or MDU and MTU deployments, the provider first needs to consider the route to each floor as well as the route to the individual suite or living unit. Limited space and the time to turn up individual units are two of the

biggest concerns when evaluating a building for fiber. The MTU differs from the MDU in that, as a business class fiber deployment, the MTU typically requires multiple fibers to each unit as opposed to a single fiber. This is where the MPO connector is a game changer - developed to simplify and speed business deployments that meet the

In the case of an MTU, the MPO would be used to connect from the building entry point directly to the business suite.

The MPO is then plugged into a suitable aggregation point or a fiber fan out of the desired length and connector type based on the customer equipment needs.

It can even be plugged directly into the customer equipment if it has the ability to accept an MPO connection. Again, this is done in minutes and can be completed by an entry level technician.

The overarching pressure applied to the provider is that when the service is needed, it is needed now. Customers have also become accustomed to not having to wait for services. In the “old days� the provider usually had between 90 and 120 days from the time the order was received until it had to be turned up.

Not so today. 30 days is considered an eternity for a customer to wait. Also, in the past the customer was responsible for providing the pathway for the service.

This too has changed. The provider is now responsible to find a path into the customer, or in the worst case build one.

This is not only time consuming, but expensive as well.

The flexibility offered by the MPO connector aids the provider in turning up business customers faster while better managing their technician utilization. As opposed to traditional fiber, the MPO also

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gives the business the ability to always have either 12 or 24 fibers available for use - basically future proofing that suite.

This is a point that is sometimes lost in the “deployment frenzy” that most providers find themselves in.

The MPO connector has also gone through a number of development stages over the course of time. When it was initially released to the market sometime around 1996, it was known to have a very high signal loss. This almost negated the advantage of having 12 terminated fibers.

What good is a multiple fiber connector if the signal loss is unacceptable?

Over the course of its evolution, the MPO connector has seen a significant reduction in loss levels and has become much more desirable for most providers (0.35dB).

This allows the MPO to be used in a larger variety of applications while reducing both the amount of time as well as the level of expertise needed to deploy the fiber network thus allowing the provider to have another “tool in the toolbox”.

The remaining obstacle in deploying a connector like the MPO in MDU/MTU applications is the physical size of the connector. Small spaces are a common occurrence in these deployments, and present their own sets of challenges to the installer. The next logical evolution of MPO connectors addresses this problem.

Clearfield’s FieldShield pushable MPO was developed to help in these tight spaces while maintaining a very low signal loss. This connector takes the best aspects of the MPO and seals it into a protective housing that enables the technician to push or pull it through a micro-conduit or an existing conduit pathway with other cables already installed. Once it is placed, the outer protective housing is removed and the standard housing is clicked into place just prior to plugging into customer equipment, fan out assemblies, or aggregation points. This aspect allows the installer to have all the benefits of a multi-fiber connector coupled with a very small footprint.

With this approach in mind, the designer would begin their site survey by looking for existing services that enter the building.

Typically, they would avoid electrical service entry points (for obvious reasons)

and focus on communications services.

Once the pathway has been identified, the rule of thumb for a pushable MPO is that if there is enough room for a man’s thumb to be placed into the conduit, then the MPO is a good candidate. In conduits that have multiple provider services, or multiple tenant services in them, a microduct is first placed by either pushing it into the conduit much like a fish tape or pulled into the conduit by conventional methods. The microduct is typically placed to provide “distinctive route path” and provide added protection to the fiber. After the duct is in place, the protected MPO assembly is either pushed or pulled in through the microduct and terminated at the customer equipment using one of the previously mentioned methods.

An added MPO benefit is future-proofing - a term somewhat overused in the broadband world, but in the framework of MDU/MTU deployments, is on-point. In the case of an MTU, a 12 or 24 fiber MPO can be placed to the suite and any configuration of breakout can be used. As an example, an office suite housing a dentist office may only need 2 fibers to connect to their equipment. In this case the MPO could be plugged into an MPO cassette and then using fiber jumpers from ports one and two, connect to the dentist’s equipment. If the dentist moves out of that suite or outgrows his broadband services, fibers can be added by simply plugging them in.

In a different scenario, if the customer first required the fibers to directly plug into their equipment and it was not MPO capable, the MPO connector would plug

into a fan out that can be constructed to any configuration, such as perhaps a 2-meter breakout with 4 fibers used. At a later time, if the need is to expand to 6 or 12 fibers, the technician would just unplug the 4-fiber fan out and plug in the 6 or 12 fiber fan out. Service is upgraded in minutes instead of hours. This benefits both the provider and the customer.

In addition to ease of use, by using a pre-connectorized MPO assembly and breakout, the provider gains the benefit of a factory terminated, factory polished and factory tested cable assembly instead of relying on the skill of a technician in a sometimes less than suitable environment to make a quality splice. The provider utilizes an assembly that was constructed using strict environmental and quality controls giving them a level of confidence that all of their connectors will be of the highest quality.

So, what should someone considering MDU/MTU deployments ask themselves?

Does my current method allow for?

1. Faster installations with no specialized tools 2. The ability to use existing conduit structures to gain access to my customer 3. Easy, non-disruptive changes when a customer requests an upgrade 4. Quality connections that are repeatable 5. The use of entry level technicians instead of highly trained splicers and equipment If the answer is no to any of these questions, you are likely a good candidate for the Pushable MPO solution for your MDU/MTU deployments.

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Zayo Plans to Split into Two Companies Zayo Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ZAYO) plans to separate into two publicly traded companies: one to focus on providing core communications infrastructure and another to leverage infrastructure to provide solutions for a broad set of enterprise customers. Zayo Infrastructure, “InfraCo,” will be a unique, fiberfocused infrastructure provider with deep, dense networks and broad geographic reach throughout North America and Western Europe. “EnterpriseCo” will have a strong product portfolio and customer base centered on higher bandwidth connectivity to enterprise locations, including to public cloud and SaaS providers, that will be sold both directly to enterprise customers and wholesale through a carrier focused channel.

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ayo’s plans for splitting the company would involve InfraCo leasing infrastructure to EnterpriseCo. When Windstream created

its telecom REIT, now known as Uniti Group, in 2015, a similar arrangement was put in place.

“Today’s announcement is the logical next step in the evolution of Zayo,”

said Dan Caruso, chairman and CEO of Zayo. “While Zayo’s business today is organized as five autonomous segments, the complexities of these businesses have made it more difficult to achieve our growth objectives. By

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completely separating the infrastructure and enterprise businesses, we will enable more focused execution within each business, leading to enhanced growth and unlocking value.”

Zayo Infrastructure (“InfraCo”) InfraCo will be comprised of the current Fiber Solutions and zColo business segments, along with the Wavelength and IP Transit businesses of Zayo’s current Transport segment. InfraCo will be the leading North American and European communications infrastructure asset, with an international fiber footprint and unparalleled metro and regional density.

This business will own and operate Zayo’s Tier One IP backbone as well as the Media Networks platform that serves its strategic video customers.

InfraCo benefits from strong secular demand and caters to a base of the largest and most sophisticated users of bandwidth infrastructure. As a business focused on infrastructure, InfraCo will have a clearer and more compelling path to REIT conversion given strong industry precedents. InfraCo will continue to be led by Dan Caruso, Zayo’s chairman and chief executive officer.

EnterpriseCo EnterpriseCo will be comprised of the current Enterprise Networks and Allstream segments, along with the SONET and Ethernet businesses of Zayo’s current Transport segment.

EnterpriseCo will have significant scale and breadth of product portfolio, while a long-term relationship with InfraCo will provide certainty on network access and cost.

EnterpriseCo will consist of two business units, an Enterprise Division and a Carrier Division. The Enterprise Division will focus on the direct-toenterprise business and will include solutions centered on SD-WAN, IP VPN, and Unified Communications. This division will provide high-bandwidth solutions to a large, well-diversified customer base that includes over 50,000 enterprises.

The Carrier Division will focus on wholesale services to carriers which enable them serve their enterprise

customers, including Carrier Ethernet tails, Wholesale Voice, and SONET. These two business units, which will each combine resources and staff from both Allstream and Zayo’s existing Enterprise segment, will be run autonomously to ensure full focus on their respective customer base and solutions.

EnterpriseCo will be led by newly named COO Mike Strople, current president of Zayo’s Allstream Segment, and Tyler Coates, SVP of Zayo’s existing Enterprise Segment.

Benefit of Separation “This transaction positions InfraCo as the largest pure-play fiber-focused communications infrastructure provider and creates an opportunity for EnterpriseCo to fully focus on our extensive enterprise customer base, solution set and business model while maintaining a strategic relationship

with InfraCo,” said Caruso. “As we operate independent businesses today, we anticipate the transition to be fairly straightforward.”

Execution Highlights The transaction is expected to be consummated via a pro rata taxable spin of EnterpriseCo from Zayo. Zayo’s existing NOLs are expected to be available to reduce any cash taxes owed by Zayo in conjunction with the spin-off. This structure preserves the ability for InfraCo to convert to a real estate investment trust (REIT).

Consummation of the spin is subject to regulatory and Board approval.

Immediately following the separation transaction, which is expected to be completed in late 2019, Zayo shareholders will own shares of both companies.

Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan are serving as financial advisors to Zayo.

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Ericsson Uses Customer Focus Ericsson appointed a new CEO and executive team 18 months ago which has led to the adoption of a new strategy that the company calls ‘the Focused Business Strategy’ because it is more customer-oriented. Telecom Review had the opportunity to speak to Helena Norrman, senior vice president, chief marketing and communications officer and head of marketing & corporate relations at Ericsson to know more about the vendor’s new strategy and get an update on what to expect in 2019.

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orrman explained that Ericsson’s focused strategy is built on customers’ needs. 5G holds the potential of increasing revenues, while operators need to have the best technology to be able to fulfill the high demand on data at the lowest cost and also offer a pleasant end user experience. We have done investments into gaining insights for 5G for both consumers and industry digitalization bringing operators some initial answers on what business potential there might be in industry digitalization by 5G, including what are the top use cases and how to capture this potential. If

the networks are not performing, they will not deliver the use cases and if the operators are not set up to be a modern digital organization, they will not be able to offer a good customer experience.

Ericsson’s new strategy, which was launched 14 months ago, has brought Ericsson back on its feet again. The vendor registered growth in the third quarter of this year for the first time since 2014 and achieved profitability for the first time since 2016.

Norrman highlighted that the appetite for data services has increased among customers and consumers which has posed a challenge to industry players that have struggled to leverage that

demand into good business. In order for operators to be able to address the demand without affecting the network’s quality, they need to find a way to reduce the cost of liberating the data. This is what Ericsson is trying to tackle to support operators through its strategy.

In terms of 5G, Ericsson’s CMO mentioned that 5G technology is already a reality in North America and will become a reality in more advanced markets in 2019, especially that networks are getting ready for the technology and 5G-compatible devices will be launched soon. Consumers will be able to use the technology and benefit from the limitless opportunities it offers.

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Ericsson is one of the world leaders in the telecoms industry. How do you see marketing playing a role within the company’s strategy?

It all comes back to the business and how it is developing. The takeoff of 5G is what we are talking about now.

Since 5G is different in character and is more of a platform for innovation, it will bring many use cases. Of course, it will be important to our customers, but it will also have the possibility of creating new businesses for our customers and bringing more applications, industries and enterprises to the network.

All of this means that the role of marketing is changing as well because it will not only be about how we are interacting with customers and attracting talent, but also it is becoming a broader discussion with the ecosystem. It’s about showcasing the technology’s possibilities to our customers’ customers. It’s about sparking the interest and showing the possibilities so that our customers can start engaging with other players.

It’s not only a relationship between us and our customers, but also an ecosystem play because you will need a lot of different components in place in order to fully leverage the technology.

Therefore, we have to broaden our horizons and be part of a bigger discussion. This is the shift that we’re undertaking.

Strategies evolve over the years to cope with the emerging trends and developments. Can you explain the evolution of Ericsson’s brand strategy?

We did a big strategic change in April 2017 when this focused business strategy was launched. Since then, we’ve been executing on that strategy that is bearing fruit. In connection with that, we developed a new brand strategy and aligned our marketing strategy with our new business strategy.

We are now more focused on the customer experience and customer value, and it’s more specific to the value we create for our customers. So,

we developed a new brand strategy as part of our business strategy development, and we have adopted the marketing strategy to make sure that it is a very strong support.

What are the key pillars of Ericsson’s marketing strategy?

Our marketing = strategy is built on three pillars. The first pillar is supporting the business, improving customer experience, and showcasing our technologies and the value of our solutions to our customers to make sure that they select us and value working with us.

The second pillar is to position Ericsson for future growth which is not about selling today but also making sure that our customers see us as a relevant partner for the future.

So, it’s about technology leadership, innovation and understanding not only our customers’ business today but also making them feel that we have a good direction for the future.

The final pillar is about restoring trust and confidence in the company because if you go through a difficult patch, you have to be humble, prove your value and show your stakeholders and customers that you’re back and you can be trusted because you have what it takes.

5G was the buzzword in 2018. What will be the main focus in 2019?

2019 will still be about 5G but it won’t be the buzzword anymore. It is the year of the real 5G. Commercial launches were made before the end of this year, but the majority of the early commercial launches will happen next year.

We should expect to see networks coming into play and a lot of developments will happen in order for us to start using the networks. In 2019, 5G will be a reality in more markets; we will start to see real business and use cases. That will spark the conversation about innovation and use cases, because it is only when a technology is in a place that people can actually start to understand what they can use it for. That process will start happening in 2019.

How do you describe your role within Ericsson?

My role allows me to work with everyone in the company at all the levels of the portfolio. I work closely with strategy development, financial performance and strategy execution. I work at the intersection of everything we do. My job is to make sure that we understand what we’re doing and what we want to do so we can position the company for success and engage in a relevant way.

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Record $174.2 Million Consumer Fraud Settlement with Spectrum

Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood announced a record $174.2 million consumer fraud settlement with Charter Communications, Inc. and Spectrum Management Holding Company (together “Charter”) for defrauding internet subscribers. The $62.5 million in direct refunds to consumers alone are believed to represent the largest-ever payout to consumers by an internet service provider (ISP) in U.S. history.

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he landmark agreement settles a consumer fraud action alleging that the state’s largest ISP, which operated initially as Time Warner Cable

and later under Charter’s Spectrum brand name, denied customers the reliable and fast internet service it had promised. This is the first settlement to result from the Attorney General’s major investigation of broadband internet service in New York.

“This settlement should serve as a wakeup call to any company serving New York consumers: fulfill your promises, or pay the price,” said Attorney General Underwood. “Not only is this the largest-ever consumer payout by an internet service provider, returning tens of millions of dollars to New Yorkers who were ripped off and providing additional streaming and premium channels as restitution – but it also sets a new standard for how internet providers should fairly market their services.”

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The settlement includes direct restitution of $62.5 million for over 700,000 active subscribers, who will each receive between $75 and $150, as well as streaming services and premium channels, with a retail value of over $100 million, at no charge for approximately 2.2 million active subscribers.

Additionally, under the settlement, Charter is required to implement a series of precedent-setting marketing and business reforms, including the requirement to describe internet speeds as “wired” and to substantiate them through regular speed testing.

These reforms set the stage for major marketing and business reforms across the broadband industry.

Following the Attorney General’s investigation, Charter has also made substantial network enhancements to improve its internet service in New York.

Attorney General’s Lawsuit In 2017, the Attorney General’s office filed a detailed complaint in New York State Supreme Court, alleging that Charter had failed to deliver the internet speed or reliability it had promised subscribers in several respects.

That includes leasing deficient modems and wireless routers to subscribers – equipment that did not deliver the internet speeds they had paid for; aggressively marketing, and charging more for, headline download speeds of 100, 200, and 300 Mbps while failing to maintain enough network capacity to reliably deliver those speeds to subscribers; guaranteeing that subscribers would enjoy seamless access to their chosen internet content while engaging in hardball tactics with Netflix and other popular third-party content providers that, at various times, ensured that subscribers would suffer through frozen screens, extended buffering, and reduced picture quality; and representing internet speeds as equally available, whether connecting over a wired or WiFi connection – even though, in real-world use, internet speeds are routinely slower via WiFi connection.

The Attorney General’s office prevailed at every major stage of the court proceedings. After Charter sought to move the case to federal court, the Attorney General’s office won a federal court decision returning it to state court. Charter then moved to dismiss the action on various grounds, including federal preemption; the Attorney General’s office successfully opposed that motion, which the trial court denied in full. When Charter appealed parts of that ruling, the Attorney General’s office prevailed again at the Appellate Division.

channels to subscribers with a retail value of over $100 million. The direct customer refunds alone are believed to constitute the largest consumer relief payout ever paid by an ISP in U.S. history. The direct restitution serves to compensate subscribers who Charter equipped with outdated modems and routers and with premium speed plans that consistently failed to deliver the advertised speeds. The streaming benefits serve to compensate subscribers for Charter’s historic failures to faithfully deliver third-party internet content that it had advertised.

Record Settlement Agreement As part of the settlement, Charter agrees to a financial settlement of $62.5 million in refunds plus streaming services and premium

Charter is also required to implement a series of precedent-setting marketing and business reforms, establishing a new model for the broadband industry.

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and has become a major player in the ICT ecosystem. Can you tell us about your journey over the last decade?

My fellow co-founder Sean Bergin and I started the company in 2009, and it’s been a great journey. We’ve been able to secure $300m in off-take agreements and pre-sales to support new submarine cable systems around the world from Brazil to West Africa to New Zealand and Australia to the Western Seaboard of the United States and in-between. It’s been a great journey and we’re honored to have participated in so many great cable projects globally.

APTelecom:

Connecting Nations with Major Trans-Pacific Cables APTelecom has become a global leader in fiber consulting services since its inception back in 2009, and is now recognized as being pioneer in submarine cable pre-sales with over $225m in client system pre-sales.

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he phenomenal success of APTelecom can be largely attributed to the dynamic leadership and vision of its CEO and founder Eric Handa and his partner Sean Bergin. Under his direction, the North American-based company, which specializes in emerging markets around the world, continues to grow year-on-year, and as a result is now involved in some the world’s largest submarine cable system projects.

Telecom Review managed to secure an exclusive interview with the Eric onsite at the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit.

In a forthright interview, the charismatic executive charted the company’s remarkable journey over the last 10 years, and highlighted how APTelecom was now involved in three major trans-pacific cable systems. In addition to this, he spoke about what differentiates the company from its competitors and outlined its plans for 2019.

APTelecom has enjoyed phenomenal success since its inception in 2009,

APTelecom is seen as a global leader in fiber consulting and you’re now serving 22 countries all over the world.

However, is the Middle East a market that you’re trying to penetrate as you look to expand your operations?

We don’t have a direct presence here in the Middle East, but we’ve worked on some projects for a couple of our clients like SubCom. SubCom built the AE1 cable system and we’ve now been able to participate in other projects that are growing through the region such as MENA which was recently sold and we were involved in that sale. So it’s been a good journey and our expertise is global.

Like you mentioned, we’re present in 22+ countries across the world. The Middle East is an important region for us as we look to expand in the future for another 10 years.

What is your most important and lucrative market, would it be in North America?

Our largest market would actually be Asia Pacific. We’re currently working on a non-stop system from Singapore to the West Coast. In addition to this, we’re also working on a system for Pacific Light from Hong Kong to LA. That is scheduled and ready to go to works next year. It is a large system sea plus technology-based system. We’ve also just been working with Hawaiki went RFS in late August/September of this year. So, we’ve got three trans-pacific systems which if you look at the tally in terms of capital expenditure is just over $1bn to build those systems. We’re involved in some really, really large projects that are connecting nations and connecting a lot of people to each other.

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As we’ve already touched upon, AP Telecom has enjoyed huge success and is involved in some major projects globally. What do you think it is that differentiates AP Telecom from its competitors?

We try to focus in on relationships. In Asia, Europe or Africa, relationships are the driving force of any business and we often say to ourselves that there are two things that we look for.

The first one is a hard side issue or a soft side issue, or is this something we can accomplish through a relationship approach or a transactional approach.

We try to be more relationship-based.

We may know the answer, but the way you frame and say it goes a long way, particularly in different parts of the world.

At the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit, you participated in a panel that focused on Capacity and Data Traffic. From your perspective what were some of the most interesting insights and viewpoints that emerged from that discussion?

I’d say the three areas from APTelecom’s point of view that we took as key takeaways from the conference were in relation to smart cities. We were really able to learn about how the future was going to be shaped in the next 10-15 years and beyond. The second area was the ability to customize your solution to different areas, particularly in the Middle East and the GCC region, whether it is mobility services, or e-commerce. The last point was that there is a tremendous amount of interest in cloud computing. Cloud computing is a huge driver whether it’s the assurance cloud, or whether it’s network to service quality or automated networks that are going to drive the development of autonomous driving or M2M technology.

So, in summary, cloud computing was a huge, huge takeaway to learn so much from the hardware or the network or the software side of it and how cloud computing is going to drive that transformation.

ICT experts at almost every conference globally are predicting that 5G, AI and other emerging technologies are going to fundamentally transform industries.

However, in your opinion, which one of these technologies do you think will be the biggest disruptor?

So 5G is the first network that is not purposely being built for humans. It is being built partially for mobility users, but it is really for machines and for networks. I’d say it’s probably going to be a hybrid model, some of it is going to be cloud-based, while another part is going to be point-to-point and latency-driven. Latency is what we talked about on some of the panel discussions, and the team at Etisalat had a great point about the importance of latency. If latency is too high, you can’t have autonomous driving cars because there are potential safety issues for passengers and others in the community. So, networks play a vital role in safety, security and growth in cities and countries all over the world.

What can we expect to see from APTelecom in the next twelve months?

What we primarily focus on at APTelecom is pre-sales and off-take agreements and that’s been our bread and butter or core competency.

However, we do have a client that is trying to restructure distress capacity, because there is a glut of capacity in certain routes around the world. They won two awards here at the Telecom Review Leaders Summit, and that company is StrataNet. StrataNet’s

model is very disruptive and they’re rolling up fragmented under-utilized or monetized assets and they’re really offering the market a different approach.

Suppliers get exit relief, and that basically means that they can get out of their OEM obligations and buyers get very strong aggressive disruptive pricing. So, it’s a way to address some of the inefficiencies in the market. So APTelecom is proud to be supporting them in their sales efforts in Asia, the United States and Europe and other places around the world, and it’s definitely a company I’d be saying to watch out for in the next 2-3 years.

You attend ICT conferences all over the world. But what is it about the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit that differentiates it from other events?

The quality of the people at this summit is just fantastic. C-Level executives from the ICT industry globally attend every year, and the quality of the Telecom Review team is the key differentiating factors for me when compared to other events. The venue is phenomenal, it’s a beautiful place, and Dubai is an incredible place to visit and come to conduct business. We’re very honored and privileged to have the opportunity to come here, and we hope that next year we will be back for another edition of this summit.

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Hotwire Deploys XGS-PON Fiber in Florida and North Carolina Hotwire will deploy Nokia's XGS-PON fiber solution to enhance its network and deliver new, high-quality 10Gbps broadband services to its customers. The roll-out brings some of the fastest broadband speeds to Hotwire's Florida and North Carolina customers, including Salisbury, North Carolina - Hotwire's latest public-private partnership - and will expand to support other such partnerships in the future.

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otwire's deployment of Nokia's XGS-PON solution reflects its commitment to continually develop the capabilities and speed of its marketleading network, and is an important step towards extending new ultrabroadband services such as streaming video in 4k, 8k and 12k. The deployment also provides a cost-effective upgrade path for Hotwire's existing fiber network, which covers most of the US east coast, allowing the company to seamlessly move from GPON (2.5Gbps) to XGS-PON (10Gbps) using the same access node.

Jonathan Bullock, VP of Corporate Development & Government at Hotwire, said: "From the beginning, Hotwire has focused on deploying cutting-edge technology to ensure our customers

experience the very best of broadband.

This is why we invest in future-proof fiber and build direct fiber infrastructure into every home and business we serve.

We're now making that network even faster for our customers by rolling out the first 10-Gigabit service in Florida and North Carolina. Hotwire is excited to partner with Nokia, which is at the forefront of next-generation PON technology. With Nokia's solution, we can radically enhance the capacity of our network with minimal impact or network upgrades."

Federico Guillen, president of Nokia Fixed Networks business group, said: "We are excited to help Hotwire kick off their 10Gbps service and provide the tools, resources and expertise they need to deliver better, faster and smarter ultra-broadband access to customers in Florida and North Carolina. With a proven track record of next-generation

fiber technology deployments, we were able to demonstrate how our XGS-PON solution could help provide a costeffective path to 10Gbps and support the enhanced ultra-broadband services Hotwire required. We look forward to continuing supporting Hotwire as it provides best-in-class broadband to its residential, commercial and government customers throughout the US Southeast."

Hotwire Communications has been providing all-fiber, triple play telecommunication services for nearly twenty years. Hotwire offers a full-suite of services to residential, commercial, hospitality, government, and educational customers in fifteen states, primarily concentrated in the Southeast.

Hotwire is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, FL with regional operations in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Philadelphia.

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NGMN Appoints New Chairman at 5G Conference in Vancouver to 2020. Emmanuel, Senior Vice President of Orange Labs Networks’, brings substantial management and strategic competence as well as a strong background in IT and Telecommunications to the Board. We are looking forward to his leadership and guidance as we embark on commercialization of 5G and further strengthening NGMN’s impact”.

The Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance has announced its new Chairman and additions to its Board alongside the prioritization of several key projects leading into 2019.

Peter Meissner, CEO of NGMN, said: “We are delighted to welcome Emmanuel Lugagne-Delpon as our new Board Chairman for 2018

Emmanuel Lugagne-Delpon, said: “I am excited to be leading the Board at such a challenging time for 5G development and eager to steer NGMN´s strategy to cope with these challenges. The work NGMN does for the mobile ecosystem is impressive in its scope and ambition and I am fully committed to continue the Alliance’s valuable work together with my Board colleagues”.

In its Board meeting NGMN has also emphasized the importance of several key activities, which will be critical to the ongoing development and ultimately the deployment of 5G around the world. Among these flagship projects are the Trial and Testing Initiative, Vertical URLLC Requirements, E2E 5G Security, Rural Coverage as well as Spectrum and Deployment Efficiency.

This news comes during the successful NGMN Industry Conference & Exhibition, the Alliance’s 7th, being held in Vancouver, Canada and concluding today. The conference has already attracted more than 400 visitors and is exploring the latest technology and thought leadership in 5G mobile broadband.

5G to Reach 1.5 Billion Subscriptions in 2024 In Western Europe, 5G is forecast to account for some 30 percent of mobile subscriptions in the region by end of 2024.

5G is expected to reach more than 40 percent global population coverage and 1.5 billion subscriptions for enhanced mobile broadband by the end of 2024.

This will make 5G the fastest generation of cellular technology to be rolled out on a global scale, according to the latest edition of the Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) Mobility Report.

Key drivers for 5G deployment include increased network capacity, lower cost per gigabyte and new use case requirements.

North America and North East Asia are expected to lead the 5G uptake. In North America, 5G subscriptions are forecast to account for 55 percent of mobile subscriptions by the end of 2024. In North East Asia, the corresponding forecast figure is more than 43 percent.

The uptake of NB-IoT and Cat-M1 technologies is driving growth in the number of cellular IoT connections worldwide. Of the 4.1 billion cellular IoT connections forecast for 2024, North East Asia is expected to account for 2.7 billion – a figure reflecting both the ambition and size of the cellular IoT market in this region.

smartphone of around 140 percent between end 2017 and end 2018, the region has the second highest data traffic per smartphone at 7.3 gigabytes per month. This is comparable to streaming HD video for around 10 hours per month.

North America still has the highest data traffic per smartphone, set to reach 8.6 gigabytes per month by the end of this year – which can be compared to streaming HD video for over 12 hours monthly.

Diverse and evolving requirements across a wide range of use cases are prompting service providers to deploy both NB-IoT and Cat-M1 in their markets.

Between 2018-2024, total mobile data traffic is expected to increase by a factor of five, with 5G networks projected to carry 25 percent of mobile traffic by the end of the period.

Mobile data traffic grew 79 percent between Q3 2017 and Q3 2018 – China a key engine

Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice President and Head of Business Area Networks at Ericsson noted, “As 5G now hits the market, its coverage build-out and uptake in subscriptions are projected to be faster than for previous generations.

At the same time, cellular IoT continues to grow strongly. What we are seeing is the start of fundamental changes that will impact not just the consumer market but many industries.”

Mobile data traffic in Q3 2018 grew close to 79 percent year-on-year, which is the highest rate since 2013.

Increased data-traffic-per-smartphone in North East Asia– mainly in China – has pushed the global figure notably higher. With a traffic growth per

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Aligned Energy Completes $375 Million Loan with Goldman Sachs for Data Centers development of our expanding data center portfolio.”

Aligned Energy has completed a $375 million secured credit facility with Goldman Sachs Bank USA. This new loan provides Aligned Energy lower-cost capital to support the company’s substantial near- and longterm development objectives. The loan, inclusive of extension options, matures in October 2023.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with the results of the transaction,” said Anubhav Raj, CFO of Aligned Energy.

“The structure of this financing provides the necessary capital to facilitate the

“Along with the investment made by Macquarie Infrastructure Partners earlier this year as well as the continued support of BlueMountain Capital Management, this significant funding with Goldman Sachs positions us to aggressively address the exponential growth and strong demand we’re seeing in the industry,” added Andrew Schaap, CEO of Aligned Energy.

The Aligned Energy team has operated more than 750 Megawatts and developed over $3.5 billion of data centers around the globe for some of the most discerning clients. The company has operational data center facilities in Dallas, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City, and a newlyannounced 180-Megawatt campus in Ashburn, Virginia that is underway.

Aligned Energy’s mission is to make data center critical infrastructure intelligent enough to continuously improve both its economic performance and environmental impact, delivering a noticeable business advantage. The company’s unique approach to infrastructure deployment allows it to deliver the data center platform like a utility – accessible and scalable as needed. It also reduces the energy, water and space required to operate physical data center environments, significantly improving sustainability and yielding greater water and power usage effectiveness for customers.

Dechert LLP served as legal counsel to Goldman Sachs USA on the financial transaction, while Cooley LLP represented Aligned Energy.

NTT Expanding Canadian Presence brand, combined with NTT DATA’s depth and breadth of service offerings, will result in the accelerated growth and strengthening of their combined competitive position across Canada.

NTT DATA Services, a recognized leader in global technology services, today announced its entry into a definitive agreement to acquire Sierra Systems Group, Inc., the Canadian subsidiary of The Sierra-Cedar Group, Inc. Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Sierra Systems is a leading IT services and consulting firm offering a full range of IT consulting, systems integration, and application managed services across Canada.

This acquisition will expand NTT DATA’s North American footprint with a significant Canadian presence. It brings together two highly complementary companies focused on driving innovative, award-winning IT services to clients across a broad range of industries, including public sector and healthcare.

Sierra Systems’ 52-year history, longterm client relationships and respected

In addition to industry and geographical expansion, Sierra Systems will expand NTT DATA’s digital services capabilities and bolster its talent in core areas, such as Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle and ServiceNow. Through its global capabilities and strength in infrastructure, application and digital services, NTT DATA will bring a broader portfolio of services to Sierra Systems’ existing clients as well as other Canadian companies.

“Sierra Systems’ reputation as a trusted advisor in Canada is evidenced by the strength of their client relationships, many of which have spanned decades,” said Bob Pryor, CEO, NTT DATA Services. “With the addition of Sierra Systems’ talented team, we’ll expand our ability to deliver innovation and business outcomes to clients in Canada and extend our North American delivery capabilities. Growth prospects are very strong in Canada, so this is an attractive market as we continue to grow globally.”

“Joining the NTT DATA family is truly a perfect match for Sierra Systems that expands opportunities for both our clients and employees. The alignment of our services and industries with an appreciation of our client relationships and culture underscores our commitment to meeting the unique needs of the Canadian marketplace,” said Pat Kaiser, Chief Operating Officer, Sierra Systems.

This acquisition will add approximately 700 new Canadian-based resources to NTT DATA. In a recent Gartner report, NTT DATA was ranked the 8th largest worldwide IT services provider in 2017, based on market share*. In 2018, Sierra Systems was awarded Computer Dealer News’ Channel Innovation Awards: Solution Provider of the Year, Disruptor of the Year, Diamond Top Data Management Solution and Gold Award for Top Channel Marketing Initiative.

The transaction is expected to close later this year and is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory environments.

TM Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor to The Sierra-Cedar Group in connection with this transaction.

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Central USA Data Center Hub Sold Nebraska Data Centers and its current management team. Our partnership leverages the NDC team’s vision for the facility with NPG’s extensive resources and experience in technology infrastructure. Our master plan will include capital improvements of more than $30 million over the next 5 years.” said Brian Bradley, President of NPG.

News Press & Gazette Company has acquired Nebraska Data Centers at 1623 Farnam in Omaha, NE. This facility is the nexus for local, national and international carriers, enterprises, network operators, and cloud providers in the region. The investment represents an opportunity for renewal and expansion at 1623 Farnam, ultimately converting the facility into a world-class carrier neutral hotel in downtown Omaha.

The region will benefit by offering more reliable interconnection and secure high performance edge data center solutions. Nebraska Data Centers is the most network-rich, carrier neutral interconnection facility in the region. NDC has more than 40 network, content, cloud, and IT services providers serving as the primary gateway to user networks.

“NPG sees tremendous opportunity with

“We are excited to have a Midwest family company in NPG make a significant resource and financial commitment that will allow us to continue building value in our carrier hotel for our customers.

We look forward to the opportunity to continue to manage a facility with expansive fiber connectivity, within a highly strategic location as a world class carrier neutral interconnection facility”. Said Todd Cushing, President of Nebraska Data Centers.

The new company will be called 1623 Farnam, LLC. MVP Capital was the exclusive financial advisor for NDC.

Clearfield Increases FTTx Simplicity and Flexibility with In-box Fiber Reel

Clearfield announced general availability of the FieldShield® FLEXdrop™ Deploy Reel, the latest addition to Clearfield’s portfolio of fiber and drop assemblies. Designed for deployment at the demarcation point, the FLEXdrop Deploy Reel provides technicians ease-of-use and flexibility to simplify and increase the number of FTTx installations per day.

“Clearfield’s FieldShield FLEXdrop Deploy Reel is already providing earlyadopter customers better options for FTTx installations while decreasing the amount time technicians have to spend on-site for service wiring and turn-up,” said Kevin Morgan, Clearfield’s chief marketing officer.

“As the latest edition to Clearfield’s FieldShield fiber and drop cable solutions, the FLEXdrop Deploy Reel provides another tool for service providers to quickly install to the home, MDU or business, an adaptable-length drop cable for rapid turn-up with minimized on-site time.”

FieldShield FLEXdrop is UV/UL listed and built with bend-insensitive single mode G.657 A2 fiber and an indoor/outdoor plenum rated flexible sheath. FieldShield FLEXdrop fiber can be stapled with standard T18 or other rounded staples, pass through conduits, or placed in riser and

plenum spaces. Additionally, there is no need to know exact fiber lengths because excess FieldShield FLEXdrop remains stored on the deploy reel.

“Expanding our FTTx deployments is a key priority for us as we look to deliver the bandwidth and services our members want. Anything that helps lower the cost and expedites service activation time is an asset that cannot be undervalued,” said Eric Kehler, Plant Operations Manager for DirectLink which serves the Canby and Mt. Angel, Oregon Areas. “Clearfield continues to deliver the products and services we need to maximize return on investment and shorten time to revenue for new fiberbased services. The FieldShield FLEXdrop Deploy Reel is another valuable addition to the toolkit our system integrators will leverage to reduce inventory carrying costs, cut down design time and limit the overall costs associated with fiber deployments.”

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Google Spends 1 Billion Dollars for Corporate Expansion Real Estate

In a mega-deal, Google has paid $1 billion for a huge Mountain View business park, the Bay Area’s largest real estate purchase this year. It is also the second-largest property purchase in the United States this year, eclipsed only by another Google acquisition, the $2.4 billion the company paid for Chelsea Market in Manhattan.

The newly acquired site in Mountain View, where Google has been the primary tenant, is larger than the property that accommodates the company’s Googleplex headquarters a few blocks to the west and also exceeds the size of the parcel across the street where Google is building an iconic “dome” campus that features canopies and tents.

Google’s Mountain View purchase means that in the two years since the search giant began to collect properties in downtown San Jose for a proposed transit village, the company has spent at least $2.83 billion in property acquisitions in Mountain View, Sunnyvale, downtown San Jose and north San Jose alone.

Adding to the eye-popping numbers: Google’s spending activity in those four

markets reaches $3 billion when including the company’s pending purchase in downtown San Jose of several government-owned parcels, along with the minimum value of a big set of surface parking lots that Google intends to buy from Trammell Crow, also downtown near its proposed transit village.

Buying Mountain View’s Shoreline Technology Park gives Google a 51.8acre site with 12 buildings. The big parcel, which is dominated by one and two-story buildings with ample surface parking, has addresses ranging from 2011 to 2091 Stierlin Court. Aside from Google, a survey of the site indicates that the only other tenant in the complex besides Google is Alexza Pharmaceuticals.

This is in Google’s core campus area, and they would certainly want to own it and control it rather than continue to lease it,” said Philip Mahoney, executive vice chairman with Newmark Knight Frank, a commercial real estate firm.

The property begs for redevelopment with higher densities,” Mahoney said. “But that would be a much longer discussion and process” in connection with Mountain View’s development plan for the areas north of U.S. 101.

Since its December 2016 purchase nearly two years ago of an old Pacific

Bell building near the Diridon Station in San Jose, Google, directly or through affiliates, has spent at least $1.32 billion buying sites in Sunnyvale, $1 billion acquiring properties in Mountain View, $271.8 million in north San Jose and $234 million obtaining parcels in downtown San Jose. Google’s agreement to pay $109.9 million for government-owned properties in downtown San Jose, as well as the minimum value of $58.5 million for a nearby Trammell Crow-owned site, brings the company’s buying surge in those four markets to $3 billion.

A Google representative confirmed the $1 billion purchase price for the office park but didn’t comment beyond that. Irvinebased HCP, a realty investment firm, sold Google the Mountain View property on Nov. 20, Santa Clara County records show.

HCP stated in a regulatory filing that it realized a $700 million gain from the sale.

The property’s assessed value in mid2018 was $367.3 million.

The deal also appears to be the Bay Area’s largest real estate transaction — by far — in 2018. Prior to Google’s purchase, the highest price paid in Silicon Valley was a $284 million acquisition by developer Jay Paul of the Cityview Plaza office, retail and restaurant complex in downtown San Jose in July. That was topped by the October deal for San Francisco’s iconic Ferry Building complex, a $291 million transaction.

AT&T’s 5G Technology has Come to Downtown Dallas “We’re working quickly to make mobile 5G a reality this year,” Petersen said in the post that went up last week.

The company introduced the next generation of wireless technology in the home of its headquarters, according to a post by Kevin Petersen, senior vice president of Device and Network Experiences, AT&T Mobility and Entertainment, on the company's website.

It made its first live 5G network connection in North Texas using a Netgear Nighthawk 5G Hotspot.

The initial 5G network build is in and around the Klyde Warren Park area, a company spokesman said separately in an emailed statement to the Dallas Business Journal. It’s a popular spot near the Dallas Arts District and downtown that features open spaces, a garden and spaces for food trucks.

Don’t expect to see a lot of folks accessing the new network speeds at the park. This kind of technology needs new devices, and AT&T has said they're coming this year.

The Netgear Nighthawk 5G Hotspot was announced last month. It enables other gadgets, such as computers or tablets, to access the new speeds.

The North Texas effort followed a mobile connection in Waco in late October.

AT&T is investing in 5 G technology that promises huge speed gains that are shaking up the industry. The company had said earlier this year that a dozen cities, including Dallas, would get 5G access before the end of 2018. Indianapolis, Houston and San Antonio are among those other cities.

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Nokia, AT&T and Jaunt Showcase 5G and Immersive Experiences

Nokia, AT&T and Jaunt showed football fans the future of mobile content and immersive experiences with a 5G demonstration and tailgate before the Atlanta Falcons faceoff against the Dallas Cowboys. Using 5G connectivity and Jaunt's volumetric capture technology, fans can show their team spirit by creating an end zone dance that is memorable and shareable.

This innovative fan experience will use a 5G technology system provided by Nokia and Jaunt's XR Cast, a volumetric capture and live-streaming technology. This will allow fans to capture their own 3D augmented reality (AR) holograms, view them in real-time and share on social media.

In addition to the live capture stations, the experience will include a viewing area

with a miniature football field surface, along with tablets to view the end zone dances happening live in AR. While fans are in the booth dancing, other tailgaters will see their volumetric captures streamed to mobile devices stationed near the miniature football field. Once a dance is captured, the fan can share the content on social media.

Kevin Petersen, Senior Vice President of device and network experiences, AT&T Mobility and Entertainment, said: "This showcase is the fourth 5G demo we've made available to the public this year, as we lead the way in showing consumers and businesses the promise of 5G. We're excited to work with Nokia and Jaunt to demonstrate how 5G technology like volumetric video, machine learning and AR can provide enhanced experiences for fans at their favorite sporting venues."

Nokia is bringing a live 5G mmWave system powered by the Nokia AirScale baseband and radio at the 28 GHz band, connected to the IntelÂŽ 5G Mobile Trial Platform, at this tailgate event. Combined with Nokia's

AirFrame data center platform, this provides an elegant 5G solution that can transmit data at gigabit speeds and that will eventually enable ultra-low latency, and includes the necessary hardware, software and services that can adapt to any cloudbased application. From immersive and innovative fan experiences at stadiums and concerts to realtime gaming; from virtual reality to volumetric video, 5G is poised to unleash a world of exciting new ways for fans to enjoy their favorite events.

Ricky Corker, Executive Vice President and President of North America, Nokia, said: "We're delighted to be a part of this latest demonstration to give fans a firsthand experience of how consumer entertainment will be enhanced with super-fast download of video in seconds and new augmented reality experiences all through 5G technology. Most recently, Nokia and AT&T collaborated on a 5G technology showcase at RTX 2018 to show how volumetric video over 5G will enable new frontiers in entertainment and gaming."

Cerberus Capital Completes Acquisition of SubCom

Cerberus Capital Management has completed the acquisition of the Subsea Communications business of TE Connectivity Ltd. ("TE"). Upon closing, the business has been rebranded to SubCom, LLC ("SubCom") and industry veteran David Coughlan has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of the new company.

Headquartered in Eatontown, New Jersey with more than 1,400 professionals on four continents, SubCom is a global leader in delivering and maintaining the fiber optic cable systems that transmit nearly all of the world's data and communications. SubCom's track record for delivery and performance is backed

by more than 200 completed networks on behalf of many of the world's leading technology-focused companies and entrepreneurs. The business combines comprehensive technical and marine expertise to design, manufacture, deploy, and service the highest quality, most reliable undersea networks on the planet.

To lead SubCom going forward, David Coughlan, a 20-year industry veteran, rejoins the business, where he was previously the General Manager from 2001 to 2014. In addition, Mr. Coughlan was the General Manager of TE's Sensor Solutions business unit from 2014 to 2016. Most recently, Mr. Coughlan was the Vice President of Business Development at Littelfuse.

"I am excited to be back at SubCom and working with our team members as we begin this new chapter," commented Mr. Coughlan. "SubCom is already the largest subsea fiber optic cable solutions

provider with #1 share in the long-haul market. Through this partnership with Cerberus, we will be able to execute on strategic opportunities to position us for long-term success, while continuing to deliver the highest lifetime value network solutions to our global customers."

Michael Sanford, Co-Head of Private Equity and Senior Managing Director of Cerberus, added, "We look forward to working with Dave and the SubCom team to build upon the business' leadership position. We believe that need for reliable, high-performing undersea networks will continue to be exceptionally robust as demand for data and connectivity continues to increase around the world. With its industry-leading capabilities and reputation for operational excellence, we are confident that SubCom will continue to be the partner of choice to deliver and maintain these critical undersea networks for years to come."

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Sparkle Extends Its Tier-1 Global IP Network to El Paso, Texas Sparkle’s reach on the US-Mexico border as well as the performance of its global IP Transit service Seabone.

Sparkle tells us they have expanded their global IP Tier-1 backbone with a new Point of Presence at MDC Data Centers (MDC, formerly McAllen Data Center) in El Paso, Texas.

The new PoP in El Paso adds to the existing Points of Presence in McAllen, Dallas and Laredo, strengthening

Located at MDC’s carrier-neutral data center, a strategic interconnection hub for networks and content providers along the US border with Mexico, the new PoP in El Paso allows Sparkle to provide to OTTs, ISPs, Content and Application Providers located in Central America high-quality Seabone IP Transit service, with maximum diversification and redundancy, lower latency and improved traffic routing capabilities globally.

DDoS Attack Mitigation which grants customers options to protect their

network – and the Virtual NAP solution - which lets customers access the main Internet Exchange Points without the need of building any proprietary infrastructure - complete Sparkle’s portfolio of services offered via the MDC El Paso PoP. Sparkle operates one of the most interconnected networks in the world and has consistently ranked as one of the top ten IP Transit providers worldwide and #1 in America.

Additionally, Sparkle is the only Tier-1 backbone able to offer a real diversification from South America to the US via the Seabras-1 cable, ensuring complete redundancy and reliability.

Tofane Global and WIS Join i3forum with other carriers from around the world,” said Alexandre Pébereau, CEO at Tofane Global. “For Tofane, i3forum is a platform where operators, providers, OTTs and technology vendors can contribute and learn from each other to facilitate the change and innovation in our industry.”

i3forum, a non-profit industry body focused on transformation in carrier business, has announced the addition of two new members to its board. Tofane Global and WIS will join 22 other carriers and vendors from around the world that collaborate to enable innovation and drive transformation across the industry. i3forum members work together to solve the challenges that face the carrier industry and deliver real value.

Its members develop, curate and share practical recommendations and best practice provided by the carrier ecosystem, for the carrier ecosystem.“We are an open and inclusive organization that encourages unique perspectives and participation from across the

carrier ecosystem,” said Philippe Millet, Chairman of i3forum. “i3forum provides a place for members to explore, share and debate the challenges that face our businesses on a day-to-day basis. All our members are empowered by a shared purpose and by working together we are shaping the future of our industry.” i3forum was established in 2007 and its members have a combined fixed and mobile retail base totalling over two billion customers in over 100 countries. i3forum is not a standardization body itself but works in collaboration with the GSMA and the Wireless Broadband Alliance.

“By being part of i3forum, we are able to bring our voice to the table and share our transformation roadmap

i3forum is driving the creation of the agile, adaptable and profitable carrier businesses of the future. The Code of Conduct released this year by the Global Leaders’ Forum (GLF) along with i3forum is one of the many initiatives i3forum is driving to support long-term growth of carrier businesses.

“We’re excited to be part of an industry body that’s creating real and lasting benefits for the industry and having a positive impact in the long-term,” said Adrian Shatku, CEO at WIS. “By collaborating with different companies, we can learn, develop and create recommendations today that have a lasting impact on the entire ecosystem.

WIS believes in transformation and participating in critical conversations that are going to ensure the long-term sustainability of our industry.”

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DITCO Selects GTT for Transatlantic Wavelength Services GTT Communications was awarded a contract by the Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization (DITCO), the contracting arm of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), to provide multiple diverse 100G wavelength services between the U.S. and Europe in support of the Transoceanic Optical Transport – Atlantic (ToT-A) program.

“GTT continues to be a key industry partner for the U.S. Department of Defense, delivering high-speed connectivity services in support of the global DoD Information Network (DoDIN),” stated Rick Calder, GTT president and CEO. “Our highly reliable, secure network provides a trusted platform for the U.S. Government’s mission-critical requirements around the world.”

FirstLight Expanding Fiber Network in Rochester and Buffalo FirstLight offers a complete portfolio of services including Ethernet, Internet Access, Wavelength, Dark Fiber, Cloud and Data Center Connectivity, Cloud Computing Solutions (such as IaaS, DRaaS and BRaaS), Unified Communications, and Voice services throughout the Northeast.

FirstLight will expand its fiber network in Rochester and Buffalo, New York. This 500-route mile project is in response to a specific customer demand for scalable, reliable, fiber-based services throughout Upstate New York, and will enable the company’s full complement of services to area businesses along these new routes.

“FirstLight remains focused on meeting our customers’ need for fiber-based, broadband services backed by high quality service and support. Through this market expansion, businesses in sectors such as healthcare, finance, government, education, manufacturing, professional services and others will have

access to the connectivity solutions needed to thrive in the digital age,” commented Patrick Coughlin, Chief Revenue Officer of FirstLight.

“We have been the provider of choice in this region for many years, so investing to expand our fiber network in Buffalo and Rochester, key markets to FirstLight, was an easy choice. Helping our customers succeed through superior connectivity is exactly what FirstLight stands for. We pride ourselves on being able to deliver upgraded fiber optic connectivity to this region, supported by our talented, locally-based team,” concluded Kurt Van Wagenen, President and CEO of FirstLight.

Telefonica Needs to Reduce Debt which assets are sold, people with knowledge of the matter said. The plan is still in the early stages and may not go ahead.

Telefónica could sell its data center business as it looks to reduce its debt, Bloomberg tells us. (It could also sell its racing yacht) The sale could raise between $500 million and $1 billion, depending on

On its website, the company lists some 23 data centers spread across Europe and South, Central and North America.Telefónica has reportedly started working with financial advisers, looking for bids from potential buyers including data center firms as well as infrastructure and private equity funds.

Should the plan go ahead, the

company will join a growing number of telecommunications firms that have offloaded their data center assets to raise funds for core operations.In 2015, Arkansas telco Windstream sold its data center arm to TierPoint for $575m. Then, in 2016, Verizon sold its data centers to Equinix for $3.6bn, and CenturyLink sold 57 data centers for $2.3bn, to a consortium that became Cyxtera. In 2017, Tata Communications sold three data centers to STT, and this year AT&T sold 31 facilities to Brookfield Infrastructure for $1.1 billion.

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PacketFabric is Now Available at JAX NAP’s Facility in Jacksonville

JAX NAP, the Jacksonville Network Access Point tells us that PacketFabric is now avaialable to all JAX NAP customers.

By connecting to the PacketFabric platform at the JAX NAP facility, JAX NAP customers gain instant access

to every other point on PacketFabric’s private network. This gives JAX NAP customers on-demand connectivity to more than 150 locations in 18 markets across the United States, and secure connectivity to PacketFabric’s rich ecosystem of service providers, including cloud companies like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, and more.

“We’ve always offered our customers greater options for which network carrier or service provider to use,” said Luke Leonaitis, Senior Partner of the JAX NAP. “Now we’re able to offer our enterprise

customers the speed, convenience and security of PacketFabric, a pioneer in SDN, not only as an option for their network provider, but for instant access to an entire universe of service providers on the PacketFabric network.”

“JAX NAP’s focus on providing greater choice and access for enterprise customers is in line with our own mission to make network services easy to consume,” said Chad Milam, President and COO at PacketFabric.

“PacketFabric is excited to offer scalable connectivity on demand to customers in the Jacksonville and North Florida area.”

Four TBPS Circuits Deployed connect the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas with wide area networks in several cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Seattle, Sunnyvale and Washington, D.C., demonstrating CenturyLink’s rapid provisioning of 100 gigabit services.

CenturyLink and Infinera supplied equipment, software and services in support of terabit-scale connectivity for one of the world’s fastest temporary networks at this week’s SC18, the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis.

CenturyLink and Infinera, along with other contributors from industry, academia and government, are delivering multi-terabit capacity to SCinet, the dedicated high-capacity network that supports revolutionary applications and some of the world’s most advanced supercomputing experiments at the SC18 conference.

The bandwidth, expected to be more than 4 terabits per second, will

“A scalable, agile and low-latency infrastructure plays a critical role in addressing the demanding and ever-increasing connectivity requirements of high-performance computing and the global research and education community,” said Andrew Dugan, Chief Technology Officer at CenturyLink.

“We are pleased to work closely with Infinera to deliver terabit-scale capacity for SCinet, underscoring our commitment to serving the needs of these customers.”

This year’s SCinet leverages the CenturyLink core optical transport network and the Infinera XT-3600 platform, powered by the fourthgeneration Infinite Capacity Engine (ICE4), to deliver super-channel-

based terabit capacity to the conference site. At the Infinera booth during SC18, Infinera and CenturyLink are also using the XT Series platform and Infinera’s Xceed Multi-layer SDN Platform to demonstrate a softwaredefined networking (SDN) solution featuring real-time telemetry performance monitoring data streaming to automatically detect and dynamically respond to network issues using predefined network policies.

CenturyLink operates a robust, global 450,000-route-mile fiber network and utilizes Infinera’s automated, high-capacity transport solutions in its backbone network.

“Our collaboration with CenturyLink at SC18 highlights our leadership role in delivering the most advanced optical transport networking solutions capable of pushing the boundaries of innovation in network speed, efficiency and automation,” said Bob Jandro, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales at Infinera.

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Zayo Announces Two New Long Haul Fiber Routes

Zayo announced plans for two new unique, low-latency long haul dark fiber networks from Columbus, Ohio to Ashburn, Virginia and Dallas, Texas to Atlanta, Georgia. Supported by a signed commitment, the expansions are expected to be attractive to additional strategic customers looking for wavelength and fiber connectivity between these cities.

The Columbus to Ashburn network expansion will add approximately

400 route miles of high-capacity fiber and is expected to provide the lowest latency between the two cities.

The route will also provide Zayo customers with the lowest latency route between Chicago and Ashburn, as it will bypass major network congestion and overlap points. With its central location and proximity to major population centers, Columbus has become an increasingly important data center hub. Ashburn and Northern Virginia known as “Data Center Alley,” has the largest concentrations of data centers in the world. The route will traverse West Virginia, providing a new fiber backbone across the state.

The 870-mile Dallas to Atlanta route will connect these two key metro markets with the most direct, lowest latency route to

date. Dallas and Atlanta are top 10 populations centers and top 10 data center markets, with Fortune 500 headquarters. Both cities are strategic markets for Zayo, with dense and growing metro fiber footprints driven in part by extensive fiber-to-the-tower (FTT) builds.

“To meet continued demand for dark fiber, we are building unique new routes between strategic markets,” said Jack Waters, CTO and president of Fiber Solutions at Zayo. “These expansions will provide superior options for direct, high-capacity, latencysensitive paths connecting data and population centers to cloud platforms and end users.”

Construction on the new routes is expected to begin early next year.

Telstra to Buy 25% of Southern Cross immediate ownership interest in the existing Southern Cross network, as well as in Southern Cross NEXT," Telstra group executive for enterprise Michael Ebeid said.

Telstra is set to buy into Southern Cross Cable Network through the purchase of new shares that will give the telco a 25 percent stake in the company.

The telco has also agreed to purchase "substantial" capacity on Southern Cross' existing network and the NEXT subsea cable.

New Zealand telco Spark said that as a result of Telstra's share purchase, its holding will be diluted to around 37.5 percent. Other shareholders of Southern Cross are Singapore's Singtel, and Verizon Business.

"Telstra has long been a key customer of Southern Cross and this investment will mean Telstra has an

"This route is extremely important to our business as US to Australia traffic accounts for more than 80 percent of all the internet traffic to Australia."

Southern Cross announced in August last year that it will start building the $350 million NEXT submarine cable, which it touted as being the fastest between Australia and New Zealand, and the United States.

The third cable is expected to provide an additional 60Tbps capacity to the existing 20Tbps on the two present Southern Cross cables, and will be ready for service in early 2020.

In July, Southern Cross said SubPartners had completed landing

arrangements in Sydney.

"Landing arrangements in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States [are] now effectively completed," Southern Cross CEO Anthony Briscoe said at the time.

"Our partnership with SubPartners for the construction of the facilities has allowed us to leverage their expertise in the construction of similar facilities for other projects that they are involved with in the region, helping us to effectively manage cost and risk around this critical aspect of the project."

SubPartners is currently also working on the Indigo subsea cable system connecting Sydney, Perth, Singapore, and Jakarta, which is being built alongside Google, Singtel, Telstra, AARNet, Indosat Ooredoo, and Alcatel Submarine Networks and will span around 9,000km, with two fibre pairs and a design capacity of 18Tbps. It is expected to be completed by mid-2019.

EVENTS CALENDAR

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January 2019 PTC Date : 20 - 23 January 2019 Place : Honolulu, Hawai

February 2019 Mobile World Congress

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September 2019 Asia Carriers Conference Date : 3-7 September 2019 Place : Cebu, Philipines

North East DAS Date : 5 September 2019 Place : New York NY

Date : 25 - 28 February 2019 Place : Barcelona, Spain

March 2019 Telecom Review Leaders Summit Date : 29 March 2019 Place : Beirut, Lebanon

October 2019 Mobile World Congress Americas Date : 22-24 October 2019 Place : Los Angeles, America

Incompas

June 2019 Canadian Telecom Summit Date : 3-5 June 2019 Place : Toronto, Canada

Date : 30-31 October 2019 Place : Louisville KY

November 2019 MEF 19 Date : 18-22 November 2019 Place : Los Angeles, Ca

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