Telecom Ramblings

With us today to offer his perspective on the networking industry and leadership is Francois Locoh-Donou. Francois has had an interesting journey over the years, starting in the West African country of Togo, moving on to high school and university in France, and arriving at Ciena as a systems engineer in the USA as the dot com boom started to really take off. He has held various executive positions at Ciena over the years, and is currently the SVP of Ciena’s Global Products Group where he leads their R&D and product development. [Read more →]

I was on the road today, so here’s a quick look at network news I managed to scan while using various airport wifi.  Four from the US metro market and one from rather further afield. [Read more →]

Software-defined networking has been working its way out of the data centers where it was born and into the wide-area network. But much of what we read about that is hard to pin down when it comes to specifics. So I have been looking for people who are putting theory into practice. With us today to share his own experience and vision implementing SDN all the way out at the network edge is Adam Dunstan, President and CEO of Active Broadband Networks. [Read more →]

As they closed out 2013 with their fourth quarter numbers, Lumos Networks also announced expansion plans on two fronts this morning, updated their fiber route mile count.  The regional network provider spent 2013 focusing on a new metro build-out down in Richmond and making better use of its fiber footprint in Pennsylvania. [Read more →]

On a less divisive note than peering/transit, over in the Netherlands EvoSwitch has taken the push for renewable energy usage by data centers to another level.  Through a partnership with Nuon Energy, they are bringing wind energy into their power mix. [Read more →]

Some questions to think about in the wake of the Netflix/Comcast deal to pay for more direct connectivity to Comcast’s network. [Read more →]

Over in Europe, the independent network operator euNetworks has reported its Q4 earnings, which is our quarterly window into the European metro markets.  Last quarter’s trends continued unabated through the end of 2013, with revenue pressure balanced by higher margins while cash was invested in expansion projects. [Read more →]

According to various reports, Netflix has signed an agreement with Comcast for paid peering. Of course, this is hardly the only paid peering deal out there and on many levels this is barely news. But it does shine a bright light onto an ongoing shift in how the internet connects to itself. [Read more →]

This weekend we have another listing on the jobs board, rounding the list out to eight.  This week’s job listing comes from from an independent wireless ISP out in the Midwest. [Read more →]

All that work tw telecom has been doing to tune its network for the coming era of the cloud has paid off in some nice federal business. They’ve been awarded a WAN-Cloud-B contract by the Department of Health and Human Services worth up to $21.85M over the next four or five years. [Read more →]

TGIF, here’s a quick roundup of other news from this week that I didn’t get to: [Read more →]

For quite some time now Cogent has been regularly boosting the cash it’s giving back to shareholders via its dividend, and it finished 2014 with that trend intact.  Revenue and earnings per share were up sequentially, but perhaps not by as much as the market was hoping.  Here are their numbers in some context: [Read more →]

Ever since the courts knocked the FCC’s previous network neutrality framework on its backside, we’ve been waiting for the FCC’s response. Now we have it, or at least part of it. [Read more →]

Equinix polished off 2013 with a solid quarter, beating analyst EPS projections, meeting revenue expectations, and passing the $2B milestone in total revenue for the year.  Forward guidance for the quarter full year was a tad more conservative than analysts had projected, but it’s still in the right ballpark.  Here are their numbers in some context: [Read more →]

Not content with its first playground of Kansas City or its expansion projects in Provo UT and Austin TX, Google says it is now planning to target major cities around the country for its FTTH services. [Read more →]

Here’s another flurry of international news items worth a quick look: [Read more →]

Last month we polled Ramblings readers, asking who the most likely buyers and sellers were in the US networking business. With the votes in, let’s quickly review what folks are thinking. [Read more →]

Here’s a quick roundup of network-related news from around the world: [Read more →]

Those who have followed Telecom Ramblings over the years know I don’t often make it to industry events. But 2014 will be different. Next week I will attend MetroConnect in Miami. And the following week I will be at Telecom Exchange West out in Denver, where I will be stepping up to moderate a CEO Roundtable. [Read more →]

In an ominous sign of changes that could change more than just privacy in the wake of Snowden, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel added to voices calling for a European-only communications network over the weekend. In a podcast she said publicly that she would raise the possibility this week with the French President — yes the one without a steady date at the moment. [Read more →]

This article was authored by John C. Tanner, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

If the whole object of Big Data is to collect user data in the name of highly personalized ads and services, take note: some start-up companies are pushing back with smartphones, web browsers and search engines that will help users stay anonymous.   [Read more →]

Two global networking vendors announced an alliance today that could shake up the status quo.  Ciena and Ericsson have signed a strategic global agreement to push forward on multiple, high profile fronts. Just in time for Valentine’s Day too. [Read more →]

Time for a quick roundup of other news from the networking world: [Read more →]