The Viodi View

Analyst Opinions on Cisco’s CRS-X Core Router & Its Impact on Competitors

Alan Weissberger — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 21:48:15 +0000

Product Announcement: The Cisco® CRS-X, which will be available this year, is a 400 Gigabit per second (Gbps) per slot core router system that can be expanded to nearly 1 petabit per second in a multi-chassis deployment. The CRS-X provides 10 times the capacity of the original CRS-1, which was introduced in 2004 as a new class of core routing system designed to scale network capacity to accommodate the proliferation in video, data and mobile traffic, which has taken place over the last decade. With 400 Gbps per slot density, the CRS-X multichassis architecture provides network operators the ability to scale using a 400 Gbps line card with Cisco AnyPort™ technology. That line card uses complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) photonic technology, called Cisco CPAK™, to reduce power consumption, reduce the cost of sparing, and increase deployment flexibility. For example, each interface can be configured for either single port 100 Gigabit Ethernet, 2×40 GE, or 10 x10 GE and either short-, long-, or extended-reach optics by selecting a specific CPAK transceiver. This flexibility simplifies network engineering and operations and helps ensure that service providers can meet the demand for 10 GE, 40 GE and 100 GE applications without replacing hardware. [...]

Viodi View – 06/07/13

Ken Pyle, Managing Editor — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 17:05:26 +0000

After a seven-year absence, it is exciting to return to The Cable Show next week in Washington D.C. With speakers ranging from Jennifer Lopez to the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, this conference will provide a broad and in-depth view of both content and technology. The stories in this issue of the Viodi View provide a preview of what will be seen at next week’s show and how content and technology have become intertwined. “TV Everywhere” Gaining Market Traction with Live Linear added to VoD by Alan Weissberger “TV Everywhere (TVE)” services have begun to pick up momentum among programmers and pay-TV providers, according to some industry executives who have seen a surge of interest among subscribers, especially on major stories such as the recent Boston bombing and its aftermath shown on CNN. Click here to read more. A Cooperative Using Its Roots to Help Out with IPTV Ubiquitous delivery of video via IP is what allows cable and telco operators to offer the multiscreen video services. In the above interview, Corey McCarthy of NCTC discusses their efforts to create a converged IPTV platform that could be used by any of its 400+ telco operator members as well as the hundreds of [...]

The Advent of Ultra High Definition TV

Ken Pyle, Managing Editor — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 14:18:04 +0000

[Note: The original article was authored by Catherine Wallace and edited by Ken Pyle for the Viodi View] A new generation of television is here. Designed to leave current HD TVs in the dust, 4K televisions showed up in force at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year and the associated production equipment was demonstrated at April’s National Association of Broadcasters’ Convention. As amazing as these televisions are, some question whether consumers will be able to afford them and how many will even be interested after only recently upgrading to HD. So what is 4K and is the product worthy of the hype? What is 4K TV? 4K refers to the resolution that the television will display. There is a slight difference between the technical definition of 4K — which refers to a 4096 x 2160 resolution — and an Ultra HD TV, which displays a marginally lower 3840 x 2160 resolution, according to TechRadar. For the average consumer, though, 4K and Ultra HD are the same. When a person buys an Ultra HD television, he or she will get a display capable of delivering quadruple the resolution of current HD. The TVs Ultra HD televisions have started to [...]

“TV Everywhere” Gaining Market Traction with Live Linear added to VoD

Alan Weissberger — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 18:24:21 +0000

“TV Everywhere (TVE)” services have begun to pick up momentum among programmers and pay-TV providers, according to some industry executives who have seen a surge of interest among subscribers, especially on major stories such as the recent Boston bombing and its aftermath shown on CNN. Up till now, TV Everywhere has been mostly a video-on-demand service, a way for subscribers to watch replays of their favorite shows on second screens. But with CNN and ABC leading the way, live-streaming of linear channels is starting to gain market traction. The Diffusion Group surveyed 1,000 online video viewers (which represent close to nine in ten adult broadband users) as to their perceptions regarding the delivery of live linear content via a TVE service. Instead of only having access to on-demand content (which comprises most of today’s TVE offerings), they would receive real-time TV transmissions over broadband so that they can access live TV on any net-connected device. More than 80% of respondents rate anywhere/anytime live linear access to their pay-TV channels as valuable. And nearly two-thirds (64%) ranked the real time TV application as highly valuable. “We think that the time spent will be very high, particularly as people flow between devices,” CNN Digital’s Alex Wellen [...]

2013 TiECon- Part 3: Software Defined Infrastructure Presentations & Panels (Continued)

Alan Weissberger — Wed, 29 May 2013 00:04:14 +0000

Introduction: In this third and final article on the information packed 2013 TiECon, we summarize key messages from the second half of the SDI Track on May 17th, including the afternoon keynote and two panel sessions. The first article covered all of the TiECon opening keynotes. The second article summarized the invited SDI presentations from the morning of May 17th (but not the panel sessions covered in this post). PM Keynote: Software Defined Infrastructure – The Coming Wave of Datacenter Disruption by Steve Herrod, PhD -General Catalyst Partners Large Data Center (DC) operators are under great pressure as they attempt to learn how to bring the benefits of public clouds to their DCs. Those benefits of the cloud include: agility, flexibility, scalability, and reduction in total cost of ownership. The DC operators recognize they have to rebuild their DC infrastructure to realize those goals. Compute server virtualization was the first step – it’s been widely deployed and has been hugely successful in improving efficiency and lowering compute system cost. In the Software Defined Data Center (SD-DC), all infrastructure (compute, storage, network, management) is virtualized and delivered as a service. Control of the DC is then entirely driven by software. Software Defined Storage [...]

Viodi View – 05/28/13

Ken Pyle, Managing Editor — Tue, 28 May 2013 18:22:44 +0000

A New Use for an Old iPhone What to do with the some 50 million iPhones that were replaced last year; put them in a drawer, junk them, resell them? People Power provides an interesting approach to reusing these functionally good devices through its recently released People Power Presence. The above video overview with People Power’s CTO and co-founder, David Moss, explains their app which turns the iPhone’s camera into a WiFi connected security camera, adding a layer of home security to their energy efficiency software. Adding credibility to People Power’s approach is its award from the recent TiEcon (read more about TiEcon by clicking here). Click here to view. Highlights of 2013 TiEcon- Part I: Opening Keynotes TiEcon is the largest global conference for entrepreneurs. It is organized by TIE (The Indus Entrepreneurs), Silicon Valley chapter each year in Santa Clara, CA. This article covers the opening keynotes of TiEcon,which featured insight from Venk Shukla, President of TiE-Silicon Valley, Satya Nadella, President, Server and Tools Business for Microsoft and Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn. Weiner provides interesting insight on what makes the LinkedIn culture successful as well as guidance to entrepreneurs to what it takes to be leaders. Click here to read more. 2013 TiECon- Part 2: Software Defined Infrastructure Presentations [...]

2013 TiECon- Part 2: Software Defined Infrastructure Presentations

Alan Weissberger — Sun, 26 May 2013 16:17:04 +0000

Introduction: Software Defined Infrastructure (SDI) applies to compute, storage and the network within a data center and in the cloud. This market segment is experiencing tremendous growth and innovation. It is facilitating increased agility, flexibility and operational cost savings for enterprises and service providers. The first step in SDI was compute server virtualization and that’s now mainstream. Network and Storage virtualization are the current target areas. While Software Defined Networking (SDN) is the new hot topic, that term is being used as an umbrella by networking vendors and service providers. The only “standardized” version of SDN is coming out of the Open Networking Foundation (ONF is NOT a standards body). It is based on centralized control and management, with a strict separation of Control and Data planes using the Open Flow protocol (“Southbound API”) to communicate between them. Network equipment vendors and Service Providers claiming they are ‘SDN Compatible’ have some level of programmable interfaces on their network equipment, but are usually NOT compliant with ONF architecture and Open Flow protocol (the Southbound API”). HP products are an exception- they do seem to be compatible with ONF architecture and Open Flow specification (see AM Keynote below). This article summarizes the [...]

Highlights of 2013 TiEcon- Part I: Opening Keynotes

Alan Weissberger — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:39:52 +0000

Introduction TiEcon is the largest global conference for entrepreneurs. It is organized by TIE (The Indus Entrepreneurs), Silicon Valley chapter each year in Santa Clara, CA. This author has covered the conference for the past five years. This year’s conference convener was Ravinder Paul Singh, who is very highly regarded as a professional who always follows up on his commitments and is a role model for the entire TiE organization. In this 2013 TiEcon summary article, we cover the opening keynotes on Friday, May 17, 2013. Part II. will examine the keynotes and panels for the Software Defined Infrastructure (SDI) track. There were also parallel tracks on Mobile and Big Data on Friday as well as, on Saturday May 18, 2013, sessions on entrepreneurship, which were not attended by this author. Venk Shukla, President of TiE-Silicon Valley TiE Angels have been very successful in funding entrepreneurs. TiE-SV will be launching a B2B incubator/accelerator in 2 or 3 months. 2013 TiEcon has been organized for Friday’s sessions to be about professional growth and innovation trends, while Saturday is all about personal growth, entrepreneurship and mentoring. Over 3,500 attended this year’s TiEcon, from over 30 countries. Satya Nadella, President, Server and Tools Business – Microsoft Server, tools and [...]

Viodi View – 05/17/13

Ken Pyle, Managing Editor — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:17:42 +0000

Broadband for Everyone With the continued expansion of Google Fiber into the suburbs of Kansas City, this interview, filmed at the Broadband Communities Summit provides some insight into how Google Fiber is trying to reach all neighborhoods. “We are seeing much more inclusiveness in Kansas City,” said Rick Usher, Assistant City Manager of Kansas City, Missouri. Usher was referring to the approach that Google has taken whereby deployment of fiber is going to neighborhoods where there is demand. With support of the cities, non-profits and local businesses, there is a concerted effort to bring gigabit broadband to those who otherwise might be left behind and to create a demand in those neighborhoods. Click here to read how various entities are working together to make sure there is the opportunity for all to have broadband. Sprinting to More Efficient Energy Wireless technologies as a facilitator of energy efficiency is the topic of the above interview with Sprint’s Brian Huey. With over 14 years of experience in this market, Sprint is more than the wireless connection to the meter, as it helps to provide utilities with an end-to-end solution for improved operations. ViodiTV will have the opportunity to catch up with Huey [...]

Illustrations of Network Virtualization from VMware, ETSI NFV, and Intel Reference Designs

Alan Weissberger — Sat, 11 May 2013 15:55:45 +0000

Introduction Our last article described VMware’s view of network virtualization, provided definitions and advantages of same, with different opinions expressed on the main advantage(s). There was a reference to a follow on article which would illustrate various configurations of network virtualization. We attempt to do that in this article by describing figures from VMware, ETSI NFV ISG, and Intel’s SDN/NFV reference designs. Network Virtualization Illustrations 1. VMware The figure below (from VMware) shows a Leaf/Spine L3 fabric deployment in support of Network Virtualization. The fabric connects compute cabinets with Hypervisors (below), Infrastructure cabinets with controller nodes, and Edge cabinets that interface to the outside world (e.g. the Internet, private lines, IP VPNs, Carrier Ethernet, etc). Because the virtual network is decoupled from the Data Center switch fabric, the latter can be built without the former complicating or restricting its design. VMware believes that the most scalable, robust, and cost effective architecture (to date) for such a Data Center switch fabric is the Layer 3 (L3 or IP Network layer) Leaf/Spine fabric design shown above. Such a L3 Leaf/Spine fabric is constructed using standard IP routing protocols (e.g. OSPF, IS-IS, BGP) between the Leaf and Spine switches. This fabric can be put [...]

The Viodi View

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