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Intel® Network Builders Newsletter
    DECEMBER 2016
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What's New?

What's New?

 

Winners Announced in Verizon* and Intel® Network Builders Innovation Challenge

The Verizon* and Intel® Network Builders Innovation Challenge was designed to stimulate innovation in SDN and NFV solutions that enhance the customer experience on Verizon's network, built on solutions that contain Intel ingredient technologies. On November 18, finalists from each category had the opportunity to demonstrate their solutions in the Verizon Network Innovation Lab in Waltham, MA.

Our five distinguished judges (pictured below) experienced live demonstrations from the low latency category finalists, Artesyn/Vantrix and Brain4Net, and the analytics category finalists, GENBAND, Netrounds, and Wipro. You can discover more about their solutions from the live interviews conducted from the Verizon Innovation Lab on the Intel® Network Builders Social Hub.

Winners Announced in Verizon* and Intel� Network Builders Innovation Challenge Update
From Left to Right: Matt Adiletta, Intel Senior Fellow and Director of the Center of Innovation at Intel; Dr. Yan Luo, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Massachusetts; Lynn Comp, Senior Director, Industry and Sales Enabling in the Network Platforms Group at Intel; Dr. Bryan Larish, Director of Technology at Verizon; Anil Guntupalli, Director of Technology at Verizon.

After a difficult deliberation, the judges chose one grand prize winner in each category. The grand prize winners were announced on December 5 at the Intel® Network Builders Summit in conjunction with Carrier Network Virtualization in Palo Alto.

Low Latency Category: Artesyn Embedded Computing and Vantrix Corporation showcased their Network Edge Augmented 360 Demo. This virtual reality solution is seen to provide an improved immersive customer experience at live sports events, as an example.

Analytics Category: Wipro demonstrated a network analytics solution that uses real-time analytics to improve end customer experience on wireless networks.

Congratulations to the grand prize winners!

 

 

Intel® Network Builders University Offers New Courses on vE-CPE

The Intel® Network Builders University launched a new virtualized enterprise customer premises equipment (vE-CPE) program with four new detailed courses.

Members of the Intel® Builders programs have access to these new courses and all Intel® Builders University training material. To access the material, simply login with existing Intel Builders program credentials and click on the University tab. Those who are not members of an Intel Builders program can create an account here.

 

 

Welcome Our New Ecosystem Partners

With 230 ecosystem partners, the Intel® Network Builders program continues to grow! We welcome new partners Ampliphae, ATEME, Harmonic, Ranzure Networks, ShenZhen SandStone Data Technology Co. Ltd., Structured Communication Systems, Inc., vArmour Networks, and World Wide Technology.

To see all our ecosystem members, visit the Ecosystem Partners page and the End User Members page on our website.

 

 

Catch Up on the Network Transformation Video Podcast Series

Earlier this year, Intel launched a video podcast series tackling some of the most pressing challenges and opportunities in transforming the network. Hosted by Jim St. Leger, Data Plane Software Product Line Manager at Intel, the video series addresses a new topic every two weeks. The latest episode, titled "The Road to 5G: The Network Becomes Personal," covers the role 5G will play in our everyday lives. It also addresses how communications service providers can evolve their wireless business models by streamlining the delivery of services, and in turn, enable new opportunities for revenue growth. Check out new episodes every two weeks through the end of the year on our YouTube* playlist or Social Hub. Tune in to find out how your business can benefit from network transformation.

Watch the Video

 

 

 

xRAN.org Launches to Accelerate Development of a Software-Based, Extensible Radio Access Network

AT&T,* Deutsche Telekom,* and SKT* founded xRAN.org to promote a software-based, extensible radio access network (xRAN) and to standardize critical elements of the xRAN architecture. xRAN.org members are dedicated to developing and standardizing an open alternative to the traditionally closed, hardware-based RAN architectures found in today's wireless access networks. The initial members began working together in early 2016, and the xRAN.org was formally launched in October 2016 as part of the NMGN Industry Conference and Exhibition in October in Frankfurt, Germany.

The xRAN.org members are advancing the RAN architecture in three areas:

Through the founding of xRAN.org, AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, and SKT are signaling to the market a desire to re-architect the RAN to be ready for 5G networks and network slicing, and they are encouraging development of an open ecosystem to meet those needs. Among the early members of the xRAN.org community are Radisys,* Aricent,* and Intel. The xRAN architecture transforms today's static RAN infrastructure into an extensible, software-based service delivery platform capable of rapidly responding to changing user application and business needs.

The xRAN.org initiative complements other SDN/NFV programs by extending the NFV principles into the RAN. Intel has joined to bring additional expertise and choices in defining the northbound and southbound software APIs for Intel® architecture-based COTS servers for the cloud RAN use case. Intel's FlexRAN will be the primary vehicle to engage in technical and business discussions with xRAN.org. FlexRAN is the common reference platform for all NPG 5G RAN engagements, across multiple initiatives.

Learn more about this initiative at the xRAN.org web site. FAQ for the initiative are at http://www.xran.org/faq.

 

Technical Spotlight

Technical Spotlight

New Additions to Intel® Solutions Blueprints Focus on Security

Security remains a top service provider priority in network transformation, providing threat protection for the underlying infrastructure while allowing critical functions to operate in a secure environment. This month, the Intel® Solutions Blueprints webpage expanded to include two new papers on this important topic:

"Security Considerations for Network Functions Virtualization for Communications Service Providers" – Read the Paper

"NFV Security Gateway for Communications Service Providers" – Read the Paper

 

 

 

Technical Training: SDN/NFV Developer Appreciation Day

As 2016 comes to a close, Out of the Box Network Developers is looking back on a very successful year. In about nine months, the community has grown to include more than 900 SDN and NFV developers. The year is coming to a close with a bang with a developers challenge around SDN and NFV. To begin 2017, the organization wants to show its appreciation to the developers who participated in the challenge, and also to thank those who did not participate in the challenge who still have been crucial for growing such a vibrant SDN/NFV community.

In this developer appreciation event, Out of the Box Network Developers will turn the tables. Members of the industry—including Huawei,* Cable Labs,* Intel, and more—will come to pitch their ideas to the developers and seek their contributions. Register for this event to enjoy an evening of networking, see the winners from the 2016 Devlab competition, and hear lightning pitches from the industry.

Dates: January 19
Time: 05:30 pm - 09:30 pm
Location: SC-9 auditorium, Intel Santa Clara Campus

 

 

 

Release of DPDK 16.11

DPDK 16.11 was successfully released in November and is now available for download from dpdk.org. The release contains a number of significant enhancements, including:

The full feature list is available in the Release Notes.

 

 

 

DPDK Summit Userspace Event Brings Together Community's Developers

This October in Dublin, major contributors to the DPDK open source community came together for the annual DPDK Summit Userspace event. This annual event differs from other DPDK Summits in that it is targeted specifically at software developers contributing to DPDK, and registration is capped at about 100 people in order to encourage interactive discussion and debate.

This year, all the main contributors to DPDK were represented. In addition to a number of technical presentations, the event also included interactive discussions on the DPDK roadmap, mbuf structure, interworking with the Linux* kernel, usability improvements, and project governance. Presentations and videos from the event are available on the DPDK Summit website.

Planning for next year's DPDK Summit events is starting now. In addition to repeating the PRC, USA, and European events in 2017, the community is also investigating the possibility of hosting its first DPDK Summit in Bangalore, and is considering a summit in the APAC region, possibly in Tokyo. Further details will be communicated in future newsletters and via the DPDK Summit website.

 

Partner News & Collaboration

Partner News
& Collaboration

Ecosystem Updates

Iricent* Showcases MANO as a Service (MaaS) at SDN World Congress in October

Iricent* showcased their unique MANO as a Service (MaaS) platform at the SDN World Congress event in The Hague in October. Specifically aimed at both service and equipment providers, MaaS removes common commercial and resource related barriers to adoption of NFV and facilitates rapid deployment of new services for enterprise customers. Typical deployments to date are focused on vCPE-related services and leverage the benefits of packet processing technology such as DPDK on cost-effective Intel® Atom®-based platforms to ensure excellent performance and throughput. Read more in the press release.

 

 

Tech Mahindra Launches Virtual Network Function Exchange

In November, Tech Mahindra launched its Virtual Network Function (VNF) Exchange, along with a number of leading new age providers of software defined networks (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) products. The VNF Exchange is a product-independent global industry platform aimed at pre-certifying VNF design, VNF stack, and VNF performance. The companies joining Tech Mahindra for the launch include Intel and Intel® Network Builders partners Affirmed Networks,* Oracle,* Red Hat,* and RIFT.* To learn more, read the press release.

 

 

Featured Videos

 

Cisco* and Intel Share New Resources to Accelerate Network Transformation for Communications Service Providers

In a recent video fireside chat, John Healy, General Manager of the Datacenter Network Solutions Group at Intel, and Jeff Spagnola, Vice President of Sales for Cloud and Managed Services at Cisco,* discussed the momentum of SDN and NFV in the marketplace and the challenges that remain as the technologies move from PoCs to early deployments. Cisco and Intel recently released a series of new publications showcasing their joint solutions that are designed to accelerate the adoption of these technologies.

"Intel and Cisco Fireside Chat: Discussing SDN and NFV" – Watch the Video

"High-Performance VNFs on NFV Infrastructure" – Read the Paper

"Introduction to Cisco Intel NFV Quick Start" – Read the Paper

"Simplify NFV Deployment for Service Providers and Enterprises in the Data Center and Hybrid Cloud" (with Radware*) – Read the Paper

 

 

HPE* and Intel Discuss the Journey to Telco Cloud

In a recent webcast titled "Is the Gain Worth the Pain on the Journey to Telco Cloud?" Bala Thekkedath, Director of Portfolio Marketing, Telecommunications, Hewlett Packard Enterprise;* Udayan Mukherjee, Intel Fellow, Data Center Group, Intel; and Dana Cooperson, Research Director, Analysys Mason* discussed the phases communications service providers face in transitioning to telco cloud, the operational challenges they face and how to overcome them, and how CommSPs can select the right ecosystem partners to accelerate this transformation.

Watch the Video

 

 

Intel® Network Builders Partners Discuss the Future of the Network at SDN and OpenFlow* World Congress

Partners from the Intel® Network Builders ecosystem discussed interoperability, telco cloud, and the path to 5G from diverse perspectives in a series of videos with TelecomTV* at SDN and OpenFlow World Congress.

"Addressing Interoperability Concerns over NFV," with Charlie Ashton, Director of Business Development, Wind River* – Watch the Video

"Canonical and the Role of Telco Cloud on the Path to 5G," with Nic Lemieux, Director, Information & Communications Technology, NFV & SDN, Canonical* – Watch the Video

"Cisco and the Role of Telco Cloud on the Path to 5G," with Sanjeev Mervana, Senior Director, Service Provider Marketing, Cisco* – Watch the Video

"HPE and the Role of Telco Cloud on the Path to 5G," with Prodip Sen, CTO, Network Functions Virtualization, Hewlett Packard Enterprise* – Watch the Video

"Telco Cloud's Role on the Path to 5G," a panel discussion from the Intel® Network Builders Summit – Watch the Video

 

 

Featured Publications

Advantech* Delivers NFV Platforms for the Virtual Edge Using Intel® Xeon® Processors

Advantech,* working with Intel® technology, has delivered a new series of network server platforms with Intel server-class products for all parts of the network to help communications service providers maximize the network elasticity benefit they can get from NFV.

Read the Paper

 

 

Two Network Functions Virtualization Infrastructure Platforms Demonstrate Predictable Performance and Continuous Improvement

This white paper shows how Intel and HPE* collaborate to simplify the evaluation of network functions virtualization infrastructure (NFVI) for service providers.

Read the Paper

 

 

Nokia* Brings OCP to Enterprise, IT, and Communications Service Providers

This white paper highlights how Nokia* addresses requirements specific to communications service providers with the Open Compute Project (OCP),* which helps organizations reduce energy consumption and maintenance costs in the data center.

Read the Paper

 

Upcoming Opportunities

Social Hub

Catch Up with the Community on Social Hub

For our ecosystem's latest news, podcasts, webinars, blog posts, and more, visit Social Hub. Don't miss these webinars from our ecosystem:

"What's New In Red Hat's Cloud Infrastructure Stack," with George Drapeau, Director, Partner Solutions & Technology at Red Hat,* on December 19 — Register Now

"Intel and Affirmed Networks: The Journey Towards Cloud Native Network Functions," with Petar Torre from Intel and Ron Parker and Jim Logan from Affirmed Networks,* on December 14 — Register Now

"Using Deep Packet Inspection and Semantic Awareness to Implement Zero Trust to IoT," with Alexander Müller, Product Manager DPI at Rohde & Schwarz Cybersecurity ipoque,* on December 13 — Register Now

 

 

Join the Conversation on Twitter*

Intel® Network Builders offers a variety of online options for you to reach out to fellow ecosystem members between events: Follow @IntelNetwork on Twitter* or use the Intel Network Builders hashtag, #IntelBuilders.

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