ETELM 4GLinked INTEGRATED SOLUTION FOR SMART CAMPUS COMMUNICATIONS & SECURITY

Mobile communications are developing incredibly rapidly, driven largely by consumer demand combined with new standards and features by smartphone and network vendors, seeking to gain a competitive advantage. As with all advanced technologies, it is essential that users select the most appropriate solution for their specific operational needs - now and in the future. Ideally, technology should be based on open standards which reduce the users’ reliance on single vendors and increase functionality and competition.

Spotlight

Bluebird Network

Bluebird network serves the Midwest with a carrier-class fiber network built for the high-bandwidth world of today and the technologies shaping tomorrow. Bluebird supports businesses, schools, hospitals and many other data-driven enterprises with high-capacity transport, blazing internet speeds and data center solutions. Whether your business needs to communicate with multiple branches, house your data in an ultra-secure location, or simply gain a faster connection to the outside world—and you need it done on time—Bluebird can help.

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Hyper-Converged Infrastructure

Top Books to Consider for Adoption of Hyper-Converged Infrastructure

Article | October 3, 2023

Discover the list of best hyperconverged infrastructure books and gain knowledge on the latest advancements in HCI and process design & explore areas for HCI improvements in the infrastructure domain. This comprehensive guide presents a curated selection of top books to consider for adopting Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) in IT infrastructure. Organizations increasingly recognize HCI as a transformative solution that streamlines data center management, enhances scalability, and optimizes resource utilization. To navigate this technology effectively, businesses must equip themselves with the proper knowledge and insights from authoritative sources. The carefully compiled list of books featured here offers valuable information, providing IT professionals and decision-makers with a solid foundation to make informed choices and successfully implement HCI within their IT infrastructure. 1. Hyperconverged Infrastructure Data Centers: Demystifying HCI Author: Sam Halabi Hyperconverged Infrastructure Data Centers: Demystifying HCI is a highly informative and authoritative guide that provides a clear understanding of Hyperconverged Infrastructure technology. Written for technical professionals and IT managers, the book offers a vendor-neutral perspective on HCI, covering its use cases and comparing leading hyperconvergence solutions in the market. Halabi effectively explains HCI's benefits, combining storage, computing, and networking into a single system, offering simplicity, scalability, and flexibility without sacrificing control. The book explores computing, virtualization, and software-defined storage advancements, highlighting the improvements they bring to data center designs. The author guides readers through the HCI lifecycle, including evaluation, planning, implementation, and management. The book also delves into HCI applications such as DevOps, virtual desktops, and disaster recovery, presenting a new application deployment and management model. 2. Hyperconverged Infrastructure: A Complete Guide Author: The Art of Service - Hyperconverged Infrastructure Publishing This book is a valuable resource for individuals and organizations seeking to understand and leverage the potential of hyperconverged infrastructure. This guide takes a question-based approach, empowering readers to uncover challenges and develop effective solutions. The guide provides a comprehensive self-assessment tool covering seven core HCI maturity levels. With updated case-based questions, readers can diagnose their HCI projects, initiatives, organizations, and processes based on accepted diagnostic standards and practices. It helps readers identify areas where HCI improvements can be made and provides a clear picture of the attention those areas require, enabling them to lead their organizations effectively and address what truly matters. It empowers readers to make their HCI investments work better by guiding them through asking the right questions and seeking innovative perspectives. 3. Hyperconverged Infrastructure: Practical Tools for Self-Assessment Author: Gerardus Blokdyk The book is a valuable resource for individuals in diverse business roles seeking to optimize their Hyperconverged infrastructure investments. This comprehensive guide emphasizes the integration of HCI with other business initiatives and the monitoring of HCI activities' effectiveness. The guide emphasizes the use of HCI data and information to support organizational decision-making and foster innovation. One of the strengths of this guide lies in its focus on leveraging HCI data and information for organizational decision-making and innovation. The self-assessment tool helps identify areas for improvement, with case-based questions organized into seven core areas of process design. Nevertheless, this guide equips readers with the necessary tools and insights to maximize the value of HCI investments, align with business objectives, and foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. 4. Hyper-converged Infrastructure Standard Requirements Author: Gerardus Blokdyk This book offers individuals various business roles considering or exploring hyper-converged infrastructure implementation. This comprehensive guide emphasizes the importance of asking the right questions and understanding the challenges and hyperconvergence solutions related to HCI. It provides a set of organized case-based questions, enabling readers to diagnose their HCI projects and identify areas for improvement. The self-assessment tool helps organizations implement evidence-based best practices and integrate the latest advancements in HCI and process design. With the Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Scorecard, readers can gain a clear understanding of the areas that require attention and prioritize their efforts accordingly. The digital components accompanying the book provide additional resources to support organizations in their HCI journey. 5. The Gorilla Guide to Hyperconverged Infrastructure Implementation Strategies Author: Scott D. Lowe The Gorilla Guide to Hyperconverged Infrastructure Implementation Strategies is a book designed for strategic planners seeking innovative segmentation methods. This book offers individuals various business roles exploring HCI implementation. It starts with the architecture of hyper-converged architecture, followed by Exploring the Intersection of Software-Defined Networking and HCI. It delved into addressing the pain points and storage performance in HCI, with relevant use cases for practical examples. It covers data-center consolidation, test and development environments, and HCI economics, for its impact on the IT budget. It helps organizations implement evidence-based best practices and integrate the latest advancements in HCI and process design. 6. The 2022 Report on Hyper-Converged Infrastructure: World Market Segmentation by City Author: Prof Philip M. Parker The '2022 Report on Hyper-Converged Infrastructure: World Market Segmentation by City' is a book designed for global strategic planners seeking innovative segmentation methods. This report covers over 2,000 cities across 200 countries, providing insights into the estimated market size (latent demand) of hyper-converged infrastructure in each significant city worldwide. The report ranks these cities based on their market size relative to their respective countries, geographic regions, and global market. The sales of hyper-converged infrastructure encompass a wide range of products, including hypervisors such as VMware, KVM, and Hyper-V, used for various purposes like virtual desktop infrastructure, server virtualization, data protection, and cloud solutions. Prominent companies in the industry, including VMware, Nutanix, Maxta, and others are covered in the report. The information presented is gathered from public sources, including news, press releases, and industry players, and is reported in U.S. dollars without adjusting for inflation. 7. The 2020-2025 World Outlook for Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Author: Prof Philip M. Parker The World Outlook for Hyper-Converged Infrastructure study comprehensively analyzes the global market across more than 190 countries. It offers estimates of the latent demand, or potential industry earnings (P.I.E.), for each country, expressed in millions of U.S. dollars. The report also presents the country's share as a percentage of the region and the global market, enabling readers to assess its relative position. The study generates latent demand estimates using econometric models that project economic dynamics within and between countries. While it does not delve into specific market players or product details, it takes a strategic, long-term perspective, disregarding short-term cyclical fluctuations and focusing on aggregated trends. A multi-stage methodology, often taught in graduate business courses on international strategic planning, was employed to formulate these estimates. Wrap-up The adoption of Hyper-Converged Infrastructure represents a significant opportunity for businesses to revolutionize their IT infrastructure, improve operational efficiency, and unlock new levels of agility and scalability. The books recommended in this listicle serve as indispensable resources for IT professionals and decision-makers seeking to embark on an HCI journey. By investing in the knowledge imparted by these authoritative texts, you empower yourself and your organization to leverage the full potential of HCI and stay at the forefront of technological advancements. Remember, success in adopting HCI lies not only in the technology itself but also in the understanding and expertise gained through continuous learning and exploration.

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Hyper-Converged Infrastructure

The Future of Computing: Why IaaS is Leading the Way

Article | October 3, 2023

Firms face challenges with managing their resources, and ensuring security & cost optimization, adding complexity to their operations. IaaS solves this need to maintain and manage IT infrastructure. Contents 1. Infrastructure as a Service: Future of Cloud Computing 2. Upcoming Trends in IaaS 2.1 The Rise of Edge Computing 2.2 Greater Focus on Security 2.3 Enhancement in Serverless Architecture 2.4 Evolution of Green Computing 2.5 Emergence of Containerization 3. Final Thoughts 1. Infrastructure as a Service: Future of Cloud Computing As digital transformation continues to reshape the business landscape, cloud computing is emerging as a critical enabler for companies of all sizes. With infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), businesses can outsource their hardware and data center management to a third-party provider, freeing up resources and allowing them to focus on their core competencies, reducing operational costs while maintaining the agility to adapt to changing market conditions. With the increasing need for scalable computing solutions, IaaS is set to become a pivotal player in shaping the future of computing. IaaS is already emerging as a prominent solution for organizations looking to modernize their computing capabilities. This article will delve into the recent trends of IaaS and its potential impact on the computing industry, implying why IaaS is important for emerging businesses. 2. Upcoming Trends in IaaS 2.1 The Rise of Edge Computing The rise in IoT and mobile computing has led to a challenge in the amount of data that can be transferred across a network in a certain period. Due to its many uses, such as improving reaction times for self-driving cars and safeguarding confidential health information, the market for edge computing infrastructure is expected to reach a value of $450 billion. (Source: CB Insights) Edge computing is a technology that enables data processing to occur closer to its origin, thereby reducing the volume of data that needs to be transmitted to and from the cloud. A mesh network of micro data centers that process or store critical data locally and push all received data to a central data center or cloud storage repository in a footprint of less than 100 square feet. (Source: IDC) Edge computing represents the fourth major paradigm shift in modern computing, following mainframes, client/server models, and the cloud. A hybrid architecture of interconnected IaaS services allows for low latency through edge computing and high performance, security, and flexibility through a private cloud. Connecting edge devices to an IaaS platform streamlines location management and enables remote work, thus looking forward to smoother future of IaaS. An edge layer (fog computing) is required to optimize the architecture model with high-speed and reliable 5G connectivity, connecting edge devices with the cloud. This layer acts as autonomous distributed nodes, capable of analyzing and acting on real-time data. Doing so sends only the data required to the central infrastructure in an IaaS instance. By combining the advantages of edge computing in data capture with the storage and processing capabilities of the cloud, companies can take full advantage of the benefits of data analytics to leverage their innovation and optimization capabilities while simultaneously and effectively managing IoT devices on the edge. IoT devices, also known as edge devices, possess the ability to analyze data in real time through the use of AI, ML, and algorithms, even in the absence of an internet connection. This technology yields numerous advantages, including superior decision-making, early detection of issues, and heightened efficiency. However, an IaaS infrastructure with top-notch computing and storage capabilities is an absolute necessity to analyze the data effectively. 2.2 Greater Focus on Security Hackers might use cloud-based services to host malware through malware-as-a-service (MaaS) platforms or to distribute malware payloads using cloud-based apps and services. In addition, organizations often need more than they can secure in their IaaS footprint, leading to increased misconfigurations and vulnerabilities. Recognizing and reacting to an attack is called reactive security, whereas anticipating a dangerous event before it happens and intervening to prevent it is predictive safety. Predictive security is the future of cloud security. The cybersecurity mesh involves setting up a distributed network and infrastructure to create a secure perimeter. This allows companies to centrally manage access to their data while enforcing security policies across the distributed network. It is a critical component of the Zero-Trust architecture. A popular IaaS cloud security trend is the multi-cloud environment. Multi-cloud proves effective when tools like security information and event management (SIEM) and threat intelligence are deployed. DevSecOps is a methodology that incorporates security protocols at every stage of software development lifecycle (SDLC). This makes it convenient to deal with threats during the lifecycle itself. Since deploying DevOps, software releases have been shortened for every product release. DevSecOps proves to be secure and fast only with a fully automated software development lifecycle. The DevOps and security teams must collaborate to provide massive digital transformation and security. Digital services and applications need stronger and better security in exponential amounts. This methodology must be enforced in a CI/CD pipeline to make it a continuous process. Secure access service edge (SASE) is a cloud-based architecture that integrates networking and software-as-a-service (SaaS) functions, providing them as a unified cloud service. The architecture combines a software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) or other WAN with multiple security capabilities, securing network traffic. 2.3 Enhancement in Serverless Architecture Serverless architecture apps are launched on demand when an event triggers the app code to run. The public cloud provider then assigns the resources necessary for the operation to occur. With serverless apps, containers are deployed and launched on demand when needed. This differs from the traditional IaaS cloud computing model, where users must pre-purchase capacity units for always-on server components to run their apps. The app will incur minimal charges during off-peak hours with a serverless model. When there is a surge in traffic, it can scale up seamlessly through the provider without requiring DevOps involvement. A serverless database is a type of database that operates as a fully managed database-as-a-service (DBaaS). It automatically adjusts its computing and storage resources to match the demand, making it convenient for users. A serverless database is a cloud based service that eliminates the need to manage infrastructure, scaling, and provisioning. It allows developers to concentrate on constructing applications or digital products without the burden of managing servers, storage, or backups. 2.4 Evolution of Green Computing In promoting green computing, infrastructure-as-a-service plays a significant role by allowing cloud providers to manage the infrastructure. This helps reduce the environmental impact and boosts efficiency by intelligently utilizing servers at high utilization rates. As a result, studies show that public cloud infrastructure is typically 2-4 times more efficient than traditional data centers, a giant leap forward for sustainable computing practices. 2.5 Emergence of Containerization Containerization is a type of operating system virtualization where applications are executed in distinct user spaces called containers. These containers operate on the same shared operating system, providing a complete, portable computing environment for virtualized infrastructure. Containers are self-contained software packages operating in any environment, including private data centers, public clouds, or developer laptops. They comprise all the necessary components required for the right functioning of IaaS-adopted cloud computing. 3. Final Thoughts With the expansion of multi-cloud environments, the emergence of containerization technologies like Docker and Kubernetes, and enhancements in serverless databases, IaaS is poised to become even more powerful and versatile in meeting the diverse computing needs of organizations. These advancements have enabled IaaS providers to offer a wide range of services and capabilities, such as automatic scaling, load balancing, and high availability, making it easier for businesses to build, deploy, and manage their applications swiftly in the cloud.

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Hyper-Converged Infrastructure

All You Need to Know About IaaS Vs. PaaS Vs. SaaS

Article | October 10, 2023

Nowadays, SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS are some of the most common names across the B2B and B2C sectors. This is because they have become the most efficient and go-to tool for starting a business. Together, they are significantly changing business operations around the globe and have emerged as separate sectors, revamping concepts of various product development, building and delivery processes. SaaS Vs PaaS Vs IaaS Each cloud computing model offers specific features and functionalities. Therefore, your organization must understand the differences. Whether you require cloud-based software to create customized applications, get complete control over your entire infrastructure without physically maintaining it, or simply for storage options, there is a cloud service for you. No matter what you choose, migrating to the cloud is the future of your business and technology. What is the Difference? IaaS: Aka Infrastructure as a Service IaaS allows organizations to manage their business resources such as their servers, network, and data storage on the cloud. PaaS: Aka Platform as a Service allows businesses and developers to build, host, and deploy consumer-facing apps. SaaS: Aka Software as a Service offers businesses and consumers cloud-based tools and applications for everyday use. You can easily access all three cloud computing tools on the internet browser or online apps. A great example would be Google Docs; Instead of working on one MS Word document and sending it around to each other, Google Docs allows your team to work and simultaneously collaborate online. The Market Value A recent report says that by 2028, the global SaaS market will be worth $716.52 billion, and by 2030, the global PaaS market will be worth $319 billion. Moreover, the global IaaS market is expected to be worth $292.58 billion by 2028, giving market players many opportunities. XaaS: Everything as a Service Another term more frequently used in IT is XaaS, short for Everything as a Service. It has emerged as a critical enabler of the Autonomous Digital Enterprise. XaaS is a term for highly customized, responsive, data-driven products and services that are entirely in the hands of the customer and based on the information they give through everyday IoT devices like cell phones and thermostats. Businesses can utilize this data generated over the cloud to deepen their customer relationships, sustain the sale beyond the initial product purchase and innovate faster. Conclusion Cloud computing is not restricted by physical hardware or office space. On the contrary, it allows your remote teams to work more effectively and seamlessly than ever, boosting productivity. Therefore, it offers maximum flexibility and scalability. IaaS, SaaS, PaaS; whichever solution you choose, options are always available to help you and your team move into cloud computing.

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Super Blueprints Integrate the 5G Open Source Stack from Core to Door

Article | June 1, 2021

There is an exciting convergence in the networking industry around open source, and the energy is palpable. At LF Networking, we have a unique perspective as the largest open source initiative in the networking space with the broadest set of projects that make up the diverse and evolving open source networking stack. LF Networking provides platforms and building blocks across the networking industry that enable rapid interoperability, deployment, and adoption and is the nexus for 5G innovation and integration. LF Networking has now tapped confluence on industry efforts to structure a new initiative to develop 5G Super Blueprints for the ecosystem. Major integrations between the building blocks are now underway–between ONAP and ORAN, Akraino and Magma, Anuket and Kubernetes, and more.

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Spotlight

Bluebird Network

Bluebird network serves the Midwest with a carrier-class fiber network built for the high-bandwidth world of today and the technologies shaping tomorrow. Bluebird supports businesses, schools, hospitals and many other data-driven enterprises with high-capacity transport, blazing internet speeds and data center solutions. Whether your business needs to communicate with multiple branches, house your data in an ultra-secure location, or simply gain a faster connection to the outside world—and you need it done on time—Bluebird can help.

Related News

Windows Systems and Network

Zayo Bolsters Global Network Infrastructure, Increases Capacity to Meet Rapid Bandwidth Demand

Business Wire | October 10, 2023

Zayo Group Holdings, Inc., a leading global communications infrastructure platform, today announced its latest series of infrastructure investments to extend global capacity to support rapidly increasing bandwidth demand—including deployment of 400G across the globe, long-haul capacity growth, and enhancements to its global IP infrastructure. Next-generation technology is being deployed at never-before-seen rates. This has placed the communications infrastructure industry at a unique inflection point as all digital businesses—enterprises, carriers and hyperscalers alike—scramble to ensure they have enough capacity to support these technologies, said Bill Long, Chief Product Officer at Zayo. As this trend plays out, it will be a strong tailwind for those providers who can capitalize on the moment. As one of the newest and most modern networks on the market, Zayo is uniquely positioned to support this growing demand for global bandwidth. Deploying 400G Globally For today’s digital businesses, 400G is essential to ensure the speed and scalability to support increasingly complex and data-intensive applications. Zayo recently completed upgrades of its European network to be fully 400G-enabled, with plans for its Tier-1 backbone in North America to be fully 400G-enabled by the end of 2024. In Q3, Zayo added nine new 400G-enabled routes to its North American network to provide high-bandwidth options between key cities, including: Atlanta to DC Denver to Dallas (Direct) Montreal to Quebec City Clinton to Ponchatoula Indianapolis to Columbus Ashburn to Baltimore Bend to Umatilla Laurel to Denver Additional 400G routes in progress include: Houston to New Orleans St. Louis to Chicago Buffalo to Albany Winnipeg to Toronto Toronto to Montreal Buffalo to Toronto Columbus to Ashburn Cleveland to Buffalo Houston to Ponchatoula Umatilla to Quincy What this means: The enablement of Zayo’s global network with 400G will allow customers to continue scaling their bandwidth with Zayo on existing routes, opening up high-capacity access on new routes, improving network stability and providing an overall better customer experience through quicker delivery and optimal routing. The enhanced capacity from these routes will support customers that have exponential growth needs driven by emerging technologies such as 5G, cloud adoption, IoT, AI, edge computing, and automation. Expanding Global Low-Latency Network Zayo has also been working to expand capacity in other key economic centers across the globe. In October 2022, Zayo announced its global low-latency route connecting the U.S. to South America’s financial hub of Sao Paulo. In Q3 2023, the company completed expansions to its connectivity infrastructure in Sao Paulo including a new key terrestrial route that will provide connectivity throughout the metro ring and to four key data centers. New Sao Paulo Points of Presence (PoPs): Alameda Araguaia, 3641, Alphaville, Barueri, SP, 06455 000, Brazil Av. Marcos Penteado de Ulhoa Rodrigues, 249, Santana de Parnaiba, SP, 06543 001, Brazil Avenida Ceci, 1900, Tambore, Barueri, SP, 06460 120, Brazil Rua Ricardo Prudente de Aquino, 85 Santan de Parnaiba, Brazil What this means: As Latin America’s center of innovation and commerce, São Paulo has seen an increased demand for connectivity from the U.S. To meet the growing needs of customers, Zayo is establishing diverse, high-bandwidth connectivity from its first-class North American fiber network directly into the largest economic center in the Southern Hemisphere. IP Infrastructure Growth IP demand continues to be a driver for capacity increases. Zayo continues to bolster its IP infrastructure with new PoPs in key markets and data centers across the globe. Zayo added eight new IP PoPs to its North American network in Q3, including: 45 Parliament St, Toronto, ON 250 Williams St NW, Atlanta, GA 6477 W Wells Park Rd, Salt Lake City, UT 2335 S Ellis St, Chandler, AZ 375 Pearl St, New York, NY 626 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 431 Horner Ave, Etobicoke, ON 1100 White St SW, Atlanta, GA Zayo's IP backbone, which runs on Zayo's wholly owned fiber infrastructure, makes up nearly 10% of the world's Internet capacity. Zayo currently manages 96Tb of core capacity and 34TB of peering capacity, and adds 1-2Tb of peering capacity every quarter. Upgrading Long-Haul Capacity As one of the other providers actively investing in its long-haul infrastructure, Zayo is continuing to overbuild its routes in high-demand areas to enable enhanced fiber capacity. In Q3 2023, Zayo completed the overbuild of its Omaha to Denver route, providing increased capacity on this highly sought-after route. Zayo also has three new long-haul route builds and two additional route overbuilds in progress with scheduled completion by the end of 2023. What this means: The enhancement to Zayo’s long-haul dark fiber routes provide customers with diverse routing options and the ability to customize and enhance their network to meet the unique needs of their businesses while maximizing resiliency and ability to scale. Zayo will continue to invest in future-proofing its network and services to connect what’s next for its customers. About Zayo For more than 15 years, Zayo has empowered some of the world’s largest and most innovative companies to connect what’s next for their business. Zayo’s future-ready network spans over 17 million fiber miles and 142,000 route miles. Zayo’s tailored connectivity and edge solutions enable carriers, cloud providers, data centers, schools, and enterprises to deliver exceptional experiences, from edge to core to cloud. Discover how Zayo connects what’s next at www.zayo.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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Hyper-Converged Infrastructure, Windows Systems and Network, IT Systems Management

NetActuate Releases the 8th Generation of its Platform, Offering Streamlined, Intuitive Management of Complex Global Deployments

PRWeb | August 14, 2023

NetActuate, a leading provider of global infrastructure and network services, has announced today the release of the eighth generation of its global platform. Existing customers can now experience powerful new features for streamlined self-service management of their global deployments. The new release builds on NetActuate's years of experience operating self-service cloud and networking platforms. The eighth version incorporates an intuitive, robust UI that enables greater insight and visibility across a range of infrastructure and network services. From virtual servers to bare metal and colocation, the new platform allows for easier monitoring and optimization, as well as greater self-service options than ever before. "We couldn't be prouder of the work done by our development and engineering teams to deliver the eighth generation of our platform," said Mark Mahle, CEO of NetActuate. "From the data center up, we have always had full control over our entire stack. This allows us to innovate at all levels to deliver numerous improvements for our customers." Inside the new platform, users can intuitively and easily manage their entire global deployment. From spinning up new virtual servers, to monitoring bandwidth in the data center, NetActuate customers now have more control than ever before, right at their fingertips. "Unlike other companies in this space, NetActuate is truly engineering-led," said Mark Price, Vice President of Infrastructure. "Our development and engineering teams worked hand-in-hand to rework the entire platform experience for end users, and add in powerful new capabilities wherever we could." Anycast customers now have powerful new tools for node management. From adding and removing locations instantly, to enabling them to see their entire anycast network at-a-glance, network optimization is now easier than ever. About NetActuate NetActuate is a leading provider of highly available, low latency custom network and infrastructure services that reach every major global market. From the datacenter to the last mile, we help providers take their products and services to the global edge faster. Our customers can rapidly scale without fear of high costs or devastating performance issues. We built one of the world's largest global networks by number of peers, and it serves as the foundation for our performance BGP anycast platform that powers over 25 billion transactions a day.

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Application Infrastructure, Windows Server OS

Palisade Infrastructure Announces Transaction with Consolidated Communications

businesswire | August 07, 2023

Palisade Infrastructure (“Palisade”) and Consolidated Communications, Inc. (“Consolidated”) have entered into an agreement whereby Palisade, on behalf of its managed funds, will acquire Consolidated’s assets in Washington state. The transaction includes Consolidated’s incumbent networks in Ellensburg and Yelm comprising a mixture of fiber-to-the-home and DSL technologies. Palisade intends to accelerate the build out of the fiber network in these markets, providing high speed, low latency connectivity to households and businesses. This is Palisade’s second broadband investment in Washington State following the announcement of the transaction to acquire Rainier Connect in December 2022. Palisade aims to develop a regional platform for fiber and high-speed broadband connectivity by investing in these markets to benefit all stakeholders including employees, customers and communities. Mike Reynolds, managing director at Palisade Infrastructure said, “We are excited to expand our fiber broadband platform in Washington State, in attractive markets that are in proximity to the Rainier Connect network. We look forward to continuing to grow the platform in the future.” This represents Palisade’s fourth transaction in North America and follows the closing of its investment in the PureSky Energy community solar platform in June 2023. Palisade is planning to launch a new fund focused on investing in digital connectivity and the energy transition later this year. Houlihan Lokey served as exclusive financial advisor and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP served as legal counsel to Palisade. Lazard served as the exclusive financial advisor to Consolidated Communications on the transaction. The transaction remains subject to federal, state and local regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. About Palisade Infrastructure Palisade Infrastructure forms part of the Palisade Group, a global independent, specialist infrastructure and real assets manager. Palisade Group has 30 active investments in its portfolio covering a broad range of sectors. Palisade Infrastructure’s North American capability focuses on the energy transition, digitization and transport infrastructure sectors. Palisade Infrastructure has a partnership-focused approach with a long-term investment horizon. For more information visit palisadegroup.com. About Consolidated Communications Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: CNSL) is dedicated to moving people, businesses and communities forward by delivering the most reliable fiber communications solutions. Consumers, businesses and wireless and wireline carriers depend on Consolidated for a wide range of high-speed internet, data, phone, security, cloud and wholesale carrier solutions. With a network spanning more than 57,500 fiber route miles, Consolidated is a top 10 U.S. fiber provider, turning technology into solutions that are backed by exceptional customer support.

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Windows Systems and Network

Zayo Bolsters Global Network Infrastructure, Increases Capacity to Meet Rapid Bandwidth Demand

Business Wire | October 10, 2023

Zayo Group Holdings, Inc., a leading global communications infrastructure platform, today announced its latest series of infrastructure investments to extend global capacity to support rapidly increasing bandwidth demand—including deployment of 400G across the globe, long-haul capacity growth, and enhancements to its global IP infrastructure. Next-generation technology is being deployed at never-before-seen rates. This has placed the communications infrastructure industry at a unique inflection point as all digital businesses—enterprises, carriers and hyperscalers alike—scramble to ensure they have enough capacity to support these technologies, said Bill Long, Chief Product Officer at Zayo. As this trend plays out, it will be a strong tailwind for those providers who can capitalize on the moment. As one of the newest and most modern networks on the market, Zayo is uniquely positioned to support this growing demand for global bandwidth. Deploying 400G Globally For today’s digital businesses, 400G is essential to ensure the speed and scalability to support increasingly complex and data-intensive applications. Zayo recently completed upgrades of its European network to be fully 400G-enabled, with plans for its Tier-1 backbone in North America to be fully 400G-enabled by the end of 2024. In Q3, Zayo added nine new 400G-enabled routes to its North American network to provide high-bandwidth options between key cities, including: Atlanta to DC Denver to Dallas (Direct) Montreal to Quebec City Clinton to Ponchatoula Indianapolis to Columbus Ashburn to Baltimore Bend to Umatilla Laurel to Denver Additional 400G routes in progress include: Houston to New Orleans St. Louis to Chicago Buffalo to Albany Winnipeg to Toronto Toronto to Montreal Buffalo to Toronto Columbus to Ashburn Cleveland to Buffalo Houston to Ponchatoula Umatilla to Quincy What this means: The enablement of Zayo’s global network with 400G will allow customers to continue scaling their bandwidth with Zayo on existing routes, opening up high-capacity access on new routes, improving network stability and providing an overall better customer experience through quicker delivery and optimal routing. The enhanced capacity from these routes will support customers that have exponential growth needs driven by emerging technologies such as 5G, cloud adoption, IoT, AI, edge computing, and automation. Expanding Global Low-Latency Network Zayo has also been working to expand capacity in other key economic centers across the globe. In October 2022, Zayo announced its global low-latency route connecting the U.S. to South America’s financial hub of Sao Paulo. In Q3 2023, the company completed expansions to its connectivity infrastructure in Sao Paulo including a new key terrestrial route that will provide connectivity throughout the metro ring and to four key data centers. New Sao Paulo Points of Presence (PoPs): Alameda Araguaia, 3641, Alphaville, Barueri, SP, 06455 000, Brazil Av. Marcos Penteado de Ulhoa Rodrigues, 249, Santana de Parnaiba, SP, 06543 001, Brazil Avenida Ceci, 1900, Tambore, Barueri, SP, 06460 120, Brazil Rua Ricardo Prudente de Aquino, 85 Santan de Parnaiba, Brazil What this means: As Latin America’s center of innovation and commerce, São Paulo has seen an increased demand for connectivity from the U.S. To meet the growing needs of customers, Zayo is establishing diverse, high-bandwidth connectivity from its first-class North American fiber network directly into the largest economic center in the Southern Hemisphere. IP Infrastructure Growth IP demand continues to be a driver for capacity increases. Zayo continues to bolster its IP infrastructure with new PoPs in key markets and data centers across the globe. Zayo added eight new IP PoPs to its North American network in Q3, including: 45 Parliament St, Toronto, ON 250 Williams St NW, Atlanta, GA 6477 W Wells Park Rd, Salt Lake City, UT 2335 S Ellis St, Chandler, AZ 375 Pearl St, New York, NY 626 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 431 Horner Ave, Etobicoke, ON 1100 White St SW, Atlanta, GA Zayo's IP backbone, which runs on Zayo's wholly owned fiber infrastructure, makes up nearly 10% of the world's Internet capacity. Zayo currently manages 96Tb of core capacity and 34TB of peering capacity, and adds 1-2Tb of peering capacity every quarter. Upgrading Long-Haul Capacity As one of the other providers actively investing in its long-haul infrastructure, Zayo is continuing to overbuild its routes in high-demand areas to enable enhanced fiber capacity. In Q3 2023, Zayo completed the overbuild of its Omaha to Denver route, providing increased capacity on this highly sought-after route. Zayo also has three new long-haul route builds and two additional route overbuilds in progress with scheduled completion by the end of 2023. What this means: The enhancement to Zayo’s long-haul dark fiber routes provide customers with diverse routing options and the ability to customize and enhance their network to meet the unique needs of their businesses while maximizing resiliency and ability to scale. Zayo will continue to invest in future-proofing its network and services to connect what’s next for its customers. About Zayo For more than 15 years, Zayo has empowered some of the world’s largest and most innovative companies to connect what’s next for their business. Zayo’s future-ready network spans over 17 million fiber miles and 142,000 route miles. Zayo’s tailored connectivity and edge solutions enable carriers, cloud providers, data centers, schools, and enterprises to deliver exceptional experiences, from edge to core to cloud. Discover how Zayo connects what’s next at www.zayo.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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Hyper-Converged Infrastructure, Windows Systems and Network, IT Systems Management

NetActuate Releases the 8th Generation of its Platform, Offering Streamlined, Intuitive Management of Complex Global Deployments

PRWeb | August 14, 2023

NetActuate, a leading provider of global infrastructure and network services, has announced today the release of the eighth generation of its global platform. Existing customers can now experience powerful new features for streamlined self-service management of their global deployments. The new release builds on NetActuate's years of experience operating self-service cloud and networking platforms. The eighth version incorporates an intuitive, robust UI that enables greater insight and visibility across a range of infrastructure and network services. From virtual servers to bare metal and colocation, the new platform allows for easier monitoring and optimization, as well as greater self-service options than ever before. "We couldn't be prouder of the work done by our development and engineering teams to deliver the eighth generation of our platform," said Mark Mahle, CEO of NetActuate. "From the data center up, we have always had full control over our entire stack. This allows us to innovate at all levels to deliver numerous improvements for our customers." Inside the new platform, users can intuitively and easily manage their entire global deployment. From spinning up new virtual servers, to monitoring bandwidth in the data center, NetActuate customers now have more control than ever before, right at their fingertips. "Unlike other companies in this space, NetActuate is truly engineering-led," said Mark Price, Vice President of Infrastructure. "Our development and engineering teams worked hand-in-hand to rework the entire platform experience for end users, and add in powerful new capabilities wherever we could." Anycast customers now have powerful new tools for node management. From adding and removing locations instantly, to enabling them to see their entire anycast network at-a-glance, network optimization is now easier than ever. About NetActuate NetActuate is a leading provider of highly available, low latency custom network and infrastructure services that reach every major global market. From the datacenter to the last mile, we help providers take their products and services to the global edge faster. Our customers can rapidly scale without fear of high costs or devastating performance issues. We built one of the world's largest global networks by number of peers, and it serves as the foundation for our performance BGP anycast platform that powers over 25 billion transactions a day.

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Application Infrastructure, Windows Server OS

Palisade Infrastructure Announces Transaction with Consolidated Communications

businesswire | August 07, 2023

Palisade Infrastructure (“Palisade”) and Consolidated Communications, Inc. (“Consolidated”) have entered into an agreement whereby Palisade, on behalf of its managed funds, will acquire Consolidated’s assets in Washington state. The transaction includes Consolidated’s incumbent networks in Ellensburg and Yelm comprising a mixture of fiber-to-the-home and DSL technologies. Palisade intends to accelerate the build out of the fiber network in these markets, providing high speed, low latency connectivity to households and businesses. This is Palisade’s second broadband investment in Washington State following the announcement of the transaction to acquire Rainier Connect in December 2022. Palisade aims to develop a regional platform for fiber and high-speed broadband connectivity by investing in these markets to benefit all stakeholders including employees, customers and communities. Mike Reynolds, managing director at Palisade Infrastructure said, “We are excited to expand our fiber broadband platform in Washington State, in attractive markets that are in proximity to the Rainier Connect network. We look forward to continuing to grow the platform in the future.” This represents Palisade’s fourth transaction in North America and follows the closing of its investment in the PureSky Energy community solar platform in June 2023. Palisade is planning to launch a new fund focused on investing in digital connectivity and the energy transition later this year. Houlihan Lokey served as exclusive financial advisor and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP served as legal counsel to Palisade. Lazard served as the exclusive financial advisor to Consolidated Communications on the transaction. The transaction remains subject to federal, state and local regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. About Palisade Infrastructure Palisade Infrastructure forms part of the Palisade Group, a global independent, specialist infrastructure and real assets manager. Palisade Group has 30 active investments in its portfolio covering a broad range of sectors. Palisade Infrastructure’s North American capability focuses on the energy transition, digitization and transport infrastructure sectors. Palisade Infrastructure has a partnership-focused approach with a long-term investment horizon. For more information visit palisadegroup.com. About Consolidated Communications Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: CNSL) is dedicated to moving people, businesses and communities forward by delivering the most reliable fiber communications solutions. Consumers, businesses and wireless and wireline carriers depend on Consolidated for a wide range of high-speed internet, data, phone, security, cloud and wholesale carrier solutions. With a network spanning more than 57,500 fiber route miles, Consolidated is a top 10 U.S. fiber provider, turning technology into solutions that are backed by exceptional customer support.

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