APPLICATION INFRASTRUCTURE
Bluebird Network | November 23, 2021
Bluebird Network, a communications infrastructure provider with 10,000 route miles of fiber and operator of two data centers, now supports carrier-grade fiber internet, cloud access and data services to the SubTropolis Technology Center (STC) in Kansas City, Missouri.
Bluebird recently established a point of presence in the Hunt Midwest facility to support data-hungry businesses via a partnership with LightEdge Solutions. Continuing to expand their network and communications infrastructure delivery, this development furthers Bluebird’s ability to empower local businesses.
“The digital world spins faster each day and Bluebird is focused on giving businesses the tools and technology to keep up,When an operation has inconsistent internet or can’t evaluate their business in real time, production slows and money is lost. We’re here to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Trent Anderson, Chief Revenue Officer of Bluebird Network
It’s no secret applications and data housed in the cloud is quickly becoming the way of the future.
“Cloud services are increasingly being pushed closer to the edge,” said Mike McHenry, LightEdge VP of Cloud and Product Architecture. “Having partners like Bluebird that can help our customers with their connectivity needs is a critical component to delivering our services to enterprise customers.”
All new and existing tenants within the SubTropolis can now leverage Bluebird’s world-class fiber. Bluebird also boasts some of the fastest circuit turn-up times in the industry, made even easier by existing infrastructure within the cave.
This build brings a powerful and diverse fiber connection to the Hunt Midwest Meet-Me-Room – an added benefit for carriers and businesses colocating in the LightEdge data center inside the SubTropolis.
“We’ve been pursuing Bluebird for years to connect in here,” said Mike Bell, Senior VP of Hunt Midwest Real Estate Development. “It’s always good to have another carrier in STC allowing people to choose our location and it’s a testament to Bluebird’s network. It’s a win-win for both sides.”
One other benefit of Bluebird building into the SubTropolis is the ability to connect LightEdge customers to other data centers.
Referencing the Bluebird Underground Data Center in Springfield, Missouri, Bell said, “Having two underground locations with a fiber provider, how much safer can you be?”
Bluebird’s Underground Data Center is a facility built 85-feet below ground to N+1 standards at all levels of critical infrastructure. Extending an extra level of redundancy to their existing data center services, the company also owns and operates the Bluebird Quad Cities Data Center in Bettendorf, IA.
Supporting increased productivity and innovation for businesses for over 20 years, Bluebird supplies robust and reliable fiber services necessary to thrive in the next era of digital transformation. The company provides an array of services including dedicated internet, Ethernet solutions, Private Cloud Connections, dark fiber, wavelengths, colocation, and more.
About Bluebird Network
Bluebird Network is a communications infrastructure provider and data center operator. Since 1999, Bluebird Network, headquartered in Columbia, Missouri, has provided internet and transport services, via its fiber infrastructure, to Carriers and Enterprises in Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Iowa, and the surrounding states. Bluebird owns two data centers: an underground facility in Springfield, MO, and a facility in the Quad Cities. Bluebird operates over 10,000 fiber route miles of high-speed broadband and fiber-optic connections with over 74,000 on-net and near-net buildings and 151 Points of Presence (PoP) sites spanning the Midwest, including the major cities of Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield (MO and IL), Tulsa, Peoria, Rockford, Bloomington, Normal and the Quad Cities.
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APPLICATION INFRASTRUCTURE
5G Americas | November 25, 2021
While there is still a lot of innovation ahead for 5G, many projects identified as “Next G” and “6G” are already underway globally with significant leadership from the Americas. Today, 5G Americas, the voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas announced the publication of a new white paper entitled Mobile Communications Towards 2030, which details how the industry will continue to build and evolve wireless communications networks for consumers and enterprises beyond what we know as 5G today.
Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas, said, “While 5G is at the beginning of a long era of innovation with a full road map of exciting enhancements, the work to research and study the next generation of possibilities is already underway. It is imperative that the Americas region build and maintain leadership, gathering input from wireless operators and vendors, as well as academia, other vertical industries, and the government.”
Emerging next generation wireless communications use cases are still several years away from being formulated but include some thrilling opportunities. Early use cases may include multi-sensory telepresence and immersion via extended reality (XR), as well as use of digital twins in Industry 4.0’s cyber-physical systems. Additional use cases may include holographic teleportation, tactile and haptic communications, and many more.
Wireless impacts on vertical industries may include opportunities in precision crops and livestock, biosensor monitoring in health care, advanced driver assist and autonomous driving for transportation systems, first responder systems that allow rapid data collection from sensors and real-time situational awareness, and government and defense systems utilizing ubiquitous connectivity.
Additionally, the white paper provides insight into the vision and requirements necessary for next generation wireless networks to come to life. Emerging applications may require very high data rates into the Tbps range for digital twins and tactile feedback, extremely wide coverage for rural or defense needs, and reliability up to “seven nines” for intense remote control and digital twin requirements.
Mobile Communications Towards 2030 examines the following areas:
Activities in North America in context of next generation wireless work
Review of global activities (China, Japan, Europe, Korea, Taiwan & India)
Use Cases (multi-sensory telepresence and immersion, Industry 4.0, digital twins, and advances in different vertical industries)
Technology requirements and network evolution
Technology enablers and trends
North American leadership
Brian Daly, Assistant Vice President, Standards & Industry Alliances, AT&T and technical work group co-leader on the paper, commented, “While 5G is still early in its lifecycle and is being evolved and enhanced through upcoming 3GPP releases while worldwide deployment continues, we recognize the need to begin to promote early commitment to creating a 5G to Next G marketplace and to ensure North America continues to lead in technology development. The groundwork for the next exciting chapter of wireless revolution is beginning as academia and US-based alliances are looking at advancing technology, along with the US government focused in forging fruitful partnerships with private sector.”
Swaminathan “Swami” Arunachalam, Senior Director, 6G Research and Industry Alliances, North America, Nokia, and 5G Americas group co-leader, further added, “It is early in the cycle for 6G research. Technologies relevant in the 6G era like network disaggregation and programmability across the end-to-end system are also planned to be studied and deployed in the context of 5G-Advanced. These are important stepping stones towards the 6G era which will comprise of new and additional technologies such as THz radio technologies, communication and sensing capabilities, sub-networks."
About 5G Americas: The Voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas
5G Americas is an industry trade organization composed of leading telecommunications service providers and manufacturers. The organization’s mission is to facilitate and advocate for the advancement and transformation of LTE, 5G and beyond throughout the Americas. 5G Americas is invested in developing a connected wireless community while leading 5G development for all the Americas. 5G Americas is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington.
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WINDOWS SYSTEMS AND NETWORK
Comviva | January 14, 2022
Comviva, the global leader in mobility solutions, announced a collaboration with IBM (NYSE: IBM) to deliver its next-generation BlueMarble solution on the IBM Cloud for Telecommunications. The integrated solution shall power digital transformation for Communication Service Providers (CSPs) globally in the 5G and Edge era.
Comviva's BlueMarble, which is now ready to run on IBM Cloud for Telecommunications, enables CSPs to modernize their business platforms without having to go through large complex transformation cycles. Offering a complete digital customer lifecycle from discovery, shopping, ordering, and billing to payment and care, the solution is designed to provide a digital platform with ready-to-configure microservices and flexible user interface components to enable a new-age customer experience across different channels, as well as a scalable and agile market solution for CSPs to monetize infrastructure and accelerate their digital transformation initiatives.
"5G introduces fundamental changes to the way Business Support Solutions work for evolving digital services. It is essential for CSPs to embrace Cloud native technologies that provide differentiated competitive advantage for supporting new revenue models. Our BlueMarble solution is 5G native and now ready to run on the IBM Cloud for Telecommunications. The integrated solution is designed to empower CSPs with a future proof next-generation platform for rapid transformation and monetization of existing network infrastructure as they prepare for 5G evolution."
Manoranjan 'Mao' Mohapatra, Chief Executive Officer at Comviva
This collaboration is in line with Comviva's parent company, Tech Mahindra's NXT.NOW™ charter, that focuses on investing in emerging technologies and solutions that enable digital transformation and evolving needs in the 5G era. Tech Mahindra is part of IBM's partner ecosystem collaborating on the IBM Cloud for Telecommunications to help network equipment providers, independent software vendors (ISVs), software-as-a-service providers, and hardware partners accelerate business transformation by unlocking the power of 5G and edge. The IBM Cloud for Telecommunications is engineered to integrate advanced AI and automation processes at the edge and speeds services deployment while simultaneously reducing overall costs.
Bill Lambertson, Vice President and Distinguished Industry Leader for IBM Global Telecommunications, said, "We are excited to bring together Comviva's BlueMarble order capture solution with IBM's Sterling Order Management using Telco standard TM Forum Open APIs that are enabled on IBM Cloud for Telecommunications. We look forward to extend this API driven integration on joint client engagements."
Mahadev Subramaniam, IBM Global Business Unit Head at Tech Mahindra, said, "5G is a significant part of our portfolio and growth agenda. A frontrunner in this domain, we have been making sustained investments to expand our 5G capabilities, and in the process, strengthen the ecosystem. This collaboration is a testimony to our long-standing alliance with IBM. In line with our CloudNXT.NOWTM framework, the work with IBM is aimed at generating new revenue streams from 5G and solidifying our vision to further scale our IBM ecosystem."
This collaboration aims to allow Tech Mahindra and IBM to establish a standards-based integration of new Telco solutions with clients' existing systems using TM Forum APIs enabled on IBM Cloud for Telecommunications. Comviva's BlueMarble solution implements these APIs to help enable agile adaptation, as well as the ability to address specific client needs, such as integrating solutions from IBM and its partner ecosystem. Additionally, the BlueMarble solution can integrate with IBM's Sterling Order Management to offer clients a choice of billing solutions.
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