APPLICATION INFRASTRUCTURE
Cisco | March 01, 2022
Cisco today announced details on its go-to-market strategy for Cisco Private 5G together with partners, fostering a new wave of productivity for enterprises with mass-scale IoT adoption.
Most businesses are beginning to realize the benefits of digitizing, or 'going digital' – connecting their physical operations with information systems, and using analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), automation and machine learning (ML) to improve productivity and efficiency. Most businesses are used to connecting more people and things with Wi-Fi. What most businesses have not experienced yet – is what the power of Wi-Fi, 5G and IoT together can do for them to connect more and do more.
The Power to Transform Industries
Alongside Wi-Fi, private 5G and IoT have the potential to transform industries and redefine the future of hybrid work. Cisco views private 5G as a complement, not a replacement for the investments businesses have made in Wi-Fi, Ethernet transport, and corresponding management systems. Private 5G is set to enable connectivity for a full range of use cases from factory floors, supply chains, university and enterprise campuses, venues, hospitals and more.
Cisco Private 5G
The foundation of the solution is built on Cisco's industry-leading mobile core technology and IoT portfolio – spanning IoT sensors and gateways, device management software, as well as monitoring tools and dashboards. Open Radio Access Network (ORAN) technology is a key component of the solution. Cisco is working in close collaboration with ORAN vendors, JMA and Airspan, and is currently in customer trials utilizing their technology.
Key differentiators of Cisco Private 5G for Enterprises:
Delivered as-a-Service: Delivered together with global service providers and system integration partners, the offer reduces technical, financial, and operational risks for enterprise private 5G networks.
Complementary to Wi-Fi: Cisco Private 5G integrates with existing enterprise systems, including existing and future Wi-Fi versions - Wi-Fi 5/6/6E, making operations simple.
Visibility across the network and devices: Using a simple management portal, enterprise IT teams can maintain policy and identity across both Wi-Fi and 5G for simplified operations.
Pay-as-you-use subscription model: Cisco Private 5G is financially simple to understand. With pay-as-you-use consumption models, customers can save money with no up-front infrastructure costs, and ramp up services as they need.
Speed time to productivity: Businesses can spare IT staff from having to learn, design, and operate a complex, carrier class private network.
Key Benefits of Cisco Private 5G for Partners:
Path to Profitability for Cisco Partners: For its channel partners, Cisco reduces the required time, energy, and capital to enable a faster path to profitability.
Private Labeling: Partners can private label/use their own brand and avoid initial capital expenses and lengthy solution development cycles by consuming Cisco Private 5G on a subscription basis. Partners may also enhance Cisco Private 5G with their own value-added solutions.
"Cisco has an unbiased wireless strategy for the future of hybrid work. 5G must work with Wi-Fi and existing IT environments to make digital transformation easy," said Jonathan Davidson, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Mass-Scale Infrastructure Group, Cisco. "Businesses continuing their digitization strategies using IoT, analytics, and automation will create significant competitive advantages in value, sustainability, efficiency, and agility. Working together with our global partners to enable those outcomes with Cisco Private 5G is our unique value proposition to the enterprise."
Supporting Comments
"DISH Wireless is proud to partner with Cisco to bring smart connectivity to enterprise customers through dedicated private 5G networks. Together, we have the opportunity to drive real business outcomes across industries. We're actively collaborating with Cisco on transformational projects that will benefit a variety of sectors, including government and education, and we're working to revolutionize the way enterprises can manage their own networks. As DISH builds America's first smart 5G network™, we're offering solutions that are open, secure and customizable. Teaming with Cisco is a great next step, and we look forward to offering more innovative solutions for the enterprises of today and beyond."
— Stephen Bye, Chief Commercial Officer, DISH Wireless
"Cisco is busting the myth that enterprises can't cross Wi-Fi, private 5G and IoT streams. Enterprises are now tantalizingly closer to full visibility over their digital and physical environments. This opens up powerful new ways to innovate without compromising the robust control that enterprises require."
— Camille Mendler, Chief Analyst Enterprise Services, Omdia
"Developing innovative, customized 5G private network solutions for the enterprise market is a major opportunity to monetize the many advantages of 5G technology. Airspan is proud to be one of the first leading Open RAN partners to participate in the Cisco Private 5G solution and offer our cutting edge 5G RAN solutions including systems and software that are optimized for numerous enterprise use cases."
— Eric Stonestrom, Chairman and CEO, Airspan
"This partnership opens a world of new possibilities for enterprises. With simple downloaded upgrades, our all-software RAN can operate on the same physical infrastructure for 10+ years—no more hardware replacements every 36 months. And as the only system in the world that can accommodate multiple operators on the same private network, it eliminates the need to build separate networks for new licensed band operators."
— Joe Constantine, Chief Technology & Strategy Officer, JMA
"5G marks a milestone in wireless networking. For organizations, it opens many new opportunities to evolve their business models and create a completely new type of digital infrastructure. We see strong demand in all types of sectors including manufacturing and mining facilities, the logistics and automotive industries, as well as higher education and the healthcare sector. As a leading Cisco Global Gold Partner, we are excited to help drive this evolution. Thanks to our deep expertise, international capability, and close partnership with Cisco, we can support companies in integrating Private 5G into their enterprise networks,"
— Bob Bailkoski, Logicalis Group CEO.
"NEC Corporation is working on multiple 5G initiatives with Cisco. We have a Global System Integrator Agreement (GSIA) partnership for accelerating the deployment of innovative 5G IP transport network solutions worldwide. Work is in progress to connect Cisco's Mobile Core and NEC's radio over Cisco's 5G Showcase in Tokyo, a world leading 5G services incubation hub. Leveraging NEC's applications, Cisco and NEC will investigate expanding the technical trials including Private 5G in manufacturing, construction, transportation, and others."
—Yun Suhun, General Manager, NEC Corporation
Industry Projects Underway
Cisco is working together with its partners on Private 5G projects for customers across a wide range of industries including Chaplin, Clair Global, Colt Technology Services, ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation, Madeira Island, Network Rail, Nutrien, Schaeffler Group, Texas A&M University, Toshiba, Virgin Media O2, Zebra Technologies and more. See news release addendum for project details and supporting comments.
About Cisco
Cisco is the worldwide leader in technology that powers the Internet. Cisco inspires new possibilities by reimagining your applications, securing your data, transforming your infrastructure, and empowering your teams for a global and inclusive future. Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries.Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company.
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APPLICATION INFRASTRUCTURE
Extreme Networks, Inc. | September 29, 2021
Extreme Networks Inc. a cloud-driven networking company, today announced it has successfully implemented support of Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) OpenRoaming™ at the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu (IPV) in Portugal. OpenRoaming enables students, teachers, and other users on IPV's campus to connect to a high-speed, secure, carrier-grade Wi-Fi 6 network wherever they are, indoors and outdoors, without experiencing disruption to their wireless network connection. IPV is the first organization in Portugal to participate in WBA OpenRoaming.
In addition to OpenRoaming, Extreme has led the market in Wi-Fi carrier offload for 4G and 5G networks. In February of 2020, the company partnered with Verizon to create "smart stadium" technology at Super Bowl LIV in Miami. Verizon's wireless network was linked to ExtremeWireless™ Wi-Fi access points and ExtremeAnalytics™ software, providing seamless connectivity and authentication for fans in and around the stadium. Extreme currently offers RADSec and carrier offload with all major wireless carriers in the U.S.
WBA OpenRoaming delivers seamless handoff from any number of cellular networks to Wi-Fi, ensuring uninterrupted connectivity for users much like how smartphones connect instantly to various telecommunications networks. Extreme worked with Aptilo Networks to bring OpenRoaming to IPV's campus alongside a Wi-Fi 6 network deployment. Now, students, staff, and visitors can connect to the IPV campus network without requiring manual authentication. This results in better experiences for users and a reduced workload for IPV's IT team, who previously had to manually authorize every network user from outside of Viseu to access on-campus Wi-Fi.
Key Benefits:
Simplified connectivity for users and reduced demands on IT: Previously, European regulations forced IPV's IT team to add and remove network users manually, including staff members and students, making it complicated to access Wi-Fi on campus. With OpenRoaming, students and staff on IPV's campuses can easily connect to the wireless network without losing account settings or history, and the IT team can focus on furthering the use of technology across the IPV campus.
Improved student outcomes and opportunities: OpenRoaming simplifies IPV's ability to expand programming and bring new events to campus, without requiring the IT team to set up secure network access each time. They can provision different levels of service for different users and events depending on specific needs. IPV's student base can now access resources through the same user account across all their devices on IPV's campus without paying for a broadband connection or setting up a new account.
Increased wireless network security: IPV and similar organizations can benefit from the freedom of OpenRoaming without opening themselves to potential security risks or failing to comply with local regulations. OpenRoaming leverages existing security protocols such as Passpoint, RADSec, and standards 802.1x and 802.11i to ensure network security without compromising user privacy. It pairs Wi-Fi network providers with identity providers, such as mobile operators and ISPs, who register authenticated users and enable them to connect to any participating wireless network automatically.
Executive Perspectives:
OpenRoaming is key in delivering seamless, secure access to Wi-Fi, which is a necessity for modern higher education institutions like IPV that seek to provide students with the best possible resources for learning. WBA members like Extreme are helping deliver reliable, high-speed connectivity around the globe and we are proud to support them as our world becomes more reliant on wireless networks.
Tiago Rodrigues, CEO, Wireless Broadband Alliance
Luís Almeida, Senior Network Administrator, Instituto Politécnico de Viseu
"IPV is incredibly excited to be part of WBA OpenRoaming. This implementation will improve user experiences for everyone who accesses Wi-Fi on our campus – students, teachers, employees, visitors, and participants in the various national and international conferences we host – not to mention reduced stress for our IT team in managing the network. Our experience with Extreme throughout this project has been wonderful, and we hope to be an example of what OpenRoaming can achieve for other institutions and communities across Europe as the project continues to grow."
Nabil Bukhari, Chief Product Officer and Chief Technology Officer, Extreme Networks
"Open roaming between 5G and Wi-Fi networks is critical in enabling next-generation consumer experiences and the Infinite Enterprise. Seamless and secure connectivity inside and outside of buildings makes things like smart cities and working and learning from anywhere a possibility. Extreme is proud to be part of the WBA's consortium of industry leaders that are striving to make connectivity more seamless and accessible, and we're confident it will have a positive impact for everyone on IPV's campus."
About the Wireless Broadband Alliance
Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) is the global organization that connects people with the latest Wi-Fi initiatives. Founded in 2003, the vision of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) is to drive seamless, interoperable service experiences via Wi-Fi within the global wireless ecosystem. WBA's mission is to enable collaboration between service providers, technology companies, cities, regulators and organizations to achieve that vision. WBA's membership is comprised of major operators, identity providers and leading technology companies across the Wi-Fi ecosystem with the shared vision.
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IT SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
Innodisk | September 24, 2021
5G and AIoT need more speed and more capacity. And PCIe 4.0 delivers, doubling the speed of PCIe 3.0 and providing the much-needed performance boost to keep pace with innovation and industry trends. Not only speed and capacity, but tolerance of wide-range temperature is also crucial. Consumer-grade products aren't tough enough to withstand the high temperatures of outdoor and industrial settings, so Innodisk is introducing the first industrial-grade PCIe 4.0 SSDs built to handle those challenging conditions.
PCIe 4.0 increases the maximum capacity to 4TB, doubles the bandwidth, and raises the speed to 16 GT/s which is twice that of PCIe Gen3. Although third-generation PCIe offered only modest speed increases over the popular SATA III for storage applications, it did provide the much sought-after advantages of full forward and backward compatibility. PCIe 4.0 retains that coveted compatibility while also adding noticeable speed increases.
The recently announced industrial-grade PCIe Gen4x4 NVMe SSD series features 112-layer 3D TLC technology, offers temperature tolerance from -40 to 85℃, supports AES-256 encryption, and is compliant with TCG OPAL 2.0. This new series also utilizes NVMe technology that provides a necessary performance boost and other technological advancements encompassed in NVMe. One notable innovation is Namespace technology, which delivers better read and write efficiency and a longer SSD lifetime.
Being the No.1 global industrial-grade SSD provider, Innodisk is bringing its industrial prowess to the table and plans to implement Namespace technology for its future releases and once again upgrade its industrial-grade solutions. Industrial strength is important for outdoor use, which is increasingly common with higher density 5G infrastructure and critical for industrial use, where temperatures are high. Some specific applications include smart street lights, 5G mmWave, security inspection cameras, and 5G internet hosting.
PCIe 4.0 is a relatively new technology, system integrators, and industry experts are keeping their eye on future developments, providing plenty of room for early entry into this opportunity.
About Innodisk
Innodisk is a service-driven provider of flash memory, DRAM modules, and embedded peripheral products for industrial and enterprise applications.
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