iTWire - Networking https://itwire.com Thu, 12 Sep 2024 18:06:20 +1000 Joomla! - Open Source Content Management en-gb D-Link launches new DSL-X3052E modem router with VoIP - WiFi 6, NBN-ready, and more https://itwire.com/networking/d-link-launches-new-dsl-x3052e-modem-router-with-voip-wifi-6-nbn-ready-and-more.html https://itwire.com/networking/d-link-launches-new-dsl-x3052e-modem-router-with-voip-wifi-6-nbn-ready-and-more.html D-Link launches new DSL-X3052E modem router with VoIP - WiFi 6, NBN-ready, and more

D-Link ANZ has announced a new modem router and it's packed with power and packed with features. It can bring a huge leap in capacity, speed, and range for the most demanding of households. It can replace your ISP-supplied NBN modem, it brings AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 tech, giving fast and efficient connectivity all around.

If you're online, you have a modem, and perhaps your ISP supplied it years ago. However, your smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, game consoles, smartwatches, and so many other devices are not only proliferating in your home, but advancing in their own tech. You have more and more devices hooked up to your Wi-Fi, competing for airtime, and capable of pumping more bits through than your aging modem is providing.

Like you upgrade other tech, so too your Internet modem deserves an upgrade. In comes D-Link with the brand new DSL-X3052E AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 VDSL2/ADSL2+ modem router with VoIP. Quite a mouthful, but it brings a big punch with a lot to talk about.

The DSL X-3052E brings fast and efficient Wi-FI into any home, bringing with it a quantum leap in capacity, speed, and range, handling your family's Wi-Fi demands.

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D LinkDSLX3052E Box

Importantly, and first things first, the DSL-X3052E is an integrated VDSL2/ADSL2+ modem and router combo. The router means it can bridge networks - like your home or office Ethernet LAN, your Wi-Fi network, and your Internet connection - while the modem is the essential component that connects your home to the Internet. Without a modem you have no Internet; without a router you only have simple connectivity options. You can buy plenty of routers, but at home there's so much more convenience in having an all-in-one unit. Being a VDSL2/ADSL2+ modem it supports the NBN, of course, but if you're still in an ADSL2+ region you can have confidence the DSL-X3052E is future-proof, and offers universal DSL connectivity throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Now, one bugbear I've often had with many a modem or router is a lack of features. Sure, a basic device modulates and demodulates, and sure it routes, but by goodness, if you try to do anything more sophisticated with your network you'll be out of luck. By contrast, D-Link has infused the DSL-X3052E with VLAN tagging, SOS/ROC NBN requirements, a dedicated Gigabit Ethernet WAN port, 4 Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports, dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios, AX300 speeds, 1024-QAM that boosts throughput to devices by up to 25%, 160MHz contiguous channel width to give even more bandwidth up to a combined 3Gbps, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) to connect to more Wi-Fi devices simultaneously with lower congestion, MU-MIMO for greater upstream/downstream efficiency, beamforming antennas to focus Wi-Fi where your devices are, Target Wake Time (TWT) to eliminate wasteful battery consumption on your devices, and more.

They are a lot of features to list, but the simple version is the DSL-X3052E brings fast, performant, wide-reaching Wi-Fi that is up for the challenge of the modern multi-device household. Further, with VoIP capabilities, dual-band, Ethernet, and more, you can be gaming, streaming media, and on the phone all at once without any compromise.

Further, it's imbued with 128-bit WPA3 encryption to keep you safe from malicious network sniffing.

The new D-Link DSL-X3052E AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 VDSL2/ ADSL2+ Modem Router with VoIP is available in Australia now from www.dlink.com.au (RRP AUD$399.95), and in New Zealand (RRP NZ$449.99) and from all authorised D-Link partners and retailers in both countries.

DSL X3052E R1 Image LBack View

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stan.beer@itwire.com (David M Williams) Networking Tue, 30 Jul 2024 22:26:35 +1000
Nokia enhances optical network automation capabilities to help network operators ‘reduce CAPEX and OPEX, increase revenues’ https://itwire.com/networking/nokia-enhances-optical-network-automation-capabilities-to-help-network-operators-%E2%80%98reduce-capex-and-opex%2C-increase-revenues%E2%80%99.html https://itwire.com/networking/nokia-enhances-optical-network-automation-capabilities-to-help-network-operators-%E2%80%98reduce-capex-and-opex%2C-increase-revenues%E2%80%99.html Ravi Parmasad, Optical Network Automation Leader at Nokia

Nokia has announced enhancements to its WaveSuite optical network automation platform which it says are aimed at meeting urgent customer needs for increased bandwidth, reliability and imperceptible latency.

Nokia’s says its enhanced WaveSuite platform provides “exceptional insight into and control of customer networks with a growing roster of applications targeting specific use cases” to help them optimise their network and operations, scale network capacity and monetize network assets.

According to Nokia, in the face of increased network complexity and constrained resources, network operators are increasingly reliant on automation to make more efficient use of networking expertise and reduce human error associated with tedious manual processes, improve service turn-up times, shrink operational cost reductions and drive revenue growth.

“Today’s enhancements to WaveSuite streamline network operations to cut labor time and the inherent human errors, accelerate the introduction of new capacity to reduce time-to-revenue, and to help eliminate risks associated with network failures that impact end-customer service level agreements (SLAs),” notes Nokia.

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“Key among the new WaveSuite enhancements is support within the Service Enablement application for network operators to better integrate BSS (business support systems) billing with optical network functions.

“Network operators will be able to fulfill optical service requests to wholesale partners and their end subscribers, and provide them with individualised, real-time KPI assurance metrics. It enables them to offer differentiated services, such as latency-aware layer one services and spectrum-as-a-service, creating new revenue opportunities in a formerly untapped market.”

Nokia says its enhanced WaveSuite portfolio also incorporates machine learning into the Health and Analytics application to use network intelligence to support optical fiber sensing, which will help network operators detect disturbances to the fiber optic cable within their networks that may produce outages.

“Unlike other approaches that require additional hardware, the innovative WaveSuite solution takes advantage of polarisation data provided by the coherent digital signal processor at the heart of Nokia Photonic Service Engines, such as PSE-6s. It allows network operators to proactively identify, prepare for and respond to events in the network that may affect network performance before they occur, decreasing down time and promoting better adherence to service level agreements with customers.

“Finally, WaveSuite’s new features combine network planning with network provisioning, significantly reducing the effort required to scale network capacity by 33%. This enables automated flow-through provisioning by synchronizing between existing physical networks and planned network designs, eliminates errors in the transition between planning and provisioning, and significantly reduces the time and human resources network operators need to dedicate to scaling their optical networks.

“This enhancement was analyzed in a Jan 2024 Analysys Mason report where the research firm quantified the benefits of optical network automation.”

Justin van der Lande, Research Director, Analysys Mason, said: “Our recent research collaboration with Nokia revealed operators could achieve up to 81% cost savings after deploying optical network automation for their network and service lifecycle management. Nokia’s new capabilities have the potential to go even further to improving the OPEX and revenue-enhancing gains we uncovered during our research.”

Ravi Parmasad, Optical Network Automation Leader at Nokia, said: "We continue to work with leading service providers to help them transform their optical networks with automation. Nokia's WaveSuite platform enables our customers to leverage data-driven insights and intelligent actions to optimise their network performance, reduce operational costs and accelerate service delivery. With WaveSuite, we are bringing the benefits of automation to the optical domain and empowering our customers to build more agile and resilient networks for the future.”

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stan.beer@itwire.com (Gordon Peters) Networking Fri, 22 Mar 2024 09:54:59 +1100
Announcing Humboldt - the first Internet cable route between Asia Pacific and South America https://itwire.com/networking/announcing-humboldt-the-first-internet-cable-route-between-asia-pacific-and-south-america.html https://itwire.com/networking/announcing-humboldt-the-first-internet-cable-route-between-asia-pacific-and-south-america.html Announcing Humboldt - the first Internet cable route between Asia Pacific and South America

Google, Desarrollo País of Chile, and the Office of Posts and Telecommunications of French Polynesia (OPT), have announced Humboldt, a subsea cable route linking Australia, French Polynesia, and Chile, strengthening the reliability and resilience of digital connectivity across the Pacific.

The network protocols driving the Internet work on routing packets of data through many interconnected paths to get information from here to there. And while it works like magic, it's an amazing series of cables, satellites, radios, and more. Google and its partners in Chile and French Polynesia have announced a direct fibre optic network link across Asia Pacific to South America - the first ever to directly connect them - and when operational, Humboldt will strengthen the reliability and resilience of digital connectivity across the Pacific by interconnecting the cables that comprise the South Pacific Connect initiative and adding geographically diverse cable investments that link French Polynesia and Chile.

A direct fibre optic network link between South America and the Asia-Pacific region has been an ambition of the Chilean government since 2016, and Google says it is making it a reality.

"Chile is a country that is at the forefront of technology and is a leader in the implementation of the latest generation networks. As a Government, we are working day by day to consolidate this position and create the conditions for new investments of this kind to continue to arrive. The interest of companies like Google shows that Chile is doing things right. The country is leveraging its potential to generate the growth that will help us improve the well-being and quality of life of the people. These are projects that create employment and later, when they become a reality, improve the working conditions of thousands of people, in addition to placing Chile as a leader in the region and strengthening its position as the gateway from South America to the digital world," said Chile transport and telecommunications minister Juan Carlos Muñoz.

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“Australia welcomes this new trans-Pacific cable connecting Australia and Latin America for the first time, supporting the growth of digital and economic ties. This new cable route will enhance Australia’s global connectivity and complement our work with Pacific countries to secure better access to the global digital economy,” said Australia minister for communications Hon Michelle Rowland.

"Economic vitality in my country relies on investments in the digital sector. We are thrilled to collaborate on the Humboldt project to continue advancing French Polynesia’s digital economy and keep Tahiti on the cutting edge of innovation," said French Polynesia president Moetai Brotherson.

The Humboldt project is the latest in Google's digital infrastructure investments across Latin America and will join other infrastructure projects including the Google data centre in Quilicura in powering Google services, the Google Cloud region in Santiago supporting customers across Latin America, the cross-Andes terrestrial connectivity between Chile and Argentina, and the Curie subsea cable linking Chile, Panama, and the West Coast of the United States.

Improving international connectivity helps drive economic growth in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) and job creation, while greater network capacity and lower latency enable businesses and public sector organisations to deliver better digital experiences to their customers and constituents, and people can gain skills and knowledge that open new career paths. The benefits can be realised in Australia, as well as within Chile and French Polynesia.

“This marks a significant milestone for the flagship project, the Humboldt submarine cable. After years of dedicated work, we are now entering the materialisation phase. Google, our esteemed international partner, ensures that these works will adhere to the highest technical standards. Our goal is to position Chile as a global digital hub, seamlessly connecting countries in the region with the Asia-Pacific. This achievement underscores the instrumental role of Desarrollo País' public-private partnership model in fostering Chile's growth,” said Desarrollo País general manager Patricio Rey Sommer.

The Humboldt cable is named for Alexander von Humboldt, a German polymath, geographer, naturalist and explorer who travelled extensively to the Americas at the turn of the 19th century. The moniker was selected by Chilean residents, who voted via social media in a naming contest organised by Desarrollo País and Chile’s Undersecretary of Telecommunications (Subtel). Chileans already share a special connection to the Humboldt project, and Google says it is excited to work with partners to bring it to life.

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stan.beer@itwire.com (David M Williams) Networking Sun, 14 Jan 2024 12:43:44 +1100
Mandatory Notification of Data Breach scheme: Illumio https://itwire.com/networking/mandatory-notification-of-data-breach-scheme-illumio-202311191249.html https://itwire.com/networking/mandatory-notification-of-data-breach-scheme-illumio-202311191249.html Andrew Kay, APJ Director of Systems Engineering at Illumio

GUEST OPINION by Andrew Kay, APJ Director of Systems Engineering at Illumio: Overall, the new Mandatory Notification of Data Breach scheme (MNDB) coming into effect on 28 November is good news for Australian residents.

Disclosure, particularly with respect to the privacy of customer data, should be necessary and transparency is important for the public and oversight commissions as adversary attempts against agencies are ever increasing. Everyone can learn from attacks when they’re disclosed and shared – trusted circles of disclosure often exist in private sector industries, and agencies and state-owned corporations would also benefit from this collaboration. Holding agencies to similar standards as the private sector also makes sense – as private companies would be beholden to the Privacy Act and any breach of law.

There has been a lot of ambiguity around what constitutes a ‘significant enough’ breach, ‘when’ notification needs to occur, and how it can be determined that no personally identifiable or healthcare data was accessed. Knowing where your data is, who or what has access, and taking steps to prevent access is key regardless as the consequence affects us all.

Being judged by the court of public opinion through the media is grueling regardless of how well a response to an incident is handled. Doubling down on ‘containment’ and ‘mitigating damage’ is critical, as it demonstrates a shift in focus from cyber defence to limiting the damage of attacks once they inevitably occur. A focus on ‘preparation’ and ‘proactive’ behaviours rather than just reactive ones will limit the occurrences and effort in meeting the obligations laid out in the new scheme.

I believe, defining your protect surface, with an inside-out strategy, is the realistic approach that will lead to achieving better long-term cyber resilience. Agencies should feel supported in their efforts, thus reducing how often they need to disclose as they become more effective in avoiding unnecessary breach damage.

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stan.beer@itwire.com (Andrew Kay) Networking Sun, 19 Nov 2023 23:41:35 +1100
CMC Networks revamps Webber Wentzel network infrastructure https://itwire.com/networking/cmc-networks-revamps-webber-wentzel-network-infrastructure.html https://itwire.com/networking/cmc-networks-revamps-webber-wentzel-network-infrastructure.html CMC Networks revamps Webber Wentzel network infrastructure

South African law firm specialising in handling sensitive customer data Webber Wentzel has picked service provider CMC Networks to overhaul its network infrastructure, designing an end-to-end network solution to boost efficiency and enhance data security.

Webber Wentzel said CMC Networks updated its wide-area network (WAN) to a software-defined wide-area network (SD-WAN) as well as enhancing its local-area network (LAN), Wi-Fi and cloud technologies.

The law firm also uses a full meshed Juniper Session Smart Router (SSR) SD-WAN with availability nodes at its Cape Town and Sandton offices as well as a virtual appliance in Microsoft Azure.

CMC Networks implemented a Juniper vSRX virtual firewall in Azure to secure all Internet traffic moving across Webber Wentzel’s network, with a combination of Zero-Trust Security and L3-L7 application control functionality at various waypoints throughout the network.

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“Webber Wentzel benefits from networking expertise matched with local knowledge and delivery. When managing ultra-sensitive data, how you deploy and manage your network is critical,” said CMC Networks CEO Marisa Trisolino.

CMC Networks delivered SD-WAN by using its dual IP premier direct internet access service.

It designed a full stack Juniper LAN and Wi-Fi solution powered by Juniper’s Mist AI. The solution combines enterprise-grade ethernet switches and Wi-Fi 6 access points that deliver data to the Mist AI platform.

“Partnering with CMC Networks has enabled us to not only provide new levels of security for our customers, but also improve network efficiencies to enhance our customers’ experiences when working with us,” said Webber Wentzel chief information officer Warren Hero.

CMC is also implementing a new contact centre and back-office voice solution for Webber Wentzel based on Microsoft Teams. It will leverage a cloud PBX and SIP trunks to handle inbound voice traffic and direct it to Microsoft Teams and the appropriate service.

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stan.beer@itwire.com (Kenn Anthony Mendoza) Networking Wed, 04 Oct 2023 09:50:26 +1100
Aruba completes journey to single provider unified SASE to give security-by-design networking https://itwire.com/networking/aruba-completes-journey-to-single-provider-unified-sase-to-give-security-by-design-networking.html https://itwire.com/networking/aruba-completes-journey-to-single-provider-unified-sase-to-give-security-by-design-networking.html Aruba completes journey to single provider unified SASE to give security-by-design networking

The greatest threat to network security isn’t malware or other external threats, says Aruba chief product and technology officer David Hughes. “There’s a strong argument that it’s treating networking and security as two separate silos.”

During its Aruba Atmosphere APJ 2023 event in Bali last week, the Aruba leadership took to the stage to explain the company’s transition from a well-known Wi-Fi provider to today, stating HPE Aruba Networking is the only company that combines a full networking portfolio that spans from the wired and wireless edge, across the WAN, and into the data centre, with a security-first design approach. 

"We’ve built security in at every step, and offer frameworks that bring networking and security together, for a no-compromise approach to secure connectivity,” Hughes says.

"HPE Aruba's research shows 64% of IT leaders think security worries slow down tech investment,” says HPE Aruba EVP and GM Phil Mottram. “Despite this, 89% say they need more innovative tech to succeed in the next year.”

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"95% of IT leaders see digitisation as key for future profits, but only 45% see their company as innovative,” he says.

This is the environment in which Aruba - now with more than 10,000 people and revenues exceeding $US 5 billion - found itself. Its Wi-Fi range has shipped millions and millions of products since 2003. After acquiring Silver Peak and moving into SD-WAN, Aruba now has over 3,600 SD-WAN customers. The company has also continued to grow in data centre networking, and iTWire previously covered Aruba’s distributed services switch that provides a dedicated firewall on each switch port.

However, it was clear to Mottram and his team there is a divergence in many companies between networking and security, and this split inhibits progress, inhibits innovation, and can result in security being missed, or security enforced in ways that too heavily constrain the networking team.

"When selling networks we spoke to the network manager who made decisions for the network,” he says. “Security was a different conversation. More and more, these are coming together with companies thinking of network and security together.”

Aruba has observed this trend, has listened to customers, and has taken the proactive position of ensuring it is on the leading edge where networking and security converge. “Aruba will be pushing security-first networking in the market,” he says.

To this end, Aruba announced last week that it would aid companies to achieve their network and security goals in parallel, by carefully applying the principles of zero trust.

By describing the function of the network in terms of a global policy, with distributed and automated enforcement, it becomes easier to separate concerns. The security team can set policy, while the networking team manages the devices that simultaneously provide connectivity and enforcement.

And how this works under the hood is Aruba’s vision, now a reality, of unified, single-vendor SASE that brings networking and security functions together into one platform.

SASE, for clarity, is a Gartner-defined term that means Secure Access Service Edge bringing networking and security-as-a-service functions together.

More than this, SASE creates a global private network for your company replacing the typical VPN. It allows your remote workers easy access to company resources and then lets you apply the exact same policies to on-premises workers. SASE brings together software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN), cloud access security broking (CASB), zero-trust network access (ZTNA), secure web gateways (SWG), and next-gen firewalls (NGFW) / firewall-as-a-service (FWaaS).

To achieve a SASE objective, companies typically required multiple point solutions, and management functions, and ultimately created roadblocks to teams.

With Aruba's new single-provider unified SASE the complexity goes away, and companies win the benefits of centralised management with a single source of truth, that works for cross-functional collaboration and implementation.

Aruba has been on a journey to get to this point, with SASE in its crosshairs for some time. However, a key acquisition made it possible - as well as its prior Silver Peak acquisition that brought both SD-WAN and Hughes himself to the organisation.

That acquisition was Israel-based Axis Security which set out to provide a simple cloud-managed solution for access, security, and control, that accelerated work-from-anywhere, partner collaboration, and digital transformations. The result was an SSE (for security service edge) platform.

"Aruba has always been good at protecting ‘things’ in the network,” Mottram says. “We have strong security offers in that space. Axis gives us the ability to protect people.”

Adding Axis' SSE right into Aruba's core platform now means “we believe we have a differentiated offer that can protect people and things, and we will talk more and more to customers about security-first networking,” Mottram says.

This platform is Aruba Central, otherwise known simply as Central, or more formally as HPE Greenlake Aruba Central Platform. It is where customers provision their networks and devices, and now boasts some 230K customers, 200M clients, and 2.7M devices.

"We're really proud of the platform," he says. “Most of our competitors have different platforms for different products, so we invest heavily in our platform.”

Along with SASE, a compelling feature of Aruba Central is what the company calls ‘time travel.’ This allows a business to quite literally scroll back through the network and see what was happening at a point in time. It can take you back seven days, second by second, providing a complete snapshot of network traffic and configuration.

Oh, how many times have IT Managers and network admins heard somebody ask “the network was slow last week. Why?” - with nothing to possibly go on. Well, that’s no longer the case with Aruba Central allowing your team to find historic network issues as well as current ones.

The SSE component that Axis brings is a huge game-changer for Aruba customers. It means IT teams and end users can literally, say, SSH into a corporate server from any location in the world without first requiring a VPN tunnel or some other barrier. Then these same network configurations used outside of the office can be similarly applied inside the office, providing a single, consistent, zero-trust, secure-by-design, approach to all your people and devices no matter where they work.

Other announcements made at Aruba Atmosphere include:

  • The acquisition of Athonet, a 15-year-old company formed by ex-Ericsson engineers, and based in Northern Italy, bringing private 5G to the Aruba portfolio. “Our goal of the last 18 months is to be a leader in private 5G solutions,” Hughes said. “Our belief is private 5G will be complementary to Wi-Fi, with specific use cases where private 5G is key to outdoor deployments like airports, mining, and gas.”
  • Network-as-a-service, or NaaS, providing a predictable monthly OpEx fee for network services. This eliminates the need for costly CapEx up-front investments and is already in use at such places as HomeDepot where Aruba has provided networks for 3000 stores across the USA.
  • An investment in the circular economy, with products being designed and developed in an environmentally friendly way, with recycling at the end of the product lifetime. “We have asset recycling centres around the world,” Mottram said. “In 2002 we took back 3.67M assets, of which 82% were renewed and given a second life. We bought back equipment and wrote cheques for $1.1b over three years.”
  • Greater innovation with continued feature development to optimise IT efficiency and improve the sustainability profile.
  • Enhanced AI built into Aruba Central. With an enormous amount of information gathered, Aruba says it is in a great position to make Central more powerful through AI/ML, with data-driven intelligent experiences. David Hughes provided an example of a retail store that found vast amounts of Wi-Fi connections every few minutes, that rapidly dropped. It caused a flood of traffic and congestion. While Aruba Central did not know the store was located right next to a set of traffic lights, it did identify that this problem went away - and more stable Wi-Fi was available - if the SSID broadcast power was reduced, and thus the network was confined to the store’s walls without leaking to the cars stopped temporarily outside.
  • Increasing take-up of the CX10K hardware with firewall policies at each switch port, providing both north/south and east/west segmentation and security.

This is the Aruba of the future; importantly, too, it’s the Aruba of right now.

"Enterprises need built-in, not bolt-on security, where security is thought through every aspect of the network infrastructure,” says Hughes. “And I’m excited to work for a company that champions this.”

 

 

 

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stan.beer@itwire.com (David M Williams) Networking Sun, 17 Sep 2023 16:37:38 +1000
Optus picks Cisco Meraki for in-store networks https://itwire.com/networking/optus-picks-cisco-meraki-for-in-store-networks.html https://itwire.com/networking/optus-picks-cisco-meraki-for-in-store-networks.html Optus picks Cisco Meraki for in-store networks

Optus has adopted Cisco’s Meraki networking platform in its stores.

According to the company, Meraki allows Optus to provide an experiential shopping journey that showcases the best the Living Network, SubHub and Smart Spaces have to offer.

It also allows updates to be applied in minutes rather than months.

The new equipment has been installed at 74 Optus stores, with the rest to follow soon.

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Optus vice president of operations and enablement Frances Martin said "The integration of Cisco Meraki into store operations allows us to provide a seamless and personalised experience for customers, reaffirming our commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction.

"Optus has partnered with Cisco because we know having the right technology underpins a magical in-store experience for customers. Meraki allows our team members to show our features and customers to engage with them directly – this is so much more powerful than just describing what an offering can do, and it’s now possible right there in-store."

Cisco ANZ service provider organisation managing director Karen Negus said "Cisco Meraki provides a comprehensive suite of cloud-based applications that will empower the Optus team to implement updates swiftly. Together, we are ensuring customers enjoy seamless connectivity and exceptional service."

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stan.beer@itwire.com (Stephen Withers) Networking Tue, 15 Aug 2023 11:00:34 +1000
Coles picks Cradlepoint for 5G WLAN backup https://itwire.com/networking/coles-picks-cradlepoint-for-5g-wlan-backup.html https://itwire.com/networking/coles-picks-cradlepoint-for-5g-wlan-backup.html Coles Group technology services and commercial general manager Chrissy Chu

Retail giant Coles has adopted Cradlepoint's NetCloud with 5G to provide wireless WAN services to all stores and new distribution centres.

NetCloud is also used to provide out-of-band access to key infrastructure elements within stores.

If a wired WAN service to a store fails, the Cradlepoint equipment falls back to 5G to run all store operations including point of sale systems, loyalty programs, stock control, and all back of house activities.

Coles selected the Cradlepoint W1850 and W2005 5G adapters, with Cradlepoint NetCloud Manager to simplify network management.

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The Cradlepoint out-of-band management capabilities allows remote access for troubleshooting, avoiding the need for IT personnel to visit the store or distribution centre.

"The speed of connectivity, centralised management, agility, and out-of-band access that we're able to achieve with Cradlepoint 5G solutions across our stores and new distribution centres, ensures constant service delivery to our customers. We also have round the clock visibility into the status of our back-up links, which optimises maintenance effort for our technical teams," said Coles Group technology services and commercial general manager Chrissy Chu.

"The Cradlepoint solution is an integral part of our success in meeting our digital transformation objectives."

Cradlepoint senior vice president for Asia Pacific Nathan McGregor said "Reliable and agile network connectivity is fundamental for every aspect of retail operations today.

"Cradlepoint's NetCloud Service harnesses the power of 4G and 5G to not only connect everything inside stores, enhance customer experience, and maintain a competitive edge, but also provide a reliable safety net for retailers in the event of outage."

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stan.beer@itwire.com (Stephen Withers) Networking Thu, 27 Jul 2023 12:22:31 +1000
Telstra InfraCo launches long haul fibre https://itwire.com/networking/telstra-infraco-launches-long-haul-fibre.html https://itwire.com/networking/telstra-infraco-launches-long-haul-fibre.html Telstra InfraCo launches long haul fibre

Telstra InfraCo has announced a new long haul dark fibre product providing the ability to connect across long distances extending from capital cities to non-capital cities, and which it says enables customers to broaden their network reach and establish points of presence in new locations.

 

Long haul consists of individual fibre services connected by customer owned amplification equipment at selected Telstra InfraCo Fixed Network Sites, leveraging our InfraCo Building Access (IBA) product, which provides secure and scalable rack colocation and power.

According to Telstra InfraCo to date, Dark Fibre has been limited to paths that are less than 100km or the interfaces that customers are willing to utilise in their equipment - and now, Long Haul provides more options and customer control across long distance routes enabling customers to manage their own amplification throughout these paths.

“Long Haul is a part of the evolution of data products that Telstra offers and an exciting addition to InfraCo’s infrastructure offerings that will boost connectivity to and within non-capital cities,” says Kathryn Jones, Telstra InfraCo Fibre Executive.

Jones says Telstra InfraCo Long Haul is a stepping stone in Telstra T25 growth ambitions and will be a core offering on InfraCo’s Intercity network, which is currently under construction.

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Telstra InfraCo Dark Fibre services are part of Telstra InfraCo Long Haul are hard spliced end to end between all Service Delivery Points to minimise attenuation losses.

Telstra InfraCo notes that Long Haul can offer diversity when used in conjunction with Managed Data Products such as Managed Ethernet or Wavelength, to cater for customers with multifaceted network requirements.

“Our standard Long Haul product offering comprises of multiple initial predefined paths across Sydney to Wollongong via Miranda Exchange and Melbourne to Geelong via Werribee Exchange. Some examples of predefined Long Haul use cases include however are not limited to; Equinix SY1(Sydney) to Equinix SY7(Wollongong) and NextDC S1 (Sydney) to Wollongong NBN POI,” concludes Telstra InfraCo.

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stan.beer@itwire.com (Gordon Peters) Networking Wed, 14 Jun 2023 12:51:22 +1000
Cisco to be official network provider for FIFA women's world cup 2023 https://itwire.com/networking/cisco-to-be-official-network-provider-for-fifa-women-s-world-cup-2023.html https://itwire.com/networking/cisco-to-be-official-network-provider-for-fifa-women-s-world-cup-2023.html Cisco to be official network provider for FIFA women's world cup 2023

Cisco has been announced as the official network infrastructure provider of the FIFA women's world cup 2023, which will be played in nine host cities at 10 stadiums across Australia and New Zealand from July 2023.

The announcement will see Cisco delivering connected experiences to two billion viewers, and the company says it will construct an all-female Cisco networking academy dream team to provide opportunities for the next generation of female engineers, who will support the network during the event.

Cisco will deliver a secure network that will connect the entire tournament ecosystem – from the venues to operations to administration to media – and power the delivery of the broadcast, which is anticipated to be watched by 2 billion people around the world.

An industry leader in connecting and protecting the largest sports and entertainment events in the world, Cisco will deploy its networking technology across nine host cities and 10 competition venues, a number of which are already built on Cisco infrastructure. In addition, Cisco’s network will connect the non-competition venues necessary to support the operation of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, including the International Broadcast Center (IBC), which will deploy Cisco’s IP Fabric for Media solution to allow for the secure and efficient delivery of 4K content to fans everywhere.

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FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura said, “The FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 will be a historic event, and we are thrilled to have another great company, Cisco, now on board as our Official Network Infrastructure Provider,” said FIFA Secretary General, Fatma Samoura. “With Cisco's expertise and solutions, we will have a seamless and securely connected tournament experience.”

Cisco SVP and chief marketing officer Carrie Palin said, "The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 is unequivocally one of the marquee global sporting events, and we are proud that Cisco can be the trusted provider to connect and protect the network on which the entire ecosystem will operate. In addition to being a fantastic showcase for how we are redefining the future of connected experiences, the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ highlights our ongoing commitment to supporting the game of football and using it as a platform to make a positive impact on players and fans around the world. We’re proud of Cisco’s role in enabling the connected experience for lovers of football around the world.”

Cisco’s support of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 continues the company’s commitment to connect more people and things and power a more inclusive future for all. As part of the sponsorship, Cisco will provide opportunities for members of its Networking Academy to assist with the installation and servicing of the network leading up to and during the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 with the creation of an all-female Dream Team. Since its inception in 1997, the Cisco Networking Academy has provided free IT educational courses and career growth opportunities for more than 17.5 million students around the world, while the prestigious Dream Team program provides promising, aspiring IT professionals with once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to gain real, hands-on experience at some of the largest events in the world.

Today’s announcement builds upon Cisco’s extensive involvement across the global sports and entertainment landscape, where its industry-leading solutions and expertise are relied upon by some of the most prestigious events, organisations and venues around the world, including the Olympic & Paralympic Games, Super Bowl, McLaren Racing, Real Madrid F.C., SoFi Stadium and many more.

 

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stan.beer@itwire.com (David M Williams) Networking Thu, 20 Apr 2023 10:47:29 +1000