Networking

Samsung, through its partnership with Spark, has launched its first commercial 5G network in New Zealand.
Spark’s new 5G network, rolled out in Christchurch, is the first deployment of Samsung’s latest 5G RAN solutions in New Zealand.
According to Spark, the rollout of its Christchurch 5G network marks the first time a new radio network vendor has deployed a commercial network in New Zealand in over a decade.
“We are thrilled to work with Spark in building its 5G network. This project in Christchurch marks another milestone in Samsung’s 5G journey,” Samsung Electronics New Zealand managing director MinSu Chu said.
Samsung signed on to be Spark’s 5G vendor at the start of last year, after the New Zealand telco was banned from using Huawei’s equipment for its 5G radio access network.
The Government Communications Security Bureau banned Spark from using Huawei’s networking equipment as it believed using such technology raised “significant security risks”.
With the latest rollout, Spark now has six locations across New Zealand that have access to its 5G network. In addition to Christchurch, Spark’s 5G wireless broadband services are currently available in Auckland, Dunedin, Palmerston North, New Plymouth and Te Awamutu, and six South Island towns. 

In announcing the latest 5G launch, Spark technology lead Renee Mateparae also said the telco was on track to deploy the new network nationwide by 2023.
Earlier this week, Spark, 2degrees, and Vodafone committed to providing more information to support consumer choice and developing a prospective consumer data right before the end of the year.
This will entail New Zealand’s major telcos providing at least 12 months’ usage and spend information to customers; providing customers with an annual summary of their usage and spend along with a prompt to consider alternative options; and promoting the development of tools to enable more effective comparison and choice for telco consumers through the nation’s Telecommunications Forum.
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SpaceX, which is delivering satellite broadband to select homes in the US, wants to conquer the next frontier of satellite broadband by connecting aircraft, trains and other moving vehicles. 
The company outlined its ambitions in a new filing with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Networking

Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, has not been shy about sharing the company’s ambitions to connect transport systems with his constellation of Starlink satellites. He’s already outlined its plans to put Starlink satellites on trains in Europe and North America via tweets. 
SEE: Hiring Kit: 5G Wireless System Engineer (TechRepublic Premium)
But the company made those plans more official last week with an application to the FCC regarding the 4,400 satellites the FCC has approved it to operate at about 550km (340 miles) above Earth. 
“To date, SpaceX has launched over 1,100 satellites and continues to deploy its system,” SpaceX said in its filing with the FCC. 
Last year, Musk told Starlink fans that the company’s dishes could be deployed on high-speed moving objects, like trains, which was possible because “everything is slow to a phased array antenna.”

To date, the FCC has authorized SpaceX to roll out a million end-user terminals to transmit data from SpaceX’s constellation. 
“These user terminals employ advanced phased-array beam-forming and digital processing technologies to make highly efficient  use of Ku-band spectrum resources by supporting highly directive, antenna beams that point and track the system’s low-Earth orbit satellites,” writes SpaceX’s director of satellite policy, David Goldman. 
The new applications seeks authorization to operate Earth-deployed stations as “Vehicle-Mounted Earth Stations (“VMESs”), Earth Stations on Vessels (“ESVs”), and Earth Stations Aboard Aircraft (“ESAAs”) (collectively, Earth Stations in Motion (“ESIMs)”. 
In other words, planes, trains and automobiles. However, Musk, CEO of electric car maker Tesla, clarified that the automobiles part does not include Tesla vehicles because the terminal – which Musk has described as a like a “little UFO on a stick” measuring 50cm in diameter – are too big for passenger vehicles.
“Not connecting Tesla cars to Starlink, as our terminal is much too big. This is for aircraft, ships, large trucks & RVs,” Musk told CNBC’s Michael Sheetz. 
SEE: Digital transformation: The new rules for getting projects done
SpaceX’s Goldman argued in a document that it was in the public’s interest to create a new category of ESIMs.
“To support its ambitious timetable for launching and expanding innovative satellite broadband services, SpaceX Services  requests that the Commission grant the requested blanket license as expeditiously as possible,” writes Goldman. 
He says the service will expand broadband satellite to “moving vehicles, vessels, and aircraft”, which would have terminals that track SpaceX’s satellites. 
The public beta has targeted areas in the US with poor or no connectivity. Musk has said SpaceX only intends to serve about 3% of American households. That wouldn’t make it a threat to the likes of Verizon or AT&T, but it could give SpaceX an upper hand against traditional satellite providers that serve cruises, the trucking industry and public transport systems. 

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Fujitsu has signed a three-year contract with the Australian Department of Defence to modernise the department’s network infrastructure and end-user computing that is used to support field operations and exercises for the Australian Defence Force (ADF).
Under the AU$175 million program, Fujitsu will work in partnership with Defence’s partners KBR and Leidos to provide services including service desk functions, end-user and workstation support, VoIP and email communications, collaboration tools, network infrastructure, and network services management across all Defence operations.
Other deliverables under the contract, according to Fujitsu, include continuous in-service deployed IT environments that “are an essential part of Defence’s operational capability” and developing “centrally-governed security and accreditation and enterprise governance”.
Must read: There are 84 high-cost IT projects underway by the Australian government
Helping Defence’s IT workforce build their skillset is also on the to-do list for Fujitsu.
“Fujitsu is pleased to continue its longstanding relationship with the Department of Defence and to be working collaboratively with Defence’s industry partners KBR and Leidos,” Fujitsu ANZ CEO Graeme Beardsell said.
“Where together we will deliver a comprehensive solution that will provide exceptional support to critical Defence operations. Through our strategic partnership with Defence, we look forward to provisioning surge capacity and enhancing skills with our ADF colleagues.

This latest contract builds on Fujitsu’s existing relationship with Defence. In the past, the tech conglomerate has been charged with delivering national deskside support services, including warehousing and asset management, project services, and audiovisual services; and the department’s distributed computing centralised services. 
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Vocus is a step closer to finalising an acquisition offer from Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) and Aware Super, valued at AU$3.5 billion, after announcing it entered into a scheme implementation deed (SID) with the consortium on Tuesday.
The consortium is proposing to acquire 100% of Vocus for AU$5.50 a share, putting the total value of the acquisition at AU$3.5 billion. MIRA made the indicative offer in early February, before Vocus announced later that month Aware Super had joined the consortium.
In entering the SID, Vocus has unanimously recommended for its shareholders to vote in favour of the scheme, in the absence of a superior offer and subject to an independent expert that will determine whether the scheme is in the best interests of shareholders.  
“The Vocus Board is unanimous in our view that this offer is in the best interests of Vocus shareholders,” Vocus chairman Bob Mansfield said.
“In making this assessment, the Board considered a range of alternatives, including the execution of our existing strategy under which the proceeds of an IPO of Vocus New Zealand would reduce debt and be invested in our core business.
“Feedback from shareholders in recent weeks on the indicative offer of $5.50 originally received from MIRA has been overwhelmingly positive and there is a broad recognition that this is a very fair value for Vocus shareholders.”
The company added as part of entering the SID, it will not be pursuing IPO plans of Vocus New Zealand, which it had announced in November.

Vocus managing director and CEO Kevin Russell touted the acquisition would support the company in future growth plans.
“As we enter this new stage of investment and growth, support from MIRA and Aware Super will provide the strongest possible foundation for the business and the capacity to invest in our key assets and provide exceptional service to our customers,” he said.
Shareholders will vote on the scheme at a meeting, currently expected to be held in June. If shareholders give the green light, the takeover would come into effect in July.
Vocus has appointed Credit Suisse as financial advisor and Allens as legal advisor for the process. 
For its half-year results, Vocus recurring revenue increased by 2% to AU$896 million while underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) remained steady, hovering around AU$192 million. Underlying net profit after tax was AU$45.4 million, which was an 11% year-on-year dip.
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If you work in a home office or have a small business with multiple remote locations, you’ve probably encountered scenarios when a power disruption or a system fault at the provider occurs, and then internet connectivity at that location is temporarily severed. It might require rebooting multiple network devices to restore connectivity even if power has been supplied continuously with a UPS.

A typical Switch Always On deployment scenario with a broadband gateway, cellular modem, and wireless access points.
Jason Perlow/ZDNet
In cases like this, human intervention is needed. Someone has to unplug a gateway device, such as a broadband/Wi-Fi router, a cable modem, or other broadband access devices like optical network terminal (ONT), and potentially access points and switches. In many cases, it may even be a sequence in which this has to be done — such as the cable modem or ONT booting up first before the gateway device.
In a home-based or small office environment, where there is someone available to perform the restart, this is an annoying and inconvenient task to accomplish. In other cases, where nobody is onsite to access the equipment, such as in a multi-dwelling unit, it could result in a significant delay before someone can perform the needed task of unplugging and re-plugging the equipment in the desired sequence.
Enter Switch Always On

Switch Always On device view displaying network and power connectivity
Jason Perlow/ZDNet
Switch Always On, made by Orlando-based Smart Charging Technologies, has designed a device ($197) to alleviate this human intervention issue with broadband device reboots once and for all: A smart UPS with integrated Wi-Fi and Ethernet device-monitoring designed specifically for 12V and 5V network devices.
Setup is simple. The Switch Always On is plugged into AC power, and the Ethernet port on the device is then connected to a spare port on your Ethernet switch or broadband gateway. Your broadband gateway and broadband access devices are plugged directly into the Switch Always On 12V ports using supplied 12V cables and adapter connectors — the original power supply bricks are no longer used. Two Additional USB-A ports with 5V power supplies are included, and USB-A to 5V cables are also available for lower-power devices, should you need to attach and monitor them as well.
Once all of the equipment is powered, the device is configured using a smartphone app that runs on iOS and Android. This entails configuring its Wi-Fi network to monitor the local access points and their internet connectivity and its direct Ethernet connection to the broadband gateway.
We felt the setup and registration of the Switch Always On using its free cloud monitoring service was fairly easy. It only took about 10 minutes of using the app to program the device to connect to my networks and set the restart profiles for device reboots.

The app shows the current connectivity status of all your Switch Always On devices and the power supplied to all connected 12V and 5V network equipment. Still, the user interface could probably use some additional work, as it requires multiple layers of clicks to get to some frequently accessed areas — the network log for each device is buried several levels deep and it would be good if they moved that to a higher-level menu, for example. 
The Switch Always On has a built-in battery that will continuously power connected equipment for up to 90 minutes. However, if the device detects any internet connectivity loss from either the Wi-Fi or Ethernet networks, it can be programmed (based on an Ethernet or Wi-Fi restart profile) to automatically reboot them in intervals of your choosing (I set mine for 10 minutes) until connectivity is restored. 

Ethernet restart profiles set within my Switch Always On. The Optical Network Terminal (ONT) reboots before the Residential Gateway (RG).
Jason Perlow/ZDNet
Obviously, this will not work in the event of a total local infrastructure failure or complete loss of service at the telecom provider, in which case, having the power supplied to the broadband devices won’t actually restore connectivity. However, in areas where frequent brownouts do occur, such as in the part of South Florida that I currently live in, this is a good way of maintaining critical business connectivity.
Currently, this product is only designed to power and restart 12V and 5V connected devices, not larger 120V network devices such as smart switches (which may, in turn, be connected via PoE to Wi-Fi access points) or a bank of IoT equipment connected to a power strip. The company is currently investigating the possibility of designing a 5V-connected smart plug that could then be used to recycle power on an entire surge suppressor strip. To continually power several 120V devices, I would recommend a 750W or 1500W UPS.

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A 90-year old Melbournian woman — living alone and reliant on an emergency alert bracelet — was left without a home phone last month. Where responsibility lies regarding the lack of phone services is unclear.
Brighton’s Margaret Burchill had her home phone service cut on February 18 as Telstra Wholesale switched off the copper to her building, despite the fact that new connections in her area were put on hold as part of NBN’s HFC pause. 
The company responsible for rolling out the NBN postponed new HFC connections at the start of February, due to a shortage of HFC Network Termination Devices (NTDs) caused by COVID-19-related chipset shortages. The HFC connection schedule is expected to resume in May or June.
“Disconnections have only been revised for HFC customers who were scheduled to be disconnected from February to April 2021,” according to an NBN spokesperson.
“This premise was scheduled for disconnection in March 2020, which was extended by Telstra until February 2021 due to COVID-19, and Telstra did not seek any further extension of time for the customer to migrate their legacy services to the NBN.”
Burchill did not receive postal notifications of the impending cut-off, apparently due to an address mismatch in the NBN rollout map.
Her service was then cut despite NBN’s decree that HFC connections would continue during the HFC pause for “medically vulnerable people” and “premises that have had their copper-based legacy services disconnected”.

According to a Telstra Wholesale spokesperson, Burchill’s disconnection date wasn’t further extended as the responsibility fell on iiNet as her retail service provider (RSP) to raise the issue with Telstra Wholesale before her disconnection date.
In response, an iiNet spokesperson said Telstra Wholesale did not inform iiNet of Burchill’s disconnection date. 
“Telstra is required to give one months’ notice to the service provider, so the service provider can issue a final notice to the customer,” according to iiNet.
“As a result, we were unable to send the customer a final notice and the customer did not have an opportunity to contact us to request a further extension.”
When Burchill’s phone line went dead on February 18, her son Scott Burchill emailed iiNet. He was told his mother’s home could not be reconnected via copper due to the switch-off, nor could it be connected to the NBN due to the HFC pause.
While his mother could “lodge an NBN pre-order”, iiNet’s customer support told him that she would be without a home phone — clashing with NBN’s instructions to RSPs.
Burchill was left in broadband limbo until ZDNet raised the matter with NBN on February 23. An installer connected her home to the HFC network the following day, but it still took two weeks for her iiNet NBN service to be activated so her home phone service could be restored.
Initially, an iiNet spokesperson claimed it had resolved the issue when Burchill’s son first notified iiNet that his mother’s line had been disconnected. This contradicts his email exchanges with two iiNet customer support agents, who both said he could only “lodge an NBN pre-order” and wait.
After further investigation, a different iiNet spokesperson confirmed that iiNet did not resolve the issue, insisting it could not lodge the work order with NBN because it did not have the customer’s consent.
“When the customer’s family member contacted us on February 18 to advise their phone service wasn’t working, it was escalated internally,” according to iiNet.
“Between February 19-22, we made a number of unsuccessful efforts to encourage the customer to move to the NBN. A customer must request an NBN service via an RSP, and an RSP cannot lodge a work order with the NBN without a customer’s consent.”
Burchill’s son disputes iiNet’s account of events, saying “that simply doesn’t add up”.
“As soon as I contacted iiNet, I naturally asked them to connect her to the NBN as soon as possible,” he said.
NBN and RSPs are required to manage the migration of a consumer’s legacy service to an NBN service in a way that minimises disruption to the continuity of their service, according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (ACMA) NBN Service Continuity Standard.
“That means both NBN Co and a consumer’s RSP have responsibilities for ensuring that consumers are not left without a service during the migration to the NBN,” an ACMA spokesperson said.
While the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is unable to comment on individual cases, a spokesperson for the consumer watchdog said it would be concerned if a consumer’s service was shut down without a replacement being made available. 
“We would be particularly concerned if this was a priority assistance customer, as special arrangements exist to prevent this situation,” the ACCC spokesperson said.
“The ACCC expects NBN Co and retail service providers to work together to prevent any consumer from being left without an active service, particularly while there are problems with access to NTDs.”
Updated at 5:45pm AEST, 5 March 2021: updated headline to reflect current NBN HFC pause situation.
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Samsung Electronics on Thursday announced it has achieved 5.23Gbps data speeds on its 5G network, which it claimed is the fastest speed ever on such a network.
The 5.23Gbps speed was able to be achieved through using E-UTRAN new radio dual connectivity (EN-DC), which allows mobile operators to leverage 4G networks to boost 5G speeds, Samsung Electronics said.
It also leveraged carrier aggregation to combine multiple channels of spectrum to gain greater efficiencies and boost data speeds over a wireless network, the company added.
The trial was carried out at a Samsung 5G lab in South Korea, where the company combined 40MHz of 4G frequency and 800MHz of 5G frequency in mmWave to provide the 5.23Gbps on a single device.
For the demonstration, Samsung used its Samsung Galaxy S20+ smartphone, 4G radios, 5G radios, and a 4G/5G common core.
“Through this demonstration, Samsung is proud to achieve another breakthrough record in 5G data speeds, now spotlighting the power of using a dual 4G and 5G approach, delivered directly to a single user,” said Samsung vice president Ji-Yun Seol.
“This reinforces our commitment to delivering the best possible 5G solutions to our customers and our ongoing support to help mobile operators accelerate the benefits of 5G services to their users.”

Meanwhile, Huawei and China’s major telcos have set up a new 5G innovation lab in Shanghai. According to the companies, the lab will provide a platform to streamline devices, networks, and applications to “facilitate industry transformation”, as well as help create new 5G infrastructure.
Last week, Huawei and the telcos also stood up a separate 5G network slicing lab dedicated to “eliminating technical pain points and driving maturity” within the network slicing.
5G network slicing is a network architecture that enables the multiplexing of virtualised and independent logical networks on the same physical network. Each slice is used for different tasks to allow networks to be ultra-fast and have ultra-low latency.
The network slicing lab, called the 5GSA XuanYuan lab, will work to streamline 5G technical implementations, verify the end-to-end integration from device modules to the network slice management and enterprise self-management systems, and demonstrate network slice innovation achievements to customers from various industries, Huawei said.
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VMware on Wednesday announced the integration of VMware SD-WAN into the Azure Virtual WAN Hub, automatically connecting SD-WAN branches to the Microsoft Azure backbone. 
With the combination, “you get the advantage of the performance of the last mile from our SD-WAN, and you get the performance of Microsoft’s backbone,” VMware SVP Sanjay Uppal said to ZDNet. 

Microsoft Ignite

The integration is the latest piece of VMware’s strong partnership with Microsoft, and it comes at a time when dispersed workforces are making WAN access more valuable. “All of your branches and campuses and everything will be very well connected together,” Uppal explained. 
When the Covid-19 pandemic took hold last year, VMware saw some significant, unexpected changes happening in its SD-WAN business, Uppal said. 
“We deploy our edges in a number of enterprise locations, and each of those edges acts like a sensor, so it actually senses what’s happening on the network,” he explained. “We could see between the beginning of March and April what happened to networks around the world. It was actually amazing how the traffic patterns completely changed.” 
Networks came under significant pressure, he said, especially those connected to homes. Issues like bandwidth, latency, packet loss and jitter started growing. 
“We expected that to happen — the unexpected was how quickly it happened and to what level of severity,” Uppal said. His team sped up its work on a set of features to make “that home office look like the branch office,” with a focus on priorities like ease of use and privacy. 

The shift to remote work increased demand for some of VMware’s lowest-end SD-WAN devices, as well as higher-end devices used by professionals like radiologists. Meanwhile, supply chain issues “have required us to be very flexible in terms of where our components and everything comes from,” Uppal said.
While demand grew for Work From Home solutions and from certain verticals like logistics, “certain verticals dropped off the face of the Earth,” Uppal said — that included hospitality and the airline industry. 
“So, overall, I’d say it was a balance,” Uppal said, touting SD-WAN’s contributions to VMware’s solid Q4 results. 
For customers that need Work From Home solutions, VMware recently demonstrated the benefits of SD-WAN for Microsoft 365 users experiencing networking challenges like. With VMware SD-WAN, users experiencing problems like latency or packet loss can get a 5X to 10X improvement with Microsoft 365, Uppal said. 
Last year, VMware began working with Microsoft to offer solutions for Azure Edge Zones and Azure Private Edge Zones. Edge Zones deliver Azure services and enable customers to seamlessly deploy and run Virtual Network Functions including VMware SD-WAN across Azure regions and Azure Edge Zones. VMware is the only Azure Edge Zones “public preview” SD-WAN partner. 
VMware also works with Microsoft to deliver SD-WAN to customers in the healthcare and retail sectors. 
“We have a set of ecosystem partners of which I would say Microsoft is right at the top,” Uppal said. More