Weekly Intelligence Digest- March 2, 2015

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Significant Developments for Week of March 2, 2015

1. Aryaka Gets Ready to Grow with new CFO Kelly Hicks

In preparation for upcoming expansion, Aryaka Networks appoints a new Chief Financial Officer, Kelly Hicks. Hicks has over 25 years of leadership experience within both private and public technological and software companies. His prior titles include Head of Corporate Finance and VP of Worldwide Field Operations, and his responsibilities ranged from driving revenue and record profit to providing guidance throughout large growth periods and sales.

BID Insight: With Hicks, Aryaka looks to maximize support and leadership while proceeding with global growth. Hicks’ sterling credentials and experience in private to public transitions suggest big advances in Aryaka’s future.

2. Akamai Pursues the Mobile Edge

Akamai Technologies creates an entirely new department to focus solely on meeting MNO requirements and developing new technologies geared toward mobile device operations. Vice President Lion Netzer will lead the new business section. The primary goals of the division are to design and integrate mobile features, and develop new mobile edge technologies. Akamai will also release the Akamai Mobile Edge (AME) platform, providing a cloud-based approach to enhance mobile content delivery and aid the mobile market in becoming device-aware.

Akamai also announces a partnership with Solid State Networks, a company designated towards gaming solutions and providing a faster solution for game developers to implement, design, and deliver online games in the cloud.

BID Insight: The addition of the Mobile Business unit could be a huge step forward for Akamai. With the appointment of Vice President Lion Netzer, it is clear they mean business. As other companies research and develop 5G platforms to increase speed and performance, Akamai early start should be a smart decision. Companies like Ericsson have already partnered with research companies in APAC to continue development of next generation mobile systems. With long-term projected mobile expansion, Akamai’s focus on the sector could reap huge rewards.

Solid State Networks represents an interesting partnership for Akamai, as the gaming network is becoming increasingly more sophisticated and competitive. Akamai has not traditionally held presence in this particular market. Through this union, Akamai can integrate a complementary market, and potentially lead future gaming developments. This also presents a very real threat to companies like Highwinds, whose sole focus is the gaming industry and do not really have any other feature sets or markets to fall back on if Akamai sweeps into the sector.

3. Instart Logic Boasts 20% Performance Boost with SmartSequence

Instart Logic releases new software called SmartSequence, a technology that allows for significantly improved loading times, particularly with regard to JavaScript and HTML Streaming. The software uses an intelligent cloud-client technology that chooses what JavaScript or coding is most important to the site, and prioritizes loading those first. The benefits including overall improved speed and page loading times, allowing sites to be more interactive and implementing real-time learning features. Instart is so confident in this new technology that they boast a 20% speed increase and performance to customers, otherwise the service is free.

BID Insight: JavaScript and HTML streaming has become increasingly popular, as websites are continually becoming more robust and user interactive. Ecommerce and media sites in particular are creating more intelligent user interfaces and leveraging JS in order to enhance end-user experience. According to httparchive, the aggregate data deployment of JS elements by the top online companies has nearly tripled in the last 3 years, and HTML has also experienced significant increases. Software that decreases page load times for necessary JS and HTML elements will be extremely valuable now and in the future.

4. Azure Partners with Docker for Applications Platform

Microsoft Azure announces a partnership with Docker, Inc., a cloud service company. Docker offers an open platform designed for developers to create, ship, and run applications globably. Through this alliance, Azure is releasing beta versions of Docker Machine and Docker Swarm, running on Azure’s platform with Docker Machine support. The Hyper-V support enables customers to go from “zero to Docker” through the use of developing VMs once the Docker engine is up and running. This new Docker feature set allows for deployment of applications, using one control center and portable command options, and offers multicontainer solutions for YAML files. These features can be implemented across multiple different infrastructures and devices.

BID Insight: Implementing Docker’s technology into the Linux interface will simply make application usage on Microsoft easier. Docker Composer will allow the user to drag and drop YAML files, and eventually other supported files, and let Azure take care of the rest. The Docker Machine is one command portal that runs across several different infrastructures, allowing for a unified central control center, allowing the user to manage and configure from one access point. Docker Swarm enables the customer to launch and schedule launches of applications and workloads through the Docker cluster and scheduling technologies. Docker Swarm also provides customizable features and scalability to cover a range of enterprise needs for application deployment.

5. Apple Grows Northern European Presence With Green IT

Apple is building two new data centers in Europe, one in Jutland, Denmark and another in County Galway Ireland, both of which will operate on 100% renewable energy. The implementation of these data centers will cost Apple around 1.7 billion euros, enabling European customers to leverage iMessage, iTunes Store, App Store, Maps, and Siri. Apple plans to work with local providers in Europe to create additional renewable resources for power in the future. The addition of these data centers and Apple’s continued presence in Europe has added 2,000 jobs overseas in the last month alone.

BID Insight: Many consider Apple a leader in innovation and progressive thinking in the industry. The creation of these two data centers running on renewable energy (as all of Apple’s data centers do) is just another example of their progressive approach to technology. Green IT is experiencing rapid growth in popularity, and Apple is already at the forefront of the movement. The installation of these data centers does not only expand Apple’s European presence, but the company also strives to make their presence a positive experience for local communities. For example, Apple is recovering the land used to build the data center in Ireland, and the company is restoring native trees to the adjacent Derrydonnell Forest. In Denmark, Apple is eliminating the need for additional generators with the data center, and redistributing the heat from the center to warm homes in neighboring communities.

6. FireEye and Singtel Ally to Protect APAC

FireEye partners with Singtel, a Singapore-based telecommunications company, to release their Advanced Security Operations Center (ASOC) to mitigate advanced cyber threats. ASOC leverages the latest in security technology in order to provide protection in the APAC region. APAC has increasingly becoming one of the largest regions from which intelligent cyber attacks originate. ASOC will be the first center of its kind located within Singapore, and will allow for end-to-end visibility of enterprise networks, user end-points, and traffic.

BID Insight: FireEye is taking a step in the right direction for cyber security with the creation of ASOC. It is the FireEye and Singtels’ first security operations center in the region, and is strategically located within the cyber attack battlefield. With this operations center, FireEye can monitor sophisticated threats and gain threat intelligence from the areas where cyber threats are most severe. Additionally, traffic monitoring and end-to-end visibility in Singapore could benefit the entire security industry and targeted enterprises.

7. Cumulus and HP Benefit from New Network Switches

Cumulus Networks announces a partnership with HP, running new open network switches on Cumulus Linux. HP is offering global delivery using HP logistic centers, and HP sales and support. Cumulus explains that the new HP switches running on Linux will provide a range of benefits, the primary focus being hyper-scale data operators. Included with the new networking brite boxes are servers, storage, and a full set of tools provided by HP.

BID Insight: With open networking and bare metal switches consistently on the rise, Cumulus partnering with HP on open network switches puts them in a great position to break into this rising industry sector. HP’s entrance into the open networking market underscores the growing popularity of this technological trend. The financial benefits of bare metal switching and open networking should prove a powerful motivation.

8. Qwilt Integrates Open Caching with Altiostar’s eNodeB

Qwilt announces a union with Altiostar, a company catered to providing LTE C-RAN solution and the equipment necessary to deploy this technology across all mobile interfaces. Altiostar’s solution also significantly reduces the total cost of ownership, allowing for mobile operators to cut spending and increase speed and performance. Qwilt is integrating their Open Caching technology with Altiostar’s eNodeB technology in order to provide a C-RAN and open caching solution to mobile operators. This solution will greatly impact mobile networks that are struggling to support video streaming, and will overall significantly improve network latency.

BID Insight: According to the Cisco VNI Mobile Forecast Report 2015, it is predicted by the year 2019 that the 4.6 billion smartphone users will drive about 97% of all mobile data and around 72% of this mobile traffic will be due to video streaming. Qwilt is preparing for these numbers with their partnership with Altiostar. Through the integration of these platforms, both companies will be able to make the most of RAN optimization, which is crucial for successful video delivery with low latency. Additionally, Qwilt’s caching software will ensure that the video streaming consistently remains high quality to the end-user, enhancing the customer experience.

9. BlackMesh Choose Radware for DDoS Defense

BlackMesh, a cloud hosting company that focuses in Drupal hosting, has selected Radware to provide DDoS protection and mitigation services to its customers. DefensePro is the primary platform at the heart of Radware’s DDoS solution, and utilizes real-time signature technology in order to identify emerging threats and prevent attacks without blocking legitimate Internet traffic. BlackMesh has previously attempted DDoS mitigation by implementing various solutions such as null filtering, control lists, and cache filtering. However, none of these has successfully solved their recurring DDoS problem . The company is excited to leverage Radware’s security platform, and will also have access to Radware’s Emergency Response Team for critical attacks and damage control.

BID Insight: DDoS attacks can be a pernicious problem for large scale platforms. Cloud companies must wrestle with service interruptions and face difficult decisions regarding the cost of security measures. Blackmesh’s selection of Radware highlights the growing need for a multi-layered approach to digital defense.

10. PeerApp Advances Digicel’s Carribbean Operations

Digicel Group, one of the leading telecommunications operators in the Caribbean, Central America, and Asia Pacific regions has selected PeerApp for its Ultraband transparent caching solution to aid in its deployment of mobile 4G/LTE broadband networks throughout the Caribbean. Through the utilization of PeerApp’s platform, Digicel will improve speed, performance, and optimization and reduce buffering, stalls, overall latency, and costs of operation. The Ultraband software allows for caching and storage of content so that Digicel can access media and entertainment content from within its own network, as opposed to waiting for signals from servers in distant locations.

BID Insight: This should prove a great opportunity for PeerApp to branch out globally into regions that have not been heavily saturated. As streaming media and entertainment content has taken off, it has become necessary for smaller telecommunications companies like Digicel to reach out for additional software to more seamlessly deliver content to their customers. Content Delivery providers with a global perspective can benefit immensely from these partnerships.