• AT&T claims disaggregated router first
• DataBanks snaps up Zayo’s data centres
• Orange tours $30 4G smartphone
• HTC folds

AT&T’s latest step into the world of open, disaggregated networking and a change in ownership for 44 data centres lead the way in this news roundup.

AT&T claims to be the first operator to deploy a disaggregated router in its core network, using technology elements supplied by Broadcom, DriveNets and Ufispace. Broadcom provided its Jericho2 chips, Ufispace supplied the white box hardware (comprising a 40x100G line card system, 10x400G line card system, and a 48x400G fabric system) and DriveNets provided the Network Cloud Solution and Network Operating System that manages the white box assets and connects into AT&T’s SDN controller. With this combination, AT&T has an open, disaggregated core router platform that can offer throughput capacity of anywhere between 4 Tbit/s and 192 Tbit/s. The operator says the initial routing system has been deployed alongside its new, next-gen 400 Gbit/s optical transport platform. For more details see this AT&T announcement and this DriveNets press release.

DataBank has acquired 44 data centres across 23 markets in the US and Europe from Zayo for an undisclosed sum. The move massively increases DataBank’s data centres portfolio, taking its total locations to 64 data centres in 29 markets. “This agreement allows both parties to focus on their core strengths,” said Dan Caruso, Zayo Group’s CEO. “We’ll continue building the most fiber-rich digital infrastructure in the world, while DataBank focuses on hosting the innovations and digital workloads that our fiber and network infrastructure were designed to fuel.” Zayo will continue to be an anchor tenant in the acquired data centres. For more details, see this press release.  

In an effort to provide more affordable smartphones to users in Africa, Orange, in collaboration with Google, has unveiled the Sanza touch, which it boasts is the lowest priced 4G Android device in the world, retailing at about $30. See this press release for more details.  

And now for a ‘What’s down’… A bit like 3D TVs and 3D movies, foldable smartphones haven't been particularly successful. They have come and gone but consumers have been wary of buying expensive devices that have, by deliberate design, been built with a massive potential fail point running literally all the way through them, like a stick of Blackpool rock. It stands to reason that hinged, origami-based or otherwise flexible handsets are more likely to prove potentially more bothersome than a good old solid slab of telecoms tech. And so they have. That's why we haven't heard much about them of late. However, never say never again. It seems that HTC of Taiwan (remember them?) is set to come roaring back from relative obscurity with a mobile phone with a horizontal hinge across the middle of the screen, reports TechRadar. LetsGo Digital has rootled around in the pat pending pile and unearthed an application to patent a handset that folds outwards, so the two halves of the screen remain visible when the phone itself is closed. All that users will need to be able to see the display on the other side to where they are looking is either a) a small but quick moving "Lazy Susan" turntable or b) a mirror on a stick. Bound to be a big success.

And here’s a ‘What’s down under’… What's sloppy in Sydney, pathetic in Perth, crap in Cairns, bloody awful in Bundaberg, miserable in Melbourne and downright dismal in Darwin? The answer is the federal Australian government's attitude to cyber security, notes Computer Weekly. And it's official. The Lucky Country's own National Auditor's Office calls the nation's cyber security "woeful" and says government agencies can't even meet the most minimal security guidelines. Indeed, of 18 federal agencies examined, just one managed to meet the mandated information security standards. Currently the national government allows each individual agency to look after their own cyber security strategies and most of them can't be bothered to look after them properly at all. Few have even implemented the "Australian Signals Directorate’s Essential Eight" top mitigation strategies out of a full list of 35. Critics have been issuing dire warnings about the absence of joined-up thinking or national strategy where Australia's cyber security is concerned since the late 1990s and almost nothing has been done to increase and modernise defences. The whole thing is held together with string, sealing was, ring pull tops and Cherry Ripe wrappers. A major cyber attack could happen at any time, and given Australia's deteriorating relationship with China, it probably will. Strewth, what a bunch of drongos. ​

Now for some more upbeat news from Oz… Telstra says it has launched commercial wavelength services based on 400G technology and has successfully tested 800G with its networking partners Ciena and Ericsson. Find out more here.  

Samsung has provided some detail about how it will collaborate with Microsoft on 5G. Samsung was named as an ‘Azure for Operators’ partner this week, and in this announcement has detailed how “the two companies plan to advance the virtualization of 5G solutions, which will include the deployment of Samsung’s virtualized RAN, virtualized Core, and Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) technologies on Microsoft Azure.”

Ericsson has added a 5G core deal to the existing 5G RAN deal it had with Elisa Finland. See this announcement for more details. 

Speedcast, a company that specializes in delivery connectivity and technical solutions to enterprises, has struck a deal to provide Nokia’s private wireless network solutions to businesses around the world. For more details, see this press release.  

- The staff