Monday, October 28, 2013

Verizon Terremark data center issue takes down HealthCare.gov site



October 28, 2013 | By Sean Buckley


A Terremark data center outage on Sunday is the latest issue to afflict the Obama administration's troubled HealthCare.gov website.

Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Terremark's parent company, did not immediately respond to a FierceTelecom request for an update on the outage. Neither the Obama administration nor Terremark could give a timeline to Reuters as to when the problem would be fixed.

Terremark received $15.5 million to provide its cloud computing services to the HealthCare.gov website. It began work on the five-year contract in 2011.

The Department of Health and Human Services said that the Healthcare.gov "application and enrollment system is down because the company that hosts site has an outage" and that "Terremark is working to fix" the issue, reports Reuters.

A number of technical issues besides the Terremark network connection have prevented consumers from being able to access the site and enroll for health care services since it was launched on Oct. 1.

This outage, which according to the Reuters report began early on Sunday, drove the data center to lose network connectivity with the federal government's data services hub. This element provides a bridge between insurance marketplaces and various federal agencies and can verify a person's identity, citizenship, and other facts.
Without the hub, consumers are unable to apply online for coverage or determine their eligibility for federal subsidies to help pay for insurance premiums.




Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Cisco: Cloud traffic to rise to 5.3 zettabytes by 2017





Cloud traffic is becoming the dominant growth engine in data center traffic, according to Cisco's (Nasdaq: CSCO) third annual Global Cloud Index.
Between 2012 and 2017, cloud traffic will grow at a 35 percent combined annual growth rate (CAGR) from 1.2 zettabytes of annual data center traffic to 5.3 zettabytes.

Likewise, global data center traffic will grow threefold and reach a total of 7.7 zettabytes annually during the same period.

Out of this figure, about 17 percent of data center traffic will be driven by end users accessing clouds for various web-based applications, including web surfing, video streaming, collaboration and connected devices.

Besides end-user traffic, data centers themselves will generate about 7 percent of their own traffic via data replication and software/system updates. Cisco said another 76 percent of data center traffic will reside in the data center and will be generated by storage, production and development data in a virtualized environment.

On a global basis, cloud traffic will grow from 46 percent of total data center traffic (98 exabytes per month or 1.2 zettabytes annually) of total data center traffic in 2012 to 69 percent of total data center traffic (443 exabytes per month or 5.3 zettabytes annually) of total data center traffic by 2017.
The majority of this cloud-based traffic will come from the Middle East and Africa, which are forecast to grow at (57 percent CAGR), followed by Asia Pacific (43 percent CAGR) and Central and Eastern Europe (36 percent CAGR).

Monday, October 7, 2013

Time Warner Cable acquires DukeNet for $600M to bolster Southeast fiber footprint

Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) is increasing its Southeastern fiber network and business services footprint by reaching a deal to acquire Charlotte, N.C.-based competitive provider DukeNet from Alinda Capital and Duke Energy for $600 million in cash.
Alinda Capital and Duke Energy both own a 50 percent stake in DukeNet.

By acquiring DukeNet, the cable MSO gets an 8,700-mile regional fiber-based network that currently provides services to a mix of business and wholesale customers, particularly wireless operators, in North Carolina and South Carolina, as well as five other states in the Southeast.

While TWC did not provide many details besides the purchase price, the deal is transformational for the cable MSO.

Having a deeper fiber footprint in the Carolinas and other Southeast states will enable it to pursue larger business service deals and wireless backhaul opportunities. In September, DukeNet announced that it reached over 3,500 cell sites as part of its growing fiber to the tower (FTTT) program that provides services to a number of the top wireless operators.

TWC will also enhance its business Ethernet reach. Since 2007, the cable MSO has consistently held a spot on Vertical System Group's U.S. Ethernet leaderboard, which tracks port shares sold. During the second quarter, TWC reported that business services, including Ethernet, rose 21.8 percent to $565 million.
After clearing customary closing conditions, including receipt of regulatory approvals, TWC expects to complete the purchase in Q1 2014. 

This deal also comes at a time when cable MSOs are getting more regulatory freedom to purchase CLECs as a way to grow their business and wholesale service programs.

Cable MSOs won a major victory to pursue deals like DukeNet last September when the FCC granted them forbearance from Section 652(b) of the Communications Act.

TWC is not alone in expanding business and wholesale service and network footprint through acquisitions. Fellow cable MSO Cox Communications purchased Tulsa, Okla.-based CLEC EasyTEL in September.