Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket

Rakuten Symphony and Qualcomm to Offer Solutions for Open RAN Deployments Worldwide

Rakuten Selects Qualcomm Technologies to Commercialize Massive MIMO RU and DU to be Made Available for Next Generation 5G Mobile Infrastructure

Solution Powered by Qualcomm® 5G RAN Platforms is Designed to Simplify Network Deployments, Lower TCO, and Accelerate Adoption of Cloud-Native, Open RAN-Based Mobile Networks Globally

FEB 24, 2022SAN DIEGO

HTTPS://WWW.QUALCOMM.COM/NEWS/RELEASES/2022/02/24/...-RAN-DEPLOYMENTS  

 

 

Intel Launches Xeon D Processor Built for the Network and Edge

Friday, February 25th 2022

Today, ahead of MWC Barcelona 2022, Intel launched new Intel Xeon D processors: the D-2700 and the D-1700. They are Intel's newest system-on-chip (SoC) built for the software-defined network and edge, with integrated AI and crypto acceleration, built-in Ethernet, support for Intel Time Coordinated Computing (Intel TCC) and Time Sensitive Networking (TSN), and industrial-class reliability. New Intel Xeon D processors extend compute with acceleration beyond the core data center, generating a better overall experience for key network and edge usages and workloads.

The growing opportunity for network and edge infrastructure will reach $77 billion by 2026, and more than 50% of data is expected to be created and processed outside of traditional data centers by 2025. Anticipating these trends, the new Intel Xeon D processor includes specific capabilities to meet the unique workload requirements of the software-defined network and edge.

Rakuten Mobile deployed the world's first open, fully virtualized cloud native infrastructure in Japan to deliver a reliable, flexible, scalable, secure and resilient mobile network for its partners and end customers. It has incorporated the new Intel Xeon D processor for optimal performance while meeting its specifications to design Symware, a compact, lightweight, self-cooling and weatherproof, containerized RAN solution, working in collaboration with Intel and Juniper. The solution is optimal for the densest urban environments in the world, and in this case, Tokyo, demonstrating the power of vRAN, built on Intel technology.

HTTPS://WWW.TECHPOWERUP.COM/292339/...-BUILT-FOR-THE-NETWORK-AND-EDGE  

Intel unveils new hardware and software for notebooks, 5G equipment ahead of MWC 2022

Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES, TaipeiFriday 25 February 2022

A series of announcements were unveiled, from new architectural enhancements and future central processing units (CPUs) in its next-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processor, Sapphire Rapids, to a new Intel Xeon D processor, Intel's newest SoC designed from the ground up for the software-defined network and edge.

Alongside industry leaders - including leading communication service providers, telecommunication equipment manufacturers and Internet of Things (IoT) leaders American Tower, AT&T, BT, Ericsson, Rakuten Mobile, Verizon and Zeblok - Intel discussed its foundational role in powering the software-defined transformation across the network and edge.

https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20220225PR201/intel-mwc-2022.html
 

https://www.gapsis.jp/2022/02/rakutenmobile-kessan-2021q4.html  

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/...uten-Bank-Ltd-39579985/  

E-commerce giant Rakuten launches its own NFT marketplace

February 25, 2022, 11:40AM EST

Rakuten Group Inc, the firm behind the popular online shopping platform Rakuten, announced Friday that it has launched its own non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace.

The Rakuten NFT marketplace will offer users digital collectibles of sports and entertainment — such as music and anime — the firm wrote in a release. In addition, Rakuten will offer minting services for intellectual property (IP) holders to create digital assets of their IP. The firm intends to provide peer-to-peer listing and sales in 2021 or later.

Rakuten’s first NFT drop will occur on February 25 and will include digital assets from an anime called Ultraman as well as the horse-racing themed comic Kurogane Hiroshi G1 Gekitoshi (2010 Series).

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/135485/...520later.%C2%A0%C2%A0  

Ecommerce giant Rakuten launches an NFT marketplace

February 26, 2022

By Invezz

Rakuten, a leading e-commerce platform, is launching a marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Rakuten’s NFT marketplace will be known as Rakuten NFT.

Rakuten’s move comes amid a major boom in the NFT sector. When NFT trading volumes exploded last year, Rakuten revealed its plans of venturing into the sector with a proprietary NFT marketplace.
Rakuten says that this NFT marketplace will be a platform that allows intellectual property owners to launch their own websites used to issue and sell NFTs. The marketplace will allow users to buy NFTs through peer-to-peer. Some of the items available will range between music, anime, sports and entertainment.

Tapping into the Japanese market

Japan has the potential to be one of the largest NFT markets due to the popularity of pop culture with features such as anime and manga. With a population of more than 126 million people, many believe that Japan can boost the adoption of NFTs.

Last year, the global NFT market grew significantly, and with the surging trading volumes and adoption levels, leading brands started gaining interest in the area. The valuation of the NFT market continues to grow, and NFT interest in Japan has increased. Last March, Coincheck, a local cryptocurrency exchange platform, launched its NFT marketplace. The country also has some local crypto supporters, such as Mai Fujimoto, nicknamed “Miss Bitcoin”, who partnered with Enjin for an NFT charity program in Japan.

https://richpicksdaily.com/...nt-rakuten-launches-an-nft-marketplace/
 

Rakuten Mobile expands Rakuten Symphony’s Symware product family with Open RAN-based 5G Massive MIMO solutions from Qualcomm Technologies

In a newly signed agreement to develop bespoke solutions designed to overcome the considerable challenges of Massive MIMO for Open RAN, Rakuten Mobile, the parent company of Rakuten Symphony, collaborated with Qualcomm Technologies on a new 5G RU (radio unit) with Massive MIMO capabilities and DU (distributed units). These solutions, powered by Qualcomm 5G RAN Platforms, benefit mobile network operators by simplifying network deployments, lowering total cost of ownership and by accelerating adoption of cloud-native, Open RAN-based mobile networks globally.

Commenting on the agreement, Durga Malladi, senior vice president and general manager, 5G, Mobile Broadband and Infrastructure, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. said, “Through this collaboration, our collective aim is to accelerate next generation 5G mobile infrastructure global adoption, and this milestone will help operators meet performance demands at the edge and provide enhanced user experiences.”

Using the Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card and high-performance Massive MIMO Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN Platform, the new products are designed to enhance Rakuten Symphony’s Symware product portfolio of Open RAN solutions that enable the deployment of innovative, virtualized, and open 5G networks at scale and help operators to meet performance demands at the edge.

This agreement is the latest in a longstanding relationship between the companies, which have collaborated on technologies and expertise during the build of Rakuten Mobile’s network in Japan.

Junko Sunaga, vice president, Qualcomm Japan GK and president, Qualcomm Japan added, “Joining forces with Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony is at the heart of advancing the cellular ecosystem and accelerating the innovation cycle to enable the fast track of deploying modern networks at scale. We look forward to continuing this collaboration.”

https://www.qualcomm.com/news/onq/2022/02/24/...based-5g-massive-mimo  

Temasek-Backed ShopBack Said to Seek $150 Million for Expansion

Feb. 16, 2022, 8:00 AM

Singapore startup working with Morgan Stanley on funding round

Existing backers include Rakuten, SoftBank Ventures, EV Growth

ShopBack, an online shopping rewards app backed by Temasek Holdings Pte, is in talks with potential investors to raise $150 million to help finance its expansion, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The Singapore-based startup is working with Morgan Stanley on the funding round, which is expected to value the company at about $1 billion, the people said, asking not to be identified as the process is private. Discussions are ongoing and the fundraising size could still change, one of the people said.

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/private-equity/...million-for-expansion  

Welcome to Symworld - A new kind of operating platform

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB7U2LssOgw  

Meet Symware - Network Operations Simplified

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pl5LT8wxIs&t=1s  

Sunday, 27 February 2022

During the Full Year and Fourth Quarter 2021 earning call, President of Rakuten Mobile, Yoshihisa Yamada gave a short summary of the progress of the mobile network. During that, he also showed the Open RAN product portfolio spanning to address diverse deployment use cases.

https://www.telecomsinfrastructure.com/2022/02/...their-open-ran.html  

With over 70 patents in the cloud-native technology space, Robin.io offers a highly differentiated and comprehensive product portfolio

https://symphony.rakuten.com/newsroom/...rated-telco-cloud-for-mobile  

An excellent take-over through Rakuten Symphony:

With over 70 patents in the cloud-native technology space, Robin.io offers a highly differentiated and comprehensive product portfolio, including the following:

Robin Cloud Native Storage (Robin CNS) -- An award winning, high performing, software-defined and industry-first application-aware storage solution that has been built from the ground-up for Kubernetes.

Robin Cloud Native Platform (CNP) -- A leading open-source platform optimized for running data and network intensive applications used in production for various use cases involving databases, big data, data analytics, 5G, O-RAN, packet core & edge.

Robin Multi Data Center Automation Platform (MDCAP) -- The web-scale platform for metal-to-service orchestration and automation.

Robin.io has petabyte size deployments with its software running on tens of thousands of servers in production today that span across its product portfolio and services Fortune 1000 customers across the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Adding Robin.io's portfolio for cloud-native deployment, lifecycle management and orchestration allows Rakuten Symphony to deploy highly reliable, flexible, scalable, secure and resilient mobile networks built on the principles of open interfaces, virtualization and interoperability. Together, the combined companies will also be able to deliver industry leading solutions for various traditional enterprise opportunities in areas of enterprise applications, data management, cloud and virtualization. Following the acquisition, Partha Seetala will take up the position of President of the Unified Cloud business unit of Rakuten Symphony.

https://news.fresheye.com/jcn/article/jcn-JCN73365.html  

More about Robin.io - the new subsidiary of Rakuten Symphony

Demystifying the complexity of cloud-native 5G network functions deployment using Robin CNP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoFIJpak9Ws  

Robin.io Granted Nine New Patents in Network Service Pipeline Deployment and Cloud-Native Storage Management

September 30, 2021

Company awarded a total of nine patents in 2021, bringing its IP portfolio total to 75 patents.
SAN JOSE, Calif.—September 30, 2021—Robin.io, the leader in Kubernetes data management for enterprises and 5G applications, received nine new patent awards from the U.S Patent and Trademark Office during the first nine months of 2021. The patent awards boost the company’s IP portfolio in three technologies central to the management and orchestration of 5G and enterprise cloud-native applications with Kubernetes. The new patents bring the company’s IP portfolio to a total of 75 across its product portfolios, which include Robin Cloud Native Platform (CNP), Robin Cloud Native Storage (CNS), Robin Multi-Datacenter Automation Platform (MDCAP).

https://www.robin.io/press/...nt-and-cloud-native-storage-management/  

Rakuten Symphony acquires Kubernetes platform Robin.io

Frederic Lardinois / 6:27 PM GMT+1•February 28, 2022

Rakuten Symphony, the recently launched telco-focused arm of Japan’s Rakuten Group, today announced that it has acquired Robin.io, a startup that offers a Kubernetes platform optimized for storage solutions and complex network applications. Rakuten Mobile was one of the company’s early customers and Rakuten Capital led Robin.io’s Series C funding round. Rakuten now plans to integrate Robin.io’s tools for multi-cloud mobility, automation and orchestration into the Rakuten Symphony portfolio.

When it first launched, Robin.io mostly focused on storage solutions, but it has since expanded beyond that to offer a more fully featured Kubernetes platform. Its marketing always emphasized large telco operators, with solutions for automating 5G services applications on Kubernetes and orchestrating private 5G and LTE deployments, for example. Rakuten Symphony, meanwhile, focuses on exactly these kinds of cloud-native open infrastructure deployments and services. It surely also helped that Robin.io owns 70 patents and counts numerous Fortune 1000 enterprises around the globe among its customers. Sounds like a match made in telco heaven.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/28/...es-kubernetes-platform-robin-io/  

 

Cisco and Rakuten Sign Strategic Agreement to Accelerate Open RAN and Telco Cloud Market

- Companies will combine their leading technology portfolios, expertise, and services to develop and deliver solutions for 4G/5G mobile networks based on Open RAN technology. Cisco and Rakuten Symphony established a joint go-to-market model with a common customer offering to help global service providers transform and modernize their network architecture. This endeavor expands on the partnership between Cisco and Rakuten which began four years ago – working together as early champions for Open RAN, driving open networking solutions for RAN, and building the world’s first fully virtualized, cloud-native network for Rakuten Mobile.

BARCELONA – Mobile World Congress – February 28, 2022 – Cisco and Rakuten Symphony, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rakuten Mobile, Inc., announced how they are combining strengths to help global service providers prepare the Internet for the Future.

Today in Barcelona, the companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding to accelerate the delivery for cloud-native, virtualized 4G/5G mobile networks based on Open Radio Access Network (ORAN) technology.
Building upon the success of Rakuten Mobile’s industry-first innovative cloud-native network architecture, Rakuten Symphony and Cisco are combining strengths to offer solutions which will allow mobile operators to compete more effectively in the cloud era. Together, the companies are addressing the industry need for massive transformation to reduce costs, enhance agility and meet future technical, regulatory and environmental requirements for sustainability.

The companies have crossed many important milestones over the last four years, and they are now applying best practices to develop software-defined solutions that are optimized for the competitive mobile environment, based on automated, agile, high-performance infrastructure.

Notable components of the solutions include Cisco’s leading mobile, routing, switching, and automation portfolios, along with Rakuten Symphony’s Open RAN orchestration and the full suite of Rakuten Symphony’s Symworld applications. The two companies plan to work together to validate and certify these solutions for service providers and deliver systems that perform across the full lifecycle from design to deployment and operations.

“I am very pleased to see both organizations come together and combine strengths. We believe our collaboration with Cisco will bring something quite unique in the industry solving the industry’s current challenges when it comes to deploying new generations of networks. The principles of open architecture, cloud, virtualization and automation are essential elements of the new networks that operators will be rolling out in the near future,” said Tareq Amin, CEO, Rakuten Symphony. “Using open interfaces, virtualization, cloud, and automation from Rakuten Symphony along with Cisco’s well established network footprint and offering will give telcos an opportunity to build and operate their networks in significantly better ways.”

“We have proven what the benefits of an open, cloud-driven, 5G-powered mobile network can do to transform the way people connect to do more and get more of everything today,” said Jonathan Davidson, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Mass-Scale Infrastructure Group, Cisco. “Together with Rakuten Symphony, we have the unique opportunity to offer global service providers an alternative to legacy RAN, with a turnkey option to transform their networks to be more intuitive and automated to support the ever-evolving needs for connectivity.”

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2022/0301_01.html  

Nokia first Symworld partner to be selected by Rakuten Symphony for cloud-native Core software

- Rakuten Mobile names Nokia as the sole vendor for specific mobile core products such as IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), Shared Data Layer (SDL) and Internet of Things (IoT) Platform. These will be followed by further expansions to nodes such as Internet of Things (IoT) Gateway; Nokia to accelerate Rakuten Symphony’s Symworld(TM) marketplace launch by providing all Nokia cloud-native applications; Collaboration to prove and accelerate 3rd party Symworld(TM) marketplace in live network

Tokyo, March 1, 2022 – Building on the existing multi-year relationship, Nokia, Rakuten Mobile, Inc., and Rakuten Symphony, Inc., today announced plans to further accelerate industry change with the inclusion of all Nokia cloud-native Core software on Rakuten Symphony’s SymworldTM marketplace. The development will support Rakuten Symphony to be the first to enable browsing, selecting, and installing of software into live network operations via a “one-click” operation for communication service providers (CSPs).

The SymworldTM marketplace was created to simplify the process of telecom application onboarding and making approved applications generally available for all SymworldTM customers. The SymworldTM platform digitalizes all telecom processes for planning, deploying, securing, and monitoring the software in live telecom networks; and makes SymworldTM marketplace applications one click away from deployment.

All telecom software is becoming cloud-native and possible to procure through a marketplace experience. Nokia is well-placed to deliver on that experience, having already rearchitected its software applications in recent years to make them fully cloud-native and deployable in any cloud environment, edge, public or private.

The SymworldTM marketplace by Rakuten Symphony is the first telecom marketplace in the world designed to serve the needs of CSPs and is creating a marketplace of Rakuten and third-party applications in order to provide for the rapid procurement and delivery of telco services as 5G rollouts advance.

Tareq Amin, CEO of Rakuten Symphony, Inc., said: "We have a long and successful relationship with Nokia in Rakuten Mobile and together in Japan we have radically accelerated change in the telecom industry.  We want to do more and we are extremely happy to partner with Nokia now to drive the marketplace way of working in the live network with Nokia’s world class cloud-native core products. The SymworldTM marketplace approach to deployment changes system integration from being months away, to being days or hours away.”

Raghav Sahgal, President of Cloud and Network Services at Nokia, said: “As a telecom cloud-native software leader and a mobile core technology leader, Nokia’s Cloud and Network Solutions will provide all our cloud-native Core software and work with Rakuten Symphony to enrich the SymworldTM marketplace for all mobile operators. We look forward to this new chapter with Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony and supporting their disruptive ambitions in the telco space.”

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2022/0301_04.html

 

 

Former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to Join Rakuten Symphony Board of Directors

An early believer in Rakuten Symphony’s vision for telecom disruption, Pai will help guide key efforts as company forges new path in mobile industry innovation.

Board appointment follows key Rakuten Symphony M&A deals, industry validating customer wins and proven success speeding new mobile networks to market at substantially lower capital costs.

Newly-formed board also includes Rakuten Symphony CEO Tareq Amin, and Rakuten Group chairman and CEO Mickey Mikitani.

TOKYO, March 3, 2022 – Rakuten Symphony today announced the appointment of former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to its newly-formed board of directors of Rakuten Symphony, Inc., effective April 1, 2022. He will join board members including Rakuten Symphony CEO Tareq Amin and Rakuten Group chairman and CEO Mickey Mikitani to help guide the company’s efforts to reimagine telecom, upend supply chain norms and continue to disrupt outmoded thinking that threatens telecom’s pursuit of rapid innovation and growth. Rakuten Symphony makes it possible to launch and operate advanced mobile services in a fraction of the time and cost of conventional approaches, with no compromise to network quality or security.

“I have long been impressed by Rakuten’s vision for breaking through long standing barriers that have dictated how mobile networks are designed, built and deployed,” said Pai. “Critically, Rakuten Symphony’s leading work in Open RAN, network automation and rapid network rollouts uniquely positions the company to help the broader mobile industry more urgently pursue highly competitive opportunities to redefine consumer and enterprise services delivery.”

Pai is currently a Partner at Searchlight Capital Partners and a Non-Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Prior to these roles, he served for almost a decade at the Federal Communications Commission, having been appointed as Commissioner by 44th President Barack Obama and then designated as Chairman by 45th President Donald Trump. Under his leadership as Chairman, the FCC took transformative steps to promote innovation and investment in next-generation wireless networks and services. Among other things, the FCC executed the 5G FAST Plan, a comprehensive strategy to promote 5G. As part of this Plan, the agency freed up an unprecedented amount of wireless spectrum for commercial, flexible wireless use and modernized regulations to encourage the deployment of wireless infrastructure. Pai was also an early supporter of Open RAN technology, how Open RAN can help scale and secure wireless networks.

“Ajit brings a track record for navigating and guiding challenging industry developments and discourse, with keen recognition of the unique and imminent opportunities that exist to help mobile network operators set a new course for innovation,” said Amin. “Rakuten Symphony looks forward to similar collaboration with global industry leaders across all regions of the world, to help create improved outcomes for telecom and deliver on the promise of a 100% affordable connected society.”

Rakuten Symphony has recently announced a major customer win with 1&1 in Germany, celebrated its work helping Rakuten Mobile achieve 96% population coverage four years ahead of schedule in Japan, successfully demonstrated mobile network deployments at greatly reduced capital costs and introduced the telecom industry to a simple, app-based approach to building networks. Launched in 2021, the company represents a new operating paradigm and platform for realizing the modern telecom operator with platforms to boost operating performance, reduce vendor lock-in and power unrivaled innovation.

With operations across Japan, the United States, Singapore, India, Europe and the Middle East Africa region, Rakuten Symphony brings together all of Rakuten Group’s telecom operator products, services and solutions under a single global banner to offer modern infrastructure and platform solutions to customers worldwide. This includes market leading offerings spanning end-to-end network automation management from planning and deployment to securing, monitoring and operating, all across a common data lake and AI-driven feedback loop.

About Rakuten Symphony
Rakuten Symphony is reimagining telecom, changing supply chain norms and disrupting outmoded thinking that threatens the industry’s pursuit of rapid innovation and growth. Based on proven modern infrastructure practices, its open interface platforms make it possible to launch and operate advanced mobile services in a fraction of the time and cost of conventional approaches, with no compromise to network quality or security. Rakuten Symphony has headquarters in Japan and local presence in the United States, Singapore, India, Europe and the Middle East Africa region.

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2022/0303_01.html  

Rakuten Edy Celebrates 20 Years of Empowering Society

MARCH 1, 2022

n November 2021, Rakuten Edy celebrated the 20th anniversary since its predecessor was founded in 2001. Starting up 20 years ago with just 40 partner stores as one of the pioneers of cashless payment, Rakuten Edy is now accepted at over 900,000 locations across Japan.

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/innovation/rnn/2022/2111_002/