U.S. federal agencies make progress in datacenter consolidation; Ethernet-based data switch revenues rose 7 percent in 2015

Installer news from across the Web:

> Federal agencies make progress on datacenter consolidation, but the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says they need to establish clear goals to continue making progress and accurately assess future savings. GCN article

> Crehan Research reported that Ethernet, which accounts for the majority of data center switch revenues, grew 7 percent in 2015, and that InfiniBand revenues surged to a record year, surpassing its prior record of 2012. Release (PDF)

> The Optical Internetworking Forum has completed a project to enable flexible Ethernet for data center and transport interconnect efficiency. Release

Cable News
> A year after Casa Systems announced that it had deployed the first converged cable access platform (CCAP) chassis combining data and video into a Time Warner Cable network, several cable industry vendors have told Light Reading that the CCAP business is getting hot. Article

> AT&T has been sued by Herring Networks for $100 million, with the indie programmer alleging the DirecTV operator reneged on promises to carry its networks in exchange for supporting its purchase of the satellite TV company last year. Article

Online Video News
> Building on its experience live-streaming select NFL games last season, Yahoo is partnering with the National Hockey League to bring a number of its games to online viewers. Article

Telecom News
> Incumbent carrier FairPoint Communications is changing its tune on dark fiber services, advocating the technology as the changing E-Rate program for schools and opportunities around small cell technologies are too good to pass up. Article

> AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink and other top telcos lost about 185,000 subscribers in 2015 -- the first year where telcos saw net broadband subscriber losses – while cable took a comfortable lead with 3.3 million new broadband customers. Article

Wireless News
> The connected car market heated up this morning with news that General Motors will reportedly spend roughly $1 billion to buy Cruise Automation, which develops technology for autonomous vehicles. Article

> A federal judge handed AT&T a legal victory last week when he ruled that a lawsuit against the company's throttling practices for unlimited data must be decided in arbitration instead of a class-action lawsuit. Article

And finally … How different networking standards are competing to connect the Internet of Things? Business Insider article