News in Networking: Docker, Disney, and Big Data Caps

This week’s top story picks from the Kentik team.

Docker’s popularity is showing strong, to the tune of a $1.3 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg. Disney is also showing big money, reportedly paying $1.6 billion for streaming services provider BAMTech. The news comes after Disney announced plans this week to cut its streaming ties with Netflix. And finally, how fast is your internet? And how much of your home data is getting capped? Two new reports aim to answer that.

Here are those headlines and more:

• Software Maker Docker Is Raising Funding at $1.3 Billion Valuation (Bloomberg) Docker is expected to announce it raised $75 million in funding, according to Bloomberg’s source. This investment “will help fuel Docker’s newest push to win business customers and finally monetize its free open-source tools popular with developers worldwide.”
• Disney Nabs BAMTech in $1.6B Play for Streaming Services (451 Research) Not only did Disney this week announce its ending a valuable streaming deal with Netflix, it also announced the $1.6 billion acquisition of BAMTech. According to 451 Research, the deal “shows that Disney sees value not only in building its own streaming services but also in enabling other studios to do the same.”
• AWS Joins the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (TechCrunch) Amazon announced AWS is now part of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), the open-source home of the Kubernetes project. According to TechCrunch, “Rumor is that Amazon’s AWS cloud computing platform will soon launch its own Kubernetes-based container management service.”
• Telstra’s Big Bets for the Network of 2020 (ITWire) Australian telecom giant Telstra is looking ahead — to 2020. The company’s vision, according to its principal consultant of networks, Craig Mulhearn, will include SDN, “multiple mobile networks, data centres in the exchange, and catering for autonomous vehicle networking.”
• Big Data Is on CenturyLink’s ‘Automation’ Wish List (Light Reading) Big data is a big part of CenturyLink networking efforts. Enterprise Architect Kevin McBride told Light Reading that using automation and analytics will inform its networks what to do next. “You can start asking questions of that data and have it place a workload,” he said. “The feedback loop is what makes this powerful.”
• How Internet Speeds Stack Up in New Monthly Global Ranking (TechCrunch) Speedtest.net is a go-to for checking broadband speeds. Now, the company is putting together a monthly report to show the rankings. TechCrunch reports, “The data will be compiled into a monthly report called the Speedtest Global Index, and the first one is available now.”
• Data Cap Analysis Found Almost 200 ISPs Imposing Data Limits in US (Ars Technica) ISP tracker BroadbandNow reports that 196 home internet providers in the U.S. “impose monthly caps on Internet users. Not all of them are enforced, but customers of many ISPs must pay overage fees when they use too much data,” according to Ars Technica.

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