Avago Technologies has begun sampling its new Vortex Gearbox family of Physical Layer Transceiver (PHY) devices supporting Ethernet and Optical Transport Networking (OTN).
Avago’s Vortex Gearbox , which uses 28nm CMOS SerDes technology, also incorporates the company's proprietary Decision Feedback Equalization (DFE) architecture for low overall power consumption, low data latency and improved jitter and crosstalk performance.
The Vortex Gearbox AVSP-1104 is a single-chip PHY IC designed for high-density 100G Ethernet and OTN applications. The device is ideal for driving both backplane and portside applications. Key features include:
- Long reach performance withstanding up to 32dB of channel loss
- Hole-free operation from 1-28 Gbps
- Gearbox functionality for full-duplex conversion of four lanes (4x25 Gbps, 4x28 Gbps) to ten lanes (10x10 Gbps, 10x11 Gbps)
- Option for configuration as a retimer function for full-duplex transmission of ten lanes
- Programmable Tx/Rx equalization of all SerDes interfaces
- Bit Error Rate (BER) of 1e-20
Orange Spain has acquired 100% of Simyo, the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) owned by KPN in Spain, which has around 380,000 customers. This brings Orange Spain's total mobile customer base to 12.2 million subscribers. 
A total of 41 licenses were awarded to 4 companies: Vodafone, KPN, T-Mobile and Tele2.
Commenting on the initiatives, Ben Verwaayen, CEO Alcatel-Lucent, said: “Today’s announcement of a multi-year financing commitment allows Alcatel-Lucent to operate and adapt our business in a manner which is appropriate in today’s markets. The proceeds from the new financing will be used to effectively extend our maturity profile over the next several years and provide additional flexibility to finalize our previously announced Performance Program priorities, including the Euro 1.25 billion cost reduction target and the exiting or restructuring of unprofitable Managed Services contracts and geographic markets. We will take advantage of the flexibility provided by this new financing in order to aggressively look at all options to drive long-term sustainable profitability, enhance our strategic positioning and improve our balance sheet.”
