Thursday, August 7, 2014

IBM Develops 2nd Gen NeuralSynaptic Chip in 28nm

IBM unveiled a "neurosynaptic" chip packing one million programmable neurons, 256 million programmable synapses and 46 billion synaptic operations per second per watt. Unlike conventional processors, IBM's second generation neurosynaptic features a non-von Neumann architecture designed to mimic the way the brain discovers patterns instead of systematically following rules.

The chip was fabricated using Samsung’s 28nm process technology. It boasts 5.4 billion transistors, making it one of the largest CMOS chips ever built.

IBM said its new cognitive chip architecture has an on-chip two-dimensional mesh network of 4096 digital, distributed neurosynaptic cores, where each core module integrates memory, computation, and communication, and operates in an event-driven, parallel, and fault-tolerant fashion. To enable system scaling beyond single-chip boundaries, adjacent chips, when tiled, can seamlessly connect to each other—building a foundation for future neurosynaptic supercomputers. To demonstrate scalability, IBM also revealed a 16-chip system with sixteen million programmable neurons and four billion programmable synapses.

“IBM has broken new ground in the field of brain-inspired computers, in terms of a radically new architecture, unprecedented scale, unparalleled power/area/speed efficiency, boundless scalability, and innovative design techniques. We foresee new generations of information technology systems – that complement today’s von Neumann machines – powered by an evolving ecosystem of systems, software, and services,” said Dr. Dharmendra S. Modha, IBM Fellow and IBM Chief Scientist, Brain-Inspired Computing, IBM Research. “These brain-inspired chips could transform mobility, via sensory and intelligent applications that can fit in the palm of your hand but without the need for Wi-Fi. This achievement underscores IBM’s leadership role at pivotal transformational moments in the history of computing via long-term investment in organic innovation.”

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/44529.wss

China Mobile Deploys LTE TDD 8T8R Active Antenna Unit with Huawei

China Mobile has deployed the first LTE TDD 8T8R Active Antenna Unit (AAU) in Hebei, China.

Huawei’s AAU series integrates the antenna unit and the remote radio unit (RRU) in one box, removing the need for operators to install two units separately. This improved installation efficiency reduces ongoing maintenance costs and the level of site space required.

Huawei said its AAU products are now available globally for LTE TDD-enabled operators. For LTE FDD-enabled operators, Huawei has successfully deployed its AAU solution in over 10 countries including the UK, Germany, Singapore, and Russia.

China Mobile, the leading LTE TDD operator, was the first to deploy Huawei’s LTE TDD AAU with a total of 10,000 Huawei 4T4R AAU units in 2013. Once 8T8R AAU was rolled out, China Mobile adopted this solution in Hebei province and plans a large scale deployment in the near future.

http://pr.huawei.com/en/news/hw-359466-tddaau.htm#.U-Reu_ldW1g

Metaswitch's Virtual SBC Powers the BT One Phone Service

Metaswitch Networks is supplying its virtual Perimeta Session Border Controller to support the new BT One Phone service, which brings fixed, mobile and office phone systems together into one service that is hosted in the cloud and delivered via mobile devices.

Metaswitch’s virtualized Perimeta SBC supports SIP interconnect between the BT One Phone core network and the network operated by BT’s wireless partner. In addition, Perimeta protects network services from nefarious attacks and manages packet throughput under all load conditions. Perimeta also makes SIP interoperability simple by normalizing otherwise incompatible protocols. Perimeta's highly efficient message manipulation framework (MMF) includes an extensive rules engine for treating SIP and SDP headers without degrading network performance.

http://business.bt.com/bt-one-phone
http://www.metaswitch.com/

Google Compute Engine Adds Features and Zones

This week, Google rolled out a number of new features and tools for Google Compute Engine.  Some highlights:

  • Introduced the ability to SSH directly from the Developers Console to a VM.
  • Added a third zone to both us-central1 and asia-east1 regions, making it easier to use Compute Engine to run systems like MongoDB that use a quorum-based architecture for high availability. The new zones, us-central1-f and asia-east1-c, both support transparent maintenance.
  • SSD persistent disks are now generally available.  In addition, new tools make it easier to create custom images from the root of persistent disk.

Google also named Coca Cola, Screenz and ABC’s Rising Star, AllTheCooks, Fastly and Brightcove as customers.

http://googlecloudplatform.blogspot.com/


Cumulus Linux 2.2 Adds Enterprise Data Center Capabilities

Cumulus Networks announced a set of enterprise data center capabilities including support for x86 CPU architectures.

Some key additions in Cumulus Linux 2.2:

  • Network virtualization-optimized 10G SFP+ platform with hardware VXLAN support — Penguin Computing Arctica 4806XP
  • Improved Linux networking experience, bringing scalable and simplified interface configuration for networking devices (ifupdown2)
  • Simplified operations and workflow with Prescriptive Topology Manager (PTM)
  • Lightweight, consistent fast link failure detection mechanism with Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD)
  • Improved routing table scale leveraging the algorithmic LPM (ALPM) table
  • Solutions for dual-attached servers, from Layer 2 bonding to Layer 3 ECMP options (Host HA)
  • Overlay solution for L2 cloud services on bare metal switches, Lightweight Network Virtualization (LNV)
  • Network traffic visibility through sFlow with InMon’s open source Host sFlow agent
  • Turnkey infrastructure as a service (IaaS) integration with MetaCloud OpenStack private cloud.

“Cumulus Linux 2.2 is another milestone towards fulfilling the promise of an open ecosystem within the data center,” said Shrijeet Mukherjee, VP Engineering Cumulus Networks. “We continue to demonstrate strong execution to our existing customers while bringing our solution to a new audience of enterprise customers looking for choice, rapid application integration and more flexibility with modern data center designs.”

http://cumulusnetworks.com/press_releases/detail/2014085-cumulus-linux-network-os-brings-modern-data-center-networking-to-the-enterprise/

Arista Hits Revenue of $137.9 million, Up 65% YoY

Arista Networks reported Q2 2014 revenue of $137.9 million, an increase of 65.2% compared to the second quarter of 2013, and an increase of 17.7% from the first quarter of 2014.  GAAP gross margin reached 67.7%, compared to GAAP gross margin of 64.6% in the second quarter of 2013 and 69.4% in the first quarter of 2014. GAAP net income was $21.6 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, compared to GAAP net income of $10.3 million, or $0.18 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 20131.

“I’m pleased with our performance in Q2 2014 as we increased to 2,700 customers this quarter,” stated Jayshree Ullal, Arista President and CEO. “We saw good balance across our top four verticals, as customers adopted our new Arista 7000 Spine and Spline products for cloud networking innovation and reduced total cost of ownership (TCO).”

http://investors.arista.com/

Telekom Malaysia and SK Telecom Invest in P1

The shareholders of Green Packet Berhad approved an agreement under which Telekom Malaysia and SK Telekom (Korea) will invest in Packet One Networks (P1). The deal was initially announced on March 27.
P1 operates a WiMAX network in Malaysia and is transitioning to LTE.

Group Managing Director, CC Puan said “The strong shareholder support received today sets a clear path for P1 to grow to its fullest potential and realize its future business plan and LTE transition. GPB will benefit from P1’s direct entry into the mobile market which instantaneously grows P1’s addressable market size to RM34.5b, a four times growth”.

http://www.p1.com.my/
http://www.greenpacket.com/