Wednesday, April 29, 2015

IEEE 802.3 Amends Ethernet Standard for 4 x 25Gbps Lanes

IEEE announced the availability of 802.3bm, IEEE Standard for Ethernet Amendment: Physical Layer Specifications and Management Parameters for 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps Operation Over Fiber Optic Cables.

The amendment reduces “lane count” for 100 Gbps applications (from 10 lanes at 10 Gbps each to four lanes at 25 Gbps each),  expands the reach for 40 Gbps services to 40 kilometers and expands Energy Efficient Ethernet capability to include optical links.

IEEE said these modifications to the 802.3 standard for Ethernet are driven by a number of advances in optical networking, enabling migration to higher-density applications, reducing cost and power demand of 100 Gbps devices and simplified metropolitan services.

“Significantly higher Ethernet performance, capacity and reach in optical networking are needed especially inside and among data centers across metropolitan areas, given the ongoing proliferation of smartphones, video-on-demand, cloud computing and other bandwidth-intensive applications such as the Internet of Things,” said Dan Dove, chair of the IEEE P802.3bm Task Force and chief consultant with Dove Networking Solutions. “The project to develop IEEE 802.3bm addressed these market needs through a globally open, collaborative effort that drew contributions from a broad spectrum of engineers and end users across the Ethernet ecosystem.”

“The rapid growth of Internet traffic is driving the need for higher data rates, higher density and lower-cost fiber optic solutions for the data center,” said David Law, chair of the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Working Group and distinguished engineer with HP Networking. “IEEE 802.3bm demonstrates how IEEE 802.3 is taking a forward-thinking approach to stay ahead of global demands on Ethernet networking, which paves the way for innovation in devices and services.”

http://www.ieee.org/

Video Set: More Changes coming to Ethernet Standards

In this set of four videos, John D'Ambrosia, Chairman of the Ethernet Alliance, discusses how new applications for Ethernet, including Internet of Things (IoT) and automotive Ethernet, are driving the need for more Ethernet speed standards.

Fundamental changes in Ethernet architecture, including the adoption of 25G and 50G signalling at the chip level, suggest that future Ethernet standards will not simply follow the 10X leaps we've seen in the past.

Filmed at the Ethernet Technology Summit in Santa Clara, California.

1. Ethernet Standardizes Lower Speeds - https://youtu.be/J0WnAfX7Hoc
2. Ethernet at 2.5 and 5 Gbps Rates - https://youtu.be/lc5TRUcciF8
3. 400 GbE Ethernet Architecture - https://youtu.be/GxPnYneDdn0
4. Ethernet Rate Roadmap - https://youtu.be/U_-n8FhV_Zs





HP Unveils Campus Switching Modules Optimized for SDN

HP unveiled new campus networking solutions and services including new switching modules powered by the 6th generation HP Networking ASIC, purpose built for SDN.

HP says its new chip delivers more than four times the performance of competitive solutions and three times lower latency.Its two terabits per second backplane supports increased bandwidth and performance requirements including high speed wireless connectivity.

The HP 5400R zl2 Switch Series v3 Modules fully support OpenFlow and can process up to 24 times more flows than it main competitor.The modules also offer programmable OpenFlow processing pipelines and ten parallel Advanced Packet Processor engines with dedicated resources provide scalability and flexibility to support the new wave of SDN applications.

Other key features of the 5400R v3 modules include HP Smart Rate multi-gigabit ports for supporting the next wave of high-speed 802.11 ac Wave 2 access points. The HP Smart Rate technology offers simple self-negotiating and flexible capacity from 1GbE, 2.5 GbE, 5 GbE to 10GbE with Power over Ethernet +.

In addition, HP is introducing a Network Visualizer SDN application that provides IT administrators with real-time detailed visibility of the network to monitor traffic flow and investigate issues. Administrators can identify user complaints without having to identify physical location or IP address, by centering visibility on the user experience rather than the physical network. The increased visibility afforded by SDN technology allows for rapid diagnosis and repair of network issues, without requiring additional costly overlay appliances or probes.

HP also announced enhancements to its HP Network Optimizer SDN application, which offers automated provisioning of network policy and Quality of Service  to ensure an enhanced user experience. The app now offers media path optimization as well as dynamic traffic periodization based on user or device. Other business applications will also be able to take full advantage of HP Network Optimizer through open API integration.

http://www.hp.com

IBM Announces Two Breakthroughs for Quantum Computing

Researchers at IBM have demonstrated for the first time the ability to detect and measure the two types of quantum errors (bit-flip and phase-flip) that will occur in any real quantum computer. The researchers have also shown a new, square quantum bit circuit design that could scale to larger dimensions.

“Quantum computing could be potentially transformative, enabling us to solve problems that are impossible or impractical to solve today," said Arvind Krishna, senior vice president and director of IBM Research. “While quantum computers have traditionally been explored for cryptography, one area we find very compelling is the potential for practical quantum systems to solve problems in physics and quantum chemistry that are unsolvable today. This could have enormous potential in materials or drug design, opening up a new realm of applications.”

The research is published in the April 29 issue of the journal Nature Communications (DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7979).

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/46725.wss

Telefónica Selects NetCracker for BSS in 7 Countries

Telefónica has selected NetCracker to transform its BSS platforms for wireless and fixed services in seven Latin American countries. This large-scale, multi-phase BSS and customer experience transformation program encompasses replacing existing billing systems and implementing new product catalog, ordering and omni-channel CRM platforms. The NetCracker BSS solution will support all customers and service offerings for seven LATAM operators. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“NetCracker’s pre-integrated BSS suite will enable our organization to improve customer experience and reduce time-to-market,” said Phil Jordan, Group CIO at Telefónica. “NetCracker’s implementation methodology will also help us standardize our systems and processes across multiple operators.”

“We look forward to delivering this large BSS transformation program for Telefónica, helping the service provider streamline operations and reduce complexity without impairing customer experience,” said Bob Titus, Vice President of Global Solutions at NetCracker. “This is another example of how our industry-leading technology enables service providers to be more nimble, competitive and customer-focused.”

NetCracker Technology is a subsidiary of NEC Corporation.

http://www.NetCracker.com

Broadcom Intros 5G WiFi Wave 2 Silicon

Broadcom introduced a new family of 5G WiFi Wave 2 solutions for enterprise wireless access points (APs).

Broadcom's expanded portfolio includes the BCM43465 (4x4 11ac MU-MIMO) and BCM43525 (3x3 11ac MU-MIMO) for high-performance access points. Sampling is underway.

The BCM43465 chip supports 2.2Gbps and four concurrent MU-MIMO (multi-user, multiple input, multiple output) devices. MU-MIMO combined with 160MHz enables devices to fully utilize available bandwidth to deliver more than 2x the performance.

The new chips are further enhanced by NitroQAM technology, Broadcom's 1024-QAM modulation scheme, which gives up to a 25 percent throughput boost over 802.11ac's 256-QAM. In addition, by using a powerful Digital Signal Processing (DSP) based architecture, Broadcom's silicon can perform advanced spectrum capture, analysis and classification right on the chip without impacting performance. Broadcom's Advanced Spectrum Capture Engine (AsCE) allows the chip to identify non-Wi-Fi interference and adjust accordingly, delivering improved reliability and quality.

"We're leaving no stone unturned in our mission to drive the transition to 802.11ac across all segments and markets," said Ed Redmond, Broadcom Vice President & General Manager, Compute and Connectivity. "We intend to continue doing so by offering differentiated, comprehensive solutions that assure our OEMs have future-proof solutions that provide end users the quality, reliability and capacity they increasingly demand across high-density applications."

http://www.broadcom.com

SanDisk's New Fusion ioMemory PCIe Bring 61% Price Cut

SanDisk unveiled a new generation of its Fusion ioMemory PCIe application accelerators — comprised of SanDisk NAND flash, and Virtual Storage Layer (VSL) data access acceleration software that bring up to a 4x price performance improvement, with up to a 61 percent list price reduction over the previous generation Fusion ioDrive product.

The Fusion ioMemory portfolio offers an array of form factors ranging from PCIe cards to mezzanine storage for HP and Cisco blade servers. Each card is optimized for mixed-use or read-intensive workloads and can also be paired with SanDisk’s recently announced next generation FlashSoft caching software, which reduces I/O latency in VMware vSphere, Windows Server and Linux environments, helping customers further accelerate enterprise applications.

“Fusion-io’s technology fundamentally transformed expectations about data center performance when it debuted eight years ago and it remains the standard by which all other PCIe products are judged,” said John Scaramuzzo, senior vice president and general manager, Enterprise Storage Solutions, SanDisk. “Combining the power of Fusion ioMemory technology with SanDisk’s vertically integrated NAND flash, our engineering talent and portfolio of SATA and SAS SSDs, provides customers with an unparalleled combination of flexibility, performance, scalability, quality and value to help solve their data center challenges.”

http://www.sandisk.com

Alcatel-Lucent Selected for Algeria-Spain Undersea Cable

The Algerian Ministry of Post, Information Technology and Communications has awarded a contract to Alcatel-Lucent for the deployment of the Orval system, an over 560 km fiber-optic undersea cable that will link Oran in Algeria to Valencia, Spain.

The 100 Gbps system, which is expected to come online in 2016, will deliver an ultimate design capacity of 20 Tbps.

Alcatel-Lucent will be lead contractor in charge of designing and manufacturing the system in consortium with IT Marine who will be responsible for marine operations.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com