Zayo Launches Flex Ethernet Service

Zayo launched a usage-based Ethernet service for flexible cloud and data center connectivity.

Zayo FlexConnect provides dedicated Layer 2 Ethernet connecting to more than 200 data centers, cloud, software-as-a-service (SaaS) and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) providers, including AWS, Microsoft Azure, VMWare and Cisco Intercloud.  Customers pay only for the data they transport.

The service is available from 500 Mbps to 100 Gbps.  Zayo’s online self-service platform lets customers compare prices, purchase services, track orders, view their bandwidth usage and invoices.

“Zayo’s FlexConnect is aligned with today’s on-demand world, enabling businesses to scale up or down and pay only for the service they use,” said Max Clauson, executive vice president of Network Connectivity Services at Zayo. ”The solution is ideally suited for cloud and IaaS or any enterprise application with fluctuations or seasonality in traffic demands.”

“With FlexConnect, which leverages Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute to connect to Microsoft Azure, more customers can leverage Azure services easily and cost effectively,” said Venkat Gattamneni, group product marketing manager, Microsoft Azure. “FlexConnect is an ideal solution for customers who need more secure, flexible connectivity to the cloud to meet changing business needs.”

“We are excited to continue to work with Zayo to bring new, creative network solutions to customers inside Equinix International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers. FlexConnect will provide customers in our facilities with on-demand, cost-effective connectivity to a wider selection of providers and destinations,” said Bill Long, vice president of Interconnection Services at Equinix. “We also look forward to attracting new customers who now have an exciting new option to connect to our Cloud Exchange.”

http://www.zayo.com

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Intel Rolls Out 14nm Xeon E5-2600 v4 Processors

Intel is rolling out its new Xeon processor E5-2600 v4 product family and aimed at software-defined clouds. The launch is accompanied by new Intel SSDs, including the first 3D NAND drives optimized for cloud and enterprise workloads,

The Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 v4 product family is built on 14nm process technology and features Intel Resource Director Technology, which enables customers to move to fully automated SDI-based clouds with greater visibility and control over critical shared resources like processor caches and main memory.

Intel said its new product family delivers improved performance for cloud tasks with more than 20 percent more cores and cache than the prior generation2, supports faster memory, and includes other integrated technologies for accelerating a wide range of server, network and storage workloads. Security enhancements like workload isolation, security policy enforcement and faster cryptography3 have been added to help protect data more effectively.

The new solid state drives (SSDs) are optimized for the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 v4 family, enterprise storage and cloud deployments. The Intel SSD DC P3320 and P3520 Series are the first Intel SSDs to use the industry’s highest density 3D NAND technology to provide users with a highly efficient, dense storage solution. The DC P3320 offers up to a 5-times performance boost compared to SATA-based SSDs4.

The new Intel SSD DC D3700 and D3600 Series are Intel’s first dual-port PCI Express SSDs using the Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) protocol. The dual-port design provides critical redundancy and failover, safeguarding against data loss in mission-critical storage deployments. Customer systems using the D3700 can see up to a 6-times increase in performance over today’s dual-port SAS solutions.

“Enterprises want to benefit from the efficiency and agility of cloud architecture and on their own terms – using the public cloud offerings, deploying their own private cloud, or both,” said Diane Bryant, senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s Data Center Group. “The result is pent-up demand for software-defined infrastructure. Intel is investing to mature SDI solutions and provide a faster path for businesses of all sizes to reap the benefits of the cloud.”

As part of its Intel Cloud for All initiative, Intel is collaborating with CoreOS and Mirantis to bring together two of the most popular open source technologies to orchestrate container and virtual machine-based applications. The merging of these two technologies into a single solution will simplify choices for cloud operators to accelerate the adoption of cloud solutions.

In addition, Intel and VMware announced a network of Centers of Excellence aimed at accelerating cloud deployments. The centers will drive custom optimizations, facilitate proof-of-concept testing and integrate cybersecurity best practices in collaboration with The National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) and Intel announced the world’s largest cloud application testing cluster for applications “born in the cloud.” The cluster will include more than 1,000 Intel Xeon processor-based server nodes designed to provide developers with the opportunity to test applications at larger scales and deliver the efficiency and portability of cloud native applications to businesses.

http://www.intel.com

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HPE Pushes Ahead with Persistent Memory

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) introduced new compute platforms with built-in support for Persistent Memory, a technology that combines the performance of high-speed memory and the persistence of storage to deliver new levels of application performance. The technology will be available for new HPE ProLiant Gen9 servers.

Some highlights:

HPE Persistent Memory. The first product in the HPE Persistent Memory portfolio is a an 8GB NVDIMM that is designed to accelerate database and analytic workloads. The HPE 8GB NVDIMM is designed around industry-standard NVDIMM-N technology, working with standards bodies such as JEDEC and SNIA, and includes back-up power from the HPE Smart Storage Battery, which supports up to 16 NVDIMMs for moving data from DRAM to Flash when power is lost.

New Intel Xeon platform. Designed to support up to 22 cores and memory speeds of up to 2400MT/s, the new Intel Xeon E5-2600 v41 processor offers up to 25 percent performance gains2 for HPE ProLiant Gen9 servers. The Intel Xeon E5-2600 v4 processors include virtualization enhancements, added security and improved orchestration capabilities to help customers better manage shared platform resources.

State of the art solid state drives (SSDs). HPE NVMe SSDs are compact, economical and offer up to 2TB of storage in a flexible package that includes Express Bay for front access to drives that are designed for big-ticket jobs, including online transaction processing, business intelligence and Big Data analytics.

Smart authentication. Adding TCG Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 specification 1.16 to HPE ProLiant Gen 9 servers provides a tamper-resistant environment to prevent unauthorized access to servers. TPM supports Microsoft BitLocker, which securely stores authentication elements, such as passwords and encryption keys.

HPE Application Migration to Cloud Solution. Secure, tested and validated reference architecture delivered by HPE Technology Services experts to help customers migrate on-premises applications to a private cloud.

http://www.hpe.com

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Dell Releases 13th Gen PowerEdge Servers

Dell launched its 13th generation of PowerEdge 13th generation rack, tower, blade and converged infrastructure architecture servers. The major improvements include over 20 percent improved performance with differentiated air-cooled support and over 12 percent enhanced memory bandwidth aligned to Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 v4 updates.

“Customers are driving the rise of the software defined data center, using workload-oriented solutions that are increasingly compute-centric,” said Ashley Gorakhpurwalla, vice president and general manager, Dell Server Solutions. “Dell’s global x86 leadership gains, particularly in blade servers, are a terrific indicator of how we deliver on these customer needs. Dell PowerEdge 13th generation servers include practical innovations, based on product knowledge that spans our 20-year history, to deliver the right functionality to enable customers’ future-ready datacenters.”

http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/04/campaigns/poweredge-13g-server

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DOCOMO Invests in Expway for Wireless Multicasting

NTT DOCOMO Ventures has made a strategic investment of EUR 1.5 million in Expway for its wireless multicast solutions. Expway’s current investors, Innovation Capital, I-Source, TechFund and Isatis Capital also invested EUR 1.5 million in this round.

Expway’s newly announced Ultimate Mobile CDN solution optimizes data traffic between the telecom cells and the terminals using LTE Broadcast. In addition, Expway’s solution will also be made available on Wi-Fi networks to enhance video delivery in highly dense areas.

“NTT group and Expway have partnered for more than ten years, building trust and synergies with a number of NTT group divisions” said Thierry Sergent, CEO Expway. “This investment strengthens Expway and its leadership position worldwide as an the only end-to-end Wireless Multicast technology provider.”

http://www.expway.com/

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MEF Publishes Lifecycle Service Orchestration Reference Architecture

Following approval by its members, the MEF published its Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) Reference Architecture & Framework (MEF 55) for Service Providers.

LSO, which aims to automate the entire network service lifecycle in a sustainable fashion, encompasses all network domains that require end-to-end management and control to deliver on-demand connectivity services (Carrier Ethernet 2.0, IP VPNs, MPLS, SDN/NFV, etc.) and to assure their overall quality and security.

The LSO Reference Architecture describes the functional management entities needed to support LSO and the Management Interface Reference Points between them. LSO provides open and interoperable automation of management operations that include design, fulfillment, control, testing, problem management, quality management, billing & usage, security, analytics, and policy capabilities. It enables automated management and control of end-to-end connectivity services that span multiple service provider domains. For example, a provider of dynamic network services could extend its reach by using LSO to interact with other service providers to manage and control access portions of end-to-end services.

“Service providers worldwide are looking for complete automation of the service lifecycle as a means to overcome OSS/BSS challenges that prevent them from taking full advantage of existing and newer SDN- and NFV-enabled networks,” said Nan Chen, President of the MEF. “Many of the world’s largest service providers have supported MEF efforts to define LSO capabilities and supporting APIs to address this challenge. We are thrilled to have completed the first phase in the LSO journey and already have launched new initiatives to accelerate LSO development – including in collaboration with other industry organizations within an open networking ecosystem.”

Michael Strople, Chairman of the MEF, commented: “Lifecycle Service Orchestration is essential to the evolution and implementation of SDN and NFV. The LSO Reference Architecture clearly defines LSO functionality and capabilities and will enable service providers to make big steps forward in the development of virtualized networks and overcoming the operational challenges that have been holding our industry back.”

http://www.mef.net
https://www.mef.net/Assets/Technical_Specifications/PDF/MEF-55.pdf

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Level 3 Adds Microsoft Office 365 to its Cloud Connect

Level 3 Communications and Microsoft are enabling direct connectivity to Office 365 via the ExpressRoute service on the Level 3 network.  Enterprises can access everything in their Office 365 service, including Exchange Online, Office web applications, Skype for Business Online, OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online across Level 3's global network.

Level 3 offers both point-to-point Ethernet and any-to-any IP-VPN connectivity to Azure and Office 365. At every Level 3-ExpressRoute IP-VPN network-to-network interface, Level 3 has a colocated network-based security gateway.

Level 3 offers global connectivity to Microsoft Azure and Office 365 through the following Microsoft data centers: Amsterdam, Chicago, Dallas, London, Seattle, Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C.

"Businesses, and even government organizations, are no longer asking if or when they should look to the cloud to realize the inherent cost and operational benefits, but how. Software as a service models like Office 365 are clearly an entry point to the cloud. With Level 3 Cloud Connect partner ecosystem, enterprises and government agencies can leverage a private, secure and reliable network connection to Office 365 and other Azure cloud services for improved performance, security and productivity," stated Brian Hoekelman, VP Business & Cloud Ecosystem Development for Level 3.

http://investors.level3.com/

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Vertical Systems: 2015 Global Provider Ethernet LEADERBOARD

Orange Business Services (France) topped Vertical Systems Group’s year-end 2015 Global Provider Ethernet LEADERBOARD.  Other top entries in rank order included Colt (U.K.), BT Global Services (U.K.), AT&T (U.S.), Verizon (U.S.), Level 3 (U.S.) and NTT (Japan). The Global Provider LEADERBOARD, the industry’s benchmark for multinational Ethernet network market presence, ranks companies that hold a 4% or higher share of billable retail ports at sites outside of their respective home countries.

The Challenge Tier of Global Providers includes companies with share between 2% and 4% of this defined market. Seven companies qualify for the Challenge Tier (in alphabetical order): Cogent (U.S.), Global Cloud Xchange (India), SingTel (Singapore), T-Systems (Germany), Tata Communications (India), Telefonica Worldwide (Spain) and Vodafone (U.K.).

“Deployments by Ethernet providers outside their home countries rose thirteen percent in 2015, indicating steady footprint expansion and network globalization,” said Rick Malone, principal at Vertical Systems Group. “In addition to more extensive coverage for their global customers, carriers focused on speed and functionality enhancements, as well as the introduction of new SDN-enabled service capabilities.”

A list of Global Providers with port share below 2% is online.

http://www.verticalsystems.com/vsglb/2015-global-provider-ethernet-leaderboard/

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CenturyLink Acquires netAura for IT Security Services

CenturyLink has acquired netAura, a security service
s firm that specializes in engineering, developing and consulting on managed security technologies. Financial terms were not disclosed.

netAura has deep expertise, having worked extensively with U.S. government agencies and corporations on cybersecurity, security information and event management (SIEM), analytics and vulnerability management since it was founded in 2011. The company is based in Herndon, Virginia.

CenturyLink said the deal strengthens and enhances its managed security services available to business and government customers.
 
“The combination of CenturyLink’s powerful IT solutions and netAura’s strengths in implementation services will enable our customers to continue to meet their security challenges head-on,” said Girish Varma, president, Global IT Services & New Market Development, CenturyLink. “This acquisition helps us continue to deliver comprehensive security architectures to existing and future customers.”

http://www.centurylink.com
http://www.netaura.com/

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Telefónica Germany Delivers Enterprise Services with Netcracker BSS

Telefónica Germany has upgraded and extended its use of Netcracker’s Revenue Management solution to simplify and accelerate its rating and billing processes for its B2B operations. The upgraded solution, which contains additional functionality and enhances performance, runs efficiently across all of Telefónica Germany’s hardware and databases.

Telefónica Germany serves more than 48 million customer accesses.

“We are excited to leverage our instance of Netcracker’s Revenue Management solution to manage our billing operations, which are constantly changing and accelerating as new processes and technologies are introduced,” said Kai-Uwe Laag, Director B2B at Telefónica Germany. “Our partnership with Netcracker will support us to even better provide the services which are highly demanded by our business customers.”

http://www.netcracker.com/

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Beamr Acquires Vanguard Video and Raises Funding for Encoding

Beamr, a start-up specializing in video optimization technology, announced its acquisition of Vanguard Video, a leading provider of HEVC and H.264 codec technologies.  The company said the deal positions it as a global leader in H.264 and HEVC video encoding and optimization solutions, with over 80 employees and offices in Palo Alto, Tel Aviv and St. Petersburg, Russia.

“Today’s announcement is exciting on many levels,” said Sharon Carmel, Founder and CEO of Beamr. “From an industry perspective, the combination of Beamr and Vanguard Video brings unmatched solutions for the broadcast and OTT content delivery market. For Beamr, the acquisition is an important milestone, and we gladly welcome our new, talented colleagues from Vanguard Video, to the family. On a personal note, it’s no secret that I’m fanatic about quality, and we have found that Vanguard Video’s encoders produce the best visual quality, at the lowest bit rates, with the highest performance levels. Together we will lead the video encoding market by far with unprecedented quality and performance.”

Beamr also announced g a $15M funding round led by Disruptive Growth, with the participation of Marker and Innovation Endeavors.

http://beamr.com/

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Red Hat $2.05 billion in Annual Revenue

Red Hat reported Q4 revenue of $544 million, up 17% in U.S. dollars year-over-year, or 21% measured in constant currency.  GAAP net income for the quarter was $53 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, compared with $48 million, or $0.26 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.

Full fiscal year 2016 total revenue was $2.05 billion, up 15% in U.S. dollars year-over-year, or 21% measured in constant currency. Subscription revenue for the full fiscal year was $1.80 billion, up 16% in U.S. dollars year-over-year, or 22% measured in constant currency. Subscription revenue in the full fiscal year was 88% of total revenue.

“The fourth quarter was a strong close to the year as our results exceeded our guidance. We maintained a high level of execution throughout the fiscal year which contributed to greater than 20% constant currency revenue growth in each quarter. This performance also drove a record backlog of $2.13 billion in U.S. dollars, up 15% year-over-year, and provides us meaningful visibility into future revenue,” stated Frank Calderoni, Executive Vice President, Operations and Chief Financial Officer of Red Hat.

http://www.redhat.com

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Telecom Italia Appoints New CEO

Telecom Italia announced the appointment of Flavio Cattaneo as CEO, following the departure of Marco Patuano as CEO and Director. Cattaneo currently heads the rail network NTV SpA-Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori.

News reports cited a management conflict between Patuano and the Telecom Italia Board. As severance, Patuano was paid an additional amount of 1,235,000 euros gross with respect to termination of the directorship and 4,765,000 euros gross with respect to termination of the employment contract for a amount of 6,000,000 euros gross.

http://www.telecomitalia.com/

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Arista Unveils 100+ Terabit Switching/Routing Platform

Arista Networks introduced a 100+ Terabit switching and routing platform for cloud service provider and next generation enterprise data centers. The new Arista 7500R is being positioned as the industry's highest performance universal spine switch for data centers.

Arista believes that shifting traffic patterns inside the data center are best served with scalable two-tier active Leaf-Spine and single tier Spline architecture. The traditional core routing layer can be replaced with an Arista 7500R series-based spine for rapid re-convergence and network-wide resilience between data centers and to the Internet. The Arista 7500R Series supports familiar MPLS functions allowing up to 13-labels deep packet lookup for programmatic control across the largest networks. Along with the state oriented architecture of Arista’s Network–wide Database NetDB and SDK, Arista EOS (Extensible Operating System) users can customize their own preferred path across the largest networks in the world, instead of relying on best-effort forwarding on the Internet.

The new Arista 7500R Series, which begin shipping in Q2, provides industry-leading 100GbE density and large table sizes in a single chassis. Key attributes:

• Chassis Fabric capacity of up to 115 Tbps
• Up to 432 wirespeed 100GbE ports in a choice of three form factors
• 288 Gigabytes of deep and smart packet memory for reliable packet transfers
• Virtual Output Queues (VoQ) for lossless forwarding
• Agile port speeds of 1/10/25/40/50/100GbE
• FlexRoute technology delivers up to 1 Million wire speed routes with MPLS, Segment Routing and EVPN (Ethernet Virtual Private Network) protocol support
• Programmable traffic engineering with up to 128,000 MPLS, GRE (Generic Routing Encapsulation), VXLAN (Virtual Extensible Local Area Network) and IP-in-IP tunnels
• Support for NEBS (Network Equipment Building System) compliance for Service Provider deployments
• Mix and Match across the wide selection of 7500E and 7500R series line-card options

Arista is also introducing three new wire speed 7500R Series line cards:

• 36 x 100GbE QSFP - choice of 10/25/40/50/100GbE
• 36 x 40GbE with flexible combinations of 10GbE and up to 6 ports of 100GbE
• 48 x 10GbE SFP+ and 2 x 100G QSFP

“The 7500R is the highest performance switching and routing platform that supports the full Internet routing table, enabling a Universal Spine in cloud-scale networks,” said Andreas Bechtolsheim, Arista’s Chairman and Chief Development Officer.

https://www.arista.com/en/company/news/press-release/1283-pr-20160329

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AT&T to Bring its Fiber GigaPower Network to LA

AT&T is launching its fiber-based, residential and SMB Internet service in the Los Angeles metro area. This brings speeds up to 1 gigabit per second to more homes, apartments and small businesses over

AT&T GigaPower Internet Premier offers Internet speeds up to 1Gbps for $110 a month or speeds up to 300Mbps for $80 a month.

The AT&T GigaPower network is now available to tens of thousands of locations, including single family homes, thousands of apartments and small businesses in parts of Eastvale, Irvine, Los Angeles, Orange County and surrounding communities.

"We’ll continue to expand our 100% fiber AT&T GigaPower network to additional locations. We’re planning to triple availability by the end of the year. Eventually, we plan to make our AT&T GigaPower presence in the Los Angeles area one of the largest in the country. Additional local communities where we are planning to bring AT&T GigaPower include Arcadia, Glendale and more," stated Eric Boyer, senior vice president of AT&T wireless and wired product marketing.

AT&T also noted that it has invested more than $2 billion in its Los Angeles area wireless and wireline networks from 2012 through 2014.

http://www.att.com

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Rancher Ships its Container Management Platform

Rancher Labs, a start-up based in Cupertino, California, released its open-source container management software.

The Rancher software is designed to simplify the deployment and management of containers in production enterprise applications. The software lets users select from multiple container orchestration frameworks such as Kubernetes and Docker Swarm, while maintaining a single management experience.  Rancher implements a cloud-agnostic infrastructure services layer that works across any public or private cloud, or traditional data center. The platform works across cloud and data center boundaries, and its load balancing and persistent storage services function uniformly on any computing resources.

Rancher said its solution allows organizations to gain visibility, manage policies and exert control of containers and infrastructure spread across different teams within an organization.  It also enables IT to improve deployment reliability, orchestrate software upgrades, and improve the utilization of infrastructure resources.
 
“Since announcing our beta product less than a year ago, Rancher Labs has experienced incredible demand, as well as received encouraging and helpful feedback and community support for this open platform which has enabled us to make meaningful enhancements to Rancher,” said Sheng Liang, CEO, Rancher Labs. “Now, with well over a million downloads, Rancher has quickly become the platform of choice for teams serious about running containers in production.”

http://rancher.com/

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PLUMgrid Brings OpenStack SDN for Containers

PLUMgrid announced a major software update including SDN support for Docker containers, expanded gateway integration with Cisco Nexus 9000, IPv6, PLUMgrid SmartLogs and many other enhancements.

PLUMgrid's Open Networking Suite (ONS) 5.0, which supports OpenStack Kilo and Liberty release, enables data centers with virtual machines, containers, and bare metal architectures to leverage SDN overlays to provide secure micro-segmentation for multi-tenancy, traffic isolation, and policy enforcement.

“Cloud networking is adding virtualized network functions and applications at an accelerated rate and ONS is keeping pace with an aggressive iteration cycle,” said Pere Monclus, founder and CTO at PLUMgrid. “Adding support for Docker containers provides SDN services that are essential to secure multi-tenant networking. In this complex environment it is critical for data center operations to have a tool such as CloudApex that provides a simplified view of both physical and virtual resources in OpenStack clouds.”

Some highlights:

• PLUMgrid now offers a SDN plugin for Docker containers to enable rich networking functions, secure multi-tenancy, multi-host networking, high availability, and distributed scale-out performance for Docker clouds. 
• PLUMgrid ONS has added support for Project Kuryr, an OpenStack initiative that provides container network abstraction for Neutron API. 
• In addition to supporting gateways from Arista Networks and Cumulus Networks, ONS 5.0 introduces gateway support for Cisco Nexus 9000 Series. Through VXLAN Tunnel End Point (VTEP) integration, PLUMgrid delivers unified physical and virtual network infrastructure with simple drag and drop configuration.
• IPv6 can be configured within and between tenant clouds for flexible addressing while IPv4 is running concurrently. 
• PLUMgrid ONS 5.0 introduces a number of smart wizards that check system and connectivity status to ensure workloads and applications have unhindered reachability and access to resources. 

http://www.plumgrid.com

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CloudRouter Project Clears Release 3.0 Hurdle

The CloudRouter Project, which is a Linux-based open source routing and software-defined networking (SDN) initiative, released its CloudRouter 3.0 and new performance numbers showing throughput in excess of 650 Gbps on commodity hardware.

The CloudRouter 3.0 release ships with new versions of ONOS Drake 1.4, CentOS 7.2, and Fedora 23. Four new open source projects have been added including iSDX, an open source SDN exchange point, two new network traffic generator and analyzers, Ostinato and pktgen-dpdk, and pmacct, a network monitoring utility.

CloudRouter 3.0 new key features summary:

• 100 GigE Performance: new DPDK 2.2.0 kernel enhancements tested at 650 Gig/sec
• OS: upgraded to CentOS 7.2 or Fedora 23
• SDN OS: ONOS 1.4 (Drake) in addition to OpenDaylight Lithium
• SDN Exchange Point: iSDX for advanced routing interconnection
• Security and Performance Testing: pktgen-dpdk, Otinato
• pmacct: network monitoring utility

"Today's announcement gives network administrators the choice of continuing to use CloudRouter as a software-based router or advancing into deployments of software-based controllers with whitebox hardware," said Jay Turner, CloudRouter Project Lead and Senior Director of DevOps at IIX. "The community told us that they wanted the benefits of SDN in the future, but needed a bridge between old and new architectures. CloudRouter is an open source network innovation platform, and we believe it's the most flexible SDN platform out, incorporating best-of-breed open source projects, fully tested for security and stability."

"The traditional way of building networks with vertically integrated, proprietary, over-priced boxes is being disrupted, and replaced by the new and much more open way of disaggregation, abstraction and easy composition of network resources. This transformation was driven by hyper-scale cloud and web services providers and is being widely accepted to power web-scale IT. The decoupling of software from hardware first happened on switches, and CloudRouter is bringing it one step further to routers. Mellanox is a supporter and driver of this transformation, and we build hardware for the new open composable networks that enable this transformation to happen without performance or infrastructure efficiency compromises," said Chloe Jian Ma, Senior Director of Cloud Marketing at Mellanox.

https://cloudrouter.org

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Brocade Acquires StackStorm for DevOps Automation

Brocade has acquired StackStorm, a start-up based in Palo Alto, California, that offers an event-driven automation platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Stack Storms ties together components across the IT infrastructure. It’s commonly used for auto-remediation—including response to security events—and other cases such as complex deployments.

https://stackstorm.com
http://www.brocade.com

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César Alierta to Step Down as Executive Chairman of Telefónica

César Alierta announced his intention to step down as Executive Chairman of Telefónica.  He will remain on the company's Board.

Alierta is recommending that Telefónica’s Board of Directors consider the appointment of José María Álvarez-Pallete as its new Executive Chairman. Álvarez-Pallete has serves as Chief Operating Officer for the past 3 years. Previously, he was Telefónica’s CFO and has served as Executive Chairman of Telefónica Internacional and as Chairman of Telefónica Latinoamérica.

César Alierta has served as CEO and Chairman of Telefónica since 2000.

https://www.telefonica.com/es/web/press-office/-/cesar-alierta-ends-his-tenure-as-executive-chairman-of-telefonica-and-will-propose-the-appointment-of-jose-maria-alvarez-pallete-to-the-board-of-direc

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Global Capacity Appoints Tony Thakur as CTO

Global Capacity named Tony Thakur as its new CTO, responsible for all aspects of its One Marketplace network strategy, architecture, engineering and planning.

Most recently, Thakur served as Vice President of Engineering & Technology for TelePacific Communications, where he provided strategic direction, technology selection and product development support for next-generation services including IP Virtual Private Network (VPN) and Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) wide-area Ethernet.  He also held executive positions at leading network and technology companies, including Executive Vice President of Engineering and Operations for CENX and Vice President of Network Technologies and Systems for tw telecom.

https://globalcapacity.com/news-resources/global-capacity-names-new-chief-technology-officer

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Video: TeliaSonera IC on Making Networks More Predictable

Over the past year, TeliaSonera International Carrier invested in expanding its network geographically.

This year, the carrier is focused predictability by thickening the network, says Mattias Fridström Vice President, Technology.

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/UTDXTEJ7ncg

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NTT DATA to Acquire Dell Services for $3 Billion

NTT DATA agreed to acquire Dell Services, an IT services provider recognized for its depth in vertical industries and for its offerings around infrastructure services, cloud services, application services, and business process outsourcing. The purchase price was reported at $3.05 billion.  NTT Data said the agreement will expand its brand and leadership position globally.

John McCain, CEO of NTT DATA, led this transaction and will have overall responsibility for leading the combined business.

“I’m extremely proud of Dell Services’ solid growth, broad capabilities and deep domain expertise in Healthcare & Life Sciences, Banking, Financial Services and Insurance. Our investments in digital services, application modernization, tools, automation and ‘as-a-service’ models, have enabled Dell Services customers to simplify their IT environment, empower their workforce, engage their customers and grow,” said Michael Dell, chairman and chief executive officer of Dell Inc. “Together, NTT DATA and Dell Services will be a winning combination for Dell Services customers, team members and partners.”

http://www.nttdata.com/global/en/news-center/pressrelease/2016/032800.html

• Dell Services traces its origins to Perot Systems, which Dell acquired in 2009 for $3.9 billion.

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NTT Researchers Manipulate the Color of Single Photons

Researchers at NTT demonstrated the wavelength conversion of a single-photon wave packet required for quantum information-communication technologies. The company said the technique enables it deterministically change the color and shape of a single-photon wave packet in a lossless manner.

NTT lossless scheme utilized an all-optical effect called cross-phase modulation (XPM) to control the phase of light (signal pulses) via a change in the refractive index of a medium induced by another light (control pulses).

"When the refractive index varies dynamically, frequency modulation is induced to the signal field as a result of a signal’s non-uniform phase shift. By using single photons as the signal field, we can modulate the wavelength of the photons (Fig. 1). Since XPM always occurs regardless of the intensity of the control field, the wavelength conversion occurs without a photon loss. This is in contrast to the conventional all-optical wavelength conversion scheme for photons, namely nonlinear frequency mixings, where an intense control field is required for high conversion efficiency."

http://www.ntt.co.jp/news2016/1603e/160326a.html

Researchers at NTT Envision Quantum Repeaters in Future Photonic Networks

Thursday, April 16, 2015  Japan, NTT, Optical, Quantum  2 comments

Researchers at Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) and the University of Toronto are proposing all-photonic quantum repeaters for long-distance quantum communication.  If achieved, such devices would disprove the necessity of matter quantum memories in long distance quantum communications, which is seen by many as the ultimate future of optical communications.

In a paper published this week by the journal Nature Communications, the researchers said their all-photonic scheme paves a completely new route towards long-distance quantum communication based only on optical devices. Compared to matter quantum memories, this approach eliminates the quantum interface between matter and photons.  The design is based on existing optical technology, such as linear optical elements, single-photon sources, photon detectors and an active feed-forward technique.

http://www.ntt.co.jp/news2015/1504e/150415a.html

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Sumitomo Electric Announces New Multi-Core Optical Fiber

Sumitomo Electric Industries announced a new-type coupled multi-core optical fiber suitable for ultra-long-haul transmission/

The coupled-core MCF (CC-MCF) features 4 pure-silica cores in the standard 125-µm cladding. The developed fiber has achieved the attenuation of 0.158 dB/km at the wavelength of 1550 nm and the spatial mode dispersion (SMD) of 6.1 ps/√km*4 in the wavelength from 1520 to 1580 nm, both of which are the lowest ever reported in the optical fibers for space division multiplexing.

The company says the new fiber has set records for the low attenuation and the low spatial mode dispersion in the optical fibers for space division multiplexing.  Attenuation, or (transmission) loss, is the amount of light degraded by scattering and absorption while traveling in an optical fiber. With a lower attenuation, optical signals can be transmitted for a longer distance.

http://global-sei.com/company/press/2015/03/prs022_s.html

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Mesosphere Raises $73M for its Containerized Data Center OS

Mesosphere raised $73.5 million in a Series C round of financing backed by strategic partners, including Microsoft and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). Also participating in this round are previous Mesosphere investors Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures and Fuel Capital, as well as new investors A Capital and Triangle Peak Partners. This brings Mesosphere’s total funding to nearly $126 million.

Mesosphere's data center operating system (DCOS) is used for building, deploying and running containers and distributed systems in production. The solution also includes:

• Marathon: a production-grade container orchestration system, which is a standard part of the DCOS.
• Velocity: The newly launched developer agility and CI/CD platform for the DCOS, which leverages open source tools like Jenkins to make it possible for development teams to go from source code to production with ease and speed.
• Infinity: a big data and real-time analytics platform, which harnesses open source services such as Spark, Cassandra and Kafka so enterprises can easily build world-class analytics into their businesses.

http://www.mesosphere.com

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Cloudera Acquires Data Analytics Start-up

Cloudera has acquired Sense, a start-up based in San Francisco that is developing a cloud-based platform from data analytics.  Financial terms were not disclosed.

The Sense platform enables users to collaborate and share data and analyses on a secure platform.

https://sense.io/
http://www.cloudera.com

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#OFC2016: AT&T Pushes for Open ROADM MSA

An Open ROADM project is underway with the backing of AT&T and a goal of driving faster innovation and open software control for the Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexers (ROADMs) used in optical transport networks.

The Open ROADM Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) defines interoperability specifications for Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexers (ROADM). Included are the ROADM switch as well as transponders and pluggable optics. Specifications consist of both Optical interoperability as well as YANG data models.

Participants in the MSA include AT&T, Ciena, Fujitsu, and Alcatel-Lucent USA (Nokia).

http://openroadm.org/home.html

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#OFC2016: Inphi Targets DCI with QSFP28 Design

Inphi unveiled a QSFP28 reference design that uses advanced Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM4) signaling to deliver up to 4 Tbps of bandwidth over a single fiber at distances up to 80km.  The target application is metro Data Center Interconnect (DCI). Commercial launch date was not specified.

Key features of Inphi's "ColorZ":

• QSFP28 form factor supporting 100G Ethernet
• Extended reach up to 80km
• Enables 4Tb/s capacity over a single fiber
• 4.5W power dissipation
• ITU wavelength grid compatible
• "InphiNity" Core DSP Engine with a unique mixed-mode DSP architecture for high performance, low power applications needing adaptability and configurability
• Multiple programmable FEC options with varying levels of pre-FEC BER performance
• Numerous self-test and loopback modes that allow diagnostic monitoring of channel and system parameters
• Eye-scan, samplers and monitors on all receiver interfaces for link margin and stress testing along with GUI and API routines for data and error analytics  

“The current gap in the inter-data center interconnects is at the sub 80km segment, which is being supported by 10G solutions today. ColorZ is filling the gap with 100G links matching the rest of the data center network,” said Dr. Loi Nguyen, founder, senior vice president, Optical Interconnect at Inphi. “This demonstrates Inphi’s continued industry leadership, as we build on our technology foundation to dramatically reduce the cost of data movement.”

https://www.inphi.com/media-center/press-room/press-releases-and-media-alerts/inphi-debuts-100g-dwdm-solution-for-80km-data-center-interconnects.php

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#OFC2016: Inphi Develops Silicon Photonics for Data Centers

Inphi announced a highly integrated Silicon Photonics (SiPho) chip that includes multi-channel modulators, photodetectors, multiplexers, demultiplexers, optical power monitors and fiber coupling structures on the same integrated circuit (IC).  The chip is targeted at 100G intra and inter data center optical interconnects.

The company said it expects a 100G upgrade cycle in data centers to begin this year with the introduction of a new generation of 3.2T switches using QSFP28 pluggable transceivers.

Inphi believes its SiPho technology, coupled with its low power DSP-based PAM4 and linear amplifiers/drivers, will deliver the industry’s first 100G DWDM PAM4 platform reference design for the QSFP28 form factor.

“Inphi selected Silicon Photonics over competing platforms, because it allows us to integrate multiple key photonics components in a single IC,” said Dr. Radha Nagarajan, chief technology officer, Optical Interconnect at Inphi. “Silicon Phonics technology enables us to deliver innovative solutions to solve customer’s pain points today.  Silicon Photonics also scales well into the future for next-generation optics.”

https://www.inphi.com

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#OFC2016: Lumentum Targets Optical Whiteboxes for SDN

Lumentum (formerly JDSU) unveiled an "optical whitebox" platform for data center & metro/edge DWDM transport.

Lumentum said its SDN optical whitebox platform will consist of family of configurable building blocks with open interfaces for integration into SDN controller/orchestrator layers, enabling system integrators and network operators to deploy and turn-up services. The initial products based on this SDN whitebox platform target simple point-to-point DCI applications, as well as ROADMs (for metro edge DWDM transport). These include:

Terminal Amplifier: The terminal amplifier whitebox and its associated mux/demux form the endpoints of a transport link.  It supports two high-power variable gain EDFAs, OSC termination, optical channel monitor, and automatic line protection within a 1RU network element.

Mux/Demux: The mux/demux is a passive element that provides the entry/exit point for data transmission channels. The device requires no external power or management connections.  Inventory data for the device is visible through its associated terminal amplifier.

Line Amplifier: The line amplifier whitebox is used to extend system reach beyond the single span limit of the terminal amplifier whitebox. It combines all necessary functions to support amplification in two directions into a single 1RU network element.

ROADM: The ROADM whitebox is used to support wavelength agility in meshed networks. It supports a TrueFlex twin 1xN (9-20+) or single 1xN (2-9) wavelength selective switch, two high power variable gain EDFAs, OSC termination, and optical channel monitor within a 1RU network element.

“SDN optical whiteboxes are another example of Lumentum partnering with customers to anticipate, construct and deliver solutions they need to fulfill the relentless demand for higher performance, higher density, and lower cost,” said Madhu Krishnaswamy, director, product line management, Optical Communications. “The platform is customizable, and supports the addition of updated features for dynamic market conditions.”

https://www.lumentum.com/

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Cisco Brings High-Density TDM to Optical Transport

Cisco rolled out a number of enhancements to its optical transport portfolio including high-density time-division multiplexing (TDM) to IP/MPLS capabilities.

Some highlights:

Cisco Network Convergence System (NCS) 4200 Series: Part of the Cisco Evolved Programmable Network (EPN), this transport system addresses network inefficiencies with high-density circuit emulation technology located at the network edge. It converts TDM services into pseudowires that facilitate transport over highly scalable MPLS core networks. With this technology, service providers can keep their existing operational models and service revenue while running all services over IP and retiring their older networks. Service providers can reduce space and power required over existing solutions by up to 90 percent.

Multi-service line card for the Cisco NCS 4000 Series - a new, multi-service line card that doubles slot bandwidth to 400Gbps, while providing port-by-port, pay-as-you-grow flexibility for OTN, Packet, MPLS and Coherent DWDM service. When deployed in the Cisco NCS 4009 and NCS 4016 platforms, chassis density doubles to 3.6Tbps and 6.4Tbps, respectively. The NCS 4000 Fabric is also enhanced to help enable unprecedented in-service scale from a single Cisco NCS 4000 chassis (6.4Tbps) to a Multi-Chassis solution capable of delivering over 100Tbps of capacity leveraging Cisco’s multi-chassis leadership.

Increased density and flexibility for the Cisco NCS 2000 Series: New XPonder line card provides 400 Gbps of client and 400 Gbps of trunk capacity to Cisco’s widely deployed optical transport platform. The XPonder supports OTN, packet and coherent DWDM while contributing significantly to cost reduction – one line card for any mix of DWDM, gray, OTN and packet services.

Cisco NCS 1000 data center interconnect solution - commercial shipment is now underway. Cisco said the DWDM solution is now in trials with 9 top cloud providers.

“We are committed to offering service providers the technology to transform their network architectures and achieve the operational efficiency, scale, and reliability needed to succeed in the digital age,” said Bill Gartner, vice president of optical systems, access routing and transceivers group, Cisco. “We are confident that our new innovations in packet optical convergence will enable our customers to transform their networks today while positioning them to face the challenges and leverage the opportunities presented by a future dominated by the Internet of Things.”

Cisco also confirmed that Verizon will deploy the Cisco NCS Series on portions of its 100G metro network.

http://www.cisco.com

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Stratoscale Secures $27M for Hyperconverged Software

Stratoscale, a start-up based in Herzeliya, Israel, secured $27 million in Series C financing for its distributed data center operating system.

Stratoscale's hardware-agnostic Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) solution that offers a holistic data center experience. Its rack-scale architecture aims to transform standard x86 servers into a hyper-converged infrastructure for cloud services while supporting both containers and virtualization on the same platform.  Stratoscale’s true “plug and play” architecture supports OpenStack and Docker.

Qualcomm Ventures joined the Series C financing round with participation from all existing investors. Stratoscale has now raised over $70 million in funding over the past three years that is dedicated to support global expansion of the company.

“Today’s data center managers are looking to Stratoscale to help them more effectively manage their technology infrastructure. To help us scale globally, we are proud to have the support and investment from Qualcomm Ventures,” said Ariel Maislos, CEO of Stratoscale. “This investment enables us to accelerate our adoption in the market and expand operations more quickly to meet the demand for an all-inclusive data center cloud offering that is scalable and efficient. We continue to deliver on the promise of what data centers should be without the burden of being locked into legacy infrastructure that doesn’t grow with your business.”

http://www.stratoscale.com

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Mellanox Announces 200 Gbps Silicon Photonics Devices

At this week's OFC, Mellanox demonstrated 50 Gbps silicon photonics optical modulators and detectors -- the key component for 200 Gbps and 400 Gbps LinkX cables and transceivers.

The demonstration is an important milestone toward providing end-to-end solutions for HDR 200G InfiniBand and Ethernet interconnect infrastructure.

“Silicon photonics is the enabling technology for 200Gb/s InfiniBand and Ethernet networks,” said Amir Prescher, executive vice president of business development and interconnect products at Mellanox. “The QSFP56 doubles the front panel density for next generation switches; enables 200G copper DACs and 50G breakout cables for adapters and inside-the-rack applications; and silicon photonics transceivers supports all data center reaches to 2km.”

Mellanox said it plans to offer 50Gbps and 200Gbps Direct Attach Copper cables (DACs); copper splitter cables (QSFP56 to 4x SFP56); silicon photonics based AOCs for reaches to 200m; and silicon photonics transceivers for reaches to 2km. Mellanox 200Gb/s cables and transceivers will seamlessly support previous generations of 40 and 100Gbps networks.

http://www.mellanox.com

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Semtech Releases Quad 25Gbps Chipset for 100G SR4

Semtech released a new chipset for quad channel 100G-SR4 optical interconnects operating at 25.78 Gbps.

The GN2108 is a quad channel CDR with integrated vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) drivers, and the GN2109 is a quad channel CDR with integrated transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs). A full suite of on-chip features minimizes external components and helps customers speed up their hardware and firmware development.

Semtech said its GN2108 VCSEL driver was architected to compensate for optical distortion introduced by VCSELs, enabling extended reach well beyond the SR4 standard to greater than 300m over OM4 fiber, operation with lower bandwidth and lower cost VCSELs, as well as operation with lower VCSEL bias settings for lower power and higher VCSEL reliability.

“The GN2108 and GN2109 chipset has strong traction with our customers,” said Dr. Timothy Vang, Senior Director of Datacom Marketing for Semtech’s Signal Integrity Product Group. “The performance and feature set of the GN2108 and GN2109 is enabling our customers to quickly bring to market winning solutions for 100Gbps QSFP28 and Active Optical Cables (AOCs) for datacenters and a wide range of other applications.”

http://www.semtech.com

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Coriant Showcases Light IP

At this week's OFC, Coriant showcased its Light IP Solution, a network architecture "that integrates IP capabilities with the optical layer together with optimal control systems to maximize overall network efficiency while minimizing traffic latency."

The Coriant Light IP Solution leverages technological advances in photonics, silicon, and SDN/NFV.

“The explosion of Internet video and cloud services is driving a fundamental transformation of network traffic dynamics,” said Uwe Fischer, Chief Technology Officer, Coriant. “Coriant is uniquely positioned to deliver this cost-disruptive, high-performance approach to network evolution with the company’s pioneering heritage in IP/MPLS routing, packet optical networking, and SDN programmability and automation. With our deep understanding of service providers’ networks, coupled with our transformational services capabilities, Coriant is ready to partner with our customers to pivot their networks into Light IP.”

http://www.coriant.com

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Video - Source Photonics Shows 2x50G-PAM4 QSFP28

Manish Mehta highlights Source Photonics' demos at this year's #OFC16, including a 2x50G-PAM4 QSFP28.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/Epbryi8pLhU

 

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Fujitsu Announces Modular Blade Families in 1FINITY Platform

Fujitsu unveiled its 1FINITY packet optical platform consisting of Transport, Lambda, Switch, and Access blades.

Fujitsu cited several advantages for its disaggregated solution, including more agile development, continuous performance improvement, and technology innovation. Modular 1FINITY blades operate independently or, for broader network solutions, in combination with other optical platforms from Fujitsu and third parties. These are the 1FINITY blade families:

• · Fujitsu 1FINITY Transport Family: Blades in the 1FINITY Transport family deliver high-capacity transport for metro, regional, and long-haul applications. The T100 blade is a transponder purpose-built for metro data center interconnect (DCI), providing 1.6 Tbps bidirectional capacity and power consumption under 0.8 watts per Gbps. The T200 blade is a feature-rich muxponder that uses coherent processing and multimodulation to add beyond 100G capabilities to transport networks and enable long-haul DCI. The T300 blade is a flexible, high-density muxponder for metro and long-haul transport, supporting 10G, 40G, and 100G client rates.
  
• ·Fujitsu 1FINITY Switch Family: The initial release in the 1FINITY Switch family is the S100 blade, a high-density Ethernet switch with white box support. The S100 is designed for networks that require 10 GbE to 100 GbE aggregation of Carrier Ethernet 2.0 services, and it provides 1.2 Tbps bidirectional switching capacity.
  
• ·Fujitsu 1FINITY Lambda Family: The 1FINITY Lambda family is a modular dynamic ROADM platform that can be used to build multidegree network nodes with flexible-grid operation and super-channel support. A small CD ROADM configuration supporting up to 4 degrees and 128 clients can be implemented using a twin 1 × 9 WSS ROADM-on-a-blade (L100 blade) and a dual 4 × 16 splitter-coupler (L110 blade). Larger CD ROADM configurations up to 12 degrees can be implemented using a dual 1 × 16 splitter-coupler (L110 blade) and a twin 12 × 9 WSS optical switch (L120 blade). The compact L200 blade provides bidirectional intermediate line amplification (ILA) up to 35 dB.
  
• · Fujitsu 1FINITY Access Family: Blades in the 1FINITY Access family will support next-generation access technologies, such as 10G-EPON and NG-PON2, delivering gigabit services in metro and rural fiber-to-the-home and business applications.

“Networks that enable innovative services and accelerate revenue generation are effective differentiators,” said Steve Pelosi, vice president, Fujitsu Network Communications. “In the 1FINITY platform, service providers have the building blocks they need to create game-changing networks that increase service velocity, grow revenue, and reduce operating costs.”

http://www.fujitsu.com/us/products/network/products/1finity/index.html
http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/telecom/news/newsroom.html

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Juniper Rolls out Optical Upgrades

Juniper Networks announced a number of enhancements to its optical portfolio, including:

• Photonic and Coherent DWDM Interface Cards for the Juniper Networks PTX and MX series routers; specifically, new line cards for the PTX3000 that fully collapse the optical layer with the IP/MPLS layer, the industry’s first 1-TB coherent DWDM line card for the PTX5000 and a coherent 100GbE DWDM interface card with a highly programmable and service rich programmable forwarding ASIC for the MX Series. These line cards, which also feature highly programmable multi-layer SDN control, are designed for multi-vendor interoperability and highly efficient data center interconnect and metro networking needs.
• New optical layer support for Junos Space Connectivity Services Director (CSD) that extends visibility, control and management capabilities beyond the IP layer to the optical layer, and unified fault, configuration, and performance management.
• Enhanced Multi-layer SDN programmability for our Junos operating system and theNorthStar Controller that, when used in conjunction with Juniper Networks PTX and MX series routers, provides traffic automation for converged packet-optical layers.

http://www.juniper.net

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Molex and Cisco Target Double-Density QSFP Interfaces

Molex and Cisco announced their participation in a multi-supplier agreement (MSA) to create high-speed, double-density quad small form factor pluggable (QSFP-DD), a new high-speed interface. Thirteen industry leaders have joined the MSA to collaborate in developing this new high-speed interface.

The new QSFP-DD interface expands on widely adopted QSFP enabling systems to support backwards compatibility to existing 40 GbE and 100 GbE QSFP interfaces as well as a clear path to future 2x100 GbE and 400 GbE interfaces. By maintaining the same port density per rack unit, customers can speed up networks without redesigning the architecture.

“With a clear trend towards hyper-converged fabrics, customers need an aligned switch silicon and optics roadmap,” said Luca Cafiero, senior vice president and general manager at Cisco. “Global IP traffic is expected to reach 1.4 zettabytes next year, reflecting a CAGR from 2012 to 2017 of 23 percent. All players involved in network architecture will have to step up their game to meet this demand, and the MSA for QSFP DD is a big step in that direction. We are confident that, with industry leaders like Molex, we can help to lead the development of high-speed technology that will be broadly used throughout the industry.”

http://www.cisco.com
http://www.molex.com

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MACOM Showcases PAM-4 for 200G and 400G Systems

M/A-COM Technology Solutions is demonstrating a complete electronics chip-set utilizing PAM-4 technology and enabling a 56Gbps per lane data rate. This featured IP demonstrates another facet of MACOM’s advanced chipset solution for 200G and 400G optical connectivity in both parallel single mode fiber (PSM) and wave division multiplexing (WDM) applications.

MACOM said its technology demonstration at this week's #OFC16 achieves industry leading transimpedance amplifier (TIA) sensitivity and low power, which enables the development of 200G QSFP and 400G MSA optical modules. On the transmit side, MACOM’s demonstration will feature a 28Gbaud linear driver and Clock and Data Recovery (CDR). The signal will be transmitted over single mode fiber, and recovered on the receiver side using MACOM’s 28Gbaud TIA and retimed with MACOM’s receiver CDR.

“MACOM has achieved excellent performance in silicon through its 28Gbaud PAM-4 chipset IP. This technology, along with recently announced L-PIC™ silicon photonics and our CW lasers, will enable next generation 200Gbs and 400Gbs solutions for small form-factor optics,” said Preet Virk, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Networks, MACOM.

http://www.macom.com

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NEL Ships First 16nm 100G/200G Coherent DSP

NTT Electronics (NEL) announced industry-first 16nm ultra-low power DSP for both 100G QPSK long-haul and 200G 16QAM Metro optical links.

The new 16nm DSP “ExaSPEED 200” consumes under 10W per 100Gbps in its 200G operation mode, doubling the power efficiency compared to the previous generation 20nm 100G Low Power DSP. It leverages 200G DSP core and 16nm CMOS fin-FET mixed-signal technologies that were developed in collaboration with Broadcom .

The new ExaSPEED 200 integrates enhanced forward error correction (EFEC) based on the de facto standard staircase code. The built-in EFEC enhances line-side interoperability up to Metro reach, and accelerates open networking and system hardware disaggregation.

“Large Service Providers are moving towards SDN-based flexible optical transport architecture to dynamically manage, plan, provision, and re-optimize optical networks with substantially reduced cost,” said Haruhiko Ichino, NEL Executive Vice President and General Manager of Broadband System & Device Business Group. “We are strongly committed to pioneering innovation in the coherent DSP in order to meet their expectation in flexible, software configurable optical ‘white box’ elements that are modular, with interoperable subsystems from multiple vendors,” he added.

http://www.ntt-electronics.com

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Red Hat Posts Revenue of $544 Million, up 17%

Red Hat reported fourth quarter revenue of $544 million, up 17% year-over-year or 21% in constant currency; full fiscal year revenue of $2.05 billion, up 15% year-over-year or 21% in constant currency. GAAP operating income for the quarter was $72 million, up 6% year-over-year.

“Enterprises increasingly adopting hybrid cloud infrastructures and open source technologies drove our strong results. The fourth quarter marked our 56th consecutive quarter of revenue growth, contributing to Red Hat’s first fiscal year crossing $2 billion in total revenue,” stated Jim Whitehurst, President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Hat. “Customers are demanding technologies that modernize the development, deployment and life-cycle management of applications across hybrid cloud environments.

Some highlights:

• Subscription revenue from Infrastructure-related offerings for the quarter was $391 million, an increase of 15% in U.S. dollars year-over-year and 18% measured in constant currency. 
• Subscription revenue from Application Development-related and other emerging technologies offerings for the quarter was $89 million, an increase of 38% in U.S. dollars year-over-year and 43% measured in constant currency.

http://www.redhat.com

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Infinera's Infinite Capacity Engine Revs to 2.4 Tbps Capacity

Infinera unveiled its Infinite Capacity Engine, a multi-terabit optical subsystem combining the company's next generation FlexCoherent Processor and the photonics of its fourth generation photonic integrated circuit (PIC).

The Infinite Capacity Engine, which will be integrated into the Infinera portfolio of long-haul terrestrial, subsea, metro and data center interconnect platforms, breaks new ground for optical transport by being the first in the industry to deliver optical super-channel capacity up to 2.4 terabits per second and reach up to 12,000 kilometers in a single small package.

Infinera said its new Infinite Capacity Engine represents the next step function in WDM performance because of the capacity jump to 2.4 Tbps of optical bandwidth, combined with longer reach, better power efficiency and the integration of other advanced functions. Significantly, the Infinite Capacity Engine furthers the company's Instant Bandwidth capability, which enables pre-deployed bandwidth to be provisioned on-demand in 100 Gbps increments via software activation. New capabilities include 100G temporary licenses, enabling capacity to be deployed for a specific duration of time.

Some highlights of the Infinera Infinite Capacity Engine:

• Massive scale: supporting super-channels up to 2.4 Tbps from a single subsystem with up to 12 times more bandwidth than other implementations.
• Advanced Coherent Toolkit (ACT): delivers up to 60 percent more capacity-reach performance for submarine and terrestrial networks than the current generation of optical technologies by allowing extended reach and/or utilization of higher order modulation formats on a per channel or super-channel basis in challenging fiber environments. The Infinera ACT features Nyquist subcarriers, a new technology that increases tolerance for non-linear effects and SD-FEC gain sharing. In addition, multiple modulation formats are supported including matrix enhanced - phase shift keying (ME-PSK), BPSK, 3QAM, QPSK, 8QAM and 16QAM.
• Sliceable super-channels: provides the unique ability to deliver 2.4 Tbps of capacity in a single module with a single fiber pair. In addition, it provides fine-grained and flexible control of optical wavelengths at 100 Gb/s. The Infinite Capacity Engine can tune and route a 100 Gbps wavelength or N x 100 Gbps super-channels in multiple separate directions with any specified flexible grid coherent modulation across the extended C-Band. As a result, network line-card module requirements can be reduced up to 77 percent while delivering tremendous flexibility. Moreover, total cost of ownership can be reduced by up to 53 percent as compared to non-sliceable implementations.
• In-flight wire-speed encryption: encrypts traffic transparently at Layer 1 on a per service basis or in the bulk mode per super-channel, using the strong 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) key. The Infinite Capacity Engine is integrated with easy-to-use key exchange and cryptography mechanisms, providing wire-rate multi-terabit processing with more capacity than current industry solutions.

"The Infinera Infinite Capacity Engine ushers in a new era in optical transport networking and is the foundation for network operators to rapidly respond to massive bandwidth demands," said Dr. Dave Welch, Infinera Co-founder and President.

https://www.infinera.com/technology/engine/

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