Innovium Unveils 12.8Tbps Data Center Switching Silicon

Innovium, a start-up based in San Jose, California, introduced its TERALYNX scalable Ethernet silicon for data centers switches.

Innovium said its TERALYNX will be the first single switching chip to break the 10 Tbps performance barrier, along with telemetry, line-rate programmability, the largest on-chip buffers and best-in-class low-latency. The chip is expected to sample in Q3 2017.

TERALYNX includes broad support for 10/25/40/50/100/200/400GbE Ethernet standards. It will deliver 128 ports of 100GbE, 64 ports of 200GbE or 32 ports of 400GbE in a single device. The TERALYNX switch family includes software compatible options at 12.8Tbps, 9.6Tbps, 6.4Tbps and 3.2Tbps performance points, each delivering compelling benefits for switch system vendors and data center operators.

Some highlights:

• 12.8Tbps, 9.6Tbps, 6.4Tbps and 3.2Tbps single chip performance options at packet sizes of 300B or smaller 
• Single flow performance of 400Gbps at 64B minimum packet size, 4x vs alternatives
• 70MB of on-chip buffer for superior network quality, fewer packet drops and substantially lower latency compared to off-chip buffering options
• Up to 128 ports of 100GbE, 64 ports of 200GbE or 32 ports of 400GbE, which enable flatter networks for lower Capex and fewer hops
• Support for cut-through with best-in-class low latency of less than 350ns
• Programmable, feature-rich INNOFLEX forwarding pipeline
• Comprehensive layer 2/3 forwarding and flexible tunneling including MPLS
• Large table resources with flexible allocation across L2, IPv4 and IPv6
• Line-rate, standards-based programmability to add new/custom features and protocols
• FLASHLIGHT telemetry and analytics to enable autonomous data center networks
• Extensive visibility and telemetry capabilities such as sFlow, FlexMirroring along with highly customizable extra-wide counters
• P4-INT in-band telemetry and extensions to dramatically simplify end to end analysis
• Advanced analytics enable optimal resource monitoring, utilization and congestion control allowing predictive capabilities and network automation
• SERDES I/Os for existing and upcoming networks
• Industry-leading, proven SerDes supports 10G and 25G NRZ, as well as 50G PAM4, to provide customers a variety of connectivity choices, ranging from widely deployed 10/25/40/50/100G Ethernet to upcoming 200/400GbE
• Up to 258 lanes of long-reach SerDes, each of which can be configured dynamically
• Integrated GHz ARM CPU core along with PCIe Gen 3 host connectivity
• ARM core enables development of differentiated real-time automation features
• High speed host connectivity and DMA enhancements enable high performance packet, table and telemetry data transfers while minimizing CPU overhead
• Two high-speed Ethernet ports for management or telemetry data

“Networking silicon solutions in the market today are generic, one-size-fits-all approaches and as a result, sub-optimal for data-centers. Innovium has used a unique, singular focus on data centers to deliver the strongest set of switch capabilities that dramatically advance the future of data centers,” said Rajiv Khemani, CEO & Co-founder of Innovium. “Equally important, we have assembled one of the strongest execution teams for rapid, high-volume deployments. We are excited to be working with leading switch system and data center customers as we execute on our mission.”

Innovium, in partnership with Inphi, also introduced a single switch chip based reference design for a platform supporting 12.8Tbps (128 X 100GbE) QSFP28 deployments. The reference design uses Innovium’s 12.8Tbps TERALYNX Ethernet switch silicon and Inphi’s 4-Level Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM4) chipset.

“As the pioneer of PAM based electronics for 40/50/100/200/400G, Inphi continues to enable a successful PAM4 ecosystem, leading the industry to the new world of terabit cloud optical interconnects. The 12.8Tbps reference design with Inphi’s PAM4 silicon in conjunction with Innovium’s new single switch chip is yet other major achievement in direct response to what data center operators require in the networking world,” said Siddharth Sheth, vice president of marketing, Networking Interconnect at Inphi.

In addition, Innovium announced $38.3 million in Series C funding from new lead investor, Redline Capital, new strategic investors and existing investors Greylock Partners, Walden Riverwood Ventures, Capricorn Investment Group, Qualcomm Ventures and S-Cubed Capital.  This brings the company's total financing to $90 million/

Innovium also announced a board of advisors and investors consisting of networking industry luminaries: Yuval Bachar, Principal Engineer for Global Infrastructure Architecture at LinkedIn; Sachin Katti, Professor of EE & CS at Stanford University; Martin Lund, CEO of Metaswitch; Rajeev Madhavan, serial entrepreneur and General Partner of Clear Ventures; Pradeep Sindhu, Founder and Vice Chairman of Juniper Networks; Krishna Yarlagadda, President of Imagination Technologies; and Raj Yavatkar, VMware Fellow.

https://www.innovium.com/

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Vodafone Picks Nuage Networks' Virtualized Service Platform

Vodafone has selected the Nuage Networks Virtualized Service Platform (VSP) for its global data centers. Nuage is a business unit of Nokia.

The Nuage network virtualization, SDN and automation solution serves a single framework to provide policy-based automation across both the datacenter and WAN.

Vodafone already has a VPN+ live pilot project underway with Nuage to demonstrate the benefits of SD-WAN in providing leading-edge NFV and IoT applications.

Sunil Khandekar, founder and chief executive officer of Nuage Networks from Nokia, said: "Nokia started the SDN/NFV  journey with Vodafone more than three years ago, so we are now honored to be selected as a partner and to be awarded as a global supplier for SDN solutions. We are pleased that our Nuage Networks solution is Vodafone's top selection to transform their datacenter applications and VPN+ service offer with the highest levels of agility, simplicity and automated flexibility for all users."

http://www.nuagenetworks.net/

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Ixia Intros Scalable Test Solution for 5G

Ixia introduced a radio access network (RAN) test product designed for service providers, equipment and chip-set makers, as well as enterprises developing LTE Advanced Pro (4.5G) and 5G-related products and services.

IxLoad LTE XAir2 combines scale and performance testing with realistic subscriber emulation and quality of experience (QoE) validation, for applications and services. Additionally, IxLoad LTE XAir2 can be used for testing LTE on the unlicensed spectrum.

Ixia said its platform can test complex scenarios involving features like Carrier Aggregation to increase bandwidth, 4x4 Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO), and 256 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM).

“While 4G was all about the consumer, 5G will be driven by the industrial Internet of Things, such as smart cities, augmented reality, and commercial applications in manufacturing, transportation, and healthcare,” said Sunil Kalidindi, vice president of product management at Ixia. “Ixia has been helping organizations, big and small, test and validate the performance of their networks, devices, and services for two decades. IxLoad LTE XAir2 combines that experience with proven technology, to realistically emulate mobile subscribers at scale, and help clear the path to 5G for our customers.”

https://www.ixiacom.com/

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ZTE Names New Chairman

Mr. Zhao Xianming, Chairman and President of ZTE Corporation has stepped down from the office of Chairman of the Board of Directors.  Mr. Yin Yimin has been appointed to serve as ZTE's new Chairman for a two-year term.

Mr. Zhao Xianming will continue to serve as Executive Director and President of the Company.

ZTE said the changes were not made because of any disagreements but simply to separate the roles of Chairman and CEO to improve corporate governance.

http://res.www.zte.com.cn/global/mediares/zte/Investor/20170314/E2.pdf

ZTE to Plead Guilty and Pay $1.19 Billion to U.S. Government

Tuesday, March 07, 2017  Gov, Iran, ZTE  1 Comment

In the case involving the shipment of U.S.-origin technology to Iran during the period of economic sanctions, ZTE Corporation agreed to enter a guilty plea and to pay a $430,488,798 penalty to the U.S. ZTE simultaneously reached settlement agreements with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). In total ZTE has agreed to pay the U.S....

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OVH Enters US Cloud Computing Market.

OVH Group, the largest European hosting provider, has formed a U.S. subsidiary and announced plans to enter the U.S. cloud computing market.

OVH is known for its vertical integration of data center infrastructure.  It owns its data centers and uses proprietary water-cooling technology that more efficiently cools servers and optimizes energy usage while simultaneously increasing performance.

Russell P. Reeder, veteran chief executive in the cloud services and hosting industry, has been appointed president and CEO of the new organization, which will be based in Reston, Virginia..

In late 2016, KKR and TowerBrook invested $250 million to support OVH's global expansion, including the US market. To date, OVH owns 26 data centers across four continents, thousands of miles of dark fiber, which deliver a capacity of 10+ Tbps, and 32 points of presence worldwide.

"Today, companies see no borders and must deliver great performance globally," said Russell Reeder, president and CEO of OVH US. "The US cloud market is ripe for disruption -- companies deserve better service at an affordable price. We will bring the same innovation to the US market that led OVH to its position as one of the top five hosting companies in the world, while also delivering best-in-class services and support for small, medium, and large enterprises. With our experienced and respected executive team, which helped to grow many cloud and technology companies to record revenues, including Media Temple and GoDaddy, I have no doubt we will duplicate our past success and exceed customer and shareholder expectations while disrupting the cloud hosting market."

"When I started OVH 18 years ago, my focus was to create a way for customers to take advantage of then-nascent cloud computing technology," said Octave Klaba, CEO and Chairman of the Board of OVH Group. "Today, customers face a different challenge -- buying cloud services from any one of a number of identical companies. OVH US will challenge what businesses believe to be the industry norm for cloud services, and exceed their expectations for value. Russell and the OVH US team have the industry pedigree and market expertise to start a ripple that becomes a tsunami as we take the US IaaS market by storm and set a new industry standard."

https://www.ovh.com/us/

• In February, OVH announced the acquisition of its second US data center, located in Hillsboro, Ore. A facility in Vint Hill, Va., is currently under construction. Initial offers for businesses interested in expanding to the US data centers are targeted to be available in summer from the Vint Hill location.

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Orange-directed Korek Telecom's Future Looks Bright if Iraq Recovers

Preamble - Cisco Ericsson partnership deal highlights little-known Iraqi operator Korek Telecom

On March 1st, Cisco and Ericsson announced that through their cooperative marketing agreement signed in November 2015 Korek Telecom, a 16 year-old mobile telecommunications provider headquartered in Erbil in the Kurdistan region, with whom Ericsson has a longstanding relationship, had selected Ericsson and Cisco to transform its IP core network using integrated solutions based on Ericsson services and Cisco ASR 9000 routers.

Although Korek is for the moment only the third operator in Iraq and Iraq itself is a deeply divided country whose society and economy are in near chaos, nonetheless the country hosts the world's fifth largest oil reserves and ranks somewhere in the lower half of the world's Top 10 countries with the largest natural gas reserves and could grow quite a bit (particularly in natural gas exports where it lacks the necessary infrastructure). Iraq still has an operational though weak government but 93% of the state budget is dependent on oil production. Still, there is a strong probability that with western help it will recover over the next five years and of the three Iraqi operators Korek looks to be the most competent and fastest growing and could have a good future. The general situation of Korek today is that it dominates the Kurdistan region, which constitutes about one sixth of Iraq, and from that stable profitable base is now beginning to grow its share in the rest of the country. The increasing tendency has been for Kurdistan, the most stable part of Iraq during the last few years, to seek more autonomy and a crucial issue related to the Kurdistan economy has been a dispute with the central government over the sharing of oil revenues, which as shown below seems at last to have been  resolved.

Up-to-date fundamentals about Iraq

The two following quotes are key extracts from a 45 page official letter, entitled Letter of Intent, Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies, and Technical Memorandum of Understanding, of December 2016 by Iraqi PM Dr Haider Al-Abbadi to Christine Lagarde, MD of the International Monetary Fund, which is currently providing financial support to the government in exchange for various specific social and economic commitments.

Quote on status of internally displaced persons and refugees:

-    "The ISIS attacks have boosted the number of internally displaced persons - estimated at 3.3 million in September 2016… close to 10 million Iraqis (26% of the population) need humanitarian assistance…. with 225,000 Syrian refugees, Iraq is the fourth largest hosting country in the region for people fleeing Syria... refugees, 60% women and children, mostly reside in the north, including in the Kurdistan region where they have been granted residency status including the right to work".

Quote on the latest oil-revenue sharing agreement between the Iraqi government and the local government of Kurdistan:

-    "According to the agreement the revenue from the oil extracted in the KRG accrues to the federal government and the federal government makes transfers to the KRG equivalent to 17% of non-sovereign spending in the federal budget (i.e. total spending minus expense of the parliament, the presidency, the cabinet, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence, the federal court, federal government commissions and debt service)… in the revised program for 2016 presented in this MEFP, the oil revenue projected for KRG is IQD 7.8 trillion and the transfers to the KRG IQD 8.5 trillion".

Background and news about Korek Telecom

Prior long historical relationship with Ericsson and other vendors

Korek was co-founded in 2000 reportedly by four Kurdish businessmen including the company's current chairman, Sirwan Mustafa Baser, vice president Dr. Hamid Akridi, plus Jeksi Hama Mustafa and possibly the company's current MD Sirwan Barzani, who is said to have a stake in the company and is the nephew of Massoud Barzani, the acting president of the Kurdistan region and head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) (Sirwan Barzani is not shown as a director possibly because he has had an active parallel role in the Kurdish military). The company initially focused on mobile services in Kurdistan, but in 2007 obtained a nationwide operating license and now operates across Iraq.

In November 2009 Korek awarded a contract to Ericsson for the deployment of a billing post-paid system in the country. In September 2011 Korek, which served about 3 million subscribers at that time, said it had contracted Ericsson to upgrade and expand its network to make it ready for 3G and LTE, including the deployment and integration of multi-standard radio base stations, RBS 6000, across the country, and a core network expansion including EPC and mobile packet backbone. 

In March 2011 Orange, in a JV with Agility, a large international logistics and infrastructure investment group, acquired a 44% share of Korek Telecom for a combined $295 million, plus about $285 million in loans. Through this JV Orange held an indirect 20.24% and Agility the remaining 24% in Korek, while the remaining 56% majority stake was held by CS Limited, an SPV reportedly owned by the four Kurdish businessmen who founded the company. Reportedly, Orange also acquired an option to increase its indirect stake in Korek to 27% in order to gain indirect control of the company.

In July 2012 Korek signed a three year managed services agreement with Ericsson to provide field maintenance services including day-to-day services for Korek’s network in Baghdad. In April 2013 Korek hired Ericsson to deploy a new convergent charging and billing system designed to provide subscribers with greater personalisation, control and quality of service. In July 2013 Korek selected Nokia (NSN) to deploy advanced radio, microwave transmission and packet core network elements and to expand its 2G network in southern Iraq. The operator also renewed its care and managed services contract with Nokia.

In February 2015 it was announced that Korek Telecom had chosen Ericsson to provide a spare parts management service, designed to deliver a higher standard of network performance to subscribers which would cover operations of warehouse storage in Erbil and Baghdad, as well as logistics such as transporting parts between Ericsson's global replacement warehouse to different delivery points across Iraq.

In March 2015 Korek announced at MWC that it had chosen Ericsson's Telecom CRM system to automate its sales, marketing and customer care processes, which would include the consolidation of user data and the capability to expose user data in real time through the system's User Profile Gateway. In October 2016 Ericsson announced it was helping Korek prepare for a predicted strong growth in traffic as well as for the implementation of LTE by transforming and expanding its WCDMA core network for greater capacity and scalability with new SGSN and GGSN platforms from Ericsson.

Other developments affecting the company

Asiacell and Zain Iraq execute successful IPOs of 25% of their equity

According to the terms of their 2007 national licences all three operators were required to offer 25% of their equity to the public through IPOs and in 2012 it was reported that all three companies were being fined for not having done so. In February 2013 Asiacell, majority owned by Qatar's Ooredoo, raised $1.24 billion through its 25% IPO. In June 2015 Zain Iraq listed on the Iraq Stock Exchange as Al Khatem Telecom. At the end of its first day of trading its market capitalisation was $9.4 billion, which added almost 50% to the exchange’s total value. Korek Telecom has made several moves towards an IPO in the past but has not yet gone ahead with one.

Korek litigation against Zain Iraq

In May 2014 the National reported that Zain Iraq was being sued for $4.5bn by Korek Telecom, which claimed that Zain's acquisition of the mobile operator Iraqna in 2007 had stopped Korek from buying the unit, resulting in huge losses.

Possible approval of a 4th Iraqi mobile operator

At the end of 2015 the Iraqi regulator, the Communication and Media Commission, called for expressions of interest regarding a 4th mobile license. However, as of early 2017 no decision had been made on that issue.

Agility reported to be claiming confiscation of its Korek stake

On February 10, 2017 Capacity Magazine, a specialised source, reported that Agility, a global logistics company based in Kuwait, had filed a complaint with the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, claiming that the government of Iraq had 'indirectly confiscated' its 54% stake in Korek, worth $380 million . However, it said that so far it had been unable to ascertain what the fundamental reason was for the complaint.

Summary

As of January 2016 Korek Telecom was reported to employ about 2,500 people, to have deployed 3,500 towers and to be serving 7 million subscribers, giving it just over 20% of an estimated national Iraqi subscriptions base of about 34 million and showing a roughly doubled market share since 2011. In competing with Asiacell Iraq and Zain Iraq Korek's revenue may be somewhere in the range $500-$1,000 million and some estimates have suggested it is worth around $2 billion. Korek has some advantages, i.e. a relatively secure base in Kurdistan, where it has been reported to have a 70% share, and a good relationship with the local government, which now has an assured income from its 17% share of national oil revenue. Through further market share gains, Iraqi national growth, diversification into markets like banking and social stabilisation, as well as the lack of fixed infrastructure in Iraq, it is possible that Korek could double in size in the next five years. However, in January 2015 Orange CEO Stephane Richard, reviewing some of Orange's investments, said that although Korek Telecom was performing well it was very unlikely that the group would increase its involvement and exposure in Iraq.

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Marvell Unveils 802.1BR-compliant Prestera PX PIPE for Data Centres

Marvell, a major provider of storage, networking and connectivity semiconductor solutions, has introduced its new Prestera PX Passive Intelligent Port Extender (PIPE) family, designed to significantly reduce power consumption, complexity and cost in the data centre.

Marvell noted that data centres featuring 10 and 25 Gigabit Ethernet port speeds have faced challenges with regards to lowering opex and capex costs as bandwidth demand increases. The new purpose-built PIPE port extender solution from Marvell supports the IEEE 802.1BR standard and is designed to offer a new approach for the deployment of top of rack (ToR) switches that enables a claimed halving in both the power and cost compared with a traditional Ethernet switch.

PIPE technology allows data centres to be architected using a simplified, low cost and low power port extender in place of the ToR switch and shifts the heavy duty switching functionality upstream. The company noted that as the industry transitions from 10 to 25 Gigabit Ethernet and from 40 to 100 Gigabit Ethernet port speeds, data centres require a new, modular building block to bridge the range of current and next-generation port speeds.

Marvell’s PIPE family is designed to provide a flexible and scalable solution that can simplify and speed the transition to higher port speeds via support for multiple configuration options of Ethernet connectivity for a range of port speeds and densities.

Through the implementation of IEEE 802.1BR and removing the need for per-box management, Marvell aims to streamline network development and simplify centralised management of the hundreds of thousands of ports in a data centre. To facilitate the adoption of PIPE, it incorporates a programmable packet header editor that provides interoperability with a range of networking equipment. Marvell's PIPE solution also integrates fast-fail-over and resiliency functionality for high availability applications.

Marvell noted that it collaborated with leading ODMs and OEMs to deliver Prestera PX-ready platforms for ToR switch applications. Samples and reference designs for the Prestera PX family of solutions are available immediately.

In October 2016, Marvell introduced an optimised 25 Gigabit Ethernet end-to-end data centre solution designed as an alternative to 10 Gigabit Ethernet solutions and to provide more computing bandwidth and improved efficiency to help operators handle increasing data traffic volumes. The 25 Gigabit Ethernet solution integrates its IEEE 25/100 Gigabit Ethernet-compliant Prestera switches and Alaska Ethernet transceivers and targets ToR applications.

Marvel claims that the Prestera devices with integrated 25 Gbit/s PHYs enable data centres to breach the 1 W per-25 Gbit/s port barrier for 25 Gbit/s ToR applications.

https://www.marvell.com/

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Italy's TIM Eyes 5G Rollout in Turin

TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile) has announced that Turin will become the first Italian city and amongst the first in Europe to have a new 5G mobile network, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between TIM and the municipality of Turin.

TIM stated that by 2018 Turin, where its innovation and development centre is based, will be the site of its first 5G technology trial in a metropolitan area, designed to support the development of a new generation mobile network. The Turin 5G project will include the gradual extension of the new mobile broadband infrastructure to the municipal urban area, with the objective of covering the entire city by 2020.

Through the new MoU, TIM plans to install starting in 2017 more than 100 small cells in key areas of the city, including Via Roma, Via Po, Via Garibaldi, Via Lagrange and Piazza Vittorio, in the Quadrilatero Romano, and in the areas where the Polytechnic University and University of Turin are located. The new small cells will be in addition to the 200 mobile ultra-broadband sites that TIM will use to enhance radio coverage in the city, and the new network will be supported by its fibre infrastructure that already covers most of the city.

As part of this initiative, Turin has been nominated by TIM as the Italian 5G city to serve as the preferred location for activities envisaged in the 5G Action Plan of the European Commission, which aims to speed up development through launching trials and subsequently public use of the new technology, commencing with the main metropolitan areas. As such, Turin is expected to form part of the first pan-European network of 5G interconnected cities.

The planned trial in Turin will involve up to 3,000 users, who will be able to utilise the high performances and transmission speeds, as well as new experimental services and applications, provided by the city administration over TIM's 5G network. Specifically, TIM will provide the city of Turin with new smart city services in the areas of public security, transport management and information services.

Earlier in March, TIM and Ericsson announced they would strengthen their cooperation relating to the development of 5G technology via a MoU designed to accelerate the evolution towards 5G. The agreement will focus on the design and testing of access infrastructure, antenna systems and network virtualisation, in particular through joint participation in Italian and European research projects and integration of service platforms for testing in the field. The agreement is part of the 5G for Italy initiative launched by TIM and Ericsson last year.

Regarding the initiative, Giuseppe Recchi, executive chairman of TIM, said, "(TIM's) business plan includes Euro 11 billion of investments in 3 years, Euro 5 billion of which will be dedicated to developing the new ultra-broadband networks… (to support) future fast connections and the development of cities".

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Inphi Intros 64 Gbaud SMT Driver

Inphi, a supplier of high-speed data transfer interconnects, announced sampling of its IN6417SZ device, claimed to be the first 64 Gbaud quad linear differential to single-ended Mach-Zehnder modulator driver delivered in a 14 x 9 mm SMT package.

The new 64 Gbaud SMT quad linear driver, which follows the companies announcement at ECOC 2016 of 64 Gbaud TIAs, extends Inphi's 64 Gbaud product portfolio that targets next-generation 400/600 Gbit/s coherent, long haul and metro optical interconnect applications.

Inphi noted that with growing demand for bandwidth, service providers and data centre operators are demanding more efficient technologies, such as flexible coherent DWDM transmission, which require components capable of supporting multiple modulation formats and baud rates. The new IN6417SZ product is designed to work with higher order modulation schemes for a range of data rates up to 600 Gbit/s on a single wavelength.

Inphi previously announced sampling of the IN6450TA 64 Gbaud dual channel linear TIA/VGA amplifier at ECOC in September 2016. The device supports data rates up to 600 Gbit/s per wavelength for long haul, metro and data centre interconnect networks using coherent technology.

In November 2016, Inphi announced a definitive agreement to acquire ClariPhy Communications, a provider of ultra-high-speed systems-on-chip (SoCs) for multi-terabit data, long haul and metro networking markets. ClariPhy specifically offered coherent DSP technology for long and short reach DWDM applications.

Inphi noted at the time that the acquired technology would enable it to offer coherent DSP, TIA and drivers for long haul and metro markets, direct-detect PAM DSP-based solutions for DCI edge applications and NRZ and PAM short reach solutions for inside the data centre. In addition, in components it stated that ClariPhy would bring TIA, driver, silicon photonics, coherent DSP, PAM and NRZ physical layer technology.

https://www.inphi.com/

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Tata Power selects Nokia IP/MPLS network in Delhi

Nokia announced that it has provided major Indian power utility Tata Power Delhi Distribution (TATA Power-DDL) with an advanced IP/MPLS network to support the management of its electrical grid in its area of operation across north and north-west Delhi.

The deployment is designed to enable TATA Power-DDL to support both mission-critical operational services and traditional business and IT services leveraging a single communications network. Leveraging the new IP/MPLS network, TATA Power-DDL can support most of its operational and business services using a single network for enhanced operational efficiency.

The IP/MPLS network features Nokia's 7210 Service Access Switch and 7705 Service Aggregation Router portfolios and is designed to support the applications required by utilities, for example Asymmetric Delay Control, a feature developed by Nokia to help ensure network stability for critical teleprotection services. The network is managed by Nokia's 5620 Service Aware Manager system.

For the project, Nokia also provided professional services including network design, installation, commissioning and integration, and will provide ongoing maintenance services and support.

Nokia noted that TATA Power-DDL is the first power utility in India to implement teleprotection service utilising Line-Differential Relay (LDR) over an IP/MPLS network. This capability is a key requirement for operating and maintaining a reliable and safe electric grid. Teleprotection enables fault detection and trip breakers for isolation of specific sections of the grid to contain the affects of a fault to a localised region.

Additional mission-critical services supported by the new network include supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), integrated surveillance system, distribution management system and distribution automation. The network will also enable TATA Power-DDL to support emerging smart grid applications such as distributed energy resources, mobile workforce management systems and automated demand response.

In October 2016, Nokia announced it had delivered a solution with IP/MPLS and optical technology to Swiss electricity transmission system operator Swissgrid as part of its Grid Control Network to enable the management of its electricity grid and specifically support monitoring and switching for electricity transmission.

The project included Nokia's 7705 Service Aggregation Router and 7750 Service Router portfolio, with the xWDM network layer based on the 1830 Photonic Service Switch.

http://www.nokia.com

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Vodafone teams with Huawei for 10G over fibre in Spain

Vodafone and Huawei announced that at Mobile World Congress they demonstrated an ultra-fast fibre broadband connection delivering a download speed of nearly 10 Gbit/s designed to support services such as ultra HD (UHD) 8K video, big data, virtual reality (VR) and 3D augmented reality (AR), remote healthcare and online gaming.

At MWC, Vodafone demonstrated simultaneous support for viewing of UHD 4K video and data download at gigabit speeds.

Vodafone Spain announced in January that it planned to upgrade its hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) network to enable symmetrical data rates of more than 1 Gbit/s upstream and downstream. In addition, the operator noted that in addition to upgrading its existing network to DOCSIS 3.1, it planned to implement a new distributed architecture involving extending fibre closer to optical sites to deliver higher bandwidth for end users.

For the project, Vodafone Spain has adopted Huawei's DOCSIS 3.1-based distributed converged cable access platform (D-CCAP) solution as part of a DOCSIS 3.1 network deployment designed to offer advantages including: increased bandwidth per user by expanding the spectrum range and improving modulation efficiency; improved operation and enhanced network quality; greater flexibility and scalability, with the ability to upgrade the HFC network or deploy a full FTTH network.

Vodafone noted that work to modernise the network has commenced in the main cities in Spain, and will extend to the whole country over the forthcoming months.

In mid-2016, Huawei and Vodafone Spain announced the launch of Madrid Tech City, a project intended to position Madrid as a leading global technology city. The companies noted that the initiative had already provided access to 4G+ mobile network with peak data rates of 600 Mbit/s. Vodafone and Huawei also planned to implement NB-IoT (narrowband - Internet of Things) technology to connect devices and sensors and enable the launch of new services such as: intelligent parking.

http://www.vodafone.com
http://www.huawei.com

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Finisar reports Q3 revenue of $380.59m, up 23.1% yr/yr

Finisar, a global provider of subsystems and components for fibre optic communications, announced financial results for its third quarter of fiscal year 2017, ended January 29, 2017, as follows.

1. Revenue for the third quarter of 2017 of $380.59 million, up 2.9% compared with $369.86 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2017 and up 23.1% from $309.21 million in the third quarter of 2016.

2. Gross profit for the third quarter of $136.64 million, up 2.2% compared with $133.68 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2017 and up 55.8% from $87.74 million in the third quarter of 2016.

3. R&D expenditure for the third quarter of $54.59 million, up 2.6% compared with $53.24 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2017 and up 9.6% from $49.84 million in the third quarter of 2016.

4. SG&A expenditure for the third quarter of $26.33 million, down 2.3% compared with $26.94 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2017 and down 1.6% from $26.77 million in the third quarter of 2016.

5. Total operating expenditure for t

he third quarter of $81.73 million, up 1.5% compared with $80.53 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2017 and up 5.7% from $77.28 million in the third quarter of 2016.

6. On a GAAP basis, net income for the third quarter of $46.39 million, compared with net income of $48.76 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2017 and net income of $12.08 million in the third quarter of 2016.

On a non-GAAP basis, net income for the third quarter of $67.20 million, compared with net income of $65.15 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2017 and net income of $26.60 million in the third quarter of 2016.

7. Cash and cash equivalents as of January 31, 2017 of $240.59 million, compared with $282.96 million as at October 30, 2016 and $280.41 million as at July 31, 2016.

Additional results and notes

Finisar noted that in the third quarter, sales of datacom products increased by $7.3 million (2.8%) compared to the second quarter, due primarily to growth in demand for 100 Gbit/s transceivers, with sales of 100 Gbit/s transceivers for datacom applications up approximately 9% compared to the second quarter, and over 110% compared to the third quarter of the prior year.
Sales of telecom products in the third quarter increased by $3.5 million (3.2%) compared to the second quarter, based primarily on higher sales of wavelength selective switch and ROADM line card products, driven by demand from Chinese OEM customers.

Outlook

For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017, Finisar currently expects revenue in the range $360 to $380 million, representing a sequential decline of 2.8% at the midpoint. http://www.finisar.com

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