Nokia launches AirFrame Open Edge Server for Cloud RAN and based on OCP principles

Nokia introduced an Edge Cloud data center server for low-latency data processing demands of Cloud RANs, content caching and next-gen mobile application.

The Nokia AirFrame open edge cloud server is designed for deployment alongside base stations in 5G networks. It supports acceleration modules powered by the Nokia ReefShark chipset for 4G and 5G functions and applications, including Cloud RAN and content delivery, crypto and other applications. The server uses the latest Intel Xeon processors. Nokia said the design is inspired by Open Compute Project principles.

The AirFrame chassis supports up to five servers, each with a single Xeon processor.

Nokia is also providing a real-time, Open Platform for NFV (OPNFV)-compatible, OpenStack-distribution built to run in small data centers while providing the performance and low latency required by the edge environment. Commercial shipments are expected in Q3.

"The edge cloud will play an essential role in delivering the compute power required for 5G. By expanding our AirFrame and 5G Future X portfolio we can provide a network architecture that meets the needs of any operator and their customers. Used with the Nokia ReefShark chipset and our real-time cloud infrastructure software, the Nokia AirFrame open edge server will deliver the right decentralization of 4G and 5G networks. We can work with operators to ensure that data center capabilities are deployed exactly where they are needed to manage demands as they expand their service offering," stated Marc Rouanne, president of Mobile Networks at Nokia.

In January 2018, Nokia unveiled its ReefShark 5G chipsets for radio frequency (RF) units such as the radio used in antennas. The chipsets, which were developed in-house, significantly improve radio performance resulting in halving the size of massive MIMO antennas. Nokia says its ReefShark chipsets also reduce power consumption in baseband units by 64%, compared to current technology.

The ReefShark chipsets comprise:

• ReefShark Digital Front End for LTE and 5G radio systems supporting massive MIMO
• ReefShark RFIC front-end module and transceiver: massive MIMO Adaptive Antenna solution
• ReefShark Baseband Processor: All-in-one compute heavy design, capable of supporting the massive scale requirements of 5G. This is the brain power of baseband processing.

The ReefShark chipsets for compute capacity are delivered as plug-in units for the commercially available Nokia AirScale baseband module. The new plug-in units triple throughput from 28 Gbps today to up to 84 Gbps per module. Additionally, AirScale baseband module chaining supports base station throughputs of up to 6 terabits per second. Nokia said this level of performance will allow operators to meet the huge growing densification demands and support the massive enhanced mobile broadband needs of people and devices in megacities.

Nokia also announced that it is working with 30 operators using ReefShark and will ramp up field deployments during the third quarter of 2018.

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Chairman of ZTE says U.S. export ban is "unfair and unreasonable"

The Chairman of ZTE, Mr. Yin Yimin, issued a public statement acknowledging that the company is "in a very difficult situation," stating that his team is doing its utmost to solve this situation through active communication, and imploring the company's 80,000 employees to "be stable-minded and perform their respective duties."

The public statement comes nine days after the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has imposed a denial of export privileges order against ZTE for false statements in the case of shipping restricted technologies to Iran and North Korea during a period of international sanctions. The order prohibits the export of any item from the United States to ZTE.

In his statement, Mr. Yin Yimin describes the decision made by the U.S. Department of Commerce as "unfair and unreasonable punishment" and that the U.S. side is making a trade issue into a political one.

ZTE also noted that it owns over 69,000 global patents and that it has been a major contributor to global 5G standardization.

"Certainly, we shall strengthen our technological investment to make us more competitive,” said Mr. Yin Yimin. ZTE has been insisting in the independent innovation of key technologies and extending its R&D investment. The company’s R&D expenditure was RMB 12.96 billion in 2017, covering 11.9 % of its revenue.  ZTE has been continuously extending its investment in 5G R&D and related fields. To date, ZTE has formed a 5G R&D team with more than 4,500 professionals and annually invested around RMB 3 billion in 5G wireless R&D."

http://www.zte.com.cn/global/about/press-center/press-clipping/201804/201804232355

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WSJ: Huawei under criminal investigation by U.S. authorities

The FBI is investigating Huawei over possible exports of prohibited technologies to Iran in violation of international sanctions. The case could lead to a ban on the export of products from the U.S. to Huawei, as happened earlier this month with ZTE. 

There has been no official confirmation of an investigation. Huawei has not commented on the reports.

The news sent share prices down for many suppliers of silicon and optical components.

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AT&T's Q1 revenue dips 1% yoy, but net income rises - FirstNet rollout underway

AT&T reported a slight dip in overall sales in Q1 but higher net income even as CAPEX rises for network upgrades, fiber upgrades, and FirstNet rollouts. The company said it is on track to launch 5G mobile services in a dozen U.S. cities this year.

“We’re off to a good start in 2018, both in growing our customer base and in building the world’s premier gigabit network,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T Chairman and CEO. “Our investment in customer growth and our integrated service offerings helped drive solid first-quarter subscriber gains across our wireless, video and broadband businesses. We also moved quickly to deploy FirstNet, and we expect the buildout to accelerate as we go forward. Our fiber deployments for business and residential customers now pass more than 16 million customer locations. And we’re set to launch our next-generation DIRECTV NOW platform, which will offer cloud DVR and an additional video stream.”

Revenues for the first quarter totaled $38.0 billion versus $39.4 billion in the year-ago quarter, primarily due to the impact of new accounting rules for revenue recognition (ASC 606) which included netting of USF with operating expenses. On a comparative basis, declines in legacy wireline services, domestic video, and wireless service revenues, were partially offset by growth in wireless equipment and strategic business services. On a comparative basis, revenues were $38.9 billion, a decrease of 1.1%. Operating expenses were $31.8 billion versus $33.0 billion primarily due to the netting of USF and other regulatory fee revenues and the deferral of commissions under ASC 606. Excluding those impacts, operating expenses were $33.4 billion, an increase of about $350 million due to higher wireless equipment costs.

Net income attributable to AT&T was $4.7 billion, or $0.75 per diluted share, versus $3.5 billion, or $0.56 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.

Cash from operating activities was $8.9 billion, and capital expenditures were $6.1 billion. Capital expenditures included about $140 million in FirstNet capital costs and no FirstNet reimbursements.

Wireless highlights

• Strong year-over-year improvement in postpaid phone net adds
• Continued prepaid growth with 192,000 phone net adds
• Nearly 500,000 branded smartphones added to base
• Q1 postpaid phone churn of 0.84%
• 3.2 million total wireless net adds, including 2.6 million in U.S., driven by connected devices and prepaid, and 543,000 in Mexico

Entertainment Group highlights

• 312,000 DIRECTV NOW net adds to reach nearly 1.5 million subscribers
• 125,000 total video net adds with DIRECTV NOW stabilizing total video customer base since DIRECTV acquisition
• 154,000 IP broadband net adds; 82,000 total broadband net adds; more than 8 million customer locations passed with fiber

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Belgium’s Proximus picks Skylane Optics for FTTH rollout

Skylane Optics, a privately-held company based in Belgium that supplies a wide range of optical transceivers and other photonic devices, announced a collaborative agreement with Proximus, a telecommunication & ICT company operating in Belgium and other international markets. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“We work with two-thirds of the major European telecommunications operators.  Being able to supply fiber optics to all Belgian homes is a first and we’re over the moon about it”, stated Quentin Bolle, Marketing & Communication Manager.

Earlier this year, Proximus announced a plan to invest EUR 3 billion to accelerate the rollout of fibre across Belgium.

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Innovium raises $77M in Series D for its Switching Silicon

Innovium, a start-up based in San Jose, California, announced $77 Million in Series D funding for its high-performance switching silicon for data centers.

The new funding round included investment from Greylock Partners, Walden Everbright, Walden Riverwood Ventures, Paxion Capital, Capricorn Investment Group, Redline Capital, S-Cubed Capital and Qualcomm Ventures. This brings total funding in the company to over $160 million.

“Data center networks are experiencing dramatic traffic growth and face new requirements, driven by public and hybrid cloud, machine learning, analytics, storage and video. Innovium’s grounds-up innovations have enabled a revolutionary platform for a family of products, delivering the industry’s next generation of performance, programmability, cost/bit and robust features. We are excited to significantly increase our investment in Innovium, to help the company accelerate its production, roadmap, and go-to-market efforts,” said Asheem Chandna, Partner at Greylock Partners.

Innovium Unveils 12.8Tbps Data Center Switching Silicon

Tuesday, March 14, 2017  Innovium, Silicon, Silicon Valley, Start-Ups, Switch  No Comments

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 dat

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F5's revenue rises 2.9% yoy to $533.3M

F5 Networks posted revenue of $533.3 million for the second quarter of its fiscal 2018, up 2.9% from $518.2 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2017.

GAAP net income for the second quarter of fiscal 2018 was $109.6 million, or $1.77 per diluted share, compared to $93.1 million, or $1.43 per diluted share in the second quarter of fiscal 2017.

“We had solid execution across the organization during the second quarter,” said François Locoh-Donou, F5 President and Chief Executive Officer. "Our software business had another quarter of outstanding growth, driven by deployments in the public cloud, and our Services organization continues to deliver tremendous value to our customers and strong financial performance.

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