Microsemi samples NVMe Gen 4 PCIe controller

Microsemi, which is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microchip Technology, introduced its Flashtec NVMe 3016 Gen 4 PCIe controller.

The device serves high-reliability, high-performance PCIe Gen 4 NVMe solid state drives (SSDs) and is capable of delivering greater than 8 GB per second throughput and more than 2 million IOPS.

It supports enterprise features going beyond the NVMe 1.3 protocol with the latest in security, encryption, virtualization and high availability support. Fast design of PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSDs is enabled with Flashtec firmware development acceleration tools, including an architectural simulator to enable development and debug of firmware independent of silicon.

Microsemi notes triple level-cell (TLC) and quad level-cell (QLC) NAND technologies targeted at the high growth storage end point markets, such as data center, server and storage.

"We're excited to sample our new Flashtec NVMe 3016 controller to enable the next generation of high-performance PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSDs," said Pete Hazen, vice president of Microsemi's Data Center Solutions business unit. "We're working closely with our customers to enable industry-leading solutions based on our highly flexible and programmable controller platform, and to accelerate time to market through our architectural and firmware development tools and support."

Sampling is underway.

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Three UK posts 2% revenue growth in 1H18, signs Huawei for 5G

Three UK reported revenue of £1.19 billion for the first half of 2018, up 2% from 1H17.

Customer service margin was £729 million, up 1%, and EBITDA was £364 million, up 7%.

Operational highlights:

• 6% growth of the active contract customer base; total customer base now 10.1 million
• Contract handset churn at lowest ever level of 1%, a 9% improvement
• Usage per customer of 7.6GB per month, up 10% from 6.9GB
• 84% of customer base using 4G and 75% of data usage on 4G network
• The company secured 20MHz at auction to add to its 5G spectrum portfolio
• The company signed an agreement with SSE to unbundle BT local telephone exchanges to facilitate fibre optic connections of masts to datacentres.
• Three UK is the first UK network to stop selling 3G-only handsets

Three UK also confirmed that it has awarded a new contract to Huawei for its 5G network roll-out.

“Over the course of 2018, we will accelerate the rollout of our 5G network and the opportunity this brings to both our existing and prospective base of customers and partners. All the key components that are needed for a successful 5G service have been procured over the last few years and I am excited by the prospect of trialling 5G soon, working together with our new IT and Core network infrastructure.

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Audi looks at 5G for enhancing its production facilities

Audi is evaluating 5G as a future-proof communication technology that can meet the high demands of automotive production. Audi and Ericsson have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and in the coming months, experts from both companies will run field tests in a technical center of the “Audi Production Lab” in Gaimersheim, Germany.

Frank Loydl, Chief Information Officer at AUDI AG, says: “The fully networked factory will have a significant impact on the production of the future. A powerful network architecture that can respond in real time is of decisive importance for us. As part of the project with our partner Ericsson, we are testing the opportunities offered by 5G technology for industrial applications in the smart factory.”

In addition to the Ingolstadt plant, Audi and Ericsson are exploring whether 5G can be used in other Audi Group factories.

Erik Ekudden, Group CTO at Ericsson, says: “Ericsson is already running 5G industry programs all over the world to help manufacturers boost productivity and create new business opportunities. This project is a great opportunity to see what is possible when we bring 5G into an automobile production environment to truly enable smart wireless manufacturing.”

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Microsoft Azure adds size-flexible, Virtual Machine Instances

Microsoft announced instance size flexibility for Azure Reserved Virtual Machine Instances, a new feature that makes reserved instance purchasing and management even simpler by applying reservation discounts to different This means users no longer have to deploy the exact same VM size to get the benefit of purchased Azure Reserved Instances (RI) as other VM sizes within the same VM group also get the RI discount.

Instance size flexibility will be enabled by default for any existing Azure Reserved Instance with shared scope.

https://azure.microsoft.com

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