TIP Summit: Progress Report

At the third annual the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) Summit underway this week in London, Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica and Vodafone announced a request for information (RFI) to investigate how they can adopt TIP technologies, which are supported by a growing ecosystem of vendors and manufacturers.

The five TIP Project Groups — mmWave Networks, Open Optical Packet Transport, OpenCellular, OpenRAN and vRAN Fronthaul — are presenting their progress in bringing their technologies to market.

Axel Clauberg, TIP Chairman and Vice President, Technology Innovation, Deutsche Telekom AG, posted the following highlights:

Radio Access Networks (RANs)

OpenRAN RFI: Vodafone and Telefonica have contributed a joint specification to the OpenRAN Project Group and are now announcing the vendors they’ve selected as the leading candidates to produce interoperable RAN solutions: Altiostar, Mavenir, and Parallel Wireless. Next stages involve deployments in the field, with trials of OpenRAN platforms with Facebook alongside Vodafone in Turkey and Telefónica in Latin America.

vRAN Fronthaul Trials: The vRAN Fronthaul project group is now actively driven by more than 10 operators, including Vodafone, CableLabs, BT, Telecom Italia (TIM), Orange, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio. The lead operators, CableLabs, BT, TIM and Airtel are all testing a range of vRAN solutions in our TIP Community Labs, including G.Fast (BT), ethernet (TIM) microwave (Airtel) and DOCSIS (CableLabs).

Crowdcell Project Group RFI: In August, Vodafone and Telefónica released a second set of RFIs, this time for CrowdCell technology to boost indoor 4G coverage. Today, they released the results of their RFI processes, selecting Lime Microsystems and Alpha Networks for providing an e2e Crowdcell platform. Through these RFIs the operators have created a consolidated view on the state of the open ecosystem for Crowdcell platforms, including key vendors, integrators, and innovators.

OpenCellularTrials: In addition to ongoing OpenCellular trials, the OpenCellular project group announced that the TIP Community Lab is using software from TIP members Nokia and Accelleran. Accelleran is combining the OpenCellular standard platform with its Carrier Grade LTE software and support services, integrating with Nokia’s Kuha Community Management system. The resulting solution will be incorporated into the UK’s 5G RuralFirst initiative and move from lab test to field trial deployment.

Other areas

mmWave RFI and Trials: numerous members are piloting mmWave technologies in global trials and sub-groups focused on solving deployment challenges associated with mmWave frequencies. Deutsche Telekom, co-chair of the project group, intends to publish an RFI for 60 GHz Fixed Wireless technology to provide gigabit connectivity. In addition, Deutsche Telekom subsidiary Magyar Telekom contributed a case study about its trial deployment using Facebook’s mmWave technology, Terragraph. The case study highlights some of the results and key learnings coming out of the trial.

Open Optical Packet Transport: Voyager, an industry-first open and disaggregated transport device has just become generally available from ADVA Optical. The success of the collaboration model served as a base for a new sub-group: Disaggregated Cell Site Gateways, where four tier-1 operators – Vodafone, Telefónica, Orange, and TIM Brazil – have worked together to define their technical needs for 5G cell site routers, and with the initial two partners, ADVA Optical and Edgecore Networks, announcing their commitment to produce “Odyssey-DCSG”, the first implementation of technology that meets those needs.

End-to-End Network Slicing White Paper and Trials: The End-to-End Network Slicing Project Group is sharing a white paper “Creating a Network Slicing Ecosystem through TIP” defining various applications for network slicing in 4G and 5G networks. The Project Group, led by BT and HPE, is currently testing and evaluating 4G proof of concepts with a roadmap to extend these efforts to 5G use cases.

Edge Computing Trials: The Edge Computing Project Group entered into two new trials in the BT Community Lab testing two edge computing use cases: mission critical drone control and high bandwidth content caching. The Project Group is also continuing the Telefonica lab trials with the goal of sharing learnings by the end of the year.

Welcoming Edge Application Developers Project Group to TIP: This group, led by Deutsche Telekom and Intel, will focus on developing public APIs and software tools that make it easy for developers to build the next generation of mobile applications on operators edge infrastructure.

Full blog posting:
https://telecominfraproject.com/accelerating-the-future-of-telecom-tech/

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TIP Summit: a Transponder Abstraction Interface for Voyager

At the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) Summit in London, Cumulus Networks announced a Transponder Abstraction Interface (TAI) that defines an API for providing a vendor-independent way to control transponders from various vendors and implementations in a uniform manner.

Cumulus said TAI removes the friction for Network OS vendors to support new hardware while allowing chip vendors to take their solutions to market more easily with existing network software that can support them out of the box.

Cumulus Networks wrote the initial reference device driver and open sourced it through the Telecom Infra Project GitHub repository. The company said that since announcing its intent to make Cumulus Linux available on Voyager at last year’s Telecom Infra Project Summit, it has conducted trials of Voyager with Vodafone, NYSERNet, Internet2, GRnet and CESNET. The launch of TAI furthers Cumulus’ goal of bringing open, optical networking solutions to the industry at large.

“Over the last year, we have increased our efforts to bring innovative solutions to TIP and Voyager so that customers can face the challenges of running efficient, packet optical networks at scale,” said JR Rivers, CTO of Cumulus Networks. “We are thrilled to introduce TAI to customers today and we look forward to continuing our efforts with TIP, Facebook, ADVA and others to bring more solutions like this to market.”

“We are excited to see how multiple partners are working together to solve the integration challenge. This is an important step towards making disaggregated solutions evolve faster, and we’re pleased to see how Cumulus has been one of the leaders of the initiative,” said Luis MartinGarcia, Network Technologies Manager, Facebook.

“One of the reasons that there’s such a buzz around our Voyager packet optical solution is Cumulus. Their software is a clear differentiator and it really injects the whole product offering with tremendous ease of use,” said Niall Robinson, VP of Global Business Development at ADVA. “With their new TAI, they’re continuing to push the boundaries of openness and disaggregation into the Voyager project and remove friction from the entire ecosystem.”

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TIP Summit: Edgecore developing Odyssey-DCSG, the Cell Site Gateway

Edgecore Networks announced plans for Odyssey-DCSG, an open networking cell site gateway that conforms to the Disaggregated Cell Site Gateway (DCSG) specification developed by Vodafone, Telefonica, Orange, and TIM Brazil within the Telecom Infra Project (TIP).

Edgecore said it will contribute the complete hardware design of the cell site gateway to TIP, and will make the Odyssey-DCSG product generally available in Q3 2019.

The Edgecore Odyssey-DCSG gateway will enable service providers to deploy 4G and 5G wireless services with the economies of disaggregated open network technology.

“The next generation of mobile networks need disaggregated open infrastructures that offer choice, innovation, and cost efficiencies,” said Luis MartinGarcia, Co-Lead, Disaggregated Cell Site Gateways project group, TIP, and Network Technologies Manager, Facebook. “Leading network operators have worked with the DCSG group to define the specific requirements for cell site gateways to enable this infrastructure. We are pleased with Edgecore’s contributions to that work, and their commitment to develop and deliver the DCSG gateway to the market as a fully open network product.”

http://www.edge-core.com

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Qualcomm intros 60GHz Wi-Fi chipsets, supports Facebook's Terragraph

Qualcomm introduced a family of 60GHz Wi-Fi chipsets, delivering 10+ Gbps network speeds and wire-equivalent latency.

The 60GHz Wi-Fi portfolio (QCA64x8 and QCA64x1) support 60GHz Wi-Fi Sensing applications like proximity and presence detection, gesture recognitions, room mapping with precise location and improved facial feature detection.

Qualcomm notes that it is the first-to-market with a 60GHz Wi-Fi solution with optimizations based on the 802.11ay specification, enabling best-in-class 60GHz Wi-Fi speeds. The devices also set a new low-power benchmark for extended device battery life.

“mmWave holds enormous potential to support a new class of user experiences, and Qualcomm Technologies is leading the charge with both its Qualcomm Snapdragon™ X50 5G NR modem family and unlicensed 60GHz Wi-Fi mmWave solution,” said Rahul Patel, senior vice president and general manager, connectivity and networking, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Our 11ay solutions were developed with the flexibility to support a broad ecosystem of smartphone, router or fixed wireless access platforms and provides the industry with the critical building blocks needed to take connectivity performance to the next level.”

Qualcomm’s family of 11ay 60GHz Wi-Fi chipsets includes QCA6438 and QCA6428 for infrastructure and fixed wireless access, and the QCA6421 and QCA6431 for mobile applications.

Qualcomm is working with Facebook to deliver high-speed internet connectivity with Facebook’s Terragraph technology through the development of a multi-node wireless system based on the QCA6438 and QCA6428 chipsets.

http://www.qualcomm.com

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Arista integrates Mojo wireless into its campus architcture

Arista Networks unveiled the next phase in its campus architecture by introducing wireless networking into its CloudVision platform.

The wireless capabilities, which are based on Arista's acquisition of Mojo Networks, include access points for a controller-less wireless network. These AP solutions are available in disaggregated options harnessing the power of cloud, machine learning and cognitive computing to deliver great experiences to WiFi users.

Arista's CloudVision's Device Analyzer provides inventory and deep flow analysis of all connected devices. Arista said campus administrators can access device type, connectivity method, location and communication patterns. This visibility enables an administrator to identify unauthorized traffic and compromised endpoints. Since CloudVision spans the data center and the campus, customers can leverage a single platform for end-to-end troubleshooting.

The Arista Cognitive WiFi software and family of disaggregated access points is available now, including the new Client Journey and WiFi Tracer feature sets. Arista’s CloudVision for Campus is available in Q4 2018 for early field trials and general availability in the first half of 2019.

Arista’s Cognitive WiFi is based on a similar CMP model for cognitive analytics unifying the operational experience across wired and wireless. CloudVision WiFi enhances real-time insight into the experience of WiFi clients to connect and utilize the network.

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ADTRAN posted Q3 revenue of $140.3 million

ADTRAN reported third quarter 2018 revenue of $140.3 million compared to $185.1 million for the third quarter of 2017. Net income was $7.6 million compared to $15.9 million for the third quarter of 2017. Earnings per share, assuming dilution, were $0.16 compared to $0.33 for the third quarter of 2017.

Non-GAAP earnings per share were $0.21 compared to $0.37 for the third quarter of 2017. GAAP earnings per share include the expense of stock-based compensation, acquisition related amortizations and other expenses, and restructuring expenses. The reconciliation between GAAP earnings per share, diluted, and non-GAAP earnings per share, diluted, is in the table provided.

ADTRAN Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tom Stanton stated, “Total revenue for the quarter grew 10% sequentially, including the effect of a late start to our G.fast shipments to the Asia-Pacific region. Notwithstanding the G.fast shipment impact, our third quarter results showed strong improvements in gross margins and operating expenses. On a regional basis, sales contributions followed typical seasonal patterns with growth in the Americas, expected seasonal declines in Europe and growth in Asia-Pacific, driven by new customer activity. Looking forward, we are very encouraged by the continued momentum in ultra-broadband shipments to both carriers and MSOs globally as service providers continue to evolve their networks to meet changing customer expectations.”

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NTT Com to build massive data center in London

e-shelter, which is a subsidiary of NTT Communications that operates over 400,000 square meters of data center space in many facilities, will develop a new data center campus in Dagenham, East London.

The new campus will be known as “UK London 1 Data Center” (London 1) and is capable of up to 24,000 sqm IT space and 60MW IT load once fully developed. The project also involves Gyron, the NTT Com owned UK operator which is currently being integrated with e-shelter to create a combined pan-European operating platform. Construction will begin next month. Phase one, with an initial 8MW IT load, is targeted to be ready for December 2019, with five further phases planned to follow.

“We are delighted to have now received planning permission at our Dagenham site and we look forward to developing our industry leading data center campus there, which is the latest addition to our growing pan European platform.” said Rupprecht Rittweger, CEO of e-shelter and Gyron. “London is a major global data center market and this development is driven by continued demand from our customers and partners.”

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Luna Innovations acquires Micron Optics -- optical measurement

Luna Innovations, which specializes in high-performance fiber optic-based test products for the telecommunications industry and distributed fiber optic-based sensing for the aerospace and automotive industries, has acquired Micron Optics, a provider of optical components and laser-based measurement technology. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Micron Optics’ sensing and measurement solutions are deployed in multiple industries including in automotive and aerospace, Luna’s core customer base.

“This acquisition exemplifies execution of the strategy we’ve developed. The acquisition of Micron Optics fits squarely within our core technology platform and target markets, and we believe will act as a catalyst to accelerate growth,” said Scott Graeff, President and Chief Executive Officer of Luna. “We are focused on scaling our two vertical markets – structural testing and sensing as well as communications testing – with a particular emphasis on the growing aerospace and automotive areas. We intend to drive growth organically and through the strategic deployment of capital. This acquisition is a prudent use of capital that is quickly accretive to our earnings, consistent with the parameters I’ve outlined previously, in terms of driving long-term value creation.”

Luna divests its Optoelectronics division to OSI

Wednesday, August 01, 2018  Luna  

Luna Innovations has sold its Optoelectronic Solutions (OPTO) business to OSI Optoelectronics, a subsidiary of OSI Systems, for up to $18.5 million. Luna’s OPTO division designs and manufactures fully integrated photonic solutions. Luna acquired the business in 2015 as part of its merger with Advanced Photonix. The division reported revenue of $13.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2017. As part of the transaction, employees associated with...

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Luna sells optical receivers business to MACOM for $29.5m

Thursday, August 10, 2017  MACOM, Mergers & Acquisitions, Optical  

Luna Innovations, supplier of products for the aerospace, automotive, energy, defence and telecommunications markets, announced that MACOM Technology Solutions has agreed to buy the assets and operations related to its high-speed optical receivers (HSOR) business.The purchase price includes $29.5 million to be paid in cash at closing and an additional $4.0 million to be held in escrow until December 15, 2018 for possible working capital adjustments...

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T-Mobile to power its Bellevue HQ with 100% renewable energy by 2021

T-Mobile announced its commitment to power its Bellevue, Wash., headquarters with 100% renewable energy by 2021.

T-Mobile has previously announced an RE 100 clean energy commitment to use 100% renewable energy across the entire company by 2021.

“At T-Mobile, we really mean it when we say we're going to clean up wireless for good … and in this case that means cleaning up our impact on the planet by making a BIG commitment to renewable energy,” said John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile. “We've put a stake in the ground to go 100% renewable by 2021 -- because it's the right thing to do and it's smart business.”

http://www.t-mobile.com/responsibility/sustainability

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Twilio to acquire SendGrid for $2 billion in stock

Twilio agreed to acquire SendGrid in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $2 billion.

SendGrid specializes in trusted email delivery. Twilio operates an API-driven cloud communications platform.

Twilio said the company would offer developers a single, best-in-class platform to manage all of their important communication channels -- voice, messaging, video, and now email as well.

“Increasingly, our customers are asking us to solve all of their strategic communications challenges - regardless of channel. Email is a vital communications channel for companies around the world, and so it was important to us to include this capability in our platform," said Jeff Lawson, Twilio's co-founder and chief executive officer. "The two companies share the same vision, the same model, and the same values. We believe this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring together the two leading developer-focused communications platforms to create the unquestioned platform of choice for all companies looking to transform their customer engagement.”

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Sierra Wireless names Kent Thexton as CEO and Robin Abrams as Chair

Sierra Wireless appointed Kent Thexton as president & CEO.

Thexton has been serving as interim president & CEO since May 31st, 2018. Previously, Thexton was founding Chief Marketing Officer and board member of O2 plc in the U.K. (now part of Telefonica); the Chief Operating Officer of Rogers Cantel in Canada; and he co-founded a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) business in the U.S. Mr. Thexton has spent the past five years in Canada as Managing Partner at OMERS Ventures and Co-founder and General Partner at ScaleUp Ventures.

On accepting his role as President & CEO, Mr. Thexton commented: “I am passionate about Sierra Wireless’s global leadership opportunity and honored to lead the company on a permanent basis. For the past four months, in my interim role, I experienced the strong position Sierra Wireless has in the global market and the major opportunity ahead with its strengthening service and solutions business. With dynamic evolutions in the IoT market, I am certain that a clear, aggressive strategy for the company is critical in directing our resources towards key growth opportunities.”

In addition, Robin Abrams, who has served on the company’s board since 2010, has been appointed by the Board of Directors to be the new Chair replacing Mr. Thexton who joined the board in March 2005 and has served as Chair since February 2016. In her new role, Ms. Abrams brings more than 30 years of experience in the technology industry having held key management positions for some of the world’s most high-profile technology companies, including Apple, VeriFone, and Palm Computing. Ms. Abrams is currently an active director on three other Boards of U.S. based technology companies.

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ADVA launches TIP Voyager packet/optical

ADVA announced commercial availability of its open and disaggregated packet optical solution based on the Telecom Infra Project's (TIP) Voyager system.

The Voyager packet optical terminal essentially combines optical transport with packet switching and routing in one extremely compact device. Wrapped around this white box terminal and its operating system, ADVA provides an open line system, network management capabilities and a full range of à la carte services, including installation, commissioning, maintenance and monitoring.

ADVA said its Voyager solution presents customers with a turnkey approach to developing packet optical networks that can be integrated into their existing architectures. 

By combining hardware, software and services from multiple partners in one unique bundle, customers benefit from an easy-to-use and completely open solution. Long-term Voyager partners, Celestica and Cumulus, have played key roles in bringing the new packet optical solution to market and will be instrumental with the first customer deployments.

“Today isn't only about delivering an industry first; it's about taking a moment to realize what everyone involved in this project has achieved,” said Niall Robinson, VP, global business development, ADVA. “In just over two years, we've worked with multiple partners to develop a completely open and disaggregated packet optical solution that presents customers with a genuinely new and hassle-free approach to networking. Together, we've created building blocks that enable our customers to reduce costs and take much of the complexity out of their networks. Ultimately, this is what the project's always been about – openness, simplicity and ease of use.” 

“Our work with ADVA as part of TIP’s Open Optical Packet Transport Project Group has been key to delivering this milestone. We’re pleased to see this project evolve from a simple idea through to commercial realization,” said Hans-Juergen Schmidtke, co-chair, Open Optical Packet Transport project group, TIP, and director, engineering, Facebook. “It will be fascinating to see how the marketplace leverages the Voyager solution and the impact it will have on the industry.”

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ADVA commits to TIP's disaggregated cell site gateway

ADVA announced its commitment to developing a complete commercial solution to support the Telecom Infra Project's (TIP) Disaggregated Cell Site Gateway (DCSG) group.

ADVA said its solution will comprise a fully tested and integrated white box gateway device and a comprehensive bundle of installation, commissioning and monitoring services. ADVA will be working closely with partners, including Edgecore, to develop the cell site gateway device.  Commercial availability is targetted for the second half of 2019. 

“What we're announcing today will give mobile network operators a simple and complete solution to a key problem with their 5G rollouts: How do they cost-effectively deploy hundreds of thousands of cell site gateways to meet 5G traffic demands?” said Niall Robinson, VP, global business development, ADVA. “We're helping to steer the DCSG group forward and rapidly bring a solution to market that answers a very real problem for operators across the globe. What stands us apart here is our previous success in the TIP environment. We know what it takes to push an idea from concept to reality and it’s something we’ll do again here.”

“What we're developing with the team at ADVA has the potential to dramatically change the whole nature of cell site gateways,” said Luis MartinGarcia, co-chair, DCSG project group, TIP, and manager, network technologies, Facebook. “By moving away from a closed proprietary system to an open, disaggregated and vendor-neutral infrastructure, mobile network operators have a genuine opportunity to increase network efficiencies.”

“With ever increasing bandwidth demands and the upcoming rollout of 5G services, mobile networks are perfectly suited for the deployment of high-volume, disaggregated and open network elements, which have been proven to lower costs and increase service flexibility in our customers’ telecom and data center networks,” said Mark Basham, VP, business development, EMEA, Edgecore Networks.

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