Barefoot's Tofino 2 chip delivers 12.8 Tbps switching for 32x400GE

Barefoot Networks is now sampling its Tofino 2 chip, the second generation of its P4-programmable Tofino Ethernet switch application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) family.

Tofino 2 doubles the performance of the first generation Tofino chip, now delivering 12.8 Tbps of packet processing capacity for hyperscale data centers, cloud, enterprise and service provider networks. The device leverages 7nm process technology and is designed for full P4-programmability.

Tofino 2 highlights:

• World’s first 7nm switch ASIC 
• Supports up 32x400GE on a single chip.
• Supports up to 256x10/25/50GE ports on a single chip.
• Fully P4-programmable, enabling various deployment options, from a standard top-of-rack switch to a service provider router, or even a feature-rich switch appliance. 
• Support for unrivaled table sizes for routing, tunnels, and access control lists (ACLs).
• Support for Barefoot SPRINT™- Barefoot's enhanced version of the industry-standard In-band Network Telemetry (INT), providing fine-grained per-packet intelligent real-time visibility of network traffic. 
• Leverages the growing industry-wide P4 Ecosystem supported by multiple switch and network interface controller (NIC) chips.
• Modular architecture enabling rapid integration of 112G SerDes and silicon photonics.

“Until Tofino arrived in 2016, networking switch ASICs hadn’t changed much in 20 years; they all ran pretty much the same tired old features. Our industry is stuck in a dinosaur way of doing things, and it takes years to add new features,” said Nick McKeown, Co-Founder, and Chief Scientist at Barefoot Networks. “Thankfully, networking is changing. Tofino, the first chip based on the PISA architecture, moved protocols - old and new - up and out of hardware into software, where they evolve at the pace of software. Tofino started it, now Tofino 2, at twice the capacity and twice the resources, demonstrates there is no going back. Within five years all switches will be programmable. We believe programming your network should be as easy as programming your computer.”

Customers cited in the Barefoot press release include Goldman Sachs, Cisco, Alibaba Infrastructure Services, Tencent, Baidu, JD Cloud, and Ucloud.

https://www.barefootnetworks.com/products/brief-tofino-2/

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P4 Programmable Data Plane offloads network functions

Thanks to the P4 programming language, the next generation of switches can perform network functions and workloads that previously required dedicated appliances or x86 processing, says Prem Jonnalagadda, Director of Product Management, Barefoot Networks. Prem discusses early use cases and highlights Barefoot's new Tofino 2 silicon. Filmed at ONF Connect.

https://youtu.be/w_SPW03Kh1g

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ADVA transmits 300G wavelengths over trans-Atlantic distance

ADVA successfully transported 300 Gbps per wavelength over a 6,800 km fiber link. The demonstration, which was conducted in partnership with Acacia Communications, used ADVA's FSP 3000 CloudConnect TeraFlex platform.

The companies said the trial was the first in the industry to cover the trans-Atlantic distance with a fiber link typical of a cost-optimized submarine cable using 300 Gbps channels and a commercially available transponder with real-time digital signal processing (DSP). The demo also achieved the highest spectral efficiency for such a link carrying 300 Gbps per wavelength with 70GHz channel spacing.

ADVA’s FSP 3000 TeraFlex technology delivers 36 bidirectional 100 Gbps Ethernet services in a 1RU chassis and can transport up to 600 Gbps on a single wavelength. The modular FSP 3000 TeraFlex provides control over modulation format, symbol rate and channel spacing. The multi-haul solution maximizes the transmission capacity for any given fiber link, from access networks to links spanning submarine distances. As part of the ADVA FSP 3000 CloudConnect platform, it is completely open and programmable. It also delivers real-time telemetry streaming.

“This lab trial proves the power of our FSP 3000 TeraFlex™ to deliver scalable long-haul data transmission with the highest spectral density at the lowest cost-per-bit. It shows subsea and intercontinental network operators that our solution is an ideal choice for transporting enormous amounts of data with the utmost flexibility in symbol rate, modulation format, and channel spacing to maximize the capacity of any given network,” said Sorin Tibuleac, director, system architecture, R&D, ADVA. “We’ve already shown that our FSP 3000 TeraFlex™ supports the growing bandwidth needs of metro DCI infrastructure with successful 600Gbit/s trials. Now we’re proving what it can do over the world’s longest links."

“Triggered by increasing demand for data driven by cloud-based services, we’re seeing a significant expansion in long-haul and subsea cable networks. This trial broadens the horizons of what can be achieved over great distance in terms of capacity and modulation flexibility,” commented Christian Rasmussen, founder and VP, digital signal processing and optics, Acacia Communications.

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Liquid Telecom to invest US$400 million in deal with Telecom Egypt

Liquid Telecom will invest 8 billion Egyptian Pounds (US$400 million) in Egypt over the next three years as part of its partnership with Telecom Egypt on network infrastructure and data centres.

Specifically, Liquid Telecom will make an initial investment of US$50 million in data centres and cloud services. Liquid Telecom plans to invest an additional US$350 million in broadband and financial inclusion initiatives, as well as high capacity data centres.

Liquid Telecom’s expanding network is almost 70,000km in length and is linked to more than 600 towns and cities in 13 countries across Africa.

The investment was announced at the Africa 2018 Forum. The historical agreement was signed by Ahmed El Beheiry, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Telecom Egypt, and Strive Masiyiwa - Group Executive Chairman of Liquid Telecom’s parent company Econet. It was witnessed by Her Excellency Dr. Sahar Nasr, Egyptian Minister of Investment and International Cooperation and His Excellency, Dr Amr Talaat, The Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

According to the Group Executive Chairman of Liquid Telecom’s parent company Econet, Mr Strive Masiyiwa, the next mission is to complete a link between Cairo and Dakar Senegal through Sudan, Chad, and Nigeria, as well as the rest of West Africa. “We have already crossed Africa from East to West through Sudan and Chad. We are at the Nigerian border and we expect to reach Abuja by the end of January in time for the AU Summit. We want to reach Dakar before President El-Sisi finishes his term,” he said.

Mr Masiyiwa also acknowledged the support of President Kagame, adding: “It would have been impossible to reach this far so quickly without his support. He adopted this initiative as a key project during his tenure and has been highly supportive throughout its development. We know President El-Sisi will help us take it to the next level because he understands the vision of Africa.” Mr Masiyiwa expressed his appreciation for leadership support across the continent. He said the ‘One Africa’ model could encourage other entrepreneurs to build projects in complementary sectors, such as rail and power. “We need to push the linkage of our continental power grids, and also rail and air transportation. Now is the time for bold initiatives to build intra African trade and investment.”

Telecom Egypt + Liquid Telecom link Cairo-to-Cape Town terrestrial fiber

Monday, July 16, 2018  Africa, Liquid Telecom, Telecom Egypt  

Telecom Egypt and Liquid Telecom signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to complete the first terrestrial fibre network stretching all the way from Cape Town, South Africa, to Cairo, Egypt.

Under the MoU, Liquid Telecom will link its network from Sudan into Telecom Egypt’s network via a new cross border interconnection – bringing together a 60,000km network that runs from Cape Town, through all the Southern, Central, and Eastern African countries, and has now reached the border between Sudan and Egypt.

As part of the strategic partnership, Liquid Telecom and Telecom Egypt will share network infrastructure and explore further areas of collaboration, including joint network services, a peering arrangement and a voice interconnection agreement.

The Cape to Cairo network - often referred to as “the One Africa” broadband network - has been in the making for over ten years and serves some of the largest global companies with some of the fastest network speeds on the continent.

“Completing our vision of building a single network running on land, all the way from Cape to Cairo is a historic moment for the company and for a more connected Africa. This network not only represents a remarkable engineering achievement that has overcome some of the most challenging distances and terrains on the continent, but it is also supporting the rise of Africa’s digital economies,” said Strive Masiyiwa, Founder and Executive Chairman of Econet.

Liquid Telecom acquires South Africa's Neotel

Wednesday, February 15, 2017  Africa, Liquid Telecom, Neotel, OND, OND News, South Africa, Tata  

Liquid Telecom, a unit of South Africa–based Econet Global has announced that it has completed the acquisition of South African network operator Neotel for approximately ZAR 6.55 billion (approximately $491 million), further expanding its position as a pan-African telecoms company.

Liquid Telecom acquired Neotel from India's Tata Communications and minority shareholders led by Nexus Connexion. Liquid Telecom joined with 30% equity partner Royal Bafokeng Holdings (RBH), a community-based South African investment group, for the acquisition, which received regulatory approval from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) in December 2016. South Africa's Competition Commission approved the deal in October.

Established in 2006, Neotel has invested an estimated ZAR 7 billion in its network, deploying national backbone fibre connecting the top 40 cities and towns in South Africa and to over 5,000 businesses. Neotel operates a major, MEF-certified Ethernet network, while Liquid Telecom is a leading provider of Carrier Ethernet services with MEF Carrier Ethernet 2.0 (CE 2.0) services certification.

Neotel also operates redundant backhaul fibre to landing stations with access to all five of the international subsea cables serving South Africa - SAT-3, SAFE, SEACOM, EASSy and WACS. It was noted that Liquid Telecom owns significant international subsea capacity, and is currently building a subsea cable linking the east coast of Africa, Liquid Sea.

Over the coming months, Liquid Telecom stated that it plans to make extensive upgrades and expansions to Neotel's network to enable improved high-speed connectivity and deliver services to more customers across South Africa. Liquid Telecom also plans to invest in Neotel's data centre capabilities, which include two Tier 3 facilities in Johannesburg and Cape Town, adding to its existingEast Africa Data Centre in Nairobi, Kenya.

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Infinera adds Advanced Data Encryption to mTera Platform

Infinera released Layer 1 Optical Transport Network (OTN) data encryption capabilities on its mTera Universal Switching Platform.

The mTera platform offers network operators the flexibility to define any interface with OTN, Multiprotocol Label Switching-Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) or Carrier Ethernet switching, decreasing network complexity while accelerating new service deployment across metro, regional and long-haul networks.

Highights of the Infinera mTera Universal Switching Platform:

• Scale up to 7 Tb/s in a single shelf or 12 Tb/s in a paired shelf configuration
• Easily migrate Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET)/Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) to packet-optical technologies
• Minimize regens with reach of over 5,000 kilometers (km) in terrestrial networks and over 12,000 km in submarine networks
• Most solutions on the market bulk encrypt all the data going through a transponder, providing no ability to differentiate services across the interface. Conversely, the mTera platform provides Layer 1 OTN data encryption in a multi-terabit, multi-layer switching platform, enabling network operators to differentiate services by selectively encrypting individual or multiple services. The optional Layer 1 OTN data encryption technology on the mTera platform is enabled via software and can be applied at wire speed to 100 gigabits per second, 10 Gb/s and sub-rate leased line services with Ethernet, OTN or SONET/SDH, as well as other client interfaces.

“Securing customer traffic has never been more important to communications service providers and internet content providers as their networks face increased attacks,” said Uwe Fischer, Senior Vice President, System Solutions Business Group at Infinera. “Best-in-class technology like Layer 1 OTN data encryption on the mTera platform helps network operators create differentiation and expand their breadth of services, all while protecting customer data and privacy.”

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Australia concludes 5G auction in 3.6 GHz band

The Australian Communication and Media Authority completed its 5G auction in the 3.6 GHz band.

All 350 lots available in the auction were sold, realising total revenue of approximately AUS $853 million, equivalent to almost $0.29/MHz/pop.

The four auction winners are:Dense Air Australia Pty Ltd won 29 lots for $18,492,000.

• Mobile JV Pty Limited (a joint venture arrangement between subsidiaries of TPG Telecom Limited and Vodafone Hutchison Australia Pty Limited) won 131 lots for $263,283,800.
• Optus Mobile Pty Ltd won 47 lots for $185,069,100.
• Telstra Corporation Limited won 143 lots for $386,008,400.

"This spectrum is recognised internationally as a key band for 5G services. Timely release of 5G-compatible spectrum will facilitate the early delivery of next generation 5G services to the Australian public and industry,’ said ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin.

Licences won at auction will commence in March 2020 and will extend until 13 December 2030. However, arrangements exist to enable earlier access to the band, provided that no interference is caused to existing licensees.

https://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/3-6-ghz-band-spectrum-auction-results

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China issues 5G trial licenses in 2600, 3500 and 4900 MHz bands

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued trial 5G licenses to China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom.

• China Telecom and China Unicom obtained trial licenses for the 3500MHz band, 
• China Mobile obtained trial licenses for the 2600MHz and 4900MHz bands. 

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said the operators should now conduct base station 5G system tests, and carry out interference coordination work between 5G system base stations and other radio stations in the same frequency band, adjacent band satellite earth stations, etc.

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Lumentum completes acquisition of Oclaro

As expected, Lumentum closed its acquisition of Oclaro and trading in Oclaro common stock on the NASDAQ Stock Market has ceased.

Under the terms of the merger agreement, Oclaro stockholders will receive $5.60 in cash and 0.0636 of a share of Lumentum common stock for each share of Oclaro common stock that is exchanged in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement. Lumentum financed the cash portion of the transaction consideration with cash from the combined company balance sheets and $500 million from a new term loan entered into in connection with the closing of the transaction.

Lumentum said it anticipates achieving an estimated $60 million in synergies over the next 12-24 months.

"I'm excited to close the acquisition and now move forward with realizing the strong potential of the combined company. The combined scale, resources, talent, and breadth of technologies will help us accelerate innovation and the development of the products our customers and network operators around the world need to handle the tremendous and unrelenting growth in network bandwidth," said Alan Lowe, president and CEO of Lumentum.

"Completion of the transaction creates a powerful force in the optical industry and tremendous opportunity for employees, customers, and shareholders," said Greg Dougherty, Oclaro's CEO. "It was a great pleasure to lead the Oclaro team, and I wish the new combined Lumentum team future success."

https://www.lumentum.com/en/media-room/news-releases/lumentum-announces-completion-oclaro-acquisition

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MaxLinear employs Cadence for 400Gbps PAM4 chip using 16FF

MaxLinear used Cadence timing signoff tools to deliver its MxL935xx Telluride device, the first 400Gbps PAM4 system on chip (SoC) using 16FF process technology.

Cadence said its Quantus Extraction Solution and Tempus Timing Signoff Solution were key enablers of the on-time delivery of working silicon for MaxLinear.

MaxLinear's Telluride device can be used by system vendors to develop a 400Gbps optical interconnect module in a compact form factor for intra-datacenter applications with a transmission distance up to 2 kilometers.

“Managing heavily congested and high-speed SoC design throughout the design flow with high-target utilization to reduce costs at 16FF node is a challenging task,” said Dr. Paolo Miliozzi, VP of SoC Technology, MaxLinear. “We are able to deploy the full-flow Cadence digital and signoff tool set including their Quantus, Tempus, and Tempus ECO solutions for successful signoff and on-time tapeout. Using these signoff engines, which are consistent with the Cadence Innovus Implementation System for both extraction and static timing analysis, ensured tight correlation and a reduction in design iterations during signoff for quick design convergence.”

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Orange Business delivers SD-WAN for Majid Al Futtaim Retail

Orange Business Services is delivering SD-WAN to Dubai-based Majid Al Futtaim Retail, which holds the exclusive franchise rights to operate Carrefour in 38 markets across the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

The Flexible SD-WAN service will connect Majid Al Futtaim Retail's operations across the Middle East, including over 250 Carrefour stores.

“Connectivity is key to the future of retail. Our customers expect a seamless next-generation retail offering that leverages data to improve their experience – and we need a state-of-the-art fully secured network to deliver it. Flexible SD-WAN by Orange is a key enabler of our omnichannel customer experience,” said Marco Urios, senior vice president, Omnichannel Solutions at Majid Al Futtaim Retail.

“Majid Al Futtaim has a clear vision and ambitious strategy, and Orange Business Services is delighted to be working with them on their retail digital transformation program. With our deep consulting capabilities and our expertise with SD-WAN solutions, we are well placed to serve as their trusted partner. Orange has extensive SD-WAN experience around the world, but Majid Al Futtaim is our first customer in the Middle East region to roll this out,” said Luc Serviant, vice president, Middle East, Orange Business Services.

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Verizon announces 10,400 employees accept its offer to leave

 Verizon announced that approximately 10,400 employees have accepted its voluntary separation offer to leave the company next year. The program offers up to 60 weeks’ salary, bonus and benefits, depending on length of service.

Verizon had 152,300 employees at the end of third-quarter 2018.

“These changes are well-planned and anticipated, and they will be seamless to our customers,” said Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg. “This is a moment in time, given our financial and operational strength, to begin to better serve customers with more agility, speed and flexibility.

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Keysight's validated for 5G NR device certification

Keysight Technologies' 5G Conformance Toolset is the first test solution to be approved for 5G New Radio (NR) device certification by PTCRB, a certification forum comprised of select leading cellular operators, accelerating commercial availability of 5G mobile devices across the ecosystem.

The milestone was achieved as a result of the extended collaboration between Keysight and Qualcomm focused on verifying the validity and behavior of the radio frequency (RF) and protocol conformance test specifications as defined by 3GPP.

“The PTCRB approval of Keysight’s 5G conformance test solution establishes an important milestone and enables Keysight to help the global mobile ecosystem accelerate 5G product design development and validation,” said Kailash Narayanan, vice president of Keysight’s wireless test group. “Keysight’s close collaborations with market makers and influential participation in standardization organizations have contributed to the realization of this industry-first achievement, facilitating early 5G commercial deployment.”

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