China Mobile launches 5G in 50 cities

China Mobile officially launched its 5G commercial service in 50 cities across the country.

China Mobile has deployed 40,000 5G base stations in the first batch of 50 key cities.  5G network construction is underway in more than 300 cities across the country.

The carrier is offering a number of 5G subscriptions starting with a Personal Plan priced at RMB 128 per month (~US$18). Family plans and business plans are also available. Downlink speed caps and data caps apply.

China Mobile initially has ten 5G smartphones available, along with 3 hotspot devices.

Cities with 5G coverage include: Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shijiazhuang, Xiong'an, Taiyuan, Jincheng, Hohhot, Shenyang, Dalian, Changchun, Harbin, Nanjing, Wuxi, Suzhou, Hangzhou , Ningbo, Wenzhou, Jiaxing, Hefei, Wuhu, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Quanzhou, Nanchang, Yingtan, Jinan, Qingdao, Zhengzhou, Nanyang, Wuhan, Changsha, Zhuzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, Dongguan, Liuzhou, Nanning, Haikou, Qiong, Hai, Chengdu, Guiyang, Kunming, Xi'an, Lanzhou, Xining, Yinchuan and Urumqi.

http://www.10086.cn/aboutus/news/groupnews/index_detail_34938.html

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China Telecom launches 5G in 50 cities

China Telecom officially switched on commercial 5G service in 50 cities.

In the early stage of commercial use, China Telecom said its 5G network covers the main downtown areas and hotspots of each city. Its network footprint will expand over time.

China Telecom emphasized its focus on the user experience, with its commitment to accelerate the pace of 5G network construction, improve the strategic layout of 5G industry, and enrich 5G applications and content.

China Telecom's lowest cost 5G service tier is priced at RMB 129 (US$18).

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China Unicom launches 5G in 50 cities

China Unicom announced commercial activation of 5G services in 50 major cities across the country.

Service tiers begin at RM 129 (~US$18), and data allowances range from 30GB to 300GB per month. More than ten 5G smartphones are offered.

http://www.chinaunicom.com/news/201910/1572568962264083103.html

China Telecom and China Unicom reach 5G sharing deal in 15 cities

Monday, September 09, 2019  China, China Telecom, China Unicom  

China Telecom and China Unicom announced a "co-build, co-share" framework agreement aimed at cutting costs and speeding deployment. The sharing is limited to the access network and 5G spectrum resources. Each company will build and operate their own 5G core network.

The agreement, which covers 15 cities, is based on network construction and operation responsibilities in specific geographies. In the northern cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Zhengzhou, Qingdao and Shijiazhuang, the ratio of construction districts handled by China Unicom to China Telecom will be 6:4. In Shanghai and 9 other southern cities (Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou, Changsha, Wuhan, and Chengdu), the ratio of construction districts handled by China Unicom to China Telecom will be 4:6.

China Unicom and China Telecom will maintain their separate ownership structures. The company will continue competing under their existing brands.

China Unicom's revenue dips as it prepares for 5G rollout

Wednesday, August 14, 2019  China Unicom  

China Unicom reported service revenue of RMB 132.957 billion for the first half of 2019, down 1.1% from RMB 134,423 million for the same period in 2018. Net profits increased by 16.3% to RMB 6.88 billion. Operating revenue amounted to RMB 144.954 billion, down -2.8% yoy.

Mobile service revenue dipped 6.6% compared to last year, despite the company adding 9.32 million subscribers during the first half of the year.

Industry Internet Revenue for 1H19 amounted to RMB 16.72 billion, up by 43% compared to the first half of 2018.

Regarding its upcoming 5G rollout, China Unicom said it is pursuing a “co-build co-share" strategy to lower CAPEX requirements, tower usage fees, network maintenance expenses & power charges.

https://www.chinaunicom.com.hk/en/ir/presentations.php

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AWS to Open Data Centers in Spain

Amazon Web Services (AWS) will open an infrastructure region in Spain in late 2022 or early 2023..

The new AWS Europe (Spain) Region will consist of three Availability Zones at launch, and will be AWS’s seventh region in Europe, joining existing regions in Dublin, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Stockholm, and the upcoming Milan region launching in early 2020.

Currently, AWS provides 69 Availability Zones across 22 infrastructure regions worldwide. With this announcement, AWS now has announced plans for 13 more Availability Zones and four more Regions in Indonesia, Italy, South Africa, and Spain.


“Cloud computing is already powering innovation within businesses, educational institutions, public administrations, and government agencies across Spain, and with this AWS infrastructure region, we look forward to helping accelerate this transformation,” said Peter DeSantis, Vice President of Global Infrastructure and Customer Support, Amazon Web Services. “Opening an AWS Region in Spain will drive more technology jobs and businesses, boosting the local economy, while enabling organizations across all industries to lower costs, increase security, and improve agility. We’re excited to have AWS contribute to the future growth of Spain.”

https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure/

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Arista posts Q3 sales of $654M, up 16%, warns on cloud titans

Arista Networks reported Q3 2019 revenue of $654.4 million, an increase of 7.6% compared to the second quarter of 2019, and an increase of 16.2% from the third quarter of 2018. GAAP gross margin was 63.8%, compared to GAAP gross margin of 64.1% in the second quarter of 2019 and 64.2% in the third quarter of 2018. GAAP net income of $208.9 million, or $2.59 per diluted share, compared to GAAP net income of $168.5 million, or $2.08 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2018. Non-GAAP net income of $217.1 million, or $2.69 per diluted share, compared to non-GAAP net income of $171.3 million, or $2.11 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2018.

“In Q3 2019 we continued to see the adoption of our cloud networking technology in more diverse environments. While we expect a sudden softening in Q4 with a specific cloud titan customer, we are committed to a sustainable and strong foundation of long-term growth, innovation and profitability,” stated Jayshree Ullal, Arista President and CEO.

On a conference call, Arista execs discussed a "sudden softening with a specific cloud titan customer" as well as a longer timeline for the industry adoption on 400G. Q4 revenue is now expected between $540 million and $560 million.

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NeoPhotonics posts Q3 sales of $92.4M, up 13%

NeoPhotonics reported Q3 2019 revenue of $92.4 million, up 13% quarter-over-quarter and up 13% year-over-year. Gross margin was 28.4%, up from 19.2% in the prior quarter. Diluted net earnings per share was $0.05, up from a net loss of $0.16 per share in the prior quarter.

“Solid execution, strong customer demand, and cost reduction combined for a profitable quarter for NeoPhotonics,” said Tim Jenks, Chairman and CEO of NeoPhotonics. “Despite the trade tensions, we believe the macro trends of the industry favor our core capabilities of delivering the highest performance products for the most demanding applications,” concluded Mr. Jenks.

Some highlights:

• Huawei demand for non-Export Administration Requirements (EAR) products holding at 37% of revenue, but down from 46% in 2018.
• NeoPhotonics said it has applied for certain export licenses for shipping additional products to Huawei, but, to date, no definitive response has been received.

https://ir.neophotonics.com/static-files/d8f54fd0-19ec-4d99-a6c6-8df623c272d6

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NETSCOUT sales dip to $224M

NETSCOUT reported quarterly revenue (GAAP) of $216.4 million, compared with $223.8 million in the same quarter one year ago. There was a net loss (GAAP) of $17.5 million, or $0.23 per share (diluted) versus net loss (GAAP) of $26.4 million, or $0.34 per share (diluted), for the second quarter of fiscal year 2019. On a non-GAAP basis, net income was $21.4 million, or $0.28 per share (diluted), which compares with $20.0 million, or $0.25 per share (diluted), for the same time last year.

• Product revenue (GAAP and non-GAAP) was $102.8 million, which was approximately 47% of total revenue. 
• Service revenue (GAAP) was $113.6 million, or approximately 53% of total revenue versus service revenue (GAAP) of $113.0 million, or approximately 51% of total revenue, for the same period one year ago. 

"We delivered solid second-quarter results with both non-GAAP revenue and earnings per share performance exceeding the high-end of our expectation,” stated Anil Singhal, NETSCOUT’s president and chief executive officer. “A large order in our service provider sector, which was delayed from last quarter, along with strong government spending contributed to our performance for the quarter. We are re-affirming our non-GAAP revenue guidance range of $895 million to $915 million and remain committed to managing our cost structure to deliver non-GAAP EPS within our guidance range of $1.45 to $1.50, which has been increased as a result of capital structure management.”

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Next-Gen Network Automation - ONAP advances with 5G blueprints

Arpit Joshipura, GM Networking & Orchestration + Edge/IOT for The Linux Foundation, discusses ONAP's recent release, Dublin, and how the LF's new blueprints help operators deploy network automation at scale in production.

https://nginfrastructure.com/network-automation/

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Digital Realty + Interxion merger brings scale and interconnectivity

Digital Realty and Interxion agreed to a merger that would create a global provider of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions.  Under the deal, Interxion shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 0.7067 Digital Realty shares per Interxion share.  The transaction values Interxion at approximately $93.48 per ordinary share or approximately $8.4 billion of total enterprise value, including assumed net debt.

Interxion's European business currently consists of 53 carrier- and cloud-neutral facilities in 11 European countries and 13 metro areas including Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris and Interxion's Internet Gateway in Marseille. Its network reaches 700 connectivity providers, 21 European Internet exchanges, and most leading cloud and digital media platforms. Interxion has a robust pipeline of data center development projects currently under construction, with over $400 million invested to date and a total expected investment of approximately $1 billion. These projects represent roughly a 40% expansion of Interxion's standalone critical load capacity, are significantly pre-leased and are expected to be delivered over the next 24 months, representing a solid pipeline of potential future growth for the combined company.

The companies said their combination will build upon Digital Realty's successful track record of hyperscale development and will represent an extension of the connected campus strategy that empowers enterprise customers to leverage the right products – from colocation to hyperscale footprints – to create value by efficiently deploying

In Europe, Digital Realty has an established presence in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London and Dublin. On a global basis, Digital Realty has 220 data centers in 35 top metropolitan areas,

The companies also noted that the merger will provide access to additional capital for investment.

"This strategic and complementary transaction builds upon Digital Realty's established foundation of serving market demand for colocation, scale and hyperscale requirements in the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific and leverages Interxion's European colocation and interconnection expertise, enhancing the combined company's capabilities to enable customers to solve for the full spectrum of data center requirements across a global platform," said Digital Realty Chief Executive Officer A. William Stein.  "The transaction is expected to be accretive to the long-term growth trajectory of the combined organization, and to establish a global platform that we believe will significantly enhance our ability to create long-term value for customers, shareholders and employees of both companies."

"We are excited to deliver this compelling opportunity for all our stakeholders while bolstering our ability to offer a truly global platform to serve our customers' needs," said Interxion Chief Executive Officer David Ruberg.  "As part of Digital Realty, stakeholders will have the opportunity to continue to reap the benefits of the value that we have created via the communities of interest approach in our carrier- and cloud-neutral European data center portfolio.  They will also be able to participate in the value created by extending our approach across Digital Realty's global footprint, complementary customer base and significant presence in the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific.  We also believe our stakeholders will benefit from Digital Realty's investment grade balance sheet and lower cost of capital.  We look forward to working closely with Bill Stein and the entire Digital Realty team to consummate the transaction and combine the best of our companies to build the world's preeminent data center provider."

Additionally:

• Digital Realty CEO A. William Stein will serve as CEO of the combined company 
• Digital Realty CFO Andrew P. Power will serve as CFO of the combined company 
• Interxion CEO David Ruberg will serve as the Chief Executive of the combined company’s Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) business, which will be branded “Interxion, a Digital Realty company” at the close of the transaction

Interxion sees continued favourable demand for European data center services

Wednesday, August 07, 2019  Interxion  

Interxion, a leading European provider of carrier and cloud-neutral colocation data centre services, reported Q2 revenue of €158.5 million, up 14% from the same period last year. Net income increased by €8.0 million to €8.6 million (2Q 2018: €0.6 million). Diluted earnings per share increased by €0.11 to €0.12 (2Q 2018: €0.01). Capital expenditure, including intangible assets(2), were €123.5 million (2Q 2018: €120.5 million).
Some operating highlights:

• Equipped space increased by 6,500 square metres (“sqm”) during the quarter to 154,800 sqm metres.
• Revenue generating space increased by 2,600 sqm during the quarter to 121,600 sqm.
• Utilisation rate at the end of the quarter was 79%.

During the second quarter, Interxion completed the following capacity additions:

• 2,000 sqm in Vienna;
• 1,300 sqm in Madrid;
• 1,100 sqm in Marseille;
• 800 sqm in Stockholm;
• 600 sqm in London;
• 400 sqm in Paris; and
• 300 sqm in Dusseldorf.

“As reflected in the solid second quarter results, Interxion continues to experience favourable demand, driven primarily by the cloud and content platform providers,” said David Ruberg, Interxion’s Chief Executive Officer. “In response to customer demand and orders, we are announcing today incremental investments in Frankfurt, Paris, Marseille and Stockholm. Our recent equity issuance and credit rating upgrade support our ongoing expansion activity, with a focus on sustaining our attractive returns."

https://investors.interxion.com/investor-relations

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Innovative Optical and Wireless Network Forum launched by NTT

NTT, Intel and Sony are joining forces to create a new Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) Global Forum, which aims to accelerate the adoption of new communications infrastructure. The goal is to will bring together an all-photonic network including silicon photonics, edge computing, and distributed connected computing, along with wireless access..

IOWN will develop new technologies, frameworks, specifications and reference designs, in areas such as:

• Photonics R&D, including photonic devices of the future, photonic network equipment and end-to-end architecture, powered by advances in photonics-electronics convergence technologies. This will significantly reduce power consumption and enable instant access and response by shortening latency times and broadening transmission capacity.
• Distributed Connected Compute, which is expected to be increasingly critical for computing across networks, leveraging both AI and workloads that will be dynamic and distributed.
• Use cases and best practices for a smart world and enabling technologies, such as Digital Twin Computing (a computing paradigm that enables humans and things in the real world to be recreated and interact without restrictions in cyberspace), R&D in human behavior and society modeling, large-scale simulations and next-generation “real” UI/UX device technologies.

NTT, Intel, and Sony are inviting other technology, telecommunications and industry organizations to join the forum.

"NTT has a long history in photonics-related R&D and has achieved cutting-edge results in fields like silicon photonics and optoelectronic convergence. Based on these technologies, NTT aims to power the next generation of technology innovation and solve many of today’s societal challenges, such as ever-increasing power consumption. We will bring our leading R&D expertise to foster the photonics revolution and unlock new technologies to ultimately enable a smart world, where technology becomes so ”natural” that people are unaware of its presence. NTT is looking forward to collaborating with its best-in-class partners and realizing a smart world," states Jun Sawada, President and CEO, NTT.

“Digital transformation and the growth of data is driving an infrastructure build out that will dwarf the first era of the cloud defined by hyperscale data centers... The combination of superfast networking and pervasive high-performance computing – the edge infrastructure to deliver smart services anywhere, anytime – can only be achieved with a profoundly new mindset shared across a global ecosystem. The IOWN collaboration is an important step forward. A vision of this magnitude can only be achieved with global leaders across industries. Intel is honored to join forces with NTT and Sony in this industry-wide journey to help define the future of technology,” says Bob Swan,
CEO, Intel.

http://www.iowngf.org

NTT opens Silicon Valley labs to leverage photonic/quantum tech

Monday, July 08, 2019  NTT  

NTT Research is opening three labs in Palo Alto, California to focus on quantum computing; cryptography and information security; and medical and health informatics.

In an opening ceremony, NTT President and CEO Jun Sawada said the mission of the new labs is to pursue fundamental breakthroughs in photonic and quantum technologies.

“Our new research center, located in the heart of Silicon Valley, will draw upon the strength and heritage of applied research and innovation from NTT R&D in Japan and will be an ongoing opportunity for sharing groundbreaking research in important technology fields with global partners, clients and academics,” said Mr. Sawada. “Our goal is to strengthen the fundamental research needed for global innovation and next-generation technologies.”

NTT Research consists of NTT Φ (PHI) Laboratories, to focus on Physics and information science (Informatics); NTT Cryptography & Information Security (CIS) Laboratories, to explore advanced cryptography theory and practice; and NTT Medical & Health Informatics (MEI) Laboratories, to investigate areas such as the application of artificial intelligence (AI) on biological data. Kazuhiro Gomi, the former CEO of NTT America, serves as the center’s President and CEO. NTT appoints world-renowned academics and researchers as directors of its three laboratories:

• Professor Yoshihisa Yamamoto to be appointed director of NTT PHI Laboratories, Quantum Science & Computing. Professor Emeritus at NII (Tokyo) and program manager of the Government of Japan’s ImPACT program, Dr. Yamamoto is an expert in quantum optics and information processing. He has also been affiliated with the University of Tokyo, NTT Basic Research Labs, MIT, the Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), AT&T Bell Labs, Stanford, the Japanese Science and Technology Agency (JST), and RIKEN.
• NTT Fellow Tatsuaki Okamoto to be appointed director of NTT CIS Laboratories, Cryptography & Information Security. Dr. Okamoto is an internationally acclaimed cryptography scientist, recognized for his work in third-generation cryptosystems and the promotion of a trustworthy digital society. He has also held positions at NTT Yokosuka Electrical Communication Labs, the University of Tokyo, the University of Waterloo (Canada), AT&T Bell Labs, Tsukuba University and Kyoto University.
• Professor Hitonobu Tomoike to be appointed director of NTT MEI Laboratories, Medical Health Informatics. Professor Tomoike conducts research into precision medicine, based on bio-sensors and analytics. He is an Advisor to and former Director of the Sakakibara Heart Institute and Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association. He has also held positions at UCSD, Kyushu University, Yamagata University, and the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center (Osaka).

“NTT R&D, with more than 6,000 researchers and an annual budget of $3.6 billion, is already one of the world’s largest and most respected research groups,” said Mr. Gomi, NTT Research President and CEO. “Our new center in Palo Alto will not only leverage those assets, but also engage with peers in this highly innovative region, enhancing the value that we bring to our trusted global partners.”

NTT Research is also looking at opening additional offices in Boston, Munich, Israel and London.

http://www.ntt-research.com

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Intel posts record revenue of $19.2B driven by data-centric business

Intel reported Q3 2019 revenue of $19.2 billion, which is $1.2 billion higher than guidance issued in July, and an all-time quarterly record. Intel said the performance was driven by record data-centric revenue, which were up 6 percent YoY. PC-centric revenue was in-line with expectations, down 5 percent compared to last year. GAAP EPS of $1.35 declined 2 percent YoY; non-GAAP EPS of $1.42 was up 1 percent. The company raised its full-year revenue outlook to $71 billion, up $1.5 billion from July guidance.

“We've been on a multiyear journey to reposition Intel’s portfolio to take advantage of the exponential growth of data. Our third-quarter financial performance underscores our progress as our data-centric businesses turned in their best performance ever, making up almost half our total revenue in a record quarter,” said Bob Swan, Intel CEO. “Our priorities are accelerating growth, improving our execution and deploying capital for attractive returns. We now expect to deliver a fourth record year in a row.”

Some highlights:

• The Data Center Group (DCG) delivered record revenue driven by a strong mix of high-performance Intel Xeon processors and growth in every segment of the business. 
• The communications service provider segment grew 11 percent.
• The cloud segment returned to growth, up 3 percent
• Enterprise and government revenue grew 1 percent. 
• The Internet of Things Group (IOTG) also achieved record revenue, up 9 percent on strength in retail and transportation. 
• Mobileye achieved record revenue, up 20 percent YoY on increasing ADAS adoption. 
• Intel's memory business (NSG) also achieved record revenue, up 19 percent YoY. 
• The Programmable Solutions Group (PSG) shipped the first 10nm-based Intel® Agilex™ FPGAs in the third quarter. PSG third-quarter revenue was up 2 percent YoY.

https://www.intc.com/investor-relations/financials-and-filings/earnings-results/default.aspx

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Aligned Energy expands colo data center campus in Salt Lake City

Aligned Energy is expanding its Salt Lake Metro data center campus, breaking ground on a second facility in West Jordan, Utah. The expansion is driven by the addition of a new anchor customer as well as demand for adaptable, scalable data center infrastructure in the Western technology hub.

Building on Aligned’s existing 34 MW, 300,000 sq. ft. West Jordan data center, the adjacent new 240,000-sq.-ft. facility will add 48 MW of capacity. At full build, the master-planned Aligned SLC campus will offer 780,000 square feet of space and 130 MW of capacity in the Silicon Slopes.

“Aligned continues to set — and achieve — aggressive speed-to-market targets, most recently in Ashburn, and now in Salt Lake County with our latest greenfield deployment,” says Andrew Schaap, CEO of Aligned Energy. “Expected to complete in Q1 2020, our second West Jordan facility will provide adaptable, efficient and sustainable data center infrastructure to enable enhanced availability, performance and scale for customers’ growing cloud and application workloads in the region.”

https://www.alignedenergy.com/

Aligned Energy completes phase one of Ashburn data center

Monday, September 16, 2019  Aligned  

Aligned Energy completed phase one of its hyperscale data center campus in Ashburn, Virginia. The initial 368,755 square-foot, 60 MW facility will be followed by a 409,000 square-foot, 120 MW development on the 26-acre campus. At full build, the planned Aligned Ashburn campus will offer over 1 MM square feet of space and 180 MW of total critical load in the heart of Loudoun County, Virginia — the nation’s most robust data center market.

Aligned Ashburn sits atop major fiber and conduit routes, providing access to more than 50 carriers in the immediate area. The company notes that its new flagship Ashburn data center campus is located less than 800 feet from the original UUNET-managed MAE East Exchange — the first Internet Exchange Point (IXP).

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Equinix announces sales of $1.397B, up 9% yoy

Equinix reported Q3 2019 revenues of $1.397 billion, up 9% year-over-year, which includes $8 million of negative foreign currency impact when compared to prior guidance rates. GAAP net income amounted to $121 million, a 16% decrease from the previous quarter including a $16 million increased income tax expense attributable to FX hedge gains.

Charles Meyers, President and CEO, Equinix, stated: “We had another great quarter, building on our market leadership and unlocking the power of Platform Equinix by expanding our geographic reach, enhancing our market-leading interconnection portfolio and launching new offerings that respond to the evolving needs of our customers. We have a clear view of our strategy and are actively building new capabilities that will enable us to achieve our vision for the future of Platform Equinix, allowing customers to reach everywhere, interconnect everyone and integrate everything on their digital transformation journey.”

Some highlights:

• Equinix achieved its best-ever third quarter bookings with strong performance across all three regions (Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific) with notable momentum in EMEA. 
• Bookings this quarter spanned across more than 3,100 customers, with the majority of bookings composed of small to mid-sized multi-metro deals. 
• In Q3, Equinix delivered record channel bookings, accounting for more than 30% of total bookings, with 60% of this activity going into the enterprise vertical. Interconnection growth again outpaced colocation revenues, growing 13% year-over-year on a normalized and constant currency basis, driven by solid traction across all interconnection products.
• Equinix has the most comprehensive global interconnection platform, comprising over 356,000 physical and virtual interconnections. 
• In Q3, Equinix added 8,500 interconnections, more per quarter than our top 10 competitors combined. 
• In the quarter, Equinix surpassed 20,000 virtual connections enabled by Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric (ECX Fabric™), which accounted for more than 5% of total interconnections and serves more than 1,800 customers.

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Rambus GDDR6 Memory PHY hits 18 Gbps

The newest Rambus GDDR6 Memory PHY has achieved industry-leading 18 Gbps peak performance, roughly four-to-five times faster than current DDR4 solutions.

The Rambus GDDR6 PHY pairs with the companion GDDR6 memory controller from the recent acquisition of Northwest Logic to provide a complete and optimized memory subsystem solution.

“Memory bandwidth poses a significant obstacle for designers working on performance-intensive applications such as AI/ML,” said Hemant Dhulla, vice president and general manager of IP cores at Rambus. “With our GDDR6 18 Gbps memory subsystem, Rambus technology can unleash the power of leading-edge designs with a proven and cost-effective memory architecture.”

Benefits of the Rambus GDDR6 PHY:

• Achieves the industry’s highest speed of up to 18 Gbps, delivering a maximum bandwidth of up to 72 GB/s
• Complete and optimized memory subsystem solution with companion GDDR6 memory controller
• Offers PCB and package design support – allowing customers to quickly and reliably bring their high-speed designs to production
• Provides access to Rambus system and SI/PI experts helping ASIC designers to ensure maximized signal and power integrity for devices and systems
• Features LabStation development environment that enables quick system bring-up, characterization and debug
• Supports high-performance applications including networking, data center, ADAS, machine learning and AI

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Inphi posts record revenue of $94 million, up 21% yoy

Inphi Corporation reported record revenue of $94.2 million for Q3 2019, up 20.8% year-over-year, compared with $78.0 million in the third quarter of 2018. The increase was due to higher demand for long haul, metro and datacenter products.

Gross margin under GAAP in the third quarter of 2019 was 57.8%, compared with 55.7% in the third quarter of 2018. The increase was mainly due to product and revenue mix. GAAP operating loss in the third quarter of 2019 was $10.9 million or (11.6%) of revenue. Non-GAAP net income in the third quarter of 2019 was $21.5 million, or $0.45 per diluted common share. This compares with non-GAAP net income of $13.7 million, or $0.30 per diluted common share in the third quarter of 2018.

“We are very pleased to have exceeded the high-end of our revenue and EPS guidance in Q3, delivering record results driven by strength in both Cloud and Telecom,” said Ford Tamer, President and CEO of Inphi Corporation. “The 50% year-on-year non-GAAP EPS growth in Q3, based on 21% year-on-year revenue growth, demonstrates the leverage in our operating model as we execute on our customer growth strategy.”

https://www.inphi.com/investors/

Inphi announces volume production of 100G and 400G PAM4 

Monday, September 23, 2019  Inphi, PAM4  

Inphi announced volume production of its 100Gbps and 400Gbps Single-Lambda Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM4) platform for data center and cloud networking applications.

Inphi’s Porrima PAM4 platform is a 56GBaud solution that includes linear TIA and drivers.

“Production availability of our Porrima PAM4 platform is aligned well with the data center expansion and is critical to meeting the rapidly increasing bandwidth needs in today’s cloud computing and hyper-scale data center environments,” said Eric Hayes, SVP, Networking Interconnect at Inphi.

Porrima PAM4 DSP Product Family:
Porrima PAM4 DSP IC provides a full bi-directional interface with host ASICs that have 28GBaud PAM4and NRZ electrical interfaces, while bridging to 56GBaud optics. The product family can support PAM4 or NRZ signaling, and both Retiming and Gearbox functionality with packaging specifically designed for the following optics modules:

• Porrima 400G – 8x56Gbps PAM4 <-> 4x100Gbps PAM4 for QSFP-DD/oSFP/COBO
• Porrima 100G – 4x25Gbps NRZ <-> 1x100Gbps PAM4 for QSFP
• Porrima 100G – 2x50Gbps PAM4 <-> 1x100Gbps PAM4 for QSFP/uQSFP/SFP-DD

Porrima Linear Drivers:

The IN5630DE/IN5634SE is a 56GBaud low power single/quad linear driver for PAM4 optical modules. Features include:

• Excellent linearity, high bandwidth, adjustable gain to optimize the PAM4 system performances
• Low-power modulator driver in small package or in bare die form

Porrima Linear TIA’s:
The IN5661TA/5664TA is a 56GBaud low power single/quad linear TIA for PAM4 optical modules. Features include:

• Wide dynamic range to meet the different performance and link requirements for optical applications
• Excellent signal integrity necessary for PAM4 modulation schemes
• Low-power and small form factor

https://www.inphi.com/

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Twilio posts Q3 revenue of $295m, up 75% yoy

Twilio reported Q3 2019 revenue of $295.1 million, up 75% from the third quarter of 2018 and 7% sequentially from the second quarter of 2019 (including revenue from Twilio SendGrid, which was acquired in February). Base revenue was $275.5 million, up 79% from the third quarter of 2018 and 7% sequentially. There was a GAAP net loss of $0.64. Non-GAAP net income was $0.03 per share.

Key Metrics and Recent Business Highlights

• 172,092 Active Customer Accounts as of September 30, 2019, compared to 61,153 Active Customer Accounts as of September 30, 2018. 
• Active Customer Accounts in the current period include the contribution from Twilio SendGrid customer accounts.
• Dollar-Based Net Expansion Rate was 132% for the third quarter of 2019, compared to 145% for the third quarter of 2018. Twilio SendGrid results do not impact the calculation of this metric in the current period.
• 2,676 employees as of September 30, 2019.

“We delivered another quarter of incredible growth at scale with revenue growth of 75% year-over-year,” said Jeff Lawson, Twilio’s Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “Every company needs to focus on building great digital experiences for their customers, and Twilio is becoming the modern customer engagement platform for our customers. Our announcements at our SIGNAL conference this past quarter further drive our vision of fueling the future of communications.”

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ADTRAN posts Q3 results, cites dip in shipments 2 international customers

ADTRAN reported Q3 2019 revenue of $114.1 million compared to $140.3 million for the third quarter of 2018. Net income was a net loss of $46.1 million compared to net income of $7.6 million for the third quarter of 2018. Earnings per share was a loss of $0.96 per share compared to earnings per share, assuming dilution, of $0.16 for the third quarter of 2018. Non-GAAP net income was a net loss of $2.8 million compared to non-GAAP net income of $9.9 million for the third quarter of 2018. Non-GAAP earnings per share was a loss of $0.06 per share compared to non-GAAP income per share, assuming dilution, of $0.21 for the third quarter of 2018.

ADTRAN Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tom Stanton stated, “Our progress in the quarter was overshadowed by a pause in shipments to a Tier 1 customer in Latin America and a slowdown in spending by a Tier 1 customer in Europe. With the exception of these two international customers, our business grew 20% over the previous period which was largely driven by increased sales in our GPON fiber access business and strong results in ONT sales. Our GPON business grew 38% year-to-date as compared to the same period last year and we continue to gain strong traction globally with our 10G PON and fiber-extension solutions. During the quarter, ADTRAN introduced a range of new products, services and technology innovations that we believe will be instrumental in our success moving forward.”

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Western Digital's CEO announces retirement

Steve Milligan, chief executive officer and a member of the Western Digital Board of Directors, announced plans to retire. A search is underway for a successor.

“On behalf of the Board, I want to thank Steve for his significant contributions and dedicated years of service to Western Digital,” said Matthew Massengill, chairman of the Board. “Since his appointment as CEO in 2013, Steve has led Western Digital’s transformation from a storage component provider to a diversified enabler of data infrastructure. ”

“Western Digital has significantly evolved since I first joined in 2002, and it has been an honor to lead this talented team through critical and transformative periods – not only for our company, but for the entire industry,” said Milligan. “We are currently at an inflection point in the semiconductor cycle and, as we prepare for a cyclical upturn, now is the right time to begin the transition to Western Digital’s next phase of leadership. Together, we have built a powerful platform and resilient business model that has remained nimble despite challenging market conditions. Importantly, I am confident in our team’s ability to build on our momentum to drive long-term growth and value creation.”

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Next Gen Network Automation - AI inside China Mobile

AI is key for next-gen network transformation. Dr. Junlan Feng, General Manager of the AI and Intelligent Operation R&D Center & Chief Scientist at China Mobile, discusses the significance of AI and how AI coupled with automation is key to future networks.

https://nginfrastructure.com/network-automation/

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Telia Carrier adds Ashburn-Atlanta DWDM route

Telia Carrier announced a new latency-optimized DWDM route between its existing infrastructure in Ashburn, Virginia, and Atlanta, Georgia, via Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Telia Carrier said the resiliency offered with the new route is unique in this region and provides three North/South options available to Telia Carrier customers along the East Coast, ensuring high availability.

Telia Carrier has also invested in metro network rings to provide seamless access to additional data centers in the dynamic growth areas of Ashburn and Reston, Virginia, and Atlanta, Georgia. With more than 2,000 customers worldwide, the expansion is a continuation of the carrier’s organic growth story and geographic expansion to better serve existing markets and reach new ones.

“We consistently hear from our customers that they need more diversity on routes between major North American cities. This protects against service interruption, which is essential for a first-rate customer experience in today’s competitive markets. This new expansion in the South East offers flexibility on several levels and lays the groundwork for future route investments in North America,” explained Staffan Göjeryd, CEO, Telia Carrier. “We’re committed to delivering a customer experience second-to-none. By adding new routes between Tier 1 cities and connectivity into Tier 2-3 markets on the way, we underpin this commitment with tangible network enhancements to serve both new and existing customers.”

Telia Carrier adds DWDM routes in North America

Monday, June 24, 2019  Telia Carrier  

Telia Carrier has expanded its North American network with the addition of two new diverse and latency-optimized DWDM routes between New Jersey and Northern Virginia.

This includes metro expansions with additional points of presence (PoPs) in the Secaucus area to seamlessly serve New Jersey and the greater New York area. The expanded network also provides the capability to extend to new submarine cable landing stations in Virginia and New Jersey.

The new PoPs in Secaucus are running the latest generation of Infinera coherent ICE4 100G technology and enhance the local availability of high-speed IP Transit, Cloud Connect, Ethernet and IPX services for operators, content providers and enterprises alike.

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Telia Carrier opens terabit scale PoP at NJFX

Telia Carrier has deployed a new network Point-of-Presence (PoP) delivering multi-terabit capacity at the NJFX Cable Landing Station (CLS) colocation campus.

The new network infrastructure provides resilient network options for customers wanting diverse connectivity throughout North America. In addition, Telia Carrier’s extensive network in Europe enables seamless reach and unique diversity to connect from the cable landing point to extended destinations across Europe.

Telia Carrier’s new PoP in the NJFX facility provides high capacity, flexibility, and access to multiple reliable, diverse routes. By leveraging the Havfrue/AEC2 subsea cable system located at NJFX, Telia Carrier customers can now reach Denmark directly and transit the Nordics, Baltics, and can access four unique fiber routes going into Russia. Organizations located at NJFX can now access the Seabras cable system with direct routes into South America.

“Telia Carrier’s terabit scale capacity expansion into NJFX is a perfect embodiment of NJFX’s mission to enable the resilient global connectivity and capabilities for our customers and carrier partners,” said Gil Santaliz, CEO, NJFX. “Enterprises, financials, and service provider customers can now connect directly into Telia Carrier’s network and access a seamless network solution with terrestrial backhaul routes that reach key points of presence across the East Coast and beyond.”

“We designed our architecture at NJFX to support high capacity and huge demand ahead for expanded network reach and resiliency,” said Staffan Göjeryd, CEO, Telia Carrier. “At the NJFX CLS, we offer maximum flexibility and extensions into the rest of the Telia Carrier global network and tying it into the recently announced expansion of the East Coast corridor where we added two new routes between New Jersey and Northern Virginia.”

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GTT upgrades European backbone routes with Infinera

GTT Communications has upgraded its fiber network across several of its European route to enhance the capacity and performance of its Tier 1 global IP network.

Specifically, GTT has upgraded routes that connect network points of presence in London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Paris, including the subsea link between the United Kingdom and The Netherlands, along with an additional route in southern Europe that connects Madrid and Marseille.

GTT has also deployed more fiber capacity on its metro networks in Paris and Marseille. The upgrade to the Marseille metro network extends to multiple subsea cable landing stations. Additionally, GTT has expanded its European network footprint by deploying a new point of presence in Belgrade, Serbia.

GTT utilized Infinera’s FlexILS line system and high-performance ICE4 optical engine with instant bandwidth to complete the upgrades.

“Europe is a major market for GTT, and we are continuing to invest in our advanced network infrastructure to support clients’ ever increasing bandwidth requirements,” stated Rick Calder, GTT president and CEO. “This is a further demonstration of GTT’s commitment to deliver on its purpose to connect people across organizations, around the world and to every application in the cloud.”

GTT to acquire KPN International for EUR 50 million

Monday, July 08, 2019  GTT, Mergers And Acquisitions  

GTT Communications agreed to acquire KPN International for approximately €50 million in cash, on a cash and debt-free basis.

KPN International, which is headquartered in the Netherlands and is a division of KPN N.V., operates a global IP network serving enterprise and carrier clients.

GTT said the acquisition augments its the scale and reach of its Tier 1 global IP network in Europe. KPN International's network spans 21 countries, including long-haul fiber routes and metro rings in Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris. It has more than 400 strategic enterprise and carrier clients.

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EllaLink and Telxius collaborate on Brazil-Portugal subsea cable

The EllaLink Group and Telxius signed a collaboration agreement for international subsea capacity and terrestrial connectivity in Latin America, including cable landing facilities in Fortaleza, Brazil.

The complementary infrastructure owned by EllaLink and Telxius will enable European traffic to reach Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and other key cities in Brazil and across Latin America.

EllaLink is an open state-of-the-art 4 fiber pair submarine cable system currently under construction. It will provide the first direct fiber route between Europe and Latin America.  The

Rafael Arranz, Chief Operating Officer of Telxius for its Cable Business, said: “We are proud to closely work with EllaLink on this project, which will further advance communications between Europe and Latin America. This collaboration will leverage on the extensive Telxius’ subsea cable network and its terrestrial extensions across Latin America. In particular, Telxius’ Fortaleza cable landing station interconnects subsea cables stretching towards three continents: America (Central and North), Africa and Europe (with EllaLink). Telxius’ BRUSA, with its 138 Tbps, is currently the highest capacity and lowest latency subsea cable connecting the Americas, potentially extending EllaLink’s reach and ability to serve their customers even further.”

Diego Matas, Chief Operating Officer of EllaLink, added: “I am delighted to announce our collaboration with Telxius which supports EllaLink’s primary objective of providing advanced products and services on a carrier neutral and open access basis. The Telxius facility in Fortaleza provides the ideal landing solution for a next generation subsea system like EllaLink, while strengthening Telxius’ transatlantic route diversity.”

https://telxius.com/en/ellalink-and-telxius-collaborate-to-bring-next-generation-connectivity-to-latin-america-and-europe/

EllaLink begins Marine Route Survey for Brazil-Portugal cable

Monday, May 06, 2019  ASN, Ellalink, Subsea  

Alcatel Submarine Networks has finalized the Cable Route Study and mobilized the marine survey vessel for the EllaLink submarine cable system. A marine route survey will be conducted over the coming months.

EllaLink will be a state-of-the-art 4 fiber pair submarine cable system linking Europe and Latin America with up to 72 Tbps of capacity. The low latency EllaLink route avoids the congestion of the North Atlantic.

EllaLink plans to be Ready for Service by the end of 2020.

https://ella.link/2019/05/06/ellalink-announces-commencement-of-marine-route-survey-activities/

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F5 Networks supplies NFV for Rakuten Mobile

F5 Networks confirmed that it is supporting Rakuten Mobile's fully virtualized, cloud-native mobile network.

Specifically, Rakuten Mobile is using F5’s network functions virtualization (NFV) capabilities to optimize its new mobile network and accelerate its path to 5G services in 2020.

F5 said it has provided a full-suite N6/SGi-LAN solution consisting of virtualized CGNAT, SGi Firewall, DNS Transparent Cache, and IP Traffic Optimization Functions to deliver enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services. F5’s NFV capabilities and offerings enabled Rakuten Mobile, Inc. to:

• Simplify and optimize service orchestration
• Ensure application availability, performance, and security
• Have unmatched freedom and agility in deployment of services
• Enable a higher throughput, low-latency network and allow predictable scaling for services

Earlier this year, F5 announced several new solutions and enhancements designed to allow service providers to launch 5G services. These offerings enable service providers to maximize the investments in their current 4G networks, while optimizing their infrastructures with the scale to securely deploy emerging 5G.

“Rakuten, one of Japan’s most innovative and well-known brands, is an ideal company to partner with on strategic projects like this,” said James Feger, VP and General Manager of Service Provider business at F5.

“After years of preparing for 5G, we’re seeing progress as service providers like Rakuten begin to implement the infrastructure to make its promise a reality,” Yuichi Gonda, Regional VP at F5 Networks Japan, added. “With F5’s proven carrier-grade solutions, service providers like Rakuten Mobile can optimize their networks, monetize new 5G solutions and applications, and ensure world-class security of their network and subscribers.”

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