Telstra upgrades subsea infrastructure with Infinera's ICE4

Telstra is implementing Infinera’s fourth-generation ICE4 optical engine across its Asia Pacific subsea infrastructure to increase capacity, agility and reliability. The ICE4 upgrade increases Telstra’s fibre capacity by 160 percent and port density by 140 percent, while also decreasing power consumption, allowing Telstra to continually improve network services for customers.

Telstra is one of the largest providers of 100 Gbps network services globally and the ICE4 technology positions the company to support customers’ future connectivity demands, activating capacity per wavelength of up to 200 Gbps.

"Our commitment to our Asia Pacific customers means we are always adapting and creating capacity where it is needed. This means we are continually working to deploy new technologies that enhance our existing network and complement our latest capacity investments," stated Andy Lumsden, Telstra’s Network Planning Principal. “With Infinera’s ICE4 optical engine, we are deploying the latest technology across our network. We can now provision new services faster than ever before, which is critical in a region when capacity demand on our international networks has almost doubled over the past two years.”

Telstra’s ICE4 network upgrade will be completed in the coming months.

https://www.infinera.com/telstra-deploys-major-upgrade-to-network-services-asia-pacific-using-infinera-technologies/

Read More

Padtec sells submarine systems division to IPG Photonics

Padtec, a global supplier of optical communications systems based in Brazil, agreed to sell its submarine optical systems division to IPG Photonics for R$75 million (approximately US$20 million). IPG Photonics is a US-based supplier of high power lasers and amplifiers.

In addition to the optical repeater, Padtec's submarine systems division acquired by IPG also includes the structure for submerged plant deployment, operation and maintenance services.

Padtec said the sale advances its strategy to focus on the high-capacity optical transport market for terrestrial networks. The resources resulting from the sale will be directed, primarily, to research and
development and to the expansion of the company in the global market. Padtec’s advisors were IGC Partners and BRGC Advogados.

"We are very happy to know that a globally recognized company, such as IPG, validates, with this transaction, the value generated by Padtec. We are also happy to know that IPG will continue the development efforts of Padtec", stated Manuel Andrade, Padtec’s CEO.

"In recent years, we have seen Padtec's customer base grow exponentially in Brazil and Latin America and this has boosted the company's business. Moving forward, the focus of the company will be to direct these additional resources to continue to offer advanced and robust products and services, making Padtec increasingly competitive", says Argemiro Sousa, Padtec’s EVP Sales.

"This acquisition will allow IPG to advance the market for submarine networking systems," said Ekaterina Golovchenko, IPG Photonics' Vice President of Telecommunication Systems. "Combining Padtec’s leading-edge submarine network technologies with IPG's high-power optical amplifier, Raman pumping, and WDM systems technologies will enable us to effectively compete for a growing number of undersea cable network deployments around the world."

https://www.ipgphotonics.com/
http://www.padtec.com.br/en/padtec-announces-sale-of-its-submarine-systems-division-to-ipg-photonics/

Read More

ASN intros Space Division Multiplexing for subsea cables

At this week's PTC'19 conference in Honolulu, Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) is introducing an “SDM1 by ASN” technique using Space Division Multiplexing for optimizing cost per bit  on subsea cables.

According to posted materials, ASN aims to push the limits of theoretical design capacity by minimizing the non-linear effects that add complexity and cost.

“SDM1 by ASN” will leverage a combination of repeater pump farming, low Aeff submarine fibres, and higher fibre count cables.


https://web.asn.com/media/data/files_user/72/our-domains/PICTURES/SDM1%20Flyer.pdf

Read More

ASN debuts aluminium conductor cable for subsea systems

Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) announced the commercial availability of aluminium conductor cable for optical fiber submarine systems. 

ASN says aluminium offers an alternative to copper conductor cables, with same level of quality and reliability. The company has conducted extensive testing and qualification program to demonstrate its suitability for ultra-long haul deep sea transmission systems. This included mechanical, electrical, optical and environmental tests performed on deep sea and armoured cables, also validated during a sea trial.

ASN also noted that this new cable variant has already been selected for a major long-distance project by Facebook.

Najam Ahmad, Vice President, Network Engineering at Facebook, said: “Our efforts are focused on expanding connectivity and increasing the adoption of innovative technologies, without compromising reliability. The use of aluminum cable in submarine systems represents an attractive evolution as technology advances and demand increases for more data throughput and higher speeds.”

The use of aluminium conductor answers the need of operators and content providers to better support the growth of demand and to reduce submarine cable costs, by introducing an alternative to copper
conductor, which is one of the most expensive raw materials currently used in repeatered submarine systems.

ASN cites the following benefits of the new aluminium conductor compared to copper:

• A better cost-effectiveness, while maintaining a performance equal to copper.
• A more stable supply market, which benefited over the past fifteen years from technology improvements, mainly driven by the oil & gas industry. This has led to the development of new industrial techniques and equipment now available for aluminium processing and welding on long distances.
• A potential for higher speed of production to speed-up the delivery of new systems.
• An enabler to achieve solutions for low direct current resistance (DCR) with higher number of fiber pairs.

Philippe Piron, President and CEO of Alcatel Submarine Networks said: “The introduction of a new cable variant using aluminium conductor addresses the market demand for more cable capacity at a reasonable cost, while keeping the same level of quality and reliability. After the introduction of loose tube technology in submarine cables 25 years ago, ASN is again the first to bring an innovative improvement to submarine cable design, and continues to show its leadership by anticipating customer demands."

Read More

Dell'Oro: 5G RAN investment to approach $160 billion in 5 years

Robust demand for 5G NR will propel the cumulative worldwide RAN market to approach $160 B over the next five years, according to a new forecast report from Dell'Oro Group.

Other highlights from the Mobile RAN 5-Year Forecast Report:

• 5G NR will scale at a significantly faster pace than LTE.
• Sub 6 GHz spectrum is expected to drive the lion share of the RAN capex (Figure 1)
• New capex to address IoT, Fixed Wireless Access, In-Building, and Public Safety opportunities for both private and public deployments will comprise a double-digit share of the RAN market by the outer part of the forecast period.
• Sub 6 GHz Massive MIMO transceiver shipments are projected to eclipse 200 million.

“Even if 5G will be just another G initially, the reality is that for the carriers with the right spectrum assets, the mid-band Massive MIMO business case can be extremely compelling for the MBB use case,” said Stefan Pongratz, analyst with the Dell’Oro Group. “At the same time, we are more optimistic today about the mmW opportunity than we were a year ago. But clearly it will take some with the current inter-site distances before the cost per GB economics will be as favorable with the mmW spectrum as the mid-band sub 6 GHz spectrum using the existing macro grid and Massive MIMO,” continued Pongratz.

http://www.delloro.com/5-year-forecast-report/robust-5g-nr-growth-propels-total-ran-investments-toward-160-b

Read More

Oracle opens Toronto data center

Oracle inaugurated a Toronto data center to support in-region customer demand for its public Oracle Cloud Infrastructure service.

Oracle plans to open additional regions in Australia, Europe, Japan, South Korea, India, Brazil, the Middle East, and the United States, including Virginia, Arizona, and Illinois to support public sector and Department of Defense customers. This expansion complements an existing Edge network consisting of more than 30 global locations and 300 plus sensors, providing Oracle customers with a comprehensive Internet performance data set, and deep edge services capabilities.

“Enterprises in the region still have limited ability to run mission-critical applications in the cloud and are struggling to attain the level of performance they have on-premises without a major overhaul,“ said Don Johnson, executive vice president, product development, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. “With this new location Oracle is delivering on its promise to deliver even more customers with consistent high performance, low predictable pricing and the flexibility our cloud brings to the table.“

Read More

AT&T outlines three pillars of 5G in business

AT&T is pursuing a three-pillar approach for 5G business solutions including:

Mobile 5G - AT&T is on track to launch a standards-based nationwide mobile 5G network in early 2020, with seamless handoffs between Wi-Fi, LTE and 5G. The network is currently active in parts of the 12 cities.

Fixed Wireless - within the next few weeks, AT&T Wireless Broadband will offer multiple speed tiers up to 50 Mbps. This solution builds on AT&T's fiber distribution -- over 8 million business customer locations sit within 1,000 feet of the company's fiber/ Nearly 2.2 million locations are currently connect with fiber today.

Edge Computing -- AT&T Multi-access Edge Compute (MEC) uses the software-defined network to enable faster access to data processing, and gives flexibility in how businesses manage their cellular traffic through on-premise hardware and software. With MEC, businesses can process low-latency, high-bandwidth applications closer to where they’re used to help create new outcomes and capabilities.

"The 5G services we’re rolling out and combining with our advanced network capabilities will help businesses fundamentally change for the better,” said Mo Katibeh, CMO, AT&T Business. “It will open up opportunities to increase revenue, reduce operational costs, and ultimately create amazing new experiences for employees and customers. Whether it’s a local startup, a growing regional company, or national enterprise, these 3 pillars are going to be groundbreaking."

  AT&T, Data Centers  

AT&

Read More

Iliad acquires majority stake in Jaguar Network

The Iliad Group has acquired a 75% stake in Jaguar Network for EUR 100 million. Kevin Polizzi, Jaguar Network’s Founder, remains the company’s Chief Executive Officer and has
retained a 25% stake.

Jaguar Network, which is based in Paris, operates data centers in Marseille and Lyon, along with a private fiber network extending 7,000km across France and neighboring countries.

https://www.jaguar-network.com/corporate

Read More

Chayora advances its data center plans in China

Chayora, Hong Kong-based data centre infrastructure company, entered into a strategic partnership with Beijing Sinnet Technology to deliver bespoke network solutions and cloud services solutions for Chayora customers. In addition, Sinnet also plans to use the Chayora 300 MW hyperscale campus as a location for its retail colocation expansion in Beichen, northern Tianjin supporting the wider Beijing region.

Sinnet is the largest private retail and wholesale colocation operator in the Beijing / Hebei / Tianjin tri- province and as a network integrator and cloud licence holder will enable Chayora to provide a much wider range of services to international cloud, technology and colocation companies seeking scalable, high performance and world-class data centre solutions in China.

Mr Yang Yuhang, CEO of Beijing Sinnet Technology Co. Ltd commented: “We are very excited by the potential for our collaboration with Chayora. Sinnet in collaboration with Chayora will immediately be able to offer retail colocation services to data centre users seeking international standard facilities within the wider Beijing region taking advantage of the key benefits of Tianjin. Sinnet will also deliver high bandwidth, economically advantageous network solutions between Chayora’s Tianjin campus and Sinnet’s Jiuxianqiao Beijing hub location and other locations to satisfy the requirements of hyperscale cloud customers.”

Mr Oliver Jones, CEO of Chayora Holdings Limited said: “Through our new strategic partnership with Sinnet, we plan to collaborate initially in Tianjin to serve the greater Beijing area in order to fulfil the needs of a series of specific international and premium domestic high growth, hyperscale data centre users requiring world-class standards, high quality network connectivity and scalable power in the greater Beijing area. Being able to extend our service scope into both retail colocation services and provide cloud licence services with Sinnet is an important step in Chayora enabling access for international cloud, technology and colocation companies to China as the world’s largest online market.”

Read More

T-Mobile US hires Ulf Ewaldsson as SR VP Technology Transformation

T-Mobile US named Ulf Ewaldsson as its new Senior Vice President, Technology Transformation, reporting directly to Chief Technology Officer and EVP, Neville Ray.

Ewaldsson spent nearly 30 years at Ericsson, where he most recently served as a senior advisor to the company’s CEO. Prior to that, Ewaldsson held various senior leadership roles including Senior Vice President and Head of Business Area Digital Services, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy & Technology Officer, Head of Group Function Strategy & Technology, and Head of Product Area Radio.

“We are thrilled to share the great news that Ulf is joining our team of amazing leaders at T-Mobile who continue to show the other guys what it takes to win in wireless. Just look at what we’ve done with 4G wireless! We’ve been the fastest for 19 straight quarters – nearly 5 straight years… and we’re just getting started. Adding Ulf’s passion and track record for driving innovation to the Un-carrier mix is going to take us to the next level,” said Neville Ray. “Ulf has achieved so many firsts and truly supported the evolution of technology for telecommunications across the globe. Bringing him on board is a total win for T-Mobile and we couldn’t wait to share it! He is going to be the perfect addition to our consumer-first Un-carrier team to drive our 5G evolution strategy!”

Read More

Toshiba expands line of automotive Ethernet ICs

Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage expanded its lineup of automotive Ethernet bridge portfolio with new “TC9562 series” ICs. Sample shipments will start in February, and volume production will start in October.

The Ethernet AVB specification offers real-time reliable data transmission and is increasingly used in vehicles. Toshiba currently offers the TC9560 series of Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000Mbps) solutions compliant with IEEE 802.1AS[3] and IEEE 802.1Qav.

https://toshiba.semicon-storage.com/ap-en/product/automotive/interface-bridge.html

Read More