AT&T tests Microsoft Azure edge cloud capabilities

AT&T is working with Microsoft to test Azure cloud capabilities at the edge of the AT&T 5G network.

The testing aims to substantially reduce latency and improve user experience by deploying advanced cloud services in specific geographic locations closer to business sites.

Specifically for this trial, network edge compute (NEC) capabilities are deployed at the AT&T Foundry in Plano, Texas. The companies are working with Israel-based Vorpal, a start-up building a drone detection and geolocation tracking solution. The service can be useful to commercial drone monitoring, airports, public safety law enforcement agencies and others needing the ability to identify drone and operator locations in near-real time, enhancing monitoring and mitigation.

“We’re creating new ways for our customers to directly access a multitude of cloud options closer to where they do business,” said Mo Katibeh, chief marketing officer, AT&T Business. “Using the blazing speeds of our fiber, LTE and 5G mobile connections, we’re paving the way for how low-latency pathways to cloud services like Microsoft Azure can accelerate business transformation – for both enterprise and small business applications.”

Yousef Khalidi, corporate vice president, Azure Networking, Microsoft Corp. said, “Our collaboration will pave the way to enable Microsoft Azure cloud services to connect to more customers and devices across the U.S. through AT&T’s nationwide wireless network.  Our two companies are working together to achieve the low latency connectivity needed for the explosion of devices and immense amount of data being created by computing at the edge.”

AT&T outlines three pillars of 5G in business

Monday, January 21, 2019    

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.

Read More

Intel launches FPGA-based accelerator for 5G core and vRAN

Intel is introducing an FPGA-based acceleration card for 5G core and virtualized radio access network solutions.

The Intel FPGA Programmable Acceleration Card N3000 is designed to accelerate network traffic for up to 100 Gbps and supports up to 9GB DDR4 and 144MB QDR IV memory for high-performance applications. Programmability and flexibility of an FPGA allow customers to create tailored solutions by utilizing reference IPs for networking function acceleration workloads such as vRAN, vBNG, vEPC, IPSec and VPP.

Affirmed Networks is using Intel’s FPGA PAC in a new solution for 5G core network (CN)/evolved packet core – a 200 Gbps/server that provides smart load balancing and CPU cache optimizations.

Rakuten, the soon to be the operator of Japan’s newest mobile network, is including Intel x86 and FPGA-based PAC for acceleration from the core to the edge to provide the first end-to-end cloud-native mobile network. Intel FPGA PAC N3000 is the distributed unit accelerator next to Intel® Xeon Scalable processor where Layer 1 functions, such as forward error correction and front haul transmission, are offloaded onto an Intel FPGA.

“As the mobile and telecommunications industry gears up for an explosion in internet protocol traffic and 5G rollouts, we designed the Intel FPGA PAC N3000 to provide the programmability and flexibility with the performance, power efficiency, density and system integration capabilities the market needs to fully support the capabilities of 5G networks,” stated Reynette Au, Intel vice president of marketing, Programmable Solutions Group.

“5G is a transformative technology, and it requires advanced network virtualization infrastructure coupled with an agile software architecture. Working with an Intel FPGA PAC N3000, we have developed a cloud-native, containerized solution for the 5G core and EPC – the first true 100G/CPU socket solution. The FPGA acceleration allows us to process this traffic load with 50 percent less CPU utilization2, providing significant room for growth,” said Ron Parker, chief architect at Affirmed Networks. “Intel FPGAs optimize software performance, lowering power consumption and latency for diverse quality of service characteristics across multiple 5G network slices.”

Read More

NeoPhotonics intros Coherent Modulator and Receiver for 800G+ waves

NeoPhotonics introduced Class 50 versions of its Micro-Modulator (CDM) and Coherent Receiver to its suite of High Bandwidth Coherent components. The new devices enable 800G+ wavelengths over data center interconnect (DCI) distances.

Class 50 Coherent components improve on the currently shipping Class 40 components, and allow increasing the symbol rate from the current 64 Gbaud rate to market leading 90-100 Gbaud rate.

NeoPhotonics said its new Class 50 components for 100 GBaud transmission are designed to work with the emerging new generation of coherent Digital Signal Processors based on the 7 nanometer Silicon process node and triple the symbol rate over standard 100Gbps (32 GBaud) coherent systems.   Higher symbol rates increase data capacity while maintaining superior optical single to noise ratio (OSNR), spectral density and reach performance.   All of these components are available in compact form factor packages suitable for use in pluggable modules and compact daughter cards.

• Class 50 CDM:  NeoPhotonics Class 50, polarization multiplexed, quadrature coherent driver modulator (CDM) features a co-packaged InP modulator with a linear, high bandwidth, differential driver, and is designed for low V-Pi, low insertion loss and a high extinction ratio.   The compact package is designed to be compliant with the form factorof the OIF Implementation Agreement #OIF-HB-CDM-01.0.
• Class 50 Micro-ICR:  NeoPhotonics Class 50 High Bandwidth Micro-Intradyne Coherent Receiver (Micro-ICR) is designed for 90-100 GBaud symbol rates, tripling the rate of standard 100G ICRs. The compact package is designed to be compliant with the OIF Implementation Agreement OIF-DPC-MRX-02.0.

In addition, NeoPhotonics has introduced a “Nano” ultra-narrow linewidth external cavity tunable laser, which cuts the size approximately in half compared to current Micro-ITLAs, while featuring industry leading linewidth with low electrical power consumption.

“We are currently providing our customers with a matched suite of high speed Class 40, 64 Gbaud, optical components to support current 600G per wavelength systems, and the addition of Class 50 versions will continue to support our customers as they move to 90-100 Gbaud and nearly 1 Terabit per wavelength,” said Tim Jenks, Chairman and CEO of NeoPhotonics.  “As new generations of electronics become available, it is crucial that the optical components are available to complete the suite, in this case realizing near 1 Terabit per second on a single wavelength,” continued Mr. Jenks.

https://www.neophotonics.com/

Read More

Source Photonics opens new laser fab and assembly facility

Source Photonics, a leading supplier of optical components and transceivers, has opened a new fabrication facility in Jintan, China to support its global growth.

The new Jintan facility will double Source Photonics’ capacity of Indium Phosphide (InP) lasers and related components. The fabrication plant includes a fully integrated laser chip production capability, high-precision TO operations, and an advanced R&D facility to support the company’s global technology roadmap and regional customers. Its chip capabilities include base wafer, regrowth, and chip processing, while its TO operations will support the advanced requirements emerging for high-speed PON and 5G markets.

The Jintan facility augments the company’s existing fab in Hsinchu in Taiwan, which has itself doubled its output over the past three years. Recent investments in the Taiwan facility include significant expansion in MOCVD and advanced coating technologies. The Taiwan facility also recently completed expansions to support transceiver assembly in support of customers’ demands for resiliency in their supply chains.

Source Photonics said its manufacturing prowess is a key advantage in the optical communications industry in which a majority of manufacturers are fabless.

“These new investments support our integrated manufacturing approach which is critical to meeting the ever-growing needs of our customers” said Doug Wright, CEO. “Managing the entire value chain from laser production through transceiver assembly gives SP differentiated capability that enhances speed to market, yields manufacturing innovations, and offers flexibility our customers demand”.

http://www.sourcephotonics.com

Read More

Qualcomm shows 5G PC with Snapdragon 7nm CPU and modem

Qualcomm introduced the first commercial 5G PC Platform, powered by its Snapdragon 8cx 5G compute platform and its Snapdragon X55 5G modem.

The premium thin and light PC will take advantage of the multigigabit capabilities of new 5G networks.

Qualcomm said its Snapdragon 8cx 5G platform will extreme performance, extreme battery life, and extreme connectivity. Snapdragon 8cx 5G platform promises multi-day battery life and multi-gigabit connectivity, in new thin, light and fanless designs. The company predicts that with the introduction of Snapdragon 8cx 5G, private 5G small-cell networks will proliferate in the enterprise.

"Our platforms were the first to bring gigabit, and now multi-gigabit LTE to the PC,” said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president and general manager, Mobile, Qualcomm Technologies,Inc. “We also brought multi-day battery life to the PC, and with the Snapdragon 8cx 5Gcompute platform, we innovate once again to bring the best of our computing and connectivity technologies into a single platform to modernize the enterprise.”

Read More

Airtel picks Ciena to build Photonic Control Plane Network

Bharti Airtel has selected Ciena to build one of the world’s largest photonic control plane networks in India as part of Project Leap, its network transformation program.

Airtel’s new backbone network will support its rapidly growing 4G/5G/FTTH architectures, making the most efficient use of available fiber resources.

The upgraded back will be capable of re-computing and re-routing traffic based on available network resources.

Randeep Sekhon, CTO – Bharti Airtel said: “Airtel has always pioneered the introduction of cutting-edge network technologies to serve its customers. We are pleased to work with Ciena to build one of world’s largest optical spine and leaf networks, which is also a big step towards 5G readiness by leveraging our huge fiber assets. This will not only scale our network for massive capacity but also protect traffic and enhance service delivery to all our customers. It will also help Airtel further strengthen its position as a key enabler of digital experiences in an increasingly connected world.”

Ryan Perera, Vice President and General Manager, Ciena India said: “Airtel has an established reputation for embracing innovative technology to enrich the lives of its subscribers. The combination of Ciena’s coherent optical, advanced software and control plane capabilities gives Bharti a scalable and robust infrastructure that can dynamically adapt to keep up with ever-changing user demands.”

Read More

Optiva's BSS Revenue Management Suite now on Google Cloud

Optiva's end-to-end  BSS solution is now available on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

As the next generation of the Optiva Turnkey Converged Billing (TCB) solution, Optiva Revenue Management Suite offers CSPs tools to retain and increase their customer base. The suite provides features for charging, billing, product catalog and order management and is available for deployment in both private and public cloud environments. When deployed on the public cloud via GCP, Optiva Revenue Management Suite provides up to 80 percent lower total c

ost of ownership (TCO) by leveraging the auto-scaling capabilities of the public cloud.

Optiva said its BSS suite is ideally suited for CSPs looking for a solution that is quick to deploy, easy to upgrade and runs natively in the cloud as a turnkey solution.

“This is another significant step forward in Optiva’s $100 million cloud transformation plan, bringing innovation and big savings to telcos,” said Danielle Royston, CEO of Optiva. “Optiva now has two cloud offerings for CSPs: the best-in-breed Optiva Charging Engine for CSPs who need 10x faster transaction processing speed and, now, the best-in-suite Optiva Revenue Management Suite geared for CSPs looking for the lowest cost, end-to-end turnkey solution. Cloud is coming to telco — not in 2029 — but today, in 2019. Soon CSPs of all sizes will be embracing the benefits of the public cloud.”

Read More

Linux Foundation takes on Pyro Probabilistic Programming

The LF Deep Learning Foundation (LFDL), a Linux Foundation project, has launched the Pyro project, started by Uber, as its newest project.

Pyro, which built on top of the PyTorch framework, is a deep probabilistic programming framework for facilitating large-scale exploration of AI models, making deep learning model development and testing quicker and more seamless. It was designed with four key principles in mind:

• Universal: Pyro can represent any computable probability distribution.
• Scalable: Pyro scales to large data sets with little overhead.
• Minimal: Pyro is implemented with a small core of powerful, composable abstractions.
• Flexible: Pyro aims for automation when you want it, control when you need it. 

This is the second project LF DL has voted in from Uber, following last December’s Horovod announcement.

“Pyro was originally created at Uber AI Labs to help make deep probabilistic programming faster and more seamless for AI practitioners in both industry and academia,” said Zoubin Ghahramani, head of Uber AI Labs. “By incorporating Pyro into the LF DL portfolio, we hope to facilitate greater opportunities for researchers worldwide and make deep learning and Bayesian modeling more accessible.”

Read More

Fibocom intros 5G module based on Intel XMM 8160 modem

Shenzhen-based FIBOCOM Wireless introduced an Intel-powered 5G module for vertical applications in global markets.

FG100 is a multi-mode 5G module that includes EN-DC (LTE+5G), 5GNR-FDD/TDD, LTE-FDD/TDD and 3G WCDMA, supports 5G Sub-6 GHz internally, and mmW through an external antenna module. The module supports peak downlink speeds of up 6Gbps on mmW and 4Gbps on Sub-6 GHz.

“We at Fibocom are proud to present our first 5G module based on Intel’s XMM 8160 5G modem. 5G allows for enhanced experience in speed and capacity with ultra-low latency”, says Tiger Ying, CEO Fibocom. “Building upon our established M.2 modules portfolio with Intel modems, our FG100 enables our customers the natural migration with easy integration from 4G to 5G.”

Partners including D-Link, Gemtek and VVDN will deliver gateway platforms using the Fibocom L860 gigabit LTE M.2 module with plans to upgrade to the FG100 5G M.2 module when available.
Sampling is expected this year, with commercial availability in 2020.

http://www.fibocom.com

Read More

NETSCOUT’s InfiniStreamNG provides visibility in 5G

NETSCOUT SYSTEMS'  InfiniStreamNG Smart Data platform is now supporting the entire 5G life cycle including planning, rollout, and optimization.

The solution can be used ro assure new virtual infrastructures and deploy next-generation services over 5G. NETSCOUT said its Smart Data provides unified, precise and early visibility into the risks to applications and services while addressing technology borders formed within the modern hyper-converged, hybrid cloud environment.

The latest release of the ISNG 5G solution is 3GPP Release 15 compliant, with support for non-standalone 5G networks, end-to end, with or without Control and User Plane Separation (CUPS). ISNG provides continuity for existing services by providing monitoring, visibility, and troubleshooting for 4G LTE/5G New Radio (NR) deployment options with or without CUPS. The solution supports virtualization of the mobile network with orchestration, edge-cloud and network slicing, providing carriers with visibility across their complex, hybrid network.

“Our customers must be ready to compete in this 5G world with NFV-ready monitoring solutions for new services including IoT that are running in the edge-cloud,” said Bruce Kelley, senior vice president, chief technology officer, NETSCOUT. “These new services demand Visibility Without Borders, which translates into having a consistent and precise view into the health and performance of service levels. This gives service providers visibility across complex environments, including virtual and physical resources, making it possible for service providers to effectively plan for, launch, and operationalize 5G offerings with confidence.”

Read More

Blue Danube's Massive MIMO delivers 2.5X LTE boost

Blue Danube Systems, a start-up based in Santa Clara, California, announced significant results from multiple new FDD deployments in commercial networks with live traffic.

The company said its multi-unit installations show more than 2.5 times higher cellular capacity and significantly increased user throughputs for both legacy LTE terminals as well as new generation smartphones.

Specifically, Blue Danube’s BeamCraft 500 antennas were deployed in LTE networks in dense urban megacities and other areas with high traffic load nearing full bandwidth utilization. The performance was measured directly from the operators’ network performance management systems.

Blue Danube said the test results exhibit increasing gains with the number of units deployed and highlight the benefits of multi-site optimization and coordination. Consistent performance improvements were observed across all multi-site deployments where BeamCraft units faced each other and intercell coordination can be fully exploited, with capacity gains reaching and exceeding 2.5X over the whole cluster. In addition, the Blue Danube deployments increased average user download speeds and extended 4G LTE service to previously underserved areas, providing improved indoor coverage to high demand location including hospitals, mass transit terminals and high-rise buildings with vertical beamforming.

Blue Danube’s Coherent Massive MIMO system has been deployed by five 4G LTE operators worldwide and has been in commercial network operation in North America since 2016 serving thousands of users and carrying hundreds of gigabytes of data traffic daily.

“Today’s results clearly showcase the unmatched performance of our Coherent Massive MIMO technology,” said Mark Pinto, President and CEO of Blue Danube Systems. “There are no other solutions available in the market with the same level of performance in live commercial operation. The flexibility of our solution enables unique capabilities from vertical beamforming to on-demand capacity with dynamic time-of-day beamforming. We have proven our technology for FDD mode and are now expanding our capability to TDD as well as higher frequency bands.”

http://www.bluedanube.com

Read More