Austria completes 5G auction in 3.4 - 3.8 GHz band

Austria concluded an auction of 5G spectrum in the 3.4-3.8 GHz band. Licenses were acquired by the three leading operators (A1, Hutchinson, T-Mobile) as well as some smaller players. In total, 438 out of a total of 468 frequency packages (39 packages of 10 MHz each, in twelve regions) were auctioned for a total price of around EUR 188 million. The auction lasted over three weeks.

T-Mobile Austria acquired 110 MHz of spectrum throughout the country (11 packages of 10 MHz each in 12 regions), for a total price of €57 million.

Read More

Huawei announces 50G PON prototype

Huawei announced a single-wavelength 50G passive optical network (PON) prototype.

The new unit provides 50 Gbps downstream transmission rates and 25 Gbps/50 Gbps upstream transmission rates over a single wavelength.

Huawei's design is based on mature 25G optical components. It achieves 50 Gbps transmission rates over a single wavelength through fiber dispersion compensation and transmitter/receiver bandwidth compensation technologies on the physical PON links. Under the 1:64 split ratio, the prototype supports transmissions over 20 km, and enables customers to smoothly transition to 50G PON networks without needing to change the ODN of the live network. The prototype is also fully compatible with XG(S)-PON and 10G-EPON in the 50G PON wavelength planning. To protect operators' investment, 50G PON boards are designed so that they can be inserted and run in the Huawei new-generation smart distributed OLT MA5800.

In February 2018, the ITU-T officially initiated the 50G PON standards project and began developing technical solutions and standards. The standards are expected to be finalized in 2020 and put into commercial use in 2023.

Huawei notes that is a contributing member of the ITU-T and IEEE in 50G PON technology.

Read More

Sicoya to build silicon photonics packaging factory in China

Sicoya GmbH, which specializes in monolithically integrated Silicon Photonics, announces the build of a new factory in Tianjin, China focusing on assembly and test of optical transceivers and engines.

The factory installation includes anti-vibration foundations and clean room facilities that will allow the factory to perform CMOS wafer level post-processing steps and downstream packaging processes.

Sicoya says the facility will serve the Chinese market and will manufacture transceivers and engines for the 5G wireless fronthaul and 100G/400G Ethernet-based datacenter application utilizing Sicoya's monolithically integrated Silicon Photonics chips.

"The Chinese Market is very important for Sicoya and customers require local manufacturing and services at scale," said Dr. Sven Otte, CEO of Sicoya.

International customers in the US or Europe will be served out of both the factory in Tianjin and complementary out of the factory in Berlin, Germany.

"We need to stay flexible with respect to the installed capacity of the two factories," said Peter Neumann VP of Operations at Sicoya. "In the past the industry tended to consolidate operations in one place to gain scale and utilization of overhead cost but today staying flexible and being able to react quickly to changes in the political environment becomes a key asset that customers appreciate," he continuous.

http://www.sicoya.com

Read More

Source Photonics expands data center and routing portfolio

Source Photonics has expanded its portfolio of single-mode products for datacenter and routing applications. The new products leverage the company’s multi-year investment in 28Gbaud and 53Gbaud PAM4 developments and support applications such as the 400G DR4, FR4 and LR8, 100G DR/FR, and 50G LR and ER.

In addition, Source Photonics also announces the availability of its second-generation 100G QSFP28 CWDM4.

“Source Photonics led the market deployment of small form-factor 10 km products for several generations,” says Ed Ulrichs, Director of PLM at Source Photonics. “The performance of our advanced 50G, 100G and 400G PAM4 based products prove our technical and production capabilities to lead scale of the entire 500m to 40 km portfolio.”

Source Photonics’ portfolio of Datacenter and Routing products include:

• 400G LR8 supporting 400GE links up to 10 km; the platform is expandable to support 400G-ER8 for 400G links up to 40 km by 2020
• 400G DR4 supporting 400GE links for 500m as well as enhanced reach of up to 2 km; the platform supports breakout into 100G-DR/FR as well as high-density 100GE links
• 400G FR4 supporting 400GE links up to 2 km over duplex single-mode fiber
• 400G SR8 supporting 400GE links up to 100m (OM4) over multi-mode fiber
• 100G DR/FR supporting single-channel 100G connectivity and supporting breakout from 400G DR4
• 100G LR4 supporting 100GE links up to 10 km with support for Ethernet only and OTU4 as well as enhanced performance for E-temp and I-temp applications
• 100G 4WDM-40 supporting 100GE links up to 40 km with Ethernet only and OTU4 support
• 100G CWDM4 supporting 100GE links up to 2 km over duplex single-mode fiber
• 100G SR4 supporting 100GE links up to 100m (OM4) over multi-mode fiber

http://sourcephotonics.com

Read More

Spirent showcases 400/200/100/50 GigETes Test System

At OFC, Spirent Communications showcased its 8-port 1U-rack-mountable 400/200/100/50 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) test system. The system claims to be the world’s highest density QSFP-DD test solution. It is designed to validate the forwarding performance and Quality of Service (QoS) of high-scale, next-generation-enabled, multi-terabit routers and switches, all contained in a single rack space.

Spirent is also showing the world’s highest-density native QSFP28 quint-speed series of test modules, supporting 100/50/40/25/10GbE from a single interface as part of the joint display, delivering the robust connectivity demanded by emerging markets and applications.

“It’s an exciting time as Ethernet speeds continue to evolve, and customers continue to design and develop solutions to meet future network requirements,” said Abhitesh Kastuar, general manager of Spirent’s Cloud and IP Business Unit. “Our innovation and test capabilities make Spirent the right partner for companies that are racing to bring their leading-edge network technologies to market first. We have been working with all the major network equipment vendors to deliver new chipsets so they can design and develop next-generation 400G products, enabling networking and services vendors to deploy faster and more reliably.”

https://www.spirent.com/HSE

Read More

Semtech expands its EPON portfolio

Semtech introduced a combo chip and a multi-rate burst mode Transimpedance Amplifier (TIA) for 10G EPON Optical Line Terminals (OLTs).

“The upsurge in the 10G EPON market is expected to continue and we believe these products will help drive this growth,” said Dr. Timothy Vang, Vice President of Marketing and Applications for Semtech’s Signal Integrity Products Group. “Our engineering team has produced another unique chipset that delivers higher performance and enables lower manufacturing costs through further integration.”

The combo chip is a fully bidirectional device that supports both 1G and 10G EPON. The transmit data path features Semtech’s 10G EML driver with ClearEdge CDR referenceless technology to effectively reset the path jitter budget. Tx path optimization can be accomplished via an I2C programmable PLL loop bandwidth control and a variety of jitter filter modes. The EML driver includes eye-shaping features and an automatic power control loop to deliver best-in-class transmit eye quality. The burst mode receive data path includes two separate limiting amplifiers, one for 1G EPON and the other for 10G EPON with a fast Burst Mode Signal Detect function. The Rx path outputs 10G data at CML levels, while the 1G Rx output is available at CML or LVPECL levels depending on the device version.

Semtech’s high sensitivity Burst Mode TIA is designed for 10G EPON OLT applications. The device features a fast automatic gain control loop to enable high dynamic range in burst mode applications. The GN7056 is offered in die form, supports industrial temperature range and uses a single 3.3V power supply.

Read More

MaxLinear cites momentum with its PAM4 DSP for 400G modules

Delta, a global supplier of power and thermal management solutions, has selected MaxLinear’s Telluride PAM4 DSP to develop its next-generation 400G-DR4 optical module. Delta’s proprietary single mode TOSA/ROSA design and package technology can be extended to DR4 single lambda optical modules.

MaxLinear’s MxL935xx Telluride family of SoCs are key components in the development of high-speed mega-scale data centers based on 100Gbps single lambda optical interconnects. The MxL935xx Telluride family of chips are the world’s first DSP SoCs with integrated electro-absorption modulated laser (EA-EML) drivers for 100/400Gbps optical interconnects and breakout mode clocking support for 400Gbps DR4 optical modules. The MxL93542 400G PAM4 DSP allows companies like Delta to develop a 400Gbps optical interconnect module in a compact form factor for intra-datacenter applications with a transmission distance up to 2 kilometers.

Molex has demonstrated MaxLinear’s “Telluride” (MxL935xx) pulse-amplitude-modulation (PAM4) digital signal processing (DSP) systems-on-chip (SoCs) for next generation 400G-DR4 and 100G-DR optical modules. Molex’s data center connectivity products include QSFP-DD, QSFP28, SFP-DD and 100G Lambda. Molex support for the Open19 Initiative with the Molex Impel Customized Data Cable solution aims to establish a new open standard for data center servers by delivering a flexible, scalable and secure platform.

ColorChip, a global leader in photonic integrated transceivers, has selected MaxLinear’s Telluride (MxL935xx) pulse-amplitude-modulation (PAM4) digital signal processing (DSP) systems-on-chip (SoCs) for their next generation 400G-DR4 and 100G-DR1 optical modules. The new optical modules join ColorChip’s multi-generational optical engine platforms, based on proprietary SystemOnGlass™ technology. ColorChip’s multi-generational optical engine platform has been refined over several generations of transceivers. Its PAM4 100G and 400G optical interconnects based on MaxLinear’s Telluride family are expected to be commercially available later this year.

Read More

MaxLinear demos QSFP-DD Optical Interoperability for 400G

At OFC 2019, MaxLinear privately showcased optical interoperability using 400Gbps QSFP-DD modules from early access customers.

The demonstration highlighted the capabilities of MaxLinear’s Telluride PAM4 DSP, the MxL93542, by enabling an end-to-end 400Gbps FR4 link between QSFP-DD modules from multiple vendors. In addition, optical interop will be demonstrated between a 400Gbps DR4 optical module and a 100Gbps DR1 optical module in breakout mode.

“We sampled our Telluride PAM4 DSP one year ago and in that time have enabled numerous customers to design and sample 100G DR1 and 400G DR4 & FR4 modules,” said Will Torgerson, Vice President and General Manager of MaxLinear’s High-Speed Interconnect Group. “We are very excited to be demonstrating some of those modules at OFC and sharing our plans to remain at the forefront of this major industry transition towards 400Gbps based on 100G per optical wavelength PAM4 technology.”

The Telluride family of chips includes the MxL93542 PAM4 DSP with integrated EA-EML driver and the MxL9154 quad linear PAM4 TIA.

Read More

Dell'Oro: Wireless Packet Core revenues up 7% in 4Q18

Wireless Packet Core (WPC) market revenues grew 7 percent Y/Y in 4Q 2018, according to a new report from Dell'Oro Group. For the full-year 2018, Huawei was the top-ranked vendor, achieving this annual designation for the first time ever.

Other findings in the report for the top-three Core vendor rankings for the full-year revenues in 2018 were as follows:

• Wireless Packet Core (2G/3G/4G): Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia
• Traditional Packet Core (2G/3G): Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia
• Evolved Packet Core (4G): Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia

"The modest growth of the WPC market in 4Q 2018 was due to the 4G Evolved Packet Core (EPC) technologies that service providers are using for 4G networks, but also for EPC use in upcoming 5G network deployments," said Dave Bolan, senior analyst at Dell'Oro Group. "For 2018 WPC market shares, Huawei was the number on vendor based on revenues; however, Ericsson, retained its first-place ranking for the EPC market that was the largest sub-segment of the wireless packet core market," Bolan added.

http://www.delloro.com

Read More

IDT launches 80G linear drivers for next-gen coherent

Integrated Device Technology (IDT) introduced its new GX7847x 80G linear driver series, in die form, for next generation coherent optical integrated modules.

IDT said its GX7847x series 80G linear drivers are 4-channel integrated single die solutions that cover all optical modulator technologies in the market. The GX78471, GX78472 and GX78474 are optimized to provide the best performance for Lithium Niobate, Indium Phosphide, and Silicon Photonics modulators, respectively.

The drivers are designed for 400G ZR, Metro, and Data Center Interconnect (DCI) applications, are compliant with the Optical Interconnect Forum (OIF) standard, and are used in highly integrated optical sub-assembly modules such as the High Bandwidth Coherent Driver Modulator (HB-CDM) and Integrated Coherent Transmitter-Receiver Optical Sub-Assembly (IC-TROSA).  The HB-CDM and IC-TORSA using the GX7847x series have higher bandwidth without any degradations in terms of output voltage swing, linearity, power consumption and die size. 

http://www.idt.com

Renesas to acquire Integrated Device Technology for $6.7 billion

Tuesday, September 11, 2018  IDT, Japan, Mergers And Acquisitions, Renesa, Silicon Valley  

Renesas Electronics Corporation of Japan has agreed to acquire Integrated Device Technology (IDT, NASDAQ: IDTI) for approximately US$6.7 billion (approximately 733.0 billion yen at an exchange rate of 110 yen to the dollar), combing two recognized leaders in embedded processors and analog mixed-signal semiconductors. IDT shares are to be acquired at a price of US$49.00 per share.

IDT, which is based in San Jose, California, is a leading supplier of analog mixed-signal products, including sensors, connectivity and wireless power. Renesas is the leading global supplier of microcontrollers, and a leader in analog & power and SoC products. The acquisition will provide Renesas with analog mixed-signal capabilities in embedded systems, including RF, advanced timing, memory interface & power management, optical interconnect, wireless power, and smart sensors.

The combination of these product lines with Renesas’ advanced MCUs and SoCs and power management ICs enables Renesas to offer comprehensive solutions that support the increasing demand of high data processing performance.

Read More

Luna Innovations acquires General Photonics

Luna Innovations has acquired General Photonics Corporation, a Chino, California-based supplier of optical components, modules and test equipment. General Photonics is focused on the generation, measurement and control of polarized light critical in fiber optic-based applications. The purchase price was $20 million, which includes a potential $1 million earnout payment.

Luna said General Photonics’ component and module product lines are an ideal addition to its own product portfolio. Its polarization measurement instruments are highly complementary to Luna’s line of optical measurement tools.

“We are excited to announce the acquisition of General Photonics, another step in the execution of our core strategy. This acquisition brings a highly complementary product portfolio to the capabilities of Luna’s communications test products,” said Scott Graeff, President and Chief Executive Officer of Luna. “We intend to drive a quick and smooth integration as both company’s products are built on similar electronics, optics and software platforms for high-precision measurement and control of light. This deal further demonstrates our commitment to use capital prudently for transactions that are quickly accretive to our earnings, and it is consistent with our previously stated goal to drive long-term value.”

Read More

CREDO highlights electrical and optical 100G PAM4

At this week's OFC 2019, CREDO conducted multiple live demonstrations of its low power, high-performance 112Gbps (G) PAM4 Serializer-Deserializer (SerDes) technologies.

“New high demand workloads such as artificial intelligence are moving to the cloud and are driving the need to deliver dramatic increases in throughput overall for data center, enterprise and high-performance computing environments,” said Rajan Pai, vice president of system applications at Credo. “Our 112G PAM4 demonstrations with industry leading standards bodies are laying the groundwork for providing ubiquitous 112G lane-rate connectivity at the performance and scale required.”

“Credo’s 112G single lane rate electrical and optical connectivity technologies are being well received,” said Jeff Twombly, vice president of business development at Credo. “End customers continue to push for significant increases in network bandwidth and the industry as a whole will benefit greatly by a rapid move to single lane rate, end-to-end 112G deployments.”

http://www.credosemi.com

Read More