DOCOMO commits to multivendor O-RAN for 4G/5G

NTT DOCOMO has commenced deployment of a 4G/5G multivendor radio access network conforming to O-RAN specifications.

Working in collaboration with Fujitsu, NEC, and Nokia, DOCOMO has demonstrated multi-vendor interoperability across a variety of 4G and 5G base station equipment compatible with O-RAN. The O-RAN standards include fronthaul specifications and X2 profile specifications.

O-RAN fronthaul specifications are used to establish the connections between centralized units hosting baseband processing and remote units hosting radio processing in 5G remote-installed base stations. O-RAN fronthaul interface specifications provide a foundation for interoperability between centralized units and remote units of 5G remote-installed base stations manufactured by diverse partners.

The O-RAN X2 profile specifications provide a foundation for interoperability between 4G base stations and 5G base stations manufactured by diverse partners in 5G non-standalone (5G NSA) networks by taking 3GPP X2 interface specifications and specifying detailed standards for their usage. 5G NSA networks connect devices using both 4G and 5G technologies.

DOCOMO believes this represents the world's first realization of this level of multi-vendor interoperability in 4G and 5G base station equipment conforming to O-RAN specifications. The ability to deploy and interconnect base station equipment from different vendors will make it possible to select the equipment most suitable for deployment in any given environment, such as base stations offering broad coverage in rural areas or small base stations that can be deployed in urban areas where space is limited.

DOCOMO will deploy the equipment in the pre-commercial 5G service it plans to launch on September 20, 2019 in Japan.
https://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/info/media_center/pr/2019/0918_00.html

Fujitsu delivers 5G base station products to NTT DOCOMO

Wednesday, July 31, 2019  5G, Fujitsu, Japan, O-RAN  

Fujitsu Limited has begun delivery of 5G base station products, comprising of Central Unit (CU, 1) and Radio Unit (RU, 2), to NTT DOCOMO for its commercial 5G network.

The 5G CU products that Fujitsu has started delivering realize the 5G system through a proprietary software design from the company using software-defined radio technology, which can implement different wireless technologies on the same hardware.

The 5G RU products have built-in antennas (which had conventionally been installed externally) equipped with beam forming, enabling efficient network deployments. These RU products have a lineup consisting of 3 types of equipment that support 5G frequencies (the 3.7 GHz band, the 4.5 GHz band, and the 28 GHz band). he products are compliant with the O-RAN fronthaul interface specifications. Using this open interface, Fujitsu's products can connect to various vendors CU/RU products. The products also support 3GPP's (Release 15) specifications.

Fujitsu said it has been working with NTT DOCOMO to develop a CU and RUs that comply with the O-RAN fronthaul interface specifications

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Equinix extends global reach of Oracle Cloud infrastructure

Equinix will provide global reach for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

Oracle's Generation 2 Cloud Infrastructure is designed to create an infrastructure that matches the performance, control and governance of enterprise data centers, while delivering the scale, elasticity and cost savings of public clouds.

Recent global market expansions by Equinix in São Paulo, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and Zurich now provide customers in these metros with private and highly secure connectivity to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure FastConnect via Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric (ECX Fabric).

As a part of the expanded collaboration, Oracle customers using Oracle Cloud Infrastructure in the Phoenix data center region can also now directly connect to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure FastConnect from Equinix International Business Exchange data centers in Los Angeles via ECX Fabric.

Currently, Oracle FastConnect is deployed in six Equinix IBX data centers, including Amsterdam, Chicago, Frankfurt, London, Sydney and Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia. Additionally, Equinix offers more private onramps to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure FastConnect in 32 other metros globally, ncluding:

• 7 Asia-Pacific metros: Hong Kong, Melbourne, Osaka, Perth, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.
• 13 American metros: Atlanta, Boston, Culpeper, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, São Paulo, Seattle, Silicon Valley and Toronto.
• 12 European metros: Dublin, Dusseldorf, Geneva, Helsinki, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Paris, Stockholm, Warsaw and Zurich.

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Interxion backs IX-API

INTERXION, which is a leading provider of carrier and cloud-neutral colocation data centre services in Europe, announced its support for the new Internet Exchange Application Programming Interface (IX-API).

Interxion will use IX-API to deliver customers on-demand remote peering, providing access to peering services from all Interxion data centres across Europe.

AMS-IX, DE-CIX and LINX develop a universal IX-API

Tuesday, September 17, 2019  IX  

Three of the leading Internet exchange providers, AMS-IX, DE-CIX and LINX, announced a universal IX-API designed serve as a common technical communication protocol enabling communication between various software applications.

The idea is to create a common interface for provisioning key services at multiple exchanges, by creating a simpler platform for customers and offering an easier way to connect.

The three IX partners said their IX-API allows users to self-manage their existing and new interconnection services, such as peering, more effectively.

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TM GLOBAL and Angola Cables study express route for southern hemisphere

TM GLOBAL, the global and wholesale arm of Telekom Malaysia, and Angola Cables have been exploring a new express route connecting the southern hemisphere subsea cables from Asia directly to South America.

A Proof of Concept (PoC) testing is being conducted by both parties leveraging two (2) cable systems; the South Africa Far East cable system (SAFE), connecting Malaysia to Angola, and South Atlantic Cable System (SACS) connecting Angola to Brazil owned by both parties respectively.

The carriers report a significant reduction in latency as compared to the current northern hemisphere routes by bypassing the Middle East and Europe.

South Atlantic Cable System ready for service with Angola-Brazil

Sunday, September 30, 2018  SACS, Subsea  

The South Atlantic Cable System (SACS), which is a 40 Tbps, 6,165 km cable linking Angola to Brazil, is now on-stream and open for commercial traffic.

SACS features four fibre pairs, with each fibre pair capable of transmitting 100 wavelengths at 100 Gbps. NEC served as lead contractor on the project.

The SACS cable system lands at Sangano cable landing station in Angola, near the capital city of Luanda, and will provide onward connectivity to the Angonap data center. In Brazil, SACS lands directly in a newly constructed data center, which was built together with SACS and for another cable system connecting Brazil to the U.S.A.

SACS is 100% owned by Angola Cables.

SACS was partially funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) through a loan agreement in buyer's credit with Banco de Desenvolvimento de Angola (BDA), the state-owned development bank of Angola. The loan was co-financed with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) with Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) providing insurance for the portion financed by SMBC.

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Orange and PCCW join PEACE subsea cable project

PCCW Global, Orange, and PEACE Cable International, a leading international submarine cable operator, reached agreement to deploy the Pakistan and East Africa Connecting Europe (PEACE) submarine cable system.

PEACE will be a 12,000km ultra-low latency cable system connecting three of the largest and most populous continents in the world - Asia, Africa and Europe. The backbone of the project will interconnect Pakistan, Djibouti, Egypt, Kenya and France, with additional planned landing points and extensions. Completion is targeted for 2021.

In terms of the cooperation, Orange will supply and operate the cable landing station in Marseille, as well as linking the system to one of the city’s major data centers - creating a connectivity gateway across Europe and on to the Americas through existing transatlantic networks.

Mr. Marc Halbfinger, Chief Executive Officer, PCCW Global, said, “Our collaboration with Orange is a critically important step towards bringing PEACE online and we trust the capabilities and vast experience of their teams in France to provide a successful and timely delivery of the European leg of the project. Orange has vast experience in submarine cable infrastructure development. So we are confident that Orange will not only successfully provide the necessary cable infrastructure in France, but also benefit from being one of the first major users of the PEACE cable to connect important and growing traffic from Africa to Europe.”

Telecom Egypt signs PEACE subsea cable

Sunday, May 12, 2019  Subsea, Telecom Egypt  

Telecom Egypt entered agreements enabling the Pakistan & East Africa Connecting Europe (PEACE) subsea cable system to cross Egypt through new diversified terrestrial routes between the Zafarana and Abou Talat cable landing stations, where Telecom Egypt will provide PEACE with brand new state of the art landing facilities. The total value of the agreement amounts to US$45 million over the lifetime of the cable.

In addition,  PEACE will be granted an additional fiber pair to its redundant cross Egypt routes to accommodate PEACE extensive demand to Europe with a total value of US$20 million. China-based HENGTONG OPTIC-ELECTRIC, which is a backer of PEACE, has also agreed to provide Telecom Egypt with fiber optic cables of different cores based on competitive pricing. This cabling will be used in Telecom Egypt's strategic plans for fiber deployment inside Egypt.

PEACE is a 12,000 km long cable system with landings in Pakistan, Djibouti, Egypt, Kenya and France.

Huawei Marine advances PEACE subsea cable project

Monday, October 22, 2018  China, Huawei Marine, Subsea  

The Pakistan East Africa Cable Express (PEACE) Cable project, which will connect Asia, Africa and Europe, has entered into the cable and material manufacturing stage.

The PEACE cable system will span 12,000 km and is designed for 200G, 16Tbps per fiber pair connectitivity. The ready for service date is targetted for first quarter of 2020.

The project is being developed by PEACE Cable International Network Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of China's HENGTONG Group.  Huawei Marine Network is lead contractor.

Sun Xiaohua, Chief Operating Officer of PEACE Cable said, “PEACE Cable has created a new business model in the submarine cable industry that builds a bridge for these regions communications and provides connectivity opportunities to players all along the route by investing in the branches and gaining bandwidth on the trunk in a more efficient way.”

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Arista's CloudVision boosts automation

Arista Networks announced CloudVision 2019, a software platform designed to bring cloud network operations to enterprise customers through a network-wide suite of automation, telemetry, and analytics.

The company said its CloudVision builds on its cognitive management plane framework. The idea is to provide a consistent management plane across data center, campus wired and wireless, and public cloud use-cases. CloudVision includes centralized provisioning, end-to-end time-series visibility, network-wide topology views, compliance reporting, and analytic-driven event notifications across wired and wireless networks/

Key Capabilities in CloudVision 2019:

• Hitless change controls, including customizable workflows to orchestrate task scheduling, modal awareness, and live change control monitoring
• Data plane visibility, including the ability to consume flow-data from sFlow and IPFIX
• Device Analyzer, providing endpoint inventory and behavioral analysis for all connected devices and helping to proactively identify security threat vectors
• New topology overlay views, including network events and segmentation mappings
• Network-wide Search, for tracking down key items across the historical time-series
• Customizable rules engine, for creating customer-specific network compliance rules and associated events

The CloudVision 2019 software release and Ansible Playbooks for CloudVision are in customer trials now and will be generally available in October, 2019.

https://www.arista.com/en/company/news/press-release/8302-pr-20190917

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MaxLinear announces PAM4 DSPs optimized for 100G

MaxLinear announced the extension of its Telluride 100G per wavelength PAM4 DSP family with the availability of the MxL93515 and MxL93516, optimized for 100G applications.

MaxLinear said its second-generation DSPs offer significantly lower power and smaller footprint, comfortably enabling sub-3.5W QSFP28 designs while also meeting the form factor needs of the smaller SFP-DD/DSFP optical modules. Like its first-generation DSPs, the MxL93516 includes a monolithically integrated EA-EML laser driver.

The new MxL93515 and MxL93516 also feature a comprehensive digital pre-distortion (DPD) engine in the transmit direction to compensate for laser non-linearity and to cancel packaging limitations that cause reflections and bandwidth degradation at these extremely high signal frequencies. This DPD engine combined with the integrated EA-EML laser driver make these DSPs ideally suited for uncooled EA-EML lasers offering a substantially lower cost model to compete against existing 100G PSM4/CWDM4/LR4.

All Telluride DSPs include an auto-adaptive signal enhancement engine that enables robust SNR and BER performance. The engine integrates a continuous time linear equalizer (CTLE), automatic gain control (AGC), a feed forward equalizer (FFE), and a decision feedback equalizer (DFE).

The MxL93515 and MxL93516 are available in a tiny 7mm x 8.5mm package that supports both 4x25Gbps NRZ (QSFP28) and 2x50Gbps (SFP-DD/DSFP) PAM4 signals on the electrical interface. The package includes either an integrated 1.8Vpp EA-EML laser driver or a differential output that supports an external silicon photonics driver.

“Following the spectacular success of our first-generation Telluride products, we optimized the power and cost of our second-generation devices to enable a new generation of 100G single lambda QSFP and SFP modules,” said Will Torgerson, Vice President and General Manager of MaxLinear’s High-Speed Interconnect Group. "Our second-generation Telluride DSPs combined with the need for fewer optical components will drive the cost per bit down across the industry and we anticipate single lambda 100G solutions to become a majority of the data center and front-haul deployments over the next 2-3 years.”

http://www.maxlinear.com/MxL93515

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