Sunday, October 20, 2019

NJFX and Telxius interconnect their East Coast Cable Landing Stations

The NJFX Cable Landing Station (CLS) in Wall, New Jersey has been directly connected to Telxius facilities at the CLS in Virginia Beach, VA using Windstream's fiber network.

NJFX’s CLS campus offers access to four subsea cable systems to Europe and South America and seven independent US fiber-based backhaul providers. Customers can access points of presence in 15 countries across Central and South America, Mexico and the Caribbean. NJFX said its CLS campus is resistant to even Category 5 hurricanes in part because of its location 64 feet above sea level.

The Telxius CLS campus in Virginia Beach, includes the Telxius facilities at the MAREA and BRUSA CLS. MAREA’s 200 Tbps transmission capacity plus BRUSA’s 138 Tbps equal that of the top 10 hub cities in the world combined, ranked by international capacity.[1] They are uniquely suited to deliver massive capacity and the lowest possible latencies. In addition to offering direct access to those two subsea cable systems to Europe and South America, the Telxius CLS campus features connections with several independent US fiber-based backhaul providers. Access to other advanced subsea cables will be completed soon. Additionally, the Telxius Communications Campus in Virginia Beach connects directly to main data center campuses in Ashburn, Richmond and Phoenix.

“We are proud to be the catalyst of the first-ever CLS to CLS terrestrial route,” states Gil Santaliz, CEO for NJFX. “This is an integral part of the shift the industry is seeing in new infrastructure being deployed to replace the old networking models. The total capacity of the subsea cables coming out of these two cable landing stations is greater than all of the capacity of the previously placed North American subsea cables stretching across the Atlantic combined. Windstream and Telxius are bilaterally leveraging each company’s routes to address customer network diversity requirements and capacity needs. The potential for clients is endless.”

“Telxius as a world-class communications infrastructure company, is keen to enable the interconnection of two key cable landing stations in the US, offering the strategic ability of network protection at the subsea cable level,” states Gerardo Bonilla, Head of Sales for Telxius. “A pioneer as the first provider with connectivity between these two cable landing stations, Windstream can offer robust options to customers to use either cable landing station. Our companies are now able to provide our respective customers end to end global solutions leveraging Windstream’s robust US network and the Telxius subsea global network. Additionally, we are happy to be able to offer services over MAREA and BRUSA from NJFX facilities, creating tremendous value.”

“Our fiber deployment between two of the most important cable landing stations along the east coast aligns with Windstream’s core strategy to take our national network – global,” comments Joe Scattareggia, Executive Vice President, Windstream Wholesale. “Our fiber connectivity across the US from Canada to Mexico, combined with our build out at the NJFX CLS campus in New Jersey and at the Telxius CLS campus in Virginia Beach, offers customers the ability to leverage our national network and go beyond.”

5G is now active in 38 carrier networks

There are currently 38 3GPP standardized commercial 5G networks globally, and it is anticipated that there will be 77 commercial 5G networks by the end of 2019, according to TeleGeography. Ovum’s forecast predicts 156 million 5G connections worldwide and 32 million in North America by end of 2021. 

Citing figures from Ovum, 5G Americas, the wireless industry trade association and voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas, reports that nearly a quarter billion new LTE connections were added around the world in the second quarter of 2019, bring the total to 4.7 billion as of June 2019.

With 459 million LTE connections in Q2 2019, North America continues to lead the world in LTE market share. LTE represents 88 percent of all mobile connections in North America as of June 2019, which is up from 82 percent in June 2018. The Oceania, Eastern and South Eastern Asia region has the second highest market share for LTE at 73 percent, up from 65 percent in June 2018. Western Europe follows with 55 percent (up from 48 percent), while Latin America and Caribbean continues to see strong LTE subscriber growth, up to 47 percent (from 35 percent) during the same period.  Market share represents the percentage of mobile wireless connections that are LTE technology versus all other mobile cellular technologies.

https://www.5gamericas.org/5g-network-rollouts-accelerate-as-ltes-long-tail-extends/

Verizon expands 5G in sports arenas

Verizon’s 5G service will be live in 10 arenas by the end of the 2019-2020 season, including Talking Stick Resort Arena, Chase Center, Pepsi Center, and coming soon to Madison Square Garden.

These arenas together host millions of basketball fans, hockey fans, and concert goers each year.

Last month, Verizon launched its 5G service in 13 NFL stadiums.

“Verizon is leading in 5G development and is transforming how entire industries operate ranging from entertainment to manufacturing,” said Heidi Hemmer, Vice President of Technology at Verizon. “Having this next generation technology in large venues like arenas should not only enhance the game-day experience for sports fans, but provide greater bandwidth for concert-goers, visitors or businesses working inside the venue.”

Verizon signs Boingo to bring 5G in airports, office buildings, stadiums, etc.

Verizon is working with Boingo Wireless to bring 5G Ultra Wideband service indoors and to public spaces – places like airports, stadiums and arenas, office buildings, hotels, etc.

Boingo is a leading distributed antenna system (DAS), small cells and Wi-Fi provider.

The companies confirmed that they are working together to architect a hyper-dense network designed for large and small indoor spaces as part of Verizon’s ongoing 5G network expansions.

In addition, Verizon announced the expansion of its 5G service to Phoenix, Arizona. Initially, Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband service will be concentrated in Downtown Phoenix around several well-known landmarks, including: Phoenix Convention Center, Talking Stick Resort Arena, The Orpheum Theatre, CityScape, and Chase Field. It will also be available in Tempe, on the Arizona State University campus.



Huawei introduces 5G Microwave SuperHUB

Huawei introduced a SuperHUB 5G microwave solution with simplified architecture to improve the spectrum efficiency and enables high bandwidth for aggregation sites. H

vision Multiplexing (SDM) technology. The solution enables a spectrum used only once within 90° range to be multiplexed three times, thus improving spectral efficiency by 300%. This allows the same amount of spectrum to provide triple the bandwidth for all directions at a hub site, facilitating multi-directional bandwidth upgrade.

Huawei is also using modular dual-band antennas to combine any two 6–86 GHz bands at a site. This avoids the deployment of multiple antennas in cases where a single band is not sufficient to achieve a high bandwidth. The carrier aggregation ODU can aggregate four channels into one, resulting in a single ODU delivering capacity equal to that of four regular ODUs. This amounts to a 75% reduction in installation space and load bearing required on a tower where multiple channels are used to support high bandwidth.

Huawei also unveiled 40Gbps and 100Gbps ultra-bandwidth microwave solutions for 5G aggregation sites, setting a new record for microwave solution bandwidth. The company says its ongoing E-band innovation will increase transmission distances by 30% for E-band while boosting bandwidth to 40Gbps in short-distance cases when compared to current all-scenario 10Gbps capabilities. This will enable operators to meet the requirements of high bandwidth at huh sites as 5G continues to mature. New innovations involving new spectra, such as D-band (130–175 GHz), will be able to support an ultra-high backhaul bandwidth of 200Gbps, raising microwave bandwidth to new heights.

https://www.huawei.com/en/press-events/news/2019/10/Huawei-Released-5G-Microwave-SuperHUB-Solution

Singapore plans 5G gaming trial

Razer, Singtel and Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) are preparing to launch Singapore’s first 5G cloud gaming trial.

Throughout the trial, Razer will provide the 5G cloud gaming use case and test scenarios, leveraging their unique know-how and intellectual property for the development of cloud gaming technologies and hardware, while Singtel will provide the 5G platform and technical test scenarios.

The trial will commence in the next few months and will be conducted at three locations – Shaw Centre and Ngee Ann City on the Orchard Road shopping belt, and Razer’s new Southeast Asia headquarters at one-north. At the end of the trial, Razer and Singtel plan to hold a cloud gaming showcase that will be open to the public.

The trial aims to gain insights on:

  • 5G network characteristics and requirements of cloud gaming;
  • Design and engineering of low latency hardware for cloud gaming that can deliver quality performance and a broader range of gaming experiences, from ultra-fast responsiveness to portability to seamless device-to-device sync to cloud servers.


Telia launches 5G commercial services in Finland

Telia launched commercial 5G service in Finland. The first phase is underway in Helsinki, Vantaa and Oulu. An expansion to the top seven cities in Finland will follow shortly. Nokia is the lead vendor. Telia's 5G network has actually been running since the beginning of 2019 in pilot projects including at Helsinki Airport and the ABB factory at Pitäjänmäki.

Telia’s newly launched offering several 5G Rajaton (”Limitless”) subscriptions with maximum speeds of 1.000 and 450 Mbps. The first mobile broadband subscription offers 1000 Mbps.

Telia’s first 5G devices are Huawei Mate 20 X 5G and Samsung Galaxy S10 5G phones and for mobile broadband customers, Nokia 5G FastMile gateway and Huawei 5G CPE Pro router.

In addition, Telia's 5G service is now available in the new Mall of Tripla in Helsinki -- the largest indoor shopping mall in the Nordics. In addition, Telia has opened a new flagship store in Mall of Tripla, and in Q1/2020 the site will also accommodate Telia Finland’s headquarters.

”Mall of Tripla is an excellent example of building a modern smart city: the digital infrastructure has been on the drawing board right from the start together with the more traditional infrastructure of the complex. To us it was clear that the mall, which will also host our future Helsinki headquarters ​were at the top of the list in our 5G roll-out program,” says Janne Koistinen, 5G Program Director, Telia Finland.

”Mall of Tripla is the largest mall in Scandinavia, and with its meticulously planned concept and new innovations it is a real forerunner. We naturally wanted that the Mall of Tripla represents state of the art technological solutions right from the opening day, and the fast 5G network is an example of that,” says Kati Kivimäki, Managing Director, Mall of Tripla.

SK Telecom invests in Switzerland's ID Quantique

SK Telecom has made an equity investment in ID Quantique, a start-up based in Switzerland that is developing quantum cryptography.

The European Union has launched a 3-year European research project, named Open Quantum Key Distribution (OPENQKD), that will install test quantum communication infrastructures in several European countries. It will boost the security of critical applications in the fields of telecommunication, finance, health care, electricity supply and government services. The project will lay the groundwork for a pan-European quantum communication infrastructure that uses satellite as well as ground-based solutions. For this €15 million project, the European Union has selected 38 companies and research institutes across the continent, including ID Quantique, Deutsche Telekom, Orange and Nokia.

Since establishing Quantum Tech Lab in 2011, SK Telecom has been making aggressive efforts to develop quantum cryptography technologies to enhance the safety and security of its mobile networks. In March 2019, the company has applied ID Quantique’s Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG) to its 5G authentication center (AuC) to prevent hacking and ensure quantum-safe security. It has also applied ID Quantique’s Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) technology to the Seoul-Daejeon section – the most data traffic-concentrated section in Korea - of its 5G and LTE networks, to strengthen the security of 5G and LTE data transmission and reception.

“In the 5G era, security will become increasingly important as all connected things will generate data,” said Park Jin-hyo, the Chief Technology Officer of SK Telecom. “SK telecom will make continued investment in quantum cryptography communication technologies to secure the world’s top competitiveness in this area.”

SK Telecom applies Quantum Cryptography to network security

SK Telecom has applied a Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG) developed by ID Quantique of Switzerland to its 5G authentication center (AuC). QRNG is a device that constantly generates “quantum random numbers,” which creates strong keys that are not biased and cannot be predicted. SK Telecom said it plans to apply the same quantum random number technique to its 4G network as well.

Next month, SK Telecom will also apply ID Quantique’s Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) technology to the Seoul-Daejeon section – the most data traffic-concentrated section in Korea - of its 5G and LTE networks, to strengthen the security of 5G and LTE data transmission and reception. QKD provides ultimate cryptographic security based on the laws of quantum mechanics. It enables two parties to produce a shared random secret key known only to them, which can then be used to encrypt and decrypt messages.

SK Telecom invested US$65 million in ID Quantique in February 2018.

SK Telecom also noted its pivotal role in global standardization of QKD and QRNG technologies at ITU-T. In February 2019, SK Telecom’s two new technologies related to QKD have been selected as work items by ITU-T’s Study Group 17 (SG17), which coordinates security-related work across all ITU-T Study Groups. Combining these two work items with the two on-going work items on QKD and QRNG technologies it proposed in July 2018, SK Telecom is currently leading a total of four meaningful work items in SG 17. In addition, Sim Dong-hi, a delegate from SK Telecom,  is serving as associate-rapporteur on quantum technology in SG17.

“As security emerges as one of the most important issues in the 5G era, SK Telecom is determined to provide the most secure 5G network and focus on expanding the ecosystem by developing quantum cryptography technologies,” said Park Jin-hyo, the Chief Technology Officer of SK Telecom.

Spain's central government picks BT for global network

Spain’s Central Government has awarded a 3-year contract valued at €39.97 to BT to support its operations by providing communications services in 120 countries.

BT will draw on its global reach and technical expertise to upgrade the Spanish Central Government’s global network, which provides resilient connectivity for Spain’s embassies, consulates and trade offices. It also includes satellite-based connections to ten scientific research ships in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea as well as a Spanish polar research station in Antarctica.

BT said it was selected to support the international presence of the Spanish Government because of its global footprint, experience and the quality of its offer during the tender process.