Facebook reports 1.79 billion daily active users, up 12%

Facebook reported a significant increase in audience engagement as people around the globe sheltered at home during the COVID-19 pandemic during Q2.

Key metrics:

• Facebook daily active users (DAUs) – DAUs were 1.79 billion on average for June 2020, an increase of 12% year-over-year.
• Facebook monthly active users (MAUs) – MAUs were 2.70 billion as of June 30, 2020, an increase of 12% year-over-year.
• Family daily active people (DAP) – DAP was 2.47 billion on average for June 2020, an increase of 15% year-over-year.
• Family monthly active people (MAP) – MAP was 3.14 billion as of June 30, 2020, an increase of 14% year-over-year.
• Capital expenditures – Capital expenditures, including principal payments on finance leases, were $3.36 billion for the second quarter of 2020. The company said full-year 2020 capital expenditures are now to be approximately $16 billion, at the high end of our prior $14-16 billion range, as we have resumed data center construction efforts earlier than expected.
• Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities – Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities were $58.24 billion as of June 30, 2020. On July 7, 2020, we paid approximately $5.8 billion at the then–current exchange rate for our investment in Jio Platforms Limited.
• Headcount – Headcount was 52,534 as of June 30, 2020, an increase of 32% year-over-year.

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AWS hits Q2 sales of $10.8 billion, up 29%

AWS racked up $10.808 billion in Q2 revenue, up 29% compared to a year ago. Operating income for the division was $3.357 billion, up 58% compared to last year. AWS is now on an annual revenue run rate of $40.0 billion, representing a 12% share of Amazon's business.

https://ir.aboutamazon.com/quarterly-results/default.aspx

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Google Cloud generates $3 billion in Q2, up 43%

Google Cloud services generated $3.007 billion in revenue in Q2, up 43% from $2.100 billion a year earlier.

"In the second quarter our total revenues were $38.3B, driven by gradual improvement in our ads business and strong growth in Google Cloud and Other Revenues,” said Ruth Porat, Chief Financial Officer of Alphabet and Google. “We continue to navigate through a difficult global economic environment.”

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MACOM begins 100G PAM4 DSP production

MACOM announced the production release of its low power CMOS DSP-based PAM4 PHYs for next generation optical transceiver modules.

MACOM’s PAM4 PHYs with integrated DSP, forward error correction (FEC) and multiplexing functionality are designed to enable single-wavelength 50 Gbps and 100 Gbps optical transceivers.

The integrated driver is suitable for direct connection to an optical modulator, avoiding the need for a discrete driver, and, thereby, enabling reduced cost and complexity. The on-board management processor simplifies module implementation, while the flexible DSP-based equalizer supports optical links up to and beyond 10 km over single mode fiber. Optional low latency FEC enables IEEE compliant link performance with both legacy and current generation switch silicon. A full suite of test and diagnostic features enable efficient bring up and fast time to market.

https://www.macom.com/ncs

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Arista expands multicloud capabilities

Arista announced an expansion of its multi-cloud and cloud-native software capabilities, including:

• CloudEOS Edge - supporting dynamic path selection services across all major cloud providers at the high-throughput network edge facing the Internet and multiple private and public carriers
• AWS Transit Gateway Integration - seamless automated provisioning and multi-cloud routing, interoperable with AWS Transit Gateway services
• Availability of Pay-as-You-Go elastic consumption of CloudEOS across AWS, Azure and GCP
• Delivery of the Arista CloudEOS Terraform provider, enabling declarative software-defined provisioning of multi-cloud backbones through Hashicorp Terraform and Arista CloudVision
• Multi-Cloud Dashboard - centralized visibility of enterprise multi-cloud backbones and resources through Arista CloudVision

“Simplifying the networking between cloud providers and geographic regions using fully-interoperable open standards enables the network to be as on-demand as compute and storage cloud services,” stated Douglas Gourlay, vice president and general manager of cloud networking software at Arista. “Production customers with hundreds of workloads deployed globally are realizing the quality and reliability of Arista EOS, now in an on-demand and elastic consumption model designed to interoperate with all major routing, WAN, and SD-WAN multi-vendor offerings.”

Arista's CloudEOS Edge is available in all major public cloud marketplaces now.

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Nokia completes 5G standalone call with China Unicom

Nokia completed its first 5G standalone (SA) call on a live network with China Unicom.

The data and voice calls, which marked firsts for Nokia on a 5G SA network, were completed earlier than planned, occurring within 25 days of Nokia software deployment.

Nokia deployed its Unified Data Management, Shared Data Layer (5G Unified Data Repository), and Cloud Mobile Gateway (from its Cloud Packet Core portfolio) for the 5G Session Management Function and User Plane Function. This was complemented by Data Refinery charging and NetAct network management, with all products deployed in the cloud using the Nokia CloudBand cloud infrastructure and management solution.

Nokia CBIS is an open, scalable, vendor-agnostic platform that is enabling software deployment across China Unicom’s existing multi-vendor hardware.

Markus Bochert, President of Nokia Greater China, said: “Nokia has skillfully managed both the overall project and technical components during these unprecedented times, which has been crucial to the speed and success of this deployment that will provide our customers with fast, modernized network management features.” 

Bhaskar Gorti, President of Nokia Software and Nokia Chief Digital Officer, said: “We are very proud to reach this key milestone with China Unicom, which illustrates that the transition to 5G standalone networks can be completed rapidly – regardless of existing hardware; and that is part of what makes Nokia Software products distinct.”

https://www.nokia.com/about-us/news/releases/2020/07/30/nokia-completes-its-first-5g-standalone-call-on-live-network-with-china-unicom/

Nokia wins 10% share of China Unicom’s 5G core

Monday, June 15, 2020  China Unicom, Nokia  

Nokia has been awarded an approximately 10% share of China Unicom’s 5G core network.

The Nokia Cloud core products that China Unicom selected provide Unified Data Management, Session Management and User Plane functions, and are complemented by Data Refinery and NetAct, all deployed on Nokia’s CloudBand.

Unified Data Management, a critical function with the arrival of 5G and the evolution to cloud architecture, manages all subscriber data and services efficiently and cost effectively. The Session Management Function is a fundamental element of the 5G Service Based Architecture, primarily responsible for interacting with the decoupled User Plane Function as well as subscriber session management. The User Plane Function delivers the packet processing foundation for the Service Based Architecture, by allowing packet processing and traffic aggregation to be performed closer to the network edge, thereby increasing bandwidth efficiencies while reducing costs.

The deal also includes products from Nokia’s Cloud Packet Core portfolio, including the Nokia Cloud Mobile Gateway. The product provides the 5G standalone Session Management Function and User Plane Function, in addition to supporting the 4G Serving Gateway and the Packet Data Network Gateway in China Unicom’s network.

“Nokia is very proud to expand our working relationship with China Unicom beyond 4G. We are looking forward to close collaboration with China Unicom on novel business models and 5G service innovation to enable an open 5G ecosystem,” stated Markus Borchert, President of Nokia Greater China.

Nokia noted that it currently has a 17% market share in China Unicom’s rapidly expanding VoLTE network, where it has deployed Nokia’s cloud-based vIMS platform.

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Ooredoo Qatar activates Nokia-powered cloud-native 5G core

Ooredoo Qatar has activated commercial services over a Nokia cloud-native 5G core network. More than 10 virtualized network functions (VNFs) are deployed on the cloud platform, covering data, voice, subscriber management registers and policy control enabling voice and data services. The new cloud core network supports 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) architecture and provides a smooth transition to a 5G Standalone network architecture.

Nokia said the new core network facilitates automation for improved network efficiency and streamlined network management. The transformation of the core network also enables Ooredoo Qatar to bring new use cases such as Industrial IOT (IIoT), Voice over Broadband (VoBB), Voice over WiFi (VoWiFi) to its subscribers. Furthermore, Nokia’s equipment and professional services will help Ooredoo Qatar to scale its network more efficiently with automated operations and enhanced robustness.

The deployment includes:

• Nokia AirFrame data center solution supports open-source and enables full hyper-scale to extremely distributed capabilities that will be necessary for future telco and IT networking and service delivery.
• Virtualized Network Functions (VNFs) include Mobile Core for Voice, with Cloud Packet Core, Subscriber Management Registers and Policy control on a cloud platform.
• Nokia CloudBand allows service providers to host, orchestrate, automate and manage Virtualized Network Functions (VNFs) and services. It makes it easier for telcos to reduce time to revenue for new services and use automation and optimization to make network operations lean
• Nokia NetAct provides a consolidated view of multi-domain, multi-technology networks, helping service providers in proactively addressing any network-related issue
• Nuage Networks from Nokia SDN solutions enable telco cloud network automation.
• Nokia Professional services ensured an efficient and timely execution of the project 

Henrique Vale, Vice President of Nokia Software for Middle East and Africa, said: “The transformation of Ooredoo Qatar’s legacy core network to a fully cloud-native 5G core in a very short time frame demonstrates the strength of our end-to-end portfolio and exceptional delivery expertise. Ooredoo Qatar's new core network will enable it to bring innovative and the latest use cases to its subscribers and also prepares the network for providing scalable 5G commercial services."

https://www.nokia.com/about-us/news/releases/2020/07/29/ooredoo-qatars-5g-commercial-services-go-live-with-nokia-cloud-native-5g-core-network/

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Xilinx sees strength in data center product and some order acceleration

Xilinx reported revenues of $727 million for the first quarter of its fiscal year 2021,  exceeding initial guidance and in-line with revised guidance. GAAP net income for the quarter was $94 million, or $0.38 per diluted share. Non-GAAP net income was $160 million, or $0.65 per diluted share.

The company noted record Data Center Group (DCG) revenue, with 10% sequential and 104% annual growth. Wireless Group (WWG) revenue increased 27% sequentially.

“Our fiscal Q1 revenue was well above the initial guidance despite ongoing business challenges from COVID-19 and global trade issues,” said Xilinx president and CEO Victor Peng. “Results were driven by strength in the Data Center Group (DCG), Wired and Wireless Group (WWG), and the Industrials market, offsetting expected headwinds in consumer-oriented end markets, including Automotive and Broadcast. The outperformance was due to a combination of strength in multiple end markets, as well as some order acceleration driven by recent additional U.S. government trade restrictions on sales of certain Xilinx products to some customers based, or with operations, in China.”

http://investor.xilinx.com/

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Orange reports a slight drop in revenue due to COVID

Orange reported Q2 revenue of EUR 10.375 billion, representing a drop of 0.4% due to a decline in roaming and equipment sales directly linked to COVID-19. EBITDAaL showed a limited decline of 1.8% year on year, negatively impacted by the cost of health measures, the decrease in roaming and a slight increase in provisions for bad debts.
Some highlights for Q2:

• France and Africa & Middle East rose 2.7% and 1.3% respectively year on year, almost completely offsetting the combined decline in other segments: Spain (-6.8%), Europe (-3.6%), Enterprise (-3.3%).
• Convergent offers totaled 10.8 million customers at June 30, 2020, up 2.1% year on year, allowing Orange to strengthen its position as the leading convergent operator in Europe.
• In fiber, despite the lockdown, Orange posted a record 2nd quarter in France with 238,000 net customer additions and strong growth in Poland with 44,000 net additions. At June 30, Orange had 8.1 million fiber customers.
• In Africa & Middle East, 4G deployment continues reaching 27.9 million customers in the 2nd quarter, growth of 40.4% year on year. Orange Money had 19.6 million active customers in the 2nd quarter, up 18.9%.
• As of June 30, 2020, Orange Bank had a total of 1 million customers, following the integration of Orange Courtage and the expansion of its offer in Spain. In becoming an insurance broker, the bank took a further step in its cross-selling policy with Orange France.
• In the 1st half, the Group's eCAPEX declined 9.9% due to the significant increase in co-financing in France and asset disposals, in particular the disposal of non-strategic towers in Spain. This decrease is also explained by a slowdown of investment in mobile and traditional services which offset growth in FTTH investments, particularly in France, which was lower than expected following the health crisis.

https://results.orange.com/20200730-3541AB5E/en/startup.php#

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Qualcomm cites strong outlook, patent deal w Huawei

Qualcomm reported quarterly revenue of US$4.893 billion and diluted EPS of $0.74, exceeding the high range of its previous guidance. 

Qualcomm also announced a legal settlement and long-term, global patent license agreement with Huawei, including a cross license granting back rights to certain of Huawei’s patents, covering sales beginning January 1, 2020. The settlement is valued approximately $1.8 billion.

“As 5G continues to roll out, we are realizing the benefits of the investments we have made in building the most extensive licensing program in mobile and are turning the technical challenges of 5G into leadership opportunities and commercial wins,” said Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated. “We delivered earnings above the high end of our range, continued to execute in our product and licensing businesses and entered into a new long-term patent license agreement with Huawei, all of which position us well for the balance of 2020 and beyond.”

https://investor.qualcomm.com/

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NETSCOUT reports steady revenue, growing EPS

NETSCOUT reported total revenue (GAAP and non-GAAP) for its first quarter of fiscal year 2021 of $183.8 million, compared with $186.0 million (GAAP) and $186.1 million (non-GAAP) in the same quarter one year ago. A reconciliation of GAAP and non-GAAP results is included in the attached financial tables.

Product revenue (GAAP and non-GAAP) for the first quarter of fiscal year 2021 was $71.7 million, which was approximately 39% of total revenue. This compares with first-quarter fiscal year 2020 product revenue (GAAP and non-GAAP) of $75.7 million, which was approximately 41% of total revenue.

Service revenue (GAAP and non-GAAP) for the first quarter of fiscal year 2021 was $112.1 million, or approximately 61% of total revenue versus service revenue (GAAP) of $110.3 million, or approximately 59% of total revenue, for the same period one year ago. On a non-GAAP basis, service revenue for the first fiscal quarter of fiscal year 2020 was $110.4 million, also approximately 59% of total non-GAAP revenue.

NETSCOUT’s loss from operations (GAAP) was $14.5 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2021, compared with a loss from operations (GAAP) of $24.4 million in the comparable quarter one year ago.

“We delivered strong earnings per share growth on a relatively consistent level of revenue in the first quarter of fiscal year 2021, compared with the same period last year,” stated Anil Singhal, NETSCOUT’s president and chief executive officer. “Our enterprise business was strong given our ability to provide service assurance, with real-time, pervasive visibility and insight, and security solutions that mitigate disruption for our customers regardless of their underlying infrastructure.

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OIDA Showcase set for 18 - 20 August

The OSA Industry Development Associates (OIDA) will host the first all-virtual Technology Showcase for member companies to present their latest innovations in optics and photonics and solutions to global challenges, 18 – 20 August 2020.

Over the course of the three-day virtual event, nine companies will each have 15 minutes to demonstrate their technologies to a worldwide audience and engage with attendees in breakout rooms for networking and in-depth conversations. The showcase and networking are free and open to the public.

“OIDA is pleased to offer an opportunity for our member companies to introduce their new tools, instruments and systems to a virtual audience,” said Simin Cai, OIDA Council Chair and President and CEO, Go!Foton, USA. “The presentations are intended to encourage awareness and exchange of information to further advance these technologies in the marketplace. This is a trial effort to serve companies impacted by restrictions with onsite exhibitions due to the covid-19 pandemic.”

The technical presentations include positioning equipment for automated optical device manufacturing, meeting the challenges in spectral testing of photonic integrated circuits, extended contact translation stage technology and more. Attendees can register at no cost for all or individual presentations and networking sessions.

The following nine companies are participating in showcase presentations with subject matter experts:

Tuesday, 18 August, 11:00 – 13:00 EDT

• Aerotech, Inc., USA
• Corning Optical Communications, USA
• DenseLight Semiconductors, Singapore

Wednesday, 19 August, 11:00 – 13:00 EDT

• EXFO, Canada
• Intivac Thin Film, USA
• LightPath Technologies, USA

Thursday, 20 August, 11:00 – 13:00 EDT

• MPB Communications, Canada
• Optiwave, Canada
• Optosigma, USA

https://www.osa.org/en-us/meetings/industry_events/oida_technology_showcase/

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Orange enters strategic partnership with Google Cloud

Orange has entered into a strategic partnership with Google Cloud.

The collaboration aims to accelerate the transformation of Orange’s IT infrastructure and the development of future cloud services, in particular edge computing.

Under the partnership, Google will provide its know-how in cutting-edge cloud technologies, world-class analytics and AI tools, as well as proven digital transformation methodology and dedicated resources. Orange will contribute its deep expertise in information and communication technology services and its multi-national network infrastructure. Orange and Google Cloud will jointly create an Innovation Lab and a Center of Excellence which will provide Google Cloud support for Orange France and other Orange affiliates as they engage in their cloud transformation.

The companies said their agreement signals a firm commitment to use AI and data to increase the pace of transformation across Orange’s European footprint, placing data at the heart of the Group’s innovation model. To do this, Orange plans to build a next-generation data analytics and machine-learning platform with Google technologies.

The partnership will also work on the development of future edge computing services as 5G networks are rolled out across Europe and cloud computing increasingly benefits from integration into the network. Edge computing is set to become key in the race to meet new consumer and enterprise requirements for low-latency and high-speed services. The cooperation will combine the strengths of Google Cloud and Orange to provide flexible, secure and cutting-edge solutions for the B2B, Wholesale and B2C markets. It will contribute to the enhanced connectivity offerings that Orange provides to its wholesale, B2B and retail customers.

Stéphane Richard, Chairman and CEO of Orange, said: “Orange is a pioneer of digital transformation and is pleased to partner with Google to accelerate its data and AI transformation and continue towards a better service for its customers. Google has been a long term partner of Orange and, as Google is eager to invest in Europe - and especially in France - to develop new datacenters, this is the perfect time to work on new services and opportunities in French and European markets.”

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, said: “The strength of Orange’s network, combined with Google Cloud’s platform, will help pave the way for new advanced cloud and edge computing services for the telecommunications industry in Europe. We look forward to working together with Orange to bring new services and applications to customers and businesses alike, while also continuing to grow our support for European enterprises in their digital transformation journeys.”

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Greece's OTEGLOBE upgrades IP backbone with Cisco 400G line cards

OTEGLOBE is upgrading its Cisco ASR 9900 routers with 400G Cisco ASR 9900 5th Generation Line Cards.

Headquartered in Athens, Greece, OTEGLOBE is a network backbone operator delivering transport, peering, and interconnect services throughout South-eastern Europe. It is also the wholesale carrier that reaches Western Europe through Greece over a fully mesh optical backbone network.

“At OTEGLOBE, we are determined to continue to lead the industry in innovation and invest in the high-caliber technologies that enable us to offer the best services to our customers,” said Panagiota Βosdogianni, CTO, OTEGLOBE. “By introducing Cisco’s 400 GbE technology to our IP core network, we can respond seamlessly to traffic bursts during peak hours and accommodate even our largest customers’ needs with simplification, economic scale, improved flexibility, and an optimal customer experience.”

“With these latest network enhancements, we are providing OTEGLOBE with a long-term growth platform that scales ahead of the demand they’re seeing today and what they can anticipate in the years ahead,” said Jim Scott, Vice President, Cisco EMEAR Service Provider. “Together, we share a passion for connecting the unconnected, and offering the highest level of services to pave the way for the internet for the future.”

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SiTime debuts MEMS oscillator for 100G - 800G optical modules

SiTime has begun sampling a differential MEMS oscillator for use in 100G - 800G optical modules used in data center switches, telecom routers, edge servers, AI/graphics cards, and storage controllers.

The new SiT9501 differential MEMS oscillator which is based on SiTime’s newly launched third generation MEMS technology.

“Over the past 15 years, SiTime has developed and shipped two generations of MEMS resonators that are used in all our oscillator shipments to date. Our third generation MEMS is now ready and delivers up to 7 times better phase noise at half the power,” said Rajesh Vashist, CEO of SiTime. “The SiT9501 is the first of many products to use this technology and continues our tradition of delivering dramatic performance enhancements in every product generation. In space constrained applications such as optical modules, the SiT9501 delivers an unmatched combination of higher performance and smaller size.”

In optical modules, a third of the PCB area is consumed by the optical sub-assembly, leaving little room for data processing electronics, and making small size a critical factor in oscillator selection. SiTime said its new SiT9501 differential oscillator solves both key issues by offering the lowest jitter in the presence of environmental stressors, and the smallest size.

Features of the SiT9501 Differential MEMS Oscillator

• Popular networking frequencies from 25 MHz to 644.53125 MHz
• 70 femtoseconds of RMS phase jitter
• 2.0 x 1.6 mm package, the industry’s smallest. Also available in other industry standard packages.
• Wide temperature range, from -40 to +105°C
• On-chip voltage regulators to filter power-supply noise, enhancing power integrity for module designs
• Innovative FlexSwing driver reduces power consumption by 30% and integrates source-bias LVPECL resistors
• One-stop-shop for Differential Timing

The SiT9501 oscillator is sampling now. Production quantities are planned to be available in Q1 2021. Pricing is provided upon request.
https://www.sitime.com/datasheet/SiT9501

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SPIE and University of Glasgow announce quantum photonics program

SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, and the University of Glasgow announced the establishment of the SPIE Early Career Researcher Accelerator Fund in Quantum Photonics.

A $500,000 gift from the SPIE Endowment Matching Program will be matched 100% by the University. The program will support a diverse group of graduate students working in the field of quantum photonics and will be managed by Professor Daniele Faccio, Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies, and Kelvin Chair of Natural Philosophy Professor Miles Padgett.

The fund will create two new programs at the University: an annual SPIE Early Career Researcher in Quantum Photonics Scholarship will be awarded to an outstanding University of Glasgow graduate student who is in the process of completing their studies. In addition, the SPIE Global Early Career Research program will support outgoing and incoming placements at and from the University as part of its ongoing collaboration with leading quantum-photonics research groups across the globe. Each year, the program will pair several University early-career researchers with counterparts from outside laboratories for six-month-long shared projects.

“We are delighted to be participating in these exciting endeavors with the University of Glasgow,” said SPIE President John Greivenkamp. “The interactive placements will offer transformative opportunities the university’s academic and industry-based researchers, and, together with the annual scholarship, will develop well-prepared, knowledgeable early-career researchers who will drive the future of the quantum industry.”

“We’re pleased and proud to be establishing the Early Career Researcher Accelerator Fund in Quantum Photonics thanks to SPIE’s generous gift, which we’re very happy to match with our own funding,” said Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Glasgow:. “The University’s quantum photonics expertise is world-leading, and our researchers have found ways to see through walls, capture images at a trillion frames per second, and take the very first pictures of quantum entanglement in action. This additional funding will help the University train a new generation of graduate students to make valuable contributions to academia and industry and inspire them to make their own amazing research breakthroughs.”

https://www.spie.org/news/spie-and-university-of-glasgow-announce-one-million-dollar-quantum-photonics-program-

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CyrusOne says data center leasing market remains strong

CyrusOne reported revenue of $256.4 million for the second quarter, compared to $251.5 million for the same period in 2019, an increase of 2%. The increase in revenue was driven primarily by a 7% increase in occupied CSF, lease termination fees totaling $3.0 million, and additional interconnection services, partially offset by the impact of equipment sales and rent churn. Revenue in the second quarter of 2020 included $6.9 million of equipment sales, compared to $17.1 million of equipment sales for the same period in 2019. Net income was $45.0 million for the second quarter, compared to net loss of $(8.5) million in the same period in 2019.

“We had another very strong leasing quarter with broad demand across our markets in the U.S. and Europe, and the nearly $100 million revenue backlog positions us well for growth in 2021 and beyond,” said Bruce Duncan, president and chief executive officer of CyrusOne. “We also continue to strengthen our balance sheet, and our $1.5 billion in available liquidity, including more than $400 million in forward equity, gives us significant capacity to fund our development pipeline while managing our leverage.”

Some highlights:

• Leased 22 megawatts   and 150,000 colocation square feet (CSF) in the second quarter, totaling $37 million in annualized GAAP revenue
• Balanced geographical mix with 51% of annualized GAAP revenue totaling $19 million signed across European markets, includes exercise of previously disclosed (in 3Q'19) paid reservation for 4.5 MW totaling approximately $5.5 million in annualized GAAP revenue
• Backlog of $97 million in annualized GAAP revenue as of the end of the second quarter, the highest quarter-end backlog in the company’s history, representing approximately $710 million in total contract value
• During Q2, CyrusOne completed construction on 212,000 CSF and 27 MW of power capacity in San Antonio, Phoenix, Northern Virginia, and London. 
• Percentage CSF leased as of the end of the second quarter was 88% for stabilized properties8 and 83% overall. 
• CyrusOne has development projects underway in Frankfurt, Dublin, London, Northern Virginia, San Antonio, the New York Metro area, and Council Bluffs (IA) that are expected to add approximately 336,000 CSF and 82 MW of power capacity plus 337,000 square feet of powered shell.

CyrusOne  

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ServiceNow is now on a $4 billion subscription annual run rate

ServiceNow reported Q2 subscription revenues of $1,016 million, representing 30% year-over-year growth, 32% adjusted for constant currency. Net income was $41 million, or $0.21 per share.

During the quarter, ServiceNow closed 40 transactions with more than $1 million, including two transactions over $10 million, in net new annual contract value (ACV). The company now has 964 total customers with more than $1 million in ACV, representing 26% year-over-year growth in customers.

“ServiceNow is leading the workflow revolution, proven by our very strong Q2 results,” said ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott. “Businesses need to rapidly digitize workflows to deliver great experiences for their customers, employees, and partners. We are the strategic workflow authority helping our customers solve once-in-a-generation challenges and capitalize on the immense opportunities of digital transformation. Every day we are manifesting our purpose — making the world of work, work better for people — on our journey to becoming the defining enterprise software company of the 21st century.”

“In Q2, we achieved our $4 billion revenues run rate milestone. We exceeded the high end of our subscription revenues and billings guidance, while continuing to drive margin expansion and strong free cash flow,” said ServiceNow CFO Gina Mastantuono. “Our best-in-class renewal rate remained at 97%, and customers continue to expand on the Now Platform, giving us conviction to raise our growth and profitability guidance for the year. I am confident in our ability to deliver our second half.”

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Ermetic raises $17 million for cloud policy management

Ermetic, a start-up with offices in Palo Alto and Tel Aviv, raised $17.25 million in Series A funding for its work in cloud access risk mitigation

Ermetic says its analytics-based solution prevents cloud data breaches by automating the detection and remediation of identity and access risks in Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings from Amazon, Google and Microsoft. It automatically discovers all human and machine identities in the cloud, and analyzes their entitlements, roles and policies using a continuous lifecycle approach. By combining analytics with granular, full stack insight, Ermetic makes it possible to enforce least privilege access at scale even in the most complex cloud environments.

The funding round was led by Accel, and supported by Glilot Capital Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Target Global, the company’s $10M seed round investors.

“Until now, customers have been using retrofitted tools to try to manage cloud infrastructure accounts and entitlements. Ermetic has developed a cloud native alternative that uses analytics to consistently manage permissions and enforce least-privilege access,” said Shai Morag, CEO of Ermetic. “We are pleased to welcome Accel as an investor and Andrei Brasoveanu to our Board. This capital infusion will help us capture a large share of the emerging market known as Cloud Infrastructure Entitlements Management.”

https://ermetic.com/

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MACOM posts revenue of $137 million, up 27% yoy

MACOM reported revenue of $137.3 million, an increase of 26.7% compared to $108.3 million in the previous year fiscal third quarter and an increase of 8.6% compared to $126.4 million in the prior fiscal quarter. Gross margin was 51.6%, compared to 31.2% in the previous year fiscal third quarter and 50.1% in the prior fiscal quarter. Net loss was $25.0 million, or $0.37 loss per diluted share, compared to net loss of $324.7 million, or $4.95 loss per diluted share, in the previous year fiscal third quarter and net loss of $10.2 million, or $0.28 loss per diluted share, in the prior fiscal quarter.

“We remain focused on engineering excellence, financial performance and execution,” said Stephen G. Daly, President and Chief Executive Officer.\

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PacketFabric appoints Dedicoat as chair, former Cisco EVP WW sales

PacketFabric appointed Chris Dedicoat, the former executive vice president of worldwide sales for Cisco, as chairman of the PacketFabric board.

Dedicoat has more than 25 years of sales and marketing experience in the networking, hardware, software and technology industries. His innovative and effective sales strategies contributed to Cisco’s leadership position in the market. Dedicoat currently sits on the board of directors for RStor, a leading provider of cloud services across any multicloud environment.

"Chris has had an incredible track record over his career and with his vast experience and global business presence, we are beyond excited to have him join our team and chair our board,” said Dave Ward, CEO PacketFabric.

PacketFabric’s highly scalable SDN platform is a private Layer 2 NaaS that delivers instant and secure connectivity at speeds from 50Mbps to multi-100Gbps.

NTT Ltd. expands cloud exchange in U.S. with Packet Fabric

Sunday, July 19, 2020  NTT, PacketFabrid  

NTT Ltd.’s Global Data Centers division, one of the world’s largest data center providers, is now offering data center customers in the U.S. access to cloud exchange services from PacketFabric. NTT’s Cloud Connect portfolio enables customers to integrate public clouds with their enterprise applications running in NTT’s data centers.

PacketFabric’s Network-as-a-Service platform leverages an automated SDN-based network architecture and a private, secure network to enable dynamic, real-time connectivity services between colocation facilities at terabit-scale. PacketFabric facilitates private network connectivity between more than 170 colocation facilities across 24 global markets and enables cost-effective, scalable network deployment via its Application Program Interface (API) and web-based portal.

NTT’s Cloud Connect portfolio provides a range of connectivity options and solution partners, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, IBM Cloud, Google Cloud Platform, and Oracle Cloud, as well as hundreds of other clouds and networks.

“We are truly a cloud exchange-neutral data center that offers our customers best-in-class cloud connectivity solutions,” said Doug Adams, President and CEO of NTT Ltd.’s Global Data Centers Americas division (formerly known as RagingWire Data Centers). “With options such as PacketFabric to choose from, hyperscale and enterprise companies will find a cloud exchange provider that provides the best experience for them.”

NTT operates the third-largest data center platform in the world, with over 160 data centers spanning more than 20 countries and regions. NTT Ltd.’s Global Data Centers Americas division operates data centers in Ashburn, Virginia; Dallas, Texas; and Sacramento, California, with new data center campuses under construction in Silicon Valley, California; Chicago, Illinois; and Hillsboro, Oregon.

PacketFabric appoints Dave Ward as CTO

Tuesday, April 21, 2020  People  

PacketFabric, which operates a Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) platform for providing data center interconnects, named Dave Ward as its new CEO.

Ward joins PacketFabric from Cisco, where he was the company’s Chief Technology Officer of Engineering, Chief Architect and a Senior Vice President at Cisco’s Networking and Security Business.

While at Cisco, Ward and his engineering teams built numerous hardware and software products, including networking orchestration and automation, virtualized and cloud-native services, cloud networking and security products, 5G Networking and system architectures, and IoT-based solutions for smart cities, healthcare, conservation, media and entertainment.  He joined Cisco in 1999 when the company acquired the Internet Engineering Group.

Ward is also one of two individuals to be both Cisco and Juniper Fellows working on the operating system and next-generation routing systems, including ASICS, Optics, and network APIs and SDN.

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NeoPhotonics and Inphi show 400ZR interoperability

Inphi and NeoPhotonics have completed the first interoperability demonstration of OIF 400ZR Implementation Agreement compliant coherent transceivers, operating successfully across the C-Band over 120km of optical fiber.

Transceiver pairs consisting of Inphi's COLORZ II QSFP-DD with its Canopus 7nm Coherent DSP and NeoPhotonics 400ZR ClearLight OSFP were successfully linked. Both 400ZR coherent optics transceivers carried error-free traffic over a typical data center interconnect (DCI) link configuration (amplified over 120km of fiber) at several wavelengths across the C-Band using Arista 7060 data center switches.

The successful interoperation of NeoPhotonics and Inphi 400ZR transceivers demonstrates the availability of interoperable coherent transceivers for the 400ZR ecosystem, a key step in enabling the next generation of DCI links. 400ZR pluggable transceiver modules significantly reduce the cost and power consumption of DCIs by eliminating the transport network equipment layer.

“We are very excited about the successful interoperable demonstration with NeoPhotonics to bring pluggable 400G coherent optics into the data center,” said Josef Berger, AVP of Marketing, Optical Interconnect at Inphi. “This demonstration proves the readiness to deliver the flexibility of high bandwidth DWDM connectivity between data centers with the ability to rapidly scale capacity and meet our customers’ demands for standards-based pluggable coherent solutions.”

“NeoPhotonics has worked closely with Inphi to combine their Canopus™ DSP with our high-performance laser and coherent optics into a standards-based ClearLight OSFP and QSFP-DD transceiver modules that can meet the needs of our hyper-scale customers,” said Marc Stiller, Vice President of Coherent Modules for NeoPhotonics. “Supporting the interoperable CFEC standard, as defined by OIF, has been a critical part of our design effort, and we’re very pleased to announce this milestone as we continue to work with customers to implement this game-changing technology.”

OIF publishes 400ZR implementation agreeement

Wednesday, April 29, 2020  400ZR, OIF  

OIF published the Implementation Agreement (IA) for a low-cost, 400ZR coherent optical interface.

OIF launched the 400ZR project in response to requests from large-scale data center operators and their suppliers for an interoperable coherent interface that transports 400 Gigabit Ethernet over longer distances. Traditional network operators also became interested in 400ZR for their metro needs. Based on their different requirements, OIF developed specs and tweaked the channel requirements so the IA would benefit both data center and network operators. While developing the IA, OIF collaborated closely with other standards bodies.

The 400ZR IA addresses two applications:

• Amplified, point-to-point DWDM links with reaches of 120 km or less
• Unamplified, single wavelength links with a loss budget of 11dB

The IA aims to enable interoperable, cost-effective, 400Gbps implementations based on single-carrier coherent DP-16QAM modulation, low-power DSPs supporting absolute (Non-Differential) phase encoding/decoding, and a Concatenated FEC (C-FEC) with a post-FEC error floor <1 .0e-15.="" 400gbase-r="" 400zr="" a="" as="" operates="" p="" phy.="">

No restriction on the physical form factor is implied by the IA (QSFP-DD, OSFP, COBO, CFP2, CFP8), but the specifications target a pluggable DCO architecture with port densities equivalent to grey client optics.

NeoPhotonics samples 400ZR OSFP coherent transceiver

Monday, January 13, 2020  400G, Neophotonics  

NeoPhotonics began sampling its new 400ZR ClearLight OSFP transceiver to a leading cloud -related customer.

The new transceiver utilizes NeoPhotonics Silicon Photonics Coherent Optical Subassembly (COSA) and low power consumption, ultra-narrow linewidth Nano-ITLA tunable laser, combined with the latest generation of 7 nm DSP, to provide full 400ZR transmission in a standard data center OSFP form factor.

NeoPhotonics said its new 400ZR ClearLight OSFP transceiver can be plugged directly into switches and router, simplifying data center interconnect (DCI) networks by eliminating a layer of network equipment and a set of short reach client-side transceivers. The new OSFP module is capable of tuning to 75 GHz or 100GHz spaced wavelength channels, as specified in the OIF agreement, and operates in 400ZR mode for Cloud DCI applications.  For longer metro reaches, the module  is designed to support 400ZR+ modes.

This ClearLight OSFP module can also be optionally provisioned to tune over the entire “Super C-Band”, or up to 6.4 Terahertz, increasing the capacity of an optical fiber by up to 50% over standard implementations.  NeoPhotonics provides arrayed waveguide gratings for multiplexing and de-multiplexing with 75GHz and 100GHz wavelength channel spacings, supporting 85 and 64 channels respectively, with filter responses optimized for high baud rate coherent signals.

Inphi samples first 400ZR QSFP-DD transceiver

Thursday, December 19, 2019  400G, Inphi  

Inphi has begun sampling its COLORZ II 400ZR QSFP-DD pluggable coherent transceiver for cloud data center interconnects (DCIs) to major cloud operators and OEMs.

Inphi cites several industry firsts for its COLORZ II 400ZR QSFP-DD:

• 400G single-chip, coherent Silicon Photonics Integrated Circuit (PIC) that includes all transmit and receive functions 
• Innovative, low cost, passive alignment of fiber to the PIC that eliminates the complicated active alignment, using traditional optics
• Low power, high performance, 7nm CMOS-based coherent DSP enabling 400ZR as well as extended reach 100/200/300/400G ZR+ modes
• Integrated industry standard firmware management interface that enables full performance monitoring previously only available in DCI or transport systems directly from the optical module

 The 400ZR standard promises to lower the cost and power consumption of metro data center interconnect (DCI) by enabling switch and router companies to offer the same density for both coherent DWDM and client optics in the same chassis. This eliminates a layer of network connectivity that was previously required and supports high capacity DWDM connectivity directly from data center switches.

Inphi said its COLORZ II represents a massive increase in switch rack capacity, while reducing the power consumption by as much as 80%. COLORZ II delivers up to 14.4T of capacity per rack unit (RU), compared to 2.4T or 3.6T per RU on competing solutions, representing a 4-6 x increase in throughput per chassis.

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Google's Grace Hopper subsea cable to link US-UK-Spain

Google unveiled plans for a new subsea cable — Grace Hopper — which will run between the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain. The cable is named for computer science pioneer Grace Brewster Murray Hopper (1906–1992), an admiral in the U.S. Navy best known for her work in developing the COBOL programming language.

The Grace Hopper cable will be equipped with 16 fiber pairs (32 fibers). Subcom has been selected as the lead contractor. The project is expected to be completed in 2022.

Google said the Grace Hopper cable system will be the first to use a novel optical fiber switching that allows for increased reliability by moving traffic around outages.

Grace Hopper joins Google's other private subsea cables, Curie, Dunant and Equiano.

https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/infrastructure/announcing-googles-grace-hopper-subsea-cable-system

Google completes Curie - California-to-Chile subsea cable

Sunday, November 17, 2019  Chile, Google, Subsea  

Google's 10,500-km "Curie" subsea cable stretching from California to Chile is now ready for service. The new cable is equipped four 18 Tbps fiber optic pairs, a design capacity of 72 Tbps.

Google also announced the first Curie branch into Panama. Subcom has been selected for the project.

Curie represents Google's third wholly-owned subsea cable. The other projects are Dunant, which crosses the Atlantic from Virginia to France, and Equiano, which will link Portugal to South Africa.

https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/infrastructure/curie-subsea-cable-set-to-transmit-to-chile-with-a-pit-stop-to-panama

Google announces Equiano cable from Portugal to South Africa

Google unveiled plans for new private subsea cable connecting Lisbon, Portugal and Cape Town, South Africa with branching units along the west coast of Africa.

The Equiano subsea cable, which is named for Olaudah Equiano, a Nigerian-born writer and abolitionist who was enslaved as a boy, will include a branching unit to Nigeria.

Google plans to use state-of-the-art space-division multiplexing (SDM) technology to achieve approximately 20 times more network capacity than the last cable built to serve this region.

The cable will be the first to incorporate optical switching at the fiber-pair level, rather than the traditional approach of wavelength-level switching. Google says this design will greatly simplify the allocation of cable capacity.

Equiano is fully funded by Google. Alcatel Submarine Networks was awarded a contract in Q4 2018. The first phase of the project, connecting South Africa with Portugal, is expected to be completed in 2021.

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Ericsson begins shipping 5G base stations from Texas factory

Ericsson began the first commercial shipments of 5G base stations from its new factory in Texas. The first unit was delivered to Verizon.

“Ericsson’s smart factory is a cornerstone of our collaboration as we work together to bring 5G to our consumer, enterprise and public safety customers,” said Kyle Malady, Chief Technology Officer of Verizon. “Together these types of innovation will accelerate our 5G deployments, as we expand our 5G leadership in technology and continue to rapidly build the ecosystem with our partners.”

The 5G base station delivered to Verizon is the millimeter-wave Street Macro solution, which is key to Ericsson’s 5G portfolio for its North American customers. All radio access components are housed in one lightweight enclosure, allowing for the rapid growth of 5G coverage in complex city environments.

Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice President and Head of Networks, Ericsson, says: “As the most advanced platform for innovation, 5G will enable a transformation across enterprises –as we’re now experiencing in our own smart factories. Automation and remote operations have become more important, and we’re working with our customers to make them available for the benefit of industries. From producing the first 5G base stations at our 5G USA Smart Factory earlier this year, we’ve made our first commercial delivery to Verizon. That’s just the beginning.”

Ericsson to open 5G factory in Texas

Thursday, September 19, 2019  Ericsson  

Ericsson will open a US$100 million state-of-the-art factory in Lewisville, Texas, a suburb close to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Ericsson’s North America headquarters in Plano.

The 28,000sq m facility will produce 5G and Advanced Antenna System radios to boost network capacity and coverage to meet the demand for rapid 5G deployments in North America. Commercial operations are expected in early 2020 and will be powered by Ericsson 5G solutions tailored for the industrial environment. Fast and secure 5G connectivity will enable agile operations and flexible production. Ericsson’s 5G industrial solutions include automated warehouses, connected logistics, automated assembly, packing and product handling, and the use of autonomous carts.

Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, says: “From manufacturing to technology, the Texas economy is firing on all cylinders thanks to investments of world class companies like Ericsson. I am proud that Ericsson has chosen Texas to expand its operations, and can assure them that as Governor, I will continue to promote pro-growth policies that reduce the heavy hand of government regulation and encourage expansion in the private sector.”

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