Marvell to acquire Inphi for optical components business

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. agreed to acquire Inphi Corp. in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately US$10 billion, consisting of $66 in cash and 2.323 shares of stock of the combined company for each Inphi share. Upon closing of the transaction, Marvell shareholders will own approximately 83% of the combined company and Inphi stockholders will own approximately 17% of the combined company.

Inphi’s high-speed electro-optics target data centers as well as wired and wireless carrier networks. The product portfolio includes Inphi transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs); drivers for 100G to 600G coherent optics; optical PHYs for signal recovery, retiming, grooming, error correction and gearbox operations; its COLORZ transceivers based on silicon photonics for 80/120km DWDM connectivity in a QSFP28 form factor; and its Canopus coherent Digital Signal Processors (DSPs)

Marvell said that by combining its storage, networking, processor, and security portfolio with Inphi’s  electro-optics interconnect platform, the combined company will deliver end-to-end technology leadership in data infrastructure. 

“Our acquisition of Inphi will fuel Marvell’s leadership in the cloud and extend our 5G position over the next decade,” said Matt Murphy, president and CEO of Marvell. “Inphi’s technologies are at the heart of cloud data center networks and they continue to extend their leadership with innovative new products, including 400G data center interconnect optical modules, which leverage their unique silicon photonics and DSP technologies. We believe that Inphi’s growing presence with cloud customers will also lead to additional opportunities for Marvell’s DPU and ASIC products.”

“Marvell and Inphi share a vision to enable the world’s data infrastructure and we have both transformed our respective businesses to benefit from the strong secular growth expected in the cloud data center and 5G wireless markets” said Ford Tamer, President and CEO of Inphi. “Combining with Marvell significantly increases our scale, accelerates our access to the next generations of process technology, and opens up new opportunities in 5G connectivity.”

Marvell also stated that intends to reorganize the combined company so that it will be domiciled in the United States, creating a U.S. semiconductor powerhouse with an enterprise value of approximately $40 billion. Upon closing, Ford Tamer, Inphi’s President and CEO, will join Marvell’s Board of Directors.

https://www.marvell.com/announcements/marvell-to-acquire-inphi.html

• In 2016, Inphi acquired ClariPhy Communications, a provider of ultra-high-speed systems-on-chip (SoCs) for multi-terabit data, long haul and metro networking markets for $275 million in cash as well as the assumption of certain liabilities at the close. ClariPhy was one of the first merchant suppliers of coherent DSP technology. The company was based in Irvine, California.
• In 2014, Inphi acquired Cortina Systems' High-Speed Interconnect and Optical Transport product lines for $52.5 million in cash and $73.5 million in stock.  In 2006, Cortina Systems acquired the assets of Intel's optical network components business for $115 million. Cortina was based in Sunnyvale, California.

Acacia and Inphi demo interoperability of 400ZR over 120 km

Tuesday, October 27, 2020  400ZR, Acacia, Inphi  

Acacia Communications and Inphi have demonstrated error-free links in 400ZR mode between Inphi’s COLORZ II QSFP-DD and Acacia’s 400ZR QSFP-DD module in Arista switches over a 120 km amplified link using 75GHz channel spacing. “Hyperscale network operators are planning to utilize interoperable 400ZR solutions to support growing bandwidth requirements between data centers,” said Josef Berger, AVP of Marketing, Optical Interconnect at Inphi. “This...

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Inphi acquires assets in Vietnam from Arrive Technologies

Tuesday, August 04, 2020  Inphi, Vietnam  

Inphi has acquired certain assets from Arrive Technologies, located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Arrive Technologies, founded in 2001, has 112 employees with strong design capabilities in embedded software, digital ASIC, post-silicon validation, and FPGA emulation. The team has designed highly complex transport framers and products including pseudowire and circuit emulation functions with domain expertise including, but not limited to, OTN/SONET, FEC, PTP, and Security (IPsec). Arrive had been engaged with many of Inphi’s system OEM customers in the cloud, telecom, and 5G markets. 

Inphi said the addition of these resources will provide Inphi with front-end design, verification, validation and firmware skills that complement Inphi’s existing design teams in Singapore and Vietnam.

Inphi samples 800G 7nm PAM4 DSP

Monday, March 09, 2020  Inphi  

Inphi is sampling its new Spica 800G 7nm PAM4 DSP, the world’s first 800Gbps or 8x100Gbps PAM4 DSP to enable 800G optical transceiver modules in QSFP-DD800 or OSFP form factors.

Inphi's highly integrated Spica 800G platform includes the company's high-performance, low power PAM4 DSPs alongside its companion market-leading low power linear driver and TIAs.

The company said its Spica 800Gbps PAM4 DSP with integrated 56GBaud driver, enables either 2x400Gbps or 8x100Gbps optical modules with 100Gbps per lane electrical interfaces. Applications could include 800Gbps / 8x100Gbps optical interconnects in a compact form factor for single-mode fibers or multimode fibers. The Spica platform could be matched with Inphi’s 112Gbps Capella SerDes IP for next-generation AI processors and switches.

Inphi samples its 3rd gen, single-lambda PAM4

Monday, March 09, 2020  Inphi  

Inphi has begun sampling its Porrima Gen3 Single-Lambda PAM4 platform based on 7nm technology and optimized for hyperscale data center networks. The new design offers an expanded feature set and enhanced direct drive capability, further expanding the breadth of lasers that can be used with the integrated laser driver. The new platform is also designed to reduce total module power consumption to less than 8W for 400Gbps DR4/FR4 mode in the QSFP-DD form factor.

“Porrima Gen3 is another prime example of our ongoing dedication to this market, by increasing investments to exceed customer needs and stay ahead of the competition,” said Eric Hayes, SVP, Networking Interconnect, Inphi. “Not only are we delivering better performance and lower power with this third-generation PAM4 solution, but we are also making it easy for customers to make a smooth transition. This will accelerate adoption of this total solution and maintain our market leadership position.”

Inphi intros its 2nd gen 112Gbps SerDes in 7nm

Wednesday, January 29, 2020  112G, Inphi  

Inphi released its second-generation, high performance 112Gbps SerDes IP solution in 7nm. Inphi said its new Capella SerDes IP is designed to ensure high performance across the most demanding environments for network connectivity and data transmission. The announcement builds on Inphi’s track record of having shipped over a million 56Gbps and 112Gbps ports to date. “Delivering the next generation of SerDes IP technology is a significant milestone...

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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...

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Inphi milestone: 100,000 COLORZ silicon photonics PAM4 units shipped

Thursday, January 09, 2020  Inphi, PAM4, Silicon Photonics  

Inphi noted a company milestone -- the shipment of more than 100,000 COLORZ units, its Silicon Photonics PAM4 platform solution for 80km DWDM connectivity in a QSFP28 form factor. Inphi said its unique approach in integrating PAM4 CMOS with silicon photonics enables the platform to achieve a 60% in cost and a 75% in power savings. Accomplishing the COLORZ ramp to 100k within a span of only three years also validates the network inflection point...

Inphi to acquire eSilicon for $226 million

Monday, November 11, 2019  Inphi  

Inphi Corporation agreed to acquire eSilicon for $216 million in both cash and the assumption of debt.

“The Inphi team is excited to enhance our value proposition to our cloud and telecom customers with the addition of the eSilicon team and IP,” said Ford Tamer, president and CEO of Inphi. “eSilicon adds to Inphi world-class 2.5D packaging, SerDes, custom silicon and operations teams. Just as we successfully leveraged our Cortina and Clariphy acquisitions, eSilicon will advance our shared commitments in driving successful customer engagement, industry-leading innovation, and best of class execution.”

Inphi lists the following drivers for the acquisition:

• Combine Inphi’s DSP, TiA, Driver and SiPho disciplines with eSilicon’s 2.5D packaging and custom silicon design capabilities and accelerate the roadmap for electro-optics, 5nm advanced CMOS process node, and custom DSP solutions
• Augment Inphi’s existing SerDes team and resources
• Extend Inphi’s addressable market in Cloud data center networking and Telecom 5G infrastructure with top tier OEM customers
• Expand Inphi’s presence into new, strategic geographies for talent acquisition with engineering design centers in Italy, Romania, Vietnam, and Spain and operations in Malaysia
• Add between $80 to $120 million to 2020 revenue, be accretive to 2020 EPS and both the 2021 revenue and EPS growth rates
• Increase Inphi’s operational scale with suppliers, lowering costs and resulting in financial leverage
• Result in Inphi paying about 2.2X 2020 revenue in a combination of cash and debt assumption

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Untether AI leverages at-memory computation for inference processing

Untether AI, a start-up based in Toronto, introduced its "tsunAImi" accelerator cards are powered by four of its own runAI200 processors, which feature a unique at-memory compute architecture that aims to re-think how computation for machine learning is accomplished. The company says that 90 percent of the energy for AI workloads in current processing architectures is consumed by data movement, transferring the weights and activations between external memory, on-chip caches, and finally to the computing element itself. 

Untether AI says it is able to deliver two PetaOperations per second (POPs) in its new standard PCI-Express cards -- more than two times any currently announced PCIe cards, which translates into over 80,000 frames per second of ResNet-50 v 1.5 throughput at batch=1, three times the throughput of its nearest competitor. For natural language processing, tsunAImi accelerator cards are rated at more than 12,000 queries per second (qps) of BERT-base, four times faster than any announced product.

“For AI inference in cloud and datacenters, compute density is king. Untether AI is ushering in the PetaOps era to accelerate AI inference workloads at scale with unprecedented efficiency,” said Arun Iyengar, CEO of Untether AI.

“When we founded Untether AI, our laser focus was unlocking the potential of scalable AI, by delivering more efficient neural network compute,” said Martin Snelgrove, co-founder and CTO of Untether AI. “We are gratified to see our technology come to fruition.”

The imAIgine SDK is currently in Early Access (EA) with select customers and partners. The tsunAImi accelerator card is sampling now and will be commercially available in 1Q2021.

Untether AI is funded by Radical Ventures and Intel Capital. 

http://www.untether.ai

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AWS delivers Q3 revenue of $11.6 billion, up 29% yoy

Amazon Web Services generated Q3 sales of $11.601 billion, up 29% from $8,995 billion a year earlier. AWS operating income was $3.535 billion, up 56.3% compared to $2.261 billion a year earlier.

Some AWS highlights:

• AWS announced significant customer wins with Global Payments; biotechnology company Moderna; restaurant chain Jack in the
• Box; premier visual effects company Weta Digital to accelerate rendering of graphical visual effects; leading job site Indeed to migrate more than 30 petabytes of data to AWS; household appliance manufacturer Arçelik to use analytics, IoT, and machine learning services to build smart factories, automated production lines, and cloud connected appliances; IT services company 
• and AWS Partner Network (APN) Premier Consulting Partner DXC Technology to replace its legacy contact center technology; hotel franchise Best Western International; and cold chain provider Carrier to transform how temperature-sensitive goods such as food, medicines, and vaccines are moved around the world.
• AWS announced the general availability of Amazon Braket, a fully managed service that provides a development environment to help customers explore and design quantum algorithms. 
•  AWS announced the general availability of Amazon Timestream, a new time series database for IoT and operational
• applications that can scale to process trillions of time series events per day up to 1,000 times faster than relational
• databases, and at as low as 1/10th the cost. 
• AWS announced the general availability of five AWS Wavelength Zones in Atlanta, Boston, New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Washington D.C., enabling developers to build applications that deliver ultra-low latency to mobile devices and users by deploying AWS compute and storage at the edge of Verizon’s 5G network.  AWS is partnering with Verizon to bring AWS Wavelength to additional customers across the United States, and with other leading telecommunications providers, including Vodafone, SK Telecom, and KDDI, to launch Wavelength Zones across Europe, South Korea, and Japan in 2020 and beyond.
• AWS announced the general availability of Amazon EBS io2 volume, the next generation Provisioned IOPS SSD volumes for Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS). 
• AWS announced the general availability of AWS Nitro Enclaves, a new capability that makes it easier for customers to create isolated compute environments within Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instances to securely process and protect highly sensitive data. 

https://s2.q4cdn.com/299287126/files/doc_financials/2020/q3/AMZN-Q3-2020-Earnings-Release.pdf

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Telefónica and Allianz JV to deploy FTTH in Germany

Telefónica and Allianz will create a 50-50 joint venture company to deploy Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) in Germany. The joint venture will operate as a neutral, wholesale provider and will build local fibre optic networks in underserved rural and semi-rural areas across Germany. The ambition is to pass more than 2 million homes with fibre network surpassing 50,000 kms, representing an overall investment of up to EUR 5 billion during the 6 year deployment period.

Telefónica Group’s participation will be held through Telefónica Infra (its infrastructure unit) holding 40% and Telefónica Deutschland / O2 holding a 10% stake.  Allianz Capital Partners will invest 50% in the joint venture on behalf of Allianz insurance companies and the Allianz European Infrastructure Fund.

This venture in Germany follows Allianz’s commitment to significant fibre roll-outs in France and Austria. Allianz is one of the world´s leading insurers and investors. 

Ángel Vilá, Chief Operating Officer at Telefónica Group, commented “We are very enthusiastic about the opportunity to partner with Allianz, one of the world’s largest investors with whom we share the ambition to drive fibre roll out in Germany, contributing to accelerate the country’s digital development.  We are delighted to put our expertise behind this partnership, joining forces with Allianz as a key element for success, strengthening Telefónica Infra's value proposition and reinforcing the strategy presented by Telefónica a year ago.”

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Verizon expands fixed 5G home service in ATL, Dallas, Denver and SJ

Verizon is expanding its 5G Home Internet service to parts of Atlanta, Dallas, Denver and San Jose. The fixed 5G service is now available in parts of 12 markets across the U.S. The company says customers can experience peak download speeds of up to 1 Gbps, depending on location, with typical download speeds of 300 Mbps. The service is $50 per month for Verizon customers and $70 per month for non-Verizon customers. 

5G Home Internet is available in the following cities:

• Atlanta
• Chicago
• Dallas
• Denver
• Detroit
• Houston
• Indianapolis
• Los Angeles
• Minneapolis
• Sacramento
• San Jose
• St. Paul

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Dell'Oro: SASE market to grow at 116% CAGR

The emerging Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) market is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 116 percent over the next five years (2019-2024), according to a new report from Dell'Oro Group.  

SASE comprises the integration of SD-WAN, Secure Web Gateway, and Firewall technologies that brings networking and security into a unified, cloud-based service offering to increase the scalability, agility, and security of the network while reducing the total cost of ownership.

“SASE holds great appeal because it unifies and simplifies networking and security across a wide variety of network use cases, ranging from larger headquarter/branch networks down to individual users,” said Mauricio Sanchez, Research Director at Dell’Oro Group. “Over the next five years, we expect the initial thrust for SASE to come from small to medium enterprises, for whom unification and simplification rank high, but also expect larger enterprises to begin pivoting.” 

Additional highlights from the SASE 5-Year Forecast Advanced Research Report:

Compared to the hardware, the software will account for the vast majority of SASE revenue and is expected to continue increasing its contribution over the next five years.

The combination of software and hardware sold as physical appliances will account for the vast majority of SASE revenue in the near-term. However, in the long-term will switch to revenue from cloud-hosted Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).

https://www.delloro.com/advanced-research-report/secure-access-service-edge-sase/

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Nokia posts 7% year-on-year decrease in net sales

Nokia reported a 7% year-on-year decrease in net sales to EUR 5.294 billion (approximately US$6.927 billion), largely driven by lower services within Mobile Access. Operating margin improved to 6.6% from 4.6% a year earlier. Operating profit (non-IFRS) rose to EUR 486 million, up 2% YOY. 

Nokia said the impact of COVID-19 was primarily related to factory closures, resulting in a net sales impact of approximately EUR 200 million in the first nine months of 2020, with the majority of these net sales expected to be shifted to future periods, rather than being lost. At the end of Q3 2020, Nokia is no longer experiencing factory closures related to COVID-19. In addition, COVID-19 has affected our operational costs, and we now expect a temporary benefit of approximately EUR 250 million due to lower travel and personnel expenses related to COVID-19 in full year 2020.

Pekka Lundmark, Nokia's President and CEO, states:

"In my first quarter as CEO of Nokia, I have seen both opportunities and challenges. As our solid Q3 results demonstrate, we are making good progress in many parts of our business. Profitability was up on a year-on-year basis, we had the fifth consecutive quarter of solid free cash flow, Nokia Enterprise maintained its double-digit growth, and we continued to strengthen the competitiveness and cost position of our mobile radio products."

"When I look ahead, however, the good progress we have made is not enough. Our financial performance in 2021 is expected to be challenging, and more change is needed. We have lost share at one large North American customer, see some margin pressure in that market, and believe we need to further increase R&D investments to ensure leadership in 5G. In fact, we have decided that we will invest whatever it takes to win in 5G. Our customers are counting on us and we will be there for them."

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Nokia's corporate re-organization focuses on four business groups

Nokia announced a corporate re-organization that focuses on four business groups: 

• Mobile Networks, which will include mobile network products, network deployment and technical support services, and related network management. This business group will offer the full portfolio for customers wanting to buy mobile access networks. It will target leadership in key technologies such as 5G, ORAN and vRAN. The net sales of Mobile Networks in the last four quarters were approximately €10 billion. Tommi Uitto has been appointed as President of this business group.
• IP and Fixed Networks, which will include IP Routing, Optical Networks and Fixed Networks, as well as Alcatel Submarine Networks business, currently reported under “Group Common.” This business group will respond to the ever-increasing demand for higher capacity, greater reliability, faster speeds and lower costs. The net sales of IP and Fixed Networks in the last four quarters were approximately €7 billion. Federico Guillén has been appointed as President of this business group.
• Cloud and Network Services, which will include the existing Nokia Software business (excluding Mobile Networks network management), Nokia’s enterprise solutions, core network solutions including both voice and packet core, and managed and advanced services from its current Global Services unit. This unit will also act as a delivery channel of certain products from other business groups to enterprise customers. Cloud and Network Services will target growth by leveraging the industry transition to cloud-based delivery, network-as-a-service business models, and software-led value creation. The net sales of Cloud and Network Services in the last four quarters were approximately €3 billion. Raghav Sahgal has been appointed as President of this business group.
• Nokia Technologies, which will remain largely unchanged. The net sales of this business group in the last four quarters were approximately €1.4 billion. Jenni Lukander continues as President of this business group.

A new Customer Experience organization will also be formed to strengthen customer relationships across all businesses.

“Our industry is undergoing profound changes. Industrial automation and digitalization are increasing customer demand for high-performance networks, with a trend towards open interfaces, virtualization, and cloud native software. This will revolutionize how we design, deploy, manage and sell our products and solutions,” said Pekka Lundmark, President and CEO. “As we work to renew our strategy, we will ensure we are well positioned to leverage these trends, improve our performance and position the company for long-term value creation.”

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IBM and AT&T collaborate on edge computing

IBM and AT&T have formed a partnership to help enterprises manage their applications hosted in hybrid cloud environments with IBM Cloud Satellite leveraging Red Hat OpenShift, over AT&T networks. 

Enterprises will be able to use a single dashboard designed to manage services across multiple clouds and billions of edge devices while using AT&T 5G edge network connectivity, AT&T Multi-access Edge Computing, or AT&T Private Cellular Networks.

“The advancements in 5G and edge are impacting every industry, bringing the promise of enhanced experiences for consumers and new revenue opportunities for businesses,” said Howard Boville, senior vice president, IBM Hybrid Cloud. “Together with AT&T, we will be helping clients securely leverage 5G and edge offerings in any environment with IBM’s open and secure hybrid cloud platform. This marks a significant step forward increasing the possibilities of 5G and edge in the enterprise.” 

“Make no mistake: AT&T is fast,” said Mo Katibeh, Chief Product and Platform Officer for AT&T Business. “And we don’t just have the fastest nationwide 5G network. With our edge computing capabilities, we can also offer incredibly responsive networks – needed for mission-critical business applications. Our work with IBM will bring differentiated value that customers will appreciate.” 

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Ribbon expands its Apollo OTN switching portfolio

Ribbon Communications announced two transformative additions to its Apollo 9900 Optical Transport Network (OTN) Switching portfolio:

• Apollo 9901X  access OTN switch - provides the benefits of a software-configurable solution including faster provisioning, wavelength grooming and automated restoration throughout the network to the edge with the cost efficiencies previously found only in manual options. While traditional solutions map multiple 10G colored interfaces onto a WDM network using transponders or muxponders via fixed filters, which requires engineering, the Apollo 9901X maps services under software control onto one or two 100G wavelength uplinks, which can be configured in an access ring. The 9901X can carry up to twenty business services including any combination of Gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel and SONET/SDH. Optical encryption provides additional security for sensitive applications. The Apollo 9901X is delivered in an industry-first ultra-compact 1RU platform and interworks seamlessly with Apollo metro and core OTN switches under a common management interface.
• MIO700 blade - offers an ultra-economical 400G DCO (Digital Coherent Optics) uplink and a 700G fabric. Up to four MIO700 blades can interconnect on the 9904X backplane, providing pay as you grow scalability up to 2.8T capacity.

"Our Apollo suite of products is designed to help service providers deploy programmable and open optical networks cost-effectively and these two new additions are furthering that mission," said Sam Bucci, EVP & General Manager, Packet Optical Networks, Ribbon. "While the economics of OTN switching have always been prohibitive in the metro and access components of the network, the Apollo 9901X and MIO700 blade change the equation for providers everywhere."

http://www.ecitele.com

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HGC Global Communications signs MoU with CyberSecurity Malaysia

HGC Global Communications Limited (HGC) and CyberSecurity Malaysia, the national cybersecurity specialist and technical agency under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia (KKMM), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that provides a framework under which HGC will facilitate its portfolio of critical cybersecurity skillsets to the telecommunications industry whilst fostering increased cybersecurity innovation by enabling CyberSecurity Malaysia to achieve its purpose of overcoming national cyber security challenges and deliver greater ICT benefits to Internet users.

The MoU will cover cybersecurity cooperation in key areas including telecom security, IoT security and threats intelligence. The parties said their exchange of information on telecommunication networks, ICT solutions and cybersecurity can further improve cyberattack readiness and prevention measures.

Ravindran Mahalingam, HGC's SVP of International Business, said: "Cybersecurity is a paramount asset, key to HGC's vision of a connected world. As a global telecommunications service provider, we are committed to promoting sustainable development of technological innovations, keeping cybersecurity at the centre of business solutions. More, cybersecurity is important in a smart city as the infrastructure can be vulnerable and needs to avoid any breaches. HGC is dedicated to support cybersecurity for ICT and network initiatives, ensuring a secure and reliable digital business environment."

Dato' Ts. Dr. Haji Amirudin Bin Abdul Wahab, CyberSecurity Malaysia's Chief Executive Officer, said: "Today, cyber security is a major concern for most industries and the vulnerabilities are rising at an alarming rate; hence IT professionals are in high demand to analyse and overcome these threats. Moreover, these attacks could have been dealt with if those businesses have better cyber resilience. Organizations today are beginning to complement their cybersecurity strategies with cyber resilience. CyberSecurity Malaysia, a national cyber security specialist and technical center under the purview of the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia, identifies collaboration as one way to strengthen the cybersecurity ecosystem in Malaysia. "

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AT&T's Mo Katibeh joins MEF Board

 Mo Katibeh, Chief Product & Platform Officer at AT&T Business, has joined the MEF Board of Directors, succeeding AT&T's Roman P. Pacewicz.  

As Katibeh joins the MEF Board of Directors, Roman P. Pacewicz, Chief Product Officer at AT&T Business, will step down. “Roman has been an integral member of our MEF Board and community. We thank him for his dedication and years of contribution in progressing MEF standards and goals that have made a significant positive impact on our industry,” said Nan Chen, President, MEF.

MEF Board of Directors

• Nan Chen, Head of The One Network, Ericsson
• Frederick Chui, Chief Commercial Officer, PCCW Global
• Andrew Dugan, Chief Technology Officer, Lumen
• Aamir Hussain, Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer, Verizon
• Mo Katibeh, Chief Product & Platform Officer, AT&T Business
• Daniele Mancuso, Chief Marketing Solutions & Business Development Officer, Sparkle Group
• Franck Morales, Vice President, Connectivity Services, Orange Business Services
• Ralph Santitoro, Head of Digital Services, Fujitsu Network Communications
• Robert (Bob) Victor, Senior Vice President of Product Management, Comcast Business
• Mirko Voltolini, Global Head of Network on Demand, Colt Technology Services
• Jeremy Wubs, Senior Vice President, Marketing for Bell Business Markets, Bell Canada
• Shawn Hakl, Partner, 5G Strategy, Microsoft (Advisory Director)

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FCC's Ajit Pai proposes to open 5.9 GHz band for Wi-Fi and C-V2X

 FCC Chairman Ajit Pai proposed new rules to open the 5.9 GHz band (5.850-5.925 GHz) for unlicensed services including Wi-Fi and automotive services. The Commission will vote on these new rules at its November 18 meeting.

The new rules would make the lower 45 megahertz of the 5.9 GHz band (5.850-5.895 GHz) available for unlicensed uses like Wi-Fi. In addition, unlicensed use of 5.9 GHz band spectrum would also help improve and expand broadband access in rural America.  For example, during the pandemic, the FCC has granted temporary access to over 100 wireless Internet service providers, or WISPs, to use this spectrum, which has helped them increase speeds, decrease congestion, and extend coverage areas.  The new rules would create a path for WISPs to use this spectrum permanently.

The new rules would also improve automotive safety by transitioning the upper 30 megahertz of the 5.9 GHz band (5.895 GHz-5.925 GHz) from the long-stalled Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) service to the modern Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) technology.  While 5.9 GHz band spectrum has been designated for DSRC for over twenty years, deployment has been painfully slow, and as a result, DSRC has done virtually nothing to improve automotive safety.  By contrast, C-V2X, is a newer technology that shows great promise, which is why automakers here and around the globe are turning the page on DSRC and moving to implement C-V2X.  C-V2X uses cellular protocols to provide direct communications between vehicles and, as the name suggests, everything—including other vehicles on the road, infrastructure like light poles and cell towers as well as cyclists, pedestrians, and road workers.     

The Chairman is also proposing rules to implement the new 5.9 GHz band plan.  This includes a proposed timeline and technical parameters for transitioning the limited number of incumbent Intelligent Transportation Systems licensees to the upper 30 megahertz portion of the band (and then to C-V2X-based technology), as well as adopting technical rules to enable full-power outdoor unlicensed operations in the lower 45 megahertz portion of the band.

“5.9 GHz spectrum has lain fallow for far too long.  For the last two decades, the American people have waited for this prime mid-band spectrum to be put to use, and the time for waiting is over,” said Chairman Pai.  “We should move on from DSRC and unlock forward-looking automotive safety technology.  Under my approach, the FCC would for the first time authorize C-V2X in the 5.9 GHz band.  At the same time, we would make available the spectrum needed for a 160 megahertz-wide channel for Wi-Fi, which would enable a new level of gigabit connectivity for schools, hospitals, small businesses, and other consumers.  I hope my colleagues will—once again—join me in offering the American people a new chance for automotive safety communications in the 5.9 GHz band that will actually be deployed while meeting the ever-growing demand for Wi-Fi capacity.” 

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Lightmatter unveils wafer-scale photonic interconnect

Lightmatter, a start-up based in Boston, unveiled a wafer-scale, programmable photonic interconnect that allows arrays of heterogeneous chips (CPUs, GPUs, memory, accelerators) to communicate with each other optically.

Lightmatter says its photonic interconnect offers a fully-reconfigurable connection topology between chips, reducing the cost and complexity of building heterogeneous computing systems.

The Lightmatter Passage packs forty switchable integrated photonic lanes into the same space that traditionally supports just one optical fiber. This could be used to enable a 1Tbps dynamically reconfigurable interconnect across an array of 48 chips spanning 8 inches by 8 inches, with a maximum communication latency of 5 nanoseconds. The company says it has a multi-year roadmap for its interconnects to deliver chip-to-chip communications with 100Tbps bandwidth.

“Lightmatter is leading a necessary paradigm shift in computer architecture needed to power the next giant leaps in compute technology, while also reducing the negative impact on our planet of rapidly-growing state of the art, yet inefficient, compute and communications solutions,” said Nick Harris, co-founder and CEO at Lightmatter. “Modern compute workloads call for system-level performance. With Passage, we’ve created a photonic rack-on-chip solution capable of supporting the future of computing by enabling ultra-high bandwidth interconnection between different kinds of chips, and simultaneously reducing cost, complexity, and energy consumption.”

Lightmatter is developing a photonic processor

Monday, August 17, 2020  New England, Optical, Silicon, Start-Up  

Lightmatter, a start-up based in Boston, will unveil plans for an artificial intelligence (AI) photonic processor.

Lightmatter said its general-purpose AI inference accelerator will use light to compute and transport data. The 3D-stacked chip package contains over a billion FinFET transistors, tens of thousands of photonic arithmetic units, and hundreds of record-setting data converters. Lightmatter’s photonic processor runs standard machine learning frameworks including PyTorch and TensorFlow, enabling state-of-the-art AI algorithms.

“The Department of Energy estimates that by 2030, computing and communications technology will consume more than 8 percent of the world’s power. Transistors, the workhorse of traditional processors, aren’t improving; they’re simply too hot. Building larger and larger datacenters is a dead end path along the road of computational progress,” said Nicholas Harris, PhD, founder and CEO at Lightmatter. “We need a new computing paradigm. Lightmatter’s optical processors are dramatically faster and more energy efficient than traditional processors. We’re simultaneously enabling the growth of computing and reducing its impact on our planet.”

On August 18th, Lightmatter’s VP of Engineering, Carl Ramey, will present their photonic processor architecture at HotChips32.

https://lightmatter.co/

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Windstream picks Ciena for next-gen Fiber-to-the-Tower deployment

 Windstream has selected Ciena to modernize its Fiber-to-the-Tower (FTTT) infrastructure. The deployment will use Ciena’s 3928 and 5170 Platforms to scale bandwidth for wireless backhaul services while also expanding its wholesale product service offerings. Ciena’s Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) domain controller will provide Windstream with comprehensive network management and interactive interfaces for its Software-Defined Network (SDN) network orchestration platforms. 

 

“Network reliability is paramount to our wireless backhaul customers. Ciena’s next-generation SAOS software and Packet Networking portfolio, along with our topology and protocol designs, are enabling us to provide a world class, state-of-the-art mobile backhaul infrastructure with tightly integrated service orchestration,” stated Buddy Bayer, Chief Network Officer, Windstream.

“Our unique approach in building networks that are automated, adaptive and open is a key-enabler in Windstream’s ability to deliver reliable, high-bandwidth, and high-capacity services to meet the current needs of its customers, while also preparing for the next-generation of innovative, 5G applications,” said Kevin Sheehan, Chief Technology Officer of the Americas, Ciena.

http://www.ciena.com

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BT picks Ericsson for 5G in London, Edinburgh, Belfast and Cardiff

Ericsson has been selected as BT’s 5G RAN provider in the UK capitals London, Edinburgh, Belfast and Cardiff and other major cities.

The announcement builds on BT’s selection of Ericsson to provide the company’s cloud-native dual-mode 5G Core earlier this year, making Ericsson the end-to-end 5G partner for BT. Once the deployment is completed, Ericsson will manage around 50 percent of BT’s 5G traffic.

Philip Jansen, CEO, BT, says: “Our customers deserve the best network and we are delivering. We’re the UK leader in 5G and are excited to be working with Ericsson as a key partner to maintain that market leadership. Through this deal, we will continue to drive the best mobile experiences for our customers. The lightning-fast speeds of 5G will help them to develop their businesses, stream a growing choice of content over our network, and stay in touch with colleagues and friends all over the world.”

Börje Ekholm, President and CEO, Ericsson, says: “BT has a clear direction in how it wants to drive its 5G ambitions in the UK and we are delighted to be their partner in delivering that. Having already been selected to partner in 5G Core, we are pleased to strengthen the relationship further with this deal that will deliver high performance and secure 5G to their customers across the UK’s major cities. By deploying 5G in these key areas, we are yet again demonstrating our technology leadership in population-dense and high traffic locations.“

BT confirms Ericsson for 5G core

Wednesday, April 15, 2020  BT, Ericsson, UK  

BT signed a deal to deploy Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core (Evolved Packet Core and 5G Core), a fully container-based, cloud native Mobile Packet Core for 4G, 5G Non-standalone and 5G Standalone services as a single fully integrated core. The solution, delivered on BT’s Network Cloud, will form a key component in BT’s move to a single converged IP network. It will incorporate network orchestration and automation, including continuous delivery and integration processes (CI/CD), and be integrated into BT’s existing customer experience management platforms using Ericsson Expert Analytics together with Ericsson’s built-in software probes. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Howard Watson, CTIO of BT, says: “Having evaluated different 5G Core vendors, we have selected Ericsson as the best option on the basis of both lab performance and future roadmap. We are looking forward to working together as we build out our converged 4G and 5G core network across the UK. An agile, cloud-native core infrastructure is at the heart of our ambition to enable the next generation of exciting 5G services for our customers and give the UK the world-class digital infrastructure it needs to win in the future global economy.”

Marielle Lindgren, Head of Ericsson UK and Ireland, says: “Ericsson and BT have a long history of working together and we are delighted to continue that relationship with this new dual-mode 5G Core deal. We, at Ericsson, have been in the UK for over a century and delivering the next generation of connectivity here is yet another proud part of our story”.

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Microsoft's commercial cloud revenue up 31% YoY, Azure up 48%

Microsoft reported revenue of $37.2 billion for the quarter ended September 30, up 12% compared to a year earlier. Net income was $13.9 billion and increased 30%.

“The next decade of economic performance for every business will be defined by the speed of their digital transformation,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft. “We are innovating across our full modern tech stack to help our customers in every industry improve time to value, increase agility, and reduce costs." 

"Demand for our cloud offerings drove a strong start to the fiscal year with our commercial cloud revenue generating $15.2 billion, up 31% year over year,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft. “We continue to invest against the significant opportunity ahead of us to drive long-term growth.”

Commercial cloud includes Office 365 commercial, Azure, the commercial portion of LinkedIn, Dynamics 365, and other cloud properties.

Highlights

• Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes was $12.3 billion and increased 11%, with the following business highlights:
• Office Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 9% driven by Office 365 Commercial revenue growth of 21% (up 20% in constant currency)
  
• Office Consumer products and cloud services revenue increased 13% and Microsoft 365 Consumer subscribers increased to 45.3 million
• LinkedIn revenue increased 16%
• Dynamics products and cloud services revenue increased 19% (up 18% in constant currency) driven by Dynamics 365 revenue growth of 38% (up 37% in constant currency)
• Revenue in Intelligent Cloud was $13.0 billion and increased 20% (up 19% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:
• Server products and cloud services revenue increased 22% (up 21% in constant currency) driven by Azure revenue growth of 48% (up 47% in constant currency)
• Revenue in More Personal Computing was $11.8 billion and increased 6%, with the following business highlights:
• Windows OEM revenue declined 5%
• Windows Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 13% (up 12% in constant currency)
• Xbox content and services revenue increased 30%
• Surface revenue increased 37% (up 36% in constant currency)
• Search advertising revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs decreased 10% (down 11% in constant currency)
• Microsoft returned $9.5 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends in the first quarter of fiscal year 2021, an increase of 21% compared to the first quarter of fiscal year 2020.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/earnings/FY-2021-Q1/press-release-webcast

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ZTE's Q3 revenue rises 37.2% to RMB 26.93 billion

 ZTE reported operating revenue of RMB 74.13 billion (approximately US$11.05 billion) for the nine months ended 30 September 2020, representing a year-on-year increase of 15.4%. Net profit attributable to holders of ordinary shares of the listed company reached RMB 2.71 billion, and net profit after extraordinary items attributable to holders of ordinary shares of the listed company amounted to RMB 1.45 billion. Basic earnings per share was RMB 0.59.   

For the three months ended 30 September 2020, ZTE’s operating revenue reached RMB 26.93 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 37.2%. Net profit attributable to holders of ordinary shares of the listed company amounted to RMB 0.85 billion, and net profit after extraordinary items attributable to holders of ordinary shares of the listed company amounted to RMB 0.54 billion.  

For the first nine months, the company’s R&D expense reached RMB 10.79 billion, making up 14.6% of 9-month revenue, a year-on-year increase of 15.3 %. The company has proposed its fourth A-share option incentive scheme, covering over 6100 employees, in a bid to strengthen the incentives to the top key talents.

As of the end of September 2020, ZTE had secured 55 5G commercial contracts across the globe, in partnerships with over 90 operators worldwide in 5G arena and covering over 500 industry partners.  

https://www.zte.com.cn/global/about/news/20201028e1.html

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SiTime intros ApexMEMS resonators

SiTime introduced its ApexMEMS family of resonators in a variety of MHz frequencies for high volume electronics.

The new devices, which mark SiTime's entrance into the $2 billion precision resonator market, are based on the company's third-generation of silicon MEMS technology.

SiTime said its new ApexMEMS resonators target mobile and IoT applications such as Bluetooth hearables and wearables, high-speed connectivity interfaces, asset-tracking, as well as microcontrollers. MEMS resonators offer an 85% space savings compared to quartz resonators. MEMS also offers advantages in terms of integration into standard IC packages and modules. The ApexMEMS resonators will be available as silicon die. Co-packaging these resonators with high performance semiconductors such as Bluetooth chips and microcontrollers gives customers a significant system and development advantage. ApexMEMS resonators offer similar advantages in standalone applications. Integrated load capacitors help reduce the system size through elimination of discrete passive components. Board layout and routing is simplified considerably, especially in space-constrained mobile-IoT applications.

“SiTime continues to lead the timing industry with our unique expertise in MEMS, mixed-signal, analog and systems,” said Rajesh Vashist, CEO of SiTime. “By shipping almost 2 billion oscillators to date to thousands of customers, we have learned to manufacture MEMS resonators in high volume, while continuously delivering excellent quality, reliability, and performance. Our knowledge and experience enables us to deliver better MEMS resonators that customers can depend on.”

“ApexMEMS resonators were developed to deliver breakthrough system performance and integration as shown by their usage in the SiT9501 oscillator and the Cascade ClockSoC™,” continued Vashist. “The SiT9501 is a game-changer for the 100-800G optical module market as it delivers the highest performance at the lowest power in the smallest package. Our combined understanding of the resonator, analog, materials, and thermal challenges both solves difficult system problems and benefits our resonator customers. These groundbreaking ApexMEMS resonators are available for integration or as standalone devices, and customers are now designing with them. With ApexMEMS, SiTime is the only company to offer MEMS resonators, oscillators, and clocks for the $8 billion timing market.”

Key Specifications and Availability

• ApexMEMS-based timing solutions deliver up to seven times better phase noise performance at half the power than SiTime's previous generation. 
• ApexMEMS resonators measure 0.42 mm x 0.42 mm size,  85% smaller than a typical quartz resonator, and also integrate the load capacitors. 
• Resonators provide stability as good as ±20 ppm while delivering superior reliability and best-in-class environmental resilience, like other SiTime devices. 
• ApexMEMS resonators operate reliably at temperatures as high as 125oC, a useful feature when integrated inside plastic packages.

ApexMEMS resonators are sampling now to select high-volume customers. 

http://www.sitime.com/products/resonators

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