UK allows Huawei in 5G, defying U.S. pressure

The UK will permit Huawei to participate in the rollout of 5G and gigabit-capable networks with certain conditions. The decision defied pressure from the U.S. government to ban Huawei on security grounds.

The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has recommended the "high risk vendors" should be:

• Excluded from all safety related and safety critical networks in Critical National Infrastructure
• Excluded from security critical ‘core’ functions, the sensitive part of the network
• Excluded from sensitive geographic locations, such as nuclear sites and military bases
• Limited to a minority presence of no more than 35 per cent in the periphery of the network, known as the access network, which connect devices and equipment to mobile phone masts

For its part, Huawei issued the following statement:

"Huawei is reassured by the UK government’s confirmation that we can continue working with our customers to keep the 5G roll-out on track. This evidence-based decision will result in a more advanced, more secure and more cost-effective telecoms infrastructure that is fit for the future. It gives the UK access to world-leading technology and ensures a competitive market.

"We have supplied cutting-edge technology to telecoms operators in the UK for more than 15 years. We will build on this strong track record, supporting our customers as they invest in their 5G networks, boosting economic growth and helping the UK continue to compete globally."

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Dell’Oro: Optical Transport Market 5-Yr Forecast

Coherent port shipments on DWDM systems are forecast to reach 1.3 million by 2024, according to a recent report from Dell'Oro Group. A major share of these port shipments will operate at 400 Gbps.

Additional highlights from the Optical Transport 5-Year Forecast Report:

• Total Optical Transport market consisting of Multiservice Multiplexers and WDM systems are forecast to reach nearly $18 billion by 2024.
• Deployment of WDM systems in metro applications is projected to drive over half of the WDM market over the next five years. 

“We are projecting coherent port shipments on DWDM systems to grow at an 18 percent CAGR,” said Jimmy Yu, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group. “Further igniting this market will be all the new, higher baud rate coherent line cards entering the market this year that will set the path for many more years of growth. On a capacity shipment basis, we think the highest share of coherent line cards will be operating at 400 Gbps, a wavelength speed that will have the perfect balance of capacity, performance, and price in both metro and long haul networks,” continued Yu.

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Europes's OPENQKD uses ADVA for quantum key distribution

The OPENQKD project, whose mission is to create and trial a secure communication network across Europe based on quantum key distribution (QKD), will leverage ADVA's FSP 3000 and FSP 150 platforms.

ADVA will provide optical and Ethernet encryptors as well as open line systems for multiple testbed locations.

OPENQKD, which is funded by the European Commission, seeks to accelerate the commercial adoption of QKD technology and to promote interoperability through an ecosystem of 38 partners, including academic institutions, network operators, and manufacturers of network and QKD equipment.

“By bringing our technology and expertise to the OPENQKD project, we’re helping to address vital security issues in critical communications. Whether in telecoms or government networks, quantum hacking puts the long-term security of sensitive data at risk,” said Helmut Grießer, director, advanced technology, ADVA. “Our ConnectGuard™ encryption technology has earned a strong reputation for protecting service provider and enterprise networks while ensuring highest capacity, lowest latency and maximum scale. In OPENQKD, we’ll demonstrate in practical use cases how our ConnectGuard™ technology can be augmented with QKD to make encrypted communication resistant against quantum computer attacks.”

https://www.adva.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/20200128-adva-to-play-key-role-in-openqkd-project

Quantum Network Link goes live in UK

Tuesday, March 26, 2019  ADVA, BT, Quantum, UK  

The world’s first commercial-grade quantum test network link is now operational between the BT Labs in Suffolk and the Cambridge node of the UK’s new Quantum Network, which is being built by the Quantum Communications Hub, a collaboration between research and industry, supported by the UK’s National Quantum Technologies Programme. The new connection stretches from BT’s Adastral Park research campus near Ipswich in the East of England, to Cambridge. The wider UKQN network then extends onward over the National Dark Fibre Infrastructure Service to Bristol in the South-West.

The link uses over 125km of standard BT optical fibre between Cambridge and Adastral Park, with BT Exchanges acting as ‘trusted nodes’ along the route. The link will carry both quantum and non-quantum traffic; the QKD technique shares data encryption keys via an ultra-secure quantum channel over the same fibre that carries the encrypted data itself.

ADVA confirmed that its FSP 3000 is playing a key role in the new UKQNtel transport network secured by quantum key distribution (QKD). As part of an initiative led by QComm Hub, and with partners BT, ID Quantique and the universities of Cambridge and York, ADVA has constructed a QKD link capable of carrying classical and quantum channels on the same standard, installed fiber.

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GSMA monitors potential impact of Coronavirus on MWC Barcelona

GSMA is monitoring and assessing the potential impact of the Coronavirus on MWC Barcelona 2020, which will occur 24-27 February 2020. So far, GSMA confirms that there have been no registration impacts on MWC Barcelona and that preparations for the event are continuing.

The GSMA will undertake the following measures:

• Carefully follow and adhere to:  the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommendations, all applicable Chinese government recommendations, all Spanish health authority recommendations and all police/health recommendations and protocols
• Provide additional medical personnel for on-site support in the run-up to and during the event
• Work with Fira de Barcelona to ensure sufficient sanitising products throughout all venues and implement other activity in line with recommendations from our city partners
• Support exhibitors who may not be able to travel to MWC Barcelona (via GSMA account managers or the Customer Care Team).

https://www.gsma.com/newsroom/statement/gsma-statement-on-coronavirus-for-mwc-barcelona-2020/

MWC19 Barcelona attendance hits record 109,000

Friday, March 01, 2019  #MWC19  

Attendance at MWC19 Barcelona was 109,000, up slightly from recent years:

2019 - 109,000
2018 - 107,000
2017 - 108,000
2016 - 101,000

Visitors came from 198 countries and territories, and more than 55 percent of this year’s MWC attendees held senior-level positions, including 7,900 CEOs.

More than 2,400 companies participated at MWC19 across more than 120,000 net square meters of exhibition and hospitality space at Fira Gran Via.

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Apstra adds support for faster data center recovery, SONic

Apstra released a new version of is network operating system for simplifying the management of data center networks. Major enhancements in AOS 3.2 include:

• an Intent Time Voyager capability to decrease MTTR from network outages. This enables network engineers to recover their entire data center fabric state, configuration, and real time continuous validation to a specific point in time; backward or forward with a few clicks.  
• Intra and inter data center scale-out services - This includes the automation of EVPN DCI to allow VXLAN Data Center Interconnect with a simple, intuitive user interface and continuous DCI state validations. It also supports automation of EVPN VXLAN overlay across PODs in a 5-stage L3 Clos fabric, including continuous validations of BGP EVPN sessions and route expectations.
• Expanded enterprise-class open source Open Compute Project SONiC support
• Faster insights into the health and service assurance of network fabrics with customizable dashboards, probes, and widgets. Network operators can now create their own dashboards, probes, and widgets to get information about a large variety of parameters - such as device health, EVPN validations, throughput health, drain validation, traffic trends, virtual infrastructure redundancy checks, and fabric health for virtual infrastructures.

“Apstra AOS 3.2 is packed with innovative capabilities such as the industry’s first and only Intent Time Voyager capability which allows you to travel through the history of your network, and bring your network back to any known state in time helping to resolve network outages,” said Sean Hafeez, VP of Product at Apstra. “In addition, the latest product offers continued support for OCP SONiC, which enables network engineers to safely add newer OSS offerings to their networking toolkit.”

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Semtech debuts LoRa transceiver for Smart Home IoT sensors

Semtech introduced a transceiver designed for battery-powered LPWAN based smart home, community and consumer applications. The new Semtech LoRa Smart Home transceiver provides low power, broad coverage for indoor and neighborhood area IoT devices connecting to sensors and actuators for safety, environmental and convenience use cases. The company said its design will power sensors with multi-year operation. It features 600nA of sleep current and 4.6 mA of active receive current consumption.

Key Product Features of LoRa Smart Home (LLCC68)

• High sensitivity to -126 dBm
• +22 dBm output power with high efficiency PA
• System works well even when the signal is 10dB below noise
• Minimal external BOM/matching
• Small size foot print, 24-pin 4x4
• Works with existing LoRaWAN-based gateways
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• 25 mA TX @ +14dBm
• Integrated DC-DC and LDO
• Supports LoRaWAN and other protocols

“With its simple and flexible network architecture, Semtech’s new LoRa® Smart Home device offers a unique opportunity to accelerate the consumer adoption of smart home connected solutions. As an end-to-end solution, or as a complement to Wi-Fi, LoRa Smart Home broadens smart home solutions by enabling connectivity for low cost and battery powered end points both indoors and outdoors,” said Pedro Pachuca, Director of IoT Wireless in Semtech’s Wireless and Sensing Products Group. “The new LoRa Smart Home device provides a flexible and cost effective solution for low latency smart home applications, including smart key locks and lighting, enabling low cost network extension and providing a bridge to the many LoRaWAN®-based B2B and B2C solutions available in the IoT market today.”

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ServiceNow to acquire Passage AI

ServiceNow agreed to acquire Passage AI, a start-up based in Mountain View, California, for its conversational AI platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.

ServiceNow said the acquisition will enhance its deep learning AI capabilities and accelerate its vision of supporting all major languages across the company’s Now Platform and products, including ServiceNow Virtual Agent, Service Portal, Workspaces and emerging interfaces.

“Work flows more smoothly when people can get things done in their native language,” said Debu Chatterjee, senior director of AI Engineering at ServiceNow. “Building deep learning, conversational AI capabilities into the Now Platform will enable a work request initiated in German or a customer inquiry initiated in Japanese to be solved by Virtual Agent. Passage AI’s technology will enable us to accelerate our vision of empowering great employee and customer experiences by delivering great workflow experiences. ServiceNow believes in making work flow more smoothly across the enterprise, in all major languages.”

Passage AI was founded in 2016 by CEO Ravi N. Raj, CTO Madhu Mathihalli and CTO Mitul Tiwari.

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Telecom Fiji picks Oracle to modernize customer engagement

Telecom Fiji is working with Oracle Communications to better serve their customers, orchestrate memorable events, and develop new revenue streams.

Specifically, Telecom will deploy Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management, Oracle Communications Order and Service Management, Oracle Communications Network Charging and Control, Oracle Field Service Cloud, Oracle Live Experience Cloud, and Oracle Marketing Cloud as part of the Oracle Digital Experience for Communications suite, to enable a transformative digital customer experience coupled with communications-grade modern monetization and service fulfillment. The solution is delivered on Oracle Private Cloud Appliance and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and will be implemented and managed by Oracle Communications Consulting, the trusted partner of hundreds of service providers around the world.

"As service providers transform their end-to-end processes, they're seeking more connected customer experiences and ways to engage via new digital channels," said Jason Rutherford, senior vice president and general manager of Oracle Communications. "Innovative service providers like Telecom are reimagining communications by adopting real-time, scalable solutions to bring new services to market and simplify and automate their business."

http://www.oracle.com/communications

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DustPhotonics adds to its team

DustPhotonics, a start-up developing optical modules for high-performance data center connectivity, announced the appointment of Anthony Musto as VP of Sales and Marketing, Brian Mulroe as Senior Director of Strategic Business Development, and Yaron Refaely as Vice President of Research & Development.

Musto brings 20 years of experience in fiber optics and the broader telecommunications industry. He was a founder and Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Optium Corporation, which was acquired by Finisar in 2008. Prior to Optium, Musto held various leadership roles at JDS Uniphase and Sarnoff Corporation.

Mulroe brings 30 years’ experience in telecom sales and will spearhead the company’s business development initiatives. Mulroe most recently served as a Senior Regional Sales Manager with Finisar Corporation, performing account management for key customers and specializing in transceiver and sensor products for LiDAR and Sensing. Mulroe also previously owned and operated a manufacturers’ representative firm specializing in optical, RF and microwave components and systems.

Refaely brings over 15 years of experience from leading telecommunication companies. In his previous role as Vice President of R&D for Ceragon Networks, Mr. Refaely managed over 200 engineers, leading development and managing innovative solutions for wireless backhaul systems.

http://www.dustphotonics.com

DustPhotonics ships 400Gbps QSFP-DD SR8

Monday, March 04, 2019  #OFC19, 400G  

DustPhotonics announced sampling availability and pre-production ramp of 400G QSFP-DD SR8 optical transceiver for short reach, high-density applications over multi-mode optical fiber. The 400Gbps module incorporates DustPhotonics' AuraDP optical engine with unique fiber integration and manufacturing technology .

Dust Photonics notes that 400G QSFP-DD SR8 transceivers support both 400G switch to switch and breakout options for high-radix configurations.

DustPhotonics claims its AuraDP light engine enables reduced power consumption, higher reliability, and superior module performance. The optical packaging design results in improved sensitivity and efficient coupling. The QSFP-DD optical transceiver is designed for use with cost effective multimode fiber and supports reaches of up to 100 meters using OM4 fiber. The SR8 module features; 8 parallel 50Gbps PAM4 optical channels, supports the latest CMIS Management Interface, and is compliant to the latest QSFP-DD MSA and IEEE 802.3bs 400GBASE SR8 standards.

The 400G QSFP-DD module is part of the DustPhotonic's family of 400G multimode transceiver and AOC product line. The 400G QSFP-DD SR8 has an expected production release date in the second half of 2019. DustPhotonics is currently sampling and accepting orders for evaluation of 400G QSFP-DD SR8 transceivers.

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SoftBank to offer 128 Technology's SD-WAN

SoftBank will enterprise customers a tunnel-free, managed SD-WAN solution from 128 Technology. The service is being branded as “SD-WAN Type X”.

128 Technology said that by eliminating tunnels, its 128T Networking Platform and Session Smart Router will more effectively route network traffic to better pathways when there is network congestion, increasing both connectivity and bandwidth. Additionally, SoftBank’s “SD-WAN Type X” offering reduces complexity and operations costs by eliminating firewalls and VPNs and by cutting cloud rental costs. The 128T Networking Platform also is designed around a “Zero-Trust” security model, so enterprise customers that are transferring large amounts of sensitive data over their network can rest assured that it will remain protected, reducing the risk of security breaches.

“By utilizing our SD-WAN solution, SoftBank’s enterprise customers will be able to connect users with great experiences by efficiently delivering applications and resources that drive today’s businesses forward,” said Tim Ziemer, Vice President of Worldwide Sales & Business Development at 128 Technology. “We’re very excited to expand our presence in Japan and look forward to providing agile WAN connectivity to SoftBank customers that delivers enhanced security, performance and agility.”

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MACOM posts quarterly revenue of $119 million

MACOM Technology Solutions reported quarterly revenue of $119.1 million, a decrease of 21.0% compared to $150.7 million in the previous year fiscal first quarter and an increase of 6.1% compared to $112.2 million in the prior fiscal quarter. Gross margin was 48.9%, compared to 50.8% in the previous year fiscal first quarter and 47.2% in the prior fiscal quarter. Net loss was $28.4 million, or $0.43 loss per diluted share, compared to net loss of $23.4 million, or $0.44 loss per diluted share, in the previous year fiscal first quarter and net income of $10.5 million, or $0.16 per diluted share, in the prior fiscal quarter.

“Q1 was a solid start to our fiscal year,” said Stephen G. Daly, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Our new organization and engineering leadership is having a positive impact on product development.”

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