Infinera and Corning carry 800G wavelength over 800km

Infinera has demonstrated the ability to carry an 800 Gbps wavelength across 800km on Corning’s TXF optical fiber.

The achievement leveraged Infinera’s sixth-generation Infinite Capacity Engine (ICE6) technology in a Groove (GX) Series platform transmitting 800G using 64QAM with probabilistic constellation shaping (PCS). ICE6 combines Infinera’s sixth-generation photonic integrated circuit with its in-house-developed 7-nanometer dual-channel 800G per-wave FlexCoherent digital signal processor.

Corning’s state-of-the-art TXF fiber is an ITU-T G.654.E compliant, ultra-low-loss, silica-core fiber with large effective area.

The companies said the success of the 800G trial highlighted the advanced features of Infinera’s vertically integrated ICE6 technology, including Nyquist subcarriers, per-subcarrier long-codeword PCS, and per-subcarrier dynamic bandwidth allocation, along with superior fiber designed to help meet growing bandwidth demands for network operators from metro to subsea network applications.


“This demonstration proves that 800G transmission using Infinera’s industry-leading technology enables a wide variety of network applications and is further enhanced by Corning’s innovative TXF fiber,” said Parthi Kandappan, Chief Technology Officer at Infinera. “This achievement is made possible by Infinera’s high degree of vertical integration including our in-house digital signal processor design, photonic integrated circuit design and manufacturing, and holistic in-house packaging.”

“We are pleased to work with Infinera to demonstrate how our combined leading-edge technologies can maximize capacity and reach,” said Jeanne Propst, division vice president, product line management, Optical Fiber and Cable, Corning Incorporated. “Our TXF fiber, with its high-data-rate capabilities and exceptional reach, helps network operators stay ahead of growing bandwidth demands while lowering their overall network costs.”

https://www.infinera.com/press-release/Infinera-and-Corning-Achieve-800G-Across-800-Kilometers-with-ICE6

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OIF's Coherent Common Management Interface Spec supports 400ZR

OIF has completed the Coherent Common Management Interface Specification (C-CMIS) Implementation Agreement (IA), which serves as an extension to the CMIS (QSFP-DD/OSFP/COBO) management specification, specifically targeting DCO modules.

“The C-CMIS IA is an important part of the developing 400ZR ecosystem,” said Ian Betty, Ciena and OIF Board Member. “It defines additional management registers, and monitors, together with new functionality, mechanisms, or behaviors, as needed.”

The C-CMIS IA provides register definition for coherent modules in pages and parameters that were previously reserved. Users that have previously implemented software to manage optical modules using CMIS will be able to quickly add support for these coherent pages and parameters. This release, which augments the existing CMIS specification which focused on addressing direct detect client optics, is targeted at the 400ZR application.

The technology and complexity of coherent modules requires additional monitoring parameters for use in field applications. This additional monitoring is primarily focused on Forward Error Correction (FEC) monitoring and optical/analog monitoring including items like Chromatic Dispersion, Differential Group Delay and Electrical Signal to Noise Ratio (eSNR). The C-CMIS IA provides specifications to monitor the standard parameters in a normative manner while taking advantage of the flexibility of the CMIS specification to monitor any additional proprietary parameters. 

“The current IA is focused on supporting the OIF 400ZR IA, which supports a single data path with eight-lane host electrical interface for a 400GBASE-R PCS signal and a single-lane 400G coherent media interface (with a new signal format called 400ZR),” explained Betty. “However, we expect future versions to include more complex Metro modules and may even extend these management features to other form factors.”

https://www.oiforum.com/

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NEC hits 10Gbps with outdoor radio in the 150GHz-band

NEC has demonstrated bidirectional 10Gbps outdoor transmission over a span of 150m using all-outdoor packet microwave radios operating in the D-band (130-174.8GHz). The radios use customized RF modules powered by a new RF IC chipset.

In the demonstration, the frequency points for the transmitter and the receiver were 142GHz and 157Hz respectively, the modulation scheme was 128QAM, and modulation speed was 1.6Gbaud.

NEC plans to support this technology in its iPASOLINK series of super compact microwave radio products. Targeted applications include both mobile fronthaul and backhaul networks, which are required to be ultra-high capacity in order to support 5G commercialization.

Additional field tests were conducted throughout a 4 month period over an approximate 1km link distance as part of preparation for practical applications. Going forward, NEC is seeking to confirm parameters necessary for link design based on the recommendations of the ITU-R (*2), such as how to expand to D-band when considering the relationship between rainfall and communication availability.

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Xilinx delivers an FPGA-powered SmartNIC

Xilinx introduced its Alveo U25 SmartNIC for accelerating network, storage and compute acceleration functions.

The Alveo U25 SmartNIC, which is currently sampling, is powered by an FPGA-based engine that supports full programmability and turnkey accelerated applications. Xilinx says its FPGA-powered SmartNIC deliver higher throughput that SoC-based NICs or ASIC based solutions.

Targeted workloads include SDN, virtual switching, NFV, NVMe-oF, electronic trading, AI inference, video transcoding, and data analytics. The first accelerated application available is support for Open vSwitch (OVS) offload and acceleration. Xilinx claims its solution will offload over 90 percent of OVS processing from the server to improve packet throughput by over 5X. Future turnkey solutions from Xilinx are planned for security functions such as IPSec, SSL/TLS, AES-256/128, and distributed firewall as well as AI inference acceleration.

“The SmartNIC market is forecast to surpass $600M and comprise 23 percent of the worldwide Ethernet adapter market by 2024,” according to Baron Fung, research director at Dell’Oro Group. “As cloud service providers scale capacity upwards, they are increasing their deployment of SmartNICs to free up valuable CPU cores for business applications, optimizing server utilization. The telco service providers, another market with strong growth potential, are looking to integrate SmartNICs from the core to the edge of the network for applications such as NFV and AI inferencing. FPGA-based SmartNICs such as the Alveo U25 are well positioned to address this growing market opportunity.”

“Today’s cloud infrastructures suffer from critical data bottlenecks caused by server I/O,” said Donna Yasay, vice president of marketing, Data Center Group at Xilinx. “With up to 30 percent of data center compute resources allocated for networking I/O processing, overhead continues to grow along with CPU cores. Xilinx is addressing the challenges resulting from the increased demands on networking by providing an easier to deploy SmartNIC with turnkey accelerated applications and out-of-the-box capabilities that go far beyond fundamental networking.”

In addition, Xilinx announced its first XtremeScale Ethernet adapter card in the Open Compute Project (OCP) Spec 3.0 form factor and a proof of concept for the world’s first FPGA-based OCP Accelerator Module (OAM). The new XtremeScale X2562 10/25Gb Ethernet adapter card is designed for high-performance electronic trading environments and enterprise data centers, the X2562 features sub-microsecond latency and high throughput with ultra-scale connectivity for real-time packet and flow information to thousands of virtual NICs. The X2562 is currently sampling and will be generally available in the second calendar quarter of 2020.

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Turkcell completes 800G test with Huawei

Turkcell completed an 800G transmission test between two data centers in Istanbul using Huawei's equipment.

Huawei's latest processing boards offer programmable and flexible adjustment of multiple modulation formats ranging from 200G to 800G. The solution uses second-generation channel-matched shaping (CMS) technology, a Faster than Nyquist (FTN) algorithm system, and an AI neuron function module. The company claims optimal spectral efficiency and transmission performance while achieving the single-fiber capacity of 48 Tbps. The trial also confirmed the 400G ultra-long-haul transmission capacity of the live network, which can implement 1040 km of unregenerated transmission from Istanbul to Ankara.

Mr. Gediz Sezgin, CTO of Turkcell, said "We continue our infrastructure investments to strengthen our existing technology and prepare our networks for 5G for superior user experience. In 5G-era, virtual reality applications, autonomous driving, and smart cities will be mainstays in the digital area. These technologies will pave the way for generating large revenues and transform our lives at large. High-speed data-needs will be at their highest, and next- generation technologies such as remote surgery and robots will offer solutions to a wide variety of problems. We have been able to respond easily to rapidly increasing capacity needs through the 800G and 400G long-haul channels that we have deployed in our network. Turkcell will continue to lead the industry on new technologies in the future".

https://www.huawei.com/en/press-events/news/2020/2/turkcell-huawei-800g-trial-live-carrier-network

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Equinix to offer Bare Metal as a Service with Packet acquisition

Equinix completed its previously-announced, $335 million acquisition of Packet, a leading bare metal automation platform.

Equinix intends to operate the existing Packet business as "Packet, an Equinix company," while developing new solutions for enterprise customers that combine Packet's leading bare metal automation technology with the rich ecosystems, global reach and interconnection fabric of Platform Equinix. Zachary Smith, former CEO of Packet, will serve as managing director of the bare metal business.

Equinix said Bare Metal as a Service allows companies to rapidly deploy physical infrastructure at the edge.

Equinix to acquire Packet for bare metal automation platform

Tuesday, January 14, 2020  Equinix  

Equinix agreed to acquire Packet, a start-up based in NYC offering a bare metal automation platform for developers. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The acquisition will accelerate Equinix's strategy to help enterprises more seamlessly deploy hybrid multicloud architectures on Platform Equinix® and extract greater value from the platform's rich ecosystems and global interconnection fabric. By leveraging bare metal services at Equinix to deploy digital infrastructure on demand, customers will be better equipped to reach everywhere, interconnect everyone and integrate everything that matters to their business.

Equinix said intends to leverage the Packet offering to accelerate the development and delivery of its interconnected edge services. The idea is to offer an enterprise-grade bare metal offering across Platform Equinix that allows customers to rapidly deploy digital infrastructure, within minutes, at global scale.

Platform Equinix is a dynamic data center and interconnection platform that leverages the company's global footprint of more than 200 data centers.

Bare metal is a key foundational element allowing customers to deploy distributed, hybrid multicloud infrastructure on demand. A proven leader in bare metal automation, Packet's proprietary technology automates physical servers and networks without the use of virtualization or multitenancy.

"We started Packet in 2014 with a vision to redefine the next wave of cloud with a focus on the distribution and automation of fundamental infrastructure. This dovetails perfectly with Equinix's strategy for helping enterprises implement new digital architectures in a growing number of edge locations. The incorporation of Packet into Equinix will accelerate the delivery of enhanced edge services to Equinix's growing customer base, while continuing to serve the developer community that has come to rely on Packet's unique offering," states Zachary Smith, CEO, Packet.

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DE-CIX joins CoreSite’s Open Cloud Exchange

DE-CIX has joined CoreSite’s Open Cloud Exchange.

The CoreSite SDN-based Open Cloud Exchange provides a single port into a layer 2 Ethernet switching platform, enabling customers to now reach DE-CIX New York to access over 220 networks through a single interconnection. CoreSite customers in Boston and Northern Virginia can now provision connections to DE-CIX to reach networks not available in each local market.

“We’re excited to offer access to DE-CIX New York through CoreSite’s Open Cloud Exchange,” said Ed d’Agostino, Vice President and General Manager of DE-CIX North America. “Through a connection to DE-CIX New York, CoreSite customers gain more than just access to hundreds of domestic and international networks. A connection also enables the ability to use DE-CIX’s GlobePEER Remote service, which extends low latency connectivity and reach to DE-CIX Frankfurt and other exchanges with access to over 1,200 networks throughout the world seamlessly, effectively and more cost-efficiently.”

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Ribbon completes merger with ECI Telecom

Ribbon Communications completed its previously announced acquisition of ECI Telecom Group, which supplies packet-optical transport and SDN/NFV solutions for service providers, enterprises, and data center operators.

The newly combined company will offer an extensive portfolio of advanced voice, security, data and optical networking solutions. In addition to extending the company’s solutions portfolio into adjacent markets, the merger advances Ribbon’s strategy of expanding into the service provider 5G data domain with bundled network analytics, intelligence and security offerings. The newly combined company allows Ribbon to enhance and broaden its existing customer offerings with ECI’s industry-leading packet optical transport solutions.

"We are thrilled to welcome ECI to the Ribbon family,” said Bruce McClelland, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ribbon. “Our expanded product offering combines ECI’s leadership in packet optical networking with our existing proven portfolio of software-based, real-time communications security, analytics and digital transformation solutions. Our new organization will leverage the strength and presence of our global sales force to create a very formidable market leader in the communications industry.”

McClelland added, “ECI’s solutions are specifically designed to address the rapidly growing 5G ecosystem. We look forward to working closely with all of our employees to leverage Ribbon’s strong foundation to build sustained, long-term growth.”

“This transformational transaction accelerates our strategy to position the company into higher growth markets,” said Daryl Raiford, Chief Financial Officer of Ribbon. “The combination of Ribbon and ECI offers our customers world-class products that we believe will drive Ribbon’s growth, profitability and cash flow. We are immediately focused on our integration efforts to unlock revenue expansion and drive shareholder value.”

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HPE posts Q1 revenue of $6.9 billion, down 8% yoy

Hewlett Packard Enterprise reported quarterly net revenue of $6.9 billion, down 8% from the prior-year period and 7% from the prior-year period when adjusted for currency. m

HPE said market uncertainty, supply constraints, and North America manufacturing capacity constraints impacted revenue in Q1, particularly in Compute.

GAAP gross margin was 32.8%, up 170 basis points from the prior-year period and Non-GAAP gross margin of 33.2%, up 210 basis points from the prior-year period. Non-GAAP diluted net EPS was $0.44, compared to $0.42 in the prior-year period and in-line with the previously provided outlook of $0.42 to $0.46 per share.

Some highlights:

• Intelligent Edge returned to growth with revenue of $720 million, up 4% year over year when adjusted for currency, with 9.7% operating margin, up 630 basis points from the prior-year period. Enhancements to North America sales leadership and go-to-market segmentation are paying off with double-digit growth in North America and 13% growth when adjusted for currency in overall WLAN product.
• Compute revenue was $3.0 billion, down 15% year over year when adjusted for currency, with 9.5% operating margin, flat from the prior-year period. Revenue was pressured this quarter due to a more uneven business environment, component supply constraints and North America manufacturing capacity constraints.
• High Performance Compute & Mission Critical Systems (HPC & MCS) revenue was $823 million, up 6% year over year when adjusted for currency, with 6.0% operating margin, down 660 basis points from the prior-year period. HPC business continues to gain momentum with over $2.0 billion of awarded business expected to be delivered by FY23.
• Storage revenue was $1.3 billion, down 7% year over year when adjusted for currency, with 18.1% operating margin, down 60 basis points from the prior-year period. Hyperconverged Infrastructure showing continued momentum, up 6% year over year when adjusted for currency and Big Data, up 45% year over year when adjusted for currency.
• Advisory & Professional Services (A&PS) revenue was $243 million, flat year over year when adjusted for currency, with (0.8%) operating margin, up 12.5 points from the prior-year period. A&PS is a strategic business that pulls through significant infrastructure and operational services sales.
• Financial Services revenue was $859 million, down 6% year over year when adjusted for currency, with 8.5% operating margin, up 10 basis points from the prior-year period. Net portfolio assets were up 2% year over year when adjusted for currency, and financing volume was up 2% year over year when adjusted for currency. The business delivered return on equity of 14.8%, down 90 basis points from the prior-year period.

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