Nokia looks to Marvell for 5G silicon development

Nokia is working with Marvell to develop 5G multi-RAT (Radio Access Technology) silicon, including multiple generations of custom silicon and infrastructure processors.

The new generation of custom system-on-chip (SoC) and infrastructure processors will expand the range of Nokia ReefShark chipsets. Marvell brings its multi-core Arm processor platforms.

Nokia said these new chipsets are designed to be deployed in several building blocks of its AirScale radio access solution.

Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said: “This important announcement highlights our continued commitment to expanding the variety and utilization of ReefShark chipsets in our portfolio. This ensures that our 5G solutions are equipped to deliver best-in-class performance to our customers. As service providers continue to evolve their 5G plans and support growing traffic and new vertical services, the infrastructure and components must evolve rapidly. Adopting the latest advancements in silicon technology is a critical step to better serve our customers’ needs.” 

Matt Murphy, CEO and President of  Marvell: “Marvell is excited and honored to partner with Nokia to enable next-generation solutions for 5G networks. Our platform of semiconductor solutions for data infrastructure in combination with Nokia’s technology and market leadership will enable wireless networks of the future to deliver on the promise of 5G and open a world of new business opportunities.”

Nokia's ReefShark silicon cuts massive MIMO antenna size and power consumption

Monday, January 29, 2018  #5G, Nokia, Silicon  

Nokia unveiled its ReefShark 5G chipsets for radio frequency (RF) units such as the radio used in antennas. The chipsets, which were developed in-house, significantly improve radio performance resulting in halving the size of massive MIMO antennas. Nokia says its ReefShark chipsets also reduce power consumption in baseband units by 64%, compared to current technology.

The ReefShark chipsets comprise:

• ReefShark Digital Front End for LTE and 5G radio systems supporting massive MIMO
• ReefShark RFIC front-end module and transceiver: massive MIMO Adaptive Antenna solution
• ReefShark Baseband Processor: All-in-one compute heavy design, capable of supporting the massive scale requirements of 5G. This is the brain power of baseband processing.

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Telenor and Telia build Multi-Operator Core Network with Nokia

Telenor and Telia are building a shared wireless network supporting a Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) feature in Denmark. Nokia is the solution provider.

A trial network with the 5G MOCN feature has been deployed and verified with successful end-to-end test calls.

The MOCN architecture model enables network sharing with each mobile operator having their own core network and sharing common radio access network infrastructure as well as spectrum resources. This is the first network to include live MOCN capabilities for 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G simultaneously. The live trial utilized Nokia’s end-to-end 5G technology, including 5G RAN and 5G cloud core.

Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said: “Deploying 5G networks independently can be an expensive undertaking for mobile operators in the most competitive markets. This trial highlights that through network sharing, operators can drive efficiencies, lower costs and bring the myriad benefits of 5G to businesses and consumers quickly. We hope that this trial demonstrates to operators around the world that there are multiple options open to them to get their 5G networks up and running quickly and at the lowest possible cost.”

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Nokia expands fiber access portfolio with Lightspan MF-2 node

Nokia is expanding its fiber access portfolio with a new Lightspan MF access node designed for the 5G era, a new Beacon 6 in-home gateway that supports 5G mobile data offloading and several Nokia Bell Labs innovations that reduce latency.

Nokia’s new Lightspan MF-2 fiber access node is based on its Quillion chipset family. Some details:

• High capacity, small form factor access node fit for distributed deployments
• 10G PON today, and ready for evolution beyond
• Supports Multi-PON
• Optimized for low latency 5G Anyhaul

Nokia’s new Beacon 6 mesh WiFi solution supports Wi-Fi 6 and includes several core 5G technologies. Some details:

• Support for Wi-Fi 6 which improves the overall speed, performance and latency needed for 5G mobile offload
• Wi-Fi Certified EasyMesh and is fully interoperable with third-party Wi-Fi Certified EasyMesh products
• Includes Nokia Bell Labs low-latency innovations – PI2 algorithm and L4S

Nokia Bell Labs’ PI2 active queue management algorithm reduces excessive delays in congested networks, while L4S technology provides an “express lane” for data in network equipment to further reduce latency needed in applications like gaming and virtual reality. Operators can then use Nokia’s Software Defined Access Network solution to create a high-priority slice in the fiber access network to ensure low latency is further guaranteed from the home to the core.

“Fixed networks will be the critical technology behind 5G’s success,” said Sandra Motley, President of Fixed Networks at Nokia. “By leveraging existing FTTH and in-home Wi-Fi networks, operators will be able to deploy 5G faster and ensure a seamless, powerful 5G end-user experience is achieved.”

“Low-latency innovations like PI2 and L4S demonstrate the many ways Nokia Bell Labs continues to push the boundaries of technology innovation,” said Marcus Weldon, Nokia Corporate CTO and President of Nokia Bell Labs. “These technologies will play a critical role in the network and how end users ultimately engage with low-latency applications like gaming and AR/VR experiences. We’re excited to be the first in the industry to bring these innovations into our WiFi portfolio and offer this to customers and end users alike.”

Nokia aims Quillion chipset at next gen access

Tuesday, October 08, 2019  Nokia, Silicon  

Nokia outlined plans for a new family of chipsets to power next-generation massive scale access networks.

The forthcoming "Quillion" chipset will allow operators to introduce 10G PON in their fiber networks and to serve more users from G.fast access nodes. For next-generation fiber access networks, the Quillion chipset powers Nokia’s 16-port Multi-PON line card, which supports both GPON and NG-PON on each port. This allows operators with an existing GPON network to simply “switch on” NG-PON services on each port without recabling or disrupting the GPON service.

Nokia said Quillion is also optimized to allow for low-latency applications that are critical for 5G transport and has built-in programmability to support intents that pave the way toward automated workflows, such as network slicing for 5G transport.

In addition, the Quillion chipset supports copper infrastructure access, including the highest density G.fast and Vplus solutions on the market.

Sandra Motley, President of Fixed Networks at Nokia, said: “In a 5G world, consumers will expect a gigabit experience regardless if they are at home or on the go. Our Quillion chipset is designed to deliver gigabit broadband to every home, using  broadband technologies like fiber to complement 5G in massive scale access networks. This allows operators to efficiently connect more people with higher speeds, and positively impacts their business case.”

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Marvell partners with Samsung on RAN processing

Marvell and Samsung Electronics Co. are extending their collaboration to include additional segments of the Radio Access Network (RAN). The solutions will build on the OCTEON Fusion platform and integrating Samsung’s unique intellectual property.

To date, the companies have worked closely to deliver multiple generations of baseband and transport processing solutions for base stations based on Marvell’s OCTEON and OCTEON Fusion processors.

In addition, the companies are collaborating on innovative radio unit architectures designed to meet the dramatic increase in compute power required for the complex beamforming algorithms inherent to massive MIMO deployments. 

“Samsung is committed to helping mobile operators meet their performance targets,” said Jaeho Jeon, executive vice president and head of R&D, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics.  “Our relentless spirit to find innovative ways to address the next set of 5G market challenges will drive us to enhance our 5G technical capabilities.  Marvell is a valued collaborator in helping us achieve these goals.”

“Marvell believes that close collaboration with Samsung has allowed both companies to excel in the 5G infrastructure market,” said Raghib Hussain, chief strategy officer and executive vice president of the Networking and Processors Group at Marvell.  “It is our goal to ensure that infrastructure equipment suppliers such as Samsung can allow network operators to thrive in the fast-paced world of 5G.”

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Innovium delivers SONiC/SAI for TERALYNX based Switch Systems

Innovium announced the first delivery of production-grade SONiC/SAI running on its TERALYNX switch silicon family.

“Our continued innovation, with over 75 patents, has enabled us to deliver a comprehensive data center switch family from 1 – 12.8Tbps performance. We now have over 20 switch system designs with the world’s leading ODM & OEM system partners, based on TERALYNX switch portfolio,” said Rajiv Khemani, CEO and Co-Founder of Innovium Inc. “Many of these systems are now being deployed in production networks by top data center customers using hardened software, including SONiC.”

Yousef Khalidi, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Azure Networking, Microsoft Corp. said, “SONiC is a leading open-source network switch OS empowering customers with modern and efficient cloud networking software. It has a thriving open community of ecosystem partners engaged and making excellent progress. We are pleased to have Innovium as part of the SONiC/SAI open community and to see it engaged with customers for SONiC/SAI deployments running on TERALYNX-powered switches.”

Innovium’s TERALYNX family supports both NRZ and PAM4 interfaces for 10GbE to 400GbE ports in a fully software and feature compatible manner.

Separately, Innovium announced interoperability of 12.8Tbps TERALYNX 7 switch silicon with Credo’s MACsec chip family.

This enables cloud and data center customers to deploy a MACsec enabled 1RU, 32 x 400G switch using Innovium’s 12.8Tbps TERALYNX 7 switch silicon and Credo’s dual 400G CMS50216 MACsec chip.

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Ericsson begins production at its U.S. 5G factory

Ericsson manufactured its first 5G base station at its factory in Lewisville, Texas. The first unit 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 service providers to rapidly grow 5G coverage in complex city environments.

Erik Simonsson, Head of the USA 5G Smart Factory, Ericsson, says: “We’re excited to produce advanced 5G radio products for our U.S. customers, to meet the demand for next-generation 5G networks across the country. It’s also exciting to use our own 5G products in the factory for wireless connectivity to increase production efficiency. With the first 5G base stations now rolling off the production line, we are on target this year to have the most fully automated, sustainable 5G smart factory in the U.S.”

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SiTime offers 48-hour worldwide availability of MEMS oscillators

SiTime is now offering 48-hour availability of its MEMS oscillators. Previously, customers had to wait up to 20 weeks and sometimes pay non-recurring engineering (NRE) fees to get oscillators that were configured to their exact requirements.

SiTime’s rapid programming service accelerates the phases of typical product development to help technology innovators take an industrial and IoT product idea to design and production quickly and easily. SiTime datasheets, as well as the Part Number Generator on the SiTime website, list all the programmable configurations available for these MEMS oscillators. Among the most popular programmable options are frequency (with up to six decimal places of accuracy), supply voltage, output drive type and drive strength, operating temperature range, and frequency stability.

“Fast, efficient delivery of oscillators has been the Achilles heel of the quartz industry for decades," said Piyush Sevalia, executive vice president of marketing at SiTime. "With 48-hour lead time for our MEMS timing solutions, SiTime is once again transforming the timing market and leading the industry in availability.”

https://www.sitime.com/company/news/press-release/sitime-accelerates-customers-designs-48-hour-worldwide-availability-mems

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SES and Telesat support FCC’s C-band Order

SES and Telesat, as founding members of the C-Band Alliance, applauded the FCC's final C-band Report and Order.

"We congratulate the Commission on striking the right balance to ensure accelerated access to the spectrum with appropriate incentives, providing an effective transition framework, and adequately protecting critical satellite services for customers and earth station operators."

FCC approves C-Band spectrum rules

Sunday, March 01, 2020  Auction, C-Band, FCC, Satellite  

The Federal Communications Commission voted to approve new rules to accelerate the auction and transfer of a wide swath of 3.5 GHz spectrum from the satellite industry for new uses, including 5G.

The 280 megahertz of mid-band spectrum will be made available via a public auction.

Within the 3.7-4.2 GHz band, the FCC has is allocating the 3.7-4.0 GHz portion of the band for mobile use and 280 megahertz (3.7-3.98 GHz band) will be auctioned by the FCC for wireless services in the contiguous United States.  Another 20 megahertz (3.98-4.0 GHz) will serve as a guard band while existing satellite operations will be repacked into the upper 200 megahertz of the band (4.0-4.2 GHz).

Satellite operators will be able to receive accelerated relocation payments of $9.7 billion if they meet accelerated clearing milestones.

FCC expects to conduct an auction beginning on December 8, 2020.

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Infinera announces $200M convertible senior notes offering

Infinera announced the pricing of $200 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2027 in a private placement to qualified institutional buyers. Infinera also granted the initial purchaser of the Notes a 13-day option to purchase up to an additional $30 million in aggregate principal amount of Notes.

The company said the proceeds would be used for general corporate purposes, including working capital to fund growth and potential strategic projects.

https://www.infinera.com/

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Red Hat Summit 2020 to move to a virtual experience

Red Hat Summit, which was scheduled for April 27-29 in San Francisco, will move to a virtual tradeshow format. The physical event was canceled due to concerns about coronavirus (COVID-19).

The Red Hat Summit Virtual Experience will be a free, immersive multi-day event from April 28-29, 2020, including keynotes, breakout sessions, access to Red Hat experts, etc.

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