State of NFV: Containerizing the Telco Cloud

In 2019, NFV pretty much became mainstream. This year, the term is becoming irrelevant, says  Ron Haberman, CTO of Nokia Software, thanks to the shift to containers and the expansion capabilities into public cloud. This 5-minute video offers insights into the containerization of telcos clouds.

https://youtu.be/Pfn5RnNi-ok

Read More

Aruba launches Passpoint-based Wi-Fi service for mobile operators

Aruba is launching a roaming service for mobile operators that will enable cellular subscribers to securely and automatically roam onto participating Aruba enterprise Wi-Fi networks.

Aruba Air Pass promises a seamless hand-off between cellular and Wi-Fi networks, without sacrificing security or quality of service.

For existing Aruba enterprise customers, the new Air Pass service will use existing enterprise Wi-Fi infrastructure as a cost-effective alternative to deploying indoor small cells or distributed antenna systems (DAS).

When used in conjunction with Aruba Air Slice, an Aruba technology that improves radio performance, telcos can extend their 5G footprint into the enterprise and enable seamless Wi-Fi calling and gigabit-class guaranteed performance.

Aruba believes global telcos will support the service because the enterprise Wi-Fi network effectively becomes a seamless on-ramp and offload point for 5G services.

“The combination of Aruba Air Pass with Aruba Air Slice gives telcos the ability to extend the reach of their 5G networks into the enterprise while economically improving the overall end user experience,” said Jeff Lipton, vice president of Strategy and Corporate Development at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. “Devices that associate with an enterprise network using Aruba Air Pass may then use their Wi-Fi connections to access applications and services, such as making and receiving calls and text messages, based on their roles and permissions.”

http://www.arubanetworks.com

Read More

Aruba Air Slice brings to app prioritization to Wi-Fi 6

Aruba introduced a unique Wi-Fi 6 technology designed to provide application prioritization with carrier-grade quality assurance.

Aruba Air Slice leverages the same OFDMA radio technology that powers the 4G LTE and 5G NR radios to dynamically allocate radio resources, such as time, frequency and spatial streams. The company says Aruba Air Slice guarantees performance for latency-sensitive applications such as AR/VR, Zoom and Slack, mobile gaming and real-time IoT applications.

The Air Slice technology is proprietary and builds on top of the Wi-Fi 6 specification. In addition to OFDMA, it leverages MU-MIMO and TWT (Target Wake Time) to allocate resources and extend cellular-grade SLAs and QoS to Wi-Fi connections.

Aruba says Air Slice minimizes airtime contention and efficiently groups Wi-Fi 6 and non-Wi-Fi 6 client devices to guarantee bit rate, and provide bounded latency and jitter simultaneously. Air Slice is available exclusively on Aruba’s Wi-Fi 6 access points via Aruba Central for management.

https://www.arubanetworks.com/assets/tg/TB_Air-Slice.pdf

Read More

HPE extends its 5G strategy with as-a-Service portfolio

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is advancing its edge-to-cloud, platform as-a-service offering with 5G in mind.

HPE's portfolio will include a cloud-native software stack for 5G core, optimized telco core and edge infrastructure blueprints, and Wi-Fi 6 enabled services.

The company will focus on open and interoperable platforms combined with carrier-grade infrastructure and modular software components.

• At the telco core – a new HPE 5G Core Stack, which is a cloud-native and containerized. The HPE 5G Core Stack will be available as an integrated software and hardware platform, based on validated HPE Telco core and edge blueprints
• At the telco edge – a dense, ruggedized general purpose platform enabling Virtual Radio Access Networks (vRAN) and Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC). 
• Infrastructure delivered as-a-service with HPE GreenLake - available via a pay-as-you-go, managed services and elastic model, these offerings provide telcos with an attractive, fast ramp for rolling out 5G services by enabling them to reduce upfront capital investments and reduce risk by leveraging specialized and proven telco and enterprise edge hardware and software. With HPE GreenLake, telcos can grow and expand their network as new users come online and pay monthly based on measured utilization. Through HPE GreenLake, the 5G infrastructure can be operated on behalf of the customer to free up resources to focus on innovation at the network and enterprise edge.

“Openness is essential to the evolutionary nature of 5G and with HPE 5G Core Stack telcos can reduce operational costs, deploy features faster and keep themselves open to multiple networks and technologies while avoiding being locked-in to a single vendor approach,” said Phil Mottram, vice president and general manager of the Communications and Media Solutions business unit at HPE. “HPE has one of the broadest 5G portfolios in the market and is uniquely positioned to help telcos build an open multi-vendor 5G core, optimize the edge with vRAN, and deliver connectivity and new compute services to the enterprise using MEC and Wi-Fi 6.”

“5G has the potential to revolutionize our digital lives and the combination of 5G and Wi-Fi 6 presents telcos with an unlimited array of possibilities for offering subscribers new and compelling services that can transform the user experience,” said Keerti Melkote, president of Intelligent Edge at HPE and founder of Aruba Networks. “With a broad portfolio of innovations that span from the telco core to the enterprise edge, HPE is the only platform as-a-service company that can deliver the infrastructure, software solutions and the technical expertise to support global telcos in their quest to fully realize the promise of 5G.”

Read More

Cignal AI: North American optical sales rebound in 2019

Sales of optical equipment in North America rose more than 25% for 4Q19 and 10% for all of 2019, according to the most recent Transport Hardware Report from research firm Cignal AI.

The North American packet market for Access and Aggregation routing devices also grew strongly in the fourth quarter as demand for Edge and Core switching and routing dropped off dramatically. 5G and other access rollouts boosted growth in the Access and Aggregation market segment.

“After three years of North American spending declines as operators focused capex on wireless and access, optical hardware sales for the region revived and grew at a healthy pace for 2019, while packet hardware sales remained flat,” said Scott Wilkinson, Lead Analyst at Cignal AI. “Market leaders Ciena, Infinera, and Cisco all achieved optical sales growth of more than 25% in 2019.”

Some highlights:

• Long haul optical spending reached record levels in 2019. Growth slowed in 4Q19 but the segment finished the year up over 10%.
• Transport equipment sales in China declined slightly in 4Q19 as packet sales declined and optical sales growth cooled to single digits. When adjusted for the influence of ZTE’s shutdown in 2Q18, optical hardware sales grew less than 10% in 2019.
• Japan ended an extraordinary year of optical sales growth up 25% in Q4 and almost 40% in 2019.

https://cignal.ai/2020/03/north-american-optical-sales-rebound-in-2019/

Read More

II-VI launches pluggable Optical Line Subsystem for 400ZR

II‐VI introduced a pluggable optical line subsystem (POLS) platform to enable the 400ZR coherent transceivesr ecosystem for next-generation datacenter interconnects (DCIs).

II-VI’s initial product from the POLS platform is the OSFP-LS, designed in the very compact OSFP form factor, that plugs directly into a datacenter interconnect (DCI) switch port and enables full-duplex multi-channel 400ZR transport, including multiplexing, demultiplexing, and variable-gain amplification. The OSFP-LS supports up to 8 DWDM wavelengths, or 3.2 Tbps per fiber pair.

“The POLS platform is a revolution in datacenter interconnects,” said Martin Hull, VP of Platform Products at Arista Networks. “Just as a 400ZR transceiver collapses the 400G transponder linecard functionality into a pluggable module, so does the OSFP-LS in relation to an optical line system linecard. The plug-and-play functionality of the OSFP-LS will enable our switch customers to deploy them quite easily and cost-efficiently as they migrate to 400ZR.”

“The POLS platform leverages significant breakthroughs in the areas of miniaturizing optical components for amplification and wavelength management, while simultaneously improving performance and reducing power consumption,” said Dr. Sanjai Parthasarathi, Chief Marketing Officer, II-VI Incorporated. “The POLS platform is enabled by II-VI’s vertically integrated portfolio of best-in-class components in the industry, including our uncooled, highly compact, 3-pin micropump, the smallest of its kind on the market.”

Read More

MACOM extends Transimpedance Amplifier line for 100G to 800G

MACOM Technology Solutions released two new transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs) optimized for use in optical networking applications ranging from 100Gbps DR1 to 800Gbps DR8 and FR8.
 The new TIAs are available today in flip chip and wire bonding packaging options for fast, flexible deployment in QSFP, QSFP-DD and OSFP optical modules.

MACOM says the rapid evolution to single lane 100G and multiple lanes 200G, 400G and 800G connectivity is increasing the demand for high-performance, power-efficient optical components needed to maximize bandwidth density in the Cloud Data Center.

• The MATA-05817 delivers low noise performance less than 2 uA RMS typical and supports bandwidth up to 35 GHz. The TIA supports high throughput optical data links in a very low power profile, optimal for use in high density Optical Data Center interconnects. The device is intended for 50G, 100G, 200G and 400G receivers using multilevel modulation such as PAM4.
• The MATA-38134 is a quad 26/53 GBaud linear PAM4 TIA with automatic gain and integrated AGC loop. The TIA consumes very low power and is primarily targeted for single-mode fiber applications. The TIA has 500um anode to anode spacing which allows customers to place two devices within the QSFP-DD form factor enabling 800Gbps applications.

Both devices include RSSI for photo-alignment and power monitoring and I2C control of bandwidth, output amplitude, peaking, LOS, gain and other parameters.

http://www.macom.com/applications/optical-networking

Read More

CoreSite Open Cloud Exchange offers connections to Google Cloud

CoreSite Realty is adding on-demand direct connectivity to the Google Cloud Platform on the CoreSite Open Cloud Exchange.

CoreSite continues to provide high-speed fiber connectivity to Google Dedicated Interconnect for the most demanding data needs and is now offering Partner Interconnect to Google within the CoreSite Open Cloud Exchange.

“By simplifying and automating the provisioning process, offering flexible bandwidth options, and enabling additional points of access to the Google Cloud Platform on the CoreSite Open Cloud Exchange, it enriches the value of CoreSite’s interconnection platforms to enterprises and service providers designing and implementing hybrid and multi-cloud solutions,” said Maile Kaiser, CoreSite’s SVP of Sales. “This is another important innovation of our interconnection capabilities and further enhances our value to enterprises advancing their digital business.”

Read More

Open Eye Consortium specification defines 53Gbps per lane PAM-4

The Open Eye Consortium (Open Eye MSA) published its 53 Gbps single-mode specification defining the requirements for analog PAM-4 solutions for 50G SFP, 100G DSFP, 200G QSFP, and 400G QSFP-DD and OSFP single-mode modules.

The Open Eye MSA aims to accelerate the adoption of PAM-4 optical interconnects scaling to 50Gbps, 100Gbps, 200Gbps, and 400Gbps by expanding upon existing standards to enable optical module implementations using less complex, lower cost, lower power, and optimized analog clock and data recovery (CDR) based architectures in addition to existing digital signal processing (DSP) architectures.

A whitepaper is available to view and download.

In addition, the Open Eye MSA announced the draft of its multi-mode specification available to its members for comments, with general availability targeted for release in Fall 2020.

http://www.openeye-msa.org

Read More

Innovium reports multiple customers for 400G production networks

Innovium reports that multiple cloud and data center customers are deploying its 12.8Tbps TERALYNX 7 based switches together with Innolight optics for 400G production networks. Customers were not named.

“Massive growth in Data, AI and 5G is driving the need to scale data center networks. Leading data center customers are deploying Innovium 12.8Tbps switches together with Innolight’s comprehensive portfolio of 400G optical transceivers to scale their networks,” said Osa Mok, Chief Marketing Officer of Innolight Technology. “400G PAM4 optics has achieved volume production with superior cost per bit and is expected to ramp significantly during 2020. We are excited to partner with Innovium using their 50G PAM4 TERALYNX switches, as well as future 112G solutions.”

“The 50G PAM4 ecosystem has matured over the last few years to offer a range of switch systems and 400G optics ready for production network deployments,” said Alan Weckel, founding analyst at 650 Group. “We expect a significant ramp in 400G deployments in 2020 as data center customers build next generation networks to meet their insatiable appetite for bandwidth and get better ROI. We also believe that these 400G switches will extend to data-center inter-connect (DCI) and accelerate with the availability of 400G ZR optics next.”

Read More