NTT develops quantum light source for optical quantum computer chip

Researchers at NTT have developed a wide-band, high-performance quantum light source (squeezed light source) that could be used for optical quantum computer chips operating at room temperature.

The breakthrough finds that squeezed light has compressed quantum noise that can be used to create quantum entanglement. The light source can output continuous-wave wide-bandwidth high-level squeezed light. The light source can also increase the clock frequency of the quantum computer itself, setting a course for high-speed quantum computation.

NTT said the reserachers succeeded in compressing more than 75% of the quantum noise by using a high-performance nonlinear optical waveguide fabricated by NTT and a high-quality optical control and measurement technology of the University of Tokyo.

Looking ahead, the researchers aim to demonstrate the generation of large-scale entanglement states and various optical quantum operations for the realization of universal quantum computers using this wideband squeezed light.

A paper on this research will be published in “APL Photonics” on March 30, 2020.

https://www.ntt.co.jp/news2020/2003e/200330b.html

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SK Telecom's 5G network carries 62,000TB per month

SK Telecom has enrolled around 2.22 million 5G subscribers since launching its service nearly one year ago (03-April-2019).

SK Telecom currently holds 44% of Korea's 5G market.

Some other key highlights from SK Telecom:

• People in their 30s and 40s are taking up 53% of the company’s total 5G subscriber base, which is significantly higher than the proportion of people in their 30s and 40s in total LTE subscriber base, which currently stands at 32%.
• The total amount of data consumption of SK Telecom’s 5G subscribers combined reached 62,000 TB on average per month over the past three months (Dec. 2019 ~ Feb. 2020). 
• During the same period, the average monthly data usage of subscribers who switched devices from LTE to 5G has increased about twofold from 14.5 GB (LTE) to 28.5 GB (5G) per person.
• As of February 2020, 5G subscribers are using 7 times more VR services, 3.6 times more video steaming services and 2.7 times more game apps than LTE subscribers.
• SK Telecom and Microsoft are currently providing 92 different games through Project xCloud.
• SK Telecom plans to build 5G MEC (Mobile Edge Computing) Centers in 12 different locations across Korea.
• SK Telecom plans to deploy a private 5G network at SK Hynix’s semiconductor manufacturing facility.
• SK Telecom will bring the total number of its 5G Clusters to 240 and expand 5G coverage to neighborhoods (‘dong’) of 85 cities nationwide.

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Windstream: Voice traffic up 50%, Data traffic up 30% in past 2 weeks

Windstream reported an approximately 50 percent increase in voice traffic and an approximately 30 percent increase in data traffic since mid-March.

Windstream said these increases are well within the company’s defined network operational tolerances.

“Our network is well equipped to handle the higher usage given our past modernization efforts that migrated Windstream to scalable, robust equipment and IP/Ethernet services,” said Tony Thomas, president and CEO of Windstream. “We fully understand how critical our role as a communications provider is during the coronavirus health crisis, and I’m proud of all that our team members, especially our front-line technicians, are doing to keep our customers connected.”

Windstream uses a highly resilient network architecture to provide reliable services to customers. Services are delivered over multiple platforms, including a nationwide IP network, proprietary cloud core architecture and a local and long-haul fiber network spanning approximately 150,000 route miles.

https://investor.windstream.com/news/news-details/2020/Windstreams-Network-Performs-Well-as-Usage-Climbs/default.aspx

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Comcast Business wins $9.3m Ethernet Gateway contract from DISA

The United States’ Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) awarded a 10-year, $9.3 million to Comcast Business to establish Commercial Ethernet Gateways to provide Ethernet connections to its Defense Information Systems Network (DISN) in the Northeastern United States.

Under the contract, Comcast Business will deliver its Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) service, which helps improve application performance across a network with a private, point-to-multipoint network design between multiple locations. EVPL offers the potential for performance improvements and managed cost as compared to legacy Wide Area Network (WAN) technologies such as T1 lines, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), Frame Relay, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), and private lines.

“This award lets us do our part to support the nation. Transforming DISA’s network to an Ethernet-based solution will deliver a performance-based network to DISA and its mission partners,” said Ken Folderauer, Vice President, Federal Government Sales, Comcast Business. “The US Government is one of the largest IT buyers in the world. Only the very best earn their trust and Comcast Business is honored to be on that short list. We look forward to continuing to build out this incredible partnership with DISA.”

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Oracle Cloud region launches in Montreal

Oracle activated a new Gen 2 Cloud region in Montreal.

The announcement follows the launch of its Toronto Cloud region last year, making Canada Oracle’s latest country offering dual cloud regions

In addition to the Montreal cloud region, Oracle recently announced the opening of four Gen 2 Cloud Regions in Melbourne (Australia), Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Osaka (Japan) and Amsterdam (the Netherlands). Oracle has now opened 17 Gen 2 Cloud regions in the past year and currently operates 21 regions globally—16 commercial and five government—the fastest expansion by any major cloud provider. By the end of this year, the company plans to open additional new cloud regions in the US (San Jose, CA), Brazil (Vinhedo), the UK (Newport, Wales), India (Hyderabad), South Korea (Chuncheon), Singapore, Israel, South Africa, Chile (Santiago), Saudi Arabia and two in the United Arab Emirates.

Oracle Gen 2 Cloud regions include:
Asia Pacific: Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Mumbai, Sydney, Melbourne
Americas: Phoenix, Ashburn, Toronto, Sao Paolo, Montreal
Europe: Frankfurt, London, Zurich, Amsterdam
Middle East: Jeddah
Government: two general U.S. Government regions, three U.S. Department of Defense specific Government regions

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IDC: COVID-19 impacts Server and Storage sales

The COVID-19 pandemic will impact spending on IT infrastructure.

According to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker and Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems Tracker, under the current probable scenario server market revenues will decline 3.4% year over year to $88.6 billion and external enterprise storage systems (ESS) revenues will decline 5.5% to $28.7 billion in 2020.

The server market is expected to decline 11.0% in Q1 and 8.9% in Q2 and then return to growth in the second half of the year. The external ESS market is forecast to decline 7.3% in Q1 and 12.4% in Q2 before returning to slight growth by the end of 2020 with further recovery expected in 2021.

"The impact of COVID-19 will certainly dampen overall spending on IT infrastructure as companies temporarily shut down and employees are laid off or furloughed," said Kuba Stolarski, research director, IT Infrastructure at IDC. "While IDC believes that the short-term impact will be significant, unless the crisis spirals further out of control, it is likely that this will not impact the markets past 2021, at which point we will see a robust recovery with cloud platforms very much leading the way."

In the longer term both markets will return to growth. The server market is expected to deliver a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.9% over the 2019-2024 forecast period with revenues reaching $116.6 billion in 2024. Meanwhile the external ESS market will see a five-year CAGR of 1.3% growing to $32.4 billion in 2024.

"The IT infrastructure markets are already going though a transformation and shifts in end user spending will bring an even faster changing IT buyer landscape," said Natalya Yezhkova, research vice president, IT Infrastructure. "While the current crisis brings tensions and uncertainty to the market, it also will push organizations to expedite adoption of technologies and IT delivery models that help with optimization of IT infrastructure resources."

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS46171120

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Keysight announces oscilloscope for mmWave

Keysight Technologies introduced a single channel instrument specifically designed to accelerate development of next generation mmWave communications, satellite communications, and radar applications.

Keysight’s latest edition to the company’s UXR-Series of oscilloscopes, the UXR0051AP Infiniium UXR-Series Oscilloscope, offers a frequency range of 110 GHz and 5 GHz of standard analysis bandwidth, and provides fast, affordable and flexible analysis of wideband measurements. Keysight’s UXR-Series oscilloscopes, with optional mmWave Wideband Analysis functionality, deliver the signal integrity, versatility, affordability, and performance needed to bring signal, spectrum, and digital capabilities together, within a single instrument.

Key features:

• Superior -158 dBm/Hz displayed average noise level (DANL) from 28 GHz to 85 GHz which enables golden receiver quality error vector magnitude (EVM) measurements on low power wideband signals.
• Directly measures wideband signals with up to 10 GHz bandwidth and fundamental frequencies as high as 110 GHz, without the need for external downconverters, for high quality wideband analysis.
• Instant upgradability to two independently configurable phase coherent channels for easy multiple input multiple output (MIMO) measurement support.
• High-definition, 10-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with 16-bit Digital Down Conversion (DDC) I/Q data output to ensure high mmWave measurement accuracy.
• 256 GSa/s real-time or 3,200 MSa/s complex sample rates delivers the industry’s widest 110 GHz frequency range and 2.16 GHz DDC analysis bandwidth.
• Flexible mmWave extension and DDC bandwidth license options enable performance and affordability for oscilloscope based mmWave wideband analysis.
• “To satisfy the demand for faster speeds and increased bandwidth, mmWave technologies are evolving with techniques such as MIMO and phased array antennas,” said Brad Doerr, vice president and general manager of digital and photonics R&D for Keysight's Communications Solutions Group. “Keysight recognized the need for a cost-effective one channel oscilloscope with dynamically configurable bandwidth to support today’s single-channel mmWave wideband measurement requirements. The new oscilloscope can instantly expand to two phase coherent channels, enabling customers to easily support this emerging multi-channel evolution."

Keysight’s UXR0051AP Infiniium UXR-Series Oscilloscope is available now with a base price of US$195,000.

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