5G Open Innovation Lab mentors first 17 start-ups

A new 5G Open Innovation Lab (5G OI Lab) is now underway with support founding partners Intel, NASA and T-Mobile.

5G OI Lab will provide engineering, technology and industry resources to help selected start-ups to develop, test and bring to market new use cases that unleash the potential of 5G.

"Our first program provides start-ups with virtual access to mentors and tools to collaborate directly with technology and business leaders to design and bring to life their vision and dreams for new 5G applications." said Jim Brisimitzis, general partner of the 5G Open Innovation Lab. "We've adapted our program into a virtual format in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are grateful to our partners for stepping up their support to ensure our first cohort has the best experience possible in a virtual environment."

The Lab has selected 17 companies as members of the first cohort that will participate in a 12-week program.  In addition to three companies that are currently in stealth mode, the first cohort includes the following startups:

• Aarna Networks - 5G/edge app orchestration, management and automation - https://www.aarnanetworks.com  
• Evolute – Enterprise container migration, management, and optimization - http://www.evolute.io/
• Expeto.io - Platform to manage global Enterprise IoT connectivity - http://expeto.io/
• Iunu – Computer vision platform for greenhouse-based agriculture and tracking - https://iunu.com/
• Gybe – HW platform and edge service for employee connectivity – http://gybe.inc
• Mutable – AirBnB for servers (distributed public edge) - https://mutable.io/
• NLM – Optical computing materials and design- www.nonlinearmaterials.com
• Numurus - Making robots smarter - https://www.numurus.com/
• Omnivor – Holographic real-time and on-demand video platform - https://www.omnivor.io/
• OptiPulse – Optical fronthaul mesh networking - https://optipulse.com/
• PlutoVR – Spatial communications platform - https://www.plutovr.com/
• Scivista – Collaborative, virtual reality data visualization – https://www.scivista.com/
• Taqtile - AR/VR platform for frontline workers - https://taqtile.com/
• Transparent Path - Building a more agile, efficient & predictive supply chain for food - http://xparent.io

"Ecosystem innovation is important to unlocking the potential of 5G, and as a founding member of the 5G Open Innovation Lab, we will help nurture start-ups developing 5G and edge applications that focus on digital transformation for industries," said Caroline Chan, vice president, Data Platforms Group and general manager, Network Business Incubation Division at Intel. "There is a breadth of opportunities across multiple industries, and to make them a reality it requires this type of industry collaboration to accelerate and bring innovative 5G solutions to market."

"5G has the potential to transform our world by enabling new, groundbreaking applications," said Neville Ray, president of technology at T-Mobile. "T-Mobile is building a 5G network unlike any other, with unmatched breadth and massive capacity nationwide. Through efforts like the 5G Open Innovation Lab, we're providing developers and startups with the tools to unleash transformative services for people across the country, benefitting everything from entertainment and gaming to education and public safety."

Applications are currently being accepted online for the Fall program.

http://www.5GOILab.com

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MEF 3.0 certification now encompasses 24 Service Providers

MEF noted a significant milestone for its certification programs for Carrier Ethernet and SD-WAN services.

Twenty-four service providers from around the world now offer a combined total of 77 certified MEF 3.0 SD-WAN and Carrier Ethernet (CE) services.

“The large number of MEF 3.0 certifications celebrated today represents a key milestone on our journey to develop a global federation of dynamic, trusted, and certified services that power enterprise digital transformation,” said Nan Chen, President, MEF. “I wish to congratulate each service provider for achieving MEF 3.0 certification and demonstrating their commitment to delivering innovative solutions with compelling value for customers.”

All certified MEF 3.0 service providers are listed in the MEF Services Certification Registry.

Certified MEF 3.0 SD-WAN Service Providers

In March 2020, MEF announced that Comcast Business, PCCW Global, Spectrum Enterprise, and Telia Company were the first service providers in the world to become MEF 3.0 SD-WAN certified, demonstrating conformity to the industry’s only standard for SD-WAN managed services.

MEF 3.0 SD-WAN certification – which has now shifted from the pilot phase to general availability – is expected to play an important role in driving growth of the global managed SD-WAN services market, which Frost & Sullivan projects will reach nearly $6.4 billion by 2023.

"As one of the first service providers to achieve MEF 3.0 SD-WAN certification, we’re committed to being a technology and standards leader in the Ethernet ecosystem to improve the quality, management and interoperability of Ethernet services for our customers,” said Bob Victor, SVP Product Management, Comcast Business. “We’re encouraged by the expanding number of certified MEF 3.0 service providers and are proud to be included among the leaders offering the industry’s most innovative WAN services.”

MEF 3.0 SD-WAN certification testing is conducted by Spirent, a MEF Accredited Certification Test Partner. Companies interested in certification of SD-WAN managed services and products should contact sd-wan@mef.net for more information.

Certified MEF 3.0 CE Service Providers

Orchestration-ready MEF 3.0 CE services provide the highest level of performance, assurance, and agility available in what Vertical Systems Group estimates is a $60+ billion global CE services market. MEF 3.0 CE certification is available for a set of subscriber services (E-Line, E-LAN, E-Tree) and a set of operator services (Access E-Line and Transit E-Line).

Twenty-one service providers offer a total of 73 certified MEF 3.0 CE services, including: Bell (Canada), Online (Kuwait), CAT (Thailand), CMC Networks (South Africa), CMC Telecom (Vietnam),DOCOMO PACIFIC (Guam), euNetworks (UK), Fiberail (Malaysia), LinkNet (Indonesia), Marcatel (Mexico), Maxis Broadband (Malaysia), Moratelindo (Indonesia), Open Fiber (Italy), Orange Business Services (France), Sparklight Business (USA), Telxius (Spain/Latin America), TIME (Malaysia), SSE Enterprise Telecoms (UK), UFINET (Spain/Latin America), Telia Company (Sweden), and VNPT (Vietnam).

http://www.mef.net/certification/services-certification-registry

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Intel acquires Rivet Networks for Killer Wi-Fi 6 modules

Intel has acquired Rivet Networks, a start-up offering Wi-Fi and Ethernet modules. Financial terms were not disclosed. Rivet is based in Austin, Texas.

Rivet's products maximize Wi-Fi bandwidth utilization and optimize the wireless network connection. Rivet's products can also utilize the combination of Ethernet and Wi-Fi to prioritize traffic over both connections. Its product line includes the Rivet Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650, a module based on Intel's Wi-Fi 6 chipset. The Killer AX1650 is a 2×2, WiFi 6 module that supports 160 MHz channels and Bluetooth 5.1.  It delivers up to 2.4 Gbps of throughput with low latencies.

The Rivet team will join Intel's Wireless Solutions Group within the Client Computing Group. Intel notes that it has taken a leading role in the development and testing of 801.11ax (Wi-Fi 6).

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Nokia's 5G hits 4.7 Gbps peak with 8X 100 MHZ aggregation

Nokia achieved 5G speeds of up to 4.7 Gbps in tests in its Over-the-Air (OTA) network in Dallas, Texas.

The tests combined eight 100 MHz channels of millimeter wave spectrum on the 28 GHz and 39GHz bands, providing 800 MHz of bandwidth, and 40 MHz of LTE spectrum using the Dual Connectivity (EN-DC) functionality available on Nokia’s AirScale solution. EN-DC allows devices to connect simultaneously to 5G and LTE networks, transmitting and receiving data across both air-interface technologies. This means devices can achieve a higher throughput than when connecting to 5G or LTE alone. The speeds were achieved on both 5G cloud-based (vRAN) and classic baseband configurations.

Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, commented: “This is an important and significant milestone in the development of 5G services in the U.S, particularly at a time when connectivity and capacity is so crucial. It demonstrates the confidence operators have in our global end-to-end portfolio and the progress we have made to deliver the best possible 5G experiences to customers. We already supply our mmWave radios to all of the major US carriers and we look forward to continuing to work closely with them moving forward.”

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Samsung plans additional 5nm capacity at new fab in Pyeongtaek

Samsung Electronics will boost foundry capacity at the company's new production line in Pyeongtaek, Korea. The new foundry line will focus on EUV-based 5 nanometer (nm) and below process technology. Construction began this month and is expected to be in full operation in the second half of 2021.

Samsung recently added a new EUV-dedicated V1 line to its fab in Hwaseong, Korea. Initial mass production of the EUV-based 7nm process started in early 2019.  The company is on track to start mass production of 5nm EUV process in the Hwaseong fab in the second half of this year.

“This new production facility will expand Samsung’s manufacturing capabilities for sub-5nm process and enable us to rapidly respond to the increasing demand for EUV-based solutions,” said Dr. ES Jung, President and Head of Foundry Business at Samsung Electronics. “We remain committed to addressing the needs of our customers through active investments and recruitment of talents. This will enable us to continue to break new ground while driving robust growth for Samsung’s foundry business.”

With the addition of the Pyeongtaek fab, Samsung will have a total of seven foundry production lines located in South Korea and the United States, comprised of six 12-inch lines and one 8-inch line.

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IP Infusion's new Open SD-Edge enables uCPE based on DANOS

IP Infusion introduced its Open SD-Edge platform for universal Customer Premise Equipment (uCPE) based on DANOS-Vyatta edition software, which is widely deployed at scale for multiple, white box use cases in AT&T’s production network.

DANOS is a carrier-targeted network operating system (NOS) project hosted by the Linux Foundation. By pre-integrating with the FRR (FRRouting) and DPDK (Data Plane Development Kit) projects, DANOS facilitates evaluations and Proof of Concepts for VNFs and applications.

IP Infusion said its Open SD-Edge platform supports a range of uCPE use cases and delivers a platform for operational simplicity, agile deployment of virtualized services and lower CAPEX, leading to reduced total cost of ownership. It includes white box hardware, DANOS-Vyatta edition, and hosts third-party Virtualized Network Functions (VNFs) for SD-WAN, routing, VPN, and firewall support for VNFs on a general-purpose appliance. This eliminates the need for stacks of proprietary equipment and software that require specialized IT skills to install, configure, and maintain.

“As a leader in disaggregated networking, IP Infusion’s Open SD-Edge platform allows our customers a streamlined path to migrate to Software-Defined services, simplify network infrastructure and management, while future-proofing their networks as their business needs evolve,” said Atsushi Ogata, President and CEO, IP Infusion. “Today’s agile businesses require support at lightning speeds. With industry standard hardware infused with open source software, and virtualized technology, our customers can realize unprecedented agility and automation at a lowest cost per bit.”

Under an agreement with AT&T, IP Infusion is the value-added integrator of DANOS-Vyatta edition and has the rights to sell DANOS-Vyatta edition as a commercial solution and provide ongoing support for carrier customers who need additional integration expertise. It also allows provides the flexibility for users to choose from multiple hardware vendors.

DANOS-Vyatta edition now covers cell site router (CSR) and uCPE applications in a common platform for both wide area and local area networking. The three new Open SD-Edge use cases planned for delivery in 2020 are:

• Virtual SD-Edge – General availability in Q2’20 - available in virtual form-factor to securely extend VPN to the public or private cloud and deliver scalable WAN, Security and CG-NAT functions.
• Branch SD-Edge – General availability in Q3’20 - available in a white-box or virtual form-factor for securely interconnecting branch offices and migrating workloads to the cloud.
• Universal SD-Edge – General availability in Q4’20 - cloud managed uCPE for enterprise/branch connectivity including security, SD-WAN and WAN optimization use cases, with the flexibility to add VNF services from third parties.

The Cloud Services Router and uCPE solutions are now available for demonstration in the Azure cloud marketplace and as a VNF (VM) for server environments.

http://www.IPInfusion.com/uCPE

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ADVA brings its Oscilloquartz synchronization to power utility networks

ADVA has upgraded its entire range of Oscilloquartz grandmaster clocks to meet the latest PTP profiles for time, frequency and phase synchronization in power utility networks. This includes the OSA 5401 small form-factor pluggable, the OSA 5405 for indoor and outdoor substation deployments, the OSA 5420 Series, and the highly scalable OSA 5430 and 5440 with 10Gbit/s interfaces and fully redundant hardware.

ADVA said the enhanced technology will empower electricity providers to evolve their infrastructure into smart grids based on Precision Time Protocol (PTP) power profiles, while at the same time supporting all legacy timing signals. The technologies enable an easy migration to an Ethernet-based timing network with support for PTP, Network Time Protocol (NTP) and SyncE, as well as IRIG-B, PPS and BITS legacy interfaces. PTP-based backup combined with multi-band GNSS receivers and advanced monitoring capabilities ensure that the upgraded solutions provide highly reliable delivery of precise timing information even during long GNSS outages.

“Our upgraded technology makes it simple to modernize utility infrastructure. Now, power network operators can achieve the accurate and stable synchronization needed to develop smart grid power networks built on packet-based solutions, while also maintaining legacy timing,” said Gil Biran, general manager, Oscilloquartz, ADVA. “Our technology provides a clear and cost-efficient path to robust and future-proof utility network synchronization. Its PTP timing delivery complements and replaces legacy protocols, enabling the accurate and resilient timing needed for emerging intelligent applications. Along with our multi-constellation GNSS receivers, PTP backup is also essential for protecting critical power networks. This ensures efficient operations and the best protection from malicious attacks.”

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Colt appoints Keri Gilder as CEO

Colt Technology Services appointed Keri Gilder as its new CEO, replacing Carl Grivner, who after five years with Colt, has decided to step down.

“Colt has always been determined to be ahead of the curve. It’s why we invested in high bandwidth connectivity, blockchain and APIs, even before we saw customer demand for these innovative solutions. It has been a privilege to lead an organisation during such a transformation, and it’s been an honour to have the backing of the Board, my team and the wider organisation as we pushed ahead with doing some things that haven’t been done before. I am proud to be a Coltie, and I can’t wait to see where Keri takes the business – it’s in incredibly capable hands," stated Carl Grivner.

Gilder has served as Colt's Chief Commercial Officer since joining the organisation in November 2018. Before joining Colt, Keri held several leadership roles at Ciena but was most recently its Vice President and General Manager EMEA, responsible for guiding Ciena’s EMEA service provider and enterprise customers, as well as partners.

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Open RAN Policy Coalition elects AT&T's Boyer as chairman

The Open RAN Policy Coalition elected representatives from 12 companies to serve on its Board of Directors.

Chris Boyer of AT&T was elected to serve as the Coalition’s Chairman; Eric Wenger of Cisco will serve as Vice-Chair; Nick Fetchko of Verizon as Treasurer; and Becky Fraser of Qualcomm as Secretary.

At-large Board members elected include Thierry Maupile of Altiostar; Jeff Blum of DISH Network; Robert Pepper of Facebook, Jayne Stancavage of Intel; John Baker of Mavenir; David Jeppsen of NTT; Azita Arvani of Rakuten Mobile; and Ed Howard of Vodafone.

Open RAN Policy Coalition seeks to diversify supply chain

Wednesday, May 06, 2020  O-RAN  

A new Open RAN Policy Coalition has been formed to promote policies that will advance the adoption of open and interoperable solutions in the Radio Access Network (RAN) as a means to create innovation, spur competition and expand the supply chain for advanced wireless technologies including 5G.

The coalition believes that the U.S. Federal Government has an important role to play in facilitating and fostering an open, diverse and secure supply chain for advanced wireless technologies, including 5G, such as by funding research and development, and testing open and interoperable networks and solutions, and incentivizing supply chain diversity.

As evidenced by the current global pandemic, vendor choice and flexibility in next-generation network deployments are necessary from a security and performance standpoint,” said Diane Rinaldo, Executive Director, Open RAN Policy Coalition.  “By promoting policies that standardize and develop open interfaces, we can ensure interoperability and security across different players and potentially lower the barrier to entry for new innovators.”

Open RAN Policy Coalition founding members include Airspan, Altiostar, AT&T, AWS, Cisco, CommScope, Dell, DISH Network, Facebook, Fujitsu, Google, IBM, Intel, Juniper Networks, Mavenir, Microsoft, NEC Corporation, NewEdge Signal Solutions, NTT, Oracle, Parallel Wireless, Qualcomm, Rakuten Mobile, Samsung Electronics America, Telefónica, US Ignite, Verizon, VMWare, Vodafone, World Wide Technology, and XCOM-Labs.

http://www.openRANpolicy.org

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KDDI teams with Nokia on virtualized Cloud RAN PoC

Nokia and KDDI are collaborating on fully cloudified RAN Proof-of-Concept.

The lab-based Proof of Concept (PoC) will use Nokia’s AirScale All-in-Cloud BTS solution and enable KDDI to research how flexible, virtualized radio network technology can support the diversifying network performance requirements in the 5G era.

Nokia’s AirScale All-in-Cloud BTS is a fully cloudified 5G BTS, placing both the real-time and non-real-time baseband in the cloud.The virtualized real-time baseband processing takes place at the far edge of the network to meet extreme latency requirements and provide the ability to scale to meet demand. It is part of Nokia’s broader Nokia AirScale Cloud RAN solution, which offers a flexible mix of local and cloud-based processing.

Nokia said its AirScale All-in-Cloud BTS will be used in the planned PoC to provide a flexible network configuration of a base station virtualization and enable the provision of an optimal 5G network.

KDDI launched commercial 5G services in March 2020. KDDI has been working closely with Nokia on this PoC as well as 5G core standalone network trials.

Ari Kynaslahti, Head of Mobile Networks Product Management at Nokia, commented: “The 5G era will bring with incredible opportunities for businesses and consumers alike but it will place increasing demand on the networks as complexity increases and data traffic explodes. KDDI will be able to use virtualized networks to rapidly respond to its customers’ varied requirements. We look forward to continuing our strong relationship with them in the pursuit of virtualized network best practices and in preparing for a new decade of communication technology.”

KDDI picks Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung for 5G

Tuesday, October 01, 2019  5G, Ericsson, KDDI, Nokia, Samsung  

KDDI named Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung as its primary 5G vendors for next-generation network deployment in Japan.

KDDI expects the first commercial live 5G services to be available from March 2020, with more than 93 percent coverage of 5G base station areas specified by Japan’s telecom regulation body by the end of March 2025.

Ericsson confirmed that it will supply KDDI with Radio Access Network equipment, including products and solutions from the Ericsson Radio System portfolio. The equipment will allow KDDI to roll out commercial 5G services in several parts of Japan on their sub-6GHz and 28GHz bands for 5G New Radio (NR). KDDI’s selection of Ericsson as a 5G vendor follows nearly four years of close collaboration on 5G between the companies.

Nokia also confirmed its selection as a primary partner to upgrade KDDI's 4G network to 5G using its AirScale platform, which supports both 4G and 5G operations. This will allow KDDI to modernize its 4G network and meet the growing consumer and industrial demands for 5G. The contract for 5G radio re-enforces the strong relationship between the two companies, which dates back over two decades.

Nokia is an existing supplier to KDDI across multiple technologies, including radio, fixed networks, mobile core network and multiple software solutions. The 5G network will support KDDI across both cmWave and mmWave 5G frequency bands and can be deployed in both distributed and centralized architectures.

Samsung Networks said it will provide KDDI with its latest 5G network solutions, including various radio base stations supporting mid-band (3.7~3.8GHz and 4.0~4.1GHz) and mmWave (28GHz) spectrum, as well as virtualized RAN. In preparation for the arrival of 5G, the two companies have carried out several successful trials on real-world use cases and achieved world-first 5G milestones. This includes Japan’s first mmWave outdoor 5G handover test success in 2017, 5G handovers for high-speed racing cars and trains in 2017, a real-time free-viewpoint video stream at baseball stadium in 2018, a 5G-powered education showcase in an elementary school in 2019, and a demonstration of the power of real-time 4K video communication at Haneda Airport, Tokyo in 2019.

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Sabey Data Centers activates Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute

Sabey Data Centers, one of the largest privately-owned multi-tenant data center owner/developer/operators in the United States, has added a Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute node to its Intergate.Quincy data center campus in central Washington. This enables Sabey’s customers to create private connections between their IT environment and Microsoft Azure and Office 365.

Robert Rockwood, President of Sabey Data Centers, said, “Azure ExpressRoute offers a cloud connectivity solution for customers with their own presence inside our Quincy data center. They now have direct, highly secure access to the Microsoft cloud without having to route through the internet. This is a game changer because our customers can now take advantage of the low-cost renewable power available at Intergate.Quincy without sacrificing any flexibility as they build their hybrid IT strategy.”

Sabey operates two interconnected data center campuses in Central WA; both will be able to take advantage of the Azure ExpressRoute.

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CommScope beefs up Wi-Fi 6 portfolio with new Access Points

CommScope added five new Wi-Fi 6 outdoor access points to its portfolio.

The APs will be Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 and are optimized for highly dense environments such as educational campuses, hotels and other venues such as airports and stadiums.

• R850: a Wi-Fi 6 8x8:8 indoor access point with 5.9 Gbps speeds and embedded IoT. The R850 delivers the highest Wi-Fi performance of any AP on the market to ensure the best experiences in the harshest environments.
• R750: a Wi-Fi 6 4x4:4 indoor access point with 3.5 Gbps speeds and embedded IoT. The R750 is the industry’s first Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 access point and a Wi-Fi Alliance testbed unit that validates other devices for Wi-Fi 6 interoperability.
• R650: a Wi-Fi 6 4x4:4 indoor access point with 3 Gbps speeds and embedded IoT. This addition upgrades the popular R600 series to include Wi-Fi 6.
• R550: a Wi-Fi 6 2x2:2 indoor access point with 1.8 Gbps speeds and embedded IoT. This AP brings superior Wi-Fi 6 performance to the mainstream at a great price, along with native IoT support as included in all RUCKUS Wi-Fi 6 APs.
• T750: a Wi-Fi 6 4x4:4 outdoor access point with 3.5 Gbps speeds and embedded IoT. The industry’s first outdoor Wi-Fi 6 Certified AP delivers outstanding Wi-Fi performance to outdoor environments.
• T750SE: a Wi-Fi 6 4x4:4 outdoor access point with 3.5 Gbps speeds, embedded IoT, and sectorized antennas. The T750SE surgically delivers bandwidth to seating in stadiums and other large venues.
• The R650 and T750 began shipping in Q1 2020 while the R550 and R850 will begin shipping in Q2 2020. The T750SE will begin shipping in Q3 2020.

“The new Wi-Fi 6 access points with patented and unique technologies offers the very best enterprise solutions to meet the growing demand for connectivity,” said Bart Giordano, senior vice president, Product Management for CommScope’s RUCKUS portfolio. “We continue to invest in the enterprise Wi-Fi space and with the addition of the recently launched RUCKUS Analytics, we are already seeing a positive impact with our customers.”

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ZTE and China Unicom sign 6G research pact

ZTE and China Unicom signed a strategic cooperation agreement on 6G.  This will include joint research on potential 6G key technologies such as three dimensional connectivity, Terahertz communication, and integrated communication and sensing.

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