Equinix to acquire 13 data centers from Bell Canada

Equinix agreed to acquire a portfolio of 13 data centers across Canada from BCE Inc. ("Bell") for US$750 million (CA$1,041 million) in cash.

The 13 data center sites, which represent 25 Bell data center facilities, are expected to generate approximately US$105 million annualized revenue, which represents a purchase multiple of approximately 15x EV / adjusted EBITDA.  The deal includes approximately 1.2 million gross square feet of data center space and 400,000 square feet of colocation space.

The deal will expand Equinix's coverage in Canada coast to coast, making it a market leader in data center and interconnection services. In addition to adding new capacity in Toronto, Ontario, where Equinix currently operates two International Business Exchange data centers, it will extend Equinix's interconnection services to seven new metros. These metros include Calgary, Alberta; Kamloops and Vancouver, British Columbia; Millidgeville, New Brunswick; Montreal, Quebec; Ottawa, Ontario; and Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Charles Meyers, President and CEO, Equinix, states: "Canadian businesses are in the midst of a significant transformation as they evolve their operations to be increasingly digital and cloud-enabled. With a platform that enables companies to increase the scale, reach and connectivity of their growing digital businesses, Equinix provides a compelling vision for businesses to rapidly and broadly interconnect with the people, locations, cloud services and data that matter most to their business. This expansion is a significant win for Canadian businesses, as well as for multinational companies that can leverage Platform Equinix to increase their digital presence in Canada by interconnecting to a rich ecosystem of customers, business partners and other strategic companies in Canada."

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OIDA Quantum Photonics Roadmap: Every Photon Counts

A newly released Quantum Photonics Roadmap: Every Photon Counts, which was produced by OSA Industry Development Associates (OIDA) in collaboration with Corning, clarifies the applications and timing for quantum technologies and specifies improvements in optics and photonics components needed to enable commercialization. It covers the three major application areas: quantum sensing and metrology, quantum communications and quantum computing.

Commercialization of products such as quantum sensors for GPS-free navigation and field-deployable quantum repeaters for communications will be significant milestones in an emerging market but more investments in product engineering are critical. Lower SWAP-C devices would enable progress, for example, across multiple sensing categories, and integration of these systems onto photonic chips is a critical path to doing so. While some integration is possible today, more on-chip functionality (e.g., sources, modulators, switches) is needed.

“While the field still needs breakthroughs in quantum science, such as a quantum repeater, the photonics technology already largely exists for laboratory experiments,” says Tom Hausken, senior industry advisor, The Optical Society (OSA). “The product engineering -- low size, weight, power and cost -- is missing, or it is applied to a specific customer application, without benefit to the rest of the field. The need is analogous to the talent shortage, not just with scientists, but with engineers in photonics, microwave and control electronics, packaging and cryogenics who have the specialized expertise to bring the technology to market.”

Although the quantum technology market is still in the early stages, the optics and photonics community already supplies critical enabling components to research and development labs in the near term to ensure progress. OIDA estimates sales of optics and photonics for lab equipment used by quantum researchers at about US$100 million per year. The commercial market for quantum end-use products is expected to rise to billions of dollars by 2030.

“The real impact of quantum technology is what it can do, which could be far greater than the market for the technology itself,” Hausken adds. “The fear of missing out (FOMO) on that impact on competitiveness and security is driving funding in quantum research, which OIDA estimates at about US$2 billion annually.”

The public and private sectors worldwide are making multi-year investments in quantum technologies with an end-goal of market ready applications. In the U.S., the National Quantum Initiative Act, a multi-agency plan, proposes US$1.2 billion in funding for quantum information science over five-years. The European Union’s Quantum Flagship program is budgeted at 1 billion euros over a ten-year period.

Investments in the product engineering of quantum technology could support classical applications as well. For example, investments in lower loss integrated photonics and single-photon detectors could yield benefits in classical optical communications and low-light imaging, respectively. Integrated photonics offers many promising solutions for quantum technology, at a time when it offers multiple solutions in other fields.

To read the full report, visit http://www.osa.org/OIDARoadmap

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GSMA and O-RAN Alliance announce 5G Collaboration

The GSMA will support the O-RAN Alliance's efforts to accelerate the adoption of Open Radio Access Network (RAN) products and solutions that take advantage of new open virtualised architectures, software and hardware.

The organisations announced a collaboration to harmonise the open networking ecosystem and agree on an industry roadmap for network solutions, thereby making access networks as open and flexible as possible for new market entrants.

In its latest Mobile Economy Report, the GSMA predicts that operators will invest more than a trillion dollars over the next five years globally to serve both consumer and enterprise customers, 80 per cent of which will be on 5G networks.

“When 5G reaches its potential, it will become the first generation of mobile networks to have a bigger impact on enterprises than consumers,” said Alex Sinclair, Chief Technology Officer, GSMA. “In the enterprise sector alone, we forecast $700 billion worth of economic value to be created by the 5G opportunity. The growth of the open networking ecosystem will be essential to meeting enterprise coverage and services needs in the 5G era.”

The GSMA and O-RAN ALLIANCE collaboration complements the recently announced interworking between the GSMA and Telecom Infra Project (TIP), and the O-RAN ALLIANCE and TIP. The goal for these collaborations is to help avoid fragmentation and accelerate the successful evolution of the industry towards a more intelligent, open, virtualised and fully interoperable RAN.

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IDC: OCP-compliant hardware to grow at a 16.6% CAGR

Worldwide revenue from the Open Compute Project (OCP) infrastructure market will reach $33.8 billion in 2024, according to a new report from IDC, hitting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.6% over the 2020-2024 forecast period. The forecast assumes a rapid recovery for this market in 2021-22, fueled by a robust economic recovery worldwide. However, a prolonged crisis and economic uncertainty could delay the market's recovery well past 2021, although investments in and by cloud service providers may dominate infrastructure investments when they occur during this period.

"By opening and sharing the innovations and designs within the community, IDC believes that OCP will be one of the most important indicators of datacenter infrastructure innovation and development, especially among hyperscalers and cloud service providers," said Sebastian Lagana, research manager, Infrastructure Systems, Platforms and Technologies.

"IDC projects massive growth in the amount of data generated, transmitted, and stored worldwide. Much of this data will flow in and out of the cloud and get stored in hyperscale cloud data centers, thereby driving demand for infrastructure," said Kuba Stolarski, research director, Infrastructure Systems, Platforms and Technologies at IDC.

Some highlights:
The compute segment will remain the primary driver of overall OCP infrastructure revenue for the coming five years, accounting for roughly 83% of the total market.
Despite being a much larger portion of the market, compute will achieve a CAGR comparable to storage through 2024. The compute and storage segments are defined below:
Spend on computing platforms (i.e., servers including accelerators and interconnects) is estimated to grow at a five-year CAGR of 16.2% and reach $28.07 billion. This segment includes externally attached accelerator trays also known as JBOGs (GPUs) and JBOFs (FPGAs).
Spend on storage (i.e., server-based platforms and externally attached platforms and systems) is estimated to grow at a five-year CAGR of 18.5% and reach $5.73 billion. Externally attached platforms are also known as JBOFs (Flash) and JBODs (HDDs) and do not contain a controller. Externally attached systems are built using storage controllers.

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T-Mobile teams with GCI for 5G coverage in Anchorage

T-Mobile announced a partnership with GCI allowing T-Mobile customers with 5G smartphones to tap into 5G while roaming in Anchorage, Alaska.

T-Mobile said it is now the first and only wireless provider to offer 5G coverage in all 50 states.

“GCI and T-Mobile have a long history of ‘firsts’ together,” said GCI President and Chief Operating Officer Greg Chapados. “GCI and T-Mobile launched the nation’s first LTE roaming partnership in 2014 and were the first providers to partner together to deliver voice over LTE service. Today’s partnership marks another first and a tremendous milestone! GCI congratulates the T-Mobile team on being the first wireless provider to offer 5G service in all 50 states. The partnership is a win for both companies and for GCI customers who will be able to access 5G service on the nation’s largest 5G network.”

GCI launched Alaska’s first 5G service in Anchorage on April 17, 2020.

GCI to deploy 5G in Anchorage with Ericsson

Tuesday, June 18, 2019  #5G, GCI  

GCI, Alaska's largest telecommunications company, will deploy a 5G network in Anchorage (population 291,000), the state's largest city, in partnership with Ericsson.

GCI is deploying Ericsson's 5G New Radio (NR) hardware and software to 82 macro cell sites across the Municipality of Anchorage from Girdwood to Eklutna, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island.

GCI's metro fiber network will provide backhaul services to these sites, which include both towers and building locations.  The project will be completed in 2020 with initial 5G service coming online in the first half of the year.

"We are committed to providing superior 5G wireless service to the residents of Anchorage just as we already provide the fastest internet service," said GCI CEO Ron Duncan. "We are bringing all our assets – fiber, spectrum, wireless footprint, Alaska expertise – to bear on that commitment."

GCI's metro fiber network and cable plant already offers 1 GIG cable modem service to 95% of Anchorage households. GCI controls more low/mid-band mobile radio spectrum than any other wireless provider in Anchorage. And it has more macro cell sites in Anchorage than any other Alaska wireless provider.

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Siemon intros OptiFuse fiber splice-on connectors

Siemon introduced new OptiFuse pre-polished splice-on connectors that provide quick, reliable, and high-performance field terminations for fiber applications.

The new units, which are part of Siemon's LightHouse Advanced Fiber Cabling portfolio, are available in simplex LC and SC multimode and simplex LC and SC UPC and APC single mode
fiber configurations. The OptiFuse splice-on connectors feature a factory pre-polished fiber endface, ferrule dust cap that remains in place during termination and an internally integrated and protected splice point for superior low-loss fusion splice performance.

The company says that by eliminating the need for splice trays, splice chips and cable slack, OptiFuse connectors reduce material requirements, conserve space within fiber enclosures and deliver a 30% faster installation compared to traditional fiber pigtails. They are ideal for enabling splicing in tight spaces unable to accommodate splice trays and accessories.

“For new fiber installations, reconfigurations, and repairs and restorations, achieving a balance between speed of deployment, density, cost savings and performance has long been a
challenge, especially in high-cost labor markets,” says Kevin Stronkowsky, fiber product manager for Siemon. “At the same time, fiber is now being deployed in a broader range of
environments and applications, including FTTX deployments in tight spaces such as multi-user work area boxes and zone units. Our new OptiFuse connectors solve all these challenges while
also being a ‘greener’ solution with less packaging material and space requirements.”

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