Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Verizon tests 800G long-haul with Infinera

Verizon successfully carried an 800 Gbps wavelength over its live, long-haul fiber network using equipment from Infinera.

The trial was conducted over Verizon’s live production network with a combination of industry standard fibers. The trial used Infinera’s fifth-generation coherent optical technology, ICE6 (Infinite Capacity Engine), equipped in a GX Series platform and marked the following significant industry achievements:

  • 800 Gbps single-wavelength transmission over 667 km between Nashville and Atlanta
  • 600 Gbps single-wavelength transmission over 2,283 km from Atlanta to Memphis with a loop back in Memphis
  • 400 Gbps single-wavelength transmission over 4,091 km from Atlanta to Dallas with a loop back in Dallas

“Verizon continually pursues the latest technology to provide high-speed, reliable transport solutions while meeting demanding network requirements,” said Parthiban Kandappan, chief technology officer at Infinera. “With Infinera’s ICE6 technology, Verizon successfully transmitted high-speed optical signals across substantial distances over all network fiber types. This industry-leading optical innovation coupled with flexible configurations provides a single transmission solution that enables both 800 Gbps over large portions of the network and cross-continental transmission at 400 Gbps.”

“With the evolution into more robust 5G applications and solutions, the ability to move massive amounts of data across long distances becomes even more crucial,” said Kevin Smith, Vice President of Technology Planning and Development for Verizon. “Continuing to advance the capabilities of our extensive fiber network alongside advancements in 5G technology, the Radio Access Network, and the network core will result in an unparalleled network experience for our consumer and enterprise customers.”

https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-long-haul-data-session


Verizon carries 800 Gbps wavelength

Verizon reported the transmission of 800 Gbps of data on a single wavelength over its live network.

The test showed equipment interoperability from two different suppliers and the capability to quadruple the typical capacity carried on a wavelength. The test traffic was transmitted between two Juniper Networks QFX 5220 packet platforms across two Ciena 6500 platforms powered by WaveLogic 5 Extreme (WL5e) coherent optics.

Verizon said the use of this new coherent optics and equipment from Ciena and Juniper demonstrates the evolution to a more software-driven and automated network with tunable capacity from 200Gbps to 800Gbps per wavelength.\

“In the past, we needed to combine multiple wavelengths to achieve 800 Gbps capacity,” said Kevin N. Smith, Vice President of Technology and Planning for Verizon. “Now, with the new optics configuration from Ciena and Juniper Networks on our fiber network, we are advancing our connecting layer of fiber to prepare for the explosion of data we know will come along with 5G’s transformational impact on industries and consumers. And being the only provider in the industry with that capacity on a single wavelength allows us to deliver the service at a much lower cost per bit.”

Innovium raises $170 million for its switching silicon

Innovium, a start-up based in San Jose, California, raised $170 million for its switching silicon solutions cloud and edge data centers.

The new funding round included investments from Premji Invest, DFJ Growth, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, and multiple strategic investors, along with existing investors including Greylock, Capricorn, WRVI, Qualcomm Ventures, Redline, S-Cubed Capital and DAG

. Innovium said this latest funding makes it the first network silicon company to achieve billion-dollar valuation "unicorn" status.

Earlier this year, Innovium unveiled its TERALYNX 8 silicon boasting 25.6Tbps switch with 112G SerDes

In addition, Innovium noted the following milestones during 1H 2020:

  • Continued volume production ramp of TERALYNX 7
  • Ramping TERALYNX 5 shipments for ToR, Edge & 5G customer designs
  • Revenue growth of over 5x in 1H 2020 vs 1H 2019
  • Achieved over 20% market share in 50G WW SerDes shipments and emerged as the only credible silicon diversity option [1]
  • Wins, deployments and trials at majority of top 25 Cloud customers in the world

“We are delighted at the strong adoption at leading OEM, Cloud and ODM customers for our TERALYNX® family, which resulted in over 20% market share for 50G SerDes switch silicon in our first year of shipments. This additional funding, achieved despite ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, validates our vision, execution and momentum in a multi-billion secular high-growth market,” said Rajiv Khemani, Co-founder and CEO of Innovium.

“Data centers are expected to see secular long-term expansion from Cloud, 5G, AI and remote-work applications. Innovative TERALYNX switch silicon products from Innovium have already been adopted by world’s leading hyperscale Cloud providers and leading OEMs including Cisco. We are excited to partner with Innovium for its roadmap innovation and help accelerate go-to-market ramp up,” said TK Kurien, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Premji Invest.

https://www.innovium.com/

Innovium pushes switching silicon to 25.6 Tbps with support for 112G PAM4

Innovium unveiled its TERALYNX 8 networking switch silicon featuring a massive 25.6 Tbps capacity and support for 112G PAM4 SerDes I/O. This next-generation TERALYNX 8 design features deep programmability, the largest on-chip buffers, and advanced telemetry capabilities.

Innovium's TERALYNX 8 switch, which is aimed at hyperscale data centers and which is expected to sample in the second half of 2020, could be used for highly compact, highest port-density single-chip switches for 100G to 800G configurations, including 1RU, 32 x 800G switch. The silicon will be delivered in a single 7nm die fabricated by TSMC.

Innovium confirmed that its current generation, 12.7 Tbps switching silicon is already being used by numerous commercial customers, including some of the biggest cloud provider networks.

Some TERALYNX 8 highlights

  • 112G SerDes IO with best economics for next-generation switches
  • Up to 256 long-reach (LR) 112G PAM4 SerDes to enable switch configurations such as 32 x 800G, 64 x 400G, 128 x 200 and 256 x 100G
  • Enables industry’s most compact 32 x 800G (25.6 Tbps) switch in 1RU form factor
  • Enables a range of connectivity options, including 10/25/50/100/200/400 GbE
  • Range of pin-compatible SKU options, including 25.6 Tbps, 12.8 Tbps and 8Tbps
  • Largest on-chip buffer of 170 MB for a data-center switch
  • Highest radix with 256 ports to help flatten network tiers
  • INNOFLEX programmable forwarding pipeline offers unmatched flexibility and feature-set
  • Enhanced forwarding and ACL table scales
  • Robust RoCE, PFC and rich QoS necessary for distributed storage, HPC and AI applications
  • FLASHLIGHT™ v3 telemetry and analytics solves toughest troubleshooting problems
  • Hardware driven in-band and streaming telemetry available at line-rate
  • Additional innovations for deep analytics correlated to applications
  • Unique predictive and actionable information versus reactive data overload seen in alternative switch providers
  • Industry’s most scalable and fully compatible product line from 1 to 25.6T
  • Full SW and architecture compatibility with TERALYNX 5 & TERALYNX 7

New Zealand's Spark builds OTN 2 with Ciena

Spark has completed the first stage of its next generation Optical Transport Network (OTN 2) using equipment, software and services from Ciena.

The OTN 2 rollout is a two-year project, which has started in Auckland, and will expand towards Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch. Initially, the new OTN equipment will be an express overlay to the existing core network, then will eventually replace the existing OTN.

The network, which features ‘self healing’ capabilities to automatically restore services after things like natural disasters, is now live and operating at 800 Gbps. Spark’s previous links operated at 100 or 200 Gbps. The rollout includes Ciena’s 6500 flexible grid colorless, directionless and contentionless (CDC) photonic line system with advanced control plane capabilities, WaveLogic 5 Extreme coherent optics, and Manage, Control and Plan domain controller with Liquid Spectrum analytics.

Campbell Fraser, Spark’s Technology Tribe Lead said that the roll out of OTN 2 will deliver increased resiliency enabling Spark to respond and restore service much faster after events such as the Kaikoura earthquakes.

“The ‘self-healing’ technology, which we believe is a first for New Zealand, will minimise the impact of network outages. These are caused by cuts in the fibre cable from earthquakes, floods, landslips, construction works or rodents damaging cables. Currently, restoring service is a manual process but the sharp growth in network traffic means manual restoration is becoming unmanageable. The optical restoration ‘self-healing’ technology allows the light signals that carry the data to automatically change their path after a fibre cut, so this is a big step forward. We expect to be able to restore services much more quickly so we can get customers back up and running.”

“A self-healing and resilient network that can automatically fine tune capacity and dynamically adapt to evolving user demands and unexpected fibre cuts or natural disasters is critical in today’s digital-first environment,” said Rick Seeto, Vice President and General Manager of Asia-Pacific and Japan, Ciena.

Dell'Oro: Sustained growth for the Optical Transport Market

The Dell'Oro Group is forecasting the Optical Transport market, largely comprised of DWDM systems, to expand in 2020 and for the next five years, reaching nearly $18 billion.

Some highlights from Dell'Oro's Optical Transport five-year forecast:

  • By 2024, nearly 30 percent of wavelength shipments will be from an 800 Gbps-capable line card. More than half of these line cards are expected to be used at 400 Gbps.
  • The next wavelength speed following 800 Gbps will be 1200 Gbps (1.2 Tbps). Based on the timing of past coherent DSP introductions and first-line card shipments, we anticipate 1.2 Tbps-capable line cards to enter the market in the 2023-2024 time period (but more likely in 2024).
  • Demand for Optical Transport gear for data center interconnect (DCI) is expected to take a turn in the near future.
  • Disaggregated WDM transponder unit sales are a bright spot of growth, annually growing at a double-digit percentage rate.
  • 400ZR will moderate the market’s growth.

https://www.delloro.com/news/optical-transport-market-to-expand-for-many-more-years-reaching-nearly-18-billion/

Equinix builds flagship data center in Milan

Equinix is building a new state-of-the-art colocation data center in Milan, Italy.

Known as ML5 and due to open in Q1 2021, the International Business Exchange (IBX) data center will host advanced interconnection services, including Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric (ECX Fabric) and Equinix Internet Exchange.

The facility is situated in North-West Milan, which will provide customers with direct access to Equinix's industry-leading software-defined networking service, ECX Fabric, enabling virtual interconnections to some of the largest cloud providers in the world, such as: Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and Google Cloud.

The $51 million first phase of ML5 is expected to provide a capacity of 500 cabinet equivalents and colocation space of approximately 15,000 square feet (1,400 square meters). Upon completion of the planned future phases, ML5 is expected to provide total capacity of more than 1,450 cabinet equivalents and colocation space of more than 45,000 square feet (4,200 square meters).

The ML5 IBX is the fourth data center for Equinix in Italy.


Windstream reports Q2 revenue of $1.2 billion

Windstream reported Q2 preliminary total revenues and sales of $1.185 billion, operating income of $24.8 million and Adjusted OIBDAR of $424 million, representing the third consecutive quarter of sequential growth in Adjusted OIBDAR as total cash operating costs fell by 9 percent year-over-year. Adjusted OIBDAR margin was 35.8 percent, an increase of 80 basis points year-over-year and an increase of 60 basis points sequentially.

Adjusted OIBDAR excludes approximately $4.5 million in COVID-19 related costs, which primarily consisted of pay premiums for its field technicians.

For the first six months of the year, the company's Kinetic division added over 40,000 net new broadband subscribers, surpassing the company’s previous full-year guidance of 40,000 new broadband subscribers. As a result, the company is increasing its 2020 full-year guidance to 60,000 net broadband subscribers.

Kinetic high-speed data revenues have now grown for two consecutive quarters. As a result, Kinetic’s total consumer revenues also grew sequentially and Kinetic service revenues reached $502 million during the quarter. Kinetic segment contribution margin of $291 million in the quarter includes the COVID-19 costs incurred.

Enterprise service revenues were $577 million in the quarter as strategic revenues reached 15 percent of total Enterprise service revenues during the quarter, an increase of 24 percent year-over-year. Enterprise segment contribution margin was 20.4 percent, essentially flat year-over-year and up 150 basis points sequentially.

Wholesale service revenues totaled $86 million in the quarter and segment contribution margin was $62 million, essentially unchanged from the first quarter of 2020.