OIDA Showcase set for 18 - 20 August

The OSA Industry Development Associates (OIDA) will host the first all-virtual Technology Showcase for member companies to present their latest innovations in optics and photonics and solutions to global challenges, 18 – 20 August 2020.

Over the course of the three-day virtual event, nine companies will each have 15 minutes to demonstrate their technologies to a worldwide audience and engage with attendees in breakout rooms for networking and in-depth conversations. The showcase and networking are free and open to the public.

“OIDA is pleased to offer an opportunity for our member companies to introduce their new tools, instruments and systems to a virtual audience,” said Simin Cai, OIDA Council Chair and President and CEO, Go!Foton, USA. “The presentations are intended to encourage awareness and exchange of information to further advance these technologies in the marketplace. This is a trial effort to serve companies impacted by restrictions with onsite exhibitions due to the covid-19 pandemic.”

The technical presentations include positioning equipment for automated optical device manufacturing, meeting the challenges in spectral testing of photonic integrated circuits, extended contact translation stage technology and more. Attendees can register at no cost for all or individual presentations and networking sessions.

The following nine companies are participating in showcase presentations with subject matter experts:

Tuesday, 18 August, 11:00 – 13:00 EDT

• Aerotech, Inc., USA
• Corning Optical Communications, USA
• DenseLight Semiconductors, Singapore

Wednesday, 19 August, 11:00 – 13:00 EDT

• EXFO, Canada
• Intivac Thin Film, USA
• LightPath Technologies, USA

Thursday, 20 August, 11:00 – 13:00 EDT

• MPB Communications, Canada
• Optiwave, Canada
• Optosigma, USA

https://www.osa.org/en-us/meetings/industry_events/oida_technology_showcase/

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Orange enters strategic partnership with Google Cloud

Orange has entered into a strategic partnership with Google Cloud.

The collaboration aims to accelerate the transformation of Orange’s IT infrastructure and the development of future cloud services, in particular edge computing.

Under the partnership, Google will provide its know-how in cutting-edge cloud technologies, world-class analytics and AI tools, as well as proven digital transformation methodology and dedicated resources. Orange will contribute its deep expertise in information and communication technology services and its multi-national network infrastructure. Orange and Google Cloud will jointly create an Innovation Lab and a Center of Excellence which will provide Google Cloud support for Orange France and other Orange affiliates as they engage in their cloud transformation.

The companies said their agreement signals a firm commitment to use AI and data to increase the pace of transformation across Orange’s European footprint, placing data at the heart of the Group’s innovation model. To do this, Orange plans to build a next-generation data analytics and machine-learning platform with Google technologies.

The partnership will also work on the development of future edge computing services as 5G networks are rolled out across Europe and cloud computing increasingly benefits from integration into the network. Edge computing is set to become key in the race to meet new consumer and enterprise requirements for low-latency and high-speed services. The cooperation will combine the strengths of Google Cloud and Orange to provide flexible, secure and cutting-edge solutions for the B2B, Wholesale and B2C markets. It will contribute to the enhanced connectivity offerings that Orange provides to its wholesale, B2B and retail customers.

Stéphane Richard, Chairman and CEO of Orange, said: “Orange is a pioneer of digital transformation and is pleased to partner with Google to accelerate its data and AI transformation and continue towards a better service for its customers. Google has been a long term partner of Orange and, as Google is eager to invest in Europe - and especially in France - to develop new datacenters, this is the perfect time to work on new services and opportunities in French and European markets.”

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, said: “The strength of Orange’s network, combined with Google Cloud’s platform, will help pave the way for new advanced cloud and edge computing services for the telecommunications industry in Europe. We look forward to working together with Orange to bring new services and applications to customers and businesses alike, while also continuing to grow our support for European enterprises in their digital transformation journeys.”

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Greece's OTEGLOBE upgrades IP backbone with Cisco 400G line cards

OTEGLOBE is upgrading its Cisco ASR 9900 routers with 400G Cisco ASR 9900 5th Generation Line Cards.

Headquartered in Athens, Greece, OTEGLOBE is a network backbone operator delivering transport, peering, and interconnect services throughout South-eastern Europe. It is also the wholesale carrier that reaches Western Europe through Greece over a fully mesh optical backbone network.

“At OTEGLOBE, we are determined to continue to lead the industry in innovation and invest in the high-caliber technologies that enable us to offer the best services to our customers,” said Panagiota Βosdogianni, CTO, OTEGLOBE. “By introducing Cisco’s 400 GbE technology to our IP core network, we can respond seamlessly to traffic bursts during peak hours and accommodate even our largest customers’ needs with simplification, economic scale, improved flexibility, and an optimal customer experience.”

“With these latest network enhancements, we are providing OTEGLOBE with a long-term growth platform that scales ahead of the demand they’re seeing today and what they can anticipate in the years ahead,” said Jim Scott, Vice President, Cisco EMEAR Service Provider. “Together, we share a passion for connecting the unconnected, and offering the highest level of services to pave the way for the internet for the future.”

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SiTime debuts MEMS oscillator for 100G - 800G optical modules

SiTime has begun sampling a differential MEMS oscillator for use in 100G - 800G optical modules used in data center switches, telecom routers, edge servers, AI/graphics cards, and storage controllers.

The new SiT9501 differential MEMS oscillator which is based on SiTime’s newly launched third generation MEMS technology.

“Over the past 15 years, SiTime has developed and shipped two generations of MEMS resonators that are used in all our oscillator shipments to date. Our third generation MEMS is now ready and delivers up to 7 times better phase noise at half the power,” said Rajesh Vashist, CEO of SiTime. “The SiT9501 is the first of many products to use this technology and continues our tradition of delivering dramatic performance enhancements in every product generation. In space constrained applications such as optical modules, the SiT9501 delivers an unmatched combination of higher performance and smaller size.”

In optical modules, a third of the PCB area is consumed by the optical sub-assembly, leaving little room for data processing electronics, and making small size a critical factor in oscillator selection. SiTime said its new SiT9501 differential oscillator solves both key issues by offering the lowest jitter in the presence of environmental stressors, and the smallest size.

Features of the SiT9501 Differential MEMS Oscillator

• Popular networking frequencies from 25 MHz to 644.53125 MHz
• 70 femtoseconds of RMS phase jitter
• 2.0 x 1.6 mm package, the industry’s smallest. Also available in other industry standard packages.
• Wide temperature range, from -40 to +105°C
• On-chip voltage regulators to filter power-supply noise, enhancing power integrity for module designs
• Innovative FlexSwing driver reduces power consumption by 30% and integrates source-bias LVPECL resistors
• One-stop-shop for Differential Timing

The SiT9501 oscillator is sampling now. Production quantities are planned to be available in Q1 2021. Pricing is provided upon request.
https://www.sitime.com/datasheet/SiT9501

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SPIE and University of Glasgow announce quantum photonics program

SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, and the University of Glasgow announced the establishment of the SPIE Early Career Researcher Accelerator Fund in Quantum Photonics.

A $500,000 gift from the SPIE Endowment Matching Program will be matched 100% by the University. The program will support a diverse group of graduate students working in the field of quantum photonics and will be managed by Professor Daniele Faccio, Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies, and Kelvin Chair of Natural Philosophy Professor Miles Padgett.

The fund will create two new programs at the University: an annual SPIE Early Career Researcher in Quantum Photonics Scholarship will be awarded to an outstanding University of Glasgow graduate student who is in the process of completing their studies. In addition, the SPIE Global Early Career Research program will support outgoing and incoming placements at and from the University as part of its ongoing collaboration with leading quantum-photonics research groups across the globe. Each year, the program will pair several University early-career researchers with counterparts from outside laboratories for six-month-long shared projects.

“We are delighted to be participating in these exciting endeavors with the University of Glasgow,” said SPIE President John Greivenkamp. “The interactive placements will offer transformative opportunities the university’s academic and industry-based researchers, and, together with the annual scholarship, will develop well-prepared, knowledgeable early-career researchers who will drive the future of the quantum industry.”

“We’re pleased and proud to be establishing the Early Career Researcher Accelerator Fund in Quantum Photonics thanks to SPIE’s generous gift, which we’re very happy to match with our own funding,” said Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Glasgow:. “The University’s quantum photonics expertise is world-leading, and our researchers have found ways to see through walls, capture images at a trillion frames per second, and take the very first pictures of quantum entanglement in action. This additional funding will help the University train a new generation of graduate students to make valuable contributions to academia and industry and inspire them to make their own amazing research breakthroughs.”

https://www.spie.org/news/spie-and-university-of-glasgow-announce-one-million-dollar-quantum-photonics-program-

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CyrusOne says data center leasing market remains strong

CyrusOne reported revenue of $256.4 million for the second quarter, compared to $251.5 million for the same period in 2019, an increase of 2%. The increase in revenue was driven primarily by a 7% increase in occupied CSF, lease termination fees totaling $3.0 million, and additional interconnection services, partially offset by the impact of equipment sales and rent churn. Revenue in the second quarter of 2020 included $6.9 million of equipment sales, compared to $17.1 million of equipment sales for the same period in 2019. Net income was $45.0 million for the second quarter, compared to net loss of $(8.5) million in the same period in 2019.

“We had another very strong leasing quarter with broad demand across our markets in the U.S. and Europe, and the nearly $100 million revenue backlog positions us well for growth in 2021 and beyond,” said Bruce Duncan, president and chief executive officer of CyrusOne. “We also continue to strengthen our balance sheet, and our $1.5 billion in available liquidity, including more than $400 million in forward equity, gives us significant capacity to fund our development pipeline while managing our leverage.”

Some highlights:

• Leased 22 megawatts   and 150,000 colocation square feet (CSF) in the second quarter, totaling $37 million in annualized GAAP revenue
• Balanced geographical mix with 51% of annualized GAAP revenue totaling $19 million signed across European markets, includes exercise of previously disclosed (in 3Q'19) paid reservation for 4.5 MW totaling approximately $5.5 million in annualized GAAP revenue
• Backlog of $97 million in annualized GAAP revenue as of the end of the second quarter, the highest quarter-end backlog in the company’s history, representing approximately $710 million in total contract value
• During Q2, CyrusOne completed construction on 212,000 CSF and 27 MW of power capacity in San Antonio, Phoenix, Northern Virginia, and London. 
• Percentage CSF leased as of the end of the second quarter was 88% for stabilized properties8 and 83% overall. 
• CyrusOne has development projects underway in Frankfurt, Dublin, London, Northern Virginia, San Antonio, the New York Metro area, and Council Bluffs (IA) that are expected to add approximately 336,000 CSF and 82 MW of power capacity plus 337,000 square feet of powered shell.

CyrusOne  

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ServiceNow is now on a $4 billion subscription annual run rate

ServiceNow reported Q2 subscription revenues of $1,016 million, representing 30% year-over-year growth, 32% adjusted for constant currency. Net income was $41 million, or $0.21 per share.

During the quarter, ServiceNow closed 40 transactions with more than $1 million, including two transactions over $10 million, in net new annual contract value (ACV). The company now has 964 total customers with more than $1 million in ACV, representing 26% year-over-year growth in customers.

“ServiceNow is leading the workflow revolution, proven by our very strong Q2 results,” said ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott. “Businesses need to rapidly digitize workflows to deliver great experiences for their customers, employees, and partners. We are the strategic workflow authority helping our customers solve once-in-a-generation challenges and capitalize on the immense opportunities of digital transformation. Every day we are manifesting our purpose — making the world of work, work better for people — on our journey to becoming the defining enterprise software company of the 21st century.”

“In Q2, we achieved our $4 billion revenues run rate milestone. We exceeded the high end of our subscription revenues and billings guidance, while continuing to drive margin expansion and strong free cash flow,” said ServiceNow CFO Gina Mastantuono. “Our best-in-class renewal rate remained at 97%, and customers continue to expand on the Now Platform, giving us conviction to raise our growth and profitability guidance for the year. I am confident in our ability to deliver our second half.”

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Ermetic raises $17 million for cloud policy management

Ermetic, a start-up with offices in Palo Alto and Tel Aviv, raised $17.25 million in Series A funding for its work in cloud access risk mitigation

Ermetic says its analytics-based solution prevents cloud data breaches by automating the detection and remediation of identity and access risks in Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings from Amazon, Google and Microsoft. It automatically discovers all human and machine identities in the cloud, and analyzes their entitlements, roles and policies using a continuous lifecycle approach. By combining analytics with granular, full stack insight, Ermetic makes it possible to enforce least privilege access at scale even in the most complex cloud environments.

The funding round was led by Accel, and supported by Glilot Capital Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Target Global, the company’s $10M seed round investors.

“Until now, customers have been using retrofitted tools to try to manage cloud infrastructure accounts and entitlements. Ermetic has developed a cloud native alternative that uses analytics to consistently manage permissions and enforce least-privilege access,” said Shai Morag, CEO of Ermetic. “We are pleased to welcome Accel as an investor and Andrei Brasoveanu to our Board. This capital infusion will help us capture a large share of the emerging market known as Cloud Infrastructure Entitlements Management.”

https://ermetic.com/

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MACOM posts revenue of $137 million, up 27% yoy

MACOM reported revenue of $137.3 million, an increase of 26.7% compared to $108.3 million in the previous year fiscal third quarter and an increase of 8.6% compared to $126.4 million in the prior fiscal quarter. Gross margin was 51.6%, compared to 31.2% in the previous year fiscal third quarter and 50.1% in the prior fiscal quarter. Net loss was $25.0 million, or $0.37 loss per diluted share, compared to net loss of $324.7 million, or $4.95 loss per diluted share, in the previous year fiscal third quarter and net loss of $10.2 million, or $0.28 loss per diluted share, in the prior fiscal quarter.

“We remain focused on engineering excellence, financial performance and execution,” said Stephen G. Daly, President and Chief Executive Officer.\

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PacketFabric appoints Dedicoat as chair, former Cisco EVP WW sales

PacketFabric appointed Chris Dedicoat, the former executive vice president of worldwide sales for Cisco, as chairman of the PacketFabric board.

Dedicoat has more than 25 years of sales and marketing experience in the networking, hardware, software and technology industries. His innovative and effective sales strategies contributed to Cisco’s leadership position in the market. Dedicoat currently sits on the board of directors for RStor, a leading provider of cloud services across any multicloud environment.

"Chris has had an incredible track record over his career and with his vast experience and global business presence, we are beyond excited to have him join our team and chair our board,” said Dave Ward, CEO PacketFabric.

PacketFabric’s highly scalable SDN platform is a private Layer 2 NaaS that delivers instant and secure connectivity at speeds from 50Mbps to multi-100Gbps.

NTT Ltd. expands cloud exchange in U.S. with Packet Fabric

Sunday, July 19, 2020  NTT, PacketFabrid  

NTT Ltd.’s Global Data Centers division, one of the world’s largest data center providers, is now offering data center customers in the U.S. access to cloud exchange services from PacketFabric. NTT’s Cloud Connect portfolio enables customers to integrate public clouds with their enterprise applications running in NTT’s data centers.

PacketFabric’s Network-as-a-Service platform leverages an automated SDN-based network architecture and a private, secure network to enable dynamic, real-time connectivity services between colocation facilities at terabit-scale. PacketFabric facilitates private network connectivity between more than 170 colocation facilities across 24 global markets and enables cost-effective, scalable network deployment via its Application Program Interface (API) and web-based portal.

NTT’s Cloud Connect portfolio provides a range of connectivity options and solution partners, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, IBM Cloud, Google Cloud Platform, and Oracle Cloud, as well as hundreds of other clouds and networks.

“We are truly a cloud exchange-neutral data center that offers our customers best-in-class cloud connectivity solutions,” said Doug Adams, President and CEO of NTT Ltd.’s Global Data Centers Americas division (formerly known as RagingWire Data Centers). “With options such as PacketFabric to choose from, hyperscale and enterprise companies will find a cloud exchange provider that provides the best experience for them.”

NTT operates the third-largest data center platform in the world, with over 160 data centers spanning more than 20 countries and regions. NTT Ltd.’s Global Data Centers Americas division operates data centers in Ashburn, Virginia; Dallas, Texas; and Sacramento, California, with new data center campuses under construction in Silicon Valley, California; Chicago, Illinois; and Hillsboro, Oregon.

PacketFabric appoints Dave Ward as CTO

Tuesday, April 21, 2020  People  

PacketFabric, which operates a Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) platform for providing data center interconnects, named Dave Ward as its new CEO.

Ward joins PacketFabric from Cisco, where he was the company’s Chief Technology Officer of Engineering, Chief Architect and a Senior Vice President at Cisco’s Networking and Security Business.

While at Cisco, Ward and his engineering teams built numerous hardware and software products, including networking orchestration and automation, virtualized and cloud-native services, cloud networking and security products, 5G Networking and system architectures, and IoT-based solutions for smart cities, healthcare, conservation, media and entertainment.  He joined Cisco in 1999 when the company acquired the Internet Engineering Group.

Ward is also one of two individuals to be both Cisco and Juniper Fellows working on the operating system and next-generation routing systems, including ASICS, Optics, and network APIs and SDN.

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