OSA Laser Congress underway this week

The all-virtual, web conference format OSA Laser Congress takes place this week,  13 – 16 October 2020. Key topics will be the next generation of laser-based manufacturing technologies and the history and future of solid state lasers

Plenary speaker Jan Kleinert, Research Director at Electro-Scientific Industries (ESI), a division of MKS Instruments, Inc., USA, will share latest innovations in laser based manufacturing technologies in his talk titled “From µs to fs, kHz to GHz: laser micromachining in the microelectronics industry.” Understanding the underlying highly nonlinear laser material interaction dynamics is key to keeping pace with faster, better and cheaper technologies.

“A Journey through 60 Years of Solid State Lasers” is the featured topic of the plenary talk by Peter F. Moulton, senior staff, Laser Applications and Applications Group at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, MA, USA. Solid state lasers have achieved a dominant role in both scientific and industrial applications. Moulton will review 60 years of laser development and future applications.

The OSA Laser Congress plenary program is scheduled for Tuesday, 13 October, 08:00 – 10:00 EDT.

https://www.osa.org/en-us/meetings/osa_meetings/laser_congress/registration/

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CommScope pushes its vision for 10G cable services

 At this year's virtual SCTE event, CommScope plans to demonstrate its vision for 10G, virtualization, the access network and the connected home. 

Specifically, CommScope will be demonstrating its Virtual Headend Portfolio, which includes solutions for virtualizing the four primary planes of modern operator networks: data, video, control, and management. CommScope is adding a new range of Distributed Access Architecture (DAA) solutions to its portfolio, pushing physical processing to the fiber node. New products include more powerful node-based Remote PHY and Remote MACPHY devices. In addition, CommScope’s Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) demonstrations will show the technology’s ability to unlock the potential of 5G to compete with fixed-line services in urban and sub-urban areas.

CommScope said its vision for 10G extends throughout the connected home of the future. Ziply Fiber recently selected CommScope X5 Wi-Fi 6 extenders to enhance its wireless presence in their subscribers’ homes. The company also announced several recent additions to its extensive portfolio of DOCSIS 3.1 and Wi-Fi 6 modems and gateways.  CommScope experts will also be supporting the recently announced Wi-Fi 6E standard for delivering the next-generation of low-latency, deterministic wireless experiences for video, gaming, augmented and virtual reality, and more.

“SCTE is very different this year, but the theme of improving network capacity and speed in both the downlink and uplink is familiar and one that we’re building into important advances throughout our portfolio and in operator networks around the world,” said Morgan Kurk, CTO, CommScope. “At this year’s show, we’re demonstrating our vision for tomorrow’s cable networks—both wired and wireless, throughout the home and beyond. Our updated end-to-end portfolio is a testament to our focus on providing customers with unmatched choice as they make some of the biggest evolutionary leaps in their access and home networks.”

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U.S. Department of Defense award $600m for 5G testbeds

The U.S. Department of Defense awarded $600 million in contracts to 15 prime contractors to perform testing and evaluation of 5G technologies at five military installations across the United States. 

Five installations, including Hill Air Force Base, Utah; Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington; Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, Georgia; Naval Base San Diego; and Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, will serve as locations for the application and evaluation of a variety of 5G technologies.

"5G networks — and the technologies that will be built upon them — are an integral component of the National Defense Strategy," said Michael Kratsios, during a teleconference from the Pentagon. "We at the DOD are committed to the advancement of this critical emerging technology to improve the lethality and modernization of our force."

"Outside of the department, in order for private sector companies to test the capabilities and functionality of 5G communications, they face an onerous process — negotiating agreements with state and local officials, attaining pole permits, funding the construction of antennas, and the list goes on," Kratsios said. "At the DOD, we already have the personnel, operational capacity, facilities, scale and regulatory green light to get the job done."

The five Tranche 1 test sites were selected for their ability to provide streamlined access to site spectrum bands, mature fiber and wireless infrastructure, access to key facilities, support for new or improved infrastructure requirements, and the ability to conduct controlled experimentation with dynamic spectrum sharing.  For the Tranche 1 locations, prime contractors include AT&T, Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte Consulting LLP, Ericsson, Federated Wireless, GBL System Corp., General Dynamics Mission Systems, Inc., GE Research, Key Bridge Wireless LLC, KPMG LLP, Nokia, Oceus Networks, Scientific Research Corporation, Shared Spectrum Company and Vectrus Mission Solutions Corporation.

• In June, the department also announced seven new locations to serve as Tranche 2 test beds for additional 5G capability testing. The Tranche 2 locations include Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia; Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii; Joint Base San Antonio; the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California; Fort Hood, Texas; Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California; and Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma.

https://www.defense.gov/Explore/News/Article/Article/2378047/dod-kicks-off-worlds-largest-dual-use-5g-testing-effort/

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U.S. Army signs FirstNet for base first responders

The U.S. Army has selected FirstNet to support firefighters, law enforcement and security personnel at 72 Army installations across the U.S. and Puerto Rico. 

FirstNet is built with AT&T in public-private partnership with the First Responder Network Authority – an independent agency within the federal government.  

Under the Task Order, AT&T is delivering nearly 3,200 lines of FirstNet services, more than 3,000 FirstNet-capable devices and 700+ signal boosters to help improve indoor connectivity. 

“FirstNet is helping us improve vital communications on our installations, depots and arsenals, including during catastrophic disasters or emergencies when communications capabilities are strained. We’re adopting FirstNet because it is designed for public safety professionals with priority, preemption and highly reliable data communications that will improve our overall response and our interoperability with our civilian partners,” stated Colonel Kevin Comfort, Command Provost Marshal at Headquarters, Installation Management Command located in Joint Base San Antonio at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

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Rockley Photonics secures $50 million in funding

 Rockley Photonics, a start-up specializing in integrated optical chips and modules, has closed an additional $50 million of growth funding from leading deep-tech VCs, strategic investors, and institutional funds including Credit Suisse backed SIG-i Capital and Applied Ventures, the venture capital arm of Applied Materials, as well as existing shareholders. To date, Rockley has raised over $225 million of financing to develop its unique silicon photonics platform.

“It is testament to the strength of our technology and emerging market opportunities that we have attracted such a preeminent list of new investors to join many of our existing shareholders in this funding round,” said Andrew Rickman, chief executive officer, Rockley Photonics. “This round provides the funding for Rockley as it moves into the next exciting growth phase and develops next generation disruptive silicon photonics powered healthcare and wellness sensors and communications products for its Tier-1 customers.”

Rockley Photonics was founded by Dr. Andrew Rickman in 2013. The company has offices in Pasadena, San Jose, Oxford, Cardiff, Cork, and Helsinki.

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Telefónica UK picks Nokia's cloud-native Subscriber Data Management

Telefónica UK has selected Nokia's cloud-native Subscriber Data Management (SDM) software. Nokia will also deploy Shared Data Layer, a cloud-native database accessible via industry standard protocols to enable an open ecosystem and the integration of third party applications.

As the heart of Telefónica UK’s converged mobile core, Nokia’s SDM will securely oversee pivotal functionality for all Telefónica UK networks and services, including 5G. By controlling network data in a centralized hub and utilizing containerized micro services that have only what is required by an application to efficiently and autonomously manage all subscriber data and services, SDM increases both reliability and operational efficiencies. 

Nokia’s SDM solution serves approximately 4.8 billion subscribers and devices around the world.

Bhaskar Gorti, President of Nokia Software and Nokia Chief Digital Officer, said: “As we drive cloud-native 5G innovation together, Nokia is pleased to be building on our existing relationship with Telefónica UK by further optimizing and securing the company’s networks with Nokia’s software portfolio, and enriching the customer experience.”

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Nokia boosts its Altiplano cloud SDN platform

 Nokia is now offering Cloud Acceleration Services for its Altiplano platform, which can operate as traditional network management system, as full-featured SDN access domain controller or as open modular solution, offering selected tools and applications to control, visualize and optimize the fixed access network.

Nokia says its open, modular and fully programmable Altiplano platform allows network builders to leverage broadband networks as a platform. Cloud Acceleration Services help build and maintain personalized SDN solutions, making sure all network nodes - third party, virtual and legacy - find their place in the network

Nokia Cloud Acceleration Services cover:

• Business and technology consulting services and modeling tools help quantify the operator specific SDAN benefits and use cases.
• System integration, automated testing services and key assets like Nokia SDAN Multivendor Integration Centers and Migration Operations Centers bring the customized SDAN solution from the drawing board into reality.
• The cloud-native capabilities of the Nokia Altiplano platform, combined with Nokia’s System Integration approach and Nokia DevOps Automation Platform help operators to test and launch new features and services on the market, faster.

In addition, Nokia has added a new 1RU Lightspan DF-16G fiber node and the modular chassis Lightspan MX-6. The Lightspan MX supports VDSL and G.fast technologies, powered by the Quillion chipset and new G.fast 212 MHz line cards, to deliver symmetrical gigabit services with best-in-class vectoring performance.

Nokia expands fiber access portfolio with Lightspan MF-2 node

Wednesday, March 04, 2020  Nokia  

Nokia is expanding its fiber access portfolio with a new Lightspan MF access node designed for the 5G era, a new Beacon 6 in-home gateway that supports 5G mobile data offloading and several Nokia Bell Labs innovations that reduce latency.

Nokia’s new Lightspan MF-2 fiber access node is based on its Quillion chipset family. Some details:

• High capacity, small form factor access node fit for distributed deployments
• 10G PON today, and ready for evolution beyond
• Supports Multi-PON
• Optimized for low latency 5G Anyhaul

Nokia’s new Beacon 6 mesh WiFi solution supports Wi-Fi 6 and includes several core 5G technologies. Some details:

• Support for Wi-Fi 6 which improves the overall speed, performance and latency needed for 5G mobile offload
• Wi-Fi Certified EasyMesh and is fully interoperable with third-party Wi-Fi Certified EasyMesh products
• Includes Nokia Bell Labs low-latency innovations – PI2 algorithm and L4S

Nokia Bell Labs’ PI2 active queue management algorithm reduces excessive delays in congested networks, while L4S technology provides an “express lane” for data in network equipment to further reduce latency needed in applications like gaming and virtual reality. Operators can then use Nokia’s Software Defined Access Network solution to create a high-priority slice in the fiber access network to ensure low latency is further guaranteed from the home to the core.

“Fixed networks will be the critical technology behind 5G’s success,” said Sandra Motley, President of Fixed Networks at Nokia. “By leveraging existing FTTH and in-home Wi-Fi networks, operators will be able to deploy 5G faster and ensure a seamless, powerful 5G end-user experience is achieved.”

“Low-latency innovations like PI2 and L4S demonstrate the many ways Nokia Bell Labs continues to push the boundaries of technology innovation,” said Marcus Weldon, Nokia Corporate CTO and President of Nokia Bell Labs. “These technologies will play a critical role in the network and how end users ultimately engage with low-latency applications like gaming and AR/VR experiences. We’re excited to be the first in the industry to bring these innovations into our WiFi portfolio and offer this to customers and end users alike.”

Nokia aims Quillion chipset at next gen access

Tuesday, October 08, 2019  Nokia, Silicon  

Nokia outlined plans for a new family of chipsets to power next-generation massive scale access networks.

The forthcoming "Quillion" chipset will allow operators to introduce 10G PON in their fiber networks and to serve more users from G.fast access nodes. For next-generation fiber access networks, the Quillion chipset powers Nokia’s 16-port Multi-PON line card, which supports both GPON and NG-PON on each port. This allows operators with an existing GPON network to simply “switch on” NG-PON services on each port without recabling or disrupting the GPON service.

Nokia said Quillion is also optimized to allow for low-latency applications that are critical for 5G transport and has built-in programmability to support intents that pave the way toward automated workflows, such as network slicing for 5G transport.

In addition, the Quillion chipset supports copper infrastructure access, including the highest density G.fast and Vplus solutions on the market.

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Vivacom Bulgaria to deploy XGS-PON with Nokia

Vivacom awarded a contract to Nokia to extend its GPON network in Bulgaria and introduce XGS-PON in strategic locations. Nokia was named sole network equipment supplier.

XGS-PON allows Vivacom to offer 10 Gbps symmetrical broadband services to residential and business customers.

Vivacom, a leading fiber access provider in Bulgaria, focuses on accelerating broadband coverage across the country. The roll-out is based on Nokia Lightspan series FX.

Sandra Motley, President of Fixed Networks at Nokia, said: “We see an increasing momentum for fiber access deployments and upgrades to XGS-PON, especially now that the need for broadband access has dramatically increased. We are bringing Vivacom solutions that help it to smoothly evolve its networks by leveraging its existing assets and providing advanced capabilities for future growth.”

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Verizon Business and Cisco bring 5G Edge to stadiums

Verizon Business and Cisco are collaborating to offer solutions combining Verizon’s 5G network and 5G Edge for stadiums, arenas and event spaces.

The solutions will be powered by Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband with mobile edge computing (MEC) interfaces with the Cisco Sports and Entertainment portfolio. The joint solution integrates with a variety of Cisco innovations including: Cisco DNA Spaces for secure location analytics, Cisco switching and data center technology, connected venue analytics and more. The 5G and MEC environments will help deliver near real-time enablement and experiences.

Together, Verizon and Cisco said they can to bring these capabilities to stadiums:

• Leverage analytics to estimate wait times associated with lines at check in, restrooms and concession stands; interfaces with digital signage and mobile applications to direct patrons to alternative locations with shorter lines
• Identify crowd density and manage crowd flows with the use of digital signage and messages to venue staff to help maintain social distancing standards

“While all sports and entertainment fans are looking forward to the day they can get back to their favorite venues, many are understandably nervous about their safety in large crowds. This solution will help put minds at ease so fans can re-enter venues with the knowledge that strong steps are being taken to safeguard their wellbeing," said Aamir Hussain, SVP Chief Product Officer for Verizon Business. “This is one of the many 5G-enabled experiences powered by Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband that is changing the in-person fan experience in dozens of stadiums.”

“Our combined expertise and technology innovation is furthering the evolution of 5G, creating a dynamic offering for the industry that will redefine stadium sports and entertainment for the future,” said Jonathan Davidson, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Mass-Scale Infrastructure Group, Cisco. “With the power of 5G and MEC solutions, we can bring cloud-powered services closer to the edge for more flexible development of applications, helping venues to deliver new experiences better, faster and with more clarity and precision.”

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