Cisco boosts high-performance SD-WAN with Catalyst 8000 Series

 Cisco introduced its  Catalyst 8000 Series Edge Platform, a new high-performance routing platform to help customers accelerate cloud adoption and deliver secure and automated connectivity to applications across cloud, data center, and edge.

Cisco says its new platform allows customers to adopt cloud solutions at their own pace. It adopts a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture. Three versions are available.

• The Catalyst 8500 Series Edge Platform is aimed at data center, colocation, and aggregation sites, and features the industry’s highest performing SD-WAN offering with integrated 40G and 100G Ethernet ports in a compact single rack unit form factor. It is powered by Cisco’s third-generation Quantum Flow Processor.
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  The Catalyst 8300 Series Edge Platform is made to handle edge connectivity at branch sites, offering modular access with a diverse set of connectivity choices for customers to deliver services on-demand to quickly adapt to changing business requirements. It also provides customers with up to four times better SD-WAN service performance than the current Cisco Integrated Services Routers (ISRs). 
• The Catalyst 8000V Edge Software delivers all the same capabilities in software. It can be deployed in the cloud or virtualized on a platform such as Cisco’s 5000 Series Enterprise Network Compute System (ENCS). 
• The Cisco Catalyst Cellular Gateway helps customers deploy wireless WAN without changes to existing infrastructure.  It elevates cellular to a primary SD-WAN link option with gigabit connectivity to any cloud or location.  The initial release supports Advanced 4G LTE CAT 18 speeds, with 5G versions coming soon.   

“With the proliferation of applications, workloads and services becoming more distributed across the edge-cloud continuum, organizations are facing new realities at the WAN edge,” said JL Valente, Vice President, Product Management for Cisco’s Intent-Based Networking Group. “In building secure multicloud access architectures, IT organizations need the agility to change course and scale quickly along with the needs of business.  The Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platform bridges the WAN edge and the cloud edge, providing secure, high-performance connectivity for distributed users to any cloud while delivering IT visibility and business agility.”

 

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Telia Carrier delivers IP transit to Iron Mountain data centers

Telia Carrier will deliver new IP Transit Services to Iron Mountain Data Centers in Manassas, VA, Pittsburgh, PA, Edison, NJ and Phoenix, AZ in the US; and London, Amsterdam and Singapore internationally. The partnership provides Iron Mountain’s data center customers new options for high performance diverse connectivity in the US to global hubs in APAC and EMEA.

“Telia Carrier prides itself on customer centricity and our global network is designed to support the needs of our customers wherever they are. Through this expanded partnership with Iron Mountain Data Centers, we can meet demand for high capacity, lower-latency services from critical industries that have rigorous requirements -- like mitigating the risk of natural disasters and offering long-term scalability, to IT asset compliance and exacting global banking standards,” said Ivo Pascucci, Vice President, Global Sales, Telia Carrier. “This partnership allows us to jointly offer our Cloud and IP Transit services to large enterprise, finance, education, government and research sectors who are seeking enterprise-class facilities with secure and highly interconnected data center capacity that can scale with their business.”

Iron Mountain's global data center platform consists of 15 operational data centers across 13 markets and three regions (APAC, EMEA & North America). Including leasable capacity and land and buildings held for future development, Iron Mountain's data center platform can support more than 350 megawatts of IT capacity at full build-out.

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Lightwave Logic develops photo-stable organic polymer for optical modulators

Lightwave Logic announced photo-stable organic polymer material for use in the company's next-generation modulators. The technology will be trialed with potential customers under NDA.

Lightwave Logic said its materials have shown high tolerance to high-intensity infrared light, common in a fiber optic communications environment and increasingly important as higher density of devices access the network, directly resulting in higher intensity infrared light levels. 

Preliminary results suggest that Lightwave Logic's recently developed electro-optic polymer material, designed based on potential customer input, displays unrivaled light tolerance (also known as photostability) compared to any organic commercial solution in use today. The company has conducted a range of measurements as it qualifies new materials to add into its device designs for customer evaluation, with further photostability testing planned.

"We continue to see exceptional performance from our organic polymer materials, unrivaled by any organic commercial solution in use at present," said Dr. Michael Lebby, Chief Executive Officer of Lightwave Logic. "These results not only meet our internal criteria today, but address potential customer feedback as we continuously enhance our technology suite."

http://irdirect.net/prviewer/release/id/4495854

Lightwave Logic's 50 Gbaud polymer modulator spans 10km

Sunday, December 16, 2018  Lightwave Logic  

Lightwave Logic announced a 50 Gbaud polymer modulator designed for fiber links of 10 km or longer.

The 50 Gbaud device is capable of base data rates of 100 Gbps when used with PAM-4 modulation, and of supporting aggregate data rates of 400 Gbps when implemented in an array.

The company its proprietary electro-optic polymers enable optical components with superior speed, stability, low power and cost-efficiency.

Lightwave Logic CEO Michael Lebby said, "While we explore other multi-billion dollar markets the benchmark market opportunity for fiber optic link distances of 10km and greater is worth over $1B over the next decade. As data rates increase, we see a growing technology gap at these longer reaches that our modulators are ideally suited to fill."

http://lightwavelogic.com/

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Ericsson's network sales rise 13% in Q3

Ericsson reported Q3 sales of SEK 57.5 (57.1) billion, up 7% YoY when adjusted for comparable units and currency.

The company said growth was driven by 5G sales in mainland China.

Börje Ekholm, President and CEO of Ericsson, states: "We continue to win footprint in several markets leveraging our competitive 5G portfolio. The gross margin[1] improved in all segments in the third quarter and reached 43.2% (37.8%), the highest since 2006. With the acquisition of Cradlepoint, expected to close in Q4, we are making further progress in our strategy to build an enterprise business. Covid-19 has so far had limited impact on our business, but we are closely monitoring any signs of a change in the situation. The year to date results strengthen our confidence in delivering on the 2020 Group target.

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  Networks grew organically by 13% and reported a gross margin of 46.7% (41.6%), reflecting high activity levels in North East Asia and North America. Underlying business fundamentals remain strong in North America driven by consolidation in the US operator market, pending spectrum auctions, and increased demand for 5G. The 5G contracts in Mainland China have developed according to plan, contributing positively to profits in Q3 and are expected to improve further. Ericsson's business in Europe grew based on several footprint gains. While the pandemic has hurt revenues for several of  customers, and in some cases this has led to a reduction of capex, we have not seen any negative impact on our business, largely due to footprint gains. However, the pandemic negatively impacted sales in Latin America and Africa.
• Digital Services continued to make good progress on the execution of the turnaround plan, transforming the business and increasing software sales. The gross margin[1] improved to 43.5% (38.3%), supported by increased software sales and improvements in the underlying business. Our cloud-native 5G core portfolio shows very positive momentum with a high win-ratio and a significant number of new customer contracts. We are selectively increasing R&D investments to accelerate our growth portfolio to capture market opportunities. Sales in Ericsson's legacy portfolio is declining faster than earlier predicted. In the short term, this shortfall will not be compensated by the growth in new offerings and therefore our sales volume is lower than expected. With weaker sales in combination with higher R&D investments, there is a risk of further delay in reaching the 2020 operating margin target for Digital Services.
• Managed Services delivered a gross margin[1] of 20.1% (17.9%). The 4Q rolling operating margin[1] is 7.4%. Sales declined mainly due to the US operator consolidation. 
• Emerging Business and Other reported a gross margin of 30.5% (20.5%). IoT platform sales grew by more than 40% despite an impact on demand from Covid-19. 

Ericsson 5G status on October 21: 65 live networks and 112 commercial agreements with unique operators – Strong growth in North East Asia and continued busi

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ADVA posts Q3 revenue of EUR 146.7 million

ADVA reported Q3 revenues of EUR 146.7 million, up 1.1% compared to Q2 2020 and up by 1.6% compared to EUR 144.3 million in the same year-ago period.

Pro forma gross profit in Q3 2020 increased by 3.4% reaching EUR 51.9 million (35.4% of revenues) compared to EUR 50.2 million (34.6% of revenues) in Q2 2020 and by 5.8% compared to EUR 49.1 million (34.0% of revenues) in the year-ago quarter. The increase was mainly due to the stronger euro compared to the US dollar. Furthermore, the relocation of production facilities out of China resulted in lower US tariffs compared to the year-ago quarter.

Net income was EUR 6.7 million in Q3 2020, 12.6% down from EUR 7.6 million in Q2 2020 but grew significantly by 204.6% from a net income of EUR 2.2 million in Q3 2019. The decrease compared to Q2 2020 is mainly due to the negative effects from currency translation.

“Having already delivered very positive figures in the second quarter, we were able to further increase both revenue and profitability in Q3. Once again, we were able to demonstrate that our solutions are very competitive and have won numerous new customers,” commented Brian Protiva, CEO, ADVA. “This expansion of our footprint in the global network infrastructure is of long-term importance. Our active cost management, reduced travel and a comparatively weaker US dollar provide additional positive effects. We are generating cash and reduced our net debt significantly. As such, we feel well prepared to master the challenges ahead.”

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Telia picks Nokia as exclusive 5G RAN provider in Finland

Telia named Nokia as its exclusive provider of 5G RAN in Finland in a five-year deal. Nokia has also been chosen as the supplier of 5G standalone (SA) core in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden in the Nordic and Baltic regions. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The upgrade in Finland will see the modernization of at 7,500 mobile sites. Nokia’s 5G core and Cloud Packet Core (CPC) portfolios will also enable Telia to build a scalable, unified 5G SA core network, an expansion of the current core network from Nokia.

Telia activated the first pre-commercial 5G networks in Helsinki, Vantaa and Oulu in Finland in September 2018. The carrier launched commercial 5G at the beginning of 2019, and the accelerated roll-out has continued to 42 cities in Finland, with a population coverage of over 25 percent. 

Allison Kirkby, President and CEO of Telia Company, says: “Our networks have never been more important and are the foundation of a thriving digital economy. Nokia is our sole supplier of 5G standalone core in all markets and of radio network technology in Finland. We share a long history of close collaboration with Nokia, particularly in Finland, and I look forward to continuing this partnership by delivering the best network for our subscribers.”

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Xilinx posts sales of $767 million - strength in data center and automotive

 Xilinx reported revenues of $767 million for the second quarter of its fiscal year 2021, up 5% sequentially but down 8% from the same period last year.

GAAP net income for the quarter was $194 million, or $0.79 per diluted share. Non-GAAP net income was $203 million, or $0.82 per diluted share.

“We are pleased with our fiscal second quarter performance, which came in above the mid-point of guidance,” said Xilinx president and CEO Victor Peng. “Our strong results were driven by another record quarter in our Data Center Group and Aerospace & Defense businesses, as well as improvement in our Automotive and Broadcast end markets. In addition, RFSoC sales ramped meaningfully with a tier-1 wireless OEM customer for 5G radio deployment in North America.

“Our strategic transformation to an adaptive platform company continues with healthy design win momentum during the quarter. Notable customer wins included a marquee SmartNIC design win with a U.S. tier-1 hyperscaler, as well as Zynq MPSoC design wins with Subaru and Continental. We also remain on track with our Versal program ramp with a leading wireless OEM later this year.”

“Xilinx business continued to strengthen in fiscal Q2, buoyed by the economic recovery and increasing demand across our broad set of end markets,” said Xilinx CFO Brice Hill. “This drove better than expected sequential revenue growth of 5% and GAAP operating income growth of 17%, resulting in $232 million of free cash flow and $93 million in capital return to stockholders with our quarterly dividend. Our financial position is strong and we remain confident as we prepare to expand the Zynq and Versal product lines and capture additional growth opportunities.”

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NETGEAR's Q3 sales leap 42% to $378 million

NETGEAR reported Q3 net revenue of $378.1 million, an increase of 42.2% from the comparable prior year quarter. Third quarter 2020 non-GAAP net income per diluted share amounted to $1.13, as compared to $0.65 in the comparable prior year quarter.

Patrick Lo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NETGEAR, commented, “The robust demand for WiFi that reliably covers the entire household continued in Q3 and signs point to this trend continuing well into next year. We entered the quarter sharply focused on delivering to this demand and our team worked tightly with our supply chain and retail partners to produce outstanding results. In Q3 we grew revenue 42% year over year to $378 million. With the elevated revenue level unlocking leverage in the business, the result was record earnings per share. As the pandemic persists, it is clear that families are adapting their lives to accommodate the need to pursue more of their daily activities virtually from home. This “more from home” transition is stretching well beyond work and school to include movie premieres, doctor visits, grocery shopping, fitness classes and visiting loved ones, and they now all require a whole home, fast and reliable WiFi connection. ”

Mr. Lo continued, “This trend naturally buoys the CHP side of the business, where our growth is strong across wireless routers and mesh systems and mobile hot spots. We continued to adapt our SMB offerings in Q3 to drive more sophisticated home office setups, including low port count switches and commercial grade WiFi, generating 23% sequential growth. In Q3 we added seventy six thousand subscribers for a total of three hundred and sixty nine thousand, and have already exceeded our full year goal of doubling our subscribers from the end of last year. We are poised to continue this momentum.”

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