Facebook tests trans-Atlantic 700 Gbps wavelength with Infinera's ICE6

 Facebook achieved two significant optical transmission records during recent testing of Infinera's ICE6 optical engine over the MAREA trans-Atlantic cable system:

MAREA hero results over 6,640 km

• 30 Tbps of total capacity on a single fiber pair
• 700 Gbps data rate per wavelength

MAREA deployable results over 6,640 km:

• 28 Tbps of total capacity on a single fiber pair
• Up to 650 Gbps data rate per wavelength

The hero result is considered maximum performance because it offers no additional deployment margin.

The MAREA cable system, which spans 6,640 km from Bilbao to Virginia Beach, has been used by multiple vendors for testing state-of-the-art equipment and is considered the benchmark for testing because it was specifically optimized for maximum capacity per fiber pair. MAREA uses a low-loss optical fiber type based on a pure silica core. It also features short amplifier spacing of 56 km.

Infinera cited several factors for the record-breaking performance of its ICE6 engine in this trial, including the use of Nyquist subcarriers, the advantage of long code words for probablistic constellation shaping (PC), nonlinear algorithms and mitigation techniques (e.g., super-Gaussian distributions), as well as dynamic bandwidth allocation. 

In a blog post, Steve Grubb, Global Network Optical Architect, states "the higher data rate per wave, the better the cost per bit – and that includes the fact that we need fewer transponders that consume less rack space and less electrical power. The 28 Tb/s option with ICE6 reduces the network element count by 60% vs. the boxes previously required for 24 Tb/s…that’s a huge improvement, especially in cable landing stations where real estate and power are often at a premium."

https://www.infinera.com/blog/ice6-trial-on-marea-trans-atlantic-cable-yields-two-record-results/tag/submarine/

Cisco's NCS 1004 platform tested over MAREA subsea cable

Tuesday, September 24, 2019  Cisco, Marea  

Cisco's NCS 1004 platform was successfully tested over MAREA, the 6,600 km subsea cable system connecting the United States to southern Europe (Virginia Beach, Virginia to Bilbao, Spain). Several channel capacity combinations were tested to maximize the performance and spectral efficiency on the cable. For the Virginia to Bilbao trial, 400G error-free performance was demonstrated; channels with record spectral efficiency of 6.445 b/s/Hz were achieved,...

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MAREA transatlantic cable sets record: 26.2 Tbps over 6,000 km

Monday, February 25, 2019  Infinera, Subsea  

A team of researchers from Infinera has achieved new benchmarks for efficiency for transatlantic fiber optic cables. By employing 16QAM modulation on the MAREA transatlantic cable, the researchers generated signal speeds topping out at 26.2 terabits per second, a 20 percent increase over what the cable designers originally thought feasible. By comparison, the most common way signals are modulated for MAREA today only reaches 9.5 terabits per second....

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AWS to lease fiber pair on Marea's transatlantic cable

Wednesday, January 23, 2019  AWS  

Amazon Web Services (AWS) signed an IRU agreement for the use of a fiber pair on MAREA, the transatlantic submarine cable partially owned by Telxius. MAREA is the highest capacity submarine cable in the world and provides the lowest latency route between the U.S. and Southern Europe. The route is further south than other transatlantic cables, with landing points in Virginia Beach and Sopelana, Spain. “We have developed a deep relationship with...

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Microsoft and Facebook test 400G on trans-Atlantic cable

Thursday, December 13, 2018  Acacia, Subsea  

A field demonstration conducted by Acacia Communications, in collaboration with Microsoft and Facebook, achieved the first 400G single carrier DWDM transmission over the 6,600 km Marea submarine cable between Virginia Beach, Virginia and Bilbao, Spain. The transmission employed Acacia’s AC1200 coherent module, which is powered by its Pico digital signal processor.  Utilizing Acacia’s patented Fractional QAM modulation, the field demonstration...

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IDC: Public cloud IT infrastructure revenue growth stays strong

Vendor revenue from sales of IT infrastructure products (server, enterprise storage, and Ethernet switch) for cloud environments, including public and private cloud, increased 9.4% year over year in the third quarter of 2020 (3Q20), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Cloud IT Infrastructure Tracker. Investments in traditional, non-cloud, IT infrastructure declined -8.3% year over year in 3Q20.

Some highlights:

• Spending on public cloud IT infrastructure increased 13.1% year over year in 3Q20, reaching $13.3 billion. During the previous quarter spending on public cloud IT infrastructure exceeded non-cloud IT infrastructure spending for the first time ever, but non-cloud IT infrastructure spending was back on top in 3Q20 at $13.7 billion. 
• IDC expects public cloud IT infrastructure spending to surpass non-cloud IT infrastructure spending again in the near future and expand its lead going forward.
• Spending on private cloud infrastructure increased 0.6% year over year in 3Q20 to $5.0 billion with on-premises private clouds accounting for 63.2% of this amount.
• IDC believes the hardware infrastructure market has reached a tipping point and cloud environments will continue to account for an increasingly greater share of overall spending. 
• Within cloud deployment environments in 2020, compute platforms will remain the largest segment (49.1%) of spending, growing at 2.3% to $36.4 billion while storage platforms will be the fastest growing segment with spending increasing 27.4% to $29.2 billion, and the Ethernet switch segment will grow 4.0% year over year to $8.5 billion.
• Spending on cloud IT infrastructure increased across most regions in 3Q20, with the highest annual growth rates in Canada (32.8%), China (29.4%), and Latin America (23.4%). Growth in the United States was 4.7%. Japan and Western Europe declined by -6.7% and -3.4%, respectively. In all regions except Canada and Japan, growth in public cloud infrastructure exceeded growth in private cloud IT.
• Inspur, Huawei, and Lenovo had double-digit year-over-year growth while most other major vendors, including the ODM Direct group of vendors, had single-digit growth. Cisco was the only major vendor with a year-over-year decline.

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IDC: PC sales rocket ahead at 26% growth rate

 Due to ongoing work-from-home and school-from-home trends during the pandemic, global sales of traditional PCs (inclusive of desktops, notebooks, and workstations) experienced a 26.1% year over year growth during Q4 2020 to 91.6 million units, according to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. The same category of devices grew 13.1% year over year for the full year 2020 with the catalysts being work from home, remote learning, and restored consumer demand.

"Every segment of the supply chain was stretched to its limits as production once again lagged behind demand during the quarter," said Jitesh Ubrani research manager for IDC's Mobile Device Trackers. "Not only were PC makers and ODMs dealing with component and production capacity shortages, but logistics remained an issue as vendors were forced to resort to air freight, upping costs at the expense of reducing delivery times."

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS47274421

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Samsung's flagship 5G processor/modem boasts 7.65 Gbps in mmWave

Samsung announced mass production of its flagship Exynos 2100 mobile processor built on an advanced 5nm EUV process technology, which enables 20-percent lower power consumption or 10-percent higher overall performance than its preceding 7nm predecessor. 

The Exynos 2100 chip offers improved cache memory utilization and a stronger scheduler. The octa-core CPU comes in an improved tri-cluster structure made up of a single powerful Arm Cortex-X1 core that runs at up to 2.9GHz, three high-performing Cortex-A78 cores and four power-efficient Cortex-A55 cores delivering more than 30-percent enhancement in multi-core performance than the predecessor.CThe newly-designed tri-core NPU has architectural enhancements such as minimizing unnecessary operations for high effective utilization and support for feature-map and weight compression. Exynos 2100 can perform up to 26-trillion-operations-per-second (TOPS) with more than twice the power efficiency than the previous generation. 

Samsung's Exynos 2100’s advanced image signal processor (ISP) supports camera resolutions of up to 200-megapixels (Mp). It can connect up to six individual sensors and is able to process four concurrently for richer multi-camera experiences. With a multi-camera and frame processor (MCFP), the ISP can combine feeds from multiple cameras to improve zoom performance, enhance image quality for ultra-wide shots and more. With AI acceleration, the ISP offers a content-aware feature that quickly and seamlessly recognizes scenes, faces and objects and optimally adjusts the camera settings to capture the image with fuller detail.

The Exynos 2100’s integrated 5G modem supports 5G’s sub-6GHz and mmWave spectrums from 2G GSM/CDMA, 3G WCDMA and 4G LTE, for strong network coverage and reliability. The modem delivers a maximum downlink speed of up to 5.1 Gbps in sub-6-gigahertz (GHz) and 7.35Gbps in mmWave, or up to 3.0Gbps in 4G networks with 1024 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) support.

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ADVA adds disaggregated packet networking to Ensemble Harmony Ecosystem

ADVA's Ensemble Harmony Ecosystem will now include disaggregated packet networking. Alpha Networks, Delta, Edgecore Networks and UfiSpace have all joined the open multi-vendor program. Each new member offers high-performance hardware platforms proven to interoperate with ADVA’s Ensemble Activator, a carrier-grade network operating system (NOS) specifically designed for white box switches. The Ensemble Harmony Ecosystem helps to accelerate softwarization and virtualization by offering service providers and enterprises access to the industry’s most comprehensive portfolio of flexible and disaggregated networking technologies. The addition of white box switch suppliers means it now delivers even more value to customers and helps to further simplify their transition to software-driven networking.

“Since the inception of NFV, our Ensemble Harmony Ecosystem has led the way, delivering unparalleled variety and choice of onboarded virtual network functions (VNFs). Now we’re opening up this unique multi-vendor environment to include some of the industry’s most innovative hardware suppliers, ensuring easy interoperability and new levels of collaboration for the rapid development of future services,” said James Buchanan, GM, Edge Cloud, ADVA.

With the addition of leading hardware suppliers, ADVA’s open Ensemble Harmony Ecosystem provides everything service providers and businesses require to harness the power of disaggregated networking. Each of the new member companies offers highly efficient white box technology proven to interoperate successfully with ADVA’s Ensemble Activator, the first NOS designed for bare-metal switches. Already successful in trials with multiple global mobile network operators, including Telefónica and Vodafone, Ensemble Activator is the market’s most versatile operating system for disaggregated cell site gateways. When combined with Ensemble Harmony partner hardware, it offers new levels of agility and freedom and a clear route to cost-effective mass rollout of 5G services over large, geographically dispersed, multi-vendor networks.

https://www.adva.com/en/products/network-virtualization/ensemble-harmony-ecosystem

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DE-CIX's Internet Exchange now in 365 Data Centers Chicago

DE-CIX has deployed a switch at 365 Data Centers, a leading provider of network-centric colocation and other Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions, at the company’s facility located at 427 S. LaSalle in Chicago. This is the first DE-CIX deployment with 365 Data Centers and the first IX available at their facility in Chicago.

DE-CIX says customers at 365 Data Centers in Chicago now have native access to a neutral multi-service interconnection platform, enabling VLAN access for peering, and to reach global carriers, ISPs, content, cloud, and other networks through a single port. Furthermore, transport connectivity available through 365 Data Centers’ interconnected network of data centers enables nearby secondary markets such as Detroit and Indianapolis low latency access to DE-CIX Chicago, enhancing connectivity for the entire Midwest region.

“We are pleased to welcome DE-CIX Chicago to CH6 where our Chicago customers can now access DE-CIX’s multi-service interconnection platform for peering and cloud connectivity as well as turnkey access to DE-CIX’s other North American and large global exchanges,” comments James Ashton, 365 Data Centers’ VP, Network Operations. “DE-CIX is already available from our New York City facility and we look forward to expanding upon our relationship to offer increased access to interconnection services in the markets we serve.”

“As one of our first initially deployed switches in the Chicago market, DE-CIX’s partnership establishes both a new DE-CIX location and a new peering point in the Chicago market,” adds Ed d’Agostino, General Manager of DE-CIX North America. “365 Data Centers is the newest partner to DE-CIX’s North American ecosystem. Their network of connected data centers extends connectivity to DE-CIX beyond the Chicago metro market. Now, 365 Data Centers’ customers throughout the Midwest can leverage transport to peering to extend reach to carriers and cloud providers available at the DE-CIX Chicago IX, reducing costs while improving overall network performance.”

DE-CIX Chicago is the company’s third market in North America, firmly positioning the company as the largest carrier and data center neutral ecosystem in North America. DE-CIX Chicago is interconnected to DE-CIX New York and DE-CIX Dallas through a fully redundant, low-latency private network. This GlobePEER Remote service offers access to over 300 networks in North America with extended reach to 2,100 networks spanning Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

http://www.de-cix.net

DE-CIX Doubles Its Internet Exchange Footprint in North America

Wednesday, December 16, 2020  DE-CIX, Internet Exchange  

DE-CIX announced two new Internet Exchanges in North America: one now available in Chicago, IL, and one soon to be ready for service in Richmond, VA. The two locations expand upon and interconnect with DE-CIX North America’s existing multi-service interconnection platforms in the New York and Dallas metro markets. 

DE-CIX Chicago is available for service today in 12 facilities throughout the metro market including key carrier hotels 427 S. LaSalle and 350 E. Cermak. The fully redundant and distributed carrier and data center neutral IX and multi-service interconnection fabric of DE-CIX Chicago, launches with more than 10 networks connected day one. DE-CIX Chicago anchors the Midwest region for DE-CIX North America. Connectivity in and throughout Chicago reaches the east, west and southern coasts of the United States with direct connectivity to Canada, firmly positioning the market as a core interconnection point in North America. Until today, Chicago is the only core communications hub without a second major Internet Exchange. Similar to the Dallas market prior to DE-CIX Dallas’ launch in 2016, DE-CIX intends to create a second major IX in the Chicago market, offering the community increased choice and improved interconnection quality and services.

DE-CIX’s Richmond expansion, RVA-IX | Richmond Virginia Internet Exchange, leverages the market’s existing IX, illustrating the company’s eagerness to support community-lead IX initiatives. RVA-IX was launched in 2016 as a non-profit community by: SummitIG, Richweb, VA Skywire, Pixel Factory, and the Bank of Virginia. The RVA-IX has access points throughout the Richmond market with Pixel Factory Data Center, EdgeConneX, and QTS Datacenters. Through the asset acquisition of the RVA-IX, DE-CIX will take operational ownership, and will expand upon its interconnection capabilities benefiting the local and regional market. Integration into the DE-CIX interconnection ecosystem means that connected networks in Richmond will have access to more services, can reach other DE-CIX locations and more ASNs, and can enjoy increased redundancy and resilience.

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