Vertical Systems Group: U.S. Fiber Lit Buildings LEADERBOARD

Vertical Systems Group’s 2020 U.S. Fiber Lit Buildings LEADERBOARD results are as follows (in rank order by number of on-net fiber lit buildings): AT&T, Verizon, Spectrum Enterprise, Lumen, Comcast, Cox, Crown Castle Fiber, Atlantic Broadband, Frontier, Zayo and Altice USA. These eleven retail and wholesale fiber providers qualify for this benchmark with 15,000 or more on-net U.S. fiber lit commercial buildings as of year-end 2020.

Additionally, fourteen companies qualify for the 2020 Challenge Tier as follows (in alphabetical order): Cincinnati Bell, Cleareon, Cogent, Consolidated Communications, Conterra, DQE Communications, Everstream, FirstLight, IFN, Logix Fiber Networks, Segra, Unite Private Networks, Uniti Fiber and Windstream. These fiber providers each qualify for the 2020 Challenge Tier with between 2,000 and 14,999 U.S. fiber lit commercial buildings.

“The base of fiber lit buildings in the U.S. expanded in 2020, although the pace of new installations was hampered by the pandemic. Challenges for fiber providers ranged from impeded installations due to commercial building closures and business shutdowns to supply chain disruptions,” said Rosemary Cochran, principal of Vertical Systems Group. “As the economy rebounds in 2021, fiber providers have opportunities to monetize the millions of small and medium U.S. commercial buildings without fiber, as well as larger multi-tenant buildings with only a single fiber provider. However it remains uncertain how changes in U.S. regulatory policies and federal funding could alter fiber investments and deployment plans in the next several years.”

2020 Fiber Provider Research Highlights

• AT&T retains the top rank on the U.S. Fiber Lit Buildings LEADERBOARD for the fifth consecutive year.
• The threshold for a rank position on the 2020 Fiber LEADERBOARD is 15,000 fiber lit buildings, up from 10,000 buildings previously.
• Atlantic Broadband advanced to eighth position on the LEADERBOARD, up from eleventh in the previous year.
• Windstream and Consolidated Communications move into the Challenge Tier from the LEADERBOARD.

https://www.verticalsystems.com/

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Vertical Systems Group: 2020 U.S. Fiber Availability

New deployments of optical fiber to U.S. commercial buildings and data centers expanded in 2020 despite the pandemic, according to the latest ENS @Fiber Plus research from Vertical Systems Group. Fiber lit buildings are strategic assets that enable competitive advantages such as more profitable delivery of services and applications requiring up to gigabit speeds.

The latest research analysis shows that fiber availability for commercial sites continues to vary widely based on the size of the building. The U.S. Fiber Lit Landscape chart below illustrates the two primary segments tracked for this research: Fiber 20+ (buildings with twenty or more employees) and Fiber <20 (buildings with fewer than 20 employees). 

For 2020, fiber availability extends to 14.1% of buildings in the Fiber <20 segment. In contrast, the availability of fiber is 69.2% for all buildings in the Fiber 20+ segment. Detailed ENS research available for Fiber 20+ shows how fiber penetration varies significantly across four medium/large building size segments: 20 – 50 employees, 51 – 100 employees, 101 – 250 employees and 251+ employees.

Fiber market leadership is measured by Vertical Systems Group with annual Fiber LEADERBOARD benchmarks based on lit building counts. Eleven retail and wholesale fiber providers attained a rank position on the 2020 U.S. Fiber Lit Buildings LEADERBOARD.

A fiber-lit building is defined for this analysis to include multi-tenant and company-owned commercial sites plus data centers that have on-net optical fiber connectivity to a network provider’s infrastructure and active service termination equipment onsite. Excluded from this analysis are standalone cell towers, small cells not located in fiber-lit buildings, near net buildings, buildings classified as coiled at curb or coiled in building, HFC-connected buildings, carrier central offices, residential buildings, and private or dark fiber installations.

https://www.verticalsystems.com/

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Five carriers acquire spectrum in Australia's mmWave auction

Five companies have won spectrum in the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s latest spectrum auction in the 26 GHz band.

Winners include:

• Dense Air Australia Pty Ltd won 2 lots for $28,689,900
• Mobile JV Pty Limited won 86 lots for $108,186,700
• Optus Mobile Pty Ltd won 116 lots for $226,203,100
• Pentanet Limited won 4 lots for $7,986,200
• Telstra Corporation Limited won 150 lots for $276,576,200

Of the 360 lots available in the auction, 358 were sold, realising a total revenue of $647,642,100, equivalent to almost $0.0127/MHz/pop.

“This outcome represents another significant milestone for 5G in Australia. The successful allocation of this spectrum will support high-speed communications services in metropolitan cities and major regional centres throughout Australia,” said ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin.

Licences won at auction will come into force later this year, for a 15-year term ending in 2036.

Full results are here:

https://www.acma.gov.au/auction-summary-26-ghz-band-2021

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Fujikura demos vehicle-to-infrastructure over 60 GHz millimeter-wave

Fujikura has demonstrated high-speed vehicle-to-infrastructure communication using an electric pole and in-house developed 60 GHz millimeter-wave wireless communication modules.

The demonstration, which was conducted in March in Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture, confirmed the effectiveness of the safe driving support system for local bus services by vehicle-to-infrastructure communication.

In this demonstration, Fujikura installed a communication device equipped with the module on both electric poles and a local bus to establish a wideband wireless connection between the two. The module has successfully uploaded in-vehicle camera images in real time and also  transmitted the GNSS (global navigation satellite system) correction data necessary for high-precision vehicle positioning.

In addition, the module achieved a speed >2Gbps over a distance of >500m.

Other participants in the test included Kansai Transmission and Distribution, KYOCERA, Shinki bus Co., Panasonic System Networks R&D Lab, and Magellan Systems Japan.

https://www.fujikura.co.jp/eng/newsrelease/products/2063554_11777.html

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OneWeb launches 36 more satellites bringing constellation to 182

A Russian Soyuz rocket lauched 36 OneWeb broadband satellites from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Amur Oblast, in the Russian Far East. 

The launch brings OneWeb’s total in-orbit constellation to 182 satellites, and is the third launch in OneWeb’s ‘Five to 50’ programme, to deliver its connectivity solution to regions north of 50 degrees latitude by June 2021.

OneWeb’s ‘Five to 50’ programme aims to connect broadband data users in the northern hemisphere, with services covering the United Kingdom, Alaska, Northern Europe, Greenland, Iceland, the Arctic Seas and Canada. Service will be ready to start by the end of year, with global service available in 2022.

OneWeb also highlighted recent distribution signings across multiple industries with The AST Group, PDI, among others.

OneWeb also agreed its latest MoU with the Government of Kazakhstan this month as it continues to demonstrate the company’s commercial viability and the confidence customers have in its services and offering.

https://www.oneweb.world/

• In March 2021, OneWeb conducted its first network demonstrations to the U.S. Government and will be rolling out additional demonstration kits and Service Demo-centres in locations such as: Westcott 5G Centre, U.K., Talkeetna, Alaska, in the Washington D.C. area and more.

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EFFECT Photonics raises $43 million for system-on-chip

EFFECT Photonics, a leading developer of DWDM components based on its optical System-on-Chip technology, announced $43 million in Series-C funding.

EFFECT Photonics, which is a spin-off from the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, has developed a photonic chip in which light signals can be generated, modulated, filtered, and detected. 

The first close of the investment round, was co-led by Smile Invest together with existing investor Innovation Industries Fund, exactly one year after announcing the tape-out of its Manta full photonic integration coherent PIC. Smile Invest are joined by existing investors including Innovation Industries Fund, Photon Delta, btov Partners, Brabant Development Agency (BOM) and individual investors. This new round of funding will be used to further expand the current product line of optical transceivers for among other things 5G networks, and to scale up production capacity. In addition, the R&D activities for the next generation of optical chips, with capacity of more than 400 gigabits per second, will also be ramped up.

Boudewijn Docter, one of the founders and President of EFFECT Photonics: “As a company, we have come a long way to make the photonics technology market-ready. We are pleased that Invest-NL is joining our other investors in helping us scale up our production and enabling us to bring additional products to market quicker”.

Ruud Zandvliet, Senior Investment Manager at Invest-NL: “The Netherlands has a unique ecosystem for photonics technologies. EFFECT Photonics is a leading player in this field, capable of developing complex, fully integrated photonic chips. This offers the company the opportunity be a leading player as a manufacturer of the next generation of transceivers. By joining this investment round, Invest-NL contributes to the availability of financing for upscaling and future R&D investments. This is a good example of the role Invest-NL plays in increasing the strength of scale-ups and is in line with our objective of making the Netherlands more sustainable and innovative.

https://effectphotonics.com/

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QTS moves to renewal energy in 4 more mega data centers

QTS Realty Trust announced that the following four additional data centers are now powered by renewable energy: QTS Hillsboro, QTS Fort Worth, QTS Eemshaven, Netherlands and QTS Richmond.

The four locations join QTS data centers in Irving, TX, Chicago, IL, Piscataway, NJ and Groningen, Netherlands currently powered by renewable energy.

QTS said approximately 36% of its portfolio-wide data center power requirements are now sourced from renewable energy and that it is committed to procuring 100% of power for all of its data center from renewable sources by 2025.

• 
• QTS Hillsboro – Purchases renewable energy certificates equal to at least the expected electricity needs of the facility from Three Peaks Power, LLC solar facility in Utah through Calpine Energy Solutions. With the purchase, QTS said it now offers a true zero water cooling solution powered by 100% renewable energy.
• QTS Fort Worth – Purchases renewable energy from a provider in Texas equal to 100% of the projected power consumption of the data center.
• QTS Eemshaven – Purchases environmental attributes from Dutch wind and Nordic hydro sources. The agreements cover over 20 gigawatt hours of energy and account for 100% of the expected electrical load of QTS Eemshaven.
• QTS' Richmond --  signed a multi-year agreement to purchase renewable energy certificates equal to the majority of the expected electricity needs of the facility.  

"Today's announcement is another significant step towards our goal of procuring 100% of our power from renewable energy sources by 2025," said Travis Wright, Vice President Energy and Sustainability, QTS. "Renewable energy is a cornerstone of our ESG program that documents our commitment to minimizing our carbon footprint through advanced development and procurement initiatives.

http://www.qtsdatacenters.com

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Dell'Oro hires Cliff Grossner to cover Edge Computing and IT Equipment Silicon

Dell'Oro Group has appointed Dr. Cliff Grossner to the role of Vice President, Edge Computing and IT Equipment Silicon including coprocessors for AI and ML. His current research agenda also includes AI driven data center automation suites and adoption of open infrastructure including OCP certified designs.

Dr. Grossner has more than 25 years of telecommunications experience encompassing scientific research, market analysis, strategy, and product management. Prior to joining Dell'Oro Group, Dr. Grossner held management roles in Omdia, and IHS Markit, focused on cloud services, data center IT and physical infrastructure.  He frequently is an expert judge for industry and technology innovation awards and an invited speaker, and often quoted in technical publications. Dr. Grossner earned his Ph.D. at McGill University, and his MSC in Computer Science at Concordia University, winning national scholarships to support his graduate work. He holds over 10 patents in computer networking, network embedded security and telecommunications applications.

"Dr. Grossner adds significant fire-power and experience in the world of IT equipment, components, and the intelligence software running over it. The team is excited with the perspectives and wisdom a man of his caliber brings. He has an excellent track record of identifying emerging markets and developing theories on where they are headed. I am very pleased Dr. Grossner has joined us," Tam Dell'Oro, Founder and CEO said.

 "I am excited to join Dell'Oro Group to research IT ecosystems, innovation has never been higher, driven by digitization and consumer demands. Equipment markets are shifting due to new technology, new business models, and disruptive early stage companies. I look forward to being first to identify and quantify new trends, provide insight on markets changes, help with product and go to market strategies following the Dell'Oro tradition of providing timely, accurate, and insightful information," commented Grossner.

http://www.delloro.com

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Skyworks to acquire the Infrastructure & Automotive business of Silicon Labs

Skyworks Solutions will acquire the Infrastructure & Automotive business of Silicon Labs in an all-cash asset transaction valued at $2.75 billion. The acquisition encompasses the technology portfolios and related assets of Silicon Labs’ power/isolation, timing and broadcast product lines.

Skyworks said the acquisition will accelerate its expansion into the industry’s most important growth segments, including electric and hybrid vehicles, industrial and motor control, power supply, 5G wireless infrastructure, optical data communication, data center, automotive, smart home and several other applications. Skyworks will be uniquely positioned to address a combined market opportunity approaching $20 billion annually.

Mark Thompson, senior vice president of Silicon Labs and general manager of the Infrastructure & Automotive business, will join Skyworks as part of the transaction, reporting directly to Liam K. Griffin, president and chief executive officer of Skyworks. In addition, approximately 350 employees, including the senior management team of the business, are expected to join Skyworks upon completion of the transaction.

“We are pleased to welcome the Infrastructure & Automotive team to Skyworks when this transaction is completed,” said Mr. Griffin. “This acquisition will broadly expand our capabilities across high-growth end markets including automotive, communications and industrial, creating new and highly compelling opportunities for Skyworks. By leveraging our global sales channels, operational scale and deep customer relationships, Skyworks is well positioned to drive above-market growth, while diversifying revenues, expanding margins and delivering strong returns in earnings and cash generation.”

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