NTT and Fujitsu focus on silicon photonics manufacturing

 NTT Corporation (NTT) and Fujitsu Limited announced a strategic alliance focused on innovations for the “Realization of a Sustainable Digital Society,” including the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) initiative.

A key focus is on establishing photonics-electronics convergence manufacturing technology. Key points:

• NTT Electronics Corporation (NEL), which develops hardware products utilizing NTT R&D’ s advanced device technologies, will acquire a 66.6% stake in Fujitsu Advanced Technologies Limited (FATEC), which possesses semiconductor mounting technology. The business will be renamed NTT Electronics Cross Technologies Corporation, and commence operations on June 1, 2021.
• By the end of fiscal year 2022, the new company will start to provide compact, power-saving optical communication co-packages (2) that integrate digital coherent optical communications LSIs and COSA (Coherent Optical Sub Assembly) (3) based on silicon photonics technology. 
• 
  The new company plans introduce a new architecture for applying ultra-high-speed, compact, and low-cost photonics-electronics convergence devices on mobile communication products, as well as a wide range of other ICT products, starting with Fujitsu’s 5G base stations. 

NTT and Fujitsu also agreed to promote open optical transport and mobile communications. Specifically, the companies are promoting an open whitebox solutions running general-purpose software that can be supported in multiple vendor environments.

In the field of optical transport communications, Fujitsu and NTT will work together to plan new optical devices based on an open architecture, build system products developed by Fujitsu, and control supply chain management. The two partners aim to expand the business globally with a strategic entry into the data center interconnect market, where demand is expected to grow and the adoption of open architectures is accelerating.

In the mobile communications field, the two companies will study the development and promotion of open interface-based technologies, as well as the development of global businesses based on the results of these activities. The first step is to develop technologies that can be established globally with a variety of partners through avenues including the "5G Open RAN Ecosystem" launched by NTT DOCOMO. For example, the two companies will work on measures to improve performance, which remains a challenge for expanding the adoption of virtualized radio access network (vRAN) and develop control technologies to optimize radio access networks. NTT will use these technologies to further enhance mobile network infrastructure in preparation for full-scale 5G deployment. Technology developed through the collaboration will be used by telecommunications carriers on a global basis through the "5G Open RAN Ecosystem" initiative and other means.

NTT and Fujitsu will work to develop innovative computing technologies by combining the photonics-electronics convergence technology being researched and developed by NTT with technologies developed by Fujitsu for the supercomputer "Fugaku". By leveraging this technology, the partners will be able to securely link a wide variety of real-world data, efficiently and quickly realize services that create value for diverse stakeholders, while simultaneously contributing to a more sustainable future by maximizing energy efficiency.

Fujitsu has established an "IOWN/6G Platform Development Office" with the aim of developing technologies for the IOWN initiative and the 6G era. 

https://www.fujitsu.com/global/about/resources/news/press-releases/2021/0426-01.html

Innovative Optical and Wireless Network Global Forum builds membership

Thursday, October 15, 2020    

The Innovative Optical and Wireless Network Global Forum (IOWN GF) announced 20 new member companies and successfully held its first all member online meeting with over 300 participants from September 14-18, 2020.IOWN GF’s objective is to accelerate innovation and adoption of a new communication infrastructure to meet our future data and computing requirements through the development of new technologies, frameworks, specifications and reference design...

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NTT charts a roadmap to the future IOWN All-Photonics Network

Sunday, April 19, 2020  IOWN, NTT  

NTT outlined a technology roadmap for its Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) vision, which was first announced in May 2019. IOWN has three technical elements: All Photonics Network, Digital Twin Computing, and Cognitive Foundation. The roadmap calls for four technical directions: (1) Full-Stack Communication Acceleration (Layer 4/Layer 3 Acceleration: CY2021, Technology for massive optical/wireless capacity: CY2023) In order to...

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NTT launches 400 Gbps service

 NTT West and NTT East are now offering a 400 Gbps "High-speed Broadband Access Service" intended for data center connection and transmission / reception of big data sets, including video. 

The service provides high-speed, large-capacity bandwidth-guaranteed Ethernet communication by limiting communication between two "Point to Point" bases specified by the customer (limited to communication within the same prefecture). 

https://www.ntt-west.co.jp/news/2104/210412a.html

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VMware Telco Cloud aims for O-RAN

VMware is extending its Telco Cloud Platform from the core to now virtualize radio access network (RAN) functions based on an open RAN architecture.

VMware Telco Cloud Platform RAN lets network operators deploy and  run virtualized network functions (VNFs) and containerized network functions (CNFs) with support for Intel FlexRAN software reference architecture.

The platform consists of:

• VMware vSphere ESXi. Optimized for the deployment and management of virtualized and containerized RAN functions.
• VMware Tanzu for Telco. Takes VMware’s standards-compliant distribution of Kubernetes for container orchestration and enhances it with telco features. This delivers the scalability, performance, and availability that CSPs need in service.
• VMware Telco Cloud Automation. A cloud-first, vendor neutral way to orchestrate infrastructure, containers as a service (CaaS), and telco network functions and services. It also automates their management across any network and any cloud.

“5G is fueling rapid transition to virtualization and cloud-native technologies, and communications service providers are seeking network infrastructure solutions to help them quickly and efficiently get to market as well as capture the enormous opportunities in front of them,” said Dan Rodriguez, corporate vice president and general manager, Network Platforms Group, Intel. “Our collaboration with VMware in this area began more than a year ago and bringing it to fruition with the VMware Telco Cloud Platform RAN will help our mutual customers achieve greater agility as they evolve their RAN to deliver new 5G and edge services.”

“A modern, open, and disaggregated RAN offers CSPs the single best opportunity to rapidly monetize 5G services,” said Sanjay Uppal, senior vice president and general manager, Service Provider and Edge, VMware. “New 5G services rely on CSPs to be able to host apps at the edge, close to end customers. A virtualized and open RAN allows CSPs to deliver these new edge services to customers directly from RAN sites. With Telco Cloud Platform RAN, we accelerate the disaggregation of the proprietary RAN and enable CSPs to modernize their RAN so they can monetize the 5G services they deliver across their network.”

“Our entire 5G network will be cloud-native, and we will leverage the VMware Telco Cloud Platform to adopt an O-RAN architecture for all RAN sites,” said Marc Rouanne, executive vice president and chief network officer, DISH. “We are working with the best hardware and software providers and VMware is helping us achieve this vision. We believe this path will enable us to deliver amazing experiences and services to our customers faster and more efficiently.”

Additional partners cited by VMware include Altiostar, Mavenir, WWT, and Dell Technologies.

https://telco.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/microsites/telco/vmware-o-ran-whitepaper.pdf

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Microsoft Azure racks up 50% yoy growth

 Microsoft reported revenue of $41.7 billion for the quarter ended 31-March-2021, up 19% yoy. Net income was $15.5 billion GAAP and $14.8 billion non-GAAP, representing an increase of 44% and 38%, respectively. Diluted earnings per share was $2.03 GAAP and $1.95 non-GAAP, an increase of 45% and 39%,respectively.

“Over a year into the pandemic, digital adoption curves aren’t slowing down. They’re accelerating, and it’s just the beginning,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft. “We are building the cloud for the next decade, expanding our addressable market and innovating across every layer of the tech stack to help our customers be resilient and transform.”

“The Microsoft Cloud, with its end-to-end solutions, continues to provide compelling value to our customers generating $17.7 billion in commercial cloud revenue, up 33% year over year," said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft.

Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes was $13.6 billion and increased 15% (up 12% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

• Office Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 14% (up 10% in constant currency) driven by Office 365 Commercial revenue growth of 22% (up 19% in constant currency)
• Office Consumer products and cloud services revenue increased 5% (up 2% in constant currency) and Microsoft 365 Consumer subscribers increased to 50.2 million
• LinkedIn revenue increased 25% (up 23% in constant currency)
• Dynamics products and cloud services revenue increased 26% (up 22% in constant currency) driven by Dynamics 365 revenue growth of 45% (up 40% in constant currency)

Revenue in Intelligent Cloud was $15.1 billion and increased 23% (up 20% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

• Server products and cloud services revenue increased 26% (up 23% in constant currency) driven by Azure revenue growth of 50% (up 46% in constant currency)

Revenue in More Personal Computing was $13.0 billion and increased 19% (up 16% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

• Windows OEM revenue increased 10%
• Windows Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 10% (up 7% in constant currency)
• Xbox content and services revenue increased 34% (up 32% in constant currency)
• Search advertising revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs increased 17% (up 14% in constant currency)
• Surface revenue increased 12% (up 7% in constant currency)

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/earnings/FY-21-Q3/press-release-webcast

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Google Cloud hits revenue of $4 billion with a $1 billion operating loss

Citing elevated consumer activity online and broad based growth in advertiser revenue, Alphabet reported total revenues of $55.3 billion in the first quarter, up 34% yoy. Net income amounted to $17.930 billion for the quarter. 

Google Cloud revenue amounted to $4.047 billion, up from $2.777 billion a year ago. There was a $1 billion loss for the quarter. The company said it remains focused on revenue growth for Google Cloud. 

Google Cloud includes Google’s infrastructure and data analytics platforms, collaboration tools, and other services for enterprise customers. Google Cloud generates revenues primarily from fees received for Google Cloud Platform services and Google Workspace (formerly known as G Suite) collaboration tools.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, said: “Over the last year, people have turned to Google Search and many online services to stay informed, connected and entertained. We’ve continued our focus on delivering trusted services to help people around the world. Our Cloud services are helping businesses, big and small, accelerate their digital transformations."

https://abc.xyz/investor/

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Juniper posts Q1 revenue of $1.074 billion, up 8% YoY

 Juniper Networks reported Q1 2021 net revenues of $1,074.4 million, an increase of 8% year-over-year and a decrease of 12% sequentially.GAAP net loss was $31.1 million, a decrease of 252% year-over-year and 201% sequentially, resulting in diluted loss per share of $0.10. Non-GAAP net income was $98.5 million, an increase of 28% year-over-year, and a decrease of 46% sequentially, resulting in non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.30.

“We reported strong March quarter results. Revenue exceeded our expectations and we experienced better than expected product orders across each of our customer verticals,” said Juniper’s CEO, Rami Rahim. “Momentum is strong entering the June quarter and we are confident regarding our growth prospects. We believe the success we are seeing is a result of the deliberate actions we have taken to strengthen our product portfolio and go-to-market organization, both of which are enabling us to capitalize on attractive end-market opportunities now and in the future.”

Regarding its outlook, Juniper said the worldwide shortage of semiconductors is causing ongoing supply constraints which have resulted in extended lead times. The company believes that extended lead times will likely persist for the next few quarters, but that, at this point in time, it believes it will have access to sufficient semiconductor supply to meet its full-year financial forecast.

At the mid-point of guidance, revenue is expected to be up 5% year-over-year. Juniper expects to see sequential growth across our Cloud and Enterprise verticals while Service Provider is expected to remain approximately flat.

Additional highlights from Juniper:

• Automated WAN Solutions increased 22% YOY, with both MX and PTX product families posting YOY growth. 
•  While Cloud-ready Data Center (CRDC) declined 10% YOY due to the timing of deals, orders grew more than 30% YOY due to broad-based strength across cloud, enterprise and service provider customers; Apstra exceeded expectations. 
•  AI-Driven Enterprise increased 12% versus last year, as Mist and EX product families grew YOY. Security revenue increased 11% YOY and orders exceeded expectations in the period. Strength was especially notable in the high-end of the market, although Juniper saw growth across all customer verticals and product families. 
•  Software and related services revenue grew 7% YOY. Software orders were particularly strong in the quarter, rising more than 70% on a YOY basis due to broad based strength across verticals and use cases. The services team delivered another solid quarter and continued to grow on a YOY basis due to strong renewals and service attach rates. 
•  Juniper’s Mist AI saw new logos nearly double in Q1 andas orders experienced another quarter of triple digit growth, with a record number of deals greater than $1M. Juniper’s “Mistified” business of Wireless LAN, Wired Access, Marvis Virtual Network Assistant and Associated EX pull through approximately doubled YOY and saw record EX pull through in Q1.  In addition to strength with large Fortune 500 customers, Juniper is experiencing continued strength in the channel and improved momentum with smaller commercial accounts, highlighting the value of its AI-driven enterprise offerings to customers of all sizes and across all verticals.

https://investor.juniper.net

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A10 Networks reported Q1 2021 revenue of $54.8 million, up 2.0% year-over-year. GAAP gross margin was 77.2% and non-GAAP gross margin was 78.9%. GAAP net income was $2.7 million, or $0.03 per share, compared with a net loss of $(297,000), or $(0.00) per share in the first quarter of 2020. Non-GAAP net income was $9.4 million, or $0.12 per share compared with non-GAAP net income of $4.0 million, or $0.05 per share in the first quarter of 2020.

Deferred revenue was $113.2 million, up 11.8% year-over-year. Security solutions grew to 60% of revenue and increased 15.5% on TTM basis.

"We made significant progress in the first quarter against our stated goal of growing recurring revenue, and continued increasing security solutions revenue as a percent of total revenue,” said Dhrupad Trivedi, President and Chief Executive Officer of A10 Networks. “Our best-in-class security solutions are increasingly well-received by the market, and demand for network security solutions is growing. Software now represents more than 10% of our total revenue in the first quarter, compared to 6% for the full-year of 2020 and just 4% in 2019. Our stated goal was to grow recurring revenue faster than our consolidated revenue, giving us greater predictability into our quarterly revenues and enhancing the financial leverage we have built into our business model. As expected, we saw a decline in our Japan revenue related to the timing of the Olympics, but our strong book-to-bill performance in the quarter of 1.2:1 supports our full-year growth outlook for Japan. We were able to offset this temporary weakness with strong, improving performance in the Americas.”

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ADVA intros outdoor PTP grandmaster clock for 5G fronthaul

ADVA introduced an ultra-compact outdoor PTP grandmaster clock with multi-band GNSS receiver and integrated antenna for delivering nanosecond precision needed for 5G fronthaul and other emerging time-sensitive applications. . 

ADVA says its new OSA 5405-MB synchronization device ensures timing accuracy by eliminating the impact of ionospheric delay variation. The multi-band GNSS receiver and integrated antenna enable the OSA 5405-MB to meet PRTC-B accuracy requirements (+/-40nsec) even in challenging conditions.  By receiving GNSS signals in two frequency bands and using the differences between them to calculate and compensate for delay variation, the OSA 5405-MB eliminates inaccuracy and ensures ultra-precise synchronization whatever the space weather conditions. It can also work with up to four concurrent GNSS constellations (GPS, GALILEO, GLONASS and BEIDOU), increasing the number of observable satellites in urban canyons.

“Our multi-band, multi-constellation GNSS receiver provides an extremely cost-efficient way to achieve PRTC-B UTC-traceable network timing with the levels of accuracy needed for next-generation use cases. By adding this technology to our versatile, small-form-factor OSA 5405 Series, we’re offering a route to precision synchronization at the network access without significant investment,” said Gil Biran, general manager, Oscilloquartz, ADVA. “A ruggedized design and minimal visibility make our OSA 5405-MB easy to install in almost any outdoor location. With the power to compensate for ionospheric delay variations and provide resilience against jamming and spoofing, our compact edge solution really is the key to 5G synchronization.”

http://www.adva.com

http://www.oscilloquartz.com

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UK's Network Rail invites private investment in railway fibre

Network Rail, which manages most of the railway network in Great Britain, is seeking up to £1bn in private sector investment to pay for upgrades in its trackside fibre optic cable network.

Network Rail operates over 16,000 kilometres of data cables next to the railway. The cable infrastructure delivers data essential to running the railway such as signalling for trains, trackside sensors, CCTV, and internet for trains, railway depots and offices. The upgraded fibre would offer excess capacity that could be leveraged by a third party to run its own telecoms services.

Andrew Haines, Network Rail chief executive, said: “Our telecoms infrastructure requires an upgrade if we are to meet the growing connectivity needs of passengers and the railway itself – particularly to make sure our fibre capacity can handle more data, at greater speed, more reliably.

“This proposal makes good business sense for all parties. We get a cutting-edge, future-proof telecoms infrastructure; the investor gets a great business opportunity; train passengers in Britain get an improved service for years to come; and the taxpayer saves a significant amount of money.”

https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/

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