IBM announces 2nm chip breakthrough

IBM unveiled a 2 nanometer semiconductor design and process breakthrough based on a new Gate-All-Around (GAA) nanosheet device architecture. The technology is implemented on a 300 millimeter (mm) wafer built at IBM Research’s semiconductor research facility in Albany, New York.

IBM said it is able to fit 50 billion transistors in a space roughly the size of a fingernail. A 2 nm chip node transistor equates to an approximate 45 percent performance improvement over  7 nm chips. This results in an approximate 75 percent power savings, at the same performance level. 

IBM Research’s Albany lab features one of the most advanced EUV lithography tools in the industry. 

"The IBM innovation reflected in this new 2 nm chip is essential to the entire semiconductor and IT industry," said Darío Gil, SVP and Director of IBM Research. "It is the product of IBM's approach of taking on hard tech challenges and a demonstration of how breakthroughs can result from sustained investments and a collaborative R&D ecosystem approach."

https://www.ibm.com/blogs/research/2021/05/2-nm-chip/?social_post=4791223916&linkId=118030913

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New 5G milestone over mmWave: 1 Gbps over 7km

UScellular demonstrated sustained average downlink speeds of ~1 Gbps and peak speeds over 2 Gbps at a distance of 7 km — the farthest 5G mmWave Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) connection in the U.S. 

The milestone was achieved using Ericsson infrastructure and an Inseego Wavemaker fixed wireless outdoor gateway, powered by the Qualcomm 5G Fixed Wireless Access Platform gen 1. 

Additionally, at a distance of 1.75 km with no line of sight, the companies achieved sustained average downlink speeds of ~730 Mbps and sustained average uplink speeds of ~38 Mbps. 

These results were achieved in Janesville, Wisconsin, on UScellular’s commercial network by applying Ericsson’s extended-range functionality to Ericsson commercial hardware Antenna Integrated Radio (AIR) 5322 advanced antenna system, along with an Inseego Wavemaker 5G outdoor CPE FW2010 powered by the Qualcomm 5G Fixed Wireless Access Platform gen 1 featuring Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF System and a Qualcomm QTM527 mmWave antenna module. 

“We have long been pushing the boundaries of 5G technology, and this collaboration with UScellular, Inseego, and Qualcomm Technologies continues to demonstrate our successful track record in extending coverage with our industry-leading 5G mmWave hardware and software solutions optimized for FWA,” said Per Narvinger, head of product area networks, Ericsson. “Today, technology plays a critical role in our lives, and we’re thrilled to provide our advanced technology and networking expertise to help address the last mile of connectivity across the U.S.”

“This is an exciting, high-performance product within our growing portfolio of 5G fixed wireless access solutions,” said Ashish Sharma, president of IoT and mobile solutions, Inseego. “We’re delivering exceptionally high throughput at a very long distance with millimeter wave technology. In addition to bringing 5G to enterprise and home broadband customers almost anywhere, we see a great market with the FW2010 for infrastructure backhaul applications. This is truly a game-changer for the FWA market.”

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Angola Cables upgrades MONET subsea cable with Ciena

Angola Cables has upgraded its MONET submarine cable network using Ciena’s (NYSE: CIEN) GeoMesh, powered by WaveLogic Ai coherent optical technology.

Angola Cables has an extensive network connecting North America, South America, Africa, and Europe through its MONET submarine cable network, South Atlantic Cable System (SACS), and West Africa Cable System (WACS). With Ciena’s GeoMesh, Angola Cables added 2.2 Tbps of capacity to segments in the MONET network connecting Miami, Fortaleza, and São Paulo to enhance the performance of bandwidth-intensive cloud-based services. This direct, low-latency connection between Angola Cables’ São Paulo, Miami, and the new data center in Fortaleza (AngoNAP) boosts regional development for companies leveraging the network.

“In a time of rapid, mass digital adoption, the network needs to be able to handle the ever-growing demands from end-users. Ciena’s GeoMesh solution has allowed us to expand our submarine cable network to reach a wider range of customers with more bandwidth and improved services,” said Angelo Gama, Chief Executive Officer, Angola Cables.

Angola Cables is also leveraging Ciena’s GeoMesh between São Paulo and Miami to optically bypass the cable landing stations, resulting in reduced power, space, and operational complexity. Additionally, Angola Cables is operating with Ciena’s Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) domain controller, which extracts real-time telemetry from the submarine cables to provide enhanced network visibility and monitoring.

“There has been an incredible increase in the use of cloud-based services, which place enormous amounts of pressure on the network resulting from strict performance requirements. With Ciena’s GeoMesh submarine network solution, Angola Cables has adapted its network to fit these demands and deliver high-performance connectivity, overland and undersea, to more end-users across the globe,” said Ian Clarke, Vice President of Global Submarine Solutions, Ciena.

MONET subsea cable enters service connecting U.S. and Brazil

Wednesday, December 06, 2017  MONET, Subsea  

The Monet subsea cable system, which links the U.S. and Brazil, is complete and ready for commercial service.

The 100Gbps-capable cable system offers an initial 64 Tbps of capacity.  The 10,556km cable has shore landings in Boca Raton, Florida; Fortaleza, Brazil; and Praia Grande, Brazil.

Monet is owned by Algar Telecom (Brazil), Angola Cables (Angola), Antel (Uruguay), Google and TE SubCom, a TE Connectivity Ltd. company.

Antonio Nunes, chairperson of the Monet Executive Committee said: “We are proud to have completed this project with SubCom in the most efficient manner possible. The open cable approach enabled each Monet party to meet its respective network objectives while still benefitting from the strengths of a joint build partnering model. Each of the parties, working with TE SubCom, was able to create a network that should meet our technology and cost needs well into the future.”

“The successful implementation of Monet is the result of excellent teamwork between TE SubCom and the purchasers to mitigate project risks. TE SubCom is proud to have delivered on time a flexible, highly reliable system to this distinguished group of customers,” stated Debra Brask, vice president of Project Management of TE SubCom.

Angola Cables Deploys Ciena on MONET Subsea Cable

Monday, March 06, 2017  Angola, Ciena, OND, OND News, Undersea  

Ciena announced that Angola Cables, a wholesale carrier, has selected its GeoMesh and Blue Planet solutions to support the launch of a new service over the currently under construction MONET subsea cable. Angola Cables is a multinational wholesale telcoms carrier that leverages cable systems across the South Atlantic and around Africa. Angola Cables manages the WACS (West Africa Cable System), providing services to operators in Angola and the sub-Saharan...

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IDC: Global semiconductor sales hit $464 billion in 2020, up 11%

Worldwide semiconductor revenue grew to $464 billion in 2020, an increase of 10.8% compared to 2019, according to the the Semiconductor Applications Forecaster (SAF) from International Data Corporation (IDC). IDC forecasts the semiconductor market will reach $522 billion in 2021, a 12.5% year-over-year growth rate. IDC anticipates continued robust growth in consumer, computing, 5G, and automotive semiconductors.

IDC expects supply constraints will continue through 2021. While shortages initially occurred in automotive semiconductors, the impact is being felt across the board in semiconductors manufactured at older technology nodes. Much like a traffic jam and the ripple effect, a disruption on the semiconductor supply chain operating close to capacity will impact across the supply chain. The industry will continue to struggle to rebalance across different industry segments, while investment in capacity now will improve the industry's resiliency in a few years. Looking forward to 2021, IDC sees continued strong growth in semiconductor sales worldwide as adoption of cloud technologies and demand for data and services remain unchanged. Global fiscal and monetary policy remain accommodative and will provide a tailwind for continued capital investments in long term infrastructure.

"Automotive sales recovered in the second half of 2020, but the supply constraints for the automotive semiconductor market for some products will last through 2021 as fires and fab shutdowns further impacted the automotive semiconductor market and it takes time for chips to move through the automotive ecosystem, specifically in the U.S. and Europe," said Nina Turner, research manager, Automotive Semiconductors. For 2021, IDC forecasts that automotive semiconductor revenue will grow 13.6%.

"Overall, the semiconductor industry remains on track to deliver another strong year of growth as the super cycle that began at the end of 2019 strengthens this year," said Mario Morales, program vice president, Semiconductors at IDC. "The markets remain narrowly focused on shortages across specific sectors of the supply chain, but what is more important to emphasize is how critical semiconductors are to every major system category and content growth that remains unabated."

The market for semiconductors in Computing systems, such as PCs and servers, outpaced the overall semiconductor market, growing 17.3% year over year to $160 billion in 2020. "Demand for PC processors remains strong, especially in value-oriented segments," said Shane Rau, research vice president, Computing Semiconductors. "The PC processors market looks strong through the first half and likely the whole year." IDC forecasts Computing systems revenues will grow 7.7% to $173 billion in 2021.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS47664821

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Aryaka acquires Secucloud GmbH for SASE platform

Aryaka has acquired Secucloud GmbH, a SASE platform provider based in Hamburg, Germany.

Secucloud'a platform offers an all-in-one, global, cloud-based firewall-as-a-service, secure web gateway with advanced threat protection capabilities. The platform is engineered to connect all edges including WAN, Cloud, Mobile and IoT securely together.

Aryaka said the acquisition complements its existing network security solutions that are provided with other technology partners, including Check Point software, Palo Alto Networks, Zscaler and others,.Aryaka expects new SASE products as a result of the Secucloud acquisition to be available later in the year.

“Secucloud brings a great team and proven, innovative technology that we can integrate with Aryaka’s industry leading, Cloud-First, SD-WAN as-a-service,” said Ashwath Nagaraj, co-founder and CTO at Aryaka. “The combined technologies will allow us to offer truly converged network and network security as-a-service offerings. It complements our existing portfolio and significantly enhances Aryaka’s ability to compete and win larger deals while delivering the industry’s most flexible, managed SASE solution experience.”

“We are excited to join Aryaka. Like Aryaka, Secucloud has been designed from the ground up to deliver a Cloud-First architecture with everything delivered as-a-service,” said Dennis Monner, CEO of Secucloud. “We think this joint solution and Aryaka’s brand reputation of delivering the industry’s best customer experience, will create a highly differentiated offering for enterprise customers.”

https://www.aryaka.com/

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DRN deploys 10G XGS-PON in the Dakotas

Dickey Rural Networks (DRN) and its wholly-owned subsidiary ReadiTech, are deploying 10G PON services to subscribers in rural communities along the North Dakota-South Dakota border. The  cooperative broadband service provider is upgrading its network to XGS-PON with the Calix Intelligent Access EDGE. 

ReadiTech is overbuilding the existing DRN FTTH network with XGS-PON, leveraging 10-Gigabit symmetrical service capabilities to match the best wire speeds available in the state while simplifying network operations to increase efficiency and shed costs. 

The rural cooperative is using the AXOS E7-2 Intelligent Modular System, a scalable XGS-PON aggregation solution.

A longtime Calix customer, Dickey Rural has set itself up for sustainable growth by investing heavily in its access network, ensuring it can deliver fast, reliable, and future-proof fiber broadband service to its subscribers,” said Mark Dressler, senior VP of global sales for Calix. “Now, as this current rollout accelerates and Dickey Rural expands under the ReadiTech brand, it can reach new communities with fast and Always On connectivity while at the same time, fend off new competition by delivering an exciting subscriber experience with the Revenue EDGE.”

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