MaxLinear showcases 5nm CMOS 800G PAM4 DSP

MaxLinear will showcase a 5nm CMOS 800Gbps PAM4 DSP for data center applications at the virtual Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition (OFC) from June 6 to June 11, 2021. 

“With the exponential growth of data traffic within hyperscale cloud networks, the needed increase in interconnect bandwidth in those networks requires lower-power, higher-density optical modules that support higher lane rates,” said Drew Guckenberger, Vice President of Optical Interconnect at MaxLinear. “We are extremely excited to announce the availability of our Keystone family of 5nm CMOS PAM4 DSPs, specifically designed to address these requirements. With our third generation Keystone DSP design, and the power advantages of 5nm CMOS technology, we are directly addressing our customers’ critical needs for low power, highly integrated, high performance interconnect solutions in next generation hyperscale cloud networks.”

“We’re pleased to see the result of our collaboration with MaxLinear, a strategic technology partner of TSMC, in developing and manufacturing its leading PAM4 DSPs on TSMC’s 5nm technology to address the rapidly growing cloud datacenter network infrastructure market,” said Alex You, Vice President of Business Management, TSMC North America. “The Keystone family of SoCs are amongst the first radio-frequency mixed-signal digital SoCs leveraging TSMC’s 5nm CMOS process. The excellent power, seamless integration, and performance benchmarks set by Keystone are a testament to the advanced capabilities of our process technology, and also to MaxLinear’s design expertise in the most advanced processes.”

The new 800G DSP is part of MaxLinear’s new Keystone family of 5nm CMOS PAM4 DSPs. Keystone represents MaxLinear’s third generation of PAM4 DSPs for 400G/800G optical interconnects. This is the first generation to provide 106.25Gbps host side electrical I/O to match the line side 106.25Gbps interface rate. This is a crucial capability for next generation 25.6T switch interfaces.

The Keystone family’s host side interfaces support 25.78125/25.5625/53.125/106.25Gbps signaling per lane over C2M host channels. The line side interfaces also support the same rates and are targeted for 100G/λ DR, FR, and LR applications. All devices provide extensive DSP functionality, including line-side transmitter digital pre-distortion (DPD), transmit pre-emphasis (TX FIR), receiver feed forward equalization (FFE) and decision feedback equalization (DFE).

The Keystone family (MxL9364x, MxL9368x) includes both standalone DSPs and DSPs with monolithically integrated drivers that offer high-swing differential and single-ended output driver options to address both SiPh and EML direct drive applications. The following channel configurations are available in each case:

• 8x50G to 8x50G
• 8x50G to 4x100G
• 4x100G to 4x100G
• 8x100G to 8x100G

https://www.maxlinear.com/Company/press-releases/2021/MaxLinear-Showcases-Industry%E2%80%99s-First-5nm-CMOS-800G

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BT begins testing hollow core fibre

BT kicked off trials of hollow core fibre at the BT Labs in Adastral Park, Ipswich, in a collaborative project with Lumenisity, a Southampton University spin out company, and Mavenir.

BT researchers are conducting the trials at BT’s research and engineering campus, using a 10-kilometre-long hollow core fibre cable provided by Lumenisity. The new fibre has a hollow, air filled centre that runs the entire length of the cable. It will be used to test a variety of use cases, including potential benefits for 5G networks and ultra-secure communications, like Quantum Key Distribution (QKD).

BT notes that single-mode optical fibre was pioneered at Adastral Park. Research into hollow core fibre presents an opportunity to explore how the capabilities of optical fibre can be enhanced in future, with the potential to reduce the latency, or signal delay, caused by the light travelling through glass, by up to 50%. This new fibre has an air-filled central core, with an outer ring of glass, to guide the laser beam whilst maintaining the signal speed at very close to the ultimate speed of light.

Professor Andrew Lord, BT’s Head of Optical Network Research, said: “We’re excited to begin trialling hollow core fibre and to discover the potential opportunities and benefits of deploying this technology in certain scenarios. This new type of fibre cable could play an important role in the future of the world’s communications infrastructure, heralding a step-change in capability and speed, to keep up with the demands for high-speed, low latency communications driven by 5G networks, streaming, and more.”

Mike Fake, Lumenisity’s Director responsible for Product Management, said: “Lumenisity is delighted to be the supplier of field deployable CoreSmart hollowcore cable for these trials with BT. This is further evidence of the impact our unique low loss, high performing cables can have on the networks operated by our carrier partners.”

John Baker, Mavenir’s Senior Vice President Business Development, said: “The ability to extend the reach of fibre connected radios only further demonstrates the power of Open RAN and its Eco System. This improvement will significantly increase the number of use cases that can be served from containerised cloud-based Open RAN solution.”

https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-kicks-off-trials-of-revolutionary-new-optical-fibre/

euNetworks connects LSE with hollowcore fibre from Lumenisity

Thursday, April 15, 2021  Eunetworks, Hollowcore, Lumenisity, Start-Ups, UK  

Lumenisity Limited, a start-up based in Romsey, United Kingdom, supplied its ultra low latency CoreSmart cable solution based on "NANF" hollowcore fibres, to euNetworks Fiber UK. The fibre route connects an Interxion data center with the London Stock Exchange.

Lumenisity Limited, which was formed in early 2017 as a spin out from the University of Southampton, said data travels 50% faster in hollowcore cable, reducing latency by 1/3, and providing a round trip saving of 3μs per km. These latency savings are very significant in financial trading applications. 

euNetworks offers a fibre-based, dedicated network platform supporting the bandwidth needs of the financial services community. 

“We’re very pleased to partner with euNetworks to enable them to provide the lowest latency performance to a major trading exchange using our CoreSmart cable,” said Tony Pearson, Business

Development Director at Lumenisity. “We are excited to be collaborating with such an established Carrier and to already have hollowcore deployed, carrying traffic as part of this development.”

“We continue to focus on delivering lowest latency services for our customers. We focus on identifying new and innovative technologies that can be deployed on our network to provide the best possible bandwidth solutions,” said Brady Rafuse, Chief Executive Officer of euNetworks. “We’re excited to be working with Lumenisity, helping to develop and deploy hollowcore fibre. We’re confident that with this technology we can achieve market leading fibre-based latencies much closer to radio frequency systems, without the constraints that are inherently present with those radio frequency solutions.”

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Ribbon intros 2-port 400G ZR+ card for metro and long-haul

 Ribbon Communications introduced a 2-port 400G ZR+ line card for its Apollo optical networking portfolio, optimized for metro and long-haul applications.

The TM400_2 delivers 400G optical transmission using standard and interoperable CFP2 DCO (Digital Coherent Optic) pluggables, optimized for transport over CDC (Colorless Directionless Contentionless) ROADM (Reconfigurable Optical Add-Drop Multiplexer) networks, in either independent wavelength or dual carrier modes. Leveraging multiple wavelengths allows for longer transmission distances than what embedded 800G solutions, often reliant on costly proprietary technology, can achieve with a single wavelength.

• In independent wavelength mode, the TM400_2 uses two 400G wavelengths to provide significant cost efficiencies compared to a single 800G embedded solution for metro applications.
• In dual carrier mode, the TM400_2 combines two high-performance 200G wavelengths to provide a 400G channel for long haul applications, delivering superior cost performance to current embedded solutions.

"With traffic loads increasing, our customers are looking for a revolutionary  transport solution that meets today's and tomorrow's needs," said Sam Bucci, Executive Vice President & General Manager of Ribbon's IP Optical Networks Business Unit. "We're proud to be the first to market with this flexible, cost-effective solution."

https://ribboncommunications.com/company/media-center/press-releases/ribbons-innovative-400g-zr-solution-changes-optical-transport-economics

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Colombia's UFINET picks Infinera’s ICE6 800G

UFINET, a neutral infrastructure wholesale operator in Latin America, selected Infinera’s ICE6 800G coherent technology for its new national long-haul network in Colombia. 

UFINET is a neutral infrastructure operator serving the wholesale telecommunications market, providing capacity services and connectivity with a 75,000+ km optical fiber network connecting 17 countries in Latin America. This deployment will double the capacity of UFINET’s current network in Colombia.

Infinera said its ICE6 800G solution will enable UFINET to offer new high-bandwidth connectivity with industry-leading optical performance throughout Colombia. UFINET plans to deploy Infinera’s 800G solution across its terrestrial network to deliver maximum capacity at the longest reach and offer enhanced service flexibility while reducing operating costs.

“UFINET’s deployment of fifth-generation coherent technology will provide them with higher capacity and enhanced spectrum utilization over routes across the country,” said Nick Walden, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales, Infinera. “Deploying Infinera’s ICE6 solution will enable UFINET to deliver these benefits to their customers, providing service providers in the region with access to cost-effective, high-performance, and high-capacity services.”

https://www.infinera.com/press-release/ufinet-selects-infineras-ice6-800g-technology-for-colombia-network

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Amazon activates Location Services for app developers

Amazon Web Services announced the general availability of Amazon Location Service, which adds location functionality to applications without compromising user privacy or data security.

With Amazon Location Service, customers can embed location functionality in their applications using data from location-based service (LBS) providers Esri and HERE Technologies to provide maps, points of interest, geocoding (converting location information to a point on a map), route planning, geofencing (creating virtual perimeters), or asset tracking. 

AWS said pricing of its new location service is as low as 1/10th the cost of the most common LBS providers, and customers pay only for the number of user requests, assets tracked, or devices managed. 

Customers can access Amazon Location Service through the AWS Management Console, AWS Command Line Interface (CLI), or via the Amazon Location Service API. Amazon Location Service is available today in US East (N. Virginia), US East (Ohio), US West (Oregon), Europe (Frankfurt), Europe (Ireland), Europe (Stockholm), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Sydney), and Asia Pacific (Tokyo) regions.

https://aws.amazon.com/location/

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HPE posts sales of $6.7 billion, up 11% yoy

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) reported sales of $6.7 billion for its 2nd quarter, ended April 30, 2021, up 11% from the prior-year period or 9% when adjusted for currency, with better than normal sequential seasonality driven by strong demand. GAAP gross margins was 34.1%. Non-GAAP diluted net EPS was $0.46, compared to $0.27 in the prior-year period and above the previously provided outlook of $0.38 to $0.44 per share. 

“Our disciplined execution on our strategic priorities is positively impacting both top and bottom line performance,” said Antonio Neri, president and CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise. “We are strengthening our core compute and storage businesses, doubling down in our growth Intelligent Edge and HPC businesses and accelerating our pivot to as-a-service, while also advancing our cloud-first innovation agenda to become the edge-to-cloud platform as-a-service choice for our customers and partners.”

“As businesses emerge from the pandemic and move beyond the immediate needs of COVID, digital transformation is at the forefront of their strategic initiatives,” said Neri. “Our focus has been to accelerate our strategy in order to help our customers transform their businesses, optimize their applications and data across an increasingly distributed world, and be future ready, today.”

Some highlights:

• Intelligent Edge revenue was $799 million, up 20% from the prior-year period or 17% when adjusted for currency, with 15.5% operating profit margin, compared to 12.3% from the prior-year period. Switching was up 17% from the prior-year period when adjusted for currency, WLAN was up 16% from the prior-year period when adjusted for currency, and Aruba SaaS offering was up triple-digits from the prior-year period and is now a meaningful contributor to HPE’s overall ARR.
• High Performance Compute & Mission Critical Systems (HPC & MCS) revenue was $685 million, up 13% from the prior-year period or 11% when adjusted for currency, with 2.8% operating profit margin, compared to 7.6% from the prior-year period. We remain on track to achieve our full year and 3-year revenue growth CAGR target of 8% to 12%.
• Compute revenue was $3.0 billion, up 12% from the prior-year period or up 10% when adjusted for currency, with 11.3% operating profit margin, compared to 5.8% from the prior-year period.
• Storage revenue was $1.1 billion, up 5% from the prior-year period or up 3% when adjusted for currency, with 16.8% operating profit margin, compared to 15.7% from the prior-year period. Notable strength in software-defined solutions, including Nimble, up 17% from the prior-year period when adjusted for currency with strong momentum in dHCI growing triple-digits. All flash Arrays grew 20% from the prior-year period led by Primera, up triple-digits from the prior-year period.
• Financial Services revenue was $839 million, up 1% from the prior-year period or down 3% when adjusted for currency, with 10.8% operating profit margin, compared to 9.2% from the prior-year period. 

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Windstream Enterprise enhances its VMware-powered SD-WAN

Windstream Enterprise (WE) announced new feature enhancements and hardware available for its VMware-powered SD-WAN.

The three new SD-WAN edge devices offer better performance with enhanced processors that support additional functionally, simplified design, and deployment with less complexity. Specifically, the new SD-WAN edges support the SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) evolution by integrating SD-WAN and security. Managed Network Security (MNS) is deployed as a Virtual Network Function (VNF) on the VMware edge delivering unified threat management protection for the SD-WAN network.

Customers will be able to access the MNS VNF from Windstream Enterprise’s WE Connect portal to remotely self-service, view and configure their VNF firewalls to enable:

• View firewall details and policies to enable proper configuration to protect their networks
• Manage web filtering policy, including the ability to block specific URLs or categories based on content
• Application control policies that protect employees from inappropriate, harmful and unprotected apps
• Automated reports generated to review and audit internet use and potential risky behavior

“These new capabilities deliver a significant technological upgrade to Windstream Enterprise SD-WAN customers,” said Mike Flannery, chief marketing officer at Windstream Enterprise. “As the company continues to lean into the use of virtualization technology alongside its networking and security solutions, Windstream Enterprise remains committed to delivering customers an unrivaled experience and accelerated success.”

https://news.windstream.com/

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American Tower completes first tranche of Telxius Towers acquisition

American Tower Corporation closed the first tranche of its Telxius Towers acquisition, comprised of nearly 20,000 communications sites in Germany and Spain, for total consideration of approximately €6.2 billion (approximately $7.6 billion at current foreign currency exchange rates). 

The closing was funded by a combination of cash on hand and borrowings under the Company’s revolving credit facilities and term loans. Approximately 4,000 additional rooftop communications sites in Germany are expected to close in the third quarter of 2021.

Tom Bartlett, American Tower’s Chief Executive Officer stated, “We are excited to close on these high-quality, well-located assets and are ready to quickly and efficiently integrate them into our existing European portfolio. We expect to utilize our newly augmented leadership position in Germany and Spain to drive strong, sustainable, long-term growth while delivering best-in-class service to existing and new tenants as they enhance mobile broadband connectivity for their customers. As one of the largest independent communications infrastructure providers in Europe, we believe we are now optimally positioned to benefit from accelerating 5G deployments across the region through a combination of organic growth, new builds and the potential for selective future acquisitions.”

American Tower to acquire Telxius Towers for €7.7 billion

Wednesday, January 13, 2021  American Tower  

Telefónica agreed to sell Telxius Towers to American Tower Corporation for approximately €7.7 billion (approximately $9.4 billion at current foreign exchange rates), subject to customary closing adjustments. 

The deal consists of approximately 31,000 existing communications sites in Germany, Spain, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina. In addition, American Tower expects to spend approximately $500 million to construct a committed pipeline of approximately 3,300 new sites in Germany and Brazil through 2025.

Following this operation, American Tower becomes Telefónica's leading supplier in both Europe and Latin America and maintains its status as a partner in strategic projects in Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.

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Private equity firms to acquire Cloudera for $5.3 billion

Cloudera will be acquired by affiliates of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (“CD&R”) and KKR in an all cash transaction valued at approximately $5.3 billion. Cloudera expects the deal to close in the second half of 2021, making it a private company.

The acquisition price of $16.00 in cash per share represents a 24% premium to the closing price as of May 28, 2021 and a 30% premium to the 30-day volume weighted average share price.

"This transaction provides substantial and certain value to our shareholders while also accelerating Cloudera’s long-term path to hybrid cloud leadership for analytics that span the complete data lifecycle - from the Edge to AI,” said Rob Bearden, CEO of Cloudera. “We believe that as a private company with the expertise and support of experienced investors such as CD&R and KKR, Cloudera will have the resources and flexibility to drive product-led growth and expand our addressable market opportunity."

“We very much look forward to working with Cloudera as it continues to execute its long-term transformation strategy,” said Jeff Hawn, CD&R Operating Partner who will serve as Chairman of the company upon the close of the transaction. “The company has made significant progress establishing the Cloudera Data Platform (CDP) as a leader in hybrid and multi-cloud analytics, and we believe that our experience and capabilities can offer valuable support to accelerate expansion into new products and markets.” Mr. Hawn’s past roles include serving as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Quest Software, Vertafore, and Attachmate.

Separately, Cloudera reported revenue for its first quarter of fiscal 2022, ending April 30, 2021, of $224.3 million, an increase of 7% as compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2021. Subscription revenue was $200.7 million, an increase of 7% as compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2021. Annualized Recurring Revenue grew 12% year-over-year.

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Samsung unveils SSD with Zoned Namespace (ZNS) technology

Samsung Electronics unveiled its new enterprise solid-state drive (SSD) featuring Zoned Namespace (ZNS) technology for maximizing available user capacity and extending the drive's lifespan.

ZNS allows data to be grouped based on their usage and access frequency, and stored sequentially in independent zones within an SSD. Without the need to move and rearrange data, ZNS SSDs can significantly reduce the number of write operations, lowering the drive’s write amplification factor (WAF) — the amount of actual writes performed by the drive compared to writes initially instructed by the host system. The closer the WAF is to one, the more efficient the SSD and the longer it will last.

Samsung said its new ZNS SSD can achieve a WAF close to one, a major improvement over typical server SSD values between three and four. This will make the drive last up to four times longer than conventional NVMe SSDs. 

“Samsung’s ZNS SSD reflects our commitment to introducing differentiated storage solutions that can substantially enhance the reliability and lifetime of server SSDs,” said Sangyeun Cho, senior vice president of the Memory Software Development Team at Samsung Electronics. “We plan to leverage quad-level cell (QLC) NAND technology in our next-generation ZNS drives to enable higher thresholds for storage performance and capacity in the enterprise systems of tomorrow.”

Built upon Samsung’s sixth-generation V-NAND, the 2.5-inch PM1731a will come in two terabyte (TB) and four TB models. 

https://news.samsung.com/us/samsung-introduces-first-zns-ssd-maximized-user-capacity-and-enhanced-lifespan/

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