Nokia raises its 2021 outlook

Nokia reports continued strength in its business and now expects to revise upwards its prior outlook ranges for 2021 when it delivers its Q2 and half year results on 29 July 2021.

We are progressing well with our three-phased plan to achieve sustainable, profitable growth and technology leadership laid out at our Capital Markets Day in March. Our first half performance has shown evidence of this in good cost control and also benefited from strength in a number of our end markets. We continue to expect some headwinds in the second half as we have previously highlighted but our performance in the first half provides a good foundation for the full year,” said Pekka Lundmark, Nokia President and CEO.

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Small Cell Forum proposes framework for hosted Open RAN

The Small Cell Forum (SCF)is proposing a global framework for hosted Open RAN networks combining the qualities of established and emerging neutral host architectures ranging from site share and Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) to small cells with Citizen Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) and Joint Operator Technical Specifications for Neutral Host In-Building (JOTS NHIB). 

“As Open RAN is revolutionizing the way in which the mobile technology ecosystem can cooperate to build out 5G networks, so neutral host is having the same impact on the way in which networks are deployed and managed,” said Julius Robson, Chief Strategy Officer, Small Cell Forum. “Our Hosted Open RAN framework, developed by leading global neutral hosts and TowerCos, harmonizes a global approach to neutral hosting and private networks supporting flexibility for MNOs and scalability for neutral host deployers.”

SCF244 Neutral Hosting Architectures was produced by Small Cell Forum with contributions from members including: Cellnex Telecom, Crown Castle, Colt Technologies, Dense Air, American Tower, BT, Freshwave, Wireless Infrastructure Group, Extanet Systems, Commscope and JMA.

The group is currently working on detailed requirements for the Hosted Open RAN framework and welcomes contributions service and technology providers active in this space.

https://www.smallcellforum.org/press-releases/small-cell-forum-neutral-hosts-propose-hosted-open-ran-global-framework/

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Radisys intros white box OLTs for GPON and XGS-PON

 Radisys introduced a Combo PON Optical Line Terminal (OLT) family including 16 and 32-port versions — a variant of which is the Radisys white box Combo PON OLT that supports both G-PON (2.488 Gbps downstream / 1.244 Gbps upstream) and XGS-PON (10 Gbps symmetrical) within the same PON port of the OLT. The white box OLTs are based on the VOLTHA/SEBA reference architecture and are field-hardened and scaled for commercial deployments today.

Radisys said its Combo PON OLT allows broadband providers to take advantage of pervasive GPON technology while giving them a flexible upgrade path to scale up and rollout XGS-PON deployments without costly rip and replace.

“Radisys’ Combo PON OLTs give broadband providers an optimal economic advantage with the flexibility to use both G-PON and XGS-PON in their networks and through a reduction in space and power consumption,” said Harris Razak, senior vice president of Broadband Access, Radisys. “All products in the Connect Open Broadband portfolio utilize the same management system and controlling software, allowing our provider customers to choose the features and capacity they want while keeping other network elements the same, lowering their total cost of ownership and optimizing their Capex and Opex.”

“We are pleased that Radisys’ 32-port G-PON OLT has been named a certified VOLTHA product within the ONF Continuous Certification Program. This certification, along with the introduction of the Radisys Combo PON OLT with support for VOLTHA/SEBA, offers broadband service providers with greater solution choices for their FTTX deployments,” said Guru Parulkar, ONF Executive Director. “As an ONF Partner Member, Radisys has been instrumental in the development of ONF open reference designs as well as the commercialization of ONF-based solutions. The Continuous Certification Program ensures that service providers can easily identify certified products for specific ONF projects within a vibrant ecosystem of vendors delivering and deploying ONF open source platforms.”

https://hub.radisys.com/press-release

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DISA awards 2 more Ethernet contracts to Comcast Business

Comcast Government Services has been awarded two additional multimillion dollar contracts by the United States’ Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) as part of the Agency’s effort to replace legacy circuits across the country with Ethernet-based services to improve network performance and reduce overall telecommunications costs. 

The contracts – covering DISA’s Commercial Ethernet Gateway (CEG) Region 4 and Region 5 – represent $84.2M and $71.6M up to ten years, respectively. DISA CEG Region 4 covers sites in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. DISA CEG Region 5 covers sites in California and Nevada.

Comcast notes that it has now won four of the seven CEG regions for a total of more than $267 million.

“DISA’s Commercial Ethernet Gateway initiative is an important step in improving the Department of Defense’s communication with mission partners, while furthering its vision to be the trusted provider to connect and protect the warfighter in cyberspace,” said Ken Folderauer, Vice President, Government Sales, Comcast Business. “We are proud to play our part in helping DISA realize its vision by expanding this partnership across four of its seven regions.”

https://business.comcast.com/enterprise/industry-solutions/federal-government

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Lightpath deploys Ciena for services up to 800G

Ciena confirmed that Lightpath has deployed its WaveLogic 5 Extreme solution for delivering services at up to 800Gbps throughout the greater New York City metropolitan area and expanding into the greater Boston market. Lightpath is also deploying Ciena's Waveserver Ai compact interconnect platform over a 6500 RLS flexible grid reconfigurable optical layer for a more open, scalable and programmable network. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“As users consume more digital content, it is crucial for service providers to ensure their network can adapt to these surging and often unpredictable demands. With Ciena's technology, Lightpath is adding scalability to meet bandwidth demands and also gaining real-time visibility into the performance of its network.” said Kevin Sheehan, Chief Technology Officer, Americas, Ciena.

http://www.lightpathfiber.com

https://www.ciena.com/

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Cyprus Telecom Authority leverages ADVA's timing tech

The Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (Cyta) is leveraging ADVA's Oscilloquartz timing technology in a national synchronization network, addressing legacy timing applications and ensuring a smooth migration to precise packet timing for 5G.

Prior to the deployment of ADVA’s Oscilloquartz PTP grandmaster clock and GNSS receiver technology, Cyta’s timing network was based purely on frequency synchronization. It now distributes stable and accurate phase and time-of-day information, supporting the enhanced spectrum utilization needed for 5G. The solution features the OSA 5420 Series of grandmaster clocks, optimized for mobile backhaul and fronthaul in the radio access network. In the core, the OSA 5440 provides highest accuracy and availability with its dual multi-band, multi-constellation GNSS receiver and full hardware redundancy. The technology is remotely controlled by ADVA’s Ensemble Sync Director. 

“We’ve worked closely with Cyta to create a synchronization solution that fits its precise needs. Able to support both legacy and next-generation packet networking, Cyta’s new timing network is space- and power-efficient, assured by in-service PTP and GNSS monitoring and protected by hardware redundancy. Our engineers have also provided support at every stage of the process and made certain that the installation was carried out without any disruption to services,” commented Vasileios Karavasilis, commercial director, ADAPTIT S.A. “As a key distributor of ADVA’s Oscilloquartz solutions, we know all about the value of precise and reliable timing in mission-critical networks. Cyta is now prepared for mass 5G rollout with a synchronization architecture able to meet key challenges both now and in the future.”

https://www.adva.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/20210713-cyta-deploys-adva-oscilloquartz-solution-for-network-timing

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Red Hat's Kubernetes integrates with Ansible automation

Red Hat announced a new version of its enterprise-grade Kubernetes management offering with new capabilities for managing and scaling hybrid and multicloud environments in a unified and automated way. 

Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.3 brings integration with the Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform and Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for a more modern, hybrid cloud-ready environment.

Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management can now automatically trigger Ansible Playbooks before or after key lifecycle actions such as application and cluster creation, making it easier to automate tasks like configuring networking, connecting applications to databases, constructing load balancers and firewalls, and updating IT service management (ITSM) ticketing systems. With a Resource Operator for Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management, building on the Kubernetes Operator-based foundation of Red Hat OpenShift to encapsulate complex operational knowledge into code, Advanced Cluster Management can call on Ansible Automation Platform to execute tasks more efficiently outside of the Kubernetes cluster. The result is a single, automated workflow for customers to operationalize Red Hat OpenShift environments alongside traditional IT systems.

The Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management 2.3 also includes additional support for importing managed Kubernetes clusters for Red Hat OpenShift on AWS (ROSA), as well as OpenShift clusters on IBM Power Systems. This builds on supported managed Kubernetes clusters for Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud (ROKS), Microsoft Azure Red Hat OpenShift (ARO), Red Hat OpenShift Dedicated (OSD) and IBM system Z. It also supports provisioning on-premises Red Hat OpenShift clusters on Red Hat OpenStack directly from Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management.

“Cloud-native applications and services are not an island. We need to meet organizations where they are to bridge the divide between traditional IT infrastructure and cloud-native development, so that IT teams can focus on innovation rather than trying to get disparate technologies to work together. Red Hat is uniquely positioned to bring these capabilities together through a GitOps-based approach, helping to accelerate and scale modernization. Now, customers can automate the full stack from start to finish, from the cluster to the policy and governance to the application deployment, helping to eliminate silos and further organization-wide hybrid cloud strategies,” states Dave Lindquist, general manager and vice president, Software Engineering, Advanced Kubernetes Management, Red Hat.

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IEEE adopts MIPI A-PHY spec for automotive networks

The MIPI A-PHY v1.0 specification, which is the first asymmetric, long-reach, serializer-deserializer (SerDes) physical layer interface for automotive applications has been adopted as an IEEE standard. 

The MIPI Alliance said applications for MIPI-APHY are expected to include bridges for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), autonomous driving systems (ADS) and in-vehicle infotainment (IVI). With a reach of up to 15 meters, MIPI A-PHY (and now also IEEE 2977) provides an asymmetric data link in point-to-point or daisy-chain topologies, with high-speed unidirectional data, embedded bidirectional control data, ultra-high noise immunity and optional power delivery over a single cable. It also offers an ultra-low packet error rate of 10‑19 for unprecedented performance over the vehicle lifetime, ultra-high immunity to electromagnetic interference (EMI) effects in demanding automotive conditions and data rate as high as 16 Gbps, with a roadmap to 48 Gbps and beyond. A-PHY also serves as the foundation of the MIPI Automotive SerDes Solutions (MASS) framework, which simplifies the integration of cameras, sensors and displays across a vehicle while adding functional safety and security. 

“This is the first time MIPI has sought adoption by another standards body for one of our specifications," said Joel Huloux, chairman of MIPI Alliance. "With the approval of IEEE 2977, MIPI A-PHY becomes accessible to a broader network of system engineers beyond the MIPI membership. This promises a tremendous expansion of the ecosystem of expertise around A-PHY, which will translate into greater interoperability, vendor choice and economies of scale for the global automotive industry, as well as users of the specification from other application spaces such as the IoT (Internet of Things) and industrial.” 

http://www.mipi.org

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Frontier expands its FTTH rollout in Texas

Frontier Communications is expanding its FTTH rollout to an additional 24,000 consumers in San Angelo, Texas in 2021 as the initial phase of its multi-year expansion effort.

“This infrastructure investment stems from Frontier’s belief that access to high-speed broadband is critical to building a digital society, enhancing community inclusion, and helping the environment,” said Greg Stephens, Senior Vice President of Frontier’s Texas operations. “I am confident communities will see Frontier in a new way once they experience the power of fiber-optic technology.”

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Lightbits awarded U.S. patent for NVMe/TCP overprovisioning

Lightbits Labs, a start-up based in San Jose, California focused on NVMe over TCP (NVMe/TCP) software-defined storage, has been assigned a patent (11,03,6626) for “a method and system to determine an optimal over-provisioning ratio.”

The abstract of the patent (11,03,6626) published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: A system and a method of managing over-provisioning (OP) on non-volatile memory (NVM) computer storage media including at least one NVM storage device, by at least one processor, may include: receiving a value of one or more run-time performance parameters pertaining to data access requests to one or more physical block addresses (PBAs) of the storage media; receiving at least one of a target performance parameter value and a system-inherent parameter value; analyzing the received at least one run-time performance parameter value, to determine an optimal OP ratio of at least one NVM storage device in view of the received at least of a target performance parameter value and system-inherent parameter value; and limiting storage of data objects on the at least one NVM storage device according to the determined OP ratio.

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