Thursday, August 26, 2021

Sparkle to build Panama Digital Gateway

Sparkle and Trans Ocean Network, a Panamanian telecommunications company, will form a  joint venture in Panama for the construction of an open landing and connectivity center that aims to become the digital hub for all Central America, the Andean region and the Caribbean.

Panama Digital Gateway, which will be located in Panama City, will offer 3,200 square meters of colocation space for over 600 racks and 5 MW of power. The new building targets a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1.4.

The hub will be integrated with Sparkle’s global backbone - more than 600,000 km of fiber spanning from Europe to Africa, the Americas and Asia - and will also be the landing point of existing and upcoming submarine cables looking for a diversified entry way to Central America, thus strengthening the role of Panama as the strategic digital hub between North and South America.

“The development of infrastructures in the Americas represents a pillar of Sparkle's strategic plan to consolidate its positioning in the telecommunications wholesale market while reinforcing its offering of digital solutions to enterprises.”, explained Elisabetta Romano, CEO of Sparkle. “The construction of the hub in Panama, a natural crossroad of Central America and a bridge between the Atlantic and the Pacific as well as a strategic hub between North and South America, is a project of fundamental importance for the landing of new submarine cables and the creation of an ecosystem of interconnected players.”

“Panama Digital Gateway consolidates and positions Panama as the digital hub of the region, strengthening the connectivity of our country, and becoming a strategic interconnection offer for OTTs, carriers and enterprises”, stated Joaquín Victoria Díaz, General Manager of Trans Ocean Network. “We are very pleased to be participating in the construction and operation of this open hub in conjunction with a partner of experience and global scale such as Sparkle.”


Sparkle powers Curie subsea cable with Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 Extreme

Sparkle is enhancing its fibers on the Curie submarine cable with Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 Extreme (WL5e) technology, enabling a total transmission capacity of up to 450Gbps per channel – which is two times faster than previously available technology - across the 10,476km cable. This will result in an ultimate capacity of up to 19Tbps and a 30 percent increase in the network’s ability, giving end-users the possibility to enjoy more HD video and cloud computing applications.

Sparkle will also have direct connectivity between data centers in the U.S. and Chile using Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme Submarine Network Solution powered by WL5e. In addition, through Ciena’s Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) domain controller, Sparkle will be provided with real-time intelligence and visibility to help its network proactively identify connectivity issues.

“Curie is a major addition for Sparkle, as it expands our American backbone with direct Chile to U.S. connectivity. WaveLogic 5 pushes the envelope and helps us execute on our network evolution plans to continue supporting next-generation applications that require endless bandwidth,” commented Enrico Bagnasco, Sparkle’s Chief Technology Officer.

“Ciena’s coherent optical innovations are the industry gold standard. With WaveLogic 5, Sparkle can boost network scalability and forge a path to support the digital economy,” added Fabio Medina, Ciena’s General Manager and Vice President of Sales in Latin America. “Sparkle’s upgraded network opens a new connectivity route to Chile and enables its customers to have faster, more reliable bandwidth as they stream content and use the cloud.”


Sparkle adds fiber pair on Google’s Curie US-Chile cable

TI Sparkle will gain access to a fiber pair on Google's new Curie submarine cable system connecting Los Angeles to Valparaiso, Chile.

The new fiber pair on Curie will be fully integrated with Sparkle’s global backbone, increasing redundancy and offering a fourth diversified route to directly connect South and North America, complementing its 2017 addition of the Seabras-1 cable in the Atlantic.

Sparkle said its newest highways, Curie in the Pacific and Seabras-1 in the Atlantic, position it as the best-in-class choice for OTTs, ISPs, enterprises, Content/Application Providers and Asian players looking for global connectivity through its City2City transport service and its global Tier-1, Seabone IP transit service.

LINX and Telehouse NYIIX interconnection goes live in U.S.

TELEHOUSE NYIIX and the London Internet Exchange (LINX) activated their new joint U.S. interconnection service, bringing together two major Internet Exchange Points (IXP). The route between NYIIX in New York and LINX NoVA — a fast-growing interconnection platform based out of Ashburn, Manassas and Reston in Northern Virginia — is now officially live.

The new service interconnects the entities’ mutual ecosystems, empowering members of each IXP with expanded peering opportunities. The partnership also provides member networks with a redundant and resilient route from New York to Northern Virginia.


Akio Sugeno, VP of Engineering for TELEHOUSE NYIIX, says “This partnership combines the robust resources of two advantageous peering fabrics, making the whole even greater than the sum of its parts. Empowering data and IT is about getting data where it needs to go as efficiently as possible, and we’re proud to be architecting the solution that achieves that for our growing array of members. We look forward to seeing how this service helps customers thrive in the digital economy.”

https://www.linx.net/news/nyiix-nova-goes-live/

Windstream Enterprise offers unlimited Cellular Broadband

Windstream Enterprise (WE) introduced new unlimited plans for Cellular Broadband for providing a primary connection method for customer locations that have limited access options available, while also acting as a secondary SD-WAN connection that offers seamless failover in a standby configuration by providing redundancy to other network connections. The solution offers visibility and reporting via WE Connect portal from Windstream Enterprise.


Unlimited Cellular Broadband is now available in three data plan options.

“Keeping your network up and running is critical for every business and ensuring rapid connectivity to remote locations is essential,” said Mike Flannery, chief marketing officer of Windstream Enterprise. “Unlimited Cellular Broadband is a reliable and cost-effective strategy that will contribute to an effective business continuity plan.”

http://www.windstreamenterprise.com

AT&T's 5G network now support IoT powered by Cisco

AT&T and Cisco have introduced 5G network capabilities to boost performance for Internet of Things (IoT) applications across the US.

The AT&T 5G network is now ready to deliver lower latency and faster speeds for enterprise customer IoT deployments using 5G certified devices. The service is powered by Cisco.


AT&T and Cisco currently manage millions of connected devices spanning manufacturing, utilities, transportation, public sector, retail, and healthcare industries as well as public safety on FirstNet, built with AT&T, through AT&T’s 4G LTE and low-power IoT cellular networks.

AT&T Control Center powered by Cisco gives businesses near real-time visibility of all the IoT devices on their network and helps mitigate security risks, identifies anomalies in data usage and optimizes traffic classification reporting.

https://about.att.com/story/2021/att_cisco_launch_5g.html

Analog Devices completes acquisition of Maxim

Analog Devices completed its previously announced acquisition of Maxim Integrated Products in an all-stock transaction that values the combined enterprise at over $68 billion. The deal was first announced on July 13th.

The combined company will have trailing twelve-month revenue of over $9 billion and free cash flow of over $3 billion on a pro forma basis.

“Today is a tremendous milestone for ADI and I’m delighted to welcome the Maxim team, who share our passion for solving our customers’ most complex technology problems,” said Vincent Roche, President and CEO. “With more than 10,000 engineers and the increased breadth and depth of our best-in-class technologies, we are well-positioned to develop even more complete, cutting-edge solutions for our customers. Together, we will drive the next waves of analog semiconductor innovation, while engineering a healthier, safer and more sustainable future for all.”




https://investor.analog.com/static-files/52340411-401f-4554-ad4e-a7b4299501b9

Rockley Photonics looks to SkyWater for wafer processing

SkyWater Technology and Rockley Photonics have broadened their engagement to include wafer back-end-of-line processing for Rockley’s spectrophotometer-on-a-chip health monitoring solution. The expanded relationship with SkyWater, which is part of the multi-sourcing efforts at Rockley, will enhance Rockley’s manufacturing network reliability and scalability.

Specifically, Rockley utilized SkyWater’s Advanced Technology Services through the development phase, transitioned to production Wafer Services for front-end processing, and now utilizes back-end-of-line assembly capabilities at SkyWater’s advanced packaging facility in Florida. 

Rockley’s recently announced “clinic-on-the-wrist” digital health sensor system has the potential to provide wearable devices with a new range of sensing capabilities that includes continuous, non-invasive monitoring of multiple biomarkers: core body temperature, blood pressure, body hydration, alcohol level, lactate, and glucose, among others. 

SkyWater’s Technology as a Service (TaaS) model combines process R&D, wafer fabrication, and advanced packaging technology services to provide customers with powerful competitive advantages, including supply chain transparency, robust IP protection, and an accelerated time to market.

“SkyWater provides us with a domestic U.S. source for advanced wafer-level components which is a critical part of our multi-source supply chain strategy. As we target high-volume consumer and industrial applications, deepening our connection with SkyWater is an important step in expanding our manufacturing ecosystem,” said Dr. Andrew Rickman, chief executive officer and founder of Rockley Photonics.

“This is an excellent example of the value our TaaS model brings to our customers to develop customized manufacturing solutions that enable their differentiated technologies,” said Thomas Sonderman, SkyWater president and CEO. “Rockley’s innovative silicon photonics platform is an important breakthrough in the fast-growing health wearables market and aligns with SkyWater’s market strategy, extending our value chain for this application space. We’re excited to be Rockley’s strategic supplier in the U.S. to provide them with both front-end and back-end-of-line solutions to help Rockley bring its transformational technology to market.”

http://www.rockleyphotonics.com

http://www.skywatertechnology.com

Rockley Photonics to begin trading on NYSE as RKLY

Rockley Photonics, a leading global silicon photonics firm, completed its business combination with SC Health Corp. The combined company will retain the Rockley Photonics, Ltd. name as a subsidiary of Rockley Photonics Holdings, Ltd., which will commence trading on the NYSE under the new ticker symbol “RKLY” on August 12. The approximately $167.8 million in gross proceeds available to Rockley following the combination is expected to enable the...

Rockley Photonics unveils spectrophotometer-on-a-chip module

Rockley Photonics revealed its complete full-stack, “clinic-on-the-wrist” digital health sensor system based on its own spectroscopy technology. Rockley’s sensor module generates a large number of discrete laser outputs from a single silicon chip covering a broad optical band. The sensor non-invasively probes beneath the skin to analyze blood, interstitial fluids, and various layers of the dermis for constituents and physical phenomena of interest....

Hengtong Rockley demos 800G QSFP-DD800 DR8 pluggable

Hengtong Rockley Technology Co. announced an 800G QSFP-DD800 DR8 optical module based on EML technology.There are two main form factors for 800G MSA: OSFP and QSFP-DD800. Because of the tight space, QSFP-DD800 module design has been considered as the most challenging, in term of layout, signal integrity and thermal management. Hengtong Rockley is adapting 7nm DSP with built-in drivers, and COB structure to achieve this 800G QSFP-DD800 DR8 design,...


VMware posts Q2 revenue of $3.14 billion, up 9% yoy

VMware reported revenue of $3.14 billion for the second quarter of its fiscal year, an increase of 9% from the second quarter of fiscal 2021. Non-GAAP net income for the second quarter was $739 million, or $1.75 per diluted share, down 3% per diluted share compared to $766 million, or $1.81 per diluted share, for the second quarter of fiscal 2021.

  • The combination of subscription and SaaS and license revenue was $1.51 billion, an increase of 12% from the second quarter of fiscal 2021.
  • Subscription and SaaS revenue for the second quarter was $776 million, an increase of 23% year-over-year.
  • Subscription and SaaS ARR for the second quarter was $3.15 billion, an increase of 26% year-over-year.
  • Q2 Cloud Management product bookings were up over 30% YoY.
  • Compute growth was strong for both on-prem and cloud deployments, benefitting from an
  • improved economic backdrop, strength in our commercial business, and continued growth in multi-cloud Subscription and SaaS offerings.
  • EUC and NSX product bookings were both up in the strong double-digits versus Q2 last year.
  • vSAN product bookings grew in the low-single-digits YoY in Q2.

“Our customers are evolving their strategies from a ‘cloud first’ to a ‘cloud smart’ philosophy where they are picking the right clouds and cloud services for the right workload, and turning to a multi-cloud environment,” said Raghu Raghuram, VMware CEO. “We are delivering the multi-cloud platform for all applications, enabling the digital innovation and enterprise control that our customers need to accelerate their businesses today and in the future.”

UK's Vilicom deploys Mavenir for private LTE on windfarm

UK based wireless telecommunications provider, Vilicom is using the Mavenir's MAVair solution as a critical component in delivering UK’s first off-shore private LTE network for windfarm communications and connectivity.

The Vilicom network provides advanced communications and connectivity to sea vessels and workers operating inside the boundaries of the windfarm off the coast of Scotland. The connectivity also allows 

Mavenir's MAVair family includes the flexible Open Virtualised RAN (Open vRAN) where the evolved RAN architecture, designed with cloud-native virtualisation techniques, enables the RAN to flex and adapt based on usage and coverage.