Monday, September 13, 2021

II‐VI and Lumentum form SmartTuning Optics MSA

II‐VI and Lumentum are founding members of a new SmartTuning Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) that aims to standardize an interoperable self-tuning feature for full-band tunable dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) pluggable optical transceivers. 

The companies say that incorporating a plug-and-play, self-tunable feature adds an extra layer of automation which further simplifies network installation and operation practices. Self-tunable DWDM pluggables eliminate the need for labeling or tracking fibers, reducing the overall operational cost for service providers. Additionally, the self-tuning functionality does not require new integration–within systems, the function can be enabled or disabled. 

"With the SmartTuning MSA, 5G mobile service providers will be able to better optimize their network architectures with easy-to-integrate, cost-effective, and automated optical networking solutions," said Justin Abbott, Lumentum Director of Product Line Management, Telecom Transmission. "This development should also accelerate the expansion of 5G network infrastructure by enabling more network automation, which results in less technician time in the field and lower ongoing network operating costs."

"The algorithms developed by the SmartTunable MSA will improve OpEx and CapEx for our end users by simplifying the deployment of their systems, reducing technician time in the field, and eliminating the need for tuning equipment,” said Dr. Lee Xu, Sr. Vice President, Transceivers Business Unit. “Our customers will greatly appreciate the efficiency and streamlined operations achieved through this standardization effort, as they ramp-up DWDM system deployments to support high speed wireline and 5G wireless broadband services.”

http://www.smarttunable-msa.org/

BT tests Quantum Key Distribution over hollow core fibre

 BT has conducted a trial of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) over hollow core fibre cable developed by Lumenisity, a spin out from Southampton University.

Testing of Nested Anti-Resonant Nodeless Fibre (NANF) hollow core fibre kicked off this summer at the BT Labs in Ipswich.

BT researchers operated a state-of-the-art QKD system using commercial equipment over a 6-kilometre-long Lumenisity CoreSmart cable with a hollow, air-filled centre, revealing potential benefits such as reduced latency and no appreciable crosstalk – the effect of a transmitted signal interfering with the transmission of another signal.

Professor Andrew Lord, BT’s Head of Optical Network Research, said: “This is an exciting milestone for BT, accelerating the UK’s lead in quantum technologies that will play an important role in future communications systems globally. We’ve proven a range of benefits that can be realised by deploying hollow core fibre for quantum-secure communication. Hollow core fibre’s low latency and ability to send QKD over a single fibre with other signals is a critical advancement for the future of secure communications.”

Tony Pearson, VP Sales and Marketing at Lumenisity, said: “We are excited to be identifying new applications for our field deployable CoreSmart cable solutions and working with the BT team on the first trial in the world of this kind. This milestone further accentuates not just the capability of our hollow core cable solutions, offering low latency and high bandwidth, but also demonstrating the potential CoreSmart has in new applications thanks to ultra low non-linearity and dispersion across a broad spectrum, perfect for networks operated by our Carrier partners.”

https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-conducts-worlds-first-trial-of-quantum-secure-communications-over-hollow-core-fibre-cable/

ADVA brings post-quantum cryptography to optical transport

ADVA announced post-quantum cryptography (PQC) capabilities for its optical transport solution.The FSP 3000 ConnectGuard optical encryption solution relies on a hybrid key exchange system, combining PQC algorithms with classical encryption methods. It utilizes the traditional Diffie-Hellman protocol and combines it with a newly developed algorithm based on the quantum-safe McEliece cryptosystem. This enables it to produce encryption keys that even...

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...

Planning begins for a European quantum communication network

The European Commission has selected Airbus to lead a consortium of companies and research institutes to study the design of the future European quantum communication network, EuroQCI, to enable ultra-secure communication between critical infrastructures and government institutions across the European Union. The 15-month study will set out the details of the end-to-end system and design. The European Commission's ambition is to run a EuroQCI demonstrator...

Colt tests quantum-based super-encryption with ADVA

Colt Technology Services has successfully conducted a field trial of quantum-secured transport using ADVA's FSP 3000 platform with ConnectGuard Layer 1 encryption technology. The trial, which was conducted over Colt’s deployed metro network in Frankfurt, utilized quantum key distribution (QKD) to super-encrypt live data traffic. ADVA’s partner ID Quantique also played a key role in the trial. Colt harnessed the ADVA FSP 3000, which receives...


Avicena demos multi-Tbps LED interconnect

At this week's European Conference for Optical Communications (ECOC) 2021, Avicena Tech Corp. is demonstrating its LightBundle multi-Tbps LED-based chip-to-chip interconnect technology.

The Avicena LightBundle achieves order-of-magnitude improvements in power dissipation and density over any other interconnect technology up to a reach of 10 meters. LightBundle™ is purpose-built for multi-Tbps chip-to-chip interconnects in distributed computing, processor-to-memory disaggregation, and other advanced computing applications. Avicena is based in Mountain View, California. 

Avicena's LightBundle is based on arrays of novel GaN high-speed micro-emitters with a reach of up to 10m. The technology leverages the microLED display manufacturing ecosystem and is fully compatible with high performance CMOS ICs. The company’s CROMEs are about an order of magnitude faster than the current state-of-the-art LEDs. At 200 parallel lanes this extrapolates to an aggregate link bandwidth of 2Tbps with a bandwidth density of 10Tbps/mm2.

“All of this is changing with the recent progress in optical emitter technology driven by advances in the display industry,” says Bardia Pezeshki, founder and CEO of Avicena. “We have developed super-efficient, high-density optical transmitters based on emitter technology from the display industry. These innovative devices would have been impractical just a few years ago. Our optimized devices and materials support 10Gbps links per lane over -40°C to +125°C temperature with excellent reliability. We refer to our new optical sources as Cavity-Reinforced Optical Micro-Emitters or CROMEs. We connect CROME arrays with CMOS compatible PDs using multi-core fiber bundles to create massively parallel interconnects with 100s of parallel lanes with a density of 10Tbps/mm2 over a reach of up to 10m. We call this new class of optical interconnect the Avicena LightBundle.”

https://avicena.tech/

Cloudflare expands to 250 cities and reaches 100 Tbps capacity

Cloudflare's network now spans more than 250 cities in over 100 countries, including three new locations across Europe: Cork, Ireland; Palermo, Italy; and Ekaterinburg, Russia. In total, Cloudflare has data centers in all of the below 47 cities across 30 countries across Europe.

Over the past 2 years, Cloudflare has more than tripled its overall network capacity to 100Tbps and increased the number of cities in its network by 25%.  Currently, Cloudflare’s network interconnects with over 9,800 networks globally, including major ISPs, cloud services, and enterprises.


“We want to optimize the scale and intelligence of our network so that Cloudflare is not only the most global network on Earth, but also the most local one,” said Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare. “We will continue to invest in bringing our network closer to as many people as possible because we believe in providing security, privacy, and reliability for all. On top of expanding our network, we’ll soon share more on how we are creating the fastest modern network.”


https://www.cloudflare.com/

Crosslake Fibre picks Ciena for cable across the English Channel

Crosslake Fibre has selected Ciena for a new submarine cable and terrestrial network between Slough, UK, and Paris, France.  The network, called ‘CrossChannel Fibre,’ is the first fibre cable project of its kind to be built across the busy shipping lanes of the English Channel since 2001. 

Crosslake is deploying Ciena’s 6500 packet-optical platform powered by WaveLogic 5 Extreme. Crosslake is also using Ciena’s Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) with Liquid Spectrum's Channel Margin Gauge app to allocate and scale capacity in real-time, from 600Gbps to 800Gbps, to quickly adapt to changing customer requirements and maximize the value of deployed assets.

“There hasn’t been a new fibre network across the Channel in two decades,” said Mike Cunningham, CEO, Crosslake Fibre. “We saw the need for a modern network infrastructure—one that can handle the rigorous demands of today’s digital world, but also serve generations well into the future. And that’s the vision behind CrossChannel.”

“A lot of online activities, but especially gaming and streaming, call for blazing performance and minimal delays or lag,” said Ian Clarke, Vice President of Global Submarine Solutions, Ciena. “Crosslake’s submarine cable network, with its high reliability and speedy connectivity, plays a pivotal role in elevating experiences like eSports and videoconferencing.”

http://www.crosslakefibre.ca

https://www.ciena.com/

SpaceX launches 51 Starlink satellites into polar orbit from California

SpaceX launched 51 Starlink satellites into polar orbit from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The launch used a Falcon 9 booster that previously launched Telstar 18 VANTAGE, Iridium-8, and seven Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the Falcon 9’s first stage landed on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship stationed in the Pacific Ocean. One half of Falcon 9’s fairing halves previously supported NROL-108 and the other previously flew on GPS III-3 and Turksat-5A.

This launch was the 32nd Starlink mission.  It is the first launch of upgraded Starlink satellites equipped with space lasers for satellite-to-satellite links.

https://www.spacex.com/


Windstream joins Open ROADM Forum

Windstream has joined Open ROADM, a multi-source agreement forum that defines compatibility standards for optical networking gear. 


Windstream said it continues to be a strong advocate for open standards as demonstrated with its own Intelligent Converged Optical Network (ICON) architecture, which leverages the advantages of a disaggregated network architecture with multi-vendor open line system scalability and alien wave support. Windstream is focused on driving innovation in the disaggregated L0/L1 solutions at the very edge of carrier networks; contributing to transceiver interoperability, in both greenfield and brownfield environments; managing tradeoffs between proprietary performance/efficiency and openness/interoperability; and developing software solutions for managing open networks.

“Windstream is honored to be joining the distinguished group of service providers and vendors that make up Open ROADM,” said Art Nichols, vice president of network architecture and technology. “We share the belief that the best way network providers can drive faster innovation is to introduce openness and programmability into all areas of the network, including the optical arena. Much has already been accomplished by Open ROADM to reduce vendor lock-in and drive multi-vendor efficiencies in the optical domain, but there’s still a great deal of work to do and we look forward to contributing to that important effort.”

“We will continue to demonstrate our leadership position in optical networking, and joining a Forum like Open ROADM will enhance that path forward,” said Buddy Bayer, Windstream’s chief network officer.

http://www.windstreamwholesale.com