OSA becomes Optica, a global society for advancing light science

OSA, which was once known as Optical Society of America, has changed its name to Optica, the society advancing optics and photonics worldwide.  

Optica says its new name reinforces the society’s position as the leading forum for advancing light science and technology. It also reflects its diverse global community.

Elizabeth Rogan, Optica’s CEO, said: “Our new name was developed in collaboration and consultation with our community.  We knew it was critical to choose a name representing who we have become and possessing a strong strategic fit for our next chapter.  Optica works on so many levels – it’s already a well-known name due to our highly-regarded journal, it’s geographically neutral, and it translates well in many languages.”

Optica was founded in 1916 to promote the generation, dissemination and application of knowledge in optics or light science. It now encompasses a community that is 432,000+ large, representing 93% of the world’s countries.  

Optica President Connie Chang-Hasnain said: “When the organization began more than 100 years ago, it was primarily focused on supporting a small group of members and companies in America who were working on technologies like lens design and photography.  Today the optics and photonics industry has grown exponentially.  The field has evolved and now includes metamaterials, ultrafast laser science, quantum technology, 5G networks, and many other technologies.  As a champion of the field, our organization’s name must reflect the work being undertaken and the people performing the work.  Now is the time for our name to change to one that honours our legacy, is true to our present and embraces our future.”

https://www.osa.org/en-us/home/

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Globe leverages Infinera's Auto-Lambda optics

Globe Telecom has deployed Infinera’s Auto-Lambda solution, featuring autotuneable optics, to upgrade its existing 4G access and aggregation networks in the Philippines.

Globe is the leading mobile network operator in the Philippines and offers one of the largest fixed line and broadband networks in the country. 

Infinera describes the installation as the industry’s first widescale deployment of autotuneable optics over sophisticated amplified ring architectures.

Infinera’s Auto-Lambda solution enables Globe to plug autotuneable DWDM optics directly into its existing aggregation and access nodes, allowing its network to automatically tune each of the optical signals to the appropriate wavelength, which significantly simplifies deployment while increasing capacity.

“In today’s environment, our customers are always online and want unhindered access and capacity. As one of the leading telecom services in the Philippines, we seek the best technology to support our nation’s connectivity needs,” said Jaeson Evangelista, Head Transport Planning at Globe Telecom. “Our network requires a solution that is easy to deploy and scalable to meet the increasing capacity needs of our customers. We chose Infinera’s Auto-Lambda solution because it provides the innovation and benefits our network needs, from operational simplicity and ease of deployment to cost savings and eliminating the need for new networking hardware. Additionally, Infinera’s autotuneable optics provide a unique solution that enables DWDM upgrades directly into third-party devices in our network, making installation and deployment easy for our engineers.”

“Globe has a rich legacy in the Philippines for its telecommunication services and providing the country with unmatched connectivity,” said Nick Walden, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales at Infinera. “Globe’s deployment of Infinera’s Auto-Lambda solution highlights the benefits provided by Infinera’s innovation, including autotuneable optics that provide high-capacity access and aggregation DWDM networks without an extensive overhaul to an operator’s existing network infrastructure.”

https://www.infinera.com/press-release/globe-telecom-upgrades-network-for-5g-with-infinera-auto-lambda-solution

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NTT Research inaugurates "OneVision" Center in Silicon Valley

Kazuhiro Gomi, President and CEO of NTT Research, introduces the new NTT OneVision Center in Sunnyvale, California.  The new facility is built for a post-pandemic vision of the workplace, with collaboration-focused spaces, state-of-the-art health monitoring capabilities, and new layouts. 

The video also features the ribbon cutting and inauguration speech on September 19, 2021.

For more insights from industry thought leaders check out: https://nextgeninfra.io/

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BT sets 2030 net zero target for its own operations

BT Group is bringing forward its net zero target from 2045 to 2030 for its own operational emissions and 2040 for its supply chain and customer emissions.

BT said it has already has reduced the carbon emissions intensity of its operations by 57% since 2016 and has reduced supply chain emissions by 19% over the same timeframe.

In 2020, the company announced that it had completed the switch to 100% renewable electricity worldwide and pledged to transition the majority of its 33,000 strong commercial fleet to electric or zero carbon emissions vehicles by 2030.

https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-group-accelerates-net-zero-targets-and-launches-campaign-to-get-the-nation-talking-about-climate-change/

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GTT sells infrastructure division to I Squared Capital

GTT Communications completed the sale of its infrastructure division to I Squared Capital. The division consists of a pan-European, North American, and subsea fiber network and data center assets and associated infrastructure services provided to customers. The deal was first announced in October 2020.

“This is a major milestone for GTT as we move away from infrastructure ownership and maintenance to deepen our focus on serving the global enterprise market with a full array of cloud networking and managed solutions that include SD-WAN, security, internet, voice and other vital telecommunication services that enable digital business,” stated Ernie Ortega, GTT CEO. “We have a great team of employees and a company culture that is responsive to the needs of our customers, coupled with an industry-leading internet backbone and a product roadmap aligned to trending market demand. I am confident that our sharper strategic focus will enable us to better serve our customers.”   

“The differentiated fiber and data center assets acquired through this purchase from GTT are a valuable addition to our global digital infrastructure investments,” said Gautam Bhandari, Managing Partner at I Squared Capital. “We are excited about the opportunity to invest and build on this rich set of digital infrastructure capabilities to serve the increasing market demand for high performance networks. We welcome the talented team from GTT to EXA Infrastructure, the newly named independent operating company.”

http://www.gtt.net/us-en/media-center/press-releases/gtt-completes-sale-of-infrastructure-division

Telstra sells 3 data centers, exits Ooyala

Sunday, August 18, 2019  Telstra  

Telstra announced the sale of three international data centres for $160 million,  yielding a nine times EBITDA multiple and $110 million gain on sale.  Media reports identified the buyer as I-Squared Capital, a private equity fund. Telstra also announced the sale of its Edison Exchange in Brisbane for $57 million. The company has also restructured its Telstra Ventures arm and exited its Ooyala business. In 2014, Telstra acquired Ooyala,...

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I Squared Capital to acquire Hutchison Global for $1.86bn

Monday, July 31, 2017  Hong Kong, Hutchison, Mergers & Acquisitions  

I Squared Capital, an independent global infrastructure investment manager, announced an agreement, through its ISQ Global Infrastructure Fund II, to acquire a 100% interest in Hutchison Global Communications Investment Holding (HGC) from Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong Holdings (HTHKH), a part of CK Hutchison Holdings, for approximately HKD14.5 billion (approximately $1.86 billion).HGC is a major fixed-line service provider addressing fixed...

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Wind River acquires Particle Design for UI/UX

Wind River completed its previously-announced acquisition of UI/UX design company Particle Design.  Financial terms were not disclosed.

Particle is a leading user experience research and design agency that works with clients at every stage of prototyping, software design, and engineering. Its end-to-end UX research services employ a range of methodologies, from ethnographic research to user evaluations and usability testing; its design services include prototyping, interaction design, and wireframing. Particle partners with global brands across industries, including automotive, electronics, medical, and transportation, to design the future of technology.

Wind River Studio is a cloud-native platform for the development, deployment, operations, and servicing of mission-critical intelligent systems through one single pane of glass. With the acquisition of Particle, Wind River will further expand the UI/UX capabilities in Studio to include cognitive UI, which uses AI/ML to predict and anticipate needs and behaviors of the user bringing a more contextual, personalized, intelligent assistant type UX. 

“In the new intelligent machine economy that we’re enabling with our customers, the user experience is more important than ever. We’re thrilled to welcome the industry-leading Particle design team to Wind River,” said Kevin Dallas, president and CEO of Wind River. “The graphical, natural, and cognitive UI/UX expertise that Particle brings to Wind River Studio will further advance our mission of enabling our customers to realize the AI-infused, digital future of the planet.”

http://www.windriver.com

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Altice France to acquire Coriolis Telecom

Altice France, the second-largest mobile operator in France, agreed to acquire 100% of Coriolis S.A., an independent French telecom group, for an upfront purchase price of €298 million and a deferred consideration of €117 million..

Coriolis Telecom offers mobile and fixed Telecom services to more than 500 thousand customers in small and medium French cities and 30,000 companies. In addition, Coriolis has developed a customer relationship management division, Coriolis Service, serving both internal and third-party customers relying on four contact centers in France and abroad.

Altice France would bring onboard the existing expertise, partnerships, well-established distribution network, B2C and B2B customer bases and customer care capabilities of Coriolis, which are highly complementary to its SFR and Intelcia divisions.

Grégory Rabuel, Chairman and CEO of Altice France said: “Coriolis is a great, fast growing, company with a customer proposition that would be highly complementary to SFR. We look forward to bringing onboard the significant experience and expertise of the entire team of Coriolis to Altice France and working together to further improve our customer proposition and to realize in full the excellent growth prospects of Coriolis. We are very proud to have Pierre Bontemps, founder of Coriolis, who would continue this impressive and entrepreneurial adventure together with us."

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