Caltech develops optical switch in lithium niobite

A team led by Alireza Marandi, assistant professor of electrical engineering and applied physics at Caltech, has developed an all-optical switch in lithium niobate with the potential to perform optical signal processing.

The research, which was published in the journal Nature Photonics on July 28, studies how pulses of light can be temporarily confined in a tiny space in the substrate. 

The net result is the creation of a nonlinear splitter in which the light pulses are routed to two different outputs based on their energies, which enables switching to occur in less than 50 femtoseconds (a femtosecond is a quadrillionth of a second). 

https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/new-optical-switch-could-lead-to-ultrafast-all-optical-signal-processing

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FCC commences 5G mid-band spectrum auction

The FCC opened bidding in its latest mid-band spectrum auction at 10am on Friday, July 29.

Auction 108 makes available 8,017 new flexible-use, county-based overlay licenses in the 2.5 GHz band. These licenses are in areas with unassigned 2.5 GHz spectrum— mostly rural parts of the country—following disposition of applications filed in the Rural Tribal Priority Window, which has to date resulted in the grant of 335 licenses to serve Tribal communities.

“We all know there are gaps in 5G coverage, especially in rural America, and this auction is a unique opportunity to fill them in,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “I am grateful to the teams that have worked so hard to both stand up this auction and ensure the success of our efforts to make these airwaves available to Tribes to support wireless service in their communities”

Auction 108 utilizes a “clock-1” auction format similar to the clock phase of past FCC auctions, but rather than offering multiple generic spectrum blocks in a category in a geographic area, it will offer only a single frequency-specific license in a category in a county. The new flexible-use geographic overlay licenses in the 2.5 GHz band (2496-2690 MHz) must protect the operations of incumbent licensees within the auctioned areas, including any licensees that receive their licenses through applications filed in the Rural Tribal Priority Window.

http://www.fcc.gov/auction/108

FCC incentivizes to open underutilized spectrum for rural carriers

Monday, July 18, 2022  FCC  

The FCC voted to create an Enhanced Competition Incentive Program (ECIP) to establish incentives for wireless licensees to make underutilized spectrum available to small carriers, Tribal Nations, and entities serving rural areas. The new program encourages licensees to partition, disaggregate, or lease spectrum to better match available spectrum resources with entities that seek to provide needed services to under-connected communities.  Under...

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Rosenworcel proposes minimum of 100/20 and goal of 1,000/500

Sunday, July 17, 2022  FCC  

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is proposing a new the national standard for minimum broadband speed of 100 Mbps for download and 20 Mbps for upload. She is also proposing for the FCC to set a separate national goal of 1 Gbps/500 Mbps for the future. “The needs of internet users long ago surpassed the FCC’s 25/3 speed metric, especially during a global health pandemic that moved so much of life online,” said Chairwoman Rosenworcel.  “The...

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FCC begins Mandatory Disaster Response Initiative for mobile operators

Thursday, July 07, 2022  FCC, Mobile  

The FCC launched a Mandatory Disaster Response Initiative (MDRI) aimed at ensuring that the nation’s communications networks are more available in the midst of disasters and other emergencies. MDRI will leverage the industry-developed Wireless Network Resiliency Cooperative Framework, which is a voluntary agreement among a limited group of facilities-based mobile wireless service providers.   This agreement, which the Commission endorsed...

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Meta builds out its Sarpy Data Center in Nebraska

Meta is building a new data hall at its Sarpy Data Center campus in Springfield, Nebraska. This will bring the campus to a total of nine buildings and 4 million-square-feet.

The Sarpy Data Center will continue to be supported by 100% renewable energy, made possible through our investments in wind energy, including a wind farm in Dixon County, Neb. Meta reached net zero emissions for its operations in 2020.

The facility was originally called the Papillion data center but was renamed Sarpy Data Center campus in 2021.

https://www.facebook.com/SarpyDataCenter/posts/pfbid02wGy6wFfKbqgXLouRvrLRSgnQNonyv85coDbF1oCeaQ8ouiXC8Ub8ZXS8GFRsvXCSl

Arelion brings 800G capacity to 1623 Farnam data center in Omaha

Wednesday, February 09, 2022  800G, Arelion, Infinera  

Arelion, the newly rebranded Telia Carrier, has upgraded its network capacity and capabilities at 1623 Farnam's interconnected edge data center in Omaha, Nebraska. The network expansion also enables access to Arelion's new multi-terabit optical fiber route, which delivers high-capacity bandwidth from Chicago to Denver and leverages Infinera's ICE6 800G coherent transponder technology. The new route utilizes transponder systems with coherent...

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Telit to acquire Thales' cellular IoT business

 Telit agreed to acquire Thales' cellular IoT products division, which offers a portfolio of cellular wireless communication modules, gateways, and data (modem) cards, ranging from 4G LTE, LPWAN to 5G. 

Thales' cellular IoT module business, with approximately 550 employees across 23 countries, services many of the world's top brands. It generated sales of more than €300 million in 2021.

The combined company will be called Telit-Cinterion and based in California. To sharpen focus on Industrial IoT, Telit Cinterion plans to spin off and manage separately the automotive IoT unit after closing.

Paolo Dal Pino, Telit's CEO, remarked: "Innovation, scale and efficient IoT solutions are key for success. This transaction with Thales is arguably the most impactful one for Telit competitiveness. While it will boost our ability to address customer needs more precisely from a richer portfolio, it will also enable us to deliver all new offerings derived from the experience, expertise, and the DNA of two companies that have made security and quality part of their brand promise from the very beginning."

Philippe Vallée, Thales's EVP Digital Identity and Security, added: "The Thales and Telit combination brings together complementary strengths. The business will provide a unique value proposition in a highly competitive global IoT market and will allow Thales to focus its investments on its three core activities in aerospace, defence and security and digital identity and security. The new combination will rely on a unique set of expertise brought by Thales and Telit employees. It will also benefit from leveraging both companies' strong and complementary product portfolio and Thales's experience in cellular connectivity."

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Frasers Property Australia upgrades with Juniper's AI-driven network

Frasers Property Australia and Frasers Property Industrial in Australia, one of Australia’s leading diversified property groups, has selected Juniper Networks to upgrade its network infrastructure, enhancing business agility and IT efficiency across Australia.

The rollout will bring Juniper’s AI-driven network solutions to 35 residential and commercial properties.

Highlights:

• Juniper Networks QFX Series Switches provide a flexible enterprise network fabric that seamlessly connects all its properties, headquarters, sales offices, construction sites and data centers, delivering an efficient and scalable way to support its expanding operations.
• Juniper Networks SRX Series Services Gateways coupled with Junos Space Security Director manages security policies on-premises and in the cloud, enabling network traffic to be secure while safeguarding tenants, staff and visitors against cyber threats.
• Juniper Wireless Access Points, in concert with the Juniper Mist Wired Assurance and Marvis Virtual Network Assistant cloud services, enable Frasers Property to deliver superior user experiences, while simplifying and automating IT operations allowing the IT team to respond to and resolve network issues quickly across geographically-vast sites.
• Looking ahead, Frasers Property is keen to explore how Juniper Mist User Engagement can deliver marketing insights at its retail centers by leveraging the virtual Bluetooth LE technology built into the Access Points they have already deployed.

https://www.juniper.net/us/en/customers/frasers-property-australia-case-study.html

Juniper enhances its AI-driven SD-WAN capabilities

Tuesday, January 18, 2022  Juniper, SD-WAN  

Juniper Networks has enhanced its SD-WAN offering with full Session Smart Routing operations delivered via Mist cloud powered by AI. In addition, Juniper has expanded its SSR portfolio with enhanced IDS/IPS and URL filtering capabilities and made it easier to get SSR up and running with new cloud-ready appliances with Zero Touch Provisioning. Juniper said its AI-driven SD-WAN solution will now support day 0/1 SSR operations including many of...

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Bell Canada expands 5G+ across Ontario

Bell Canada is now deploying 3500 MHz wireless spectrum in the next phase of its 5G rollout.

Bell 5G+ service is now available in southern Ontario, including Toronto, Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Barrie and select areas of Mississauga, Bell 5G+ is expected to be faster and more responsive, allowing for a superior mobile experience. In Toronto, speeds with 5G+ are now over 50% faster than before.

"Bell is taking its most-awarded 5G network and making it even better with 5G+, offering customers access to even faster mobile speeds than before. Ontario is just the beginning, and we look forward to rolling it out to more Canadians, and delivering on our promise to provide the latest technology and best experience for our customers," states Stephen Howe, Chief Technology and Information Officer, Bell.

https://www.bce.ca/news-and-media/releases/show/Bell-5G-expands-across-Ontario-offering-Canadians-its-fastest-mobile-speeds-ever?page=1&month=&year=&perpage=25

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T-Systems becomes AWS Security Competency Partner

 T-Systems has achieved an Identity and Access management distinction in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Security Competency. 

To receive the designation, partners must possess deep AWS expertise and deliver solutions seamlessly on AWS. AWS established the AWS Competency Program to help customers identify AWS Partners with deep industry experience and expertise.

As a Premier Partner and Managed Service Provider (MSP), T-Systems has already proven success in meeting AWS’s technical Frank Strecker, SVP Global Cloud Computing & Big Data at T-Systems, states: "Security is a core component of T-Systems’ DNA and key for our clients’ trust. Recognition as an AWS Security Competency Partner underlines our commitment in this area.” 

https://www.telekom.com/en/media/media-information/archive/t-systems-becomes-aws-security-competency-partner-1012156

• In March this year, T-Systems worked with AWS to offer Data Protection as a Managed Service on AWS. Through the offering, T-Systems using its expert knowledge of localized needs will manage encryption, and create and implement transparent residency controls. Data is managed and protected in adherence to European regulations such as the GDPR and Schrems II judgement, while customers also benefit from the innovation, speed, scalability, breadth and depth offered by AWS cloud. 

Deutsche Telekom to test 5G Standalone with Google Cloud

Tuesday, July 12, 2022  Deutsche Telekom, Google Cloud  

Deutsche Telekom and Google Cloud  announced an expanded partnership focused on the following areas: Core Network Services: Deutsche Telekom and Google Cloud will jointly pilot several network services such as 5G Standalone in Austria, as well as remote packet gateway functions, leveraging Google Cloud and Google Distributed Cloud Edge, a fully managed product that brings Google Cloud’s infrastructure and services closer to where data is...

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Key provisions of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 243-187 to pass the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. The legislation was approved by the U.S. Senate last week. President Biden is now expected to sign it into law.

The principal aim of the CHIPS Act is to onshore domestic manufacturing of semiconductors. It will also substantially increase government funding for science and technology development programs impacting the networking and telecommunications fields. 

The legislation provides $54.2 billion in total appropriations for CHIPS and Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation (also known as ORAN), and $82.5 billion in additional appropriations for research programs through the National Science Foundation, the Department of Commerce, NIST, NASA, and the Department of Energy.

Here is a summary

CHIPS for America Fund:

• Manufacturing Incentives: $39 billion in financial assistance to build, expand, or modernize domestic facilities and equipment for semiconductor fabrication, assembly, testing, advanced packaging, or research and development, including $2 billion specifically for mature semiconductors. Within the incentive program, up to $6 billion may be used for the cost of direct loans and loan guarantees.
• Research and Development (R&D): $11 billion for Department of Commerce (DOC) research and development.
• National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC): A public-private partnership to conduct advanced semiconductor manufacturing R&D and prototyping; invest in new technologies; and expand workforce training and development opportunities.
• National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program: A Federal R&D program to strengthen advanced assembly, test, and packaging (ATP) capabilities, in coordination with the NSTC.
• Manufacturing USA Semiconductor Institute: A partnership between government, industry, and academia to research virtualization of semiconductor machinery, develop ATP capabilities, and design and disseminate training.
• Microelectronics Metrology R&D: A National Institute of Standards and

CHIPS for America Workforce and Education Fund: $200 million to kick start development of the domestic semiconductor workforce, which faces near-term labor shortages, by leveraging activities of the National Science Foundation.

CHIPS for America Defense Fund: $2 billion for the DoD to implement the Microelectronics Commons, a national network for onshore, university-based prototyping, lab-to-fab transition of semiconductor technologies—including DoD-unique applications—and semiconductor workforce training.

CHIPS for America International Technology Security and Innovation Fund: $500 million for the DOS, in coordination with the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Export-Import Bank, and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, to support international information and communications technology security and semiconductor supply chain activities, including supporting the development and adoption of secure and trusted telecommunications technologies, semiconductors, and other emerging technologies.

Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund: $1.5 billion through the DOC National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), in coordination with NIST, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence, among others, to spur movement towards open-architecture, software-based wireless technologies, and funding innovative, ‘leap-ahead’ technologies in the U.S. mobile broadband market.Technology (NIST) research program to advance measurement science, standards, material characterization, instrumentation, testing, and manufacturing capabilities.

O-RAN: The CHIPS & Innovation Act of 2022 would also provide $1.5 billion to implement the USA Telecom Act that was enacted in the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. This program would help shore up the global telecommunications supply chain and limit the scope of involvement globally of telecommunication companies with close ties to the Communist Party of China, like Huawei. Funds would be used to capitalize on U.S. software advantages, accelerating development of an open-architecture model (known as OpenRAN) that would allow for alternative vendors to enter the market for specific network components, rather than having to compete with Huawei end-to-end.

Basic R&D: Expanded funding for Research and Innovation (National Science Foundation, Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, NASA, and Department of Energy). Representing the largest five-year investment in public R&D in the nation’s history, the expanded funding aims to "grow both curiosity-driven and translational research, ensuring both the creation of new ideas and the ability of those ideas to create new innovations, products, companies, and jobs in the United States."

https://www.commerce.senate.gov/2022/7/view-the-chips-legislation

Read the bill's text:  https://www.commerce.senate.gov/services/files/CFC99CC6-CE84-4B1A-8BBF-8D2E84BD7965

EU Chips Act promises €43 billion in semiconductor investments

Wednesday, February 09, 2022  Europa  

The European Commission is calling for €43 billion euros of public and private investments to spur the design, manufacturing and packaging of advanced semiconductors in Europe.The EU Chips Act aims to bring about a thriving semiconductor sector from research to production and a resilient supply chain. The ambition is for the EU to double its current market share in semiconductors to 20% in 2030. Key elements of the proposal:The main components are:The...

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Aruba advances its AIOps capabilities

Aruba introduced new AIOps capabilities for its Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform) aimed at reducing the time spent on manual tasks such as network troubleshooting, performance tuning, and Zero Trust/SASE security enforcement. 

Aruba said AIOps, which it has been developing since 2013, is now being used not just network troubleshooting but also performance optimization and critical security controls.

The new capabilities are powered by Aruba’s massive data lake, which continuously and anonymously collects and analyzes device, user, and location data from over 120,000 Aruba Central customers, from more than 2 million network devices and 200 million clients per day. Aruba’s AI is trained by the high volume and wide variety of network and client data. 

“For AI results that customers can trust, the key ingredient is not a mathematical model, but access to a large volume and variety of data to train the models to produce reliable results across all network topologies. Without that foundation, so-called “AI” is nothing more than demoware,” said Larry Lunetta, vice president of portfolio solutions marketing at Aruba. “Fueled by our data lake, our AIOps solutions help enterprises reduce trouble tickets by up to 75 percent while optimizing their network performance by 25 percent or more.”

The new AI-powered IT efficiency features include:

• Aruba Client Insights: Automatically identifies each endpoint connecting to the network with up to 99% accuracy, which is especially important as increasing numbers of IoT devices are added to networks, sometimes without approval from IT. This allows organizations to better understand what’s on their networks, automate access privileges, and monitor the behavior of each client’s traffic flows to more rapidly spot attacks and take action.
• AI-powered Firmware Recommender: Provides IT teams with the best version of firmware to run for the wireless access points in their environments – regardless of model numbers. This greatly reduces support calls and guesswork that network admins face, and helps ensure new features and fixes are implemented more quickly.
• AI Search in Spanish: The same built-in natural language search function in Aruba Central shows its versatility by now supporting queries and responses in Spanish to satisfy the needs of our second largest geographical user community.
• Automated Infrastructure Predictions: Leverages Aruba’s AI Assist feature and Aruba Support outreach to recognize possible hardware and software infrastructure issues for preemptive engagement that can consist of firmware upgrades or recommended hardware replacement.

https://news.arubanetworks.com/news-release-details/2022/Aruba-Helps-Network-Teams-Overcome-Scarce-Staff-Resources-with-First-AIOps-Solution-that-Combines-Network-and-Security-Insights-for-Improved-IT-Efficiency/default.aspx

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AWS sales in Q2 reached $19.7 billion, up 33% yoy

In its Q2 earnings report, Amazon reported quarterly sales for AWS of $19.739 billion, up 33% yoy. AWS operating income amounted to $5.715 billion. AWS operating expenses amounted to $14.024 billion.

• Some customer wins for AWS in Q2
• Delta Air Lines selected AWS as preferred cloud provider to accelerate its digital business transformation and reimagine the travel experience. 
• Riot Games and AWS have teamed up to bring AWS’s data analytics integration to esports broadcasts for the first time, through Riot’s League of Legends, VALORANT, and League of Legends: Wild Rift esports leagues. AWS will also power Riot’s new cloud-first remote broadcast centers, which will support Riot’s current and future ambitions to reimagine entertainment experiences for billions of fans worldwide. 
• BT selected AWS as preferred cloud provider to transform legacy infrastructure and internal applications to a new cloud-first architecture.
• Investment banking firm Jefferies will migrate all its IT systems to AWS, including internal and customer-facing applications, IT resources, and companywide data.
• Health and wellness organization Geisinger selected AWS as its strategic cloud provider. Geisinger will migrate its entire digital portfolio of more than 400 applications and numerous workflows to AWS, which will enable lifesaving technologies and save Geisinger several million dollars annually. 
• Sweden-based SKF, the leading manufacturer of bearings, collaborated with AWS to launch a fully automated, condition-monitoring solution for industrial machine reliability and predictive maintenance. This helps manufacturers monitor equipment, detect anomalies, and avoid unexpected machine failures in their facilities. 
• Italian multinational energy company Eni worked with AWS to integrate its proprietary data platform XWARE with the built-for-the-cloud Open Subsurface Data Universe on AWS.

https://ir.aboutamazon.com/news-release/news-release-details/2022/Amazon.com-Announces-Second-Quarter-Results-fe1df2b70/default.aspx

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Intel hit by drops in Client Computing and Datacenter + AI

Citing a number of execution issues and macroeconomic headwinds, Intel reported GAAP revenue of $15.3 billion, down 22% year over year (YoY), and non-GAAP revenue of $15.3 billion, down 17% YoY. Second-quarter GAAP earnings per share (EPS) was $(0.11); non-GAAP EPS was $0.29.

The poor performance was driven by Intel’s Client Computing and Datacenter and AI Groups. Intel's Network and Edge Group and Mobileye achieved record quarterly revenue.

“This quarter’s results were below the standards we have set for the company and our shareholders. We must and will do better. The sudden and rapid decline in economic activity was the largest driver, but the shortfall also reflects our own execution issues,” said Pat Gelsinger, Intel CEO. “We are being responsive to changing business conditions, working closely with our customers while remaining laser-focused on our strategy and long-term opportunities. We are embracing this challenging environment to accelerate our transformation.” 

"We are taking necessary actions to manage through the current environment, including accelerating the deployment of our smart capital strategy, while reiterating our prior full-year adjusted free cash flow guidance and returning gross margins to our target range by the fourth quarter," said David Zinsner, Intel CFO. "We remain fully committed to our business strategy, the long-term financial model communicated at our investor meeting and a strong and growing dividend."

https://www.intc.com/financial-info

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Equinix reports record Q2 gross bookings

Equinix reported Q2 revenue of $1.8 billion, a 5% increase over the previous quarter and up 10% on both an as-reported and normalized and constant currency basis over the same quarter last year. 

This represents the company's 78th consecutive quarter of revenue growth —- the longest streak of any S&P 500 company, according to Equinix.

Charles Meyers, President and CEO, Equinix, states "With record Q2 gross bookings that sizably surpassed the prior peak, Equinix had an outstanding first half of 2022, and our business continued to deliver strong and consistent results. The demand environment and our pipeline remain robust despite a complex global macroeconomic and political landscape, as we continue to enable digital leaders on their transformation journey."

Q2 net income was $216 million, a 47% increase over the previous quarter, primarily due to strong operating performance and a favorable tax settlement. EPS amounted to $2.37 per share, a 46% increase over the previous quarter.

Some highlights:

• Equinix has 49 major projects underway across 34 metros in 21 countries, including new data center builds in Dublin, Montréal, New York, Paris, Warsaw and the company's first build in Chennai, India.
• In May, Equinix closed the acquisition of four data centers from Empresa Nacional De Telecomunicaciones S.A. ("Entel"), a leading Chilean telecommunications provider (the "Entel Chile Acquisition"), extending Platform Equinix into Chile and bringing its global footprint to 70 metros across 31 countries.
• Equinix expects to close on the acquisition of one additional data center from Entel to enter Lima, Peru, in Q3.
• Equinix continued to strengthen its leadership position in the cloud ecosystem through the company's xScale program, which experienced strong leasing activity from top hyperscalers in Q2. The xScale portfolio has now leased more than 170 megawatts globally, with 11 xScale builds currently under development, of which more than 80% is pre-leased.
• Equinix's Future First sustainability strategy was recently recognized by Sustainalytics as among the best large-cap REITs for ESG. Equinix was also ranked seventh on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Top 100 list of the largest green power users.

https://www.equinix.com/newsroom/press-releases/2022/07/equinix-reports-second-quarter-2022-results

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Infinera posts Q2 revenue of $358.0 million

Infinera reported Q2 2022 GAAP revenue of $358.0 million compared to $338.9 million in the first quarter of 2022 and $338.2 million in the second quarter of 2021.

GAAP gross margin for the quarter was 30.5% compared to 32.9% in the first quarter of 2022 and 35.6% in the second quarter of 2021. GAAP operating margin for the quarter was (11.1)% compared to (10.8)% in the first quarter of 2022 and (6.9)% in the second quarter of 2021.

GAAP net loss for the quarter was $(55.7) million, or $(0.26) per share, compared to $(41.9) million, or $(0.20) per share, in the first quarter of 2022, and $(35.6) million, or $(0.17) per share, in the second quarter of 2021. Non-GAAP net loss for the quarter was $(10.1) million, or $(0.05) per share, compared to net loss of $(14.0) million, or $(0.07) per share, in the first quarter of 2022, and $(6.0) million, or $(0.03) per share, in the second quarter of 2021.

Infinera CEO David Heard said, “Our second quarter results were encouraging in a challenging environment, with revenue beating the midpoint of our outlook range, non-GAAP operating margin at the upper end of the range, and non-GAAP gross margin near the midpoint of the range due to higher supply chain costs. Strong demand resulted in greater than 80% year-over-year growth in total backlog, which includes product backlog growth exceeding 100%, and a quarterly book-to-bill ratio above 1."

“We are executing well against our 8x4x1 strategy as we scale ICE6 globally, expand our metro footprint, and prepare to bring our pluggables business online, all while planning to deliver continued growth and margin expansion in the second half of 2022. The timing of our refreshed portfolio allows us to take advantage of the accelerated shift to open architectures and our customers’ growing requirement to bring on new vendors to improve their supply chain resilience.”

https://investors.infinera.com/overview/default.aspx

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ADVA posts Q2 revenue of EUR 166 million, up 11% yoy

Citing growth in demand from network operators and internet content providers (ICPs), ADVA reported Q2 2022 revenues of EUR 166.3 million, down by 2.5% from EUR 170.5 million in Q1 2022 and up by 11.4% compared to EUR 149.4 million in Q2 2021. 

Net income reached EUR 7.3 million in Q2 2022, increased by 18.0% from EUR 6.2 million in Q1 2022, and considerably decreased by 39.2% from EUR 12.0 million in Q2 2021.  

“The recent months were very exciting for us as a company,” said Brian Protiva, CEO of ADVA. “We reached several important milestones on our journey of joining forces with Adtran and advanced our operational business. Our revenues in the first half of 2022 were at a record level, and our order books are nicely filled. We still see strong customer demand paired with a high level of complexity and costs in the areas of procurement, production and logistics. This environment will continue for the foreseeable future. Our teams work tirelessly on solutions to meet market demand, and we work closely with our customers every day to provide the best possible support for their network development. So far, we’ve mastered the challenges very well and look positively towards the remainder of the year.” 

“In the past quarter, we again grew compared to the year-ago quarter. This underlines the positive market environment and the tailwind we are experiencing on the demand side,” said Uli Dopfer, CFO of ADVA. “However, in the second half of the year, we will also have to deal with the challenges resulting from increased procurement costs and stressed supply chains. Despite increased inventories, our liquidity is at a satisfying EUR 63 million. Against the background of a continued strong order intake and a strengthening dollar in combination with persistently higher costs in the supply chains, we have decided to adjust the outlook for the fiscal year accordingly, which we announced in an ad-hoc notification on July 15th. We are raising our revenue guidance to between EUR 680 and 730 million and reducing our pro forma EBIT margin guidance by one percentage point to between 5% and 9%.”

https://www.adva.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/20220728-adva-increases-revenues-for-q-2-2022

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Ekinops reports 1H22 revenue of €63.3 million, up 25% yoy

Ekinops reported consolidated revenue of €63.3 million for the first half of 2022, compared with €50.8 million in the previous year, representing robust growth of 25%. At constant scope and exchange rates, half-year growth was 20%. Gross margin was 52.9%, within the target range, despite the components crisis.

This trend is the result of solid momentum in all the Group's activities: +31% for optical transport equipment, +21% for Access solutions and +47% for software and services, which now represent 15% of the group's revenue as a result of the success of SDN (Software Defined Networks) and virtualization solutions.

In geographic terms, half-year sales grew significantly by 48% in North America (33% in USD), reaching 20% of the group's business for the first time. Asia-Pacific continued on the growth trajectory that began in H2 2021 with a very sustained 80% increase in half-year sales. Sales in EMEA, in which 38% of the group's activity is generated, grew 6% compared with the same period in the previous year. After a first quarter in which activity in France remained virtually stable, the group's sales returned to steady growth of 29% in the semester.

https://www.ekinops.com/news/corporate/ekinops-delivers-ebitda-margin-at-17-0-and-25-revenue-growth-in-h1-2022-raises-guidance-for-2022-revenue

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Dell'Oro: Broadband Spending Boom

Sales of PON equipment for fiber-to-the-home deployments, cable broadband access equipment, and fixed wireless CPE will all increase from 2022 to 2026, according to a new report from Dell'Oro Group.

Some highlights from the Broadband Access & Home Networking 5-Year Forecast Report:

• PON equipment revenue is expected to grow from $9.3 B in 2021 to $13.6 B in 2026, driven largely by XGS-PON deployments in North America, EMEA, and CALA.
• Revenue for Fixed Wireless CPE is expected to reach $5.1 B by 2026, led by shipments of 5G sub-6GHz and 5G Millimeter Wave units.
• Revenue for Cable Distributed Access Equipment (Virtual CCAP, Remote PHY Devices, Remote MACPHY Devices, and Remote OLTs) is expected to reach nearly $1.3 M by 2026, as operators ramp their DOCSIS 4.0 and fiber deployments.

“We’ve made significant upward revisions to our long-term broadband and home networking forecast, said Jeff Heynen, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group. “Fiber infrastructure buildouts are resulting in more new subscribers and more CPE with advanced Wi-Fi technologies as service providers look to differentiate their services in increasingly crowded markets,” added Heynen.

https://www.delloro.com/news/broadband-spending-boom-will-push-market-to-23-4-b-in-2026/

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Cambodia's SINET picks Nokia for XGS-PON

SINET, Cambodia's leading Internet Service Provider, has chosen Nokia to deploy its XGS Passive Optical Network (PON) for enterprise broadband service.

Nokia's XGS-PON solution will be initially deployed in the capital city of Phnom Penh before being expanded to other cities and regions. The deployment, which includes the upgrade of the existing Nokia fiber access nodes, will be completed in 2022. 

Nokia's fiber access solution is powered by its Quillion chipset, which concurrently supports three generations of PON technologies, GPON, XGS-PON and 25G PON. 

Ajay Sharma, Head of Thailand and Cambodia at Nokia, said: “We are excited that SINET has reaffirmed its confidence in our solution. Our industry-leading XGS-PON solution will allow SINET to improve the overall speed and quality of broadband for its enterprise users, which will help them grow their revenues and attract new customers. The enterprise users will benefit from an increase in network capacity, speed, and reliability."

https://www.nokia.com/about-us/news/releases/2022/07/28/nokia-and-sinet-deploy-cambodias-first-xgs-pon-enabled-high-speed-network-for-enterprises/

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Video: Tipping point for A.I. in managing networks?

Eventually all networks will be fully managed by artificial intelligence, but that's not the current reality -- humans are running the show.

How close are we to the tipping point where A.I. can be trusted to make critical decisions for network operations? And what will it take to earn our trust?

Here is a perspective from Larry Lunetta, VP WLAN & Security Marketing at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company.

https://youtu.be/ozNa0FpJQHw

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Video: Automating Wholesale Ordering between Carriers

It really feels like the carriers are coming towards a tipping with regard to the adoption of MEF's LSO Sonata API for the automation of service provisioning, saysJohn Carr, Vice President of Business Development, Neustar.

Neustar is making the LSO interface a standard part of its product.

https://youtu.be/Xu4GhlKusYY

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Telefónica and partners establish Bluevia for wholesale FTTH in Spain

Telefónica Group, Crédit Agricole Assurances, and Vauban Infrastructure Partners agreed to establish a joint venture called Bluevia Fibra to deploy and operate a FTTH network in Spain, mainly in rural areas and with limited overlap with other networks.

The consortium formed by CAA/Vauban will acquire a 45% stake in Bluevia from Telefónica España through an upfront consideration of €1,021 million in cash, valuing 100% of Bluevia at €2,500 million, which represents an implied multiple of 27.1x over the company’s proforma estimated OIBDA for 2022. Telefónica Group will retain a 55% stake in Bluevia and CAA/Vauban will retain the remaining 45%. The 55% stake owned by Group Telefónica will be held by Telefónica España and Telefónica Infra, with 30% and 25% stakes respectively.

As a neutral wholesale company, Bluevia will manage and deploy a fibre network in low populated rural areas in Spain and low overbuild with third operator’s networks. Bluevia will offer wholesale FTTH access to all telecommunication services providers. Based on an initial footprint of 3.5 million premises currently passed acquired from Telefónica España, Bluevia will increase its network to 5 million premises by 2024. 

These 3.5 million premises to be sold to Bluevia represent 13% of Telefónica’s FTTH network in Spain, whilst Telefónica España retains full ownership of the rest of the network. 

Emilio Gayo, Telefónica Spain Chairman, commented: “We are very excited about this project that will allow Telefonica España to remain the undisputed leader in fibre and will be a key lever to accelerate the deployment in rural areas as we continue to move forward in our commitment to shut down the retail copper network and to promote better connectivity in a more efficient and sustainable way”.

Telefónica Infra CEO, Guillermo Ansaldo, added: “We are very enthusiastic about the opportunity to partner with Crédit Agricole Assurances/Vauban and form a longstanding partnership together with Telefónica Spain, strengthening Telefónica Infra’s investment portfolio. With this new venture, Telefónica Infra now has FTTH vehicles in Spain, Germany and Brazil together with Telefónica’s operating units in each of those countries and in partnership with top tier institutions such as Crédit Agricole Assurances/Vauban, Allianz and CDPQ respectively”.

https://www.telefonica.com/en/communication-room/bluevia-a-neutral-ftth-wholesale-provider-in-spain-is-created/

Telefónica increases its stake in Telxius Telecom to 70%

Wednesday, February 02, 2022  Telefonica, Telxius  

Telefónica and Pontegadea are increasing their stake in Telxius Telecom, a global telecommunications infrastructure company, by acquiring a 40% stake in Telxius Telecom, previously held by KKR.With this transaction, Telefónica will increase its stake to 70% and Pontegadea will increase its stake to 30%. The acquisition is carried out for an estimated amount of EUR 215.7 million, pending, among others, the corresponding adjustments derived from the...

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Nokia expects 5G subs to hit 263 million in the Middle East and Africa

Nokia is predicting that 5G subscriptions will reach 263 million in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region by 2026. 

The 5G subscription growth will primarily be in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain. 

Additionally, subscribers in South Africa, Nigeria and North African countries will increase adoption following the release of new spectrum. This trend is triggered by the increasing use of high-bandwidth consumer applications and industrial use cases.

Mikko Lavanti, Head of Mobile Networks, Nokia MEA, said, “Globally, the pace of 5G network rollouts has surpassed 4G/LTE networks. Two years after the first LTE launch there were only 25 million subscriptions across 60 networks, while two years after the first 5G launch, 340 million subscriptions were registered across 155 networks. Similarly, in MEA, our MEA Broadband Index Report finds 40 percent year-on-year growth in 4G data traffic but a huge 350 percent year-on-year growth in 5G data traffic in 2021 alone. This trend in the region clearly indicates that there is a pressing need for the adoption and expansion of 5G networks across the region.”

https://www.nokia.com/sites/default/files/2022-07/mea-broadband-index-report-07-2022.pdf

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STACK opens 3rd data center in Milan

STACK Infrastructure opened its third data center in Milan (Siziano). 

The new facility, constructed in less than 12 months on a land parcel it acquired in 2021, brings the company’s live data center capacity in Italy to 120,000 square meters and more than 50MW of power. The new facility runs on 100% renewable energy, utilizes multiple built-in energy-saving features including photovoltaic panels and heat isolation infrastructure, and prequalifies for LEED Gold certification.

In addition to its live facilities, STACK owns more than 100,000 square metersof expansion land in Siziano capable of supporting over 80MW of total power, including a new parcel in proximity to its existing campuses acquired earlier this year.

The completion of the latest Milan facility further reinforces STACK’s positioning as a market leader in Italy and is part of STACK’s growth strategy across the EMEA region, partnering with leading hyperscale and enterprise clients to provide flexible, best-in-class data center solutions to address their evolving requirements.

“We believe Italy’s data center landscape is at the outset of a significant growth trend,” said John Eland, CEO of STACK EMEA. “Our latest investment in the region is a key component to our EMEA expansion strategy and solidifies our position as our clients’ trusted development and operational partner in the markets most essential to their own growth.”

https://www.stackinfra.com

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T-Mobile US sees its customer count rise to 110 million

T-Mobile US reported service revenues of $15.3 billion, up 6% year-over-year, including industry-leading Postpaid service revenue growth of 9% and best postpaid phone ARPU growth in more than 5 years. Net loss of $108 million and diluted (loss) per share of $(0.09) decreased year-over-year due to merger-related costs and other special expense items amounting to $1.9 billion, net of tax, or $1.52 per share.

“Our relentless focus on putting customers first delivered yet another outstanding quarter for T-Mobile with industry-leading postpaid and broadband customer growth, including our highest ever postpaid account adds in company history,” said Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile. “This momentum fueled our growth strategy and allowed us to raise guidance across the board yet again -- further proof that our commitment to addressing customer pain points in this challenging macro-economic environment is working.”

Some highlights:

• Postpaid net account additions of 380 thousand increased 32 thousand year-over-year.
• Postpaid net customer additions of 1.7 million increased 380 thousand year-over-year.
• Postpaid phone net customer additions of 723 thousand increased 96 thousand year-over-year, including higher gross additions and industry-leading churn improvement. Postpaid phone churn of 0.80% improved 7 basis points year-over-year and 13 basis points sequentially.
• Prepaid net customer additions of 146 thousand increased 70 thousand year-over-year. Prepaid churn of 2.58% was the lowest in company history and improved by 4 basis points year-over-year.
• High Speed Internet net customer additions of 560 thousand were a record-high, and T-Mobile ended the quarter with more than 1.5 million High Speed Internet customers.
• Total net customer additions of 1.8 million increased 450 thousand year-over-year and the total customer count increased to a record-high of 110 million.

 https://investor.t-mobile.com/overview/default.aspx?INTNAV=fNav%3aAbout%3aInvestorRelations

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MaxLinear posts Q2 revenue of $280 million, up 36% yoy

 MaxLinear reported Q2 2022 revenue of $280.0 million, up 6% sequentially and up 36% year-over-year. GAAP gross margin was 58.7%, compared to 58.6% in the prior quarter, and 54.8% in the year-ago quarter. GAAP diluted earnings per share was $0.40, compared to diluted earnings per share of $0.42 in the prior quarter, and diluted earnings per share of $0.01 in the year-ago quarter. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was $1.11, compared to diluted earnings per share of $1.00 in the prior quarter, and diluted earnings per share of $0.53 in the year-ago quarter.

“In the second quarter, revenue was up 6% sequentially and up 36% year-over-year, as a result of strong demand across all our product portfolio. In particular, fiber gateway access, Wi-Fi, and wireless infrastructure continue to drive solid revenue expansion. Our connectivity category was up nearly 80% year-over-year, driven by our differentiated Wi-Fi6 feature set, and we are on a firm trajectory to deliver at least $200 million of Wi-Fi revenue in 2023. We saw strong cash flow from operations of approximately $123.4 million in Q2 and non-GAAP gross margin of 62.3%. We are excited about our pending merger with Silicon Motion, the future growth opportunities of our comprehensive product portfolio, and the accelerating pace of new product launches,” commented Kishore Seendripu, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO.

MaxLinear to acquire Silicon Motion for NAND flash controllers

Thursday, May 05, 2022  MaxLinear, Mergers And Acquisitions, Silicon  

MaxLinear agreed to acquire Silicon Motion in a cash and stock transaction that values the combined company at $8 billion in enterprise value.Silicon Motion, which was founded in 1997 in Taipei, Taiwan, specializes in NAND flash controller integrated circuits for solid-state storage devices. The company claims that more NAND flash components, including current and up-coming generations of 3D flash produced by Intel, Kioxia, Micron, Samsung, SK Hynix,...

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