Comcast demos 10G technologies

Comcast reached download speeds faster than 8 Gbps and upload speeds faster than 5 Gbps during a 10G event at CableLabs headquarters.

For the demo, Comcast connected a 10G-enabled Virtualized Cable Modem Termination System (vCMTS) linked by more than 80 kilometers of fiber to the demonstration site. The fiber terminated into a production switch, which connected to what is believed to be the world’s first fully functional 10G-enabled Full Duplex DOCSIS 4.0 node, along with a 10G prototype modem at CableLabs headquarters. Today’s demonstration is a first in a production-ready network environment, showing how live 10G deployments will work, orchestrated by Comcast’s Distributed Access Architecture (DAA) technology, which is already widely deployed.

“These 10G technologies represent the fastest, most efficient path to deliver multigigabit symmetrical speeds at scale everywhere, not just in select neighborhoods or towns,” said Elad Nafshi, EVP & Chief Network Officer at Comcast Cable. “The pace of 10G innovation is only accelerating, and Internet users around the world will reap the benefits.”

Comcast also demonstrated how its DAA network virtualization technology will deliver not just ultrafast 10G speeds, but also greater reliability and adaptability to support a range of next-generation network architectures. The DAA demo included two key components:

The demo showed how a single DAA-enabled vCMTS can seamlessly and simultaneously operate both 10G connections and PON (passive optical network) connections and deliver multi-gig services with identical levels of visibility and orchestration. While Comcast is primarily focused on 10G, the ability to easily blend 10G and PON provides enormous flexibility to support the widest range of geographies and customer needs.

The demo also showed how 10G and DAA will deliver greater reliability by leveraging the unprecedented visibility the technology provides into Internet performance at every level of the network from the core, all the way to individual customer gateways.

Comcast also offered a first look at a 10G node that will become a key element of 10G trials and deployments.

http://www.comcastcorporation.com

Comcast tests 10G modem based on full Duplex DOCSIS 4.0

Thursday, January 13, 2022  Comcast, DOCSIS  

Comcast achieved a top downlink performace of over 4 Gbps using a prototype 10G modem.  The lab test used a full duplex DOCSIS 4.0 system-on-chip (SoC) from Broadcom.The modem test utilized the DOCSIS 4.0 FDX SoC device, which Comcast demonstrated in April 2021, to pair with two cable modem chips. These were connected over a lab-based hybrid fiber-coaxial network to the vCMTS operating in DOCSIS 4.0 mode. Comcast said this represents the...

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Comcast develops its own local optical spectrum tester

Thursday, July 22, 2021  Comcast, Fiber, Testing  

Comcast has built a prototype system called XMF to gain visibility into its local fiber networks. The design purposes mature opto-electronic chips used for long-haul optical analysis, making it economically feasible to install ultra-precise fiber diagnostic tools at many points throughout local fiber networks.Comcast said its XMF platform is continuously monitoring hundreds of thousands of local broadband optical links every minute, measuring both...

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Comcast tests Broadcom's 10G Full Duplex DOCSIS 4.0 chip

Thursday, April 22, 2021  10G, Broadcom, Comcast, DOCSIS, MSO  

Comcast has conducted the first-ever lab test of a Full Duplex DOCSIS system-on-chip (SOC) device from Broadcom that is expected to become the world’s first production silicon to be developed using the DOCSIS 4.0 Full Duplex standard.“We are always pushing the envelope to stay ahead of our customers’ growing needs,” said Charlie Herrin, President of Technology, Product, Xperience at Comcast Cable. “This milestone is particularly exciting, because...

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AWS generates Q1 sales of $18.4 billion, up 37% yoy

In its quarterly financial report Amazon revealed that AWS generated Q1 sales of $18.441 billion, up 37% compared to the same period last year. AWS generated operating income for Q1 of $6.518 billion compared to $4.163 billion in Q1 2021.

 “The pandemic and subsequent war in Ukraine have brought unusual growth and challenges,” said Andy Jassy, Amazon CEO. “With AWS growing 34% annually over the last two years, and 37% year-over-year in the first quarter, AWS has been integral in helping companies weather the pandemic and move more of their workloads into the cloud. Our Consumer business has grown 23% annually over the past two years, with extraordinary growth in 2020 of 39% year-over-year that necessitated doubling the size of our fulfillment network that we’d built over Amazon’s first 25 years—and doing so in just 24 months. Today, as we’re no longer chasing physical or staffing capacity, our teams are squarely focused on improving productivity and cost efficiencies throughout our fulfillment network."

A few Q1 AWS highlights from Amazon:

• T-Systems, a global service provider for information technologies and digital transformation, selected AWS to launch a managed service in the cloud to provide encryption and implement transparent residency controls for customers’ data in the EU. 
• Verizon migrated its fleet management software platform, Verizon Connect, to AWS to help businesses of all sizes more effectively manage their commercial transportation needs. 
• Telefónica expanded its strategic collaboration with AWS to invest in joint go-to-market activities, develop new cloud solutions, and increase AWS Cloud skills among the Telefónica workforce. Telefónica will use AWS to bring innovation to customers faster and help them better leverage the agility of the cloud by launching value-added solutions such as edge computing and built-for-the-cloud private 5G networks that run on AWS Outposts. 
• Commnet Broadband, a broadband communications provider for tribal and rural communities in the U.S., is working with AWS to transform its network and bring AWS services to health care, education, tribal, government, mining, business, and carrier customers in the rural, southwest U.S. 
• Etisalat UAE, a telecommunications provider based in the United Arab Emirates, announced a collaboration with AWS to use 5G private networks and mobile edge computing to build prepackaged solutions for industrial use cases including energy, manufacturing, and logistics.
• Boeing selected AWS as a strategic cloud provider to deliver tools to support more powerful, sustainable, and efficient aerospace design, engineering, and management solutions. Boeing will run high-performance computing workloads on AWS and plans to move many of their most important applications to AWS. 
• German national football league Bundesliga announced new Bundesliga Match Facts powered by AWS to give fans deeper insights into the action on the pitch, including Set Piece Threat, which provides information on a team’s scoring ability from plays such as free kicks and corner kicks, and Skill, which compares Bundesliga players to visualize the skills they bring to their teams and positions. 
• The National Hockey League (NHL) and AWS announced Face-off Probability, a live in-game stat that instantly shows the odds of a player winning a face-off and possession of the puck. Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the owner of some of Canada’s best-known sports franchises, including the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto Football Club, and Toronto Argonauts, selected AWS as its official cloud provider and official provider of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning cloud services to create and deliver extraordinary sports moments and enhanced fan engagement.
• Amdocs, a provider of software and services to communications and media companies, used AWS to implement a program enabling 12 billion secure, real-time online and offline business transactions per day in the cloud. 
• Tech Mahindra, a provider of digital transformation, consulting, and business reengineering solutions, selected AWS to power an automation platform designed to accelerate the adoption and deployment of 5G networks by telecommunications carriers.
• AWS completed the launch of its first 16 Local Zones in the U.S. and announced plans for new Local Zones in 32 metropolitan areas in 26 countries around the world. AWS Local Zones is a type of infrastructure deployment that extends AWS Regions to place compute, storage, database, and other AWS services at the edge of the cloud near large population, industry, and information technology centers. These new Local Zones expand AWS’s infrastructure footprint globally beyond its existing 84 Availability Zones in 26 geographic regions, enabling AWS customers to build applications that deliver single-digit millisecond latency performance at the edge of the cloud to hundreds of millions of people worldwide.

https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazoncom-announces-first-quarter-results-1

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Lumen launches 30 gigabit Ethernet in 40 markets

Lumen Technologies will begin offering Ethernet speeds at up to 30 Gbps in early May for its Lumen Dedicated Internet Access (DIA), Lumen Cloud Connect and IP VPN services in nine cities across the U.S., later expanding to more than 40 cities by year end. T

"Internet of Things, augmented reality, voice and video apps – our customers want and need faster, more accessible bandwidth to support these technologies," said Miriana Martinova, Lumen VP, core network solutions. "We've committed to investing in a 100-gigabit metro network across the country. This focus will equip our next-generation architecture with faster Ethernet speeds. Lumen's network investments will enable our Lumen Platform to deliver the applications and data businesses need."

Lumen's Ethernet upgrades meet Metro Ethernet Forum's (MEF) 3.0 standards which helps deliver enhanced performance management and end-to-end service visibility both on- and off-net.

New markets gaining access to Ethernet speeds up to 30 gigabits across Lumen's metro architecture include Columbus, Ohio; Houston, Texas; Kansas City, Mo.; Nashville, Tenn.; Orlando, Fla.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Salt Lake City, Utah and Seattle, Wash.

Markets recently enabled with these speeds include Atlanta, Ga.; Chicago, Ill.; Dallas, Texas; Denver, Colo.; Ft Lauderdale, Fla.; Los Angeles, Calif.; Newark, N.J.; Sunnyvale, Calif. and Washington, D.C.

https://www.lumen.com/en-us/networking/ethernet.html

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NeoPhotonics: strong growth in 400G, supply chain issues

NeoPhotonics reported Q1 2022 revenue of $89.3 million, up 47% year-over-year on growth in 400G and above capable products and up 11% quarter-over-quarter. Supply chain shortages negatively impacted revenue by approximately $10 million in the first quarter. 

The company said demand remains strong, but supply chain constraints are likely to persists throughout 2022 and revenue will vary based on chip supply. First quarter revenue was approximately $10 million lower due to supply chain constraints. Supply chain impacts in the quarter were primarily shortages of analog and power semiconductors. 

 

“Our business remains on a strong growth path with revenue of $89 million, 47% above the same quarter last year. Our 400G and above products grew more than 70% year-over-year, and now comprise 61% of total revenue, despite the impacts of semiconductor chip shortages. Moreover, we are now shipping production 400ZR coherent DCO module products to leading customers, and we have extended our product reach to higher speeds and to new applications, such as communications in low earth orbit satellites,” said Tim Jenks, Chairman and CEO of NeoPhotonics. “Looking forward, while we continue to see strong demand for our products, we also expect continuing challenges with IC chip supply shortages, which could materially impact our results near term.”

Mr. Jenks continued, “The Lumentum transaction, announced last November, remains on track having been approved by our shareholders and received antitrust clearance from US regulators. We believe Lumentum is an ideal partner to serve our customers on a larger scale and we look forward to securing regulatory approval in China and closing the transaction. Our 47% year on year revenue growth, non-GAAP operating profit and significant growth from western customers reflects our success in pivoting our business. We have overcome the loss of the majority of our revenue from our prior largest customer due to Department of Commerce restrictions, with growth from leading customers in high growth markets.”

Mr. Jenks concluded, “I would like to thank NeoPhotonics employees for their continued commitment, which over the years has built the Company’s strong technology leadership for high speed over distance applications and has resulted in the Company’s strong performance in the first quarter of 2022.”

NeoPhotonics Product Milestone Achievements

• Products capable of use for 400G and above applications were 61% of revenue in Q1 2022
• Demonstrated our QSFP-DD and OSFP coherent modules interoperate with multiple vendors’ products in the OIF 400ZR Interoperability Demonstration at the Optical Fiber Communications Conference
• Introduced a radiation tolerant version of our Ultra-Pure Color Tunable Laser with enhanced flexible software to extend operating life in a radiation environment enabling use in Low Earth Orbit applications
• Announced sampling of Open ZR+ QSFP-DD small form-factor pluggable coherent modules for Metro-Regional applications designed to enhance performance in hyperscale data center and telecom networks
• Demonstrated Indium Phosphide components capable of 120 Gbaud operation supporting 800G applications within and between data centers (LR, ZR, and ZR+)
• Announced cumulative shipments of more than 1 million single and quad 53 Gbaud PAM4 Driver ICs for 100G DR1 and 400G [DR4 and FR4] hyperscale data center networks

http://www.neophotonics.com

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Dell'Oro: Increased investment in 5G NR mmWave

Preliminary findings from Dell'Oro Group suggest 5G NR mmWave investments improved in the fourth quarter but this was not enough to change the full-year growth momentum.

Following two years of exponential growth, mmWave revenues increased 15% to 20% in 2021, propelling 5G NR mmWave to account for 1% to 2% of total sub 6 GHz plus mmWave RAN revenues.

Additional mmWave highlights from the 4Q 2021 and 5-Year RAN reports:

• Ericsson leads the mmWave RAN market.
• The mismatch between capex and data consumption when comparing the sub-6 GHz and mmWave spectrum will evolve gradually over time – global 5G NR mmWave revenues are projected to reach $1 B to $2 B by 2026.
• Mobile remains the primary focus, however, gNB and repeater technology advancements are expected to improve the FWA business case.

https://www.delloro.com/mmwave-5g-nr-revenue-growth-slows-in-2021/

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Huawei reports Q1 sales of CNY131 billion, down 13.8% yoy

Huawei reported Q1 2022 revenue of CNY131 billion in revenue (approx US$19.80 billion), with a net profit margin of 4.3%.

"In Q1, our overall business results were in line with forecasts. Our consumer business was heavily impacted, and our ICT infrastructure business experienced steady growth," said Ken Hu, Huawei's Rotating Chairman. "We have yet again increased our investment in R&D to harness the momentum of our innovation and create new value for customers."

"As always, we want to thank our customers and partners for their ongoing trust and support," Hu added. "In 2022, we still face a challenging and complicated business environment. Despite considerable operational challenges, we will work more closely with our customers and partners around the world to overcome adversity."

Huawei's Q1 revenue drops 16.5% year-on-year

Wednesday, April 28, 2021  Financials, Huawei  

Huawei reported Q1 2021 revenue of CNY152.2 billion (US$23.17 billio) in revenue, a 16.5% decrease year-on-year. The company said its network business maintained steady growth, while its consumer business revenue declined, in part as a result of selling the Honor smart device brand in November 2020. Huawei's net profit margin was up 3.8 percentage points year-on-year at 11.1% – the result of the company's ongoing efforts to improve quality of...

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