Monday, May 9, 2022

Marvell to acquire Tanzanite for Compute Express Link (CXL)

Marvell agreed to acquire privately-held Tanzanite Silicon Solutions, a start-up based in Milpitas, California that is developing advanced Compute Express Link (CXL) technologies. Terms of the all-cash transaction were not disclosed. 

Marvell said the future cloud data center will be built on fully disaggregated architecture utilizing CXL technology, requiring greater high-speed interconnectivity than ever combined with optimized compute, networking, memory, security and storage chipset solutions. Tanzanite has developed extensive expertise in CXL technology that will help further accelerate Marvell’s vision of fully composable cloud infrastructure. The benefits of CXL include infrastructure agility to instantly allocate resources tailored to workload requirements. The acquisition expands its CXL development initiatives. 

In March, Tanzanite unveiled its architectural vision and product roadmap with an SoC mapped to FPGA Proof-Of-Concept vehicle demonstrating Memory Expansion and Memory Pooling, with multi-host CXL based connectivity.

The architecture and “Smart Logic Interface Connector” SoC enables independent scaling and sharing of memory and compute in a pool with low latency within and across server racks. The Tanzanite solution provides a highly scalable architecture for exa-scale level memory capacity and compute acceleration, supporting multiple industry standard form-factors, ranging from E1.S, E3.S, memory expansion board, and memory appliance.

Tanzanite’s scalable, low latency CXL optimized fabric with caching, advanced security and RAS targets use cases:

  • Advanced Memory Expansion with optional persistency support
  • Memory Pooling and Tiering
  • CXL Switch
  • Near Memory Compute

The first generation TanzanoidTZ tiered memory appliance enables multiple CPUs to access up to 80 TB of memory capacity with 16 DDR5/32 DDR4 channel equivalent bandwidth per host, with latencies lower than dual socket servers.

“We believe that CXL will be a significant game-changer in enabling optimal resource utilization in next generation data centers, and the acquisition of Tanzanite advances our abilities to address our customers’ most challenging issues,” said Dan Christman, executive vice president, Storage Products Group, Marvell. “Marvell’s investment underscores our commitment to deliver on the promise of CXL across our industry-leading cloud portfolio spanning compute, electro-optics, networking, security and storage.”

“We are excited to see our vision for CXL leadership take a leap forward as part of Marvell, a company that is renowned for its customer-focused innovation,” said Shalesh Thusoo, CEO, Tanzanite. “CXL technologies offer a unique value proposition for a multitude of use cases and are helping shape the next generation composable data center. I’d like to thank our industry partners for their unwavering support and the entire Tanzanite team for their dedication and commitment in pioneering this technology and enabling us to achieve this milestone today.”

“The CXL standard will play a significant role in helping the industry deliver fully composable infrastructure for the cloud,” said Noam Mizrahi, corporate chief technology officer, Marvell. “The integration of CXL across our end-to-end, cloud-optimized silicon portfolio will bring new levels of data center efficiency, scalability and flexibility to power emerging metaverse and next generation AI applications.”

Marvell’s  portfolio of cloud offerings includes high-speed Alaska active electrical cable (AEC) PAM4 DSPs and Ethernet PHYs; Bravera SSD and HDD controllers; Inphi PAM4 electro-optics; COLORZ data center interconnects (DCIs); OCTEON data processor units (DPUs) for security, offload, and acceleration; Teralynx Ethernet switches; custom Arm-based server CPUs; and full custom ASICs.

https://www.tanzanitesi.com

https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/marvell-bolsters-cloud-optimized-cxl-portfolio-with-acquisition-of-tanzanite.html

OMERS acquires TPG Telecom's 1,230 towers in Australia

OMERS Infrastructure agreed to acquire over 1,230 mobile towers and rooftop sites from TPG Telecom Limited for an enterprise value of A$950 million. 

Once the deal is complete, OMERS Infrastructure will become the largest independent tower company in Australia. 

Under the terms of the acquisition, TPG has entered into a 20-year contract to use the Tower Assets, with options to extend. TPG has also committed to building additional towers to further expand the network over the coming years. The transaction will be OMERS Infrastructure’s first 100% owned investment in Australia and its first investment in the digital infrastructure sector in the Asia-Pacific region.

Christopher Curtain, Senior Managing Director, Asia-Pacific for OMERS Infrastructure, said: “Australia and Asia-Pacific more broadly are priority markets for OMERS Infrastructure, where we continue to see significant investment opportunities. We are excited to have the investment in TPG’s Tower Assets join our portfolio of high-quality Australian infrastructure investments, alongside Port of Melbourne, Transgrid and renewable energy developer FRV Australia. In the transaction, we see an excellent opportunity to realize our digital infrastructure thesis in the region. We look forward to working with the TPG team to first transition the business and then support its growth as it provides critical telecommunications infrastructure services to its customers.”

Following the closing of the transaction, the company will become the third global investment for OMERS Infrastructure in digital infrastructure. OMERS has completed investments in two other digital infrastructure transactions in Europe over the last three years – Deutsche Glasfaser in Germany in 2020, and XP Fibre in France in 2019.

Australia's TPG Telecom halts network rollout after Huawei ban

TPG Telecom will cease the rollout its mobile network following the decision of the Australian federal government to ban the use of Huawei equipment in 5G networks due to national security concerns. TPG Telecom made the announcement in a regulatory filing to the Australian Securities Exchange. TPG said it had selected Huawei as its principal supplier of 5G equipment because of the clear upgrade path for its current infrastructure, which also uses...

TPG Telecom and Telstra reach network sharing deal in Australia

Telstra and TPG Telecom announced a ten-year regional network sharing agreement covering Telstra's Radio Access Network in defined territory.The deal provides TPG Telecom with access to around 3,700 of Telstra’s mobile network assets, increasing TPG Telecom’s current 4G coverage from around 96 per cent to 98.8 per cent of the population.Both carriers will continue to operate their own core network. Telstra will also obtain access to and deploy infrastructure...


Juniper revamps Contrail SDN with cloud-native capabilities

Juniper has revamped its Contrail Networking with a Kubernetes-native architecture that provides an automated, high performance and scalable cloud-native networking solution.

Juniper Cloud-Native Contrail Networking (CN2) supports Kubernetes and OpenShift use cases. 

CN2 integrates as a foundational piece of cluster infrastructure by employing the Kubernetes extension framework of custom resources. 

Juniper has also extended Lens, the popular Kubernetes GUI, with a Contrail plug-in. 

Unlike previous versions of Contrail, CN2 was built privately as closed source. 

https://blogs.juniper.net/en-us/service-provider-transformation/contrail-networking-now-with-cloud-native-capabilities

Juniper offers Contrail SD-WAN as a service 

Juniper Networks introduced a cloud-delivered version of its SD-WAN solution. Juniper’s new Contrail SD-WAN as a service manages and secures WAN infrastructure, as well as branch LAN and Wi-Fi networks typically deployed alongside it. Juniper said this new SD-WAN solution pairs the simplicity of a cloud-delivered model with Contrail’s central orchestration of network infrastructure, delivering automated networking, security, analytics and artificial...

Juniper expands 5G portfolio with new routers, line cards, silicon

Juniper Networks unveiled a major refresh to its metro, edge and core solutions to accelerate service providers’ 5G transformation. The rollout builds on Juniper's introduction last year of an MX Series 5G Universal Routing Platform powered by a new generation of its custom ASICs promising extensive programmability and performance improvements for supporting resource-intensive applications like 5G and secure SD-WAN-based managed services. The company...


Juniper Launches Contrail SDN

Juniper Networks announced the commercial launch of its Contrail software-defined networking (SDN) solution for enterprise data centers and Service Provider networks. The company said the primary benefit of Contrail is that it provides a simple way to connect physical networks with a virtual environment and provision underlying services, reducing the time, cost and risk for customers when configuring the network. In addition to virtualizing network...


U.S. kicks off Affordable Connectivity Program

The U.S. federal government kicked off  the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which allows tens of millions of American households to reduce or elimiate their Internet service costs based on income. 

Under the terms of the ACP, an eligible household that signs up for the program will receive a discount of up to $30/month on any internet service plan a participating provider offers. Households on Tribal Lands are eligible for a discount of up to $75/month. Mmore than 11.5 million households have already signed up to receive the ACP benefit.

Twenty leading Internet providers — covering more than 80% of the U.S. population across urban, suburban, and rural areas — have commited to either increase speeds or cut prices for ACP-eligible households.

In addition, the Biden Administration asked providers to offer such plans with no fees and no data caps.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/getinternet/?utm_source=www.getinternet.gov

https://www.affordableconnectivity.gov/

U.S. Infrastructure bill directs $65 billion for broadband and middle mile

The U.S. House of Representative passed and President Biden signed the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, which includes $65 billion to expand high-speed broadband across the country.The funding will be directed at areas that are unserved or underserved in broadband availability. Grants will also be available for connectivity projects in tribal areas, and for enabling middle mile broadband infrastructure."Unserved" is currently defined...


Vívaro Telecom picks Fujitsu for optical network in Texas

Vívaro Telecom (formerly Marcatel) has selected Fujitsu Network Communications' 1FINITY platform for a greenfield, DWDM network deployment in Texas to enhance high-speed data services between the U.S. and Mexico. The new network, which will operate between Dallas and McAllen, Texas, is the latest Vívaro Telecom network to be deployed in the U.S.

The next-generation ROADM network will include 1FINITY Lambda blades, as well as 1INITY T700 transport blades, the newest addition to the 1FINITY platform capable of delivering up to 1.6 Tbps capacity per blade. 

Fujitsu's 1FINITY platform features colorless, directionless ROADM technology and Flex-grid functionality. Vívaro Telecom can manage both the new network and their existing infrastructure with the Virtuoso NC software-defined network (SDN) solution.

“As we strive to connect our carrier and business customers to the most important data centers in the U.S., this new deployment will ensure that our network delivers optimal performance today, and well into the future,” said Gustavo M. de la Garza Flores, chief executive officer, Vívaro. “Working with Fujitsu provides the peace of mind that we are making a smart investment.”

“Based on our history of successful deployments and fast product lead times from Fujitsu, we know that the 1FINITY platform is the best choice for our network, delivering performance, scalability and efficiency in a small footprint,” said Isaías Alegría, director of technology, Vívaro Telecom.

“Innovation is essential to enabling the digital transformation that better connects people, organizations and data,” said Annie Bogue, chief operating officer and head of sales and marketing at Fujitsu Network Communications, Inc. “With the high-performance, scalable 1FINITY platform, Vívaro Telecom is well-positioned to offer the speed, security and agility to meet their customers’ communications needs.”

 https://www.fujitsu.com/us/products/network/newsroom/index.html

ADVA brings ultra-precise timing software to open servers

ADVA launched OSA SoftSync, a software PTP client for delivering ultra-precise and robust time for server-hosted applications. It utilizes ADVA Oscilloquartz Precision Time Protocol (PTP) technology, clock recovery algorithms, and Sync jack performance monitoring and assurance capabilities. 

ADVA said its OSA SoftSync helps network operators and enterprises to migrate to precise and resilient packet timing that can run on any Linux machine.

OSA SoftSync can utilize NIC hardware-based timestamping to achieve nanosecond level accuracy. It mitigates timing source outages or loss of quality by dynamically selecting the most accurate synchronization source based on the best master clock algorithm. Customers can purchase OSA SoftSync through a simple annual subscription model.

“A key step in the digitization of IT systems and enterprises is the transition from NTP to PTP timing. Our OSA SoftSync™ makes that possible by filling in the synchronization gap at the edge of the network. At the click of a button, it gives operators the power of highly accurate PTP timestamping,” said Gil Biran, GM of Oscilloquartz, ADVA. “An entirely new set of customers can now harness the benefits of our extensive and proven synchronization portfolio without hassle or major investment. Whether it’s 5G O-RAN or advanced data center applications, our software solution opens up new possibilities for network operators across many different fields.”

“Applications running on open servers require timing with new levels of accuracy and resilience. Today’s current raft of software clocks are simply not up to the sync challenges of new use cases. Our OSA SoftSync™ is the answer. For a low total cost of ownership, it creates an end-to-end synchronization architecture able to meet the needs of advanced time-critical services. What’s more, OSA SoftSync™ is fully interoperable with a wide range of PTP grandmasters,” commented Nir Laufer, VP of product line management at Oscilloquartz, ADVA. “From data centers to financial institutions, customers can now address industry regulations, including MiFID II and CAT NMS, and meet the demands of next-generation applications without the risk of major investment.”

https://adva.li/osa-softsync-slides

Southern Cross NEXT system nears RFS status

 The final submarine segments have been completed on the Southern Cross NEXT system, which will provide 72 Tbps of capacity between Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. After six years of planning and development, the Southern Cross NEXT submarine cable project has been granted Provisional Acceptance. 

The Southern Cross NEXT system includes 12 cable stations and eight major datacenter hubs in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. The Southern Cross network spans six countries and eight time zones, connected by over 45,000 km (28,000 mile) of cable – greater than the Earth’s circumference.

The installation of the submarine cable system was performed by Alcatel Submarine Networks, who additionally designed and manufactured the cable, repeaters, and branching units. The system is expected to initiate commercial service on July 7th, 2022.

Pioneer Consulting oversaw and handled the dynamic elements of the project, including market and business case analysis, procurement and contracting, project implementation, quality assurance, and shipboard representation, ensuring the successful commissioning of the subsea system between each cable station. Granting Provisional Acceptance for the subsea system, which includes the trunk cable between Sydney, Auckland, and Los Angeles along with branches to Fiji, Tokelau, and Kiribati, represents the material completion of the Southern Cross NEXT system marine program.

"This has been a truly incredible project that allowed us to demonstrate the full breadth of our submarine telecom consulting services," said Gavin Tully, Managing Partner of Pioneer Consulting. “We're proud to have supported taking what was once an idea and helping make it a reality. It has been a pleasure to work alongside Southern Cross and Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) during each crucial stage of NEXT's development, and we eagerly look forward to the cable's forthcoming entry into commercial service."

"We are tremendously proud to have completed this critical phase of NEXT's development in partnership with Pioneer Consulting," said Laurie Miller, CEO of Southern Cross Cable Network. "Once activated, this high-capacity route will provide enhanced reliability and network efficiency from Los Angeles to Sydney, and all points between."

Alain Biston, President of Alcatel Submarine Networks, said: “ASN is very proud of achieving, in spite of very difficult conditions resulting from the global pandemic, the crucial milestone of Provisional Acceptance for Southern Cross NEXT, which concludes another chapter of our long-standing partnership with Southern Cross. After building the original Southern Cross cable network more than twenty years ago, we are honored to have been cooperating again to provide more broadband connectivity to the South Pacific region, bringing into the fold several previously underserved communities.”

https://www.pioneerconsulting.com

https://www.southerncrosscables.com 

Nokia opens cybersecurity 5G testing lab in Dallas

 

Nokia has opened an Advanced Security Testing and Research (ASTaR) lab in Dallas, Texas. It will be staffed by U.S.-based specialists in cybersecurity and leverage the security research capabilities of Nokia Bell Labs. Nokia’s Dallas office also features the Executive Experience Center, Energy Innovation Center, O-RAN Collaboration and Testing Center, Cloud Collaboration Hub and Nokia Services Lab, making it a convenient destination for customers seeking a broad view of Nokia’s entire portfolio and capabilities. 

As the central lab dedicated solely to security forensics and research, ASTaR will use and develop cutting-edge tools and techniques to assess the security resilience of 5G networks, as well as their associated software, hardware and applications. ASTaR will then use these assessments to address emerging security threats, and lab researchers will engage with the cybersecurity community to identify emerging threat vectors and potential vulnerabilities.

The lab will serve as a central repository for cybersecurity knowledge that will be shared across Nokia and with its operator, enterprise and government customers. In addition, Nokia will partner with customers to consider attack scenarios against networks and observe how security measures will fare against real security incursions.

Nishant Batra, Chief Strategy and Technology Officer, Nokia, said: “5G will enable countless new services for consumers, government and businesses, and the industry must be hyper-vigilant in ensuring these 5G ecosystems are secure. To demonstrate our leadership and commitment to security, Nokia will be the first to inaugurate a lab in the U.S. with the singular mission of identifying and preventing cybersecurity attacks. ASTaR lab will be an ideal testing ground to assess security in the larger context of network use and abuse scenarios.”

 


 


Telstra appoints Noah Drake as President for the Americas

Telstra has named Noah Drake as President for the Americas, responsible for leading the company’s future direction within the region. Drake will oversee all sales and business operations, playing a key role in further expanding Telstra’s portfolio of technology solutions and continuing to accelerate strategic partnerships.

 Most recently, Drake led Telstra’s Customer Solutions and Architecture group, directing a specialized team of professionals working with customers to harness the full capabilities of Telstra’s products and services. Prior to joining Telstra, Drake was Vice President of Product Management at Boulder (CO)-based Zayo Group, responsible for the Fiber and Infrastructure portfolio of services. Prior to this role, he served as Senior Director of Global Reach where he was tasked with launching the company’s new market expansion team.

“Our customers are navigating a continually changing business landscape as they grow their operations and build toward long-term success,” said Drake. “Telstra is well-positioned to meet their evolving needs with a diverse range of solutions and services that can support any connectivity method required to successfully achieve an organization’s digital initiatives. This is an exciting time to be in telecommunications and I’m looking forward to leading this exceptional Americas team and driving our business forward.” 

https://www.telstra.com/americas



France's SNCF picks Kontron and Ribbon for optical upgrade

Kontron Transportation has been awarded the Transilien SNCF Voyageurs Optical Transport Network (OTN) project to upgrade SNCF's communications network. The project involves replacing obsolete WDM  equipment in the Paris region with Ribbon's WDM, including OTN switching technology, part of its IP Wave portfolio.

The project includes:

  • A multi-tier core-aggregation-access OTN switching architecture, based on Ribbon's 9904X Metro OTN and 9901X Access OTN switches
  • A high availability network management system (NMS) with disaster recovery protection
  • Professional services support of Kontron deployments including training and skills transfer.

"We are delighted to extend our relationship with our longtime partner Kontron Transportation to help one of the largest and most important transportation companies in Europe upgrade their communications network to the latest in WDM including OTN switching technology," said Sam Bucci, Executive Vice President & General Manager of Ribbon's IP Optical Networks Business Unit. "As an integral part of our IP Wave portfolio, our Optical solutions support some of the world's most vital critical infrastructure sectors including large railway operators like SNCF Voyageurs, helping them dramatically improve their network performance, capacity and reliability."

"This is a significant milestone on the way to switching from conventional transmission to optical technology on mission-critical networks," said Richard Bussienne VP Mission Critical Networks Kontron Transportation Western Europe. "We are proud, that SNCF Voyageurs selected Kontron Transportation and our partner Ribbon for this important project."