D-Wave enters Leap Quantum Cloud Service

D-Wave Systems announced the availability of the first Advantage quantum computer, accessible via the Leap quantum cloud service, which is part of the USC-Lockheed Martin Quantum Computing Center (QCC) hosted at USC’s Information Sciences Institute. 

• Highlights:
• The service will provide access to the first Advantage quantum system physically located in the United States. Advantage is the first quantum computer built for business that contains the new Advantage performance update released in October 2021 and features the highly connected Pegasus topology and 5000+ qubits.
• Leap quantum cloud service users will immediately be able to access the Advantage quantum computer located at the QCC in real-time. Leap access also gives researchers, governments and enterprises access to all of the programming tools and hybrid quantum-classical resources offered through Leap.
• Additionally, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and D-Wave announced that the U.S.-based system will be available today for use in Amazon Braket, expanding the number to three different D-Wave quantum systems available to AWS users.

“Making quantum computing ubiquitous and available is one of our core areas of focus and is central to the commercialization of quantum computing,” said Alan Baratz, CEO of D-Wave. “This is an important moment for our U.S.-based customers who want their Leap cloud access to the newest Advantage system and quantum hybrid solver service to be in-region. The timing is especially important. Eleven years ago, together with Lockheed Martin, we installed our first quantum system at USC. Fast forward to today, delivering the most performant commercial quantum computer in the world yet again allows users to harness the power of annealing quantum computing for real-world optimization problems, all accessible real-time through our Leap quantum cloud service and in AWS’s Amazon Braket.”

In addition, D-Wave announced an update to its Constrained Quadratic Model (CQM) hybrid solver that enables organizations, for the first time, to leverage the power of quantum computation to run constrained quadratic optimization problems with continuous variables. This allows quantum developers to better represent constrained problems – such as production capacity, available funds, and asset tracking – by using continuous variables, unlocking a new class of problems and further accelerating commercialization of quantum applications. For example, with continuous variables, developers can determine optimal vehicle routes by considering capacity, travel/wait times and distances; pharmaceutical companies can more deeply analyze patient outcomes of drug trials by reviewing trial duration, time-to-patient outcomes and number of iterations; and energy operators can more effectively deliver power to customers through models that address generator output, fuel consumption and emission, and storage levels.

https://www.dwavesys.com

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Cinturion's Trans Europe Asia System signs landing partner in India

Cinturion's TEAS – Trans Europe Asia System project announced an agreement with Lightstorm as its landing partner in India.

As part of the agreement, Cinturion's TEAS, which will be an open-access submarine and terrestrial network, will be hosted by Lightstorm to strengthen connectivity between India, the Middle East and Europe. Lightstorm will use its carrier-neutral and open CLS to herald a new era in the landing of submarine cable systems in India.

TEAS will seamlessly link two new connections across the Arabian and Mediterranean Seas and continue with two paths interlinking the Middle East, with multiple routes across the Arabian Peninsula and a route through the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea. TEAS low latency and diverse routing will change the global traffic patterns by delivering cutting-edge solutions strengthening connectivity between India, the Middle East and Europe. 

Lightstorm will integrate its open CLS with a fiber network reaching seven key economic hubs with over 12,000 km of fiber, connecting 45+ multi-tenant data centers currently and aiming to connect 100+ MTDCs in the near future. 

Bill Marra, Chief Commercial Officer of Cinturion, says, "We are extremely excited to partner with Lightstorm and deliver a network that will ensure secure, resilient, and redundant communications with our Open-Access Carrier-Neutral Solutions to further establish India as a hub for international connectivity."

Ranjan Banerjee, Chief Strategy Officer at Lightstorm, says, "The growing data consumption and the digital aspirations of India demand best-in-class digital infrastructure. Collaboration with Cinturion will not only contribute to this growth but will also bring diversity to the existing cable systems in the country. We look forward to a longstanding and fulfilling partnership with Cinturion."

https://www.cinturiongroup.com/news-events

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Vietnam's Viettel builds with Qualcomm 5G RAN Accelerator Card

Viettel High Technology, which is the R&D arm of Viettel and in charge of design, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of telecommunications solutions, is using the Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card and Massive MIMO Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN Platform to accelerate the development and commercialization of high-performance Open RAN massive MIMO solutions.

Viettel's 4G infrastructure coverd 97% of Vietnam population and the operator's 5G services are available in 16 cities and provinces in Vietnam to date. 

Viettel develops full network elements including Devices, Radio Access Network (RAN), Transmission Network, and Core Network which are forming a strong foundation for digital society.

“Viettel has been a pioneer in adopting new telecommunications technologies including 5G. We are delighted to have Qualcomm Technologies as a key technology provider in our 5G gNodeB project,” said Nguyen Vu Ha, general director, Viettel High Technology. “This collaboration between Qualcomm Technologies and Viettel Group will be the cornerstone of Vietnam’s national strategy for Made in Vietnam 5G infrastructure.”

“As the need for reliable, robust, and powerful mobile experiences increases across Vietnam, we anticipate a new wave of demand for 5G services from both end users and enterprises. Joining forces with Viettel will allow us to innovate through and launch technology that will advance the cellular ecosystem and accelerate the enablement and deployment of modern networks at scale,” said ST Liew, vice president, QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd. and president, Qualcomm Taiwan and South East Asia. “We look forward to working closely with Viettel for the rollout of advanced 5G infrastructure and services for Vietnam and globally.”

https://www.qualcomm.com/news/media-center

HPE offers 5G RAN virtualized DU powered by Qualcomm accelerator

Thursday, February 17, 2022  HPE, Qualcomm  

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) will deliver 5G distributed units powered by Qualcomm Technologies X100 5G RAN inline accelerator card and its HPE ProLiant DL110 Gen10 Plus Telco Server.The Qualcomm X100 5G RAN accelerator card, which leverages a combination of DSPs and ARM CPUs, offloads Layer 1 and Layer 2 MAC functionality, including compute-intensive 5G baseband processing. HPE's 5G RAN virtualized distributed unit (vDU) solution is designed...

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Rakuten Symphony and Qualcomm target Massive MIMO RU and DU

Sunday, February 27, 2022  #MWC22, Rakuten  

Rakuten Mobile and Qualcomm Technologies agreed to collaborate to develop a next-generation 5G Radio Unit (RU) with Massive MIMO capabilities and distributed units (DUs).The new products, which will leverage the Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card and high-performance Massive MIMO Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN Platform, are designed to enhance Rakuten Symphony’s Symware product portfolio of Open RAN solutions.Rakuten Mobile, Rakuten Symphony and Qualcomm...

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Qualcomm intros 5G DU accelerator card

Monday, June 28, 2021  Qualcomm  

Qualcomm introduced its 5G DU X100 PCIe inline accelerator card with concurrent Sub-6 GHz and mmWave baseband support.The accelerator card is designed to ease of deployment with O-RAN fronthaul and 5G NR layer 1 High (L1 High) processing. It plugs into standard Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) servers to offload CPUs from latency-sensitive and compute-intensive 5G baseband functions such as demodulation, beamforming, channel coding, and Massive MIMO...

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Qualcomm boosts its Snapdragon X70 Modem-RF System

 Building on its fifth-generation 5G modem-to-antenna solution announced in February and which is currently sampling, Qualcomm announced a number of new capabilities and milestones for its Snapdragon X70 5G Modem-RF System: 

• Qualcomm Smart Transmit 3.0 technology, an upgraded system-level feature licensed by Qualcomm Technologies that now extends support to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth transmit power management. It enables real-time averaging of transmit power across 2G-5G, mmWave, Wi-Fi (2.4GHz 6/6E/7), and Bluetooth (2.4) radios to superior radio performance.
• Smart Transmit 3.0 extends 5G coverage and improve uplink speeds, optimizing transmissions across cellular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth antennas. Smart Transmit 3.0 helps devices smartly manage transmit power, allowing users to enjoy faster, more reliable connectivity.
• 5G standalone mmWave-- peak speeds of more than 8 Gbps have been achieved using Keysight’s 5G Protocol R&D Toolset with a test 5G device powered by Snapdragon X70. 5G standalone mmWave allows for the deployment of 5G mmWave networks and devices without using an anchor on sub-6 GHz spectrum. 
• AI-enhanced 5G performance
• 5G sub-6 GHz carrier aggregation across three TDD channels – delivering up to 6 Gbps peak download speeds.

Commercial mobile devices based on Snapdragon X70 are expected to launch by late 2022. 

https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2022/05/10/qualcomm-unveils-new-features-snapdragon-x70-modem-rf-system

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BT revenue dips 2% but sees growth in Openreach

BT Group plc published the following results for the full year to 31 March 2022:

• Revenue £20.9bn, down 2%, reflecting revenue decline in Enterprise and Global offset by growth in Openreach, with Consumer flat for the year and returning to growth in Q4; adjusted revenue down 2%
• Adjusted EBITDA £7.6bn, up 2%, with revenue decline more than offset by lower costs from  modernisation programmes, tight cost management, and lower indirect commissions

Philip Jansen, Chief Executive, commenting on the results, said

“BT Group has again delivered a strong operational performance thanks to the efforts of our colleagues across the business. Openreach continues to build like fury, having now passed 7.2m premises with 1.8m connections; a strong and growing early take-up rate of 25%. Meanwhile, our 5G network now covers more than 50% of the UK population. We have the best networks in the UK and we’re continuing to invest at an unprecedented pace to provide unrivalled connectivity for our customers. At the same time we’re seeing record customer satisfaction scores across the business.

“Our modernisation continues at pace and we are extending our cost savings target of £2bn by end FY24 to £2.5bn by end FY25. We delivered EBITDA growth of 2% this year as strong savings from our modernisation programme more than offset weaker revenues from our enterprise businesses due to well-known market challenges.

“While the economic outlook remains challenging, we’re continuing to invest for the future and I am confident that BT Group is on the right track. As a result, we are today reconfirming our FY23 outlook for revenue growth, EBITDA of at least £7.9bn and also the reinstatement of our full year FY22 dividend, as promised, at 7.7 pence per share.”

https://newsroom.bt.com/results-for-the-full-year-to-31-march-2022/

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Telstra Wholesale launches premium 5G and IOT to MVNOs

 Telstra Wholesale is launching a new 5G service and a series of IOT products for Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) customers.

The Telstra Wholesale 5G service will be available from July, initially reaching more than 75% of Australians. It will deliver Telstra Wholesale’s fastest-ever mobile speeds – up to 250 Mbps - and access to mmWave where available.

Glenn Osborne, Executive, Sales and Wholesale Segment, Telstra Wholesale said this expanded portfolio of services was about meeting the needs of a rapidly evolving mobile market.

“The ability for our Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) customers to offer a premium 5G mobile plan, as part of their suite of mobile solutions, provides even more possibilities for these customers to unlock new growth opportunities and attract different audiences seeking the performance benefits and capacity of 5G. And they can do all of this while utilising the capabilities of Telstra’s world-class network,” he added.

https://www.telstra.com.au/aboutus/media/media-releases/wholesale-launches-5G-IOT-product-range

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Colt deploys Ribbon's Session Border Controllers

Colt Technology Services has deployed Ribbon's Microsoft-certified Session Border Controllers (SBCs) as part of its new Colt Intelligent Communications (CIC) with Cloud Session Border Controller offering across Japan.

CIC is an enterprise solution integrating Microsoft's cloud productivity applications with Colt's voice and data networks to securely deliver superior collaboration experiences and business communications services. With CIC, phone calls can be migrated to Microsoft Teams simply by typing an IP address into a web page. 

"A secure cloud communication and collaboration solution is a fundamental component of digital transformation for companies of all sizes," said Masato Hoshino, Colt's President and Head of Asia. "CIC and Cloud SBC enable organizations both large and small to benefit from the highest-quality cloud voice experience for Microsoft Teams, without the need to invest in additional hardware and software, and the skills to manage them."

Hoshino added, "Colt's latest investment in its Intelligent Communications offering in Japan makes the migration to Microsoft Teams quick and simple for our customers and the flexibility and agility it delivers will continue to underpin their business objectives in the region long into the future."

https://ribboncommunications.com

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India's Vodafone Idea (Vi) to deploy Nokia's optical transport

Vodafone Idea (Vi) will use Nokia's DWDM solution in the access layer to upgrade its network to 5G for meeting future service capacity and reliability needs. 

Nokia said its 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) will enable Vi to cost-effectively and sustainably enhance network capacity by minimising operational expenditure with reduced power consumption and carbon footprint. Nokia solution will support Vi to reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and improve Return on Investment (ROI) while ensuring improved network capacity to meet the future demands.

Jagbir Singh, Chief Technology Officer at Vodafone Idea, said: “We are building the best-in-class digital networks to address the evolving market demands. As we prepare for 5G, we are focussed at forging partnerships with ecosystem players to bring superior quality network and services for consumers and enterprises. Collaborating with Nokia allows us to use the latest technology solutions to modernize our networks and provide the best possible quality to our subscribers.”  

Prashant Ramesh Malkani, Head of Vodafone Idea CBT at Nokia, said: “Our field-proven 1830 PSS solution will allow Vodafone Idea, to address the growing capacity demand and provide best-in-class network experience to their subscribers while preparing the networks for the 5G era. ” 

http://www.nokia.com

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Nokia targets private 5G for Korean public sector

Nokia is partnering with Contela, a global technology vendor, to provide private 5G network solutions to Korean public sector organizations. 

Under the terms of the MoU, both companies will undertake marketing, sales and solutions convergence in private 5G networks. With this agreement, the companies will be able to offer local and customized solutions for Korean government industrial areas such as the smart cities, smart green industrial complex and educational institutes, enabling state-of-the-art digital transformation.

Nokia notes tha it has deployed mission-critical networks to more than 2,200 leading enterprise customers in the transport, energy, large enterprise, manufacturing, webscale, and public sector segments around the globe. It has also extended its expertise to more than 450 large private wireless customers worldwide across an array of sectors, and has been cited by numerous industry analysts as the leading provider of private wireless networking worldwide.

Josh Lee, Customer Team Head of Enterprise at Nokia Korea, said: "Access to reliable, local and customized private 5G networks will allow Korean enterprises and government organizations to use 5G technology to enhance operational efficiency and gain new competencies. We are excited to take our partnership with Contela to the next level, bringing world-class private 5G network solutions to the Korean market."

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