Broadcom advances its co-packaged optics network switch

Broadcom will provide its new 25.6-Tbps Humboldt co-packaged optics (CPO) network switch to Tencent.

Humboldt features Broadcom’s StrataXGS Tomahawk 4 switch chip directly coupled and co-packaged with four 3.2-Tbps Silicon Photonics Chiplets In Package (SCIP) optical engines. 

Tencent has defined the system architecture and worked closely with Broadcom to develop hardware and software for field deployment of the 25.6-Tbps CPO switch system. Ruijie Networks Co., Ltd. will verify the design, manufacture and test the full CPO switch system, and then provide the finished product to Tencent. 

The companies plan to demonstrate the jointly developed 25.6-Tbps CPO switch system at the China International Optoelectronic Exposition (CIOE) in Shenzhen from September 7th to 9th.

Humboldt 25.6-Tbps CPO Switch Product Highlights:

• 2RU system design with high efficiency air cooling to support 4x3.2-Tbps optical CPO interfaces routed to 16 MPO connectors and 32x400G electrical QSFP112 ports
• CPO engine to front-panel routing supports both traditional fiber and flexible printed fiber (FPF) solutions
• System design compatible to support multiple remote laser modules (RLM)
• More than 50% optical interconnect power consumption savings compared to standard pluggable optics solutions
• Production ready for data center deployment

Broadcom said CPO will become increasingly important for data center switches as copper interconnects approach a reach limit.  Likewise, traditional pluggable optical transceivers require high power to equalize signal impairments incurred on a signal as it traverses long traces and through multiple connector discontinuities in a standard switch system. 

The 25.6-Tbps Humboldt CPO switch leverages Broadcom's uncooled continuous wave (CW) laser at 1310 nm for silicon photonics, delivering significant power efficiency and cost gains.

Broadcom also notes that it has over 15 external partners currently working on its SCIP and CPO designs.

“We are pleased to announce our strategic partnership with Tencent as we enable the industry’s first 25.6-Tbps CPO system for hyperscale data center field deployment,” said Near Margalit, Vice President and General Manager, Optical Systems Division, Broadcom. “We expect to continue to innovate and extend our market leadership position with Tencent as we migrate to 51.2-Tbps switch CPOs and next generation 200G/lane PAM-4 applications.”

“Customer demands for higher bandwidth have pushed Tencent to perpetually scale our network,” said Sage Zou, Vice President of Tencent Cloud. “We are glad to partner with Broadcom on CPO based technology, which will bring not only higher bandwidth for applications such as AI/ML and HPC, but also it could address the power constraints from the acceleration of growth in new workloads.”

“Addressing the general trend towards chip-scale optical interconnects versus traditional copper-based implementation, CPO technology combines microelectronics and optoelectronics on silicon-based platforms, which can carry more information and transmit longer distances,” said Liu Zhongdong, President and CEO, Ruijie Networks. “CPO switching networks have the advantages of high bandwidth and low power consumption, and Ruijie is glad to participate in the innovation and implementation of this new technology with Tencent & Broadcom.”

https://www.broadcom.com/info/optics/cpo

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Lumen gains FCC approval for sale of ILEC assets to Brightspeed

The FCC approved Lumen's sale of certain incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) assets in 20 states to Brightspeed. The deal has now received all final regulatory clearances needed to close.

Brightspeed plans to make significant investments to build an expanded fiber optics network throughout the 20-state footprint. These plans include providing fiber facilities that are expected to reach up to three million homes and businesses over the next five years, including in many rural and suburban locations where fiber and advanced technology have not yet been deployed.Lumen will retain its ILEC operations in 16 states, where it will continue to invest in bringing fiber broadband to more communities. Lumen will also retain its national fiber routes and associated networks in all of these states, as well as its international operations. 

"This transaction will benefit all of these customers, both in Lumen's remaining 16-state footprint and in the 20 states moving to Brightspeed," said Melissa Mann, Lumen vice president of public policy and government affairs.

"The FCC's approval paves the way for Brightspeed to help close the digital divide in communities across the country that are most in need of high-quality broadband," said Tom Dailey, Brightspeed vice president of public policy and government affairs. "This is a significant step in our journey to begin serving customers as Brightspeed. We appreciate the efforts of all the regulators and our Lumen counterparts who worked diligently with us over this past year to achieve this milestone. We look forward to building our fiber network and participating in programs that support affordability for our new customers."

Brightspeed outlines initial FTTP builds

Thursday, July 07, 2022  Brightspeed  

Brightspeed has outlined plans to rollout fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) in a number of locations across its 20-state footprint. Brightspeed will initially be comprised of the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) assets and associated operations of Lumen Technologies, which are the subject of a pending acquisition by Apollo-managed funds. The company recently announced that it had secured all necessary state-required regulatory approvals in...

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Cirion spins out of Latin American operations from Lumen

Tuesday, August 02, 2022  Cirion, Lumen  

Cirion, previously the Latin American operations of Lumen Technologies, officially launched as an independent company with approximately 86,000 kms of fiber, an extensive subsea cable network, and data centers in major economic centers across Central and South America.Stonepeak, a leading alternative investment firm specializing in infrastructure and real assets, acquired the Cirion assets for US$2.7 billion. Lumen acquired the Latin American...

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Video: Cirion's Principal Network Architect on Service Automation

Tuesday, August 02, 2022  Cirion, MEF, Video  

 https://youtu.be/LfD2XW2OJ5MCirion, the new spin-out international carrier that was previously the Latin American operations of Lumen Technologies, is engaged with MEF and other global operators, to automate its service activation. Jorge Brites, Principal Network Architect at Cirion, discusses service automation and MEF LSO AP...

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Safaricom tests fixed wireless access 5G slicing with Nokia

Safaricom has successfully piloted its 4G and 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) network slicing on its live commercial network in Kenya in partnership with Nokia. 

The trial utilized a multi-vendor network environment and included RAN, transport and core as well as software upgrades to a range of Nokia’s products and services. The pilot demonstrated a number of solutions including Nokia’s AirScale 4G/5G base stations, the NetAct network management and assurance system and Nokia’s FastMile 4G/5G CPE.

Nokia said the trial demonstrates that Safaricom is now poised to support new types of enterprise network services, including fast lane internet access and application slicing. In addition, Nokia is enabling secured FWA slice connectivity to enterprise locations, as well as to private or public application clouds.

Network slicing enables operators the ability to divide a network into multiple virtual slices, which can be optimized for a specific target application or service. The end user of each network slice can then be serviced with different priorities, routing, levels of network performance and security capabilities. Slices can be managed and deployed in minutes, and each one has key performance indicators used for service assurance.

James Maitai, Network Director, Safaricom, said: “We are proud to have hosted Africa’s first successful pilot of 4G/5G FWA slicing on our network, and looking forward to tailoring our service offerings to individual customers and industries, to meet their needs for high-speed connectivity precisely and without unnecessary cost. Nokia’s expertise has been key to this success, and we anticipate many more strategic wins in this area as our business expands.”

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Elisa to recapture waste heat from a data centre in Helsinki

Elisa is working with its utility provider to recapture waste heat produced in its data centre in Helsiki for use in community heating.

According to the agreement, waste heat recovered in the cooling process of Elisa’s modern data centre in Pasila is transferred for heating homes and business premises in the area. At best, the waste heat collected from the data centre can replace the annual heat demand of up to a thousand one-bedroom flats.

“In Finland, people regard recycling and the use of renewable materials as one of the most important indicators of sustainable business practice. Recycling is also sensible in the use of energy. Investing in both energy self-sufficiency and in technology that promotes energy efficiency is more important than ever. The cooperation with Elisa offers an excellent opportunity to increase the amount of recycled heat for our customers by utilising our energy platform,” explains Henrietta Lahti, Business Lead, Datacenter and Waste Heat Solutions at Helen, the Finnish utility provider.

“Elisa’s mission is a sustainable future through digitalisation, and we are strongly committed to sustainable development in all our activities. In cooperation with Helen, energy efficiency in our Pasila data centre will improve so that it will become environmentally positive, i.e. the data centre actually reduces global emissions. That way we can offer our customers digital services that are produced in an even more sustainable way than before,” says Sami Rajamäki, Elisa’s Vice President, Network Services.

https://elisa.com/corporate/news-room/press-releases/helen-and-elisa-to-heat-homes-in-helsinki-with-waste-heat-from-a-data-centre/31135227527634/

Nokia and Elisa achieve over 2 Gbps 5G uplink speeds on mmWave

Tuesday, June 21, 2022  5G, Elisa, Finland, Nokia  

Nokia, Elisa, and Qualcomm Technologies achieved arecord-breaking 5G uplink speeds of 2.1 Gbps. The live demonstration at the Nokia Arena in Tampere in Finland featured Nokia's AirScale base station in 26 GHz mmWave spectrum over Elisa’s commercial 5G network. The network was connected to a 5G device powered by a Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF System featuring fourth-generation Qualcomm® QTM545 mmWave antenna modules. Additionally, Nokia deployed...

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Nokia and Elisa test first 1 terabit clear-channel interface

Wednesday, January 27, 2021  Elisa, Finland, Nokia, Terabit  

Elisa, a network operator serving Finland and Estonia, has tested the first 1 Tbps clear-channel interface across its commercial infrastructure.Elisa upgraded some of its Nokia 7950 Extensible Routing System (XRS) nodes with 1T interfaces powered by Nokia’s FP4 chipset, the industry’s first terabit capable routing silicon. The new FP4 terabit linecard supports two 1T ports and demonstrated deployment readiness by carrying live traffic on Elisa’s...

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Southeast Nebraska Communications deploys DZS for active Ethernet

Southeast Nebraska Communications (SNC) is upgrading its existing point-to-point fiber infrastructure with next generation Active Ethernet solutions from DZS. 

SNC’s Active Ethernet network infrastructure includes solutions from the DZS Velocity Access Edge and DZS Helix Subscriber Edge portfolio, including:

• DZS Velocity V2, V14 and V16 Access Edge Platforms - offering common Active Ethernet line cards that bring services from 1 Gbps to 40 Gbps to subscribers. The Velocity chassis provides Active Ethernet density in a variety of environmentally hardened form factors ranging from a compact 2RU, 2 service card slot chassis to a 14RU, 16 service card slot chassis.
• DZS Helix Subscriber Edge Optical Network Terminals (ONTs) bring gigabit and multi-gigabit experiences to the connected home and business. 

“DZS, along with its value-added reseller Goldfield Telecom, is proud to support the network upgrade requirements of SNC, a fiber access pioneer that has served changing communications needs across Nebraska for more than 100 years,” said Andrew Finkelstein, Senior Vice President, North America Sales, DZS. “As some access vendors withdraw from the Active Ethernet marketplace, DZS is stepping up, enabling our customers to retain their preferred network configurations, improve manageability, reliability and performance, and prepare their networks for a leap to multi-gigabit services in the future."

https://www.dzsi.com

 

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NTT Data launches Innovation Centers in 6 countries

In a bid to generate new business through joint R&D with key customers NTT DATA is launching Innovation Center in six locations worldwide. Each location will focus on a unique topic wit the potential to become mainstream within five to ten years.

• Japan (NTT research lab technologies): Genomes, metaverse, quantum computing
• United States (customer contract-related technologies): Digital humans, smart city planning
• Italy/Germany (data processing, simulation technologies): Quantum computing, metaverse
• China (hardware-related technologies): Remote sensing technology (LiDAR), metaverse
• India (a framework for prototype development)

https://www.nttdata.com/global/en/media/press-release/2022/august/ntt-data-launches-innovation-center-in-six-countries

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Telus appoints Chief Transformation Officer

TELUS International appointed Beth Howen to the newly created role of Chief Transformation Officer (CTO) effective today.

Howen will lead the ongoing development and delivery of integrated transformation, digital, CX and analytics solutions for TELUS International’s more than 600 clients, including tech hyperscalers and digital disruptors, across high growth industry verticals, such as tech and games, communications and media, eCommerce and fintech, banking, financial services and insurance, healthcare, and travel and hospitality.

“On behalf of our almost 70,000 global team members, I am very pleased to welcome Beth to our TELUS International family to further focus and enhance our expertise in supporting the full life cycle of our clients’ digital transformation journeys by incorporating critical next-gen solutions and services into their customer journeys,” said Jeff Puritt, President and CEO, TELUS International. “Beth’s significant experience and track record of success as a highly-respected technology leader paired with our talented team’s deep domain expertise and company’s unique value proposition strongly position us to continue to capitalize on a surge in demand for digital transformation capabilities and drive the ongoing strong momentum we are achieving in the marketplace.”

Prior to joining TELUS International, Beth served as the Global Head of Digital Transformation at Atos, an information technology service and consulting company specializing in high-tech transactional services, unified communications, cloud, big data and cybersecurity services.

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