Malaysia's Allo Tech deploys Infinera's ICE-X coherent pluggables

Allo Technology Sdn. Bhd. (Allo), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), is using Infinera's ICE-X intelligent coherent pluggables and XTM Series to boost its nationwide optical network and expand services across Malaysia. The Allo Carrier Network System (ACNS) is the optical backbone for Malaysia, providing direct connectivity with broad coverage spanning the peninsula.

The selection was based on a point-to-point performance during a recent field trial where Infinera’s suite of ICE-X intelligent pluggables was hosted in Infinera’s XTM Series packet optical networking platform across Allo’s network spanning 1,228 kilometers from the Thailand border to Malaysia. The demonstration delivered both high transmission performance and efficient traffic aggregation, while also significantly expanding overall network capacity. Infinera’s solutions enable Allo to expand its services across Malaysia to bring broadband connectivity to the entire country, extending broadband services to parts of the country where services are not currently available.

Planned network deployments include point-to-multipoint network architectures utilizing the wide range of deployment options of Infinera’s ICE-X intelligent coherent pluggables and the XTM platform. 

“Infinera’s ICE-X suite of coherent pluggables is redefining network scalability, flexibility, and economics for bandwidth applications for single- and dual-fiber networks. For network operators like Allo, Infinera’s latest solutions are game changing, enabling them to leverage existing network assets to extend bandwidth services seamlessly and efficiently,” said Ryan Perera, Senior Vice President, APAC Sales at Infinera. “This increases the value of their network infrastructure while positioning them for future growth.”

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Laser Light and Inligo Networks sign $175M Asia-Pac bandwidth deal

 Laser Light and Inligo Networks signed a fifteen-year $175 million Reciprocal Master Services Agreement for optical service capacity throughout the Asia-Pacific Region. 

Formed in 2020, Inligo Networks is a privately owned telecommunications infrastructure company in the final stages of commencing construction of the foundational Asia Connect Cable (ACC-1) system. ACC-1 is a new subsea fibre optic system stretching 18,000 klms between Singapore and Los Angeles, to be installed through the Java Sea. With committed landings in Singapore, Batam, Jakarta, Makassar, Dili, Darwin, Manado, Davao, Guam and Los Angeles, the system is perfectly positioned to support Laser Light's satellite network through the region. Inligo is also building a terrestrial system, known as Unite, between Darwin, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, which will provide seamless connectivity between the Australian capitals onto the ACC-1 system via Darwin.

As part of the terms, Laser Light intends to purchase optical transport capacity from Inligo on its terrestrial and subsea cables in and around Southeast Asia, Australasia, and the Pacific US. In turn, Inligo intends to purchase from Laser Light its redundant, resilient global connectivity to meet the needs of its customers overhead and beyond its current network footprint via Laser Light's next-generation data service platform.

Inligo Networks will provide additional regional connectivity to Laser Light's planned network hubs, meshing many of its optical satellite ground stations and points of presence across Asia and the Pacific, including Australia's Northern Territory. The solution provides Laser Light with significant redundant network capacity via terrestrial, and subsea cable infrastructures, complementing its optical satellite capacity. The agreement also allows Laser Light to leverage a range of Inligo's low latency routes between the USA, Pacific and Asia and the development of the technology in Australasia where the demand for connectivity remands high. 

"The opportunity to partner with Laser Light as a foundational customer on our ACC-1 and Unite networks, along with being able to supplement these networks with Laser Light's capabilities, global reach and unique service portfolio, adds significant opportunities for our customers. The alignment of two disruptive, innovative high-tech organisations will generate truly meaningful benefits for our customers and shareholders as well as driving efficiencies for our respective organisations," said Simon Zettl, Commercial Director and Chief Revenue Officer at Inligo Networks.

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ECOC: Open XR Forum Symposium on October 3

At the European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC), the Open XR Forum will host a symposium, open to all attendees, to discuss the latest transceiver specifications, including thermal mechanical form factor and electro-optical characteristics. The symposium will also highlight multi-vendor use cases, including full-featured host-independent management, multipoint aggregation, and high-speed business services over passive optical network (PON) infrastructures.

Open XR Forum symposium member speakers include:

• Mark Watts, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Verizon
• Harald Bock, VP, Network & Technology Strategy, Infinera
• Andrea Di Giglio, Systems Specialist at Telecom Italia Lab, TIM
• Kevin Driscoll, VP, Strategic Sales, LightRiver
• Andrew Lord, Sr. Manager, Optical Networks Research, BT
• David Hillerkuss, Director, Open XR Forum
• José Manuel Rivas-Moscoso, Optical Transport Innovation Technical Lead, Telefónica CTIO
• Dave Welch, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Infinera

www.openxrforum.org

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ECOC: Marvell to showcase 800 Gbps ZR/ZR+ pluggables

At ECOC in Glasgow, Marvell Technology will showcase its latest optical connectivity and switch solutions, including:

• COLORZ 800, 800 Gbps ZR/ZR+ pluggable modules for increasing both the bandwidth and distance of data center interconnects (DCIs).
• Nova, the industry's first 1.6T PAM4 DSP featuring 200 Gbps per lambda optical bandwidth.
• Orion, the industry's first 800 Gbps coherent digital signal processor (DSP) for pluggable modules. Capable of powering connections up to 2,000 km in length, Orion is poised to change the economics and performance of the transport networks connecting carrier and cloud assets over extended geographic areas.
• Optical modules powered by the Marvell Orion and Nova DSPs from select ecosystem partners.
• Teralynx 10, an ultra-low latency, programmable 51.2 Tbps switch chip optimized for high-bandwidth workloads for AI and ML.

https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/marvell-to-showcase-industry-first-high-speed-connectivity-solutions-for-the-ai-era-at-ecoc-2023.html

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ECOC: MaxLinear announces 5nm PAM4 DSP for 800G

MaxLinear announced a new member of its Keystone 5nm PAM4 DSP family (KeystoneMM – MxL93684) that monolithically integrates VCSEL drivers with the DSP active optical cables (AOCs) and multimode links. KeystoneMM is available to sample to key customers and will be released to full production in Q1 2024. MaxLinear will be exhibiting at ECOC in Glasgow, Scotland.

Multimode Fiber is extensively deployed in short reach applications such as fiber-optic cable infrastructure in data centers and other large networks– for example, between individual servers, within racks, or within rows. Multimode optical links prove to be the more economical option compared to single-mode optical solutions for short reach applications. These shorter reach links dominate the interconnect volume for most AI/ML deployments.

“With the explosion in deployments of AI clusters, the demand for multimode transceivers and AOCs continues to accelerate for 100G/lane 400G and 800G interconnects. These applications needed integrated, low-power, high-performance, cost-effective solutions to support the massive scale of these networks,” said Drew Guckenberger, Vice President of High Speed Interconnect at MaxLinear. “Our 5nm Keystone PAM4 DSP with integrated VCSEL drivers addresses the demands of this key market, enabling best-in-class power consumption of <10W for 800G short reach optical transceivers and AOCs.”

MaxLinear’s Keystone 5nm DSP family addresses both 400G and 800G applications and is the first generation to provide 106.25Gbps host side electrical I/O to match the line side 106.25Gbps interface rate. 

Variants supporting single mode optics (EML and SiPh), multimode optics (VCSEL transceivers and AOCs), and Active Electrical Cables (AECs) are all available and can be paired with companion TIAs to provide complete solutions.

The Keystone family’s host side interfaces support 25G, 50G, and 100G per lane ethernet rates over C2M, MR and LR host channels. The line side interfaces also support the same rates and are targeted for 100G/λ DR, FR, and LR applications. All devices provide extensive DSP functionality, including line-side transmitter digital pre-distortion (DPD), transmit pre-emphasis (TX FIR), receiver feed forward equalization (FFE) and decision feedback equalization (DFE).

https://investors.maxlinear.com/press-releases/detail/515/maxlinear-announces-5nm-cmos-pam4-dsp-with-integrated-vcsel

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AMD intros accelerator card for fintech

AMD announced its new Alveo UL3524 accelerator card, a new fintech accelerator designed for ultra-low latency electronic trading applications. 

The Alveo UL3524 delivers a 7X latency improvement over prior generation FPGA technology, achieving less than 3ns FPGA transceiver latency2 for accelerated trade execution. It is powered by a custom 16nm Virtex UltraScale+ FPGA, and it features a novel transceiver architecture with hardened, optimized network connectivity cores to achieve breakthrough performance.

The new card is already deployed by leading trading firms and enabling multiple solution partner offerings.

“In ultra-low latency trading, a nanosecond can determine the difference between a profitable or losing trade,” said Hamid Salehi, director of product marketing at AMD. “The Alveo UL3524 accelerator card is powered by the lowest latency FPGA transceiver from AMD—purpose-built to give our fintech customers an unprecedented competitive advantage in financial markets.”

https://www.amd.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-9-27-amd-unveils-purpose-built-fpga-based-accelerator-.html

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Arrtel and Rivada win Space Force contract

Artel, a provider of secure network communication services to U.S. government agencies, has been awarded a Commercial Satellite Communications Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (p-LEO) contract  from the U.S. Space Force and is partnering with Rivada Space Networks to offer high speed, low-latency connectivity with full global coverage..

Artel is a carrier-agnostic network integrator of global terrestrial and satellite network communication services, cyber security, risk management, and information technology solutions.

Rivada's global low-latency point-to-point connectivity network of 600 low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, the "OuterNET", is a unique next-generation architecture combing inter-satellite laser links with advanced onboard processing that provide unique routing and switching capabilities to create an optical mesh network in space. This approach to "orbital networking," in which data stays in space from origin to destination, creates an ultra-secure satellite network with pole-to-pole coverage, offering end-to-end latencies much lower than terrestrial fiber over similar long distances. And by routing traffic on a physically separated network, it provides a layer of defense for any organization that needs to securely share data over a large distribution of site. Together it provides unique solutions for Government Services operations. The first satellite launch is set for 2025, with global service starting in 2026. 

"We are committed to delivering state-of-the-art technology solutions to the US Government", said Ed Spitler, Head of Satcoms Programs at Artel. "The Rivada constellation brings a new level of security, performance and global reach that will enable our customers to not only expand their current networks but also address new market opportunities. We are excited to partner with Rivada to provide the next generation of secure connectivity."

Declan Ganley, CEO, Rivada Space Networks, said: "We are delighted to be working with Artel and honored to be one of a limited number of LEO solutions trusted to provide solutions to the USSF. By allowing satellites to go beyond their traditional role of "gap-filler," and unlike other limited LEO systems which bridge the last mile between the satellite and the nearest gateway, Rivada's OuterNET is a fully inter-connected space network which will become the technology of choice for secure data communications. Rivada's OuterNET will solve essential connectivity and security challenges for government communications globally".

https://www.rivada.com/artel-rivadaspace/

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Open Compute Project approves Adtran’s OSA 5400 TimeCard

The Open Compute Project (OCP) Time Appliance Project (TAP) has approved its OSA 5400 TimeCard for data center timing and synchronization. The pluggable device injects Adtran’s Oscilloquartz timing technology into any white box server.

Adtran’s OSA 5400 TimeCard plugs into any free PCIe slot to turn a standard COTS server into a precise PTP grandmaster clock or NTP server. With multiple oscillator options, the solution ensures accurate timing even during extended periods of GNSS disturbances. 

“We’re proud that our OSA 5400 TimeCard has been validated by OCP-TAP. This card brings our 74 years of expertise in timing and synchronization to standard servers, going beyond the TAP specifications to provide a scalable, fully featured timing solution in a compact half-size PCIe card. It offers a major boost for data center operators looking to embrace open, disaggregated hardware, especially where timing is vital and space is limited. Our OSA 5400 TimeCard ensures seamless, efficient operation of mission-critical and time-sensitive applications,” commented Igal Pinhasov, VP of PLM at Oscilloquartz, Adtran. 

https://www.adtran.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/20230928-ocp-tap-approves-adtrans-osa-5400-timecard-for-precise-resilient-data-center-timing

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5G Set to Surpass 4G LTE by 2028

5G is on course to become the most widely-adopted, exceeding 4G LTE by over 2.5 billion connections in 2028, according to 5G Americas, citing data from Omdia.

The research finds a surge in new 5G connections in the last six months, an astounding addition of 331 million new 5G connections, pushing the global total to an impressive 1.4 billion. 

This surge in adoption and network deployments sets the stage for further acceleration, with projections indicating an imminent approach to the 2 billion mark by the end of 2023. By 2028, Omdia's latest forecast anticipates 8 billion 5G connections, surpassing the first-decade growth of LTE by over 2.5 billion connections.

Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas, stated, "The phenomenal global growth of 5G connections underscores the insatiable demand for advanced connectivity. With 1.4 billion connections and counting, we are witnessing the transformative power of 5G technology as the industry focuses on integrating 5G connectivity into new devices and services in this era of innovation."

North America continues to lead in the 5G race. By the close of Q2 2023, the region boasts an impressive 151 million 5G connections and a robust 496 million LTE connections. The 5G penetration rate in North America has reached an exceptional 40 percent, with a growth rate of 25.5% in the first half of 2023. Projections indicate that North America's 5G connections will reach a remarkable 669 million by 2028.

Currently, there are 287 commercial 5G networks worldwide, and this number is anticipated to grow to 425 by 2025. This reflects significant investments in 5G infrastructure worldwide. The number of 5G and 4G LTE network deployments as of September 15, 2023 are summarized below:

5G:

• Global: 287
• North America: 17
• Latin America and Caribbean: 29

4G LTE:

• Global: 707
• North America: 17
• Latin America and Caribbean: 31

https://www.5gamericas.org/

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ECOC: LESSENGERS leverages direct optical wiring in 800G

LESSENGERS introduced its new 800G transceiver product (800G OSFP SR8) featuring “direct optical wiring” (DOW) technology, which is a polymer-based air-cladded waveguide technology that is particularly useful for optical interconnects in the data center and high-performance computing environments. 

The new new 800G OSFP SR8 transceiver will begin volume production in the Q4 2023.

DOW connects the active photonic devices such as laser diodes or photodiodes directly to the optical fiber, providing high-density and high-speed optical signal connectivity between switches, servers, and other devices within the data center or HPC clusters.  LESSENGERS cites the following benefits:

• No active alignment – cost-competitive optical coupling
• No use of multi-channel lens assembly – near-zero optical crosstalk
• No air gap – dramatically lower reflection noise
• High degree of freedom in heat sink design – much lower junction temperature

“We are proud to announce the volume production of DOW-based 800G AOCs and transceivers,” said Chongcook Kim, CEO at LESSENGERS.  “The use of DOW technology enables us to achieve high-performance and low-noise optics by its nature allowing us to streamline the production process flow with complete automation.”

https://lessengers.com/?page_id=14779

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ECOC: MACOM showcases 200Gbps/lane devices

At next week's European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC) in Glasgow, MACOM will be showcasing 200Gbps/lane optical links and 200G/lane copper cables enabled by its newest chipsets.

200Gbps/lane Live Demonstrations:

• 226Gbps Laser Driver and TIA for 1.6T Optical Modules
• 226Gbps per lane Active Copper Cable Equalizers Extending DAC Reach for 800G/1.6T Applications
• 800G Multimode Fiber QSFP-DD (with DSP Partner) based on 112 Gbps per lane VCSEL Drivers and TIAs
• MACOM PURE DRIVE 800G Linear Pluggable Module Solutions

Showcase of New Products and Capabilities:

• High-Performance PIN Photodetector for 212 G per lane Applications
• 8-Channel SiPh Drivers for 800 G and 1.6 T Single-mode PAM4 Applications
• 226 Gbps EML and SiPh drivers for 1.6 T Optical Modules
• 130 Gbaud Drivers and TIAs for Coherent Applications

https://www.macom.com

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Cox Private Networks Launches Neutral Host as a Service

Cox Private Networks introduced Neutral Host as a Service in partnership with InfiniG. This solution provides reliable cellular from multiple mobile network operations (MNOs) in environments with poor indoor cellular coverage.  It expands public cellular networks through a dedicated, customer-owned private wireless network.

 Cox said its expands its private network offerings and provides mobile users access to stable, high-speed cellular service in hard-to-service areas such as buildings with reflective building materials, concrete walls, or locations underground. The solution solves similar challenges that distributed antenna systems (DAS) address, but at reduced cost and complexity, while also addressing many previously unserved organizations, facilities, and industries.

The Cox Connected Environments Collaboratory at Arizona State University is deploying an on-campus pilot of the Neutral Host technology. Through the pilot, the Collaboratory will explore how the solution enhances the digital infrastructure that powers learning and working for both students and employees.

"Offering a neutral host solution to enhance indoor cellular coverage is the natural next step for applying private wireless technology and is one more way we can use private wireless networks to solve our customer's connectivity pain points," said Brett Lasher, general manager, Cox Private Networks. "Our Neutral Host solution empowers enterprises to finally take control of the quality of cellular coverage within their four walls and deliver the connectivity that employees, customers and guests require.”

 

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Equinix provides cable landing station in L.A.for Southern Cross NEXT

Equinix will provide a key U.S.-based interconnectivity access point for the Southern Cross NEXT (SX NEXT) submarine cable system, which offers the lowest latency path from Australia and New Zealand to Los Angeles.  

SX NEXT will leverage Equinix's next-generation cable landing station (CLS) architecture and its Los Angeles data center, enabling rapid provisioning and cost savings for the cable network provider. 

Equinix notes that it has won 50 subsea cable projects since entering the business in 2015. More than 50 Equinix metros are CLS enabled, meaning that Equinix's data centers are close enough to the coast to be able to support a CLS deployment.

https://www.equinix.com/newsroom/press-releases/2023/09/equinix-serves-as-gateway-for-southern-cross-next-subsea-cable-system-linking-australia-and-new-zealand-with-the-u-s-

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Arrcus teams with Red Hat on Multicloud Networking

Arrcus is collaborating with Red Hat to extend multicloud networking capabilities for service providers.

In collaboration with Red Hat, Arrcus brings a cloud-native approach, leveraging containerized and virtualized solutions, to help businesses adapt to the demands of the digital era. The centerpiece of this collaboration is the Arrcus multi-cloud networking platform, known as FlexMCN built on Arrcus’ ACE platform, which offers scalability, hyperscale performance, and cloud-native security for interconnecting enterprise data centers with cloud regions worldwide.

FlexMCN is tailored for service providers, colocation providers, and telcos, enabling them to extend their on-premise networks to multicloud environments seamlessly. 

Deploying and managing ArcEdge virtual routers across virtual private clouds (VPCs) and virtual networks (VNETs) in any region and cloud environment is simplified through the intuitive ArcOrchestrator console. Service providers can effortlessly deploy, connect, and secure numerous ArcEdges at scale, offering hub-spoke, full-mesh, or hybrid connectivity options. Furthermore, it simplifies cloud migration across multicloud environments with support for private and overlapping IP addresses along with network address translation.

"Our collaboration with Red Hat marks a significant milestone for our customers, bringing together Arrcus' cutting-edge network operating system with Red Hat's open source expertise,” said Arrcus Chairman and CEO, Shekar Ayyar. “We are excited about this collaboration as it empowers customers with a future-proof, scalable, and automated networking solution that can propel digital transformation to new heights."

https://arrcus.com/news/arrcus-unveils-groundbreaking-ace-ai-networking-solution/

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Akamai expands in seven key cities

Akamai Technologies announced the addition seven core compute regions in key locations around the world: Amsterdam, Netherlands; Jakarta, Indonesia; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; Milan, Italy; Osaka, Japan; and São Paulo, Brazil. This marks the third phase of Akamai’s latest core compute region expansion since their acquisition of Linode last year. 

Highlights:

● Akamai’s new region in Amsterdam joins Akamai’s recently launched Stockholm region to power customers in northwest Europe.

● The company’s Jakarta region is located in the heart of a nation experiencing a rapidly growing digital economy. Indonesia is anticipated to grow its internet users by 36 million between now and 2028.

● Akamai's new core compute region in Los Angeles, the media and entertainment capital of the world.

● The company's Miami-based core compute region lets the company better serve customers doing business in Latin America, bringing Akamai's distributed connectivity to a rapidly growing business hub, which has seen an explosion of tech talent and venture capital investment.

● Akamai’s presence in Milan puts a stake in the ground in Italy’s second-largest city. The Italian market for cloud services grew 250 percent from 2015 to 2022. In addition to serving customers in Europe, the location will also support customers in the Middle East.

● The company’s new Osaka region will connect Japan’s population of 125 million to the massively scalable Akamai backbone. Japan ranks eighth in the world for countries with the largest digital populations.

● With one of the largest and hardest to reach digital populations in Latin America, São Paulo is Akamai’s first core compute region in Latin America, with additional connectivity planned later this year.

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Intel begins high-volume EUV production in Ireland

Intel commenced high-volume EUV production in Leixlip, Ireland.

The production in Fab 34 features the Intel 4 process technology.

The EUV scanner was supplied by ASML.

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Vecima expands U.S. manufacturing

Vecima Networks, which supplies broadband access equipment, will expand manufacturing into the U.S. for certain products in its Entra portfolio to meet the proposed Build America, Buy America (BABA) requirements under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program.

Presently, two of Vecima’s broadband access products – the Entra SF-4X Remote Optical Line Terminal (OLT) and the Entra EN8100 Remote PHY Access Node – are compliant with the BABA requirements pertaining to the Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program, another IIJA program, and have been widely deployed across North America.

Vecima has been engaged with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications Information and Administrative Agency (NTIA), which is currently finalizing rules related to BABA domestic sourcing requirements for the BEAD Program. Vecima anticipates, based on the steps the company is taking today, that Vecima will be part of NTIA’s list of BABA-compliant vendors for the BEAD program upon finalization of those requirements and its U.S. manufacturing operations.

“Our current Entra fiber and cable access platforms have been broadly successful with service providers due to strong technical and operational differentiation,” said Clay McCreery, Vecima Chief Operating Officer. “Today’s announcement that we’re planning to build products in the United States demonstrates our continued commitment to the marketplace and to empowering communities with equitable access to the broadband networks that fuel progress.”

https://vecima.com/

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Zayo activates 400G across Europe

Zayo confirmed that its transport network in Europe is fully 400G enabled.

Zayo’s 400G network allows businesses, data centres, carriers and hyperscalers to access high bandwidth, low latency connectivity throughout Europe with the most direct routing for multi-cloud and multi-market connectivity. The 400G enhancements also support global connectivity for Zayo customers outside of Europe, with Zayo’s North American network also scheduled to be fully 400G enabled by the end of 2024.

Zayo’s European network is built on five diverse subsea cables, three of which are owned and operated by Zayo, powering 2,500 on-net buildings, 125 core points of presence (PoPs) and 16 metro fibre markets.

Zayo said its network enhancement also provides a significant sustainability benefit for 400G-connected businesses. Independent research showcases that Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 Extreme, which underpins Zayo’s 400G network, drives a threefold increase in fibre capacity while reducing power per bit by 80% and physical space needed by 85% compared to the original WaveLogic generation.

Zayo is already looking towards the future, at the growth of 800G networks, having broken the world record for the longest 800G optical wave in a commercial network at 1,044.51km.

Yannick Leboyer, Managing Director, Europe at Zayo Group, says: “Our customers are increasingly taking advantage of bandwidth-intensive applications to keep up with the competition - from AI and IoT to advanced analytics - which require significantly higher bandwidth and low latency connectivity.

https://www.zayo.com/resources/global-network-capabilities/

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T-Mobile opens network slicing beta for developers

T-Mobile US opened its network slicing beta to Android and iOS developers nationwide. The program has also expanded to Android developers to use 5G standalone (5G SA) to optimize their video calling applications commercially available on the Samsung Galaxy S23 series. 

The moves make it easier for developers across the country to test their new and improved applications with the customized video calling network slice on T-Mobile’s 5G SA network using a commercial device.

“We didn’t just build the largest, fastest and most advanced 5G network so our customers can immediately benefit from the improved performance. We also want our network to serve as a platform for innovation,” said John Saw, EVP and Chief Technology Officer at T-Mobile. “I am so incredibly proud of my team and our partners who are pioneering new technologies like network slicing so we can help bring the true promise of 5G to life.”

“At Samsung, we want to give our users the best possible experience with the technology they love and depend on every day,” said Jude Buckley, Corporate Executive Vice President of Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics America. “The Galaxy S23 series offers a great video call experience and innovations like network slicing can make it even better. We look forward to working with T-Mobile to unlock its full potential for our users.”

https://devedge.t-mobile.com/5g-network-slicing

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Verizon’s multiyear network upgrades

Verizon highlighted major accomplishments on its multi-year transformation of its network architecture:

• Introducing 5G service to more than 230 million people, accelerating C-band spectrum deployment and strategically using premium mmWave spectrum to serve customers in high 5G usage areas.
• Expanding 5G Fixed Wireless Access Internet availability to cover more than 40 million households.
• Accelerating the fiber build plan, deploying nearly 57k fiber miles since 2020 and now connecting over 51% of its cell sites with its own fiber.
• Upgrading 76% of pro sports venues with 5G Ultra Wideband service to provide greater coverage and exponentially more capacity in major gathering and event spaces to better support high data traffic.
• Redesigning the core of the network to function in a cloud-native environment and introducing advanced technologies such as virtualization, automation and orchestration throughout the network. Introducing virtualization (throughout the core and in over 15,000 cell sites), re-architecting to a Kubernetes-based cloud-native platform, and integrating extensive automation and orchestration have been largely invisible to customers, but those changes are making a world of difference. Not only is Verizon able to make changes that benefit customers faster (like introducing new security measures, improving handoffs between cell sites, improving latency, and reducing call drops) but it can now implement those enhancements without taking the network offline, so customers are getting the benefits with zero down time.
• Currently, more than 68% of customers have 5G capable cell phones and they are using exponentially more data. 
• At present, 5G traffic using C-band spectrum makes up more than 38% of the total data on the network, up from over 14% one year ago. 
• As 5G data usage increases, there is a correlated decrease of data volume on the 4G network with customers currently using just over 56% compared to a year ago when nearly 81% of data traffic ran over 4G service. 
• 
  
• Verizon sees a steady pace of approximately 400,000 net adds for Home Internet each quarter, a majority of which are fixed wireless access (FWA). 
• As of August, over 2.5 million consumer and business customers are using Verizon’s FWA service with each using just over 300 GB of data per month. 
• Private networks are gaining momentum as well with solutions like the Cleveland Clinic and the NFL’s Coach-to-Coach coming online in all 30 NFL stadiums.

“It’s been a tremendously dynamic and exciting few years for our network, introducing 5G to the market, redesigning the network core functions, accelerating our fiber build and introducing a host of advanced technologies to improve our customers’ experience with us,” said Joe Russo, EVP and CEO of Global Network and Technology. “These changes mean more people can do more things in more places more reliably, and that’s what we’re all about as a company.”

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Aligned Data Centers plans hyperscale campus in Ohio

Aligned Data Centers has acquired a 129-acre land parcel in Perkins Township, Ohio, where it will become the site of a planned new, four-building hyperscale data center campus. The site is a former automotive equipment manufacturing facility originally built during the Second World War. 

Aligned’s NEO-01 data center, the first of four planned facilities, will enable densities beyond 300 kW per rack by deploying air-cooled, liquid-cooled or hybrid cooling solutions – all within the same data hall. This includes the company’s Delta waterless heat rejection technology.

“Aligned is very excited to enter the Northeast Ohio market and return a brownfield site to productive use for the local community,” states Andrew Schaap, CEO of Aligned. “As part of our sustainability mission, Aligned has not shied away from redeveloping brownfield projects that have lain dormant for many years (sometimes decades) in communities. Transforming these properties into assets for the local community is a win-win-win – removing blight, generating revenue, returning jobs to a former industrial location, and preserving greenfields for other uses.  We look forward to supporting the ongoing growth of our customers and bringing new economic, environmental, and social opportunities to Perkins Township.”

https://www.aligneddc.com 

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NTT teams with Qualcomm on AI at the edge

NTT announced a strategic engagement with Qualcomm to invest in and accelerate the development of the 5G device ecosystem.

The companies will use their combined expertise to meet the need for 5G-enabled devices that support use cases, such as push-to-talk devices, augmented reality headsets, computer vision cameras and sensors at the edge across the manufacturing, automotive, logistics and other industries. The 5G-ready devices will leverage Qualcomm Technologies’ 5G chipsets with AI models built in to enhance AI at the edge through various applications, such as image recognition, with capabilities ranging from counting items and identifying object characteristics to verifying workers wearing safety masks or hardhats (PPE). 

As part of NTT’s end-to-end Edge as a Service offering, NTT is now offering Device as a Service to make it easy for customers to access, upgrade, and recycle 5G and edge devices and simplify device lifecycle management as well as reduce IT maintenance and costs. 

“This collaboration is truly an exciting one because we are answering the demand we’re hearing from our clients. Together with Qualcomm Technologies, we will strengthen the 5G ecosystem delivering the devices our customers require in a simple and cost-effective way, empowering them as they continue along their digital transformation journey,” said Shahid Ahmed, Executive Vice President, New Ventures & Innovation at NTT Ltd. 

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Dell’Oro: Generative AI drives accelerator market

Accelerators led all server semiconductors and components with triple-digit year-over-year growth in 2Q 2023, according to a recent report from Dell’Oro Group. While Intel still maintains a majority share of the server CPU market, AMD’s revenue share now exceeds 20 percent. ARM is also poised to gain share with new cloud server deployments in 2023.

“NVIDIA has benefited from the surge in demand for accelerated computing for generative AI applications, and has displaced Intel as the largest server component manufacturer since the beginning of this year,” said Baron Fung, Sr. Research Director at Dell’Oro Group. “Meanwhile, over the past four quarters, the rest of the server semiconductor and component market has witnessed a contraction, as system vendors and hyperscale cloud service providers reduce component inventory levels and pause purchases in response to a slowdown in general-purpose computing deployments. We project a recovery in the component market starting in the second half of 2023, as system vendors and hyperscale cloud service providers resume component purchases in anticipation of the next investment cycle in 2024. Accelerators will continue to drive long-term growth, and new server platforms with 5th-generation CPUs will lead to an upside in IT spending,” explained Fung.

Additional highlights from the new 2Q 2023 Data Center IT Semiconductors and Components Quarterly Report:

• Server and storage systems component market is forecast to grow 1 percent in 2023.
• NVIDIA led all vendors in server component revenue in 2Q 2023, followed by Intel, Samsung, and Western Digital.
• GPU shipments are projected for 59 percent growth in 2023 mainly from NVIDIA H100 deployments. Higher volumes for AMD and Intel GPU-based systems are expected later this year. 

Dell’Oro Group’s Data Center IT Semiconductors and Components Quarterly Report tracks revenue, unit and capacity shipments, unit and capacity pricing, and market share of major semiconductor and component manufacturers supplying the data center server and storage system markets since 2018. The report focuses on significant server and storage semiconductors and components, including CPUs; accelerators such as GPUs, FPGAs, and custom AI ASICs; memory; Ethernet and InfiniBand NICs and Smart NICs/DPUs; HDDs and NAND/SSDs.

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Airgain intros 5G FWA antenna

Airgain introduced its new Lumos 5G Fixed Wireless Access Antenna to boost the performance of connected devices. 

With a multiband, directional antenna design as well as 2x2 and 4x4 MIMO configurations for both LTE and 5G, Lumos can maximize the performance of enterprise routers, indoor fixed wireless access (FWA) devices, customer premises equipment (CPE), and a myriad of other cellular-based devices.

The specifications of the new Lumos FWA antenna include:

• Options for 2x2 or 4x4 MIMO LTE/5G (617 - 4200 MHz)
• Optimized for bands N41 and N77
• High peak gain
• 617 - 960 MHz, 3.6 dBi
• 1700 - 2700 MHz, 8.2 dBi
• 3300 - 4200 MHz, 10.9 dBi

“As 5G becomes more ubiquitous, the market is constantly searching for solutions that can power an ‘always connected’ environment,” said Brian Critchfield, Vice President of Global Marketing for Airgain. “With the high gain and easy-to-install configuration of our new Lumos™️ 5G Fixed Wireless Access Antenna, users can augment existing installations or bundle it as part of new installations and achieve often better performance than with wired solutions. We believe its versatility combined with performance can be a game changer.”

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Google's Nuvem cable to connect Portugal, Bermuda, South Carolina

Google announced plans to build a new transatlantic subsea cable system to connect Portugal, Bermuda, and the United States. 

The Nuvem cable, which is expected to be ready for service in 2026, will have its U.S. landing in South Carolina, following in the footsteps of Google's Firmina cable. Firmina landed in South Carolina earlier this year and that will ultimately connect with Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. Nuvem is "cloud" in Portuguese.

In Portugal, Nuvem will join Google's Equiano cable, the recently-completed system that connects Portugal with Togo, Nigeria, Namibia, South Africa, and St. Helena. 

https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/infrastructure/introducing-the-nuvem-subsea-cable

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Asia Direct Cable Consortium picks Infinera’s ICE6 800G

Asia Direct Cable (ADC) Consortium has selected Infinera’s ICE6 800G coherent solution on the GX Series Compact Modular Platform to power ADC’s advanced cable system. 

ADC is a 9,400-kilometer submarine cable connecting China, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. ADC is built and operated by a global consortium comprising China Telecom, China Unicom, PLDT, National Telecom, Singtel, SoftBank Corp., Tata Communications, and Viettel Group.

Infinera said that by providing more than 21 Tbps per fiber pair, ots’s ICE6 solution extends the commercial life of the fiber cable, maximizing the return on investment of this critical cable system.

“With the substantial investment in this cable link and the importance of connecting Asia Pacific, it was important to the consortium that we selected the best technology,” said Koji Ishii, SoftBank Corp. and MC Co-Chair of ADC Consortium. “ADC Consortium selected Infinera’s ICE6 based on its superior performance and highest spectral efficiency, which will enable us to provide a greater number of higher-quality services to our customers.”

“The ADC system is a great example of an open cable system that allows independent selection of industry-leading submarine solutions to ensure the ability to provide the highest level of services. We look forward to utilizing the agile solution to carry traffic across the ADC system cost effectively,” said Chang Weiguo, China Telecom Global Ltd. and MC Co-Chair of ADC Consortium.  

"Uncompromising quality is critical in today’s submarine networks as subsea operators scale to support ever-increasing amounts of customer traffic," said Peter Zwinkels, Vice President, Global Submarine Network, Infinera. “We are pleased to provide Infinera’s industry-leading ICE6 solution to ADC Consortium members to seamlessly manage high-quality services across subsea network segments while accelerating time to revenue with end-to-end point-and-click provisioning and full-service visibility and control.”

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Kinetic tests Coherent's 100G ZR QSFP28 transceiver

Kinetic by Windstream, which serves an 18-state footprint, completed testing of a 100G ZR QSFP28 digital coherent optical (DCO) transceiver over a live, DWDM transport network in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Kinetic is partnering with Coherent Corp. to deploy the new pluggable transceiver. The successful trial of the 100G DCO validates the ability to use this new technology across a large percentage of Kinetic's footprint. The module is currently a prototype and is set to be released in 2024.

“Kinetic is committed to bringing fiber connectivity to businesses and homes across rural America. This innovation will accelerate the scale of our network in a sustainable way,” said Jeff Austin, chief technology officer at Kinetic. “Not only does its small form factor reduce our carbon footprint, but it is also interoperable with legacy networks, eliminating the need to rebuild costly network infrastructures.”

“We’re proud to partner with Kinetic on the development of the 100G DCO,” said Matthias Berger, vice president, Coherent Corp. “Validating the transceiver’s performance over more than 800 km across an existing transport system gives our industry a definitive conclusion to the questions surrounding achievable performance at low cost, lower power dissipation and small form factor of the transceiver. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Kinetic and continuing to define world-first technology with this industry leader.”

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Amazon bets on Anthropic's Claude 2

Amazon will invest up to $4 billion in Anthropic and will become Anthropic’s primary cloud provider.

Anthropic will use AWS Trainium and Inferentia chips, which will be used in addition to existing solutions for model training and deployment. The company also will collaborate on the development of future Trainium and Inferentia technology.

Anthropic says its Claude 2 is being used for a wide range of tasks, from sophisticated dialogue and creative content generation to complex reasoning and detailed instruction. Significantly, Claude 2 has a 100,000 token context window for processing extensive amounts of information—including technical, domain-specific documents for use cases across finance, legal, coding, etc.

https://www.anthropic.com/index/anthropic-amazon

• In May 2023, Anthropic raised $450 million in Series C funding led by Spark Capital with participation from Google, Salesforce Ventures, Sound Ventures, Zoom Ventures, and others. 

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GlobalFoundries bids for CHIPS funding

GlobalFoundries has applied for U.S. CHIPS and Science Act Funding for capacity expansion and modernization of GF’s U.S. manufacturing facilities.

“As the leading manufacturer of essential semiconductors for the U.S. government, and a vital supplier to the automotive, aerospace and defense, IoT and other markets, GF has submitted our applications to the CHIPS Program Office to participate in the federal grants and investment tax credits enabled by the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act,” said Steven Grasso, senior director of global government affairs at GF. “This federal support is critical for GF to continue growing its U.S. manufacturing footprint, strengthening U.S economic security, supply chain resiliency, and national defense.”

GF is a longstanding supplier of essential chips for the U.S. aerospace and defense industry.

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TELUS offers 3.0 Gbps symmetrical in western Canada

TELUS introduced a 3.0 Gbps tier of home symmetrical Internet for its PureFibre X customers in Alberta and British Columbia.

The PureFibre X 3.0 gigabit Internet plan includes  Wi-Fi 6 hardware.1 By combining Wi-Fi 6 technology with PureFibre X, households will experience even faster Internet speeds on more devices, allowing individuals and families to seamlessly enjoy gaming, surfing the web, video calling, working and learning from home, and streaming in 4K.

“As a company with deep roots in Western Canada, we’re incredibly proud of our proven track record of putting customers and communities here first," said Zainul Mawji, Executive Vice-president and President of TELUS Consumer Solutions. "With PureFibre X 3.0 gigabit Internet, TELUS is continuing to provide leading Internet speeds and a seamless Wi-Fi experience so more of our valued customers can stay connected to the people and information that matters most.”

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Huawei shows XGS-PON-based enterprise optical solutions

At its "F5G Evolution, Bringing Intelligence Everywhere" Summit in Shanghai, Huawei highlighted optical networking solutions for enterprise, utility and securing/sensing cases.

Campus scenarios: Huawei has released the FTTO 2.0 solution. Based on the XGS-PON Pro technology, this solution supports 12.5G/25G to rooms, 2.5G/10G to APs, and 2.5G to desktops, building green 10G all-optical networks and facilitating campus intelligence. 

Electric power and transportation industries: Huawei has launched the SE-OTN solution, which is applied to SDH reconstruction at various stations, including power substations, trackside stations, toll stations, and oil and gas BVSs. Using the next-generation optical service unit (OSU) standard for SDH evolution, this solution offers 10 times more bandwidth than legacy SDH networks and inherits the high security and reliability of such networks. And unlike common OTN solutions, the SE-OTN solution does not require complex optical-layer devices, thereby making network planning and O&M far simpler and reducing construction costs effectively. As such, it represents an optimal choice for industries looking to evolve their SDH production networks. This solution fully meets the network requirements that energy and transportation customers have for building new service systems during the industry intelligence evolution.

Perimeter protection scenarios: Huawei has launched the industry's first perimeter protection solution that enables optical-visual linkage and multi-dimensional sensing. At the Summit, Huawei joined hands with Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Construction and Development Co., Ltd. and Beijing CSVision Technology Co., Ltd. to release Optical-Visual Linkage for Perimeter Protection Technical White Paper. The white paper illustrates the technical challenges of and requirements for the perimeter protection system, proposes the optical-visual linkage solution, summarizes industry applications of this solution, and outlines the prospects of the optical-visual linkage perimeter protection technology.

Richard Jin, President of Huawei Optical Business Product Line, said in his keynote speech, "Amid increasing application of AI, the industry poses new requirements on sensing and connectivity. Industry intelligence requires a sensing network and an all-optical network. During the industry intelligence evolution, Huawei continues to explore industry sensing, all-optical campus networks, WAN production networks, data center interconnect, and residential networks. On top of that, we have launched a series of innovative F5G products and solutions to empower AI-enabled industries."

https://www.huawei.com/en/news/2023/9/f5g-evolution-intelligence

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FCC allocates spectrum for ground-to-rocket communications

 The FCC adopted new rules to ensure commercial space launches have the spectrum resources they need for reliable communications. 

The volume of commercial space launches in the United States has increased significantly in recent years, with more than 100 launches expected to occur this year. Each of these launches requires the use of radio spectrum to download data from the rocket and send control signals during the launch.

The new FCC rules adopt a new allocation in the 2025 to 2110 MHz band for ground-to-launch vehicle telecommand uses, and make the entire 2200 to 2290 MHz band available for launch telemetry. The rules also establish a non-exclusive nationwide licensing framework and technical rules to give operators the predictability they need to conduct commercial space launch operations.

The FCC said these new rules will help to ensure that commercial space launches can continue to operate safely and efficiently, while also supporting the continued growth of the US space industry.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel states " We need to ensure that providers have a more consistent and reliable way to get the bandwidth they need for communications during space launches. Historically, this agency provided access to airwaves for space launch activity using special temporary authority. But this cobbled-together approach is not well-suited to an era where commercial launches are a happening with far greater frequency. So today we allocate airwaves specifically to support commercial space launch activity. It will make our process simpler and more open to new entrants. It will better facilitate coordination with our federal partners through the use of a frequency coordinator. Launches are nail-biting undertakings under ideal conditions, so this will help make them easier and also boost competition."

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Video: Breaking through the Memory Wall with CXL

The memory wall has been a major challenge in scaling computing performance. This is about to change.  Ahmad Danesh, Associate Vice President of Product Management from Astera Labs, highlights CXL at the Intel Innovation 2023 event in San Jose.

https://youtu.be/bLmfApz1hPg

- Astera Labs has pioneered CXL and is the first to break through the memory wall.

- By utilizing its Leo CXL Memory Connectivity Platform in conjunction with 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processors, Astera Labs managed to boost memory bandwidth and capacity by 50%. This is particularly beneficial for AI applications and complex modeling such as computational fluid dynamics or data warehousing.

- What sets this solution apart is its ability to deliver these improvements while reducing latency by 25%. Plus, as a hardware-based solution, it can seamlessly integrate with any software application.

Have a tech update that you want to brief us on? Contact info@nextgeninfra.io!

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Calix looks to Jabil to expand manufacturing in Michigan

Calix is working with Jabil to expandin manufacturing in the United States in support of the “Build America, Buy America” (BABA) for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD).

At a special event held at a factory in Auburn Hills, Michigan, operated by Jabil, the companies highlighted theit expanded manufacturing services agreement.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law requires the use of Made in America construction materials and manufactured products for federally funded infrastructure projects, including high-speed Internet service deployment under the Administration’s “Internet for All” initiative.

With an initial investment from Calix of $4 million to $6 million and an ongoing spend for operations of $10 million to $15 million per year, Calix manufacturing solutions providers will hire workers in manufacturing, operations, engineering, quality assurance, and administrative roles as they ramp US production of Calix optical solutions—a first step in the company’s BABA initiative. The ongoing collaboration with these manufacturers will create more than 100 American jobs, with additional jobs planned as Calix customers participate in the BEAD program over the next five to 10 years.

“We founded Calix 24 years ago in the US by focusing on and partnering with US rural broadband providers as they innovated to close the digital divide,” said Calix Chairman Carl Russo. “Cooperatives, tribal and community-owned, family and community run, and private equity-backed local broadband providers are the lifeblood of rural America, and we appreciate the opportunity to partner with federal and state leaders on broadband programs that help them expand the great work that they do every day. In doing so, they have created tremendous value for underserved communities across the US as our America-led software and cloud innovation in broadband has enabled even the smallest BSP to thrive and provide the essential broadband services that enable economic growth, education, health, and safety." 

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2023 5G Challenge Winners

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), in collaboration with the Department of Defense (DoD), announced the final winners of the 2023 5G Challenge and its $7,000,000 total prize purse.  

NTIA has awarded $3,000,000, the largest of the 2023 5G Challenge total prize purse, to the Stage Four: Mobility winning contestant team, Lions-NewEdge-Mavenir-Radisys. 

Two teams successfully completed Stage Four: the winning team and a second mobility team, Capgemini-JMA Wireless-QCT/Benetel. A tiebreaker determined the mobility prize winner. 

“America needs to lead the way to a diverse, resilient, and competitive global telecommunications supply chain,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce and NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson. “This year’s 5G Challenge winners, through their groundbreaking interoperability and mobility demonstrations, have provided a glimpse of that future. I congratulate the winners and all participants for their work in advancing this field.”

The 2023 5G Challenge focused on testing interfaces among the Open RAN-specified subsystems and end-to-end integration, as well as testing handovers between different vendors.

NTIA/ITS additionally announced the following 2023 5G Challenge prizes winners: 

• Wrap-around Emulation Prizes of $100,000 to Capgemini, Fujitsu, GXC, JMA Wireless, Lions, Mavenir, NewEdge, QCT/Benetel and Radisys,
• Multi-Vendor End-To-End (E2E) Integration 1st place prize of $750,000 and additional lab time to Capgemini and QCT/Benetel, 
• Multi-Vendor End-To-End (E2E) Integration 2nd place prize of $250,000 to Radisys and Lions, 
•  Two Best in Show SBOM and VEX winners of $100,000 and security testing to Fujitsu and JMA Wireless, and 
• Best in Show Collaborator winner of $20,000 and security testing to Lions. 

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Cisco to acquire Splunk, extending its data observability powers

Cisco agreed to acquire Splunk for $157 per share in cash, representing approximately $28 billion in equity value. 

Splunk  (NASDAQ:SPLK) offers a software platform for searching, monitoring, and analyzing machine-generated data, including website logs, application logs, server logs, and network logs. It can be used to troubleshoot problems, improve performance, and identify security threats. 

Splunk’s Unified Security and Observability Platform delivers ML-powered analytics and insights that can be extended with third-party apps. Splunk, which is based in the San Francisco Bay area, has over 7,500 employees and reported $3.654 billion in revenue for 2023, up 37% year-over-year.

The companies said Splunk's security capabilities will complement Cisco's existing portfolio to provide leading security analytics and coverage from devices to applications to clouds. Cisco and Splunk's complementary capabilities will also provide observability across hybrid and multi-cloud environments, enabling customers to deliver smooth application experiences that power their digital businesses.

“We’re excited to bring Cisco and Splunk together. Our combined capabilities will drive the next generation of AI-enabled security and observability,” said Chuck Robbins, chair and CEO of Cisco. “From threat detection and response to threat prediction and prevention, we will help make organizations of all sizes more secure and resilient.”

Upon close of the acquisition, Splunk President and CEO Gary Steele will join Cisco’s Executive Leadership Team reporting to Chair and CEO Chuck Robbins.

• In June 2023, Cisco agreed to acquire Accedian, a privately-held company based in Montreal that offers performance analytics and end user experience solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed. Accedian's cloud-native Skylight service assurance solution provides granular, end-to-end visibility within “the massive multi” – multi-layer, multi-cloud, and multi-vendor networks. Skylight leverages its high-quality performance data, analytics and machine learning to identify, predict and prevent customer-impacting issues. It uses both hardware and software sensors across network traffic from Layer 2 to Layer 7 on physical, virtualized, and cloud infrastructure.
• In 2020, Cisco acquired privately-held ThousandEyes, a provider of real-time visibility tools for the delivery of applications and services over the Internet. Financial terms were not disclosed. San Francisco-based ThousandEyes was founded in 2010 by Mohit Lad and Ricardo Oliveira who had worked together during grad school in the UCLA Internet Research Lab to visualize Autonomous System topologies. ThousandEyes vantage points around the world perform billions of measurements each day to detect when traffic flows are disrupted within ISPs, public cloud networks and other service providers. This network telemetry data is algorithmically analyzed as part of ThousandEyes’ core Digital Experience Monitoring platform and the macro outages that are detected are displayed on an interactive map as part of ThousandEyes’ Internet Insights offering.

https://newsroom.cisco.com/c/r/newsroom/en/us/a/y2023/m09/cisco-to-acquire-splunk-to-help-make-organizations-more-secure-and-resilient-in-an-ai-powered-world.html

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U.S. DoD funds eight Microelectronics Commons hubs

The U.S. Department of Defense awarded $238 million or the establishment of eight Microelectronics Commons (Commons) regional innovation hubs.

The Microelectronics Commons, a key component of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, aims to facilitate the creation of innovative microelectronics. With $2 billion in funding for Fiscal Years 2023 through 2027, the Microelectronics Commons program aims to leverage these Hubs to accelerate domestic hardware prototyping and "lab-to-fab" transition of semiconductor technologies. Each Hub will be advancing U.S. technology leadership in one or more of these areas:

• Secure Edge/Internet of Things (IoT) Computing
• 5G/6G
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) Hardware
• Quantum Technology
• Electromagnetic Warfare
• Commercial Leap Ahead Technologies

The eight awardees are:

1. Northeast Microelectronics Coalition (NEMC) Hub

Awardee (Hub Lead): The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech)

Hub Lead State: Massachusetts

FY23 Award:  $19.7 M

90 Hub Members

2. Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Commons (SCMC) Hub

Awardee: The Applied Research Institute (ARI)

Hub Lead State: Indiana

FY23 Award:  $32.9 M

130 Hub Members

3. California Defense Ready Electronics and Microdevices Superhub (California DREAMS) Hub

Awardee:  The University of Southern California (USC)

Hub Lead State: California

FY23 Award:  $26.9 M

16 Hub members

4. Commercial Leap Ahead for Wide Bandgap Semiconductors (CLAWS) Hub

Awardee:  North Carolina State University (NCSU)

Hub Lead State: North Carolina

FY23 Award:  $39.4 M

7 Hub members

5. Southwest Advanced Prototyping (SWAP) Hub

Awardee:  Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University

Hub Lead State: Arizona

FY23 Award:  $39.8 M

27 Hub members

6. Midwest Microelectronics Consortium (MMEC) Hub

Awardee:  MMEC

Hub Lead State: Ohio

FY23 Award:  $24.3 M

65 Hub members

7. Northeast Regional Defense Technology Hub (NORDTECH)

Awardee :  The Research Foundation for the State University of New York (SUNY)

Hub Lead State: New York

FY23 Award:  $40.0 M

51 Hub members

8. California-Pacific-Northwest AI Hardware Hub (Northwest-AI Hub)

Awardee:  The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University

Hub Lead State: California

FY23 Award:  $15.3 M

44 Hub members

https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3531768/deputy-secretary-of-defense-kathleen-hicks-announces-238m-chips-and-science-act/

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Video: Solving Distributed Computing at Scale

A radical transformation is coming for data center infrastructure as computing systems scale up and scale out. Enfabrica's Accelerated Compute Fabric Switch (ACF-S) aims to solve critical networking, I/O and memory scaling problems in data center AI and high-performance computing clusters. 

https://youtu.be/BR0ZFs0L5lo

Rochan Sankar, Thomas Norrie, and Shrijeet Mukherjee, discuss:

• how Enfabric is meeting the exacting requirements of data centers, aiming to disrupt networking.
• how Enfrabrica has architected their chip and system specifically with AI and ML in mind, focusing on the communication layer to unlock the next generation of AI performance and scaling.
• how Enfabrica is focusing on merging scale-up and scale-out computing, and addressing the challenges of fitting large amounts of memory into systems.

Have a tech update that you want to brief us on? Contact info@nextgeninfra.io!

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Spirent's CloudSure stress tests 5G CNFs

Spirent Communications released an automated, cloud-native test platform to help communication service providers (CSPs) and cloud-native network function (CNF) vendors ensure resilient 5G services. 

Spirent CloudSure evaluates and validates CNF resiliency within 5G networks to help ensure reliable service delivery, while reducing operational costs, and optimizing customer experience. The new CloudSure test platform complements Spirent’s Landslide 5G network test solution by injecting user-defined real-world cloud impairments and correlating their impact on cloud-native 5G services.

Key capabilities of Spirent CloudSure:

• Reliable service delivery: Confirms 5G cloud-native network functions operate reliably under the most challenging cloud conditions for uninterrupted service delivery and long-term revenue growth.
• Reduced operational costs: Optimizes resource utilization and validates complex fault recovery mechanisms to avoid costly outages, 5G service interruptions and reduce operating expenses.
• Enhanced customer experience: Ensures resilient 5G service design, configuration, and performance to deliver high-quality user experiences to improve customer satisfaction and retention.
• Competitive advantage: Enables reliable, high-performing 5G services that meet customer expectations consistently, for a competitive edge in 5G and to attract new customers.

“Cloud-native environments represent a revolutionary new technical approach that breaks a handful of highly reliable, vertically integrated 5G functions into thousands of individual software components that run on a cloud optimized for performance and cost, but not reliability,” said Glenn Chagnot, Senior Director of Product Management for Cloud Solutions at Spirent. “Cloud-native marginalizes traditional testing and visibility approaches, demanding completely new processes and tooling to realize the potential benefits. CloudSure provides proactive, pre-deployment validation to test 5G services with real-world traffic operating on an imperfect cloud to ensure services are resilient and always available in operations.”

https://www.spirent.com/products/cloud-native-testing

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AST SpaceMobile completes 5G call via LEO satellite with Samsung Galaxy S22

AST SpaceMobile completed the first-ever 5G connection for voice and data between an unmodified smartphone and a satellite in space.

The call was placed by AST SpaceMobile engineers from Hawaii to a Vodafone engineer in Madrid using AT&T spectrum and AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker 3 test satellite — the largest-ever commercial communications array deployed in low Earth orbit. 

The 5G call was placed on September 8, 2023, from an unmodified Samsung Galaxy S22 smartphone located near Hana, Hawaii, in a wireless dead zone. 5G connectivity testing was completed with  partners Vodafone, AT&T and Nokia. In a separate test, the company broke its previous space-based cellular broadband data session record by achieving a download rate of approximately 14 Mbps.

“Once again, we have achieved a significant technological advancement that represents a paradigm shift in access to information. Since the launch of BlueWalker 3, we have achieved full compatibility with phones made by all major manufacturers and support for 2G, 4G LTE, and now 5G.” said Abel Avellan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AST SpaceMobile. “Making the first successful 5G cellular broadband connections from space directly to mobile phones is yet another significant advancement in telecommunications AST SpaceMobile has pioneered. We are more confident than ever that space-based cellular broadband can help transform internet connectivity across the globe by filling in gaps and connecting the unconnected.”

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NETGEAR's WiFi 7 Orbi 970 delivers up to 27 Gbps

NETGEAR introduced its Orbi 970 Series Wi-Fi 7 consumer access point capable of performing at up to 27 Gbps.

While WiFi 6E opened the 6GHz band as a superhighway for the latest, fastest devices, WiFi 7 builds on that promise by expanding the channels to 320 MHz and unleashing unprecedented speeds and performance. 

The new Orbi features Quad-Band technology and unique Enhanced Dedicated Backhaul that brings multi-link operation (MLO), a feature of WiFi 7, to create Enhanced Dedicated Backhaul which combines a dedicated 5 GHz band with a 6 GHz band to double the connection speed between the router and satellites and achieve 10 Gig wireless backhaul for reduced latency, and data delivery with maximum speed. 

The router features a 10 Gig internet port as well as one 10 Gig and four 2.5 Gig Ethernet ports, to achieve the fastest speeds available today. The new, elegant, cylindrical bodies of the routers and satellites are purposefully designed for optimal performance while gracing the home with their slim profile and smaller overall footprint to fit unobtrusively on a desk, entertainment unit or shelf. They feature 12 high-performance internal antennas with high-powered amplifiers for 360-degree, wall to wall, front to back coverage.

Technical Specifications:

• 320MHz high-capacity channels – New, ultrawide bandwidth means up to 2.4x the speed to connected devices and is fully backward compatible with older WiFi devices. WiFi 7 smartphones and laptops can get up to 5Gbps.
• 4K QAM – Increases speeds for users by more efficient usage of the available bandwidth.
• Preamble Puncturing – Enables a wider channel than would otherwise be available in areas of high interference.
• Multi-link Operation – Uses multiple WiFi bands at once, for both backhaul and fronthaul to improve network reliability, reduce latency, and ensure data is delivered with maximum speed.
• Enhanced Dedicated Backhaul - Leverages multi-link operation (MLO), to combine dedicated 5Ghz with a 6GHz band to get 10 Gig wireless backhaul speed between router and satellites.
• Multi-Gig Speeds with 10GbE Internet Port – Use the 10 Gig internet port for cable and fiber plans up to 10Gbps. Compatible with any internet service provider.
• 10GbE LAN Ports – Option to use 10Gig wired connection between the router and satellites.
• More Capacity for Data-Intense Activities – Connect up to 200 devices, such as security cameras, smart home devices, and speakers, while enjoying smooth 4K/8K video streaming, ultra-responsive online gaming, AR/VR entertainment, and uninterrupted UHD video conferencing.
• More Multi-gig Wired ports on Router and Satellites – Plug in wired devices to improve performance via a 10Gbps and four 2.5Gbps Ethernet ports.
• Wi-Fi 7 Qualcomm® Networking Pro Series platform – Delivers uncompromising WiFi 7 performance for today’s hyper-connected homes.

Pricing:

Router and 2 Satellites – 3 pack, $2299.99 MSRP

Router and 1 Satellite - 2 pack, $1699.99 MSRP

Add-on Satellite, $899.99 MSRP

https://www.netgear.com

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