AWS hits $100 billion annual run rate

AWS segment sales increased 17% year-over-year to $25.0 billion. Amazon's quarterly financial report also reveals that AWS segment operating income for Q1 2024 was $9.4 billion, compared with operating income of $5.1 billion in first quarter 2023.

“It was a good start to the year across the business, and you can see that in both our customer experience improvements and financial results,” said Andy Jassy, Amazon President and CEO. “The combination of companies renewing their infrastructure modernization efforts and the appeal of AWS’s AI capabilities is reaccelerating AWS’s growth rate (now at a $100 billion annual revenue run rate)."

Some operational updates for AWS:

• Siemens is integrating Amazon Bedrock into its low-code development platform Mendix to allow thousands of companies across multiple industries to create and upgrade applications with the power of generative AI.
• Philips is using AWS HealthImaging and Amazon Bedrock to scale digital pathology, helping labs and healthcare organizations improve diagnostics, increase productivity, accelerate research, and address complex medical cases, like cancer care.
• Accenture and Anthropic are collaborating with AWS to help organizations—especially those in highly-regulated industries like healthcare, public sector, banking, and insurance—responsibly adopt and scale generative AI technology with Amazon Bedrock. This collaboration will help organizations like the District of Columbia Department of Health speed innovation, improve customer service, and improve productivity, while keeping data private and secure.
• BT Group, a multinational communications company, provided Amazon Q Developer to 1,200 of its engineers, generating more than 100,000 lines of code in its first four months and automating approximately 12% of the repetitive and time-consuming work done by software engineers using the platform.
• During Q1, AWS disclosed plans to launch new infrastructure Regions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and in Mexico, which will give developers, startups, entrepreneurs, and enterprises greater choice for running their applications and serving end users. As part of AWS’s long-term commitment, it is planning to invest more than $5.3 billion in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and more than $5 billion in Mexico over the next several years.
• A planned investment of $10 billion to build two data center complexes in Mississippi. This investment, which is the single largest capital investment in the state’s history, will create at least 1,000 jobs and support new educational trainings in the state.
• The general availability of new AWS Local Zones in Atlanta, Chicago, and Houston. In Atlanta, AWS Local Zones support EC2 P5 instances, which deliver the highest performance for deep learning and high-performance computing applications.
• Announced that AWS began waiving charges for data transfer out to the internet (DTO) to give customers choice if they want to migrate their data outside of AWS. The waiver on DTO charges is available to all AWS customers around the world and from any AWS Region.

https://ir.aboutamazon.com/news-release/news-release-details/2024/Amazon.com-Announces-First-Quarter-Results-68b9258cd/

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AMD sees a big jump in AI and data center revenues

AMD reported Q1 2024 revenue of $5.5 billion, up 2% year-over-year, gross margin of 47%, operating income of $36 million, net income of $123 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.07. 

“We delivered strong first quarter results with our Data Center and Client segments each growing more than 80% year-over-year driven by the ramp of MI300 AI accelerator shipments and the adoption of our Ryzen and EPYC processors,” said AMD Chair and CEO Dr. Lisa Su. “This is an incredibly exciting time for the industry as widespread deployment of AI is driving demand for significantly more compute across a broad range of markets. We are executing very well as we ramp our data center business and enable AI capabilities across our product portfolio.”

“AMD started the year strong, delivering record quarterly Data Center segment revenue,” said AMD EVP, CFO and Treasurer Jean Hu. “In addition, we drove solid gross margin expansion. Moving forward, we are well positioned to continue driving revenue growth and margin improvement while investing in the large AI opportunities ahead.”

Segment Summary

• Record Data Center segment revenue of $2.3 billion was up 80% year-over-year driven by growth in both AMD Instinct™ GPUs and 4th Gen AMD EPYC™ CPUs. Revenue increased 2% sequentially driven by the first full quarter of AMD Instinct GPU sales, partially offset by a seasonal decline in server CPU sales.
• Client segment revenue was $1.4 billion, up 85% year-over-year driven primarily by AMD Ryzen™ 8000 Series processor sales. Revenue decreased 6% sequentially.
• Gaming segment revenue was $922 million, down 48% year-over-year and 33% sequentially due to a decrease in semi-custom revenue and lower AMD Radeon™ GPU sales.
• Embedded segment revenue was $846 million, down 46% year-over-year and 20% sequentially as customers continued to manage their inventory levels.

https://ir.amd.com/news-events/ir-calendar/detail/6953/amd-fiscal-first-quarter-2024-financial-results

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Vocus teams with Google on Australia-to-U.S. subsea capacity

 Vocus, a prominent digital infrastructure operator in Australia, has forged an agreement with Google to deploy cutting-edge submarine cable systems, linking Australia and the United States across the south Pacific. This collaboration marks a significant stride in their partnership, solidifying and expanding upon the Pacific Connect initiative, which aims to enhance digital connectivity in the region. 

The Honomoana cable system, as part of this agreement, will extend to Auckland, New Zealand, facilitating dual Australian landings in Melbourne and Sydney. This expansion not only establishes a new domestic route between Sydney and Melbourne but also introduces the first diverse route across the Tasman Sea, capable of delivering up to 30Tbps of capacity between Australia and New Zealand.

Key Points:

• The agreement between Vocus and Google aims to bolster digital infrastructure, spanning from South-East Asia to the US, with multiple landings in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific.
• The Pacific Connect initiative will elevate trans-Tasman data capacity with the addition of a new landing in Auckland, complementing existing networks and offering unprecedented capacity and redundancy.
• The Sydney to Melbourne route will provide customers with an additional redundant pathway on Australia’s east coast, enhancing network resilience alongside existing terrestrial routes.
• A core component of the Pacific Connect initiative involves establishing a trans-Pacific subsea ring connecting Australia and the US, with pre-positioned branching units to enable future connections for other Pacific nations.
• The agreement grants Vocus access to dark fibre across the Pacific Connect system, initially providing up to 30Tbps of capacity upon its completion in 2026, with provisions for future capacity expansion as demand grows.
• Vocus' existing infrastructure includes the Australia Singapore Cable, North West Cable System, Darwin-Jakarta-Singapore Cable, and Australia's second-largest intercapital fibre backbone network, further underlining its commitment to enhancing digital connectivity in the region.

https://www.vocus.com.au/news/vocus-and-google-sign-contracts-to-deliver-pacific-connect

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STACK Infras plans new 220MW data center campus in Dallas

STACK Infrastructure unveiled plans to develop a 220MW campus south of Dallas, Texas. 

The campus spans over 100 acres and is strategically engineered to accommodate both shell and turnkey deployments, providing scalability and dedicated power in response to the escalating demand for infrastructure supporting the growth of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and other emerging technologies. 

The new 220MW campus is strategically situated within the major development cluster of south Dallas, a rapidly growing market favored by developers and providers alike. Spanning 1.5 million square feet across six 36MW data centers, the campus has a planned delivery of mid-2026 and features committed power from utility provider ONCOR via a dedicated substation. Designed with a future-proof approach, the AI-Ready campus offers adaptability and flexibility, including a range of cooling solutions, to seamlessly accommodate the ever-evolving technological landscape. 

“We continue to observe a steady demand for powered, large-scale campuses, particularly in established or growing markets,” said Ty Miller, Chief Commercial Officer, STACK Americas. “This latest announcement reinforces our commitment to providing certainty and scalability for our clients, along with a favorable delivery target of mid-2026.” 

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Vertical Systems: 2023 Global Provider Ethernet LEADERBOARD

Vertical Systems Group announces that seven companies achieved a rank on the year-end 2023 Global Provider Ethernet LEADERBOARD as follows (in order based on retail port share): Colt (U.K.), Orange Business (France), Verizon (U.S.), AT&T (U.S.), BT Global (U.K.), NTT (Japan), and Cirion (Argentina). This industry benchmark for multinational Ethernet network market presence ranks companies that hold a 4% or higher share of billable retail ports at sites outside of their respective home countries.

Eight companies attained a 2023 Challenge Tier citation (in alphabetical order): Cogent (U.S.), GCX [formerly Global Cloud Xchange] (India), GTT (U.S.), SingTel (Singapore), T-Systems (Germany), Tata Communications (India), Telefonica (Spain), and Vodafone (U.K.). The Challenge Tier includes companies with share between 2% and 4% of this defined market.

“The geographic expansion of the Global Ethernet market continued in 2023, while several key domestic markets flattened,” said Rick Malone, Principal of Vertical Systems Group. “Colt ascended to the top rank in our Global Provider segment following key acquisitions and market growth beyond its Pan-European base.”

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Arelion opens PoP at Flexential's Tampa - North Site

Arelion has deployed a fully diverse Point-of-Presence (PoP) at Flexential's Tampa – North data center, supporting business growth in South Florida's regional edge markets by providing Arelion's full portfolio of IP and optical transport services to wholesale and enterprise customers. 

Flexential's Tampa – North data center serves Florida's high-tech corridor, offering secure connectivity, colocation, cloud and data protection services. The 60,000 square foot data center facility features 3 megawatts of critical power and sustainable cooling capabilities, enabling Flexential to support the compute-intensive solutions of Florida's flourishing business communities.

"Arelion's new PoP at Flexential's Tampa North site reinforces our investment in the Florida peninsula, helping us provide reliable connectivity at scale to enterprise and wholesale customers for continued technological innovation," said Art Kazmierczak, Director of Strategic Sales and Network Development at Arelion. "Flexential is an excellent partner for this PoP as its data center is well-equipped with the space, power and capabilities our customers need to accelerate business growth in Florida's developing edge markets."

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A10 Networks reports Q1 revenue of $60.7 million, up 5.2% yoy

A10 Networks reported Q1 revenue of $60.7 million, in-line with expectations and up 5.2% year-over-year. Non-GAAP net income was $12.7 million (21.0% of revenue), or $0.17 per diluted share (non-GAAP EPS) compared to non-GAAP net income of $9.9 million (17.2% of revenue) or $0.13 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2023.

“A10 continued to successfully navigate market volatility, as our diversification enabled us to address near-term Service Provider fluctuations, delivering solid first quarter results in-line with expectations,” said Dhrupad Trivedi, President and Chief Executive Officer of A10 Networks. “Our service provider customers are committed to improving network throughput and security, and A10’s solutions are designed into long-term initiatives that help them achieve their mission critical goals. When investments are made, we benefit, as we did in this quarter. The economic environment remains somewhat unpredictable and the first quarter represents an encouraging data point.”

“Recent and ongoing investments to better position A10 to target the evolving needs of the enterprise market are beginning to show results,” continued Trivedi. “Deferred revenue grew faster in Q1 than overall revenue, representative of the buying behavior of the enterprise customer base. We believe enterprise revenue will continue to grow throughout the year based on active pipeline and customer engagements. Security solutions continue to be in demand, and security solutions were 61% of A10’s consolidated revenue, in line with our long-term strategic goal. Simultaneously, we have continued to invest in R&D to address the evolving needs of our customers including AI solutions.”

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NTT develops fabrication tech for flexible optical networks

NTT has developed a fabrication technology that allows various types of optical fibers to branch and merge without causing communication interruption.

Worldwide, optical fibers come in different refractive index distributions and exhibit varied propagation characteristics (known as effective refractive index). Traditional methods of branching these fibers required matching the effective refractive index between the source and destination fibers, necessitating knowledge of the branch source's refractive index and preparation of a suitable branch fiber. This process often interrupted service at the branch source. 

To overcome this challenge, NTT says there's a need to develop technology allowing fiber branching during communication, independent of their effective refractive index.

NTT developed a method to make branched optical fibers with varying core diameters. This variation affects the effective refractive index, allowing these fibers to have different effective refractive indices. With this structure, branching optical fibers becomes possible regardless of the source fiber's effective refractive index. NTT's breakthrough in fabricating these fibers marks a global first, significantly expanding the types of fibers that can be branched compared to traditional ones. This advancement enables the branching and merging of all fibers meeting international standards commonly used in optical access networks.

https://group.ntt/en/newsrelease/2024/04/24/240424b.html

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Thintronics raises $23M for unified insulator

Thintronics, a start-up based in Berkeley, California, raised $23 million in Series A funding for its development of electronic materials for high-performance insulators for emerging AI datacenter, networking, and RF/millimeter-wave (mmW) applications.

The funding was led by Maverick Capital and Translink Capital. Series A funding will support commercialization of a novel insulator platform.

The company was founded on the idea that conventional assumptions guiding insulator material development limited the capacity of the industry to innovate. Thintronics says its suite of high-performance materials display electrical and mechanical characteristics that far outpace the state of the art. 

Thintronics’ CEO Stefan Pastine emphasizes that "the interconnect insulator is foundational to modern electronics; however, it has yet to be optimized to operate near the theoretical limit of insulation. Additionally, the supply chain is fragmented across multiple electronic architectures. It is our vision to optimize the insulator and unify it across the fabric."

To satisfy this growing demand Thintronics is entering the insulator market with technologies targeting chipsets, switches, and datacenter integrators for 224G links and beyond. For CTO Tristan El Bouayadi, "The combination of superior electrical and thermo-mechanical performance allows our customers to unlock new design possibilities and new applications in Networking, AI acceleration, RF mmW communication, and Radar. Additionally, by synthesizing ultra-thin dielectric layers, Thintronics enables form factor design optimization for Consumer and Infrastructure devices and products."

https://thintronics.com/

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Micron awarded $6.1B in CHIPS Act funding

 Micron Technology has reached a preliminary agreement under the CHIPS and Science Act under which it will receive $6.1 billion to develop advanced memory manufacturing facilities in Idaho and New York. The total investment from Micron could reach $50 billion by 2030, supporting the creation of several leading-edge memory production plants. This includes expanding an existing facility in Boise, Idaho, and constructing two new facilities in Clay, New York.

The funding and additional incentives from state and local governments, as well as potential tax credits from the U.S. Treasury, will facilitate competitive, cutting-edge memory manufacturing in the U.S. These initiatives are expected to generate about 75,000 jobs over the next 20 years, boosting both local economies and the national economic and security landscape. The investments represent significant private financial commitments in Idaho and New York, marking a major step in enhancing U.S. semiconductor capabilities and innovation.

Micron initiated construction on its Boise fab in October of calendar year 2023. The fab will be co-located with Micron’s world-class R&D center to enhance operational efficiency, accelerate technology deployment and improve time to market for leading-edge products. The Idaho fab is expected to come online and be operational in calendar year 2025, with DRAM output starting in calendar year 2026 and ramping in line with market demand over the second half of the decade.

In New York, preliminary design, field studies and permitting applications, including NEPA, are underway for the project. Construction of the first fab is expected to begin in calendar year 2025 and to come online and contribute to output in calendar year 2028, ramping in line with market demand over the next decade.

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SURF tests 800G link over 1,650 km fiber with Ribbon

 SURF, the collaborative organization for IT in Dutch education and research, achieved 800G over a brownfield 1,650 km fiber optic link using Ribbon Communications' optical transport platform. The trial connected research institutes including Nikhef with The Large Hadron Collider located on the CERN campus in Geneva.

The trial demonstrated a number of Ribbon's advanced transport solutions:

• Apollo TM800_2, which uses industry-leading 5nm-140Gbaud transmission technology to deliver capacity-reach optimized 800G transport.
• Apollo Open Optical Line Systems, which include hybrid EDFA-Raman amplifiers that maximize the capacity of SURF's brownfield G655 and G652 fiber, and have a proven ability to carry third-party vendor wavelengths.
• NPT 2400 metro router, which is interoperable with SURF's network and delivered 2x400GbE uplinks running EVPN services on top of BGP to 8x100G ports on that network.

"We are proud to collaborate with our partner Ribbon in this successful and innovative trial, which pushes the boundaries of our current fiber and shows us what is technically possible with Ribbon's equipment," said Harold Teunissen, Director Network & Campus at SURF. "This trial signifies a crucial step forward as we gear up our network to cater to the future needs of scientific research and education in the Netherlands and beyond."

"We're excited to work with SURF to demonstrate how they can deliver advanced transport services to their research and education partners over the existing infrastructure," said Sam Bucci, COO and EVP, Ribbon. "We're proud to deliver innovative solutions that contribute to the advancement of science."

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Canada's Valo Networks picks Ekinops360 WDM

Valo Networks will be deploying the Ekinops360 WDM transport platform to deliver rural broadband connectivity in Red Deer County, Alberta, Canada.

Valo Networks, launched in 2019, specializes in operating next-generation fiber-optic and wireless networks.  It is providing full turn-key service including the design, installation, commissioning, and ongoing operation of Red Deer County's new fiber optic network in the province of Alberta.  To serve Canadian communities like Red Deer County, Valo Networks created its Open Access Network (OAN) network architecture that provides scalable, accessible, and future-proof capacity that can be customized for individual communities.

Valo is building the new network using Ekinops360 WDM system, starting at 10G with the capability to scale to higher capacities as demand increases. 

https://www.ekinops.com/solutions/optical-transport

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Tech Update: BT’s Path Toward Quantum Communications

BT is pioneering the future of secure communications through its ongoing trials of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) over its fiber network in London in partnership with Toshiba and Adtran. These efforts are not just enhancing the security landscape but also paving the way for BT to establish a robust commercial quantum communication service. Andrew Lord, Senior Manager Optical Networks R&D from BT, provides an insightful update:

- Andrew discusses BT's progress in developing a commercial quantum service in London, highlighting their partnership with HSBC, a global bank that is at the forefront of quantum technology adoption. 

- He delves into the challenges and solutions in assuring and accrediting quantum technology, emphasizing the need for standardization and assurance processes for this emerging technology.

- Andrew also highlights major quantum communication projects funded by governments, including a project focused on detecting attempts to tap into quantum networks, as well as a second project aimed at accrediting and assuring quantum equipment.

https://youtu.be/Q1AJNqnC2DU

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

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AWS to invest $11B in massive data center in Indiana

Amazon Web Services (AWS) plans to invest $11 billion to build a data center campus in north central Indiana.

The project, which is the largest capital investment in Indiana’s history, aims to create at least 1,000 new jobs. The data center campus will be located in St. Joseph County. 

Based on the company’s significant capital investment plans, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) committed an investment in AWS in the form of data center sales tax exemptions for eligible capital investments over a 50-year term.

“Indiana’s long-term economic strategy is paying dividends for Hoosiers as we cultivate the growth of critical sectors like technology infrastructure,” said Gov. Holcomb. “Amazon has long been an important economic partner in Indiana, and we are excited to welcome AWS. This significant investment solidifies Indiana’s leadership position in the economy of the future, and will undoubtedly have a positive ripple effect on the town of New Carlisle, the north central region and the state of Indiana for years to come.” 

https://events.in.gov/event/gov-holcomb-announces-amazon-web-services-plans-to-invest-11b-to-create-a-new-data-center-campus-in-northern-indiana?utm_campaign=widget&utm_medium=widget&utm_source=State+of+Indiana 

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Google to build $2 billion data center in Indiana

Google will build a new $2 billion data center in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Construction is now underway on the new data center and operational support complex on the southwest side of Fort Wayne. 

The new facility is expected to create up to 200 new, competitive jobs, including facilities, data center technicians and support services, including security, catering and grounds keeping, in the coming years. 

Google also plans to bring its Skilled Trades and Readiness (STAR) program to the Fort Wayne area in partnership with Ivy Tech Community College. Additionally, Google will work with Indiana Michigan Power (I&M) to bring new clean energy resources to the local grid.

“We are thrilled to announce our investment in Fort Wayne, Indiana, as the site for our newest data center,” said Joe Kava, vice president of global data centers at Google. “Our decision to make a commitment of this magnitude is a true testament to the strategic and collaborative nature of many leaders across Indiana, Allen County, and, particularly, Fort Wayne. Together, Fort Wayne and Google will help power the digital future, including AI innovation across our enterprise and consumer services.”

https://events.in.gov/event/gov-holcomb-announces-google-is-building-a-2b-data-center-in-northeast-indiana?utm_campaign=widget&utm_medium=widget&utm_source=State+of+Indiana

• In January 2024, Meta announced plans to build a new $800 million data center campus in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

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Juniper posts Q1 sales of $1.149 billion, down 16% yoy

Juniper Networks reported Q1 net revenues of $1,148.9 million, a decrease of 16% year-over-year, and a decrease of 16% sequentially. GAAP operating margin was (1.2)%, a decrease from 8.4% in the first quarter of 2023, and a decrease from 9.2% in the fourth quarter of 2023. Non-GAAP net income was $96.6 million, a decrease of 38% year-over-year, and a decrease of 51% sequentially, resulting in non-GAAP diluted net income per share of $0.29.

“While many of our customers continue to be impacted by macro headwinds and the digestion of previously placed orders, we are starting to see a recovery in demand from our cloud customers and saw another quarter of double-digit order growth in our Mist-led business,” said Juniper CEO, Rami Rahim. “I remain optimistic regarding our long-term growth prospects, particularly as customers adopt our AI offerings, both for network operations and data center use cases.”

“We delivered strong non-GAAP gross margin and better than seasonal expense trends during the March quarter,” said Juniper’s CFO, Ken Miller. “We remain focused on profitability, while making the necessary investments to drive long-term growth.”

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FCC votes 3-2 to restore Net Neutrality

 The FCC voted 3-2 along partisan lines to reclassify broadband service as a Title II telecommunications service, restoring Net Neutrality.

The decision gives the FCC the authority to provide  oversight over broadband service providers, giving the Commission essential tools to: 

• Protect the Open Internet – Internet service providers will again be prohibited from blocking, throttling, or engaging in paid prioritization of lawful content, restoring the rules that were upheld by the D.C. Circuit in 2016.  
• Safeguard National Security – The Commission will have the ability to revoke the authorizations of foreign-owned entities who pose a threat to national security to operate broadband networks in the U.S.  The Commission has previously exercised this authority under section 214 of the Communications Act to revoke the operating authorities of four Chinese state-owned carriers to provide voice services in the U.S.  Any provider without section 214 authorization for voice services must now also cease any fixed or mobile broadband service operations in the United States. 
• Monitor Internet Service Outages 

For the majority, FCC Chairwan Jessica Rosenworcel writes "I think in a modern digital economy we should have a national net neutrality policy and make clear the Nation’s expert on communications has the ability to act when it comes to broadband. This is good for consumers, good for public safety, and good for national security. And that is why we are taking this action today under Title II of the Communications Act."

In dissent, FCC Commissioner Brenden Carr writes "The Internet in America has thrived in the absence of 1930s command and control regulation by the government. Indeed, bipartisan consensus emerged early on that the government should not regulate the Internet like Ma Bell’s copper line telephone monopoly."

https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-restores-net-neutrality

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First O-RAN Certificates and Badges issued

 The O-RAN Alliance announced that two of its Open Testing and Integration Centres (OTICs) – the European OTIC in Berlin and Korea OTIC – recently issued their first-ever O-RAN Certificates and Badges. Japan OTIC issued its first O-RAN Certificates and Badges in June 2023 and continued with five more awarded in 2024.

The portfolio of certified O-RAN products currently counts 23 solutions from 16 companies, awarded by 5 OTICs, with more being in progress around the world. All awarded O-RAN Certificates and Badges, including company names and concrete products, are publicly available in the O-RAN ALLIANCE's Certification and Badging Catalogue.

There are three types of O-RAN certifications:

• O-RAN Certificate verifies that a product is compliant to O-RAN specifications, using O-RAN conformance tests.
• O-RAN Interoperability (IOT) Badge proves interoperability of a pair of products connected via an O-RAN interface or O-RAN-profiled 3GPP interface, using O-RAN interoperability tests.
• O-RAN End-to-End (E2E) Badge demonstrates and validates that an end-to-end system or subsystem meets minimum requirements on functionality and security, using O-RAN end-to-end tests. It can also provide an indication of performance or other end-to-end functionalities.

"Japan OTIC is committed to support testing and integration efforts in the industry to promote implementation of open, interoperable, intelligent, virtualized and secure RAN," said Masataka Kawauchi, Representative Director, Japan OTIC and Chairman, YRP R&D Promotion Committee. "Since its establishment in December 2022, we have worked with Japanese operator members to prepare environment and capabilities for testing based on O-RAN ALLIANCE specifications and are pleased to have issued two conformance certificates and E2E system badge to six products to date. The certified/badged equipment has been deployed to the commercial market. We expect more to follow with ongoing activities and additional requests received for the program and are also working to enhance our test capabilities and coverage. Together with other engagements like PlugFests and workshops, Japan OTIC will continue contributing towards realizing Open RAN together with the industry."

www.o-ran.org

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Charter's Q1 revenue hits $13.7 billion, loss of 72K broadband

Charter Communications reported Q1 revenue of $13.7 billion, up by 0.2% year-over-year, driven by residential mobile service revenue growth of 37.8% and residential Internet revenue growth of 1.9%.

Some highlights

• As of March 31, 2024, Charter had 29.8 million residential customer relationships, excluding mobile-only relationships.
• First quarter residential Internet customers decreased by 72,000, compared to an increase of 67,000 during the first quarter of 2023.
• Residential video customers decreased by 392,000 in the first quarter of 2024, compared to a decline of 237,000 in the first quarter of 2023. 
• As of March 31, 2024, Charter had 13.1 million residential video customers. 
• In October 2023, Charter began deploying Xumo Stream Boxes to video customers. The Xumo Stream Box combines a live TV experience with access to hundreds of the most popular direct-to-consumer TV applications, and features unified search and discovery along with a curated content offering based on the customer's interests and subscriptions. 
• During the first quarter, Charter launched two new value-oriented Internet-delivered streaming TV packages, Spectrum TV® Stream and Spectrum Stream Latino, for Spectrum Internet customers. Spectrum TV Stream features many of the most popular news and entertainment networks, and Spectrum Stream Latino adds another option for Hispanic audiences to take advantage of Charter's robust programming lineup.
• During the first quarter of 2024, residential wireline voice customers declined by 274,000, compared to a decline of 224,000 in the first quarter of 2023. As of March 31, 2024, Charter had 6.4 million residential wireline voice customers.
• During the first quarter of 2024, Charter added 473,000 residential mobile lines, compared to growth of 666,000 during the first quarter of 2023. 
• First quarter 2024 monthly residential revenue per residential customer totaled $120.48, and decreased by 0.1% compared to the prior year period, given a lower mix of video customer relationships and a higher mix of lower priced video packages within Charter's video customer base, mostly offset by promotional rate step-ups, rate adjustments and the growth of Spectrum Mobile.
• SMB customer relationships decreased by 3,000 in the first quarter of 2024, while first quarter 2023 SMB customer relationships grew by 8,000. 
• Enterprise PSUs grew by 5,000 in the first quarter of 2024 versus 4,000 added in the first quarter of 2023.
• Charter continues to work with federal, state and local governments to bring Spectrum Internet to unserved and underserved communities. During the first quarter of 2024, Charter activated 73,000 subsidized rural passings. Within Charter's subsidized rural footprint, total residential and SMB customer relationships increased by 35,000 in the first quarter of 2024.

https://ir.charter.com/events-and-webcasts

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Hughes opens advance manufacturing site in Maryland

Hughes Network Systems opened a manufacturing facility and private 5G incubation center in Germantown, Maryland.

The Hughes Manufacturing Facility (EXM) produces U.S.-made hardware, including the Hughes HT3000W JUPITER System satellite modem and the Hughes HL1120W Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite terminal. In addition to about 400 engineers, technicians and manufacturing staff, the Hughes EXM facility utilizes advanced robotics to assist in the manufacture of high-tech products such as satellite modems and terminals. The EXM facility will also serve as a testing ground for private 5G solutions just now reaching the market for Enterprise applications as well as secure 5G networking applications critical to the U.S. Department of Defense.

"Hughes has deep roots in this community. Our capabilities evolved from a long-ago startup in Rockville, Maryland, and we have grown into what is now the leading provider of broadband satellite services, products, and managed network solutions," said Paul Gaske, COO, Hughes. "The EXM facility allows us to continue a proud tradition of designing and manufacturing leading edge products here in Maryland."

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SES activates commercial service on O3b mPOWER System

SES' second-generation, software-enabled O3b mPOWER satellite system is now operational and delivering commercial services.

The first six O3b mPOWER satellites are operating at medium Earth orbit (MEO) or 8,000km. SES also has extensive ground infrastructure in place, enabling connectivity services ranging from tens of Mbps to multiple gigabits per second. 

To date, SES has launched six out of 13 O3b mPOWER high-throughput and low-latency satellites, which together with strategically located satellite ground stations, enable SES to serve customers across multiple market segments around the world.

In combination with SES’s MEO and geostationary (GEO) networks as well as access to low Earth orbit (LEO) solutions via strategic partnerships, SES is uniquely positioned as an all-orbit solutions provider delivering an attractive combination of high data rates, low latency, service reliability, and flexibility to meet customers’ requirements anywhere.

“We are very excited that O3b mPOWER is now ready to serve our customers around the world. Over the last few years, our SES team, along with our technology partners across space and ground segments, have worked tirelessly to bring our O3b mPOWER system online. I’m proud to say that all the core infrastructure is deployed, tested and ready on a global basis,” said Adel Al-Saleh, CEO of SES. “The demand for O3b mPOWER solutions is very high, and this moment has been long-awaited by our customers. Over the coming weeks we will work with our mobility, government, enterprise and cloud customers on O3b mPOWER onboarding plans. We’re eager to empower their operations with reliable, high-performance, and secure services.”

The launch of the next two O3b mPOWER satellites is expected in late 2024. 

https://www.ses.com/press-release/sess-o3b-mpower-system-starts-providing-high-performance-connectivity-services

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NASA's Deep Space Optical Comms breaks record

NASA's Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment, which is onboard the Psyche asteroid mission spacecraft, successfully transmitted engineering data from over 140 million miles (226 million kilometers) away, 1½ times the distance between Earth and the Sun. The near-infrared transceiver’s 22-centimeter aperture telescope is mounted on an isolation-and-pointing assembly that stabilizes the optics and isolates it from spacecraft vibrations. 

The data sent back by the DSOC transceiver on Psyche was collected by the 200-inch (5.1-meter) Hale Telescope at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California, using a sensitive superconducting nanowire photon-counting receiver to demonstrate high-rate data transfer.

Signals sent back to the spacecraft are emitted by a high-power near-infrared laser transmitter at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Table Mountain facility near Wrightwood, California. 

During the April 8 test, the spacecraft transmitted test data at a maximum rate of 25 Mbps, which far surpasses the project’s goal of proving at least 1 Mbps was possible at that distance.

"We downlinked about 10 minutes of duplicated spacecraft data during a pass on April 8,” said Meera Srinivasan, the project’s operations lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Until then, we’d been sending test and diagnostic data in our downlinks from Psyche. This represents a significant milestone for the project by showing how optical communications can interface with a spacecraft’s radio frequency comms system.”

NASA is also working using an array of receivers that are geographically dispersed on different mountains to boost the signal.

https://www.nasa.gov/missions/psyche-mission/nasas-optical-comms-demo-transmits-data-over-140-million-miles/

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Google Cloud's Q1 revenue jumps to $9.57B, up 28% yoy

Google Cloud revenue jumped 28% year-over-year to $9.57 billion in Q1 2024. Google Cloud's operating income grew nearly 5x to $900 million in Q1 2024, up from $191 million in Q1 2023.

Alphabet's overall revenue grew 15% year-over-year to $80.5 billion in Q1 2024, driven by strong performances from Google Search, YouTube, and Google Cloud.

Sundar Pichai, CEO, said: “Our results in the first quarter reflect strong performance from Search, YouTube and Cloud. We are well under way with our Gemini era and there’s great momentum across the company. Our leadership in AI research and infrastructure, and our global product footprint, position us well for the next wave of AI innovation.”

Ruth Porat, President and Chief Investment Officer; CFO said: “Our strong financial results for the first quarter reflect revenue strength across the company and ongoing efforts to durably reengineer our cost base. We delivered revenues of $80.5 billion, up 15% year-on-year, and operating margin expansion.”

https://abc.xyz/assets/91/b3/3f9213d14ce3ae27e1038e01a0e0/2024q1-alphabet-earnings-release-pdf.pdf

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Microsoft Q1 revenue grows to$61.9 billion, up 17%

 Citing robust growth in cloud services, Microsoft reported Q1 revenue of $61.9 billion, up 17% compared to last year. Net income was $21.9 billion, up 20%, and diluted earnings per share was $2.94, up 20%.

"Microsoft Copilot and Copilot stack are orchestrating a new era of AI transformation, driving better business outcomes across every role and industry,” said Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft.

“This quarter Microsoft Cloud revenue was $35.1 billion, up 23% year-over-year, driven by strong execution by our sales teams and partners,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft.

Highlights

Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes was $19.6 billion and increased 12% (up 11% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

• Office Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 13% (up 12% in constant currency) driven by Office 365 Commercial revenue growth of 15%
• Office Consumer products and cloud services revenue increased 4% and Microsoft 365 Consumer subscribers grew to 80.8 million
• LinkedIn revenue increased 10% (up 9% in constant currency)
• Dynamics products and cloud services revenue increased 19% (up 17% in constant currency) driven by Dynamics 365 revenue growth of 23% (up 22% in constant currency)

Revenue in Intelligent Cloud was $26.7 billion and increased 21%, with the following business highlights:

• Server products and cloud services revenue increased 24% driven by Azure and other cloud services revenue growth of 31%

Revenue in More Personal Computing was $15.6 billion and increased 17%, with the following business highlights:

• Windows revenue increased 11% with Windows OEM revenue growth of 11% and Windows Commercial products and cloud services revenue growth of 13% (up 12% in constant currency)
• Devices revenue decreased 17% (down 16% in constant currency)
• Xbox content and services revenue increased 62% (up 61% in constant currency) driven by 61 points of net impact from the Activision acquisition
• Search and news advertising revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs increased 12%

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/earnings/FY-2024-Q3/press-release-webcast

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T-Mobile US posts strong Q1, raises guidance

T-Mobile US reported Q1 service revenues of $16.1 billion, up 4% year-over-year. Net income was $2.4 billion, up 22% year-over-year, and diluted earnings per share was $2.00, up 27% year-over-year.

“T-Mobile had a great start to 2024 with industry-leading growth in service revenues and profitability,” said Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile. “Even as the rest of wireless saw moderated customer growth, our momentum continued thanks to our increasingly differentiated combination of the best value, best network, and best experiences that customers love. We’re excited about our path forward and our raised guidance for 2024 reflects our confidence in what’s to come.”

Some operating metrics

• Postpaid net account additions of 218 thousand decreased 69 thousand year-over-year.
• Postpaid net customer additions of 1.2 million decreased 73 thousand year-over-year.
• Postpaid phone net customer additions of 532 thousand decreased 6 thousand year-over-year. Postpaid phone churn of 0.86% improved 3 basis points year-over-year.
• Prepaid net customer losses of 48 thousand decreased 74 thousand year-over-year. Prepaid churn of 2.75% improved 1 basis point year-over-year.
• High Speed Internet net customer additions of 405 thousand decreased 118 thousand year-over-year. T-Mobile ended the quarter with 5.2 million High Speed Internet customers.
• Total net customer additions of 1.2 million decreased 147 thousand year-over-year. 
• Total customer connections increased to a record high of 120.9 million
• Nearly 95% of 5G network traffic is carried on mid-band spectrum, including the recently deployed Auction 108 spectrum. 
• 85% of 5G traffic on sites with all three spectrum bands (600MHz, 1.9GHz, and 2.5GHz) deployed

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Intel posts Q1 revenue of $12.7B, up 9% yoy

Intel reported Q1 revenue of $12.7 billion, up 9% year over year (YoY). There was GAAP earnings (loss) per share (EPS) attributable to Intel was $(0.09).

“We are making steady progress against our priorities and delivered a solid quarter,” said Pat Gelsinger, Intel CEO. “Strong innovation across our client, edge and data center portfolios drove double-digit revenue growth in Intel Products. With Intel 3 in high-volume production, leading-edge semiconductors are being manufactured in the U.S. for the first time in almost a decade and we are on track to regain process leadership next year as we grow Intel Foundry. We are confident in our plans to drive sequential growth throughout the year as we accelerate our AI solutions and maintain our relentless focus on execution, operational discipline and shareholder value creation in a dynamic market.”

Highlights

• CCG:As of the end of the first quarter, more than 5 million AI PCs have shipped since the December 2023 launch of Intel Core Ultra processors, supported by more than 100 software vendors. Intel expects to exceed its prior forecast of 40 million AI PCs by the end of 2024.
• DCAI: At Intel Vision, the company introduced the Intel Gaudi 3 AI accelerator, projected to deliver on-average 50% faster inference and 40% greater inference power efficiency than Nvidia H1001 on leading generative AI (GenAI) models. Intel also announced new Intel Gaudi accelerator customers and partners, including NAVER, Dell Technologies, Bosch, Supermicro and many others. Additionally, the next-generation E-core Intel Xeon, code-named Sierra Forest, achieved product release this week, and Intel expects Granite Rapids to be released in the third quarter.
• NEX: At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Intel introduced the new Intel Edge Platform – a modular, open software platform enabling enterprises to develop, deploy, and manage edge and AI applications at scale. The Intel Edge Platform has broad ecosystem support from Amazon Web Services, Lenovo, Red Hat, SAP and Wipro. Intel also announced the Open Platform for Enterprise AI, which aims to accelerate secure, cost-effective GenAI deployments for businesses by driving interoperability across a diverse and heterogeneous ecosystem, starting with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG).

Intel Foundry Highlights

Intel continues to drive customer adoption of Intel 18A, with a major U.S. aerospace and defense customer committing to Intel 18A, bringing Intel Foundry's external customer commitments on Intel 18A to six. This quarter, Microsoft also announced its plans to design a chip on Intel 18A.

Intel unveiled its process technology roadmap beyond its five-nodes-in-four-years process goal, adding Intel 14A to its leading-edge node lineup following Intel 18A and announcing several specialized node evolutions for Intel 3, Intel 18A and Intel 14A to enable customers to develop and deliver products tailored to their specific needs.

Intel Foundry has a strong pipeline of nearly 50 customer test chips, and has engagements with almost every foundry customer in the industry on advanced packaging, including five design awards.

Intel is forecasting second-quarter 2024 revenue of $12.5 billion to $13.5 billion; expecting second-quarter EPS of $(0.05).

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T-Mobile to acquire Lumos and set up Fiber JV with EQT

T-Mobile US has formed a joint venture (JV) with EQT’s Infrastructure VI fund (EQT) that will acquire fiber-to-the-home platform Lumos from EQT’s predecessor fund EQT Infrastructure III.    

The JV will bring T-Mobile’s retail, marketing, brand and customer experience strengths together with EQT’s fiber infrastructure investment expertise. Together they will acquire Lumos’ scalable fiber network build capabilities to deliver best-in-class high-speed fiber internet connectivity to customers across the U.S. without access to fiber today. After the transaction closes, Lumos, which currently reaches 320,000 households over 7,500 route miles with fiber optic internet and home wi-fi service in the Mid-Atlantic, will transition to a wholesale model with T-Mobile as the anchor tenant owning customer relationships and leveraging its brand to attract new subscribers. The JV will focus on market identification and selection, network engineering and design, network deployment, and customer installation.

T-Mobile is expected to invest approximately $950 million in the JV to acquire a 50% equity stake and all existing fiber customers, with the funds invested by T-Mobile being used by Lumos for future fiber builds. The next capital contribution by T-Mobile out of an additional commitment of approximately $500 million is anticipated between 2027 and 2028. These combined investments are expected to allow Lumos to reach 3.5 million homes passed by the end of 2028. T-Mobile continues to expect to complete its remaining authorization for share repurchases and dividends in 2024.

The transaction is expected to close in late 2024 or early 2025.

"As the demand for reliable, low-latency connectivity rapidly increases, this deal is a scalable strategy for T-Mobile to take a significant step forward in expanding on our broadband success and continue shaking up competition in this space to bring even more value and choice to consumers,” said Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile. “Together with EQT and Lumos, T-Mobile is building on our position as the fastest growing broadband provider in the country in a value-accretive way that complements our sustained growth leadership in wireless. Customers – homes and businesses – who get the fast, affordable, and reliable internet they need will be the real winners.”

https://investor.t-mobile.com/events-and-presentations/news/news-details/2024/T-Mobile-and-EQT-Announce-Joint-Venture-to-Acquire-Lumos-and-Build-Out-the-Un-carriers-First-Fiber-Footprint/default.aspx

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TSMC previews A16 node, Chip on Wafer on Substrate, SiPh Engine

 At its 2024 North America Technology Symposium in Santa Clara, California, TSMC previewed a number of key developments, including:

• TSMC A16 Technology: With its N3E technology now in production, and N2 on track for production in the second half of 2025, TSMC debuted A16, the next technology node on its roadmap. A16 will combine TSMC’s Super Power Rail architecture with its nanosheet transistors for planned production in 2026. It improves logic density and performance by dedicating front-side routing resources to signals, making A16 ideal for HPC products with complex signal routes and dense power delivery networks. Compared to TSMC’s N2P process, A16 will provide 8-10% speed improvement at the same Vdd (positive power supply voltage), 15-20% power reduction at the same speed, and up to 1.10X chip density improvement for data center products.
• TSMC NanoFlex Innovation for Nanosheet Transistors: TSMC’s upcoming N2 technology will come with TSMC NanoFlex, the company’s next breakthrough in design-technology co-optimization. TSMC NanoFlex provides designers with flexibility in N2 standard cells, the basic building blocks of chip design, with short cells emphasizing small area and greater power efficiency, and tall cells maximizing performance. Customers are able to optimize the combination of short and tall cells within the same design block, tuning their designs to reach the optimal power, performance, and area tradeoffs for their application.
• N4C Technology: Bringing TSMC’s advanced technology to a broader range of of applications, TSMC announced N4C, an extension of N4P technology with up to 8.5% die cost reduction and low adoption effort, scheduled for volume production in 2025. N4C offers area-efficient foundation IP and design rules that are fully compatible with the widely-adopted N4P, with better yield from die size reduction, providing a cost-effective option for value-tier products to migrate to the next advanced technology node from TSMC.
• CoWoS, SoIC, and System-on-Wafer (TSMC-SoW ): TSMC’s Chip on Wafer on Substrate (CoWoS) has been a key enabler for the AI revolution by allowing customers to pack more processor cores and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) stacks side by side on one interposer. At the same time, our System on Integrated Chips (SoIC) has established itself as the leading solution for 3D chip stacking, and customers are increasingly pairing CoWoS with SoIC and other components for the ultimate system-in-package (SiP) integration. With System-on-Wafer, TSMC is providing a revolutionary new option to enable a large array of dies on a 300mm wafer, offering more compute power while occupying far less data center space and boosting performance per watt by orders of magnitude. TSMC’s first SoW offering, a logic-only wafer based on Integrated Fan-Out (InFO) technology, is already in production. A chip-on-wafer version leveraging CoWoS technology is scheduled to be ready in 2027, enabling integration of SoIC, HBM and other components to create a powerful wafer-level system with computing power comparable to a data center server rack, or even an entire server.
• Silicon Photonics Integration: TSMC is developing Compact Universal Photonic Engine (COUPE) technology to support the explosive growth in data transmission that comes with the AI boom. COUPE uses SoIC-X chip stacking technology to stack an electrical die on top of a photonic die, offering the lowest impedance at the die-to-die interface and higher energy efficiency than conventional stacking methods. TSMC plans to qualify COUPE for small form factor pluggables in 2025, followed by integration into CoWoS packaging as co-packaged optics (CPO) in 2026, bringing optical connections directly into the package.
• Automotive Advanced Packaging: After introducing the N3AE “Auto Early” process in 2023, TSMC continues to serve our automotive customers’ needs for greater computing power that meets the safety and quality demands of the highway by integrating advanced silicon with advanced packaging. TSMC is developing InFO-oS and CoWoS-R solutions for applications such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), vehicle control, and vehicle central computers, targeting AEC-Q100 Grade 2 qualification by fourth quarter of 2025.

https://pr.tsmc.com/english/news/3136

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Ansys collaborates on TSMC's COUPE silicon photonics platform

Ansys announced a collaboration with TSMC on multiphysics software for TSMC's Compact Universal Photonic Engines (COUPE). 

COUPE is a Silicon Photonics (SiPh) integration system and Co-Packaged Optics platform that mitigates coupling loss while significantly accelerating chip-to-chip and machine-to-machine communication.

TSMC COUPE, along with Ansys multiphysics solutions that are integrated with Synopsys' 3DIC Compiler unified exploration-to-signoff platform, enables the next generation of silicon photonics and co-packaged optics designs for applications in AI, datacenter, cloud, and HPC communications. The work spans multiple areas, including fiber-to-chip coupling, integrated electronic-photonic chip design, power integrity verification, high-frequency electromagnetic analysis, and critical thermal management.

TSMC COUPE integrates multiple electrical ICs with a photonic IC and fiber optic connections into a single package. These include Ansys Zemax for optical input/output simulation, Ansys Lumerical for photonic simulation, Ansys RedHawk-SC and Ansys Totem for multi-die power integrity signoff, Ansys RaptorX to model high-frequency electromagnetic analysis between dies, and Ansys RedHawk-SC Electrothermal for vital thermal management of the multi-die heterogenous system. Additionally, Lumerical allows custom Verilog-A models for electronic photonic circuit simulations, which work seamlessly with the TSMC Modeling Interface (TMI) and are co-designed with TSMC's Process Design Kit (PDK).

"By providing a good silicon photonics integration system we can address both critical issues of energy efficiency and computing performance to support the explosive growth in data transmission that comes with the AI boom," said Dan Kochpatcharin, head of the design infrastructure management division at TSMC. "We have aligned closely with our Open Innovation Platform® (OIP) partners like Ansys to provide our customers with a solution to the design challenges in this breakthrough technology, enabling their designs to achieve a new level of performance and energy efficiency."

"Ansys' multiphysics platform for TSMC's COUPE technology underscores our focus on delivering the most comprehensive multiphysics portfolio with the best solution for every need," said John Lee, vice president and general manager of the semiconductor, electronics, and optics business unit at Ansys. "Ansys is a leader in delivering a deep and broad portfolio of integrated multiphysics simulation solutions and platforms. Together, TSMC and Ansys are enabling the next wave of technological innovation."

https://www.ansys.com/news-center/press-releases/4-24-24-ansys-collaborates-with-tsmc-coupe-on-multiphysics

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IBM to acquire HashiCorp for multi-cloud automation - $6.4 billion

IBM agreed to acquire HashiCorp for $35 per share in cash, representing an enterprise value of $6.4 billion. 

 HashiCorp, which is based in San Francisco, provides multi-cloud infrastructure automation software. Its key products include Terraform for infrastructure as code, Vault for secrets management, Consul for service networking, and Nomad for workload orchestration. These tools allow enterprise customers to provision, secure, connect, and run infrastructure seamlessly in hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company has experienced rapid growth, with over 450 million product downloads in 2022 alone. HashiCorp serves enterprise customers across various industries, including technology, financial services, healthcare, government, and more. Its open-source roots and cloud-agnostic approach have made its tools popular among developers and operations teams.

After raising over $1 billion in funding from investors like Mayfield, GGV Capital, IVP, and Bessemer Venture Partners, HashiCorp went public in 2021. The company continues to innovate and expand its product offerings to meet the evolving needs of modern cloud infrastructure management.

IBM said the rise of cloud-native workloads and associated applications is driving a radical expansion in the number of cloud workloads enterprises are managing. In addition, generative AI deployment continues to grow alongside traditional workloads. As a result, developers are working with increasingly heterogeneous, dynamic, and complex infrastructure strategies. This represents a massive challenge for technology professionals.

HashiCorp's capabilities enable enterprises to use automation to deliver lifecycle management for infrastructure and security, providing a system of record for the critical workflows needed for hybrid and multi-cloud environments. HashiCorp's Terraform is the industry standard for infrastructure provisioning in these environments. HashiCorp's offerings help clients take a cloud-agnostic, and highly interoperable approach to multi-cloud management, and complement IBM's commitment to industry collaboration (including deep and expanding partnerships with hyperscale cloud service providers), developer communities, and open-source hybrid cloud and AI innovation. HashiCorp's offerings, combined with IBM and Red Hat, will give clients a platform to automate the deployment and orchestration of workloads across evolving infrastructure including hyperscale cloud service providers, private clouds and on-prem environments.

"Our strategy at its core is about enabling companies to innovate in the cloud, while providing a consistent approach to managing cloud at scale. The need for effective management and automation is critical with the rise of multi-cloud and hybrid cloud, which is being accelerated by today's AI revolution," said Armon Dadgar, HashiCorp co-founder and chief technology officer. "I'm incredibly excited by today's news and to be joining IBM to accelerate HashiCorp's mission and expand access to 

"Enterprise clients are wrestling with an unprecedented expansion in infrastructure and applications across public and private clouds, as well as on-prem environments. The global excitement surrounding generative AI has exacerbated these challenges and CIOs and developers are up against dramatic complexity in their tech strategies," said Arvind Krishna, IBM chairman and chief executive officer. "HashiCorp has a proven track record of enabling clients to manage the complexity of today's infrastructure and application sprawl. Combining IBM's portfolio and expertise with HashiCorp's capabilities and talent will create a comprehensive hybrid cloud platform designed for the AI era."

Upon close, HashiCorp is expected to drive significant synergies for IBM, including across multiple strategic growth areas like Red Hat, watsonx, data security, IT automation and Consulting. For example, the powerful combination of Red Hat's Ansible Automation Platform's configuration management and Terraform's automation will simplify provisioning and configuration of applications across hybrid cloud environments. The two companies also anticipate an acceleration of HashiCorp's growth initiatives by leveraging IBM's world-class go-to-market strategy, scale, and reach, operating in more than 175 countries across the globe.

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AT&T posts flat Q1 revenue of $30 billion, lower CAPEX

AT&T reported Q1 revenue of $30.0 billion versus $30.1 billion in the year-ago quarter, down 0.4%. Net income was $3.8 billion versus $4.5 billion in the year-ago quarter.

The company attributed the dip to declines in Mobility equipment revenues, driven mainly by lower sales volumes, and lower Business Wireline revenues. This was mostly offset by increased service revenues, driven by Mobility, Consumer Wireline, and Mexico. Revenue trends also include increases from favorable impacts of foreign exchange rates in Mexico.

Capital expenditures were $3.8 billion in the quarter versus $4.3 billion in the year-ago quarter. Capital investment, which includes $0.8 billion of cash payments for vendor financing, totaled $4.6 billion versus $6.4 billion in the year-ago quarter.

First-Quarter Highlights

• 349,000 postpaid phone net adds with an expected industry-leading postpaid phone churn of 0.72%
• Mobility service revenues of $16.0 billion, up 3.3% year over year
• 252,000 AT&T Fiber net adds; 17th consecutive quarter of 200,000+ net adds
• Consumer broadband revenues of $2.7 billion, up 7.7% year over year
• 27.1 million consumer and business locations passed with fiber

"Our results this quarter reflect continued strong growth in our Mobility and Consumer Wireline connectivity businesses, which represent about 80% of our total revenues," said John Stankey, AT&T CEO. "Customers are choosing AT&T and staying with us. We achieved a record-low first-quarter postpaid phone churn, grew consumer broadband subscribers for the third consecutive quarter, and expanded margins in Mobility and Consumer Wireline. We're also delivering on our commitment to grow and improve the quality and cadence of free cash flow, which increased by more than $2 billion year over year. This consistent, solid performance driven by our investment-led strategy gives us confidence to re-affirm our full-year consolidated financial guidance."

https://investors.att.com/

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Vantage Data Centers plans 52MW Ireland campus

Vantage Data Centers announced its entrance into the Irish market with the development of a multi-phase data center campus (DUB1). The company will invest more than €1 billion over multiple phases to support the construction and delivery of the campus in one of the largest data center markets in Europe. The first two phases consist of 52MW of IT capacity, with the first phase expected to be operational in late 2024. Upon completion, DUB1 will mark Vantage’s 14th EMEA campus in a growing regional portfolio that spans seven countries.

The company’s flagship Ireland campus will be located approximately nine miles (15 kilometers) from the Dublin City Center in Profile Park, Grange Castle, an area known for its data centers. Sited on 22 acres (nine hectares), the 405,000 square foot (38,000 square meter) campus will consist of one 32MW facility and one 20MW facility and has available land and power to add a third facility in the future. The highly efficient campus is being built in alignment with Vantage’s sustainable blueprint to deliver an industry-leading annualized Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1.2 using virtually no water for cooling.

Vantage Data Centers is committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2030 and drives emission reductions through the use of renewable energy and sustainable fuel alternatives across its value chain. 

The DUB1 campus will include an on-site 100MVA multi-fuel generation plant capable of running a combination of fuels, primarily hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), a renewable fuel, and gas fed by Gas Networks Ireland. Given the temporary power constraints in Dublin, this on-site generation plant will support current capacity constraints by alleviating pressure on energy demand from the grid while achieving optimal efficiency and power output. The generation plant is also capable of funneling power back to the grid, further supporting power availability in the Dublin area. In addition, Vantage plans to deploy HVO in place of conventional diesel fuel throughout its fleet of back-up generators and is working to obtain corporate power purchase agreements (CPPAs) for green energy, such as biomethane from local providers. Currently, the company is leveraging HVO for 99% of its fuel requirements during the construction phase. 

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Nokia ships Buy America-Compliant by Sanmina

Nokia's first Buy America-compliant products have rolled off the Sanmina manufacturing line. 

The first Nokia products to come off the Sanmina manufacturing line are its Optical Line Terminal (OLT) cards. Nokia will self-certify each product according to NTIA specifications to ensure that listed vendors comply with the final guidelines. The Nokia OLTs can be ordered as individual products or as part of Nokia’s Network-in-a-Box program.      

Sandy Motley, President of Fixed Networks at Nokia, said: “As leaders in broadband, we're excited to announce a significant milestone: our Buy America-compliant products are now rolling off the production line, giving BEAD applicants and infrastructure providers access to technology that will be critical to bridging the digital divide. By aligning with Buy American guidelines, we're actively contributing to the U.S. government's mission of expanding nationwide broadband access.”    

Nokia turns to Sanmina to build fiber broadband products in USA

Thursday, August 03, 2023  Nokia  

Nokia announced a partnership with Sanmina to manufacture fiber-optic broadband network electronics products and optical modules in the U.S. for use in the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. 

Nokia’s plans for U.S manufacturing will include:

• Optical Line Termination card for a modular Access Node
• A small form factor OLT
• OLT optical modules
• An “outdoor-hardened” Optical Network Terminal (ONT)

Sanmina will expand its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, adding about 200 jobs.

The investment comes in the wake of the Biden administration’s Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program and the Build America Buy America Act, which were enacted as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. 

Pekka Lundmark, President and CEO of Nokia, said: “At Nokia, we create technology that helps the world act together. We are committed to connecting people and communities. However, many Americans still lack adequate connectivity, leaving them at a disadvantage when it comes to accessing work, education and healthcare. Programs like BEAD can change this. By bringing the manufacturing of our fiber-optic broadband access products to the U.S., BEAD participants will be able to work with us to bridge the digital divide. We look forward to bringing more Americans online.”

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