Tuesday, July 30, 2024

Marvell intros Structera CXL for Enhanced Memory Performance

 Marvell introduced its new Structera product line of Compute Express Link (CXL) devices, aimed at resolving memory performance and scaling challenges in cloud data centers. These devices are designed to enable cloud operators to efficiently add memory to general-purpose servers, addressing the inefficiencies and high costs associated with memory-intensive applications. By leveraging the CXL industry standard, Marvell's Structera line allows for the creation of new architectures that enhance memory bandwidth and capacity without the need for additional servers.

The Structera product line includes two families of CXL devices tailored to specific use cases. The Structera A CXL near-memory accelerators integrate server-class processor cores and multiple memory channels to cater to high-bandwidth applications such as deep learning recommendation models (DLRM) and machine learning. The Structera X CXL memory-expansion controllers, on the other hand, are designed to add terabytes of memory to general-purpose servers, supporting high-capacity applications like in-memory databases. These products, which are the first in the industry to support four memory channels and utilize 5nm manufacturing processes, also incorporate inline compression for enhanced performance.

Marvell Structera A 2504

  • PCIe 5.0/CXL2.0 x16
  • Four channels of DRAM DDR5 6400 MT/sec  
  • Two memory DIMMs per channel (2DPC) support
  • 16 Arm Neoverse V2 cores at 3.2 GHz 
  • Inline LZ4 compression and decompression 
  • Inline AES-XTS 256-bit encryption and decryption 
  • Embedded hardware security module and secure boot

Marvell Structera X 2404

  • PCIe 5.0/CXL2.0 1 x16 or 2 x8
  • Four channels of DRAM DDR4 3200 MT/sec 
  • Three memory DIMMs per channel (3DPC) support
  • Inline LZ4 compression and decompression
  • Inline AES-XTS 256-bit encryption and decryption
  • Embedded hardware security module and secure boot

Marvell Structera X 2504

  • PCIe 5.0/CXL2.0 1 x16 or 2 x8
  • Four channels of DRAM DDR5 6400 MT/sec 
  • Two memory DIMMs per channel (2DPC) support
  • Inline LZ4 compression and decompression
  • Inline AES-XTS 256-bit encryption and decryption
  • Embedded hardware security module and secure boot

“Our new Structera CXL product line will be a game-changer in enabling optimal resource utilization and lowering energy consumption for scaling memory-intensive workloads in the cloud,” said Raghib Hussain, president of products and technologies at Marvell. “Marvell is delivering on the promise of CXL and our commitment to customers to help them solve their most challenging issues. CXL will continue to be a critical technology enabler for accelerated infrastructure across our compute, connectivity and storage portfolios.” 

Sampling is expected in Q4.




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Lumen reserves 10% of Corning’s global fiber capacity to connect AI data centers

As part of its Q2 financial report, Corning announced that Lumen Technologies has reserved 10% of Corning’s global fiber capacity for each of the next two years to interconnect AI-enabled data centers.  This will be the first outside-plant deployment of Corning’s new generative-AI fiber and cable system, which enables Lumen to fit two to four times the amount of fiber into their existing conduit.

The news led to a huge jump in Lumen's stock price on Tuesday.

Wendell P. Weeks, chairman and chief executive officer, said, “Our strong second-quarter results exceeded the guidance we provided in April and marked a return to year-over-year core sales and EPS growth. The outperformance was driven primarily by the strong adoption of our new optical connectivity products for generative AI, which drove record sales in the Enterprise portion of our Optical Communications business. The opportunity is only growing; in fact, in the third quarter, we reached an agreement with Lumen Technologies that uses our new gen-AI fiber and cable system to facilitate Lumen’s build of a new network to interconnect AI-enabled data centers.”

Second-Quarter 2024 Financial Highlights:

  • GAAP sales were $3.25 billion. Core sales were $3.60 billion.
  • GAAP EPS was $0.12, and core EPS was $0.47. The difference between GAAP and core EPS primarily reflected constant currency adjustments, translated earnings contract gains, and translation gains on Japanese-yen-denominated debt, as well as restructuring and non-cash asset write-off charges.
  • GAAP gross margin was 29.2%. Core gross margin improved sequentially and year over year by 110 and 170 basis points, respectively, to 37.9%.
  • GAAP operating cash flow was $521 million, and adjusted free cash flow was $353 million.

In Optical Communications, second-quarter sales were $1.1 billion, up 20% sequentially, marking a return to growth. Year over year, sales increased 4%, reflecting record sales in the Enterprise portion of the business, which was up 42%, driven by AI-related connectivity solutions. Second-quarter net income was $143 million, up 43% sequentially, driven by strong incremental profit on the higher volume.

https://investor.corning.com/news-and-events/news/news-details/2024/Corning-Reports-Strong-Second-Quarter-2024-Financial-Results-Exceeding-April-Guidance-and-Marking-Return-to-Year-over-Year-Sales-Growth/default.aspx

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#FiberConnect24: Key Priorities for Accelerating the Fiber Future

Check out the rest of Fiber Connect 2024 showcase here: https://ngi.fyi/fiberconnect24yt

How is fiber broadband accelerating our future?

Gary Bolton, President from Fiber Broadband Association explains:

- Fiber is critical infrastructure for building our future, beyond just meeting minimum speeds
- Accelerating deployment is crucial, as speed reduces costs and inefficiencies
- Protecting the network through trusted fiber initiatives and collaboration with security agencies is essential.


Want to be involved our video series? Contact info@nextgeninfra.io

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#FiberConnect24: Fiber's Role in Connecting Rural America

Check out the rest of Fiber Connect 2024 showcase here: https://ngi.fyi/fiberconnect24yt

How can fiber infrastructure bridge the digital divide in rural America?

Jimmy Todd, CEO from Nex-Tech explains:

- Fiber is crucial for connecting unserved and underserved rural communities, preventing disparities between urban and rural areas
- Funding programs like BEAD, ARPA, and USDA grants need to consider population density and high-cost thresholds when allocating resources for rural fiber deployment
- Streamlining permitting processes and addressing challenges like terrain and distance is essential to accelerate rural fiber connectivity



Want to be involved our video series? Contact info@nextgeninfra.io

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#FiberConnect24: Innovative Tools for Faster Fiber Rollouts

Check out the rest of Fiber Connect 2024 showcase here: https://ngi.fyi/fiberconnect24yt

How is Clearfield helping the broadband providers to overcome the barriers and Accelerate our Fiber Future?

Cheri Beranek, President and CEO from Clearfield explains:

- Introducing "BILT," a mobile app providing 3D images for on-site education and support
- Focusing on reducing operational expenses (Opex) in network construction through innovative product designs
- Developing solutions like the "Deploy Reel TAP" box to minimize labor requirements and skill levels needed for technicians


https://youtu.be/x-JsFO3wsbo
Want to be involved our video series? Contact info@nextgeninfra.io
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Arista reports Q2 sales of $1.69 billion, up 15.9% yoy

Arista Networks reported the following Q2 2024 numbers:

  • Revenue of $1.690 billion, an increase of 7.6% compared to the first quarter of 2024, and an increase of 15.9% from the second quarter of 2023.
  • GAAP gross margin of 64.9%, compared to GAAP gross margin of 63.7% in the first quarter of 2024 and 60.6% in the second quarter of 2023.
  • Non-GAAP gross margin of 65.4%, compared to non-GAAP gross margin of 64.2% in the first quarter of 2024 and 61.3% in the second quarter of 2023.
  • GAAP net income of $665.4 million, or $2.08 per diluted share, compared to GAAP net income of $491.9 million, or $1.55 per diluted share in the second quarter of 2023.
  • Non-GAAP net income of $672.6 million, or $2.10 per diluted share, compared to non-GAAP net income of $501.2 million, or $1.58 per diluted share in the second quarter of 2023.

“On the heels of our June celebration of 10 years as a public company, I would again like to thank our customers, employees and partners for contributing to our success as we arrived at this important milestone,” said Jayshree Ullal, Chairperson and CEO of Arista Networks. “Our Q2 2024 financial results demonstrate Arista's powerful combination of growth, profitability and best of breed platforms.”



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Dell'Oro: Campus Switch Revenues to Plunge in 2024

Campus Switch sales hit a stratospheric high in 2023 but are expected to come sharply back down to earth in 2024, contracting by 16 percent, according to a new report fro Dell’Oro Group. The report predictsa 6 percent rebound in Campus Switch revenues in 2025, and then steady growth until 2028.

“Vendors backlogs are now normalized,” said Siân Morgan, Research Director at Dell’Oro Group. “Manufacturers are back to generating new demand instead of relying on backlogged orders for revenues.

“The Campus Switch market is in a lull, following on from the record levels of revenues experienced in 2023.  However, we expect that digital transformation projects and WLAN upgrades will return the Campus Switch market to growth in 2025.  While we see a risk of IT spending shift to Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the enterprise, the AI revolution will also drive some network upgrades,” added Morgan.

Additional highlights from the Ethernet Switch – Campus 5-Year July 2024 Forecast Report:

  • AIOps features remain pivotal for vendors striving to enhance their competitive positioning in the Campus Switch market. These features will help boost prices between 2024 and 2028.
  • The adoption of 2.5/5.0 Gbps ports, and ports supporting PoE (Power over Ethernet), will be driven by sales of the next generation of WLAN and IoT devices.
  • Hybrid work models being adopted by enterprises will put both downward and upward pressures on Campus Switch spending.
  • The share of Campus Switch revenues from sales to enterprises in China is expected to increase in the period between 2023 and 2028.

https://www.delloro.com/news/campus-switch-revenues-will-plunge-in-2024/