Saturday, March 23, 2019

Renesas’ acquisition of IDT expected to close this week

Renesas and Integrated Device Technology confirmed that they received notification by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) that the investigation of the companies’ proposed merger transaction is complete and that there are no unresolved national security concerns with respect to the transaction.

The companies have already received antitrust clearance decisions from authorities in China, Germany, Hungary, and South Korea. IDT stockholders have previously voted to adopt the merger agreement and approve the transaction at a special meeting of stockholders held on January 15, 2019.

The deal is expected to complete on March 29, 2019.

Renesas to acquire Integrated Device Technology for $6.7 billion

Renesas Electronics Corporation of Japan has agreed to acquire Integrated Device Technology (IDT, NASDAQ: IDTI) for approximately US$6.7 billion (approximately 733.0 billion yen at an exchange rate of 110 yen to the dollar), combing two recognized leaders in embedded processors and analog mixed-signal semiconductors. IDT shares are to be acquired at a price of US$49.00 per share.

IDT, which is based in San Jose, California, is a leading supplier of analog mixed-signal products, including sensors, connectivity and wireless power. Renesas is the leading global supplier of microcontrollers, and a leader in analog & power and SoC products. The acquisition will provide Renesas with analog mixed-signal capabilities in embedded systems, including RF, advanced timing, memory interface & power management, optical interconnect, wireless power, and smart sensors.

The combination of these product lines with Renesas’ advanced MCUs and SoCs and power management ICs enables Renesas to offer comprehensive solutions that support the increasing demand of high data processing performance.

Renesas said it is working to expand its analog solution lineup and to strengthen its kit solution offerings that combine its microcontrollers (MCUs), system-on-chips (SoCs) and analog products. The company's focus domains include: the automotive segment, which is expected to see tremendous growth with autonomous driving and EV/HEV; industrial and infrastructure segments, which are expected to advance with Industry 4.0 and 5G wireless communications, as well as the fast-growing IoT segment.

Zayo to deliver long-haul wavelengths for Cloud Provider

Zayo has been selected leading cloud infrastructure provider to provide long-haul wavelengths connecting a new data center located on the West Coast.

Zayo's solution includes multiple 100G wavelengths, with fully diverse connectivity, meeting the provider’s requirements for highly reliable capacity to support current and future growth.

“Our fiber networks connect directly to the majority of third-party and enterprise-owned data centers, positioning us as the partner of choice for cloud infrastructure providers,” said Jack Waters, president of Zayo Networks and COO. “We look forward to building this important relationship and supporting this customer’s growth and success.”

http://www.zayo.com

Ericsson wins 5G contract with KT

KT is deploying Ericsson to enable the nationwide launch of commercial 5G services in Korea starting early April 2019.

Under this initial commercial contract – the first since Ericsson was selected as a 5G supplier to KT in November 2018 – Ericsson is providing 5G New Radio (NR) hardware and software from Ericsson’s complete 5G platform to cover KT’s 3.5 GHz Non-Standalone (NSA) network. Financial terms were not disclosed.

In addition to immersive media, KT’s 5G commercialization use case plans covers: smart factories; safety; drones; and connected vehicles.

Jinho Choi, Vice President, Access Network Design, KT, says: "Having worked successfully with Ericsson on 4G LTE, we are pleased to continue that partnership to make our 5G ambitions a reality with Ericsson’s leading 5G technology.

“Korea is one of the most competitive and technology-advanced markets in the world. By taking a global lead to enable nationwide commercial 5G services through commercially available 5G smartphones, KT is demonstrating our commitment to our customers and showing how we can drive a global 5G ecosystem where Korea plays a key role.”

Patrick Johansson, Head of Ericsson Korea, says: “We’ve worked with KT for many years to bring the very best mobile user experiences to its customers. Notably on 5G, we worked closely together to show the world what 5G could do during a major global winter sports event in 2018.

Zoom files for IPO - annual sales now top $330 million

Zoom Video Communications filed an S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a proposed initial public offering of its Class A common stock. The company is seeking to list its shares on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “ZM.”

In its S-1, Zoom disclosed annual revenue of $330 million for its fiscal year ended 31-Janauary-2019, up from $151 million the year before, and up from $61 million two years ago. The company was founded in 2011 and is headed by founder, President, and CEO Eric S. Yuan.


Ericsson and SK Telecom team on cloud-native 5G core

Ericsson and SK Telecom signed a three-year MoU to build cloud-native solutions for predictable performance and high availability, enabled by state optimized design and the micro services architecture

Peo Lehto, Head of Solution Line Packet Core at Ericsson, says: “Cloud-native micro-services architecture gives simplified and more granular software life-cycle management, higher degrees of automation, and more robust operations based on common mechanisms like container-based light weight virtualization and orchestration such as Kubernetes.”

Jong-kwan Park, SVP, Head of 5GX Labs, SK Telecom, says: “After the successful launch of 5G NSA network, SK Telecom is preparing to migrate towards 5G SA networks to provide the latest and greatest technology and services to its customers. This joint collaboration with Ericsson on the next generation 5G SA Core and cloud native principles will not only enable us to introduce new services faster while at the same time improve our operational efficiency but also support higher availability through simplified operation.”

Friday, March 22, 2019

Bloomberg: China's Telecoms are cautious on 5G CAPEX, says Jeffries

The three big Chinese telcos so far are cautious in their 5G CAPEX forecasts, says Edison Lee, Head of Telecom Research for Jeffries, in a Bloomberg video.

Meanwhile, the market is looking for increased dividends but the carriers are cautious here as well.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2019-03-22/china-s-telecoms-are-cautious-on-5g-says-jefferies-s-lee-video


Thursday, March 21, 2019

DE-CIX offers 400-GE access to its Frankfurt Exchange

DE-CIX has begun offering 400-GE access technology to its flagship Internet Exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, which handles the highest peak exchange traffic in the world.

DE-CIX first introduced 100-GE access in 2013.

The expansion is being realized on the DE-CIX Apollon platform, which uses Nokia routers as one core component. The 400-GE Nokia line cards are now available in DE-CIX Frankfurt.

DE-CIX said it will make 400-GE available at further DE-CIX locations over time.

“With the introduction of the 400-GE access technology, we once again underscore our claim to be a technology leader,” says Dr. Thomas King, Chief Technology Officer at DE-CIX. “We offer our customers newest generation hardware and a modern, scalable infrastructure, which will also be able to meet all requirements in the future. At the same time, we support the growth of our customers at our worldwide locations with the new technology. Because the more data traffic they can exchange over us, the more the investment in our services will pay off.”

“We have happily served DE-CIX for over six years with our cutting-edge equipment,” says Ken Kutzler, Vice President of Nokia’s IP Routing Hardware business. “Our routing R&D is heavily driven by the fast-growing, high-quality throughput demands of customers like DE-CIX.  Nokia is proud to be their partner and to help enable its first 400GE peering ports. Powered by the Nokia FP4 Chipset, DE-CIX can continue to expect deterministic loss-less performance, smooth operations and seamless upgrades as we move together into the future.”

Colt employs Cisco segment routing and eVPNs for 5G backhaul

Colt will deploy Cisco’s segment routing and Ethernet VPN (eVPN) based architecture to deliver its wholesale 5G backhaul.

Colt said that by allowing MSPs to share connectivity costs while maintaining individual service level agreements (SLAs), its 5G backhaul will help its MSP customers deliver 5G services to end-users faster and with lower subscription costs.

“We are focused on providing best-in-class, high bandwidth, on-demand connectivity solutions to meet our customers’ ever-growing business needs and the arrival of 5G presents exciting opportunities,” said Peter Coppens, Vice President, Product Portfolio at Colt. “We have worked closely with Cisco to design a network architecture that is simple to operate, highly available, and capable of delivering the innovative network services that are required for 5G.”

Cisco’s programmable-routing architecture for advanced 5G service enablement will enable the Colt IQ Network to be extended to customers directly using standards-based APIs. The companies describe this as a breakthrough in automation for next-generation 5G backhaul requirements, enabling self-provisioned bandwidth scaling and guaranteed SLA services or network slices based on latency and bandwidth demands.

“With every new mobile technology comes complexity, and 5G is no different. We are proud to support Colt as a strategic partner in its mission to simplify 5G deployments,” said  Sumeet Arora, SVP and GM Service Provider RoutingCisco. “Cisco’s highly programmable segment routing architecture will enable Colt to lower the barriers of entry for MSPs, reducing costs and significantly speeding up the delivery of 5G services.”

Source Photonics inaugurates fab in Jintan, China

Source Photonics inaugurated its new fabrication facility in Jintan, China.

The new Jintan facility will double Source Photonics’ capacity of Indium Phosphide (InP) lasers and related components. The fabrication plant includes a fully integrated laser chip production capability, high-precision TO operations, and an advanced R&D facility to support the company’s global technology roadmap and regional customers. Its chip capabilities include base wafer, regrowth, and chip processing, while its TO operations will support the advanced requirements emerging for high-speed PON and 5G markets.

The Jintan facility augments the company’s existing fab in Hsinchu in Taiwan, which has itself doubled its output over the past three years. Recent investments in the Taiwan facility include significant expansion in MOCVD and advanced coating technologies. The Taiwan facility also recently completed expansions to support transceiver assembly in support of customers’ demands for resiliency in their supply chains. Source Photonics said its manufacturing prowess is a key advantage in the optical communications industry in which a majority of manufacturers are fabless.

“These new investments support our integrated manufacturing approach which is critical to meeting the ever-growing needs of our customers” said Doug Wright, CEO. “Managing the entire value chain from laser production through transceiver assembly gives SP differentiated capability that enhances speed to market, yields manufacturing innovations, and offers flexibility our customers demand”.

http://www.sourcephotonics.com



3M intros Expanded Beam Ferrule and Connector System

Earlier this month, 3M introduced an Expanded Beam Optical Connector System for single mode and multimode interconnects in next-gen data centers.

“We’ve reimagined fiber optic connectors,” said Nick Stacey, Ph.D., global laboratory manager at 3M. “Our ferrule and connector technology is designed to reduce cleaning requirements, to provide design flexibility and to enable the performance necessary for next-generation optical deployment.”

The 3M Expanded Beam Optical Ferrule uses a non-contact optical coupling in contrast to the more traditional physical contact methods. Together with the connector design, this helps to provide reduced sensitivity to dust, helping maintain signal integrity, and reducing the need for, and cost of, maintenance and cleaning.

It is available in single mode (1310 nm) and multimode (850 nm) versions. In single mode, insertion loss specification is <0 .70="" and="" db="" is="" loss="" return="">55 dB. In multimode, insertion loss specification is <0 .30="" and="" db="" is="" loss="" return="">25 dB. The configurable and scalable connector design can accommodate anywhere from 12 fibers to 192 fibers. The simple, but robust hermaphroditic component geometry design, with low part count, can be mated and re-mated reliably with a simple LC-style latch. The performance enables architects and engineers to deploy the technology in multilink data center applications.

http://www.3M.com

Comcast launches streaming service for its Internet-only customers

Comcast launched Xfinity Flex, a new service that provides its Xfinity Internet-only customers the ability to use their television and voice control to manage all of the connected devices in their home.

Xfinity Flex offers more than 10,000 online movies and TV shows—including live streaming TV—from ESPN3, Xumo, Pluto, Tubi TV, Cheddar, YouTube, etc. The Xfinity Flex box features an integrated guide and voice control, enabling customers to easily browse and access programming across apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO, and Showtime, rent and purchase movies and shows from the digital store, access their digital lockers across platforms by pairing their account with Movies Anywhere, or listen to music from Pandora, iHeartRadio, and XITE. And

“Xfinity Flex will deepen our relationship with a certain segment of our Internet customers and provide them with real value,” said Matt Strauss, Executive Vice President, Xfinity Services for Comcast Cable. “For just five dollars a month, we can offer these customers an affordable, flexible, and differentiated platform that includes thousands of free movies and shows for online streaming, an integrated guide for accessing their favorite apps and connected home devices, and the ease of navigating and managing all of it with our voice remote.”

T-Mobile US tests LTE fixed broadband service

T-Mobile US is piloting a fixed Internet home service delivered over its LTE network.

T-Mobile is inviting a limited group of T-Mobile customers in rural and underserved to test the service.

The T-Mobile Home Internet fixed service expects to deliver speeds of around 50 Mbps. The pilot service is priced at $50 per month and has no data cap.

T-Mobile said that due to LTE network and spectrum capacity constraints, the pilot is limited by invitation-only to existing customers in specific areas, with the goal of reaching 50,000 households by the end of the year – or slightly less than 0.04% of U.S. households.

If T-Mobile’s pending merger with Sprint is approved, the company said the New T-Mobile will cover more than half of U.S. households with 5G broadband service – in excess of 100 Mbps – by 2024.

“Two weeks ago, I laid out our plans for home broadband with the New T-Mobile. Now, we’re already hard at work building toward that future,” said John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile. “We’re walking the walk and laying the foundation for a world where we can take the fight to Big Cable on behalf of consumers and offer real choice, competition and savings to Americans nationwide.”

Broadcom samples Automotive Multilayer Ethernet Switches

Broadcom has begun sampling a new family of automotive multilayer Ethernet switches designed for time-sensitive networking (TSN) requirements of autonomous and connected vehicles. In addition, Broadcom has begun shipping production quantities of its automotive 1000BASE-T1 PHY transceiver device for Gigabit Ethernet on single-pair UTP cables for in-car networking applications.

Broadcom said its new BCM8956X switches, which are offered in various port configurations with and with integrated 100BASE-T1 and 1000BASE-T1 PHYs, allow customers to have scalable and cost-effective designs for automotive gateway, ADAS and infotainment applications.

The integrated PCIe interface provides high bandwidth connectivity to the host processor, while the on-chip Layer 3 flow accelerator offloads the host processor from compute-intensive routing operations. Furthermore, the BCM8956X is packed with advanced multilevel security features including dedicated hardware security module (HSM) block for line rate encryption, L2 anti-hack, deep packet inspection, and intrusion prevention reporting.

Broadcom's BCM8988X is a 1000BASE-T1 PHY with integrated BroadR-Secure functionality, which authenticates each packet transmitted and received on either end of the link using secure keys. The company said its BCM8988X has undergone rigorous IEEE 802.3bp compliance testing by the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL). The device has passed critical IEEE 802.3bp PHY compliance requirements test for which Broadcom is sharing the test reports with its lead customers. The BCM8988x 1000BASE-T1 PHY incorporates DSP and AFE technology, enabling superior EMC and EMI performance, fast link-up time, low power consumption and robust signal integrity over UTP cables.

"With the availability of Broadcom’s industry leading secure multilayer switch and Gigabit PHY, automotive manufacturers can now design and build a gamut of Gigabit Ethernet systems to address high speed secure networking applications,” said Ali Abaye, senior director of marketing for the Physical Layer Products Division at Broadcom. “As vehicles become increasingly advanced, Broadcom continues to spearhead high speed Automotive Ethernet developments to support secure networks to proliferate new applications such as 5G, artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous driving."

https://www.broadcom.com/company/news/product-releases/2392007

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Video: Consortium for On-Board Optics -- OFC tour with Brad Booth


Brad Booth takes us on a tour of the OFC 2019 demonstration conducted by the Consortium For On-Board Optics.

The COBO booth featured for the first time a 14 vendor ecosystem of COBO compliant products, including the world's only 12.6T Switch with multiple optical connectors.

https://youtu.be/lRQk9idtdNg



SK Telecom applies Quantum Cryptography to network security

SK Telecom has applied a Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG) developed by ID Quantique of Switzerland to its 5G authentication center (AuC). QRNG is a device that constantly generates “quantum random numbers,” which creates strong keys that are not biased and cannot be predicted. SK Telecom said it plans to apply the same quantum random number technique to its 4G network as well.

Next month, SK Telecom will also apply ID Quantique’s Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) technology to the Seoul-Daejeon section – the most data traffic-concentrated section in Korea - of its 5G and LTE networks, to strengthen the security of 5G and LTE data transmission and reception. QKD provides ultimate cryptographic security based on the laws of quantum mechanics. It enables two parties to produce a shared random secret key known only to them, which can then be used to encrypt and decrypt messages.

SK Telecom invested US$65 million in ID Quantique in February 2018.

SK Telecom also noted its pivotal role in global standardization of QKD and QRNG technologies at ITU-T. In February 2019, SK Telecom’s two new technologies related to QKD have been selected as work items by ITU-T’s Study Group 17 (SG17), which coordinates security-related work across all ITU-T Study Groups. Combining these two work items with the two on-going work items on QKD and QRNG technologies it proposed in July 2018, SK Telecom is currently leading a total of four meaningful work items in SG 17. In addition, Sim Dong-hi, a delegate from SK Telecom,  is serving as associate-rapporteur on quantum technology in SG17.

“As security emerges as one of the most important issues in the 5G era, SK Telecom is determined to provide the most secure 5G network and focus on expanding the ecosystem by developing quantum cryptography technologies,” said Park Jin-hyo, the Chief Technology Officer of SK Telecom.

SK Telecom's Mobile Edge Computing box cuts 5G latency a further 60%

SK Telecom has disclosed that its custom Mobile Edge Computing Open Platform cuts latency by up to 60% when deployed at a 5G base station. 

The carrier says Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) technology will be widely used for services that require ultra-low latency such as AR/VR services, cloud gaming services, autonomous driving & fleet management, real-time live broadcasting.

SK Telecom also plans to open its 5G MEC Platform to allow its enterprise customers to offer related services. The company will provide open Application Programming Interfaces to enable companies to easily develop MEC-based 5G services. Through APIs, developers will be provided with diverse data and functions.

“By opening up the ‘5G Mobile Edge Computing Platform’, SK Telecom will secure the basis for expanding the MEC-related ecosystem and accelerating the release of 5G services,” said Park Jin-hyo, Chief Technology Officer of SK Telecom. “SK Telecom will join hands with diverse companies throughout the globe to boost the adoption of MEC-based services.”

Deutsche Telekom's MobiledgeX venture aligns with SK Telecom

by James E. Carroll

MobiledgeX, the independent mobile edge computing provider founded by Deutsche Telekom, announced an agreement with SK Telecom to enable a new generation of connected devices, content and experiences, creating new business models and revenue opportunities leading into 5G.

MobiledgeX is focused on delivering developer-facing edge cloud services and bringing mobility to those services, dynamically placing application back-end as close to mobile devices as possible and removing them when not needed. MobiledgeX, Deutsche Telekom and Intel have partnered with Telecom Infra Project (TIP) to form an Edge Application Developer project group to ensure the gained insights and supporting source code are available to all.

Deutsche Telekom created MobiledgeX as an independent company to drive strategic collaboration across the world’s leading telecoms, public cloud providers, device makers and the surrounding ecosystem - enabling a new era of business models, operating efficiencies and mobile experiences. We are particularly excited to announce SK Telecom’s participation in this collaborative ecosystem where everybody wins. SK Telecom is a global leader in 5G which follows their rich tradition of innovation within their network, strategic partnerships and developer engagement. This new era is underway,” says Eric Braun, Chief Commercial Officer of MobiledgeX.

SK Telecom and Samsung hit 2.65 Gbps with 4G+5G dual connectivity

SK Telecom and Samsung Electronics completed a network device interoperability test based on Dual Connectivity technology that used both 4G and 5G networks provided by Samsung's Networks Business.

The test, which was carried out at Samsung Electronics located in Suwon, Korea, used Samsung's commercial 4G and 5G NR end-to-end networks solutions which have been provided to the operator's current service. In addition, companies used Samsung's virtual core (vCore) that supports simultaneous 4G and 5G as well as its Galaxy S10 5G, Samsung's first 5G smartphone which was unveiled last month.

During the test, both companies have successfully achieved 2.65Gbps in data speeds on the 5G smartphone, combining both 1.5Gbps in 5G using 3.5GHz frequency (100MHz bandwidth) with 1.15Gbps in LTE using 1.8GHz, 2.1GHz, and 2.6GHz frequencies (65MHz bandwidth) all of which are for commercial use by SK Telecom.

SK Telecom calculates that it will be able to boost the overall transmission data speed by 80% by leveraging the 4G and 5G dual connectivity.

Dual connectivity is also known as 'E-UTRAN New Radio Dual Connectivity (EN-DC)' based on the 3GPP 5G New Radio (NR) standard.

https://www.samsung.com/global/business/networks/insights/news/sk-telecom-and-samsung-completed-4g-5g-network-dual-connectivity-test-achieving-265gbps/

Orange migrates LH network to photonic control plane from Nokia

Orange has completed the migration of the Orange Long-Distance network to a new photonic control plane developed by Nokia.

Orange says the migration, which involved distributing network intelligence to different equipment, was implemented successfully without any impact on Orange’s customers, after several months of preparation. During this time, the entire long-distance network (over 18,000 km and 330 nodes), was simulated.

Orange’s French, European and Asian networks are underpinned by the Nokia 1830 PSS WDM platform, which can transport up to 20 Tbps over long-haul distances. These platforms have now been switched to software-managed operations, allowing the deployment of on-demand activation services and automatic recovery control via Artificial Intelligence technologies if there is an outage.

Jean-Luc Vuillemin, Executive Vice President Orange International Networks Infrastructures & Services, explains: “This progress is a major step in the development of our transmission network, towards quicker and more flexible production of transmission links, automation and the creation of new added-value services for our customers. Orange continues to invest in ultra high-speed infrastructure development to support the development of new uses, such as multimedia content, social networks or the cloud, and to ensure the quality of transmissions whilst controlling costs.”

Sam Bucci, Nokia stated: “The Orange and Nokia teams pooled their skills to respond to growing capacity and time to market challenges. One of the key steps was migration of the existing network software to the control plane, a carefully prepared operation orchestrated by our European teams, with the support and supervision of Orange experts. Our teams continue to work towards greater network automation, which will soon allow Orange customers to access services on demand via a dedicated and secure web portal.”

CBRS Alliance to support for 5G spectrum sharing in the 3.5GHz band

The CBRS Alliance, which is the industry organization focused on driving the development, commercialization, and adoption of "OnGo" shared spectrum solutions, is working on a new release of specifications that will support OnGo over 5G. Specifically, CBRS Alliance Release 3 will address support for 5G deployments using shared spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band.

The new specifications from the CBRS Alliance will complement 5G New Radio (5G NR), the new air interface developed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to support the wide variety of 5G services, devices, and deployments. The latest release of 5G NR is expected to support operations in Band 48 and will improve the performance, flexibility, scalability and efficiency of mobile networks while enabling industries to get the most out of the available spectrum.

“Utilizing the CBRS band can be a key enabler for making 5G deployments possible. The Alliance is hard at work developing technical specifications to ensure that OnGo supports 5G applications as seamlessly as traditional LTE services,” said Gary Boudreau, Chair of the CBRS Alliance’s Technical Working Group. “The specifications in development include addressing coexistence requirements to ensure seamless interoperability between LTE and 5G NR in and out of Band 48, certificate-based authentication, and more.”

Completion of Release 3 by the CBRS Alliance is expected to conclude in Q4 2019, enabling OnGo 5G service availability in 2020.

https://www.cbrsalliance.org/

DOCOMO targets 5G game streaming in Japan

NTT DOCOMO announced an equity investment in cloud gaming pioneer Hatch Entertainment Ltd, provider of the world's first made-for-5G game streaming service in Finland.

DOCOMO has begun supporting Hatch's game streaming service in Japan, effective February 13.

Hatch currently streams rich, full-featured games over Wi-Fi or 4G networks in the Nordic countries plus the UK and Ireland. Hatch offers more than 100 games that are ready to play instantly, requiring no download, in-game paywall or costly specialized hardware. Users simply download Hatch's application from Google Play to their device to use the service for a flat monthly fee of JPY 550 (tax included).

Under the DOCOMO-Hatch partnership, customers in Japan will log into Hatch with their DOCOMO d ACCOUNTTM to play games and challenge other gamers on global leaderboards. Hatch games will also be available via the DOCOMO TV Terminal set-top box device that customers control with their smartphones.

Going forward, DOCOMO and Hatch plans to leverage the extra-high-speed, large-capacity, low-latency and massive-device connectivity of 5G for gaming. DOCOMO plans to launch its commercial 5G service in 2020.