SEC charges AT&T with disclosing insider information

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged AT&T and three of its Investor Relations executives with selectively disclosing material nonpublic information to research analysts.

According to the SEC's complaint, the disclosure of insider information occurred in in March 2016 when AT&T became aware that a steeper-than-expected decline in its first quarter smartphone sales would cause AT&T's revenue to fall short of analysts' estimates for the quarter. 

The SEC is charging AT&T Investor Relations executives Christopher Womack, Michael Black, and Kent Evans with making private, one-on-one phone calls to analysts at approximately 20 separate firms. The complaint further alleges that as a result of what they were told on these calls, the analysts substantially reduced their revenue forecasts, leading to the overall consensus revenue estimate falling to just below the level that AT&T ultimately reported to the public on April 26, 2016.

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2021-43 

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DZS acquires RIFT.io for network orchestration

DZS has acquired RIFT, a start-up based in Chelmsford, Massachusettes developing network orchestration and automation solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The carrier-grade RIFT.ware software platform aims to simplify the deployment of any slice, service or application on any cloud. 

“The trend toward cloud and open software solutions is undeniable, and with the acquisition of RIFT, DZS accelerates its vision and strategy to deliver and manage intelligent network and processing functions at the network edge,” said Charlie Vogt, President and CEO of DZS. “With our recent Optelian acquisition, the introduction of our DZS Chronos and DZS Velocity portfolios for broadband access and mobile transport powered by sdNOS (the DZS SDN-enabled Network Operating System), and now the introduction of DZS Cloud, our company is more aligned than ever with software-defined, network virtualization and cloud-native automation solutions. The transaction adds a software development center in Bangalore, India and a product operations center in Boston, Massachusetts. DZS Cloud will enable us to deliver differentiated stand-alone and end-to-end cloud-based solutions designed to increase ARPU, lower churn, streamline operations and optimize service provider and enterprise networks.”

The acquired company will complement DZS sdNOS embedded development teams and will enhance DZS mobile transport, broadband access and connected premises solutions by enabling the development and deployment of end-to-end services, networking and applications – including OpenRAN or vRAN VNFs and CNFs, 5G network slicing, FTTx network orchestration, enterprise oriented universal customer premises equipment (uCPE) or SD-WAN solutions. 

“As the access domain shifts to software, global operators are seeking trusted partners to support their digital transformation journey,” said Noel Charath, Senior Vice President of DZS Cloud Operations. “Charlie’s vision for DZS, the company’s trusted position as a partner of choice behind next generation wireline and wireless networks, and their investments in cloud innovation ensures that the vision we had at RIFT will continue to be advanced and expanded through DZS Cloud. With some of the most innovative and advanced carriers in the world already DZS customers, we expect to find fertile ground among these operators to leverage the DZS Cloud platform to monetize their 5G and fixed network investments with high value enterprise services, private wireless / 5G as a service, Network-as-a-Service (NaaS), and SD-WAN through SDN and NFV automation.”

https://www.dzsi.com

DZS acquires Optelian for optical transport solutions

Wednesday, January 20, 2021  DZS, Mergers And Acquisitions  

DZS, formerly DASAN Zhone Solutions, agreed to acquire Optelian, a leading optical networking solution provider based in Ottawa. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Optelian's solutions range from simple, easily deployed D/CWDM passive-optical devices to complex networks with multi-degree ROADMs. The Optelian solutions have completed the Telcordia OSMINE certification process required for deployment by Tier 1 service providers in North America The company was founded in 2002.

DZS said the Optelian portfolio will form a new DZS “O-series” product line that will enhance the DZS Mobile Transport portfolio with environmentally hardened optical transport products optimized for mobile backhaul. Optelian’s optical transport solutions will complement DZS’s market-leading 4G / 5G xHaul Mobile Transport portfolio that are currently deployed in five Tier 1 mobile networks. The new line-up of optical transport products will also add metro and regional aggregation and transport options for Broadband Access solutions. In addition to intellectual property and products, the transaction will bolster DZS R&D, operations, sales and corporate functions.

“After joining DZS in August of 2020, we established a playbook that began with the best talent, and quickly transitioned to technology, innovation and marquee customers around the world,” said Charlie Vogt, CEO of DZS. “The acquisition of Optelian will uniquely distinguish us from the traditional Edge Access Mobile and Broadband suppliers and accelerate our path forward with Tier 1 service providers in North America. I am pleased at the prospect of welcoming the Optelian employees to DZS, a team that will bring unique North America development and integration experience in the areas of ultra-high speed coherent optics and environmentally hardened transport solutions.”

"Optelian is thrilled by the prospect of becoming part of a global leader like DZS, and feel that our innovative products and employees will be a great complement to their winning culture and world-class solutions,” said David Weymouth, CEO of Optelian. ”Our customers will clearly benefit from the inclusion of our products in a much broader solutions portfolio that includes complementary Mobile Transport and Broadband Access technologies, as well as Customer Premises equipment. We believe that the vision and direction that Charlie and team have established for DZS is poised to make waves in the industry, and it will be exciting to now be a catalyst to that growth and transformation.”   

https://dzsi.com/

• DZS, which is headquartered in Plano, Texas, announced a major rebranding in August 2020. Additionally, the company outlined its going forward vision and strategy under the direction of newly appointed President and CEO Charlie Vogt, and unveiled a new DZS logo. The new DZS management team includes: 
• Tom Cancro, Chief Financial Officer – former GE and Verizon 
• Andrew Bender, Chief Technology Officer – former VMWare, Hewlett Packard, NEC 
• Daniel Won, Chief Product Officer – former DASAN Networks, LG and Cisco 
• Jay Hilbert, EVP, Americas, Europe, Middle East/Africa (AEMEA) Sales – former Nokia, Commscope, Cambium and Rignet 
• Bill Ko, EVP, Asia Sales – former Active Video, ARRIS Group 
• Geoff Burke, Chief Marketing Officer – former Calix, Motorola/Next Level and Broadband Forum 
• Keith Nauman, SVP of Global Services – former AT&T

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Video: Charlie Vogt discusses acquisition of RIFT.io

Charlie Vogt, President and CEO of DZS, talks about the network orchestration and software automation capabilities gained through the acquisition of RIFT, a start-up based in Chelmsford, MA.

RIFT.ware is an ETSI-compliant NFV MANO solution and commercial distribution of ETSI Open Source MANO (OSM) that radically simplifies the deployment of multi-vendor VNFs and orchestration of complex, multi-vendor network services in carrier and enterprise clouds. 

https://youtu.be/WCCHM6GtyDA

The capabilities will enhance DZS mobile transport, broadband access and connected premises solutions by enabling the development and deployment of end-to-end services, networking and applications – including OpenRAN or vRAN VNFs and CNFs, 5G network slicing, FTTx network orchestration, enterprise oriented universal customer premises equipment (uCPE) or SD-WAN solutions.

Download the 2021 Telco Infrastructure Report here: http://ngi.how/telco-2021

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T-Mobile US launches 5G-powered business services

 T-Mobile US introduced three business services powered by its national 5G network.

The new T-Mobile WFX includes: 

• T-Mobile Enterprise Unlimited, wireless plans with unlimited 5G on T-Mobile’s network for the same price as pooled rate plans from competitors 
• T-Mobile Home Office Internet, home broadband delivered over the 5G network. The service uses a dedicated router that prioritizes access to employee devices and filters non-business content. At launch, T-Mobile Home Office Internet will cover more than 60 million households, close to half of all homes in America, with plans to cover more than 90 million households by 2025.
• T-Mobile Collaborate, a suite of mobile-first, cloud-based tools for business calling, messaging and conferencing from virtually any device, anywhere. The cloud-based service can replace legacy PBX systems. A built-in AI assistant to take notes and follow up on action items. It also offers built-in integration with leading workplace apps including Microsoft 365. T-Mobile Collaborate is powered by Dialpad.

“The pandemic pushed the fast forward button on the future of work, giving us a decade’s worth of progress in a year’s time. And it’s clear that work will never be the same,” said Mike Sievert, T-Mobile CEO. “Tomorrow’s workplace won’t be anything like the old work from office (WFO) world, and it won’t be like today’s work from home (WFH) world. It’ll be something new: the work from anywhere (WFX) world. And T-Mobile WFX and our 5G network arrive at the right time to help businesses meet this moment head on … and come out the other side stronger.”

“The old Carriers are still using their 91% market share to feed business and government a very expensive starvation diet of old technologies, old plans and hidden fees,” said Mike Katz, executive vice president of T-Mobile for Business. “With T-Mobile WFX a 5G network that is faster and covers more area than AT&T and Verizon, we’re on a mission to loosen the Carriers’ death grip on enterprise customers, so we’re bringing that same disruptive, customer-first approach that made the Un-carrier the fastest-growing, most-loved consumer wireless company over the past seven years and counting.”

https://www.t-mobile.com/business/solutions/work-from-anywhere?cmpid=TFB_SEA_P_TFBWFXSOL_FOOACRJDR5TQ4N2663190

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TIP establishes 5G Private Networks Solution Group

The Telecom Infra Project (TIP) has established a 5G Private Networks solutions group to develop a new approach to manage and operate 5G Private Networks based on a cloud-native architecture and making use of a new class of software management tool. In particular, the new Solution Group will leverage previous work contributed to TIP’s OpenRAN Project Group, on a first version of a CI/CD platform that applies traditional IT methodologies to automate integration, testing and deployment of OpenRAN software.

Telefónica has agreed to test the solution in their local TIP Community Lab in Madrid and then move to field trials in Málaga (Spain).

Juan Carlos Garcia, SVP Technology Innovation & Ecosystem, Telefónica, and TIP Board Director said: “This new solution group will enable operators to address the exciting opportunities that 5G is creating in the enterprise segment, both through valuable features for our customers and more efficient network operations. The TIP community is the perfect environment for this innovation, as it will allow us to leverage multiple current project groups (Open Core Networks, OpenRAN) to deliver an end-to-end Minimum Viable Product that we will then test in Telefonica’s TIP Community Lab.”

Ihab Tarazi, CTO and SVP, Networking and Solutions, Dell Technologies and TIP Board Director, said: “For open networks to deliver their benefits, the telecom industry needs an abstraction layer that helps integrate different components into end-to-end solutions. New software management tools based on the ones currently used for the cloud can address this need, and this Solution Group is a timely initiative for the industry to collaborate on making this happen.”

Caroline Chan, VP and GM Network Business Incubation Division, Intel and TIP Board Director, said: “Through the recently launched solution groups, TIP is expanding its scope to include the validation of interoperability between different elements across the whole network, and insights and recommendations about how to operate them. The new 5G Private Networks Solution Group is a strong example of this approach. With dedicated local private high-performance network connectivity as a key emerging deployment model for 5G and edge buildout, this group can help foster important ecosystem collaboration.”

https://telecominfraproject.com/5g-private-networks/

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Australia's VicTrack deploys ADVA FSP 3000 for rail transport

VicTrack has deployed the ADVA FSP 3000 for a new Transport and Government Secure Network (TGSN) serving the state of Victoria.

The flexible and fully redundant ROADM network enables railway operators to harness next-generation signaling technologies and provides high-speed connectivity for government agencies.  VicTrack will also be able to offer highly reliable and cost-efficient wholesale services at 10 Gbps and 100 Gbps. 

Built on ADVA’s FSP 3000 platform, VicTrack’s TGSN is initially a 45-node meshed architecture with links across metro and regional Victoria. Featuring 96 channel filters, the new infrastructure provides a flexible mix of 10 Gbps and 100 Gbps services as well as any-to-any connectivity for seamless, simple and secure communication.

“Upgrading our backbone network with ADVA’s FSP 3000 technology enables us to keep pace with Victoria’s growing transport needs. Our new high-capacity infrastructure empowers us to support mission-critical rail operations, including operational communications, signaling, and video surveillance. And, with so much extra capacity, we can now offer carrier-grade wholesale services to other service providers,” said Andrew Peel, group manager commercial, telecommunications group, VicTrack. “We’re also excited by the platform’s inbuilt scalability. With a solution ready to expand to 600 Gbps, we can plan to exploit new network technologies as they become available and expand services according to demand. Our customers and stakeholders will reap the benefits of this next-gen optical network for many years to come.”

“With the scale and openness of our FSP 3000 solution, VicTrack can be confident that it will have a highly efficient and secure transport system ready for emerging challenges and technologies for many years to come. The new TGSN network will provide vital opportunities for rail operators, government agencies and businesses across the state of Victoria. With its speed, flexibility and increased reliability, it will enable users to find new efficiencies and leverage the latest innovation,” commented Erik Lindberg, VP, sales, APAC, ADVA. “Throughout this deployment, we’ve given VicTrack’s team our close support. And, by taking advantage of our professional services, they’re ensuring that their stakeholders receive consistent quality of experience with a network running at peak performance all along its lifecycle.”

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Equinix expands bare metal service to 18 metros

Equinix has expanded its bare metal service to 18 global metros including in the Americas (Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, São Paulo, Silicon Valley, Toronto and Washington, D.C.); in EMEA (Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Madrid and Paris); and in Asia-Pacific (Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo).

Equinix Metal is an automated, interconnected and secure bare metal service that applies a developer and API-first mindset to foundational infrastructure and provides a fully automated way for digital businesses to access the value of Platform Equinix via its leading collection of DevOps and open-source integrations.

The company is also rolling out the following new features:

Managed Appliance as a Service Solutions – Introducing a range of as a Service partner infrastructure solutions on the Equinix platform, the new managed appliance capability of Equinix Metal enables OEM, storage, hybrid cloud, hyperconverged and other specialty hardware vendors to deliver fully operated, as a Service solutions that are seamlessly interconnected to the Platform Equinix ecosystem. These include an expanded collaboration with Dell Technologies to offer Bare Metal as a Service on Dell Technologies and Pure Storage on Equinix Metal. Equinix intends to launch a series of these solutions that are non-exclusive and can include multiple providers from its ecosystem in each solution category. These fully operated partner solutions complement Equinix's existing interconnection, networking and compute services to offer an expanded choice of Infrastructure as a Service solutions to its more than 10,000 customers worldwide.

Advanced Networking with Equinix Fabric Integration – The Equinix Metal platform now supports the full portfolio of Equinix Fabric integration options including port speeds up to 100G. With native integration to Equinix Fabric, Equinix Metal customers can quickly and securely connect to the more than 10,000 networks, enterprises, clouds and SaaS platforms available on Platform Equinix via low-latency, private interconnection. A new "hybrid bonded" network mode has also been added for high availability in hybrid cloud environments. Additionally, customers can leverage Equinix Network Edge to quickly add branded virtual network services to their environments.

Software Integrations – New native integrations from leading software vendors are now available on Equinix Metal to support hybrid multicloud infrastructures, including Mirantis Container Cloud, which delivers as a Service containers and infrastructure using Kubernetes or OpenStack, and the Cohesity Helios multicloud data platform.

https://www.equinix.com/newsroom/press-releases/pr/124124/Equinix-Metal-Expansion-Equips-Digital-Leaders-to-Harness-Physical-Infrastructure-at-Software-Speed/

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Equinix plans data center in Bordeaux, France

 Equinix announced plans for its first data center in Bordeaux, France, in Q3 2021. 

The new BX1 facility, which will have direct fiber links to Equinix's International Business Exchange sites in Paris, will provide a landing hub for the new submarine cable, AMITIE, due to link France to the United States and Great Britain. BX1 will be the first carrier-neutral data center in Bordeaux. The site is due to provide colocation space of approximately 32,000 square feet (3,000 square meters). It is being built in line with global environmental standards and will contribute to a portfolio of some of the most energy-efficient data centers in the world. Indeed, BX1 is due to utilize 100% renewable energy, with the decoupled energy platform supporting multiple power sources while providing greener energy storage and greater resilience. 

 

Strategically located in the southwest of France, near the Atlantic coast, Bordeaux is establishing itself as a new hub on the map of global connectivity. 

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Ciena posts Q1 revenue of $757 million, down 9% yoy

 Ciena reported revenue of $757.1 million for its fiscal first quarter ended January 30, 2021, down from $832.9 million for the fiscal first quarter 2020. Ciena's adjusted (non-GAAP) net income for the fiscal first quarter 2021 was $81.3 million, or $0.52 per diluted common share, which compares to an adjusted (non-GAAP) net income of $81.7 million, or $0.52 per diluted common share, for the fiscal first quarter 2020.

Some highlights

Q1 Revenue by geography

• Americas $496.6 million, down from $574.0 million a year earlier
• Europe, Middle East and Africa $155.4 million, up from $130.0 million a year earlier
• 
  Asia Pacific $105.1 million, up from $128.9 million a year earlier 

• Non-telco represented 39% of total revenue
• Direct web-scale increased 25% YoY, representing over 20% of total revenue
• EMEA revenue increased 20% YoY, representing nearly 21% of total revenue
• Blue Planet revenue increased 10% YoY, reaching over $16MA
• GAAP R&D investment was over 17% of total revenue 
• 627 100G+ total customers, which includes 39 new wins on WaveLogic Ai and 14 new wins on WaveLogic 5 Extreme
• WL5e has now shipped to over 75 customers, all of whom are actively deploying the technology in their networks
• No customer represented more than 10% of revenue for the fiscal quarter
• Cash and investments totaled $1.3 billion
• Headcount totaled 7,042

"We delivered solid revenue and profitability in the first fiscal quarter in the face of continued challenging market conditions and a dynamic industry environment," said Gary Smith, president and CEO of Ciena. "Our strong market position has enabled us to start the year largely as expected, and we are leveraging our innovation leadership and competitive advantage to deliver on our long-term growth opportunities."

https://investor.ciena.com/news/press-release-details/2021/Ciena-Reports-Fiscal-First-Quarter-2021-Financial-Results/default.aspx

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Broadcom posts revenue of $6.6 billion, up 14% yoy

Broadcom posted revenue of $6,655 million for its first quarter of fiscal year 2021, up 14 percent from the prior year period. GAAP diluted EPS was $3.05 for the first quarter.

"We executed well during our first fiscal quarter driving 14% organic growth year on year," said Hock Tan, President and CEO of Broadcom Inc. "This growth reflects the critical role our technology franchises play in this environment of accelerated digital transformation."

"This quarter highlights the strength of our financial model with 14% year over year revenue growth translating to an increase in operating profit of 23%," said Kirsten Spears, CFO of Broadcom Inc. "We continue to deliver strong free cash flow, approximately $3 billion in the quarter, representing 35% growth on a year on year basis."

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DISH picks Amdocs’ for 5G billing

DISH Network has chosen Amdocs’ cloud-based billing system, Optima, to support enterprise and wholesale customers on its upcoming 5G network.

"Amdocs Optima is a cloud-based platform that has the flexibility to support our 5G needs and can scale to support enterprise and wholesale customers," said Atilla Tinic, Chief Information Officer, DISH. "This containerized component within our greater 5G billing architecture will offer us multi-cloud - public or private - deployment flexibility. We’re excited about Optima’s cloud-native roadmap and we look forward to seeing it continue to evolve and align to our business."

"DISH is a true visionary in its 5G rollout plans and we are delighted to help enable them to leverage our cloud-based billing platform," said Anthony Goonetilleke, Group President of Media, Network and Technology, Amdocs. "We are excited to extend this partnership while enabling DISH to deliver innovative 5G use cases and experiences with our Optima platform.

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SpaceX completes 20th Starlink launch mission

 On Thursday, March 4, SpaceX launched 60 more Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch marked the 20th Starlink mission for SpaceX. It was also the eighth launch of this Falcon 9 booster, which previously supported Iridium-8, Telstar 18 VANTAGE, and five Starlink missions.

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Digital Realty's Manifesto: Enabling Connected Data Communities

Digital Realty published a manifesto called "Enabling Connected Data Communities" that offers a collaborative roadmap for interconnection partners to build an "open fabric of fabrics connecting centers of data." The company says its manifesto represents a vision, a solution approach and a call to action to remove legacy barriers across the interconnection industry, and tackle the challenges of data gravity head-on. 

"We are laying out our industry manifesto and a call to action today to remove legacy barriers in the interconnection industry to address data gravity," said Chris Sharp, Chief Technology Officer at Digital Realty. "We look forward to engaging with industry participants as we shape our vision for a fabric of fabrics that will unlock new opportunities and value for all sectors. We will be an industry steward championing this shift and together we can tackle data gravity head-on and build a new era of open, secure and dynamic connected data communities globally."

As outlined in the manifesto, Digital Realty will take the following specific actions to support the industry's transformation to a data-centric architecture:

• Extending the coverage, capacity, connectivity and control capabilities of its PlatformDIGITAL. The idea is for local copies of private, shared and public data sets to be integrated as part of decentralized workflows which originate and traverse across multiple internal and external platforms, with policy enforcement controls, real time analytics and interactive cross-platform orchestration. 
• Developing new native orchestration and native fabric connectivity options to further this industry shift. 
• Integrating the IP and engineering team of Raleigh, NC-based Pureport, adding in-house network software development to support the company's vision of building open, SDN-enabled cross platform orchestration with multiple industry partners. 
• Extending its global partnership with Megaport on its Service Exchange offering, continuing the companies' long-standing collaboration on open orchestration, and aims to accelerate integration with Interxion's Cloud Connect interconnection product in EMEA. 
• Digital Realty will create a native direct network path between its global campuses, offering new industrialized multi-path options in collaboration with industry-leading partners.

Digital Realty also noted that over the last year, it has seen the uptake of virtual interconnection increase by 27% for its Service Exchange offering and 46% for its Cloud Connect product across Digital Realty's global portfolio of over 290 data centers, as the company expanded coverage from 36 metros in 2019 to now cover 49 metros and increased its presence from 15 countries to now address 24 countries globally.

• In March 2020, Digital Realty significantly expanded its global coverage in completing its combination with Interxion. The combined entity added 53 new data centers in EMEA to the company's global portfolio and incorporated key assets such as the submarine landing cable station and Internet hub in Marseille, France. As a result, customers now have access to more than 700 providers on PlatformDIGITA in EMEA alone. Globally, participants in Digital Realty's connected data communities more than doubled from 2,000 to over 4,000 in 2020.
• Growth in peering traffic volumes on the Digital Realty Internet Exchange (DRIX) also led customers to increasingly migrate to a new baseline for peering connectivity, with adoption of 100G ports growing 70%, and total port capacity on DRIX growing 46% year on year.
• Across Digital Realty's global portfolio of more than 290 data centers, the pace of network cross-connect deployments has also accelerated in the last year, growing to a total of over 168,000 by the end of 2020, up 88,000 from the previous year.

https://www.digitalrealty.com/enabling-connected-data-communities

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Virgin Media tests Infinera XR optics - coherent optical subcarrier aggregation

Virgin Media has trialed prototype Infinera XR optics technology in its network in Reading, UK to send and receive data at up to 400Gbps in a single fiber.

In 2019, Virgin Media trialed 10Gbps symmetric full fiber home broadband technology in Papworth, Cambridgeshire. 

Infinera said this new trial goes a step beyond that, demonstrating that the operator’s passive fiber optic access network (PON) – which provides multiple premises with full fiber connections – could deliver 400Gbps symmetrical services.

In the trial, the traditional network transceivers were replaced with Infinera XR optics technology, splitting a single fiber optic cable into many connections.

Jeanie York, Chief Technology and Information Officer, Virgin Media, said: “Our next-generation network already offers gigabit connectivity to more than 7 million homes, but with data use and demand for hyperfast speeds surging, we’re continually investing in our network to prepare for whatever the future brings.

“The trial with Virgin Media provides a solid proof point that Infinera’s XR optics technology can be seamlessly applied to existing networks,” said Dave Welch, Infinera Chief Innovation Officer and Co-founder. “This represents a radical shift in the way networks can be built, promising a more flexible and sustainable way to meet the ever increasing need to transmit more data at higher speeds.”

https://www.infinera.com/press-release/virgin-media-trials-infineras-cutting-edge-multi-gigabit-network-technology

Infinera announces XR optics partnerships with II-IV and Lumentum

Tuesday, February 18, 2020  Infinera  

Infinera announced a collaboration with II-VI, a global leader in optical communications modules, to bring to market XR optics-based networking solutions. The companies said the partnership will result in the introduction of a family of easily deployable, pluggable XR optics offerings applicable across a wide variety of market applications.

Infinera said XR optics enables radically more efficient and cost-effective solutions for the transport networking challenges operators face in delivering new 5G, enhanced broadband, and cloud-based business services. Infinera's XR optics technology, which is optimized for hub-and-spoke traffic patterns, is powered by independently routable Nyquist subcarriers and coherent optical aggregation capabilities. XR optics technology enables a single high-speed transceiver to simultaneously send and receive independent data streams to/from numerous low-speed transceivers.

In addition, Infinera announced a separate partnership with Lumentum to bring to market XR optics-based networking solutions. The partnership will result in the introduction of a family of easily deployable, pluggable XR optics offerings applicable across a wide variety of market applications.

Infinera's XR Optics delivers coherent optical subcarrier aggregation

Monday, September 23, 2019  100G, ECOC, Infinera  

Infinera introduced a point-to-multipoint coherent optical subcarrier aggregation technology with the potential to significantly reduce the number of transceivers required in an access network while eliminating intermediate aggregation.

Infinera's XR optics technology, which is optimized for hub-and-spoke traffic patterns, is powered by independently routable Nyquist subcarriers and coherent optical aggregation capabilities. With coherent subcarrier aggregation (CSA) capabilities, XR optics technology enables a single high-speed transceiver to simultaneously send and receive independent data streams to/from numerous low-speed transceivers.

Subcarriers can be flexibly sized. For example, 4 X 25G subcarriers defined in a 100G QSFP-28 transcrivers; or 16 X 25G subcarriers defined in a 400G QSFP-DD transceiver.

The company says that by leveraging these capabilities, network operators will be positioned to significantly reduce the number of transceivers in the network, eliminate the need for costly intermediate aggregation devices, and more efficiently optimize transport infrastructure for hub-and-spoke end-user traffic flows.

Initial areas of focus include DAA fiber deep networks, 5G X-haul, DSL/PON backhaul, and fiber-enabled business services.

XR optics is designed to be integrated into a variety of form factors, including industry-standard pluggables, from low-speed interfaces with a single subcarrier to high-speed (400G+) interfaces with numerous subcarriers.
https://www.infinera.com/innovation/xr-optics

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Lumentum introduces multi-junction VCSEL arrays for sensing applications

Lumentum introduced new high-power and high-efficiency five and six junction vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) arrays for advanced consumer, automotive LiDAR, and other 3D sensing applications.

Lumentum's multi-junction VCSEL arrays emit at 940 nm and 905 nm and are manufactured on the same production lines as current high-volume VCSEL array products serving the consumer electronics market. The company said these new VCSEL arrays enable much lower power dissipation, very high slope efficiencies, and record-breaking optical peak powers compared with existing devices. Optical powers exceeding 2 W per individual VCSEL emitter have resulted in over 800 W of peak power from a compact one square millimeter sized VCSEL array. The peak optical power, low thermal dissipation, and small die size of these new multi-junction VCSELs arrays are important to extending their use to high performance all-solid-state medium and long-range LiDAR.

"Automotive, consumer, and industrial customers increasingly need higher performance VCSEL arrays to drive increased functionality and adoption of LiDAR and 3D sensing enabled products," said Dr. André Wong, Vice President of 3D Sensing Product Line Management. "Our latest multi-junction VCSEL arrays continue our long history of pioneering innovative optical solutions in close collaboration with customers. These new products leverage the well proven high-volume, 6-inch wafer supply that we established more than four years ago."

In addition to these new high-power VCSEL array illuminators, Lumentum also offers a wide variety of optical solutions for 3D sensing, automotive, and LiDAR applications. These include VCSEL solutions for vehicle in-cabin monitoring, high-performance Gallium Arsenide and Indium Phosphide edge-emitting laser chips for 3D sensing and LiDAR, and 1550 nm narrow-linewidth DBR diode lasers for long-range frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) coherent LiDAR.

https://www.lumentum.com/en/media-room/news-releases/lumentum-announces-five-and-six-junction-vcsel-array-products-advanced

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Telecom Egypt plans Hybrid African Ring Path (HARP) system

Telecom Egypt unveiled its plans to launch Hybrid African Ring Path (HARP) by 2023, a new subsea system that will outline the African continent, forming the shape of a harp. 

HARP  will connect Africa’s East and West bounds to Europe, from South Africa to Italy and France along the continent’s East Coast, and to Portugal along its West Coast. Terrestrial routes will connect the landing points within South Africa, Europe, and Egypt, forming a complete ring around the continent. The HARP system will leverage its diverse and resilient subsea segments to branch out to multiple potential landing points.

In Egypt, HARP’s planned routes will cross the Sinai Peninsula with multiple ring protection topologies, and will extend to include premium routes on both banks of the Suez Canal. Sharm Elsheikh, located at the southern tip of Sinai, will serve as a new landing point and will be connected to coastal cities on the Gulf of Suez, forming a hybrid terrestrial and subsea fiber connectivity solution between landing points in Egypt.

Adel Hamed, TE’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “I am very proud of the upcoming launch of this new system, as it will provide seamless connectivity services to the African continent by integrating Telecom Egypt’s current and planned projects to offer end-to-end connectivity solutions. HARP will enable Telecom Egypt’s plans to establish open points of presence in various new locations in Africa and Europe to serve its enterprise and wholesale customers. It will also support the digital transformation efforts exerted throughout African nations, and expand the company’s international footprint.”

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Dell'Oro: Optical transport market slowed in 4Q2020

 Optical transport equipment revenue increased 1 percent in 2020 reaching $16 billion with growth in all regions with the exception of North America and Latin America, according to a new report from Dell'Oro Group.

“Between concerns on starting new optical builds during the start of the pandemic and aggressive plans on 5G deployments that required a larger share of a service provider’s capital budget, the spending on optical transport dramatically slowed by the end of 2020,” said Jimmy Yu, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group. “It was a really dramatic drop in optical equipment purchases in the fourth quarter. While we anticipated a slowdown near the end of the year due to concerns around COVID-19, we were surprised by a 29 percent year-over-year decline in WDM purchases in North America as well as a 12 percent decline in China. That said, there was good growth in the other parts of the world, especially Japan,” continued Yu.

https://www.delloro.com/news/optical-transport-equipment-market-grew-1-percent-in-2020-to-16-billion/

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Xsight secures funding for its 25.6T data center switch with 100G PAM4 SerDes

Xsight Labs, a fabless semiconductor startup based in Tel Aviv, announced the closing of its Series D funding. The round was led by Valor Equity Partners and Atreides Management and was joined by new investor Fidelity Management & Research Company. Existing investors Battery Ventures, Intel Capital, M12 Microsoft’s Venture Fund and Xilinx, increased their investments. Additionally, Accton Technology joined as a new strategic investor. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“Xsight Labs’ Series D was significantly oversubscribed and is the largest round ever raised by our group,” said Avigdor Willenz, Xsight Labs’ founding investor. “The completion of this round will help Xsight Labs execute its ambitious vision of delivering end-to-end connectivity solutions for cloud infrastructure.”

“I would like to welcome Fidelity Management & Research Company to the Xsight Labs family and thank all of our investors for their continued support, especially Valor and Atreides for their leading efforts. With this new investment, we are poised to ramp up the X1 family of data center switches and drive exciting new additions to our roadmap,” said Guy Koren, Co-Founder and CEO of Xsight Labs.

Xsight Labs samples 25.6T data center switch chip with 100G SerDes

Sunday, December 13, 2020  Israel, Silicon, Start-Ups, Switching  

Xsight Labs, a fabless semiconductor start-up based in Israel, emerged from stealth to announce sampling of a 25.6T 32 x 800G data center switch and a 12.8T 32 x 400G data center switch based on 100G PAM4 SerDes.

The company's X1 switch chip, which is now sampling to alpha customers, is fabricated in 7nm silicon. 

Some highlights: 

• The X1 chip operates at less than 300W for 25.6T and under 200W for 12.8T (for typical data center use cases)
• Built with256 x 100G LR PAM4 SerDes, X1 enables retimer-less design, supporting in-rack DAC connectivity for the 100G ecosystem. 
• X1 supports the new 800G optics ecosystem, delivering a 2x improvement in port density vs. 400G optics.
• X1 leverages a fully shared buffer architecture with wire speed in-cast performance for worst-case microburst absorption.
• X1 supports an extensive suite of programmable Dataplane Telemetry that enables visibility into the network for monitoring, troubleshooting and real-time analysis and decision making.

Supports a broad range of switch configurations: 

• 25.6T: 256 x 100G, 128 x 200G, 64 x 400G, 32 x 800G
• 12.8T: 256 x 50G, 128 x 100G, 64 x 200G, 32 x 400G, 16 x 800G

“Xsight Labs is the first in the world to sample a monolithic 7nm switch silicon that is on the frontier of the 100G SerDes ecosystem,” said Erez Shaizaf, Xsight Labs’ Co-Founder and Switch General Manager. “It is a true testament to the caliber of engineering talent that we have been able to assemble and we, as a team, are extremely proud of our execution.”

“The X1 family architecture has been built from the ground up to incorporate a unique set of value-added features like Application Optimized Switching, X-PND™, and X-IQ™, enabling customers’ switch deployments to achieve optimized latency and power,” said Gal Malach, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Xsight Labs.

https://xsightlabs.com/

 

• Xsight Labs was co-founded by Guy Koren (CEO), who previously was CTO of EZchip Technologies (acquired by Mellanox in 2016 for $811M); Erez Shaizaf (GM of Switch Product Line), who previously was Vice President of Silicon at Mellanox and Director of VLSI at EZchip Technologies and Freescale; and Gal Malach (CTO), who previously was previously was Lead Architect and Director of VLSI at Mellanox, through the EZchip Technologies acquisition, where he drove architecture definition and execution.

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Mavenir teams up with Platform9 for Kubernetes at the 5G edge

Mavenir will leverage Platform9’s Kubernetes solution to deliver a robust web-scale platform that runs containerized cloud-native network functions. The companies say their strategic partnership will accelerate the rollout of 5G services because Kubernetes is ideally suited for building scalable 5G networks at the edge by running on vendor-neutral hardware and providing open-source orchestration.

Mavenir has integrated Telco PaaS (Platform as a Service) that it contributed to Opensource XGVela (https://xgvela.org/) on top of the Platform9 Managed Kubernetes (PMK) solution to meet the requirements of OpenRAN and other telco workloads. 

Platform9’s Kubernetes solution is also an option for Mavenir’s Private Networks deployments. The open-source and cloud-native capabilities of the platform provide the scale, velocity and agility sought by service providers as they roll out their next generation 5G networks.

“With the advent of 5G, there’s a cloud touch to the service provider’s network and ecosystem. It represents an evolution of a cloud-native software platform that offers competitive and differentiated services for many customers,” said Mavenir Chief Strategy Officer, Bejoy Pankajakshan.

“We are delighted that Platform9’s Kubernetes solution has been included to power Mavenir’s industry leading vision for cloud-native 5G infrastructure,” said Sirish Raghuram, CEO of Platform9. “Our automation technology for Kubernetes can accelerate new site deployments, reduce ongoing operational complexity and provide cloud elasticity for Mavenir’s solutions.”

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Samsung combines 40MHz of 4G and 800MHz of 5G in mmWave

Samsung has combined 40MHz of 4G frequency and 800MHz of 5G frequency in mmWave, achieving 5.23Gbps in data speeds to a single device. 

For this demonstration of E-UTRAN New Radio Dual Connectivity (EN-DC), Samsung used its commercial end-to-end solutions comprised of devices and network products. This includes the Samsung Galaxy S20+ smartphone, 4G radios, 5G radios (Compact Macro Link), and 4G/5G common Core.

“Through this demonstration, Samsung is proud to achieve another breakthrough record in 5G data speeds, now spotlighting the power of using a dual 4G and 5G approach, delivered directly to a single user,” said Ji-Yun Seol, Vice President, and Head of Air Technology Group, Networks Business at Samsung. “This reinforces our commitment to delivering the best possible 5G solutions to our customers and our ongoing support to help mobile operators accelerate the benefits of 5G services to their users.”

https://news.samsung.com/us/samsung-breaks-5g-speed-record-reaching-5-23gbps

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