Ultra Accelerator Link group aims for open interconnect standard

AMD, Broadcom, Cisco, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Intel, Meta and Microsoft agreed to develop an open industry standard for interconnecting AI accelerators.

The Ultra Accelerator Link (UALink) group will develop a specification to define a high-speed, low-latency interconnect for scale-up communications between accelerators and switches in AI computing pods.

The 1.0 specification will enable the connection of up to 1,024 accelerators within an AI computing pod and allow for direct loads and stores between the memory attached to accelerators, such as GPUs, in the pod. The UALink Promoter Group has formed the UALink Consortium and expects it to be incorporated in Q3 of 2024. The 1.0 specification is expected to be available in Q3 of 2024 and made available to companies that join the Ultra Accelerator Link (UALink) Consortium.

Ultra Accelerator Link Overview

• The group plans to launch the organization and release the 1.0 spec for members in 3Q24
• An update to increase the bandwidth will be released in 4Q24
• The interconnect is for GPU-to-GPU communication
• Direct load, store, and atomic operations between Al Accelerators (i.e. GPUs)
• Low latency, high bandwidth fabric for 100's of accelerators
• The initial UALink spec taps into the experience of the Promoters developing and deploying a broad range of accelerators and leverages the proven Infinity Fabric protocol

“The work being done by the companies in UALink to create an open, high performance and scalable accelerator fabric is critical for the future of AI. Together, we bring extensive experience in creating large scale AI and high-performance computing solutions that are based on open-standards, efficiency and robust ecosystem support. AMD is committed to contributing our expertise, technologies and capabilities to the group as well as other open industry efforts to advance all aspects of AI technology and solidify an open AI ecosystem.” – Forrest Norrod, executive vice president and general manager, Data Center Solutions Group, AMD

"Broadcom is proud to be one of the founding members of the UALink Consortium, building upon our long-term commitment to increase large-scale AI technology implementation into data centers. It is critical to support an open ecosystem collaboration to enable scale-up networks with a variety of high-speed and low-latency solutions.” – Jas Tremblay, vice president and general manager of the Data Center Solutions Group, Broadcom

“Ultra-high performance interconnects are becoming increasingly important as AI workloads continue to grow in size and scope. Together, we are committed to developing the UALink which will be a scalable and open solution available to help overcome some of the challenges with building AI supercomputers.” – Martin Lund, Executive Vice President, Common Hardware Group, Cisco

“Open standards are important to HPE as we innovate in supercomputing and increase access to systems. As a founding member of the UALink industry consortium, we look forward to contributing our expertise in high performance networking and systems, and collaborating to develop a new open standard for accelerator interconnects for the next generation of supercomputing.” – Trish Damkroger, senior vice president and general manager, HPC & AI Infrastructure Solutions, HPE

“UALink is an important milestone for the advancement of Artificial Intelligence computing. Intel is proud to co-lead this new technology and bring our expertise in creating an open, dynamic AI ecosystem. As a founding member of this new consortium, we look forward to a new wave of industry innovation and customer value delivered though the UALink standard. This initiative extends Intel’s commitment to AI connectivity innovation that includes leadership roles in the Ultra Ethernet Consortium and other standards bodies.” – Sachin Katti, SVP & GM, Network and Edge Group, Intel Corporation

“In a very short period of time, the technology industry has embraced challenges that AI and HPC have uncovered. Interconnecting accelerators like GPUs requires a holistic perspective when seeking to improve efficiencies and performance. At UEC, we believe that UALink’s scale-up approach to solving pod cluster issues complements our own scale-out protocol, and we are looking forward to collaborating together on creating an open, ecosystem-friendly, industry-wide solution that addresses both kinds of needs in the future.” – J Metz, Ph.D., Chair, Ultra Ethernet Consortium

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Alphawave Semi collaborates with Arm on compute chiplets

Alphawave Semi is working with Arm to develop an advanced compute chiplet based on Arm Neoverse Compute Subsystems (CSS) for systems used in artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), high-performance computing (HPC), data centers, and 5G/6G networking infrastructure. This development follows Alphawave Semi's entry into the Arm Total Design ecosystem last year, which focuses on creating custom silicon solutions using Arm Neoverse CSS.

The chiplet-based custom silicon design platform from Alphawave Semi incorporates IO extension chiplets, memory chiplets, compute chiplets, and their ultra-high-speed connectivity IP and advanced packaging capabilities. The new compute chiplet features an Arm Neoverse N3 CPU core cluster and the Arm Coherent Mesh Network (CMN) for efficient, scalable performance. This technology, available on industry-leading process nodes, helps customers accelerate the development and reduce the time-to-market of new custom system-on-chip (SoC) technologies, supporting high-performance digital infrastructure deployment.

Alphawave Semi, in collaboration with Arm, leverages advanced packaging techniques and a portfolio of connectivity technologies, including PCIe Gen 6.0 and 7.0, Universal Chiplet Express (UCIe), 112/224G Ethernet, and HBM subsystems. This integration ensures robust performance and flexibility for Arm-based compute chiplets, addressing the needs of next-generation HPC, data center, AI/ML, and 5G/6G infrastructure while accelerating customer time-to-market.

Key Points:

• Alphawave Semi and Arm have partnered to develop an advanced compute chiplet.
• The chiplet is based on Arm Neoverse Compute Subsystems (CSS).
• Applications include AI/ML, HPC, data centers, and 5G/6G networking infrastructure.
• The chiplet platform includes IO extension, memory, and compute chiplets, with high-speed connectivity and advanced packaging.
• Features Arm Neoverse N3 CPU core cluster and Arm Coherent Mesh Network (CMN).
• Supports faster development and reduced time-to-market for custom SoC technologies.
• Incorporates advanced connectivity technologies like PCIe Gen 6.0/7.0, UCIe, 112/224G Ethernet, and HBM subsystems.

https://awavesemi.com/press-release/alphawave-semi-collaborates-with-arm-on-high-performance-compute-chiplet/

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Rapidus and IBM target 2nm chiplet packaging technology

Rapidus, headquartered in Tokyo, and IBM  announced a partnership focused on 2nm chiplet packaging technology. Rapidus will leverage IBM's advanced semiconductor packaging technology. This partnership is part of a broader international collaboration under the framework of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

As part of this partnership, Rapidus engineers will work alongside IBM at its North American packaging research and development facility. IBM, with its extensive experience in high-performance semiconductor packaging and collaborations with Japanese semiconductor manufacturers, will provide the expertise and support needed for Rapidus to expedite the development of advanced chiplet packaging technology. Rapidus aims to solidify Japan's role in the semiconductor supply chain through this international collaboration.

Both Rapidus President Atsuyoshi Koike and IBM Senior Vice President and Research Director Darío Gil expressed their enthusiasm for this partnership. Koike emphasized the importance of this collaboration in enhancing Japan's semiconductor packaging capabilities, while Gil highlighted IBM's commitment to advancing chiplet technology and supporting new use cases and semiconductor talent development through this collaboration.

Key Points:

• Rapidus and IBM have partnered to develop 2nm chiplet packaging technology.
• The collaboration is part of NEDO's international framework for semiconductor technology development.
• Rapidus engineers will work at IBM's North American R&D facility.
• IBM brings extensive experience in high-performance semiconductor packaging.
• The partnership aims to enhance Japan's role in the global semiconductor supply chain.

https://jp.newsroom.ibm.com/2024-06-04-Rapidus-and-IBM-Expand-Collaboration-to-Chiplet-Packaging-Technology-for-2nm-Generation-Semiconductors

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Joint ASML-imec Lab to accelerate High NA EUV for chip foundries

ASML and imec (Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre), a renowned research and development organization based in Leuven, Belgium, inaugurated a new High NA EUV Lithography Lab in Veldhoven, the Netherlands. 

The new facility is equipped with a prototype High NA EUV scanner (TWINSCAN EXE:5000) and surrounding processing and metrology tools.

The opening of the joint ASML-imec High NA EUV Lab marks a significant milestone in preparing High Numerical Aperture (NA) Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) technology for high-volume manufacturing, projected for the 2025-2026 timeframe. This facility provides leading-edge logic and memory chip manufacturers access to a High NA EUV prototype scanner and essential tools, aiding them in de-risking the technology and developing private use cases before the scanners are operational in their production fabs. Additionally, the broader ecosystem of material and equipment suppliers, as well as participants in imec’s High NA patterning program, will also have access.

The readiness of the 0.55 NA EUV scanner and supporting infrastructure followed extensive preparations starting in 2018. ASML and ZEISS developed specific solutions for the High NA EUV scanner, addressing challenges such as the source, optics, lens anamorphicity, stitching, reduced depth of focus, edge placement errors, and overlay accuracy. Concurrently, imec and its extended supplier network prepared the patterning ecosystem, developing advanced materials, photomasks, metrology and inspection techniques, imaging strategies, optical proximity correction, and integrated patterning and etch techniques. These efforts culminated in the first successful exposures of 10 nm dense lines printed on metal oxide resists using the prototype scanner.

Key Points:

• ASML and imec open High NA EUV Lab to prepare for high-volume manufacturing.
• High NA EUV anticipated for production use in 2025-2026.
• Lab provides access to prototype scanner and tools for chip manufacturers.
• Broader ecosystem of material and equipment suppliers also gain access.
• Preparations since 2018 involved ASML, ZEISS, and imec's extended network.
• First successful exposures of 10 nm dense lines achieved with prototype scanner.

https://www.asml.com/en/news/press-releases/2024/asml-imec-opening-high-na-euv-lithography-lab

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Italy's Fastweb sells its stake in FiberCop to KKR

Fastweb, which is the Italian subsidiary of Swisscom, agreed to sell its full 4.5% stake in FiberCop to KKR, the U.S.-based investment firm. The deal was valued at EUR 438.7 million, a value in line with the pro rata price paid by KKR to TIM for its stake. The transaction remains subject to the completion of the NetCo transazioni by KKR, closing is expected in Q3 2024.

Fastweb has been a shareholder in FiberCop – a company established by the Italian telecommunications company TIM, the American investment firm KKR to accelerate the development of fibre infrastructures in Italy – since its inception in 2021. The transaction has no effect on the wholesale agreement between Fastweb and FiberCop.

Fastweb said it remains fully committed to its mission of driving innovation and connectivity in the country through investments in key telecommunications infrastructures. Fastweb will therefore keep making relevant investments to increase the coverage of its proprietary, end-to-end controlled fiber network and will continue to be a key provider of wholesale services to third parties, ensuring the availability of robust and competitive offerings in the market.

The transaction remains subject to the completion of the NetCo transition by KKR, closing of the transaction is expected in Q3 2024.

• In May 2024, the European Commission has approved unconditionally the acquisition by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), a U.S.-based investment group, of NetCo., which comprises the primary and backbone fixed-line network business of Telecom Italia S.p.A. (‘TIM’) as well as FiberCop S.p.A (‘FiberCop’). FiberCop is a joint venture between TIM and KKR comprising TIM’s secondary fixed-line network. The deal, which was announced in November 2023, is valued at EUR 22 billion.

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Indonesia's Telin builds Cable Landing Station for Bifrost cable

Telin hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for the Cable Landing Station (CLS) near Pantai Mutiara, a critical component of the Bifrost Cable System. 

The ambitious Bifrost cable will connect Singapore and North America through Indonesia, enhancing connectivity across the Java Sea and the Celebes Sea. The construction of the CLS marks a significant milestone in the project, which has been under development since March 2021, in collaboration with Keppel, Meta, and Google.

The Bifrost Cable System aims to address the increasing connectivity needs of Southeast Asia, offering seamless direct connectivity to North America, low latency, and network diversity. The project is poised to significantly bolster Indonesia’s international connectivity and support the region's digital transformation and economic growth.

Bifrost highlights

• CLS Location: Near Pantai Mutiara, Indonesia.
• Partners: Telin, Keppel, Meta, and Google.
• Route: Connects Singapore, Indonesia, and North America via the Java and Celebes Seas.
• Project Start: March 2021.
• Strategic Gateways: Manado as the second international gateway after Batam.
• System Length: Approximately 16,000 kilometers.
• Landing Points: Guam, Indonesia, California, and Singapore.
• Benefits: Enhanced connectivity, low latency, network diversity, and capacity resiliency for businesses and consumers.

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Deep Blue One links French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, T&T

Digicel Group announced the activation of its subsea fibre cable, Deep Blue One, linking the Caribbean and South America with landings in French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago.

Marcelo Cataldo, Digicel Group’s Chief Executive Officer said, “Subsea fibre has long been the backbone of global connectivity, and Deep Blue One is set to serve as a catalyst for the next wave of economic development in the region. At Digicel, our focus has always been on keeping our customers connected to the people and things that matter most; driving economic development in the countries we serve is a key part of that. This is an exciting milestone for us, and we are committed to unlocking new opportunities for growth and innovation across the region.”

https://www.digicelgroup.com/en/news

• In 2021, Orange announced a financial investment to extend Digicel’s forthcoming Deep Blue One submarine network from Trinidad to French Guiana. The 2,000 km cable installation for Deep Blue One has five branching units, plus the capability to provide connectivity for offshore rigs, with anywhere from two to eight fibre pairs in each segment, offering a minimum of 12 Tbps capacity per fibre pair. The French Guiana leg to Trinidad is 1,600 km long.  In addition, Orange will act as landing party in Cayenne for the French Guiana branch and will operate the Cable landing station on behalf of Digicel while its subsidiary Orange Marine, will be in charge of laying the cable. Orange notes that Deep Blue One will complement its existing, fully-owned 1746 km long “Kanawa” cable, which was commissioned early 2019 as well as Orange’s existing networks based on Americas-2, ECFS, CBUS. Digicel noted that this extension of Deep Blue One will complement its existing Southern Caribbean Fiber network, which has approximately 3,000 km of submarine cable connecting 20 islands in the Eastern Caribbean.

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Tech Update: What can AIOps actually do for networks?

How long before AI becomes not just an add-on, but a transformative force enhancing every aspect of networking from design and deployment to management and optimization. 

What can AIOps do today? Jean English, Chief Marketing Officer from Juniper Networks, explains:

- The importance of starting with experience-first questions to enhance user experience for both the end-user and the operator, and how AI plays a crucial role in this process.

- The significance of rich, real-time, and relevant data in operating the network, and how Juniper Networks has been leveraging this for over 7 years to provide an exceptional user experience.

- The concept of AI Ops and how Juniper takes networking to a whole new level by creating a virtual Network assistant, Marvis, that identifies and resolves problems before they are even noticed, ensuring a better user experience and allowing operators to focus on more strategic issues.

https://youtu.be/LCDPa70d7_s

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

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Tech Update: Can AI proactively predict the user experience?

It is the dream of the CIO that someday IT problems will fix themselves before the user notices. 

How far are we from this bright future? Sudheer Matta, Group VP Product Management, AI-driven Enterprise from Juniper explains:

- The introduction of Marvis Minis, a proactive AI tool that anticipates and resolves network issues before they affect the user experience.

- The concept of a 'digital twin' of the user experience, built natively into the network, that validates user and application experiences across all network subsystems.

https://youtu.be/Nq5jj53lvkc

Join us as we delve into the transformative power of AI in networking, and share your thoughts on this groundbreaking technology. Our upcoming video showcase and report will feature the industry's best thinking.

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Tech Update: AI for Networking-for-AI

You've heard of Networking-for-AI, but how do you leverage AI to better manage this same infrastructure? Amit Sanyal, Senior Director, Data Center Product Marketing from Juniper, provides insightful answers:

- Amit discusses the concept of AI native networking, which involves systems and solutions designed with AI in mind. This approach simplifies the management and operation of networks.

- He introduces Marvis VNA, a virtual network assistant that leverages AI to monitor, troubleshoot, and manage networks. Initially used for Wi-Fi campus and branch networking, it has now been extended to data center networking.

- Amit also highlights how Juniper is delivering high-performance, low-latency, and easy-to-manage networks for AI workloads, both for training and inferencing.


Join us as we delve into the future of networking, where AI is not just a tool but a transformative force that is enhancing every aspect of networking, from design and deployment to management and optimization.

https://youtu.be/INmbN4BSypA

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

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Tech Update: Benchmarking Networking-for-AI

Networking-for-AI is certainly a hot topic these days. The race is on to build the most powerful AI cluster. But how do you know if the network is up to the challenge? Infiniband or Ethernet? Praveen Jain, SVP/GM, AI Clusters and Cloud-ready Data Centers from Juniper explains:

- The importance of benchmarking for AI in networking and how Juniper has built its own AI cluster to measure performance and ensure optimal utilization of resources.

- How AI is transforming networking into an autonomous infrastructure with self-configuring, self-optimizing, and self-healing networks.

- An upcoming event on July 23rd when Juniper will discuss the rapidly evolving AI ecosystem, Ethernet vs. InfiniBand, and creating sustainable AI data centers. 

https://www.juniper.net/us/en/events/ai-native-now/seize-the-ai-moment.html

Join us to learn more about the future of networking where AI is not just a promise, but a reality. Share your views and contribute to our comprehensive report on how AI is impacting the management and operations of networking AI Ops.

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

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Microsoft plans $1 billion data center in La Porte, Indiana

Microsoft will invest $1 billion to build a new data center in northwest Indiana. 

The new 245,000-square-foot data center will be located on 489 acres at the Radius Industrial Park in La Porte, Indiana. The campus will join Microsoft's worldwide network of cloud computing infrastructure of more than 60 Azure regions, more than 300 data centers, over 280,000 kilometers of network, and over 190 edge sites.

“Microsoft is excited to expand our datacenter infrastructure into Indiana, with our first campus to be built in La Porte,” said Bowen Wallace, Microsoft CVP Datacenters, Americas Region. “We appreciate the collaboration with the State, City and the La Porte Economic Advancement Partnership that has made this opportunity possible. We look forward to an enduring and beneficial relationship with Indiana and the City of La Porte as we build and scale our data center infrastructure to support our customer and partners.”

“Projects like this happen once in a lifetime, and their effects are felt forever,” said La Porte Mayor Tom Dermody. “What makes this even better is that we get to work with the talented and community-minded team at Microsoft. From the very beginning of this project, they have been committed and attentive to the needs of our community. We are incredibly excited to welcome them here and look forward to a strong collaboration long into the future.”

The announcement  marks Indiana’s fourth strategically located major planned data center announcement in 2024. Together, these Fortune 500 businesses have made plans to invest $14.8 billion in cloud computing and storage infrastructure in communities and regions across Indiana, creating 1,500 new jobs in Fort Wayne, Jeffersonville, La Porte and New Carlisle.

https://members.laportepartnership.com/news/details/gov-holcomb-announces-plans-for-new-1b-microsoft-data-center-in-northwest-indiana

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Ciena posts Q2 revenue of $910.8 million, down 20% yoy

Citing excess inventory with customers, Ciena reported revenue of $910.8 million  for its fiscal second quarter ended April 27, 2024, down 19.6% as compared to $1.13 billion for the fiscal second quarter 2023.

Ciena's GAAP net loss for the fiscal second quarter 2024 was $(16.8) million, or $(0.12) per diluted common share, which compares to a GAAP net income of $57.7 million, or $0.38 per diluted common share, for the fiscal second quarter 2023.

Ciena's adjusted (non-GAAP) net income for the fiscal second quarter 2024 was $39.4 million, or $0.27 per diluted common share, which compares to an adjusted (non-GAAP) net income of $110.4 million, or $0.74 per diluted common share, for the fiscal second quarter 2023.

Some highlights

• One 10%-plus customer represented a total 13.8% of revenue
• Non-telco represented a 46% of total revenue
• Reconfigurable line systems (RLS) revenue grew 12% YoY
• India revenue grew 16% sequentially Global Services revenue grew 5% YoY
• Customer traction continues with WL5e 800G technology, reaching 290 customers
• For our WL5n 400ZR/ZR+ pluggables, we have 104 customers, 18 new this quarter
• Orders for WaveLogic 6 Extreme from a total of 14 customers
• Surpassed 100 Routing and Switching customers using our WL5n pluggable technology
• Added a new Tier 1 EMEA RSP mobility customer
• Achieved our first Tier 1 vBNG deployment in a residential broadband use case

"Our fiscal second quarter performance underscores the strength in our business amid a challenging near-term environment as service providers continue to work through existing inventory," said Gary Smith, president and CEO, Ciena. “With continued robust growth in bandwidth demand, we remain focused on extending our leadership in optical as a foundation for expanding our addressable market.”

https://investor.ciena.com/news-releases/news-release-details/ciena-reports-fiscal-second-quarter-2024-financial-results

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Colt expands in Asia

Colt Technology Services latest strategic move is an expansion into six Asian countries: the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Although Colt has been engaging with multiple B2B telecom carriers in the region, a new non-exclusive strategic partnership will offer the following benefits to customers in the region as well as to Japanese and global companies seeking to enter and expand within the region:

• Competitively priced Ethernet and IP Access services across Southeast Asia through the strategic partnership, which support customers’ SD-WAN requirements and promote cloud adoption in the market.
• Offering similar levels of On-Net Product SLAs (Service Level Agreements) as those provided with our own fiber in other areas.
• Streamlining and improving the end-to-end customer experience and journey, as well as the overall sales cycle. Enhancements include improved quotation speed (from several weeks to a few days), faster service delivery, direct engagement for strategic opportunities, and service operational alignment with a strategic partner.

Colt has strengthened its global position through the acquisition of Lumen’s EMEA business and expanded its coverage into North America via a strategic relationship. Additionally, with recent expansions into the West Japan and South Korea Metro Areas, Colt plans to leverage its global partners to extend its business into Southeast Asia.

Regarding the business expansion in APAC this time, Ms. Annette Murphy, the Chief Commercial Officer of Colt said, “According to Global Data, the average compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for B2B Network Services in the region from 2022 to 2027 is estimated at 9.8%*, which is higher than in the United States (7.05%) and Europe (8.41%). APAC is a key driver of growth, and I am delighted to announce our strategy to position ourselves as a global leader in Digital Infrastructure. This business expansion will be part of our scheduled investment in APAC, totaling 100 million Euro (about 16.8 billion yen at the exchange rate of 1 Euro=168 JPY) in the next 3 years.

Yasutaka Mizutani, President, APAC who leads the project also mentions as follows, “The strategic partnership enhances our ability to offer greater service availability and extensive regional expertise, as well as competitive pricing through economies of scale. These efforts enable us to provide comprehensive end-to-end network services globally, benefiting customers in Asia and those looking to connect their networks from the world into Asia. Our AI-driven insights estimate the target market size at approximately 2,206  million euros (approximately 370.6 billion yen).”

https://www.colt.net/resources/colt-technology-services-introduces-asia-growth-strategy-including-expansion-of-its-business-in-six-asian-countries/

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Cologix acquires 2 data centers in Iowa

 Cologix has acquired two ted data centers in Iowa from Connect Des Moines. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• DSM1 - Located downtown in the Financial Center building at 666 Walnut Street, DSM1 is 4,000 square feet and 600kW of power and enables connectivity to 26 unique networks in the Cologix Meet-Me-Room with direct access to the DesMoinesIX internet exchange. DSM1 also features an additional 10,000 square feet of expansion capacity with 1.0 MW of power.
• DSM2 - The DSM2 digital edge data center is 12,500 square feet and 1.0 MW of power located in the Cedar Valley region of Cedar Falls, Iowa, which comprises six counties strategically located along key transportation routes and offers connections to domestic and international markets through Des Moines, Chicago, Omaha and Minneapolis, ensuring low latency routing options. This facility has expansion potential for an additional 10,000 square feet and is connected to DSM1 via a diverse fiber ring.

“As companies across all industries are increasingly reliant on digital infrastructure, the need for geographically dispersed and well-supported data centers is paramount,” added Ortman. “Our Des Moines facilities will provide businesses with the critical resources they need to scale their IT infrastructure, optimize performance and achieve their digital transformation goals.”

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Juniper enhances AI-native networking for SD-WAN and SASE

Juniper Networks unveiled significant enhancements to its AI-Native Networking Platform, aiming to deliver seamless and secure SD-WAN and SASE experiences. The update introduces new AI capabilities for its WAN Assurance, Premium Analytics, and Marvis Virtual Network Assistant (VNA) products. Additionally, Juniper has launched a groundbreaking Routing Assurance product, offering an AI-native automation and insight solution for traditional edge routing topologies.

The enhanced Juniper solution utilizes AI for Networking to provide substantial value to enterprise WAN environments:

Assured SD-WAN Experiences with Proactive AIOps:

• Marvis Minis, Juniper’s digital experience twin solution, now extends to SD-WAN, offering continuous WAN speed tests and proactive actions without user presence.
• New WAN Congestion SLE alerts operators about network interface over-utilization to prevent poor user experiences.
• Expanded streaming dynamic packet capture (dPCAP) for WAN to identify and fix hard-to-find issues, avoiding costly site visits.
• Enhanced application insights for user-friendly traffic visualization, aiding in accurate planning and problem remediation.

Integrated SSE/SD-WAN (SASE) Insight via Expanded Premium Analytics Dashboard:

• New security insights Mist dashboard within Premium Analytics offers comprehensive security event visibility and persona-based policy activation.
• 
  Actionable intelligence allows security teams to quickly identify incidents and respond to threats in real-time.
• Shared portal for networking and security teams to streamline operational workflows, improving efficiency, agility, and cost savings.

First AI-Native WAN Routing Solution:

• Routing Assurance product modernizes WAN edge with customizable service levels for swift issue resolution across connected WAN Edge and peering locations.
• Marvis VNA, expanded to enterprise WAN edge routing, allows IT teams to use simple language queries for routing issue identification and resolution, powered by Generative AI.
• Juniper’s AI-Native and cloud-native solution spans all key networking domains, from campus and branch to data center and all WAN links in between.

“Since the launch of our AI-Native Networking Platform in January, Juniper has delivered on the promise to build out our industry-leading AIOps across all enterprise network domains. Now embracing routing, these latest innovations enable simplified, fast assurance, monitoring, troubleshooting and issue resolution across multiple branch office, WAN Edge and peering locations. We are also uniquely combining the security and networking domains operationally, enabling insight-driven, holistic security management and audit within the broader networking context, replacing silos with collaboration. All these new innovations further enable exceptional, secure user experiences for the enterprise,” stated Sunalini Sankhavaram, Vice President, Product Development, Juniper Networks.

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Arista's Etherlink switches target large AI clusters

Arista Networks introduced a product family for AI workloads, including training and inferencing.

The Arista Etherlink AI portfolio supports AI cluster sizes ranging from thousands to 100,000s of XPUs with highly efficient one and 2-tier network topologies that deliver superior application performance compared to more complex multi-tier networks while offering advanced monitoring capabilities including flow-level visibility. 

• The 7060X6 AI Leaf switch family employs Broadcom Tomahawk 5 silicon, with a capacity of 51.2 Tbps and support for 64 800G or 128 400G Ethernet ports.
• The 7800R4 AI Spine is the 4th generation of Arista’s flagship 7800 modular systems. It implements the latest Broadcom Jericho3-AI processors with an AI-optimized packet pipeline and offers non-blocking throughput with the proven virtual output queuing architecture. The 7800R4-AI supports up to 460 Tbps in a single chassis, which corresponds to 576 800G or 1152 400G Ethernet ports.
• The 7700R4 AI Distributed Etherlink Switch (DES) supports the largest AI clusters, offering customers massively parallel distributed scheduling and congestion-free traffic spraying based on the Jericho3-AI architecture. The 7700 represents the first in a new series of ultra-scalable, intelligent distributed systems that can deliver the highest consistent throughput for very large AI clusters.

A single-tier network topology with Etherlink platforms can support over 10,000 XPUs. With a 2-tier network, Etherlink can support more than 100,000 XPUs. Minimizing the number of network tiers is essential for optimizing AI application performance, reducing the number of optical transceivers, lowering cost and improving reliability.

All Etherlink switches support the emerging Ultra Ethernet Consortium (UEC) standards, which are expected to provide additional performance benefits when UEC NICs become available in the near future. The 7060X6 is available now. The 7800R4-AI and 7700R4 DES are in customer testing and will be available 2H 2024.

The company also highlights features of its Arista EOS and CloudVision, including AI-for-networking, security, segmentation, visibility, and telemetry. For example, Arista EOS’s Smart AI suite of innovative enhancements now integrates with SmartNIC providers to deliver advanced RDMA-aware load balancing and QoS. Arista AI Analyzer powered by Arista AVA™ automates configuration and improves visibility and intelligent performance analysis of AI workloads.

“Broadcom is a firm believer in the versatility, performance, and robustness of Ethernet, which makes it the technology of choice for AI workloads,” said Ram Velaga, senior vice president and general manager, Core Switching Group, Broadcom. “By leveraging industry-leading Ethernet chips such as Tomahawk 5 and Jericho3-AI, Arista provides the ideal accelerator-agnostic solution for AI clusters of any shape or size, outperforming proprietary technologies and providing flexible options for fixed, modular, and distributed switching platforms.”

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Edgecore supplies 64x800G switch for TensorWave’s AMD-Powered AI Data Centers

Edgecore Networks will provide advanced networking solutions for TensorWave’s AMD-powered AI data centers.

The cornerstone of this partnership is Edgecore Networks' AIS800 800G switch with 64 800G OSFP or QSFP-DD800G ports, embedded with a powerful Tomahawk5 high-performance, low-latency design.

"We are excited to partner with TensorWave and provide Edgecore’s advanced open networking solutions tailored to the specific needs of AI data centers," said Andy Wu, Chairman and President of Edgecore Networks. "Leveraging the leading AMD-powered AI/ML data center technology from TensorWave and innovative 51.2T open networking solutions provided by Edgecore, the collaboration will offer unparalleled performance, scalability, and efficiency, empowering data center operators to meet the demands of the AI revolution."

"We are excited to team up with Edgecore Networks to boost the networking capabilities of our AMD-powered AI data centers," said Darrick Horton, CEO of TensorWave. "With the combined expertise of Edgecore Networks and TensorWave, our customers can look forward to improved operational efficiency, reduced latency, and smooth integration with their existing AI workflows.”

www.edgecore.com

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Tech Update: Previewing MEF's Global NaaS Event in Oct 2020

The "as-a-Service" business model has transformed many segments of IT. Will networking be next?  Kevin Vachon, COO from MEF, previews this fall's GNE event in Dallas:

- Discover the latest developments in the Networking-as-a-Service (NaaS) ecosystem, including the transformative role of AI in managing and optimizing network traffic in real-time.

- Learn about the adoption of software-defined infrastructure, which allows carriers to deploy, manage, and scale network services at the speed of software, making hardware limitations a thing of the past.

- Understand the power of open APIs in unlocking new potentials in interoperability, enabling seamless communication between carriers worldwide and redefining how the world connects.

https://youtu.be/Unpsp2gazms

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Integra Optics ships XGS-PON OLT transceiver

Integra Optics has begun shipping its SFP+, 10/2.5 G BiDi, 20km, XGSPON OLT transceiver. 

The new optical transceiver module is designed for XG/XGS-PON 10/2.5 G applications over a single strand of fiber with support for links up to 20 kilometers.

The XGSPON OLT optical module is able to bypass external WDM equipment in the network architecture, thereby reducing network construction and maintenance costs. Also, it offers network providers a seamless upgrade path from GPON (lower data rates) to XGS-PON (up to 10 G) without necessitating changes to the underlying infrastructure − a cost-effective solution for evolving towards higher bandwidth demands.

In addition to being fully compliant with SFP+ MSA and XG/XGS-PON standards, it boasts an industrial operating temperature range from -40°C to +85°C for reliability and performance under extreme conditions. These features make the transceiver an ideal choice for broadband access and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks, among other high-speed optical link applications.

The transceiver's digital diagnostic interface aligns with the QSFP28 Multi-Source Agreement (MSA), ensuring broad compatibility and easy integration into existing networks. Additionally, by utilizing a single strand of fiber instead of two, the SFP+ XGSPON OLT transceiver significantly reduces network complexity and costs, while being available coded for compatibility across several platforms.

"This transceiver reinforces our commitment to innovation and our role in driving the future of optical networking," said Senior Engineering Manager Marlena Miller. "It is a testament to our dedication to providing high-quality, reliable solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers and the industry at large."

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