Stratoscale Secures $27M for Hyperconverged Software

Stratoscale, a start-up based in Herzeliya, Israel, secured $27 million in Series C financing for its distributed data center operating system.

Stratoscale's hardware-agnostic Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) solution that offers a holistic data center experience. Its rack-scale architecture aims to transform standard x86 servers into a hyper-converged infrastructure for cloud services while supporting both containers and virtualization on the same platform.  Stratoscale’s true “plug and play” architecture supports OpenStack and Docker.

Qualcomm Ventures joined the Series C financing round with participation from all existing investors. Stratoscale has now raised over $70 million in funding over the past three years that is dedicated to support global expansion of the company.

“Today’s data center managers are looking to Stratoscale to help them more effectively manage their technology infrastructure. To help us scale globally, we are proud to have the support and investment from Qualcomm Ventures,” said Ariel Maislos, CEO of Stratoscale. “This investment enables us to accelerate our adoption in the market and expand operations more quickly to meet the demand for an all-inclusive data center cloud offering that is scalable and efficient. We continue to deliver on the promise of what data centers should be without the burden of being locked into legacy infrastructure that doesn’t grow with your business.”

http://www.stratoscale.com

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Mellanox Announces 200 Gbps Silicon Photonics Devices

At this week's OFC, Mellanox demonstrated 50 Gbps silicon photonics optical modulators and detectors -- the key component for 200 Gbps and 400 Gbps LinkX cables and transceivers.

The demonstration is an important milestone toward providing end-to-end solutions for HDR 200G InfiniBand and Ethernet interconnect infrastructure.

“Silicon photonics is the enabling technology for 200Gb/s InfiniBand and Ethernet networks,” said Amir Prescher, executive vice president of business development and interconnect products at Mellanox. “The QSFP56 doubles the front panel density for next generation switches; enables 200G copper DACs and 50G breakout cables for adapters and inside-the-rack applications; and silicon photonics transceivers supports all data center reaches to 2km.”

Mellanox said it plans to offer 50Gbps and 200Gbps Direct Attach Copper cables (DACs); copper splitter cables (QSFP56 to 4x SFP56); silicon photonics based AOCs for reaches to 200m; and silicon photonics transceivers for reaches to 2km. Mellanox 200Gb/s cables and transceivers will seamlessly support previous generations of 40 and 100Gbps networks.

http://www.mellanox.com

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Semtech Releases Quad 25Gbps Chipset for 100G SR4

Semtech released a new chipset for quad channel 100G-SR4 optical interconnects operating at 25.78 Gbps.

The GN2108 is a quad channel CDR with integrated vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) drivers, and the GN2109 is a quad channel CDR with integrated transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs). A full suite of on-chip features minimizes external components and helps customers speed up their hardware and firmware development.

Semtech said its GN2108 VCSEL driver was architected to compensate for optical distortion introduced by VCSELs, enabling extended reach well beyond the SR4 standard to greater than 300m over OM4 fiber, operation with lower bandwidth and lower cost VCSELs, as well as operation with lower VCSEL bias settings for lower power and higher VCSEL reliability.

“The GN2108 and GN2109 chipset has strong traction with our customers,” said Dr. Timothy Vang, Senior Director of Datacom Marketing for Semtech’s Signal Integrity Product Group. “The performance and feature set of the GN2108 and GN2109 is enabling our customers to quickly bring to market winning solutions for 100Gbps QSFP28 and Active Optical Cables (AOCs) for datacenters and a wide range of other applications.”

http://www.semtech.com

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Coriant Showcases Light IP

At this week's OFC, Coriant showcased its Light IP Solution, a network architecture "that integrates IP capabilities with the optical layer together with optimal control systems to maximize overall network efficiency while minimizing traffic latency."

The Coriant Light IP Solution leverages technological advances in photonics, silicon, and SDN/NFV.

“The explosion of Internet video and cloud services is driving a fundamental transformation of network traffic dynamics,” said Uwe Fischer, Chief Technology Officer, Coriant. “Coriant is uniquely positioned to deliver this cost-disruptive, high-performance approach to network evolution with the company’s pioneering heritage in IP/MPLS routing, packet optical networking, and SDN programmability and automation. With our deep understanding of service providers’ networks, coupled with our transformational services capabilities, Coriant is ready to partner with our customers to pivot their networks into Light IP.”

http://www.coriant.com

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Video - Source Photonics Shows 2x50G-PAM4 QSFP28

Manish Mehta highlights Source Photonics' demos at this year's #OFC16, including a 2x50G-PAM4 QSFP28.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/Epbryi8pLhU

 

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Fujitsu Announces Modular Blade Families in 1FINITY Platform

Fujitsu unveiled its 1FINITY packet optical platform consisting of Transport, Lambda, Switch, and Access blades.

Fujitsu cited several advantages for its disaggregated solution, including more agile development, continuous performance improvement, and technology innovation. Modular 1FINITY blades operate independently or, for broader network solutions, in combination with other optical platforms from Fujitsu and third parties. These are the 1FINITY blade families:

• · Fujitsu 1FINITY Transport Family: Blades in the 1FINITY Transport family deliver high-capacity transport for metro, regional, and long-haul applications. The T100 blade is a transponder purpose-built for metro data center interconnect (DCI), providing 1.6 Tbps bidirectional capacity and power consumption under 0.8 watts per Gbps. The T200 blade is a feature-rich muxponder that uses coherent processing and multimodulation to add beyond 100G capabilities to transport networks and enable long-haul DCI. The T300 blade is a flexible, high-density muxponder for metro and long-haul transport, supporting 10G, 40G, and 100G client rates.
  
• ·Fujitsu 1FINITY Switch Family: The initial release in the 1FINITY Switch family is the S100 blade, a high-density Ethernet switch with white box support. The S100 is designed for networks that require 10 GbE to 100 GbE aggregation of Carrier Ethernet 2.0 services, and it provides 1.2 Tbps bidirectional switching capacity.
  
• ·Fujitsu 1FINITY Lambda Family: The 1FINITY Lambda family is a modular dynamic ROADM platform that can be used to build multidegree network nodes with flexible-grid operation and super-channel support. A small CD ROADM configuration supporting up to 4 degrees and 128 clients can be implemented using a twin 1 × 9 WSS ROADM-on-a-blade (L100 blade) and a dual 4 × 16 splitter-coupler (L110 blade). Larger CD ROADM configurations up to 12 degrees can be implemented using a dual 1 × 16 splitter-coupler (L110 blade) and a twin 12 × 9 WSS optical switch (L120 blade). The compact L200 blade provides bidirectional intermediate line amplification (ILA) up to 35 dB.
  
• · Fujitsu 1FINITY Access Family: Blades in the 1FINITY Access family will support next-generation access technologies, such as 10G-EPON and NG-PON2, delivering gigabit services in metro and rural fiber-to-the-home and business applications.

“Networks that enable innovative services and accelerate revenue generation are effective differentiators,” said Steve Pelosi, vice president, Fujitsu Network Communications. “In the 1FINITY platform, service providers have the building blocks they need to create game-changing networks that increase service velocity, grow revenue, and reduce operating costs.”

http://www.fujitsu.com/us/products/network/products/1finity/index.html
http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/telecom/news/newsroom.html

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Juniper Rolls out Optical Upgrades

Juniper Networks announced a number of enhancements to its optical portfolio, including:

• Photonic and Coherent DWDM Interface Cards for the Juniper Networks PTX and MX series routers; specifically, new line cards for the PTX3000 that fully collapse the optical layer with the IP/MPLS layer, the industry’s first 1-TB coherent DWDM line card for the PTX5000 and a coherent 100GbE DWDM interface card with a highly programmable and service rich programmable forwarding ASIC for the MX Series. These line cards, which also feature highly programmable multi-layer SDN control, are designed for multi-vendor interoperability and highly efficient data center interconnect and metro networking needs.
• New optical layer support for Junos Space Connectivity Services Director (CSD) that extends visibility, control and management capabilities beyond the IP layer to the optical layer, and unified fault, configuration, and performance management.
• Enhanced Multi-layer SDN programmability for our Junos operating system and theNorthStar Controller that, when used in conjunction with Juniper Networks PTX and MX series routers, provides traffic automation for converged packet-optical layers.

http://www.juniper.net

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Molex and Cisco Target Double-Density QSFP Interfaces

Molex and Cisco announced their participation in a multi-supplier agreement (MSA) to create high-speed, double-density quad small form factor pluggable (QSFP-DD), a new high-speed interface. Thirteen industry leaders have joined the MSA to collaborate in developing this new high-speed interface.

The new QSFP-DD interface expands on widely adopted QSFP enabling systems to support backwards compatibility to existing 40 GbE and 100 GbE QSFP interfaces as well as a clear path to future 2x100 GbE and 400 GbE interfaces. By maintaining the same port density per rack unit, customers can speed up networks without redesigning the architecture.

“With a clear trend towards hyper-converged fabrics, customers need an aligned switch silicon and optics roadmap,” said Luca Cafiero, senior vice president and general manager at Cisco. “Global IP traffic is expected to reach 1.4 zettabytes next year, reflecting a CAGR from 2012 to 2017 of 23 percent. All players involved in network architecture will have to step up their game to meet this demand, and the MSA for QSFP DD is a big step in that direction. We are confident that, with industry leaders like Molex, we can help to lead the development of high-speed technology that will be broadly used throughout the industry.”

http://www.cisco.com
http://www.molex.com

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MACOM Showcases PAM-4 for 200G and 400G Systems

M/A-COM Technology Solutions is demonstrating a complete electronics chip-set utilizing PAM-4 technology and enabling a 56Gbps per lane data rate. This featured IP demonstrates another facet of MACOM’s advanced chipset solution for 200G and 400G optical connectivity in both parallel single mode fiber (PSM) and wave division multiplexing (WDM) applications.

MACOM said its technology demonstration at this week's #OFC16 achieves industry leading transimpedance amplifier (TIA) sensitivity and low power, which enables the development of 200G QSFP and 400G MSA optical modules. On the transmit side, MACOM’s demonstration will feature a 28Gbaud linear driver and Clock and Data Recovery (CDR). The signal will be transmitted over single mode fiber, and recovered on the receiver side using MACOM’s 28Gbaud TIA and retimed with MACOM’s receiver CDR.

“MACOM has achieved excellent performance in silicon through its 28Gbaud PAM-4 chipset IP. This technology, along with recently announced L-PIC™ silicon photonics and our CW lasers, will enable next generation 200Gbs and 400Gbs solutions for small form-factor optics,” said Preet Virk, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Networks, MACOM.

http://www.macom.com

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NEL Ships First 16nm 100G/200G Coherent DSP

NTT Electronics (NEL) announced industry-first 16nm ultra-low power DSP for both 100G QPSK long-haul and 200G 16QAM Metro optical links.

The new 16nm DSP “ExaSPEED 200” consumes under 10W per 100Gbps in its 200G operation mode, doubling the power efficiency compared to the previous generation 20nm 100G Low Power DSP. It leverages 200G DSP core and 16nm CMOS fin-FET mixed-signal technologies that were developed in collaboration with Broadcom .

The new ExaSPEED 200 integrates enhanced forward error correction (EFEC) based on the de facto standard staircase code. The built-in EFEC enhances line-side interoperability up to Metro reach, and accelerates open networking and system hardware disaggregation.

“Large Service Providers are moving towards SDN-based flexible optical transport architecture to dynamically manage, plan, provision, and re-optimize optical networks with substantially reduced cost,” said Haruhiko Ichino, NEL Executive Vice President and General Manager of Broadband System & Device Business Group. “We are strongly committed to pioneering innovation in the coherent DSP in order to meet their expectation in flexible, software configurable optical ‘white box’ elements that are modular, with interoperable subsystems from multiple vendors,” he added.

http://www.ntt-electronics.com

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Red Hat Posts Revenue of $544 Million, up 17%

Red Hat reported fourth quarter revenue of $544 million, up 17% year-over-year or 21% in constant currency; full fiscal year revenue of $2.05 billion, up 15% year-over-year or 21% in constant currency. GAAP operating income for the quarter was $72 million, up 6% year-over-year.

“Enterprises increasingly adopting hybrid cloud infrastructures and open source technologies drove our strong results. The fourth quarter marked our 56th consecutive quarter of revenue growth, contributing to Red Hat’s first fiscal year crossing $2 billion in total revenue,” stated Jim Whitehurst, President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Hat. “Customers are demanding technologies that modernize the development, deployment and life-cycle management of applications across hybrid cloud environments.

Some highlights:

• Subscription revenue from Infrastructure-related offerings for the quarter was $391 million, an increase of 15% in U.S. dollars year-over-year and 18% measured in constant currency. 
• Subscription revenue from Application Development-related and other emerging technologies offerings for the quarter was $89 million, an increase of 38% in U.S. dollars year-over-year and 43% measured in constant currency.

http://www.redhat.com

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Infinera's Infinite Capacity Engine Revs to 2.4 Tbps Capacity

Infinera unveiled its Infinite Capacity Engine, a multi-terabit optical subsystem combining the company's next generation FlexCoherent Processor and the photonics of its fourth generation photonic integrated circuit (PIC).

The Infinite Capacity Engine, which will be integrated into the Infinera portfolio of long-haul terrestrial, subsea, metro and data center interconnect platforms, breaks new ground for optical transport by being the first in the industry to deliver optical super-channel capacity up to 2.4 terabits per second and reach up to 12,000 kilometers in a single small package.

Infinera said its new Infinite Capacity Engine represents the next step function in WDM performance because of the capacity jump to 2.4 Tbps of optical bandwidth, combined with longer reach, better power efficiency and the integration of other advanced functions. Significantly, the Infinite Capacity Engine furthers the company's Instant Bandwidth capability, which enables pre-deployed bandwidth to be provisioned on-demand in 100 Gbps increments via software activation. New capabilities include 100G temporary licenses, enabling capacity to be deployed for a specific duration of time.

Some highlights of the Infinera Infinite Capacity Engine:

• Massive scale: supporting super-channels up to 2.4 Tbps from a single subsystem with up to 12 times more bandwidth than other implementations.
• Advanced Coherent Toolkit (ACT): delivers up to 60 percent more capacity-reach performance for submarine and terrestrial networks than the current generation of optical technologies by allowing extended reach and/or utilization of higher order modulation formats on a per channel or super-channel basis in challenging fiber environments. The Infinera ACT features Nyquist subcarriers, a new technology that increases tolerance for non-linear effects and SD-FEC gain sharing. In addition, multiple modulation formats are supported including matrix enhanced - phase shift keying (ME-PSK), BPSK, 3QAM, QPSK, 8QAM and 16QAM.
• Sliceable super-channels: provides the unique ability to deliver 2.4 Tbps of capacity in a single module with a single fiber pair. In addition, it provides fine-grained and flexible control of optical wavelengths at 100 Gb/s. The Infinite Capacity Engine can tune and route a 100 Gbps wavelength or N x 100 Gbps super-channels in multiple separate directions with any specified flexible grid coherent modulation across the extended C-Band. As a result, network line-card module requirements can be reduced up to 77 percent while delivering tremendous flexibility. Moreover, total cost of ownership can be reduced by up to 53 percent as compared to non-sliceable implementations.
• In-flight wire-speed encryption: encrypts traffic transparently at Layer 1 on a per service basis or in the bulk mode per super-channel, using the strong 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) key. The Infinite Capacity Engine is integrated with easy-to-use key exchange and cryptography mechanisms, providing wire-rate multi-terabit processing with more capacity than current industry solutions.

"The Infinera Infinite Capacity Engine ushers in a new era in optical transport networking and is the foundation for network operators to rapidly respond to massive bandwidth demands," said Dr. Dave Welch, Infinera Co-founder and President.

https://www.infinera.com/technology/engine/

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ADVA Launches MicroMu Module for DCI Scalability

ADVA Optical Networking introduced an active QSFP28 MicroMux module for its FSP 3000 CloudConnect data center interconnect (DCI) solution that lets customers convert a 100GbE client port into either 10 x 10GbE ports or 2 x 40GbE ports..

ADVA said its MicroMux module was developed to meet one single purpose – support existing client ports without lowering key efficiency or density metrics. The module is available in both single mode and multimode. It transports data over short reach, intermediate reach (40GbE) and long reach (10GbE). It allows customers to seamlessly mix 10GbE, 40GbE and 100GbE clients into the ADVA FSP 3000 CloudConnect’s single 400G line card without any footprint increase. The MicroMux module is also able to aggregate asynchronously or independently clocked 10GbE and 40GbE traffic.

“From day one, our FSP 3000 CloudConnect platform has been built directly with some of the world’s leading ICPs and CSPs. It’s this direct dialogue that has made our DCI technology so successful,” said Christoph Glingener, CTO, ADVA Optical Networking. “Our MicroMux module is the latest example of this. It’s an entirely unique device that drives our DCI solution even further ahead of the field. With one single QSFP28 module, customers are now able to convert a 100GbE client port into either 10 x 10GbE ports or 2 x 40GbE ports. This is true scalability. What’s more, it can be done without any detriment to the incredible data or power density of our FSP 3000 CloudConnect platform. This is unmatched in the industry. There’s simply no other vendor that can do this.”

http://www.advaoptical.com/

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Video: Cisco's Dave Ward on the Evolution of Open Networking

Open source software and open networking are rapidly advancing, says Dave Ward, CTO of Engineering and Chief Architect, Cisco.  The conversation has moved on from talking about protocols and SDN controllers.


Now we are working on reactive network platforms that leverage real-time telemetry. The SDN community also needs to understand who are the developers for each layer of the network. This will enable enterprises and Service Providers to operate similarly to how the cloud works.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/MMiyQvZbQOw

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Fujitsu Optical Releases CFP2 for 100G DP-QPSK, 200G DP-16QAM

Fujitsu Optical Components Limited (FOC) announced commercial production of its compact, low power consumption CFP2 ACO transceiver, which supports both the 100G DP-QPSK and the 200G DP-16QAM modulation formats.

FOC said its coherent transceiver has the same interface as the CFP2 MSA transceiver which is commonly used in 100G Ethernet applications and conforms to the OIF CFP2 ACO Class 1/Class 2 standards. The transceiver is compliant with the Class 2 standard and supports 16QAM transmission by using a linear modulator driver.

http://www.fujitsu.com/jp/group/foc/en/resources/news/press-releases/2016/20160317.html

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NeoPhotonics Samples 100G Class 3 Coherent Pluggable CFP2-ACO

NeoPhotonics has begun sampling its "ClearLight" CFP2-ACO (Analog Coherent Optics) Class 3 Coherent Pluggable Module -- the first in a series of high performance pluggable modules that expand upon the company’s coherent product suite to meet growing demand for high density coherent solutions for both telecom and datacenter networks.

The ClearLightTM CFP2-ACO combines all of the optical functions necessary for a coherent transponder in a standard form factor compact pluggable module and is designed to fully support the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) “Implementation Agreement for CFP2-Analog Coherent Optics Module” (OIF-CFP2-ACO-01.0, January 22, 2016) for Class 3. The module incorporates NeoPhotonics leading ultra-narrow linewidth external cavity tunable laser and high responsivity integrated coherent receiver, exhibits low electrical power consumption and is suitable for 100G DP-QPSK and 200G 16QAM operation. The ClearLightTM Class 3 CFP2-ACO is compatible with DSP (digital signal processor) solutions from multiple vendors and places the control of the optics outside the module with the DSP.

“We are pleased to announce initial customer sampling for the emerging Coherent Pluggable market with our first CFP-2 ACO module in a Class 3 configuration,” said Tim Jenks, Chairman and CEO of NeoPhotonics. “We are building upon our core strength in advanced hybrid photonic integrated circuits to combine multiple different functions in a compact module utilizing the right material technology for each element. This will allow us to follow this first product with a series of modules to meet the ever increasing performance demands of future networks,” continued Mr. Jenks.

http://www.neophotonics.com

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MACOM Announces Dual 28Gbps Clock Data Recovery Devices

M/A-COM Technology Solutions introduced two dual 28Gbps Clock and Data Recovery (CDR) devices with an integrated laser driver and designed for SFP28 short reach (SR) or long reach (LR) module applications.

MACOM’s dual reference-free CDR devices feature multi-rate retiming, with the MASC-37028 retiming from 24Gbps to 26.5Gbps and the MASC-37029 retiming from 25.5Gbps to 28.1Gbps. The flexible output drive options with programmable output swing and eye shaping feature support VCSEL, DML and EML laser applications. The MASC-37029 also incorporates dedicated RS0/RS1 functionality to enable use with Fibre Channel speed negotiation.

“MACOM’s MASC-37028 and MASC-37029 are highly integrated, low-power 28G solutions designed to be flexible for both SR and LR SFP28 applications,” said Angus Lai, Director of Product Marketing, High-Performance Analog at MACOM. “These devices interface seamlessly with MACOM’s M03002, a low power single channel 28G TIA, for a complete SFP28 SR application solution. They are also compatible with MAOM-002301, a low power single channel 28G DML driver, for a complete SFP28 long reach application solution.”

http://www.macom.com

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TeliaSonera Considers Sale of Spanish Unit

TeliaSonera confirmed that it is in discussions with Zegona Communications, which is listed on the London stock exchange, over a possible offer for TeliaSonera’s Spanish operations Yoigo.

http://www.teliasonera.com

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Cumulus Names Josh Leslie as CEO, JR Rivers as CTO

Cumulus Networks named Josh Leslie as Chief Executive Officer, taking over the post from co-founder JR Rivers, who will now serve as CTO.

Leslie has served as Cumulus Networks' VP of Sales since June 2015. Prior to joining Cumulus Networks, Leslie ran worldwide field operations at Instart Logic where he was responsible for signing the company’s first 150 enterprise customers. He also spent six years at VMware where he held roles in sales, operations and business development as the company scaled from $100 million to $1 billion in revenue.

https://cumulusnetworks.com/blog/picking-up-the-baton11

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In Memorium: Andrew S. Grove 1936 – 2016

Intel announced the passing of Andrew S. Grove.

Present at Intel’s 1968 founding with Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, Andy Grove became Intel’s President in 1979 and CEO in 1987. He served as Chairman of the Board from 1997 to 2005. Both during his time at Intel and in retirement, Grove was one of the most influential figures in technology and business, writing best-selling books and widely cited articles, and speaking out on an array of prominent public issues.

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of former Intel Chairman and CEO Andy Grove,” said Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. “Andy made the impossible happen, time and again, and inspired generations of technologists, entrepreneurs, and business leaders.”

http://www.intel.com

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