Interxion's Data Center Sales Grow 10% YoY, New Facilities Come Online

Interxion's revenue for the fourth quarter of 2016 was €110.5 million, a 10% increase over the fourth quarter of 2015 and a 5% increase over the third quarter of 2016.  Gross profit was €67.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2016, a 10% increase over the fourth quarter of 2015 and a 5% increase over the third quarter of 2016.

Some operational highlights:

• Equipped Space increased by 3,000 square metres in the fourth quarter and 9,600 square metres for the full year to 110,800 square metres
• Revenue Generating Space increased by 3,100 square metres in the fourth quarter and 8,100 square metres for the full year to 87,200 square metres
• Utilisation Rate was 79% at the end of the year
• During the fourth quarter, Interxion opened two new data centres: the first phase of its AMS8 data centre in Amsterdam, and the first two phases of its DUB3 data centre in Dublin. In addition, Interxion opened a 500 sqm expansion at its PAR7 data centre in Paris.

“Interxion continued its momentum into the fourth quarter, capping 2016 with double digit annual growth for revenues and Adjusted EBITDA, and solid margin improvement. We experienced growth across our key target segments, and we saw a continuation of strong bookings across all deal sizes,” said David Ruberg, Interxion’s Chief Executive Officer. ”Customers value our services, which are located in the main connectivity hubs across Europe, as they seek network-dense facilities where they create business value by gaining access to our vibrant Communities of Interest.”

http://www.internexion.com

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Ericsson and Cisco Develop VoLTE UC

Ericsson and Cisco showcased a joint Collaboration Mobile Convergence (CMC) solution that delivers Cisco Spark collaboration tools over VoLTE.

Cisco Spark features like messaging, in-line file sharing, and high-definition video conferencing across multiple devices, can be triggered from a simple call to a mobile number. Calls can also be moved seamlessly between devices, including the newly announced Cisco Spark Board, with a simple swipe.

The network ensures seamless handover of voice calls across 2G, 3G, LTE and Wi-Fi accesses. The solution will be available to Service Provider and Enterprise customers by end of calendar year 2017.

"CMC offers Service Providers a unique competitive advantage to deliver world class business communications services via the mobile phone. This is a great example of Cisco and Ericsson innovation at work to advance the network of the future and support our mobile lifestyles," stated Yvette Kanouff, senior vice president, general manager, Service Provider Business, Cisco.

http://www.cisco.com
http://www.ericsson.com

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Equinix Expands Zurich Data Center Campus with Acquisition

Equinix will acquire ICT-Center AG, Zurich's data center operating business in Zurich, Switzerland. The deal was valued at under $5 million.

The facility, which is adjacent to Equinix's existing Zurich International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers – ZH2 and ZH4, will add approximately 60 cabinets of sold capacity and a total colocation space of approximately 230 cabs. Equinix noted that the data center currently has a large number of network customers, which further increases network density at its Zurich campus, as well as global enterprises and financial services companies.

Equinix's Zurich data centers (ZH1, ZH2, ZH4, ZH5) are tethered together forming a campus environment.  The company says customers at its Zurich campus can reach 90 percent of Europe within 20ms.

http://www.equinix.com

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GSMA: Mobile Ecosystem Accounts for 4.4% of Global GDP

The GSMA now estimates that mobile technologies and services accounted for 4.4 per cent of global GDP in 2016, equivalent to around $3.3 trillion of economic value. This is forecast to increase to more than $4.2 trillion by 2020, or 4.9 per cent of projected global GDP, as countries around the world continue to benefit from the improvements in productivity and efficiency made possible by mobile technology. The mobile ecosystem directly and indirectly supported 28.5 million jobs in 2016, a figure expected to increase to 30.9 million by 2020.

Some highlights from the GSMA’s ‘Mobile Economy’ report presented at Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona:

• By the end of 2016 there were 4.8 billion unique mobile subscribers and 7.9 billion SIM connections worldwide. 
• The 5 billion-subscriber milestone will be achieved by mid-year 2017 and will increase to 5.7 billion by the end of the decade. 
• By 2020, almost three-quarters of the world’s population will be subscribed to a mobile service. 
• More than half of connections (55 per cent) were running on mobile broadband (3G/4G) networks, which are forecast to account for almost three-quarters of connections by 2020.
• At the end of 2016, 580 4G (LTE) networks had been launched across 188 countries, providing 4G coverage to approximately 60 per cent of the global population.
• Looking further ahead, the study predicts that the first commercial 5G networks (based on LTE Release 15) will launch in 2019 and will provide coverage to a third of the world’s population by 2025. The number of 5G connections is forecast to reach 1.1 billion by that time.

“Mobile is a global platform that today supports two-thirds of the world’s population, delivering the connectivity and infrastructure that is powering new digital economies and addressing socioeconomic challenges,” said Mats Granryd, Director General of the GSMA. “Our latest Mobile Economy report reveals how the near ubiquity of smartphones and high-speed connectivity is enabling innovation in areas such as artificial intelligence and driving the digital transformation. Mobile operators have invested over a trillion dollars in their networks since 2010 and will invest a further $700 billion over the remainder of the decade as we enter the 5G era.”

http://www.gsma.com/mobileeconomy/.

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Huawei Launches CloudMetro and 100 GBE-enabled NFVI

Huawei has released its advanced CloudMetro platform, designed to help operators accelerate their digital transformation and adopt cloud technology to enable resource pooling and enhanced service agility and automation, and its new 100 Gigabit Ethernet-enabled network functions virtualisation infrastructure (NFVI) solution.

CloudMetro solution

Huawei's CloudMetro solution moves management and service functions to the network cloud engine (NCE) to enable an on-demand, 'Lego'-style service provisioning capability. By introducing service function chains to support on-demand service function selection and deployment, the architecture is designed to reduce trial costs, shorten service time-to-market down to days and address carriers' differentiated service requirements.

The platform offers standard northbound interfaces that are open to third parties, so allowing a wider range of applications to be supported. Huawei also provides lab facilities for remote online integration verification, thereby enabling joint development with partners. Huawei intends to cooperate with industry partners to help deliver mutually beneficial solutions.

Huawei noted that forwarding-control separation allows cloud-based centralised resource control and ondemand dynamic resource scheduling for increased resource utilisation, while unified service management, centralised resource control and flexible resource scheduling across layers, domains and vendors enable selfservice operation and one-touch service provisioning. In addition, the router can be used to construct an E2E, slicing-capable network.

NFVI solution

Huawei also released its 100 Gigabit Ethernet-capable NFVI solution that provides high bandwidth and low latency performance. Based on Huawei's FusionServer E9000 converged architecture blade server, the solution integrates 100 Gigabit Ethernet switch modules and FPGA acceleration cards, NVMe SSDs and the FusionSphere virtualisation platform, which delivers the performance for carrier-class applications.

Huawei noted that to leverage the operational and business advantages of NFV, it believes the NFVI must be able to accommodate increasing east-west traffic within the data centre by providing a high-speed Ethernet fabric capable of supporting high capacity and lower latency between virtual network function (VNF) elements.

The NFVI 100 Gigabit Ethernet solution leverages Huawei's FusionServer E9000 which can support 100 Gbit/s per port for external bandwidth of up to 4 Tbit/s, while providing port forwarding latency of less than 600 ns for the entire chassis. In addition, the network can be managed by the SDN controller, and for applications such as network protocol offload and encryption/decryption the NFVI solution features FPGA acceleration cards and NVMe SSDs to reduce the CPU load.

http://www.huawei.com

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Qualcomm and Mercedes-AMG Test 802.11ad for Racecar Data

Qualcomm and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport are conducting field trials to test high-speed wireless download of vehicle sensor information utilizing 802.11ad Wi-Fi technology in the 60 GHz band.

Initial testing was conducted during the Formula 1 US Grand Prix in the 2016 season and will be extended during the British Grand Prix in July.  During these field trials, race engineers utilize both 5 GHz 802.11ac and Multi-gigabit 802.11ad Wi-Fi technology, which operates in the millimeter wave (mmWave) 60GHz band, to gather data directly from the Team’s race car while in, or approaching the garage. The handover between the two 802.11 modes are handled automatically as radio conditions dictate throughput performance.  Racecar telemetry data pulled via Wi-Fi using the 5 GHz spectrum included tire data utilizing thermal cameras.

Qualcomm said the goal of the trial is to accelerate how quickly and efficiently data can be pulled from the vehicle, as well as help evaluate vehicle performance under extreme race conditions, helping with quicker assessments and less time in the pit lane.

“Qualcomm Technologies has been leading the way in creating a robust 802.11ad ecosystem, helping industry leaders introduce the first commercial smartphones, access points, notebooks and adapters using our 802.11ad chips.  802.11ad Multi-gigabit Wi-Fi technology can also address the growing need of bandwidth for content-rich applications in homes, offices and cars. We look forward to continuing this trial with the Mercedes-AMG

http://www.qualcomm.com

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Altice's SFR Virtualizes Mobile Core with Cisco and Red Hat OpenStack

SFR, Altice’s French subsidiary, is transforming its mobile packet core infrastructure with an NFV platform architected to support multiple vendors. The solution is based on Red Hat OpenStack Platform, in combination with Cisco networking, virtualization and data center compute solutions.

The companies report that 50 percent of the mobile traffic is already running on its virtualized platform and 80 percent is planned by end of 2017.

“NFV is a reality at SFR,” said Philippe Le May, SFR CTO, Altice Group. “We are focused on innovating faster and taking bold leaps to transform our network operations, providing our customers with experiences beyond mobile that no one else can match.”

“Our strategy is to enable our customers’ success at growing both profits and revenues by connecting new services and virtualized applications to networks and clouds,” said Yves Padrines, vice president, Global Service Provider EMEAR, Cisco.

http://www.cisco.com

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Cisco Powers Jio's All-IP Platform - Fastest Growing Network in the World

Cisco confirmed that it is working with India's Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) to further expand Jio’s existing multi-terabit capacity, first All-IP converged network. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Jio's network is the fastest growing in the world.  Within six months of launch, it reached 100 million broadband and VoLTE customers. Since its launch, Jio has accelerated India’s monthly user data consumption 40 times, the highest in the world. With the advanced All-IP network, Jio offers a premium broadband service at U.S. $0.15/GB, making it the most affordable in the world.

The network supports a combination of high-speed data, mobile video, VoLTE, digital commerce, media, cloud, and payment services. The Cisco All-IP network helps Jio to deliver the vision of Digital India and transform the delivery of citizen services from transportation, utilities and financial inclusion to entertainment, agriculture, education, and healthcare in the country.

The Jio All-IP digital platform is built on Cisco’s Open Network Architecture and Cloud Scale Networking technologies featuring IP/MPLS, spanning areas including Data Center, Wi-Fi, Security and Contact Center solutions. Jio has laid more than 185,000 miles (or 300,000 KM) of fiber, and built India’s largest cloud data center to build platforms for applications and vertical solutions.

"We at Jio have been able to fundamentally impact how people leverage technology in their everyday lives by delivering inclusive and affordable broadband across India,” said Mathew Oommen, president, Reliance Jio. “As part of our journey in fulfilling the aspirations of the nation to be a key transformational agent in Digital Adoption and Leadership, Cisco has been a great partner for in building this highly scalable cloud centric All-IP Digital Services Network Platform meeting unprecedented data growth.

“We share the vision with Reliance Jio for an open, programmable infrastructure to simplify, automate and virtualize core network functions in order to digitize faster,” said Yvette Kanouff, senior vice president, general manager, Service Provider Business, Cisco. “This network marks a milestone, transforming the mobility business in India by delivering a broad range of mobile apps and services from one common platform.”

http://www.cisco.com

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Mellanox and ECI partner to deliver virtual CPE platform for NFV

Mellanox Technologies, a supplier of interconnect solutions for data centre servers and storage systems, and 'elastic networking' company ECI have announced the introduction of an advanced virtual CPE (vCPE) platform at the Mobile World Congress 2017.

The joint platform is designed to provide enhanced performance and efficiency and enable service providers to cost-effectively implement network function virtualisation (NFV) deployments. The solution is based on ECI's Mercury NFVi platform and uCPE solution, accelerated by Mellanox's Indigo network processor delivering over 400 Gbit/s of L2-7 packet processing. Compared to un-accelerated platforms, the ECI-Mellanox solution is claimed to deliver more than a 30x performance improvement for virtual router, L4-7 firewall and L7 QoS applications.

The ECI Mercury NFVi platform and uCPE technology converge multiple customer premises networking functions onto an elastic, software-configurable platform, with the uCPE solution enabling service providers to combine networking functions flexibly to create new value-added service mixes.

In addition, the advanced network processing capabilities of Mellanox Indigo constitute an integral part of the NFV Infrastructure to enhance the performance of virtualised network functions, particularly those requiring guaranteed throughput, packet rate, latency and jitter for SLAs.

The companies noted that compared to conventional platforms, the joint ECI-Mellanox solution can enable flexible service creation more cost-effectively together with enhanced infrastructure efficiency and in a more compact footprint.

Separately, Mellanox unveiled the IDG4400 6WIND Network Routing and IPsec platform based on the combination of Indigo and 6WIND's 6WINDGate packet processing software, which includes routing and security features such as IPsec VPNs. The IDG4400 6WIND 1 U platform supports 10/40/100 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity and can deliver sustained rates of up to 180 Gbit/s encryption/decryption while providing IPv4/v6 routing functions at rates up to 400 Gbit/s.

http://www.mellanox.com

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Telefónica Tests LTE-M with Ericsson and Sierra Wireless

Telefónica has completed field testing of CAT-M1 or LTE-M for IoT over its network in Spain in partnership with Ericsson and Sierra Wireless.

The testing showed successful interoperability Sierra Wireless modem, which builds Cat-M1 chipsets in and Ericsson's Packet Core and Radio solutions.

Tests took place within 5TONIC project, the 5G research and innovation open lab of which Ericsson is an active member, founded by Telefónica and IMDEA Networks.

5TONIC Open Lab is an open place where companies and individuals test ideas with different IoT networks, according to their needs; prove concepts, experiment and build initial prototypes that can lead to a commercial offering. This Open Lab would be the first environment providing both NB-IOT and CAT-M1 (LTE-M).

http://www.ericsson.com

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GSMA's Vision for the 5G Era

At the opening of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the GSMA outlined five goals for the 5G era:

1. Provide boundless connectivity for all: 5G networks will co-exist with 4G networks and alternative network technologies to deliver a high-speed, reliable and secure broadband experience;
2. Deliver future networks innovatively and with optimal economics: All stakeholders will strive to cost-effectively deliver improved networks, relying on a combination of mainstream and alternative technologies, using both licensed and unlicensed spectrum;
3. Accelerate the digital transformation of industry verticals: The mobile industry will provide the networks and platforms to drive the digitisation and automation of industrial practices and processes;
4. Transform the mobile broadband experience: 5G networks will provide an enhanced broadband experience of up to 1 Gbps and below 10 milliseconds latency, and provide the platform for cloud- and artificial intelligence-based services; and
5. Drive growth in new use cases for massive IoT and critical communications services: 5G networks will support the massive rollout of intelligent IoT nodes for a multitude of scenarios, including critical communications services
   

The goals, which are published in a new study called ‘The 5G Era: Age of Boundless Connectivity and Intelligent Automation’, is based on an extensive survey of 750 operator CEOs and other industry stakeholders.

The GSMA forecasts that commercial 5G networks will begin to be widely deployed at the start of the next decade and, by 2025, will provide coverage to a third of the world’s population. 5G connections are forecast to reach 1.1 billion by 2025, accounting for approximately one in eight mobile connections worldwide by this time.

“The 5G era will usher in innovations that enable richer, smarter and more convenient living and working, making possible a huge array of new applications, everything from sensor-driven smart parking to holographic conference calls,” said Mats Granryd, Director General of the GSMA. “5G is an opportunity to create an agile, purpose-built network tailored to the different needs of citizens and the economy. But it is vital that all stakeholders work together to ensure that 5G is successfully standardised, regulated and brought to market.”

The full report is available to download here.

https://www.gsmaintelligence.com/research/?file=0efdd9e7b6eb1c4ad9aa5d4c0c971e62&download

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Nokia Promises 5G FIRST End-to-End Solution in 2H17

At Mobile World Congress, Nokia is showcasing its 5G FIRST end-to-end solution incorporating its AirScale and AirFrame technology, including AirScale massive MIMO Adaptive Antenna, Cloud Packet Core and mobile transport.  The solution is expected to launch in the second half of 2017.

Nokia said it intends to give operators a first-to-market advantage based on early specifications.

The radio access network components of 5G FIRST comprise new Nokia massive MIMO Adaptive Antennas for 3.5 GHz, 4.5 GHz, 28 GHz and 39 GHz frequency bands, the AirScale System Module, AirScale cloud RAN technology and software. Nokia has upgraded its AirScale and AirFrame platforms to 5G based on specifications developed by the KT Special Interests Group (KT SIG) and Verizon 5G Technology Forum and the platforms will be adapted to 3GPP as standards develop.

Leveraging Nokia's end-to-end network capabilities, 5G FIRST also incorporates the multi-access Nokia Cloud Packet Core and the Nokia Shared Data Layer as part of a cloud-native core architecture to deliver the flexibility, massive scalability and performance operators need to rapidly and cost-effectively deliver 5G services. A comprehensive array of mobile transport offerings from Nokia address the critical capacity, reliability and latency requirements of the 5G era.

Samih Elhage, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said: "We are able to leverage our breadth of expertise to deliver a true end-to-end 5G FIRST network and services solution. Working with operators such as Verizon we can help them tailor deployments to meet their own customers' unique demands and capitalize first on the opportunities this will bring. And we can leverage the technology to work with industries to identify new uses for 5G now under the 5G community program which will in turn open up even more opportunities for our operator customers."

http://www.nokia.com

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Cisco Intros Security Architecture for Mobile Operators

At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Cisco is introducing its Security Architecture for Mobile Service Providers, promising multi-layered protection across the network, the endpoint (device) and the cloud.

New elements include:

• Network Security: To help service providers protect their mobile backhaul from attacks against the core network, Cisco introduces its next generation of highly scalable, physical and virtual Security Gateway (SecGW) solutions, supported by the Firepower 9300 and Firepower 4100 Series firewall appliances, ASR 900 Series routers and Adaptive Security Virtual Appliance (ASAv).  
• Device Security: Cisco security on the device enables enterprises and service providers to extend visibility and device-level protection to offer the most robust mobile device platform for the enterprise.
• Cisco and Samsung will deliver endpoint visibility and data intelligence to business customers via Samsung Knox, Cisco AnyConnect and Cisco Stealthwatch solutions. 
• Cloud Security: Service providers can now deliver new revenue streams by offering their customers new managed security services from their own managed cloud, or Cisco-managed cloud environments.

In addition, the company is introducing ‘Cisco Umbrella for Service Providers’, a new cloud-delivered security platform.  Specifically, Cisco is introducing new integration of its Cisco Umbrella security service, with the Cisco Evolved Packet Core (EPC), available to run on the Cisco Ultra Services Platform or Cisco ASR 5500 Series routers to deliver a more secure Internet experience to any mobile device.

“Security is the business enabler for mobile service providers to confidently move forward with network transformation, virtualization and pave a path towards 5G,” said Gee Rittenhouse, senior vice president, Engineering, Security Business Group. “We are focused on helping our customers see more, protect better, and respond faster with robust security to fill in the gaps and appreciate all the new opportunities that come with network expansion, without the added risk.”

http://www.cisco.com

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ADVA Advances Facebook-Designed Open Optical Packet Transport

ADVA Optical Networking reports that it is now working with nine customers on trials of the Facebook-designed Voyager solution, including Tier 1 service providers and large enterprises.  The open optical packet transport system is being tested in a range of proof of concept (POC) installations.

ADVA said the over the last nine months, Voyager has matured rapidly from blueprint to physical product. The 1RU DWDM unit features 12 x 100Gbit/s QSFP 28 clients and 4 x 200Gbit/s 16QAM on the line side.

ADVA also announced integration of Voyager into its FSP Network Manager.

“The two founding principles of the Voyager and Open Optical Packet Transport projects are openness and innovation and it’s these principles that have guided everything that our team has developed here,” said Niall Robinson, VP, global business development, ADVA Optical Networking. “Now that the Voyager system is complete, we’re focusing much of our time on further developing our services to ensure that customers have a turn-key solution. That’s why these POCs are so important. We’re able to see firsthand what resonates. Which services do the customers like? Which services do they need to see more of? Which services are truly critical? And what’s fascinating here is the breadth of applications these POCs cover. The lessons learnt from the next few months will be key as we move from trials to commercialization.”

“We’re excited by the progress we’ve made with Voyager by working with partners like ADVA Optical Networking. What was only an idea less than a year ago is now almost commercially ready for deployment,” said Hans-Juergen Schmidtke, co-chair, Open Optical Packet Transport project group, TIP, and director, engineering, Facebook. “We’re looking forward to collaborating with our partners to build the open optical packet transport solutions with Voyager into a complete package that will enable service providers and enterprises to deploy an open networking solution that delivers rapid results and enables continuous innovation.”

http://www.advaoptical.com

Facebook to Contribute Open Packet DWDM to Telecom Infra Project

Tuesday, November 01, 2016  DWDM, Facebook, Open  No Comments

Facebook outlined its plan for Open Packet DWDM for metro and long-haul fiber optic transport networks.  The idea is to "enable a clean separation of software and hardware" based on open specifications.

Facebook had already developed a new "white box" transponder and routing platform called Voyager based on Open Packet DWDM, which it will contribute to the Telecom Infra Project.

Facebook said the Voyager open line system will include Yang software data models of each component in the system, and an open northbound software interface (NETCONF, Thrift, etc.) to the control plane software. This allows multiple applications to run on top of the open software layer, enabling software innovations in DWDM system control algorithms and network management systems.

The DWDM transponder hardware includes DSP ASICs and complex optoelectronic components, and thus accounts for much of the cost of the system. The hardware design leverages technologies implemented in Wedge 100, Facebook's top-of-rack switch, including the same Broadcom Tomahawk switching ASIC.  It also uses the DSP ASIC and optics module (AC400) from Acacia Communications for the DWDM line side with their open development environment.

Facebook worked with Lumentum to develop a terminal amplifier specification so that multiple applications can run on top of the open software layer to enable software innovations in DWDM system control algorithms and network management systems.

Some additional notes:

• Equinix has successfully tested the Voyager solution and Lumentum’s open line system over 140km of production fiber. MTN also shared the results of their successful test of Voyager over their production fiber network in South Africa. Facebook, Acacia Communications, Broadcom, Celestica, Lumentum, and Snaproute are delivering a complete disaggregated hardware and software optical networking platform that is expected to significantly advance the industry.
• ADVA Optical Networking is providing commercial support for Voyager, including all of the essential services and software support needed to make it a complete network solution that is ready for deployment.
• Coriant is extending its networking software to enable engineering support for Voyager, providing routing and switching as well as DWDM transmission capabilities. The combination of DWDM and packet switching/routing opens up the potential for more open and more programmable network architectures.
• The first TIP Ecosystem Acceleration Centers, sponsored by SK Telecom and Facebook, will open in Seoul in early 2017. Other TIP Ecosystem Acceleration Centers are being planned to encourage community participation. The latest companies to join TIP include Bell Canada, du (EITC), NBN, Orange, Telia, Telstra, Accenture, Amdocs, Canonical, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Toyota InfoTechnology Center.

https://code.facebook.com/posts/1977308282496021/an-open-approach-for-switching-routing-and-transport/

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Huawei and Softbank Complete 3.5 GHz Massive MIMO with CA Test

Huawei, in collaboration with SoftBank, completed a Massive MIMO verification test using the operator's 40 MHz spectrum on the 3.5 GHz band in Tokyo, Japan.

The test of Massive MIMO and multi-carrier technologies achieved a peak downlink rate of 1.4 Gbps.

Huawei said the 3.5 GHz band, with its abundant bandwidth resources, offers a great opportunity for the global development of LTE TDD, and has grown increasingly important as a 5G catalyst to assume the spotlight position of the global mobile industry.

Massive MIMO, featuring the incorporation of massive antennas and 3D beamforming, enhances spectrum multiplexing among multiple UEs to significantly improve spectral efficiency without additionally increasing site density or bandwidth. The 3.5 GHz Massive MIMO test further explores the latent potential of 3.5 GHz spectrum, and is expected to open up a new commercial era of LTE-Advanced.

http://www.huawei.com/en/events/mwc/2017

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CORD and xRAN Consortium Partner in Software-based Extensible RAN

CORD and xRAN consortium partner to develop carrier grade software-based, extensible RAN February 23rd The CORD Project, an open source project seeking reinvent network access via enabling data centre economics and cloud agility in the central office, announces an agreement to partner with xRAN Foundation to collaborate on standardising and promoting a software-based, extensible RAN (xRAN) architecture.

The partnership is intended to deliver a carrier grade, open reference implementation of xRAN specifications within M-CORD for a next generation RAN architecture. Designed to address the challenges associated with closed, proprietary RAN systems and the future demands of 5G, the CORD Project and xRAN are combining two ecosystems of service providers, vendor and open source communities.

Through the initiative, the xRAN consortium will focus on developing software-defined standards for the architecture and interface definitions for next-generation RAN; the CORD community will focus on implementing xRAN standard APIs, a RAN controller based on ONOS and example RAN control applications for the M-CORD platform leveraging both open and closed hardware from multiple vendors.

As part of the partnership, ON.Lab has announced the appointment of Dr. Sachin Katti, Professor of EE and CS at Stanford University, as chief scientist for mobility to guide the integration of xRAN with M-CORD.

The collaboration is expected to establish a symbiotic relationship between standards and API specifications and reference implementations, and thereby allow the use of specifications to help improve the reference implementation, while experience with the reference implementation can help improve specifications. In addition, extended engagement with the open networking ecosystem will help to create software- defined standards and a reference implementation, and help speed the adoption of software defined RANs.

Founded in October 2016, the xRAN consortium has developed standardised RAN control interfaces that allow carrier applications to programmatically control multi-vendor RAN infrastructure and have been adopted by carriers. xRAN aims to decouple the RAN control plane from the user plane, build a modular eNB software stack that operates on COTS hardware and release open north- and south-bound interfaces.

Members of the xRAN consortium include AT&T, Deutsche Telekom and SK Telecom, plus Intel, Texas Instruments, Aricent, Radisys and Stanford University.

Regarding the partnership, Andre Fuetsch, president of AT&T Labs and CTO, commented, "AT&T has been a founding member and active supporter of both xRAN and CORD, and the time is right for xRAN and M-CORD to come together… the xRAN and M-CORD partnership will allow the building of mobile access networks with the ability to customise and optimise the RAN and to more quickly create new services…".

https://www.linuxfoundation.org/announcements/cord-project-and-xran-consortium-align-to-build-carrier-grade-software-for-next

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ZTE Shows its 5G Pre-commercial Base Stations

At Mobile World Congress, ZTE is showcasing a range of 5G mmWave and Sub6GHz pre-commercial base stations.  The equipment will support 3GPP's 5G new radio (NR) new air interfaces and mainstream 5G frequency bands. The base stations use massive multiple input, multiple output (MIMO), Beam Tracking, beamforming and other key 5G technologies.

The company is demonstrating a 5G mmWave base station with a 50 Gbps peak rate.  ZTE completed its first 5G mmWave field trials last year.

Zhang Jianguo , SVP of ZTE, said: "ZTE will continue its innovation in the 5G field to meet the product and service needs of customers. ZTE will occupy a place in the world's first 5G commercial market and lay a solid foundation for the future Internet of Things (IoT)."

http://www.zte.com.cn

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Source Photonics ramps 100G QSFP28 LR4 transceiver capacity

 Source Photonics, a supplier of optical transceivers for data centre and broadband access connectivity, announced that in December 2016 it reached an operational milestone when it expanded capacity to over 10,000 units per month for 100 Gbit/s QSFP28 LR4 transceivers.

Source Photonics noted that it began shipping its 100 Gbit/s QSFP28 LR4 product in March 2015 following completion of a targeted sampling and qualification program. Subsequent investments of over $30 million in captive InP chip fab expansion and a captive optical subassembly (OSA) facility featuring high precision die attach and alignment capabilities have enabled monthly production capacity to be ramped from 1,000 modules to over 10,000 modules within 12 months.
  Source Photonics, a supplier of optical transceivers for data centre and broadband access connectivity, announced that in December 2016 it reached an operational milestone when it expanded capacity to over 10,000 units per month for 100 Gbit/s QSFP28 LR4 transceivers.

Source Photonics noted that it began shipping its 100 Gbit/s QSFP28 LR4 product in March 2015 following completion of a targeted sampling and qualification program. Subsequent investments of over $30 million in captive InP chip fab expansion and a captive optical subassembly (OSA) facility featuring high precision die attach and alignment capabilities have enabled monthly production capacity to be ramped from 1,000 modules to over 10,000 modules within 12 months.

The expansion of Source Photonics' 100 Gbit/s production line follows the earlier ramp of its 40 Gbit/s QSFP+ LR4 single mode platform to support the increasing demand for 40 Gbit/s connectivity in both North American and Asian cloud data centre markets.

The company noted that while North American demand is quickly transitioning from 10 and 40 Gbit/s to 100 Gbit/s, cloud operators and service providers in Asia are continuing to leverage the economies of scale at 40 Gbit/s, resulting in high demand for 40 Gbit/s transceivers. Source Photonics believes it will be able to increase its market share by exploiting a captive InP laser chip fab and shared OSA manufacturing assets with the 100 Gbit/s line to expand 40 Gbit/s production.

Source Photonics stated that leveraging its operationally integrated business model and LEAN manufacturing facilities for both InP chip and OSA production, it plans to further ramp production capacity to meet the connectivity demands of cloud-scale data centre operators. Specifically, it is aiming to increase capacity to 20,000 100 Gbit/s QSFP28 modules per month based on committed investments for 2017.

In January, Source Photonics announced it would increase investment in its 10 Gbit/s PON OLT and ONU product lines to address the fixed access network upgrade cycle from EPON and GPON to 10G EPON and XGS-PON. The company noted that investment throughout the manufacturing chain, including in laser chips and advanced optical modules, was intended to strengthen its position as the highest volume vertically integrated optical module supplier present in the market.

Earlier in February, the company launched what it claimed was the first XGS-PON N2 OLT optical transceiver module, designed to offer a universal solution for the upgrade of existing GPON to next generation XGS-PON networks able to support multi-gigabit services.

The expansion of Source Photonics' 100 Gbit/s production line follows the earlier ramp of its 40 Gbit/s QSFP+ LR4 single mode platform to support the increasing demand for 40 Gbit/s connectivity in both North American and Asian cloud data centre markets.

The company noted that while North American demand is quickly transitioning from 10 and 40 Gbit/s to 100 Gbit/s, cloud operators and service providers in Asia are continuing to leverage the economies of scale at 40 Gbit/s, resulting in high demand for 40 Gbit/s transceivers. Source Photonics believes it will be able to increase its market share by exploiting a captive InP laser chip fab and shared OSA manufacturing assets with the 100 Gbit/s line to expand 40 Gbit/s production.

Source Photonics stated that leveraging its operationally integrated business model and LEAN manufacturing facilities for both InP chip and OSA production, it plans to further ramp production capacity to meet the connectivity demands of cloud-scale data centre operators. Specifically, it is aiming to increase capacity to 20,000 100 Gbit/s QSFP28 modules per month based on committed investments for 2017.

In January, Source Photonics announced it would increase investment in its 10 Gbit/s PON OLT and ONU product lines to address the fixed access network upgrade cycle from EPON and GPON to 10G EPON and XGS-PON. The company noted that investment throughout the manufacturing chain, including in laser chips and advanced optical modules, was intended to strengthen its position as the highest volume vertically integrated optical module supplier present in the market.

Earlier in February, the company launched what it claimed was the first XGS-PON N2 OLT optical transceiver module, designed to offer a universal solution for the upgrade of existing GPON to next generation XGS-PON networks able to support multi-gigabit services.

http://www.sourcephotonics.com

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Baicells Debuts its "Neutral Host" Small Cells

Baicells Technologies introduced its "NeutralCell", which provides a shared infrastructure that can be leveraged by multiple operators and neutral host service providers.

Baicell said its NeutralCell allows neutral host service providers to deliver a shared infrastructure solution – a single small cell that can be used by multiple operators. The NeutralCell units support the frequency band and transmitted power requirements of multiple operators, enables new business opportunities.

http://www.Baicells.com

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Qualcomm Adds Support for Android Things OS on 4G LTE Processors

Qualcomm plans to add support for the Android Things operating system (OS) on its Snapdragon 210 processors with X5 LTE modems.

The Android Things OS is a new vertical of Android designed for Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and Snapdragon processors are expected to be the world’s first commercial System-on-Chip (SoC) solutions to offer integrated 4G LTE support for this OS.

This combination is designed to support a new class of IoT applications requiring robust, security-focused and managed connectivity including electronic signage, remote video monitoring, asset tracking, payment and vending machines and manufacturing, as well as consumer devices such as smart assistants and home appliances.

Snapdragon 210 processors running Android Things OS will also allow manufactures and developers to harness the power of the Google Cloud Platform and Google services over 4G LTE in their IoT solutions. Additionally, support for Google

http://www.qualcomm.com

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