IBM Cloud launches Multizone Region in Brazil

 IBM Cloud launched its first Multizone Region (MZR) in Brazil.

IBM Cloud MZRs are composed of three or more data center zones with each being an Availability Zone. This is designed so that a single failure event can affect only a single data center rather than all zones – allowing for consistent cloud services and greater resiliency. Clients hosting workloads on IBM Cloud MZRs in any country can continuously run mission-critical workloads to keep business up and running.

IBM said the new MZR is a result of its continued investment in cloud infrastructure to accelerate hybrid cloud adoption and help foster business growth in Latin America. Following the openings of Toronto and Osaka last year, the latest MZR in Brazil marks IBM's ongoing commitment to help clients across the globe deploy mission-critical workloads with high levels of security and resilience, while helping to address data sovereignty requirements and prepare for a sustainable future.

"As companies embrace digital transformation, IBM is continuing to invest in cloud infrastructure and hybrid cloud capabilities that will help businesses around the world modernize and drive sustainable growth and innovation," said Harish Grama, General Manager, IBM Cloud. "Following the openings of Toronto and Osaka MZRs just last year, IBM's expanded presence in Brazil is designed to deliver our clients high levels of security and reliability, so they can advance in their journey to cloud – all in a way that supports sustainability goals while thriving in a digital era advancing to the future."

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China Telecom grew 4.7% in 2020

China Telecom has reported 2020 revenue of RMB393.6 billion, representing an increase of 4.7% over last year. EBITDA amounted to RMB118.9 billion, representing an increase of 1.4% over last year. Net profit amounted to RMB20.9 billion, representing an increase of 1.6% over last year, while basic earnings per share were RMB0.26. 

Some highlights:

• Service revenues amounted to RMB373.8 billion, representing an increase of 4.5% over last year.
• Mobile service revenues amounted to RMB181.7 billion, representing an increase of 3.5% over last year. 
• Wireline service revenues amounted to RMB192.1 billion, representing an increase of 5.5% over last year. 
• Capital expenditure was RMB84.8 billion and free cash flow was RMB14.3 billion. 
• As of the end of 2020, the number of 5G base stations in use exceeded 380,000. China Telecom aims to have 700,000 5G base stations in use by the end of 2021.
• China Mobile now has 351 million mobile users.
• Overall mobile ARPU is RMB44.1, down from RMB45.8 a year earlier
• 5G ARPU is RMB65.6
• Broadband access revenue is RMB38.4

https://www.chinatelecom-h.com/en/global/home.php

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Coherent Inc. finally picks II-VI's acquisition offer

The Board of Directors of Coherent selected the latest acquisition proposal from II-VI over the competing bid from Lumentum. In making its determination, the Coherent board of directors evaluated the comparative benefits and risks of the II-VI and Lumentum proposals, including the near-term and long-term financial opportunities and risks presented by each proposal, the potential synergies available through a combination with each company, and the complementary businesses of each company.​

Under the II-VI offer, each share of Coherent common stock will be exchanged for $220.00 in cash and 0.91 of a share of II-VI common stock at the completion of the transaction. 

Coherent confirmed that it has terminated he March 9, 2021 merger agreement between Coherent and Lumentum and paying Lumentum the $217.6 million termination fee contemplated by their merger agreement in order to enter into a new merger agreement with II-VI.

II-VI said it plans to finance the transaction with cash on hand, approximately $5.4 billion in fully committed debt financing from J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and an equity investment from Bain Capital. Bain Capital has committed $1.5 billion in the combined company at a conversion price of $85.00 per share and has confirmed it is willing to increase this commitment by at least $300 million of an additional $650 million optional amount on the same terms, for a total commitment of at least $1.8 billion. 

Dr. Vincent D. Mattera, Jr., Chief Executive Officer of II-VI, states: “We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Coherent to create a global leader in photonic solutions, compound semiconductors and laser technology and systems. Together, we will have significant opportunities to accelerate our growth through complementary technology platforms, strengthen our competitiveness by using our combined scale across the value chain, benefit from deeper market intelligence and expertise, and further diversify our businesses by end market and geography. Moreover, the combination of II-VI and Coherent will increase our collective exposure to irreversible megatrends for decades to come.

For its part, Lumentum noted Coherent's Board of Directors "chose to accept an offer that is inferior in overall value and cash consideration. Using the closing prices as of March 24, 2021, Lumentum's offer had a value of $283.12 while the value of II–VI Incorporated's (NASDAQ: IIVI) ("II-VI") offer was $281.21."

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Nokia to supply XGS-PON to UG in South East Europe

United Group (UG), a leading multi-play and media provider in South East Europe, has selected Nokia to deploy a fiber network and in-home mesh Wi-Fi solution across the eight different countries it operates in. 

The rollout will be based on Nokia Lightspan series FX for GPON and XGS-PON services. Nokia will also supply its ONT customer premises equipment and WiFi Beacons.

UG will use the network to deliver new enhanced broadband services to residential and business customers, offer mobile transport services, create new business opportunities such as off-loading mobile traffic and seamlessly evolve toward a virtualized access-network.

Sandy Motley, President Nokia Fixed Networks Division, said:  “We are excited to be the preferred fiber access network equipment provider to United Group and to work with them on this new phase of growth. With our FTTH and Wi-Fi solution, we are able to provide a high-speed, reliable network infrastructure and an unmatched in-home Wi-Fi experience that will meet United Groups 

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NTT builds Internet Exchange into its Bangkok2 data center

NTT Ltd., in partnership with Japan Network Access Point (JPNAP) and Bangkok Neutral Internet eXchange (BKNIX), is uplifting its the NTT Bangkok 2 Data Center to become an international network exchange. NTT has developed an “international link” with JPNAP’s data centers in Tokyo and with BKNIX Point of Presence (PoP), which was installed at NTT’s data center in Thailand.

NTT Thailand’s partnership with JPNAP, the leading Internet Exchange Point service provider in Asia, aims to create an Internet exchange linkage that will empower Internet Service Providers, Cloud Service Providers and educational institutions among others, with unlimited access to international-level content. NTT also collaborated with BKNIX, Thailand's first neutral IXP service provider, to install a new PoP at Bangkok 2 Data Center to serve as a hub for content and Internet traffic exchange.

Bangkok 2 Data Center can accommodate ultra-high-heat servers that consume 20kW or more power, such as Graphics Processing Unit servers. The center also adopted 2N Power System with Active-Active technology that guarantees a supply of electrical power, to enable a 100% service-level agreement. With these innovations, customers can easily access large-volume traffic exchange services on existing networks through Bangkok 2 Data Center.

Sutas Kongdumrongkiat, CEO for NTT Ltd. in Thailand, who is also responsible for its operations in Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos, said “We’re pleased to be a part of this initiative to help drive the efficiency of Internet connectivity on an international level. With connectivity being paramount to business success, we hope this will unlock greater value for partners and providers, as they capture emerging market demands in today’s digital economy.”

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Safaricom launches 5G in Kenya with Huawei and Nokia

Safaricom activated trial 5G services in principal areas across Kenya, including Nairobi, Kisumu, Kisii and Kakamega.

Safaricom plans to expand the number of such 5G sites to more than 150 across nine towns over the next 12 months. Nokia and Huawei are the vendors.

“Today marks a major milestone for the country. With 5G, we aim to empower our customers with super-fast internet at work, at home and when on the move, supplementing our growing fibre network. At Safaricom, we are proud to be the first in the country and the region to bring this latest innovation to both our retail and enterprise customers empowering them to start exploring new opportunities that 5G provides,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO, Safaricom.

“I congratulate Safaricom on this milestone, reinforcing the country’s position at being at the forefront of innovation in the region and the world. 5G technology will usher increased internet speeds and capabilities for millions across the country, laying a strong foundation for a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs,” said Hon. Joe Mucheru, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Information and Technology.

Peter Ndegwa, CEO of Safaricom, said: “We are proud to be the first operator in the East Africa to launch 5G services, bringing the benefits of 5G technology to our customers. 5G capabilities will change a lot of things in unimaginable ways for people and enterprises, playing a key role towards fulfilling our vision to transform lives. Our long-term partner Nokia’s technologies and services expertise helped us achieve this milestone in our journey to provide world-class broadband services to our customers.”

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China Mobile: over 173 million 5G customers, 390,000 5G base stations

As of February 2021, China Mobile, the world's largest mobile operator, was serving 173 million customers with 5G packages and had more than 390,000 5G base stations in operation.

For 2020, China Mobile has just reported operating revenue of RMB768.1 billion, up by 3.0% compared to the year before. Of this, telecommunications services revenue amounted to RMB695.7 billion, representing growth of 3.2% year-on-year. Profit attributable to equity shareholders reached RMB107.8 billion or RMB5.27 per share, up by 1.1% year-on-year. 

Some highlights:

• Wireline broadband revenue increased by 17.4% year-on-year and reached RMB80.8 billion. 
• Revenue from applications and information services increased by 22.4% year-on-year and reached RMB101.0 billion. 
• As of the end of December 2020, the number of mobile customers reached 942 million, of which, 165 million customers were on 5G packages, representing a net increase of 162 million customers. The overall subscriber count dropped from 950 million at the end of 2019.  
• Mobile ARPU (average revenue per user per month) reached RMB47.4 where the decline rate was flattened by 4.0 percentage points compared to the previous year.
• DOU (average handset data traffic per user per month) increased by 39.0% to 9.4GB.
• In 2020, total 5G-related investment amounted to RMB102.5 billion out of a total CAPEX budget of RMB180.6 billion. 
• For 2021, 5-G related investment is estimated at RMB110.0 billion out of a total CAPEX budgest of RMB183.6 billion.
• In 2020, China Mobile put in use around 340,000 new 5G base stations, bringing the total number of 5G base stations to a cumulative 390,000, providing 5G services to all prefecture-level cities, selected counties and key areas in China. 
• The total number of wireline broadband customers was 210 million, up from 187 million a year earlier.

Mr. Yang Jie, Chairman of the China Mobile commented, ‘We were faced with a complex operating environment in 2020. COVID-19 affected all aspects of life, while the digital transformation of our economy and society further accelerated, and coopetition within the telecommunications industry and beyond continued to evolve. Despite various difficulties and challenges, we managed to forge ahead steadily with the goal of achieving high-quality development and becoming a world-class enterprise by building a dynamic “Powerhouse”.

China Mobile is putting forward a new strategic vision: "We will open up development space toward information services and focus on technological innovation to create competitive advantages. These moves will form part of our concerted efforts to achieve our goal of joining the league of the world’s first- class information service technology companies. At the same time, we will focus on “two facilitations and two integrations”: We will fully facilitate the construction of information infrastructure and facilitate the digitalized and intelligent transformation of the whole society. We will also make endeavors to accelerate the integration and innovation of various information technologies, and speed up the deep integration of information technology and the economy, society and people’s livelihood."

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Analog Devices launches ASIC for O-RAN compliant radios

Analog Devices announced an ASIC-based radio platform for O-RAN compliant 5G radio units. The solution includes all the core functionality needed in an O-RAN compliant 5G radio unit, including a baseband ASIC, software-defined transceivers, signal processing, and power. 

The company says its advanced radio platform is designed to enable significant performance and form factor improvements to address the critical power consumption and cost challenges.

The Analog Devices platform allows radio designers and manufacturers to optimize total system performance for macro and small cell solutions. The reference design will enable designers to create O-RAN compliant radios with the use of:

• ADI’s next-generation transceiver featuring advanced digital front-end signal processing (DFE), digital pre-distortion with GaN PA support, crest factor reduction, channel digital up converters and channel digital down converters.
• A low-PHY baseband ASIC that delivers a 7.2x compliant solution for LTE, 5G and NBIoT, including IEEE1588 Precision Time Protocol and an eCPRI interface.
• Complete clock and power chain solution

“O-RAN looks to disrupt the traditional market by rethinking the network structure with open standards that will require new and innovative radio solutions,” said Joe Barry, Vice President of Wireless Communications at Analog Devices. “ADI’s new O-RAN compliant solution marks a major step forward for the ecosystem by providing a performance optimized radio platform for 5G applications.”

“Bringing an ASIC low PHY baseband to market is a big step forward for Open RAN. Now, there is a clear path for OEMs to build competitive systems for macro and small cell,” said Andy Dunkin, Open RAN RF and Digital Platform Development Manager at Vodafone Group. “It is initiatives like this that help build a healthy ecosystem.”

http://platform.radioverse.com

http://www.analog.com/radioverse

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Marvell and Samsung collaborate on Massive MIMO chip

Samsung Electronics and Marvell have  jointly developed a new System-on-a-Chip (SoC) to power Samsung’s Massive MIMO and other advanced radios.

The new SoC supports 5G and 4G networks simultaneously, and it can also save up to 70 percent in chipset power consumption compared to previous solutions.

“We are excited to extend our collaboration with Marvell to unveil a new SoC that will combine both companies’ strengths in innovation to advance 5G network solutions,” said Junehee Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of R&D, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung prioritizes the development of high-impact 5G solutions that offer a competitive edge to our operators. We look forward to introducing this latest solution to the market shortly.”

Samsung and Marvell have been working closely to deliver multiple generations of leading network solutions. Last year, the companies announced a collaboration to develop new 5G products, including innovative radio architectures to address the compute power required for Massive MIMO deployments.

“Our collaboration with Samsung spans multiple generations of radio network products and demonstrates Samsung’s strong technology leadership. The joint effort includes 4G and 5G basebands and radios,” said Raj Singh, Executive Vice President of Marvell’s Processors Business Group. “We are again honored to work with Samsung for the next generation Massive MIMO radios which significantly raise the bar in terms of capacity, performance and power efficiency.”

https://news.samsung.com

Marvell partners with Samsung on RAN processing

Wednesday, March 04, 2020  Marvell, Samsung  

Marvell and Samsung Electronics Co. are extending their collaboration to include additional segments of the Radio Access Network (RAN). The solutions will build on the OCTEON Fusion platform and integrating Samsung’s unique intellectual property.

To date, the companies have worked closely to deliver multiple generations of baseband and transport processing solutions for base stations based on Marvell’s OCTEON and OCTEON Fusion processors.

In addition, the companies are collaborating on innovative radio unit architectures designed to meet the dramatic increase in compute power required for the complex beamforming algorithms inherent to massive MIMO deployments. 

“Samsung is committed to helping mobile operators meet their performance targets,” said Jaeho Jeon, executive vice president and head of R&D, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics.  “Our relentless spirit to find innovative ways to address the next set of 5G market challenges will drive us to enhance our 5G technical capabilities.  Marvell is a valued collaborator in helping us achieve these goals.”

“Marvell believes that close collaboration with Samsung has allowed both companies to excel in the 5G infrastructure market,” said Raghib Hussain, chief strategy officer and executive vice president of the Networking and Processors Group at Marvell.  “It is our goal to ensure that infrastructure equipment suppliers such as Samsung can allow network operators to thrive in the fast-paced world of 5G.”

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NXP debuts Microsoft Azure Sphere-certified processor for IoT

 NXP introduced its first cloud-secured crossover applications processor, the i.MX 8ULP-CS with Azure Sphere. The processor is based on the ARM Cortex A35 is aimed at IoT applications requiring continuous security updates in the field.

Together, NXP and Microsoft are delivering a new class of secured SoCs for the IoT market. Azure Sphere provides ongoing protection, responding to emerging threats and providing continual updates to help keep devices secured. 

NXP's new i.MX 8ULP-CS processor, is cloud secured by Azure Sphere, including: the Microsoft Pluton hardware root of trust enabled on NXP EdgeLock™ secure enclave, the secured Azure Sphere OS, the cloud-based Azure Sphere Security Service and ongoing on-chip OS and security improvements from Microsoft for each device, for more than ten years. 

https://www.nxp.com/company/blog/nxp-introduces-its-first-cloud-secured-microsoft-azure-sphere-certified-processor-family:BL-I-MX-8ULP-CS

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OneWeb launches 36 satellites, bringing its constellation to 146

OneWeb confirmed the successful launch of all 36 satellites by Arianespace from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, bringing the company's in-orbit constellation to 146 satellites. 

OneWeb said this is the second in a five-launch programme that will enable OneWeb’s connectivity solution to reach all regions north of 50 degrees latitude by the middle of 2021, with service ready to start by year's end, giving OneWeb the ability to connect millions of consumers in the northern hemisphere. These services will cover the United Kingdom, Alaska, Northern Europe, Greenland, Iceland, the Arctic Seas and Canada, and will be switched on before the end of the year. 

OneWeb anticipates launching global services in 2022. The company plans to have a fleet of 648 LEO satellites.

Neil Masterson, OneWeb CEO commented: “This is the second of our ‘Five to 50’ launch series and represents a key moment in OneWeb’s return. The next launch in the series is scheduled for the end of April, as we continue our drive towards commercial service this year. OneWeb is rising to the challenge of our mission to provide connectivity to everyone, everywhere, all the time. Backed by exemplary shareholders, we are connecting the world.”

https://www.oneweb.world/media-center/successful-launch-marks-key-milestone-for-onewebs-five-to-50-ambition

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Zayo deploys Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 between Dublin and Amsterdam

 Zayo announced the deployment of Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 Extreme (WL5e) technology between Dublin, Ireland and Amsterdam, Netherlands.

“This deployment demonstrates Zayo’s commitment to adopting innovative technologies that allow us to provide customized, state-of-the art network solutions to our customers,” said Jesper Aagaard, Managing Director of Zayo Europe. “This collaboration with Ciena enhances Zayo’s already extensive coverage throughout Europe and is an important step towards enabling 400G customer interface connectivity in the region.”

“We are pleased to support Zayo in delivering this market leading technology to their customers,” said Jamie Jefferies, Vice President and General Manager, EMEA, Ciena. “The global pandemic has significantly increased bandwidth demands as more organizations migrate business critical applications to the cloud. WL5e is the only technology readily available in the market today capable of supporting up to 800Gb/s transmission over 2x400GE client interfaces.”

http://www.zayo.com

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Qualcomm shows its Snapdragon 780G 5G chipset

Qualcomm Technologies introduced its Snapdragon 780G 5G Mobile Platform featuring a triple Image Signal Processor (ISP) capable of capturing from three cameras simultaneously (zoom, wide, and ultra-wide lenses).

It is powered by the 6th generation Qualcomm AI Engine with the Qualcomm Hexagon 770 processor delivering up to 12 TOPs AI performance, which is a 2x improvement compared to its predecessor. Voice and video calls can be enhanced by AI-based noise suppression and better AI-based voice assistant interactions. The platform is further enhanced by the 2nd generation Qualcomm Sensing Hub, which integrates a dedicated low-power AI processor for audio processing.

Snapdragon 780G also features an optimized Snapdragon X53 5G Modem-RF System with peak download speeds of 3.3 Gbps on sub-6 GHz frequencies. This platform takes the premium Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth audio features offered on Snapdragon 888 to the 7-series, for the first time, including recently debuted Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound technology. By featuring the Qualcomm® FastConnect™ 6900 Connectivity System, Snapdragon 780G supports  multi-gigabit class Wi-Fi 6 speeds (up to 3.6 Gbps), VR-class low latency and robust capacity. Further, with Wi-Fi 6E support, Snapdragon 780G is capable of extending this advanced feature set to 6 GHz spectrum as it gains momentum worldwide.

Commercial devices based on Snapdragon 780G are expected to be available in the second quarter of 2021.

https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon-780g-5g-mobile-platform

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Integra Optics' 100G QSFP28 ZR4 rated for 80km over SMF

Integra Optics is now stocking a new 100G QSFP28 ZR4 transceiver that is rated for 80km over Single Mode Fiber with forward-error correction (FEC).

Integra's new QSFP28 form factor transceiver operates at 100 Gbps and supports LWDM wavelengths in the 1310nm window.  Additional features include a silicon optical amplifier (SOA) and prismatic dispersion (PD) filter-based design that meets QSFP28 power consumption specifications.

"These new transceivers meet the industry's need for high speed, long reach fiber connectivity with the ability to transport 100G Ethernet signals to greater lengths. Having a signal that works over a 1310nm wideband channel makes these transceivers a prime companion to DWDM networks, especially now that an 80km distance is attainable. These transceivers are a perfect solution for customers currently using other 100GBASE-LR4 and ER4 solutions that need longer links," said Paul Hospodar, Product Line Manager.

https://integraoptics.com/products/160-9401-900-zr4-io/

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Tenebris plans dark fiber route across Virginia

 Tenebris Fiber is working with JLC Infrastructure (JLC), an infrastructure investor and asset management firm, and Diode Ventures, a global turnkey asset development company, to develop a new dark fiber network in northern Virginia.

The project’s first phase is an approximately 75-mile, buried network route through Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties, which will provide dark fiber access from the Virginia communities of Ashburn to Manassas. 

Tenebris says its full buildout will be an approximately 680-mile regional network that will connect submarine cables landing in Virginia Beach to public and private data centers and network operators situated within “Data Center Alley” in Ashburn.

“Tenebris is pleased to see our vision become reality for this newly created network,” said Sue Hageman, Chief Executive Officer at Tenebris. “It will support the low latency needs with ultra-high-level security infrastructure from Virginia Beach to Ashburn. The hardest aspect of the network will be constructed first, enabling us to reach the new subsea cables in Virginia Beach. The partnership with JLC and Diode will enable the initial growth and future expansions beyond our immediate scope.”

“JLC is very excited for this opportunity to work alongside Diode Ventures and Tenebris Fiber, and provide capital support for this dark fiber project, which promises to bring much-needed capacity to the northern Virginia area,” said Marlon Smith, Managing Director at JLC. “Both Diode and Tenebris have been tremendous partners in the development of this project, and we look forward to continuing our work together and leveraging each team’s expertise as we bring this crucial asset online.”

http://tenebrisfiber.com/

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Akamai hits peak traffic load of 200 Tbps

Akamai-delivered web traffic has hit a new peak at 200 Tbps.  

The traffic spike, which occurred last week, was driven by a combination of major video game downloads, a big sporting event, and several large software updates, according to the company.

Traffic on the Akamai network first hit 1 Tbps in June 2008, then 10 Tbps in September 2012, and 100 Tbps in October 2019. 

https://blogs.akamai.com/2021/03/akamai-focused-on-whats-next-following-new-traffic-milestone.html

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Telxius to offer direct interconnect for Dunant cable at Interxion Paris

Digital Realty's Interxion division signed an agreement with TELXIUS to enable direct interconnection for the Dunant subsea cable at Interxion Paris, France.

Dunant is the first new subsea cable connecting France and the US for the last 15 years.  

Interxion's Paris campus is one of the world's leading digital business hubs comprising seven data centres, and is currently undergoing major expansion with the construction of the Interxion Paris Digital Park. Interxion customers in all existing and planned data centres can interconnect seamlessly to Telxius' network capacity on Dunant.

"Ensuring our customers can easily access the services we provide over Dunant is key for us. By extending the Dunant capabilities directly into Interxion in Paris, we make it more efficient and simpler for customers to interconnect onto the system, while at the same time integrating it with the internet highways connecting Paris to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Madrid and Marseille. Telxius also provides direct Marea backhaul capacity from its Derio Communications Hub in Bilbao to Paris, Madrid and Virginia Beach. It means that, in combination with our existing transatlatic capacity on the Marea subsea cable system, Telxius now supports customers with state-of-the-art, diverse routes across the Atlantic," explains Carlos Casado, Head of EMEA Sales, Telxius, Cable Business.

"The next-generation connectivity that Telxius offers to our customers via Dunant will greatly enhance the ability of PlatformDIGITAL® to help enterprises overcome the transatlantic data gravity barriers inhibiting their digital transformation goals. Telxius' ultra-high capacity services, improved communication reliability and faster network performance to the U.S. are now available directly from our Paris digital business hub," says Fabrice Coquio, Managing Director of Interxion France.

Google's Dunant subsea cable ready for service with up to 250 Tbps

Wednesday, February 03, 2021  France, Google, Subcom, Subsea  

Google's new Dunant transatlantic submarine cable system has been declared ready for service. Dunant is the first long-haul subsea cable to feature a 12 fiber pair space-division multiplexing (SDM) design, which will enable it to deliver record-breaking capacity of 250 terabits per second (Tbps) across the Atlantic Ocean. Subcom was the prime contractor for the project.SubCom is the first to market using SDM technology to increase cable capacity...

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Orange and Telxius to backhaul Google's Dunant transatlantic cable

Tuesday, February 18, 2020  Google, Orange, Subsea, Telxius  

Orange and Telxius will provide terrestrial backhaul extensions in France and in the US for Google's Dunant submarine cable, which is expected to enter service in late 2020. Under this agreement, Orange and Telxius offer co-location services at their respective Cable Landing Stations in Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez (France) and Virginia Beach (US). From its Saint- Hilaire-de-Riez (85) Cable Landing Station, Orange will enable terrestrial connection to...

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Red Hat OpenShift Service now available on AWS

Amazon Web Services announced the general availability of Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS (ROSA), a new managed service making it easier for Red Hat OpenShift customers to build, scale, and manage containerized applications on AWS. 

ROSA offers simplified Kubernetes cluster creation using the familiar Red Hat OpenShift console, features, and tooling without the burden of manually scaling and managing the underlying infrastructure. ROSA streamlines moving on-premises Red Hat OpenShift workloads to AWS, and offers a tighter integration with other AWS services. ROSA also enables customers to access Red Hat OpenShift with billing and support directly through AWS, delivering the simplicity of a single-vendor experience to customers running Red Hat OpenShift on AWS. Pricing is based on container clusters and nodes used. 

“Increasingly, customers are turning to containers to improve application velocity and portability, and they’re growing to rely on technologies like Red Hat OpenShift and AWS that make it easier to deploy containerized applications,” said Bob Wise, GM Kubernetes, AWS. “ROSA gives these customers the ability to seamlessly run containers on AWS using familiar Red Hat OpenShift APIs and tooling, and integrates the full breadth and depth of AWS services to build, scale, and manage their workloads.”

“Red Hat OpenShift provides a common, open and enterprise-grade Kubernetes platform to span hybrid infrastructure, from a customer’s physical datacenter to their operations in AWS,” said Sathish Balakrishnan, vice president, Hosted Platforms, Red Hat. “ROSA provides a streamlined process for organizations that want to extend the power of Red Hat OpenShift in AWS without having to manage separate technology streams, enabling IT teams to focus on delivering value and not managing underlying infrastructure.”

https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/red-hat-openshift-service-on-aws-now-generally-availably/

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Samsung's 512GB DDR5 module targets bandwidth-intensive apps

Samsung Electronics began sampling a 512GB DDR5 module based on High-K Metal Gate (HKMG) process technology. 

The memory module delivers more than twice the performance of DDR4 at up to 7,200 Mbps, making it suitable for the most high-bandwidth workloads in supercomputing, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), as well as data analytics applications.

Samsung said its DDR5 will utilize highly advanced HKMG technology that has been traditionally used in logic semiconductors. With continued scaling down of DRAM structures, the insulation layer has thinned, leading to a higher leakage current. By replacing the insulator with HKMG material, Samsung’s DDR5 will be able to reduce the leakage and reach new heights in performance. This new memory will also use approximately 13% less power, making it especially suitable for datacenters where energy efficiency is becoming increasingly critical. The HKMG process was adopted in Samsung's GDDR6 memory in 2018 for the first time in the industry. By expanding its use in DDR5, Samsung is further solidifying its leadership in next-generation DRAM technology.

Leveraging through-silicon via (TSV) technology, Samsung’s DDR5 stacks eight layers of 16Gb DRAM chips to offer the largest capacity of 512GB. TSV was first utilized in DRAM in 2014 when Samsung introduced server modules with capacities up to 256GB.

“Samsung is the only semiconductor company with logic and memory capabilities and the expertise to incorporate HKMG cutting-edge logic technology into memory product development,” said Young-Soo Sohn, Vice President of the DRAM Memory Planning/Enabling Group at Samsung Electronics. “By bringing this type of process innovation to DRAM manufacturing, we are able to offer our customers high-performance, yet energy-efficient memory solutions to power the computers needed for medical research, financial markets, autonomous driving, smart cities and beyond.”

“As the amount of data to be moved, stored and processed increases exponentially, the transition to DDR5 comes at a critical inflection point for cloud datacenters, networks and edge deployments,” said Carolyn Duran, Vice President and GM of Memory and IO Technology at Intel. “Intel’s engineering teams closely partner with memory leaders like Samsung to deliver fast, power-efficient DDR5 memory that is performance-optimized and compatible with our upcoming Intel Xeon Scalable processors, code-named Sapphire Rapids.”

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Virgin Media Business deploys Infinera's XTM in Dublin metro network

Virgin Media Business has deployed Infinera’s XTM Series in its metro network serving Dublin, Ireland, which serves major data centers throughout the region.

Infinera said its XTM Series provides Virgin Media Business with faster deployment speeds and higher metro aggregation capacity, delivering highly secure and extremely fast services to Virgin Media Business’ customers in the financial, healthcare, and government sectors. Data center operators are now able to connect sites with 10G and 100G protected services on a dedicated network ring, bolstering capacity for end users.

Aidan D’Arcy, Director of Business, Virgin Media Ireland said: “The Infinity Ring provides the most available and reliable network service in Dublin, and is the backbone of its critical financial, medical, and government services. With Infinera’s XTM Series on our network, we benefit from a solution that provides highly resilient capacity to enhance our product offerings while lowering our network cost, a savings that we can pass on to our customers.”

“The XTM Series continues to gain momentum throughout Virgin Media Business’ international networks for its ability to deliver on scale, high capacity, and ease of installment and deployment of services for their customers,” said Nick Walden, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales at Infinera. “Virgin Media Business’ Infinity Ring network underscores the value the XTM Series can deliver in demanding data center environments.”

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