Vantage Data Centers replaces diesel with hydrotreated vegetable oil

Vantage Data Centers is replacing diesel in its back-up generators with hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO). The company said it intends to roll out HVO in several of its largest markets in North America and EMEA.

HVO is 100% biodegradable and non-toxic, offering a more sustainable fuel option while delivering the same level of functionality as traditional diesel. Repurposing waste oils like vegetable oil to create sustainable fuels significantly reduces the embodied carbon due to the cleaner sourcing and creation process. 

Given the success of a pilot deployment in 2022 at its campus in Wales, Vantage officially implemented HVO at its newest facility, CWL13, on the Cardiff campus and is currently working to deploy the renewable fuel throughout the rest of the campus. In addition, Vantage will deploy HVO in Santa Clara, California, by the end of the year. 

“Making the switch to renewable diesel is one of the many ways we are reducing the carbon emissions of our operations. Reaching net zero by 2030 is an incredibly ambitious goal that will require us to implement a wide variety of solutions. Our focus is on maintaining reliability and affordability while achieving emissions reductions,” said Amanda Abell, senior director of sustainability at Vantage. “We look forward to continuing the rollout of HVO at our campuses across North America and EMEA, where available, in addition to the other programs we have in place to reach our sustainability targets.”

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EdgeUno upgrades data center interconnect with Ciena

EdgeUno, a leading infrastructure as a service (IaaS) company in Latin America, hasupgraded its data center interconnect network in Mexico and Brazil with Ciena’s Waveserver 5 compact interconnect platform, powered by WaveLogic 5 Nano 400ZR coherent pluggables.

EdgeUno has doubled its network capacity from 200G channels to 400G per channel, improved its cloud service offerings, and reduced its carbon footprint by optimizing data center space and reducing energy consumption. EdgeUno is also leveraging Ciena’s edge-optimized, compact Coherent ELS open line system to achieve lower latency, operational simplicity, and deliver higher quality experiences to its customers.

“To provide the best possible digital experience and support bandwidth-intensive applications like high-speed gaming, cloud-based services, and live video streaming, we need the most innovative and reliable technology available,” said Tiago Setti, Director of Network Engineering, EdgeUno. “Ciena’s industry-leading WaveLogic technology plays a critical role in helping us meet our customers’ digital demands and also supports our sustainability commitments.”

“In an age where our lives revolve around the digital world, continually improving the customer experience is critical,” said Fernando Capella, Country Manager, Ciena Brazil. “Our optical technology is not only helping EdgeUno achieve that goal, but also provides the scalability and sustainability benefits needed to continue expanding in the future.”

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Texas A&M picks Ribbon's IP Wave for its Private 5G

 Texas A&M University (TAMU) has selected Ribbon's NPT IP Routing for wireless backhaul on its private 5G research network, which connects the labs at the Internet2 Technology Evaluation Center (ITEC) with Engineering and Computer Science labs on TAMU's main campus, the public safety training area at Disaster City, and the labs and testbeds at the RELLIS Campus.

The network leverages Ribbon's advanced  NPT 1800 multi service aggregation router and NPT 2100 access edge and pre aggregation router, part of Ribbon's comprehensive IP Wave portfolio, for increased performance and availability. 

https://www.rbbn.com

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Nokia debuts its next-gen IP access, aggregation and edge routers

Nokia unveiled its 7730 Service Interconnect Router (SXR) family of next-generation IP access, aggregation and edge platforms based on its new FPcx  network processing unit (NPU), 112G SerDes, and SFP-DD optics.

The new, fully programmable FPcx processor, which is implemented in 7nm silicon, enables network security features such as in-line filtering for DDoS mitigation and line-rate MACsec/ANYsec encryption. The chip also features 7-level hierarchical QoS, queueing and a hierarchical memory design with superior scalability for services, tunnels, queues, counters. 

The FPcx supports 1GE to 400GE interfaces with flexible 4x10G, 4x25G, 2x100G, 4x100G and 1x400G break-out options.

Nokia says the NPU can accommodate new services and standards as they emerge.

The new 7730 Service Interconnect Router (SXR) family includes four fixed form-factor and two modular platform variants, with a mix of port options ranging from 1GE to 400GE.  Backplanes range from 3.6 Tbps to 5.6 Tbps of system capacity.

The platforms support stringent synchronization demands with highly accurate timing enabled by integrated dual-band Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers. 7730 can support time-sensitive packet transport and fronthaul networks with a Class C-based Telecom Boundary Clock.

The rollout brings focus to the Nokia SR Linux network operating system (NOS), which embraces cloud-native design principles, and the Nokia Network Services Platform (NSP) automation suite.

Ken Kutzler, Vice President of IP Routing Hardware at Nokia, said: “As service providers and network builders scale their IP networks for increased capacity, they require the ability to confidently deliver deterministic, secure and reliable services with easy, efficient service evolution and network operations – all with solid TCO savings. Nokia’s new family of routers enables them to get the benefits of service routing available today at the IP edge/core into the IP access and aggregation networks. We do this without performance compromise while ensuring the latest requirements are met.”

https://www.nokia.com/networks/ip-networks/7730-sxr

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Accton intros 51.2 Tbps switch with 64x800G ports

Taiwan-based Accton Technology introduced a series of 800G-optimized products that can provide Ethernet-based fabric and Virtual Output Queue (VoQ) based fabric for AI/ML workloads. 

The announcement includes a 2RU 51.2 Tbps Ethernet-based fabric system with 64x800G ports, a 4RU 51.2 Tbps Ethernet-based fabric system with 128x400G ports, and a VoQ-based fabric Distributed Disaggregated Chassis (DDC) architecture with a 128x800G Network Cloud Fabric (NCF) engine.

Accton said its 51.2 Tbps Broadcom StrataXGS Tomahawk 5 series-based system with 64x800G or 128x400G ports provides a high-radix, deployment-friendly Ethernet-fabric. The 2RU system design is packed in a compact form factor with power and fan tray redundancy to achieve five-nines high availability and a wide environmental operating range for data center cloud applications. 

The platform comes in two variants, OSFP800 or QSFP-DD800 interface options, for flexible deployment supporting passive copper DAC on all ports and long-distance ZR+ optics. The 4RU 51.2 Tbps Tomahawk 5 series-based 128x400G system provides high-radix 200G/400G QSFP112 (compatible with QSFP56 and QSFP28) connectivity to accelerators and compute nodes in a flat architecture that reduces latency and required power, which enables networks to be scaled-out sustainably.

Accton’s Broadcom StrataDNX Jericho3-AI and StrataDNX Ramon3 systems are designed to form a VoQ-based fabric DDC Network Cloud Cluster that is optimized to support AI/ML applications. The Broadcom Jericho3-AI based Network Cloud Packet Forwarder (NCP) supports a 14.4 Tbps full-duplex switching and features 18x800G OSFP network interface ports and 20x800G OSFP fabric interface ports. The Broadcom Ramon3-based Network Cloud Fabric (NCF) engine supports a 51.2 Tbps switching capacity. The cell-based switching eliminates the Ethernet overhead and can effectively load balance all fabric links to build an efficient and high-availability DDC cluster.

With Accton’s 6RU, dual-Ramon3, 128x800G (dual-51.2 Tbps) fabric port switch and 2RU, Jericho3-AI, 18x800G (14.4 Tbps leaf) Ethernet network interface port switch, customers can build a 32K-GPU 800G/400G AI/ML cluster with a two-stage DDC network architecture to enable 400G GPU clusters now and migrate to 800G GPU clusters later with a software upgrade without replacing the switches. This provides excellent cost saving and investment protection that reduces capital spending while providing the flexibility for customers to “pay as you grow” without large upfront cost to enable AI and ML applications.

Michael K.T. Lee, Sr. Vice President of Research and Development Center, at Accton said, “Broadcom’s Tomahawk 5 and Roman3/Jericho3-AI form the building blocks of Accton’s 800G-optimized products for next-generation AI/ML clusters. We are proud of Accton's engineers who have excelled in the innovative design and development of these groundbreaking 800G systems. The significant increase in radix and throughput offered by the 800G AI fabric together with the reduced power consumption delivers a performance that will push the boundaries of efficiency in AI clusters.”

https://www.accton.com/800g-ai-ml-fabrics/

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Enfabrica raises $125M for its 8 Tbps Accelerated Compute Fabric

Enfabrica,  a start-up based in Mountain View, California, closed a $125 million Series B financing round for its converged networking and memory fabric silicon and software.

The company says the new capital will be deployed to advance the production of itsAccelerated Compute Fabric Switch (ACF-S) devices and solutions, which complement GPUs, CPUs and accelerators to solve critical networking, I/O and memory scaling problems in data center AI and high-performance computing clusters. 

Earlier this year, Enfabrica emerged from stealth mode to announce its new class of AI infrastructure interconnect chips called Accelerated Compute Fabric devices. Enfabrica’s ACF devices deliver unmatched scalability, performance and total cost of ownership for distributed AI, extended reality, high-performance computing and in-memory database infrastructure.

Enfabrica’s 8 Terabit/second ACF switching system, which directly bridges and internetworks GPUs, CPUs, and memories at scale with native, multi-port 800-Gigabit-Ethernet networking, is now accessible to customers for pre-order.

Enfabrica’s first, production-grade ACF switching system powered by Enfabrica silicon, produced in collaboration with partners, is an 8 Tbps platform enabling direct-attach of any combination of GPUs, CPUs, CXL-attached DDR5 memory and SSD storage to high-performance, multi-port 800-Gigabit-Ethernet networks. ACF switching systems incorporate Enfabrica’s high-performance ACF-S silicon having 100 percent standards-compliant interfaces and host networking software stack components running on standard Linux kernel and userspace interfaces. The ACF-S chip offers multi-port 800 Gigabit Ethernet networking and high-radix PCIe Gen5 and CXL 2.0+ interfaces. 

The company envisions composable AI fabrics of compute, memory and network resources that scales from a single system to tens of thousands of nodes. The design provides uncontended access to >50X DRAM expansion over existing GPU networks via ComputeExpressLink (CXL) bridging.

“The fundamental challenge with today’s AI boom is the scaling of infrastructure,” said Rochan Sankar, Enfabrica CEO and co-founder. “There’s no denying the transformative value that AI delivers to a multitude of economic sectors. But there is a critical need to bridge the exploding demand to the overall cost, efficiency, and ease of scaling AI compute, across all customers seeking to take control of their distributed AI infrastructure and services. Much of the scaling problem lies in the I/O subsystems, memory movement and networking attached to GPU compute, where Enfabrica’s ACF solution shines.”

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Infinera's ICE-X coherent pluggables comply with Buy America

Infinera confirmed that its ICE-X intelligent coherent pluggables and compound semiconductor components  will be manufactured in the U.S. and compliant with the Build America, Buy America requirements recently released by the Commerce Department for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. 

Infinera operates an optical compound semiconductor fabrication facility in California and an advanced testing and packaging facility in Pennsylvania.

Infinera’s suite of vertically integrated ICE-X intelligent coherent pluggables, based on the optical compound semiconductor indium phosphide, provide network operators the performance, scale, and efficiency critical to drive down network operating costs and to enhance service agility. These solutions are a critical part of network infrastructure and are optimized for metro, middle-mile, and access and aggregation networks that enable operators to expand their broadband infrastructures while helping them address Build America, Buy America requirements for the BEAD program.

“Infinera is a global leader in the development and production of advanced optical semiconductors, operating one of the most advanced U.S.-based compound optical semiconductor fabrication facilities for monolithically integrated photonic integrated circuits. We remain committed to investing in and keeping optical semiconductor fabrication in the U.S.,” said David Heard, Infinera CEO. “By leveraging our vertically integrated U.S.-based development, fabrication, and manufacturing capabilities, we can do our part to enhance national security and improve supply chain resiliency for important semiconductor technologies.”

https://www.infinera.com/press-release/infinera-announces-suite-of-ice-x-coherent-pluggables-and-compound-semiconductor-components-to-comply-with-buy-america-requirements/

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OpenZR+ MSA Group adds 400G 8QAM and higher transmit power

The OpenZR+ Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) Group published the OpenZR+ Rev 3.0 specification which defines a higher performing 400G 8QAM mode as well as a higher transmit power mode.

The new specification is designed to further expand the application space for a coherent solution in small form factor pluggable modules, such as form factors defined by the QSFP-DD MSA and OSFP MSA.

“The OpenZR+ MSA is once again paving the way towards multi-vendor interoperability of small form factor pluggables, which are key for enabling network operators to support their growing bandwidth demands in a more cost-efficient manner,” said Atul Srivastava, Co-chair of the OpenZR+ MSA Group.

“With this Rev 3.0 specification, the MSA is continuing to expand the application space for OpenZR+ with new modes designed to address longer reaches and a wider range of network architectures,” said Tom Williams, Co-chair of the OpenZR+ MSA Group.

In the future, the OpenZR+ MSA plans to continue to expand membership in the organization with the goal of further collaborating on improvements to the specification that are in the best interest of the industry. The OpenZR+ MSA expects to play a key role in defining higher data rate operating modes for pluggable coherent interfaces as the industry looks toward 800G and beyond. 

https://openzrplus.org

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Intel to sell 10% stake in the IMS Nanofabrication business to TSMC

Intel agreed to sell an approximately 10% stake in the IMS Nanofabrication business to TSMC. 

TSMC’s investment values IMS at approximately $4.3 billion, consistent with the valuation of the recent stake sale to Bain Capital Special Situations. 

Intel will retain majority ownership of IMS, which will continue to operate as a standalone subsidiary under the leadership of CEO Dr. Elmar Platzgummer. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Intel said Bain Capital's and TSMC’s investments provide IMS with increased independence and reinforce confidence in the significant opportunity ahead of IMS. This added autonomy will help IMS accelerate its growth and drive the next phase of lithography technology innovation to enable the industry’s transition into new patterning systems, such as high-numerical-aperture (high-NA) EUV.

IMS specializes in multi-beam mask writing tools required to develop advanced extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV), which is broadly adopted in leading-edge technology nodes that enable the most demanding computing applications, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and mobile. 

Matt Poirier, senior vice president of Corporate Development at Intel, said, “This investment demonstrates the deep industry collaboration IMS is pioneering to advance critical lithography technology for leading-edge nodes, which will benefit the entire semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem. With enhanced independence, IMS will be well positioned to address the significant growth opportunity for multi-beam mask writing tools over the next decade and beyond.”

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Apple renews 5G modem supply deal with Qualcomm

Qualcomm Technologies confirmed that Apple has renewed an agreement underwhich it will continue to supply Snapdragon 5G Modem‑RF Systems for smartphone launches in 2024, 2025 and 2026. Terms and conditions of the new contract are similar to the previous agreement.

Qualcomm notes that the global patent license agreement, effective as of April 2019, remains unchanged.

 

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Dell'Oro: Worldwide telecom equipment revenues remain stable

Worldwide telecom equipment revenues remained relatively stable in the first half of 2023, with variations in performance observed by region and technology, according to Dell'Oro Group's 2Q23 reports for all telecom infrastructure programs. Worldwide telecom equipment revenues across the six telecom programs tracked at the Dell’Oro Group*, were flat year-over-year (Y/Y) in the quarter and advanced 2% in the first half of 2023.

Worldwide telecom equipment revenues, excluding North America, increased by 7% in the first half, supporting the thesis that the telecom equipment market remains robust outside of the US.

In a blog posting, Dell'Oro's Stefan Pongratz notes that vendor rankings remained mostly stable between 2022 and 1H23, with a few exceptions. Ciena surpassed Samsung, and the gap between Nokia and Ericsson widened. Huawei continued to lead the global telecom equipment market, especially outside of North America, accounting for a significant portion of revenues.

https://www.delloro.com/total-telcom-equipment-market-grows-2-percent-in-1h23/

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Telesat signs with SpaceX for LEO constellation launch

SpaceX announced a multi-launch agreement to deliver the Telesat Lightspeed constellation to Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

The contract covers 14 launches from both California and Florida on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 to carry up to 18 Telesat Lightspeed satellites to LEO per launch. The launch campaign is scheduled to commence in 2026. Telesat anticipates offering global service beginning in 2027. 

The optically-linked Telesat Lightspeed network will provide multi-Gbps data links and highly secure, resilient, low-latency, enterprise-class connectivity anywhere in the world. MDA is serve as the prime satellite manufacturer for Telesate.

“SpaceX has been a trusted and effective launch provider to Telesat on our geostationary satellite programs and I am delighted that they will be supporting us with their highly reliable Falcon 9 rocket to deploy the Telesat Lightspeed constellation, the most ambitious program in Telesat’s 54-year history,” stated Dan Goldberg, Telesat’s President and CEO.

“With growing demand for high-speed internet around the world, SpaceX is proud to launch and deploy Telesat’s Lightspeed constellation” said SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell. “Building upon our successful launch partnership to-date, we look forward to flying Telesat once again as they expand connectivity capabilities for their customers across the globe.”

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Netcracker announces GenAI Telco

Netcracker Technology announced its new GenAI Telco Solution to help communications service providers (CSPs) harness their telecom data and knowledge in a secure and controlled way.

This includes support for specialized telco-centric scenarios such as Care Assistant, Agent Partner, Sales Assistant, Catalog Assistant and Digital Operations Technician.

With the GenAI Telco Solution, Netcracker has combined its extensive telecom IT domain leadership and expertise with AI technology innovations. The solution comprises a GenAI Telco Platform consisting of Knowledge Management to build, test and optimize telco-focused scenarios, such as customer care, business operations, sales and network operations. It also includes a GenAI Trust Gateway that integrates with the telco IT and data analytics environment, works in real time to create the best personalized prompts to ensure the highest quality GenAI interactions and obfuscates sensitive telco data, which ensures the highest levels of security and accuracy.

Netcracker has integrated its solution with the most popular commercial GenAI models, creating a unified approach enabling CSPs to choose their preferred combination of public and private models that best meets their business needs and maximizes return on investment. Netcracker has also created powerful out-of-the-box use cases for each area of the telco business to speed up adoption and realize benefits quickly.

“The telco industry is extremely complex, and extracting value from its valuable yet highly proprietary data requires an in-depth understanding of the entire telecom business,” said Roy Chua, Founder and Principal Analyst at AvidThink Research. “Netcracker is in a strong position to fill that important role with its new solution, which will broaden the scope and usefulness of generative AI technology across all telco domains and make it securely accessible.”

“Netcracker’s GenAI Telco Solution enables service providers to securely tap into their telco data and maximize the value from multiple GenAI models and platforms,” said Bob Titus, CTO at Netcracker. “When leveraging enterprise telco data with GenAI, it is crucial to address the data privacy, security and quality concerns. Our solution and library of interaction models allow service providers to quickly generate tangible business value from GenAI for their customers and their internal operations.”

https://www.netcracker.com/portfolio/solutions/netcracker-ai-and-data-analytics/netcracker-genai-telco-solution.html

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New Zealand's Spark picks Arista for private cloud

Arista has been appointed by Spark as a private cloud networking provider to support Spark’s data centre networking services for a new private telecommunications cloud platform.

The new private cloud network will host applications to service Spark’s mobile voice and data customers and support Spark’s 5G network rollout, supporting greater flexibility, reliability and scalability for software-defined networks and any underpinning systems.

The private cloud network will be built utilising Arista 7050X switches, the Arista 7358X4 series for high-density 100GbE and 400GbE for data-intensive and high-performance workloads, and the Arista 7280R platform for data centre interconnectivity, all managed via Arista CloudVision®, a turnkey solution for network-wide workload orchestration and workflow automation.

https://www.arista.com/en/company/news/press-release/18062-pr-20230823

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ATIS’ Next G Alliance partners with the Bharat 6G Alliance

The Next G Alliance, which is an initiative to advance North American wireless technology leadership, announced a collaboration with the Bharat 6G Alliance, which is an initiative of Indian industry, academia, national research institutions and standards organizations.

The MoU between the two organizations was signed by ATIS President and CEO Susan Miller and Chair Bharat 6G Alliance N.G. Subramaniam.

“Defining what it takes to deliver next generation wireless leadership is an audacious undertaking,” said ATIS President and CEO Susan Miller. “ATIS has entered into collaboration agreements with Korea’s 5G Forum, Japan’s Beyond 5G Promotion Consortium and Europe’s 6G Smart Networks and Services Industry Association (6G-IA). We see the agreement with Bharat 6G Alliance as a critical link in advancing both organizations’ objectives in the development of the global 6G mobile wireless ecosystem.”

“India has a vision for the empowerment of the society at large with sustainability as its core, and the next generation 6G will further enhance the quality of life in this planet. This would entail focused, open and collaborative research amongst nations, dedicating resources to contribute to national, regional and global standards and developing products meeting those exacting standards. The MoU with Next G Alliance is an important step in this direction.” said N.G. Subramaniam, Chair of Bharat 6G Alliance.

https://www.atis.org/press-releases/atis-next-g-alliance-and-indias-bharat-6g-alliance-announce-memorandum-of-understanding/

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OIF kicks off new projects: 224G PAM4, 1600ZR

OIF has kicked off four new projects:

224G PAM4 protocol agnostic link training for electrical interfaces project

Electrical interface link training holds considerable significance throughout the industry. This project will define communication method, messaging format and contents, training patterns, states and sequences, diagnostics and fault handling, etc. for link training of a 224G PAM4 class electrical link. The objective is to enhance overall link performance, a critical factor, particularly under challenging conditions, to establish a functional connection.

As part of this initiative, the CEI (Common Electrical IO) framework will be expanded with an additional tool to encompass a comprehensive solution, reinforcing OIF's leadership in the electrical/SERDES domain.

“This project is critical for OIF, yielding a standardized solution that seamlessly fosters SERDES interoperability and implementation, transcending the boundaries of specific applications,” said David Stauffer, OIF Physical & Link Layer Working Group Chair and Kandou Bus, S.A. “Through collaborative efforts with other industry groups, we aim to forge a consistent industry-wide solution that simplifies implementation.”

1600ZR Project

The 1600ZR project will define a power optimized solution for a multi-vendor interoperable 1600 Gbps coherent optical interface, with a focus on Data Center Interconnect (DCI) scenarios. This Implementation Agreement (IA) will create a comprehensive electrical/protocol/optical framework that facilitates realization into pluggable modules. It will also establish a reference point for additional applications that contribute to the growth of the coherent ecosystem.

“It has become clear that multiple evolution paths from 400ZR will be required in DCI transport,” said Ian Betty, OIF Board Member and Ciena. “While the 800ZR IA development is still ongoing, the group has started a parallel project to address the complexities of supporting 1.6T Ethernet clients in single span DCI applications for reaches of at least 80km. OIF is leading the industry by creating an IA for an interoperable 1.6T Ethernet coherent line interface designed for ZR/DCI applications. This project further validates that OIF is the platform for next-generation coherent line interface discussions and to facilitate the development of innovative applications and architectural solutions. We encourage network operators to actively participate in these efforts to help shape the specifications to best meet their needs.”

Data Center Storage and Optical Multi-layer Coordination

Transaction failures in the financial industry are sometimes attributed to network issues such as jitter, intermittent disconnection and bit errors, caused by unstable DCI links. Fast fault detection and recovery of optical connections can be leveraged to address these issues and support new DC applications, by coordinating between the application layer and optical connections in the DCI network. This project will result in a white paper that will delineate anticipated scenarios, crucial technical requirements, and potential multi-layer protection solutions, and provide a comprehensive gap analysis regarding the coordination of storage and optical connections.

“This project stands as a testament to OIF’s mission to develop interoperable solutions for challenging optical interworking applications like DCI,” said Jia He, OIF Networking & Operations Working Group Chair and Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

System Vendor Requirements Document for Energy Efficient Interfaces

This project will result in a requirements document for Energy Efficient Interfaces (EEI) through input gathered by system vendors from end users and provide a list of prioritized applications and a basic set of requirements for the next generation of energy efficient electrical and optical links. A primary objective of this work is to provide guidance to the EEI Framework Project and future IAs based on the framework at the OIF or other standards organizations.

“This project introduces a new area of standards for the OIF, expanding its ecosystem and industry influence,” said Jeffery Maki, OIF Physical Layer User Group Chair and Juniper Networks. “A key objective of this project is to outline user-driven prerequisites that will shape the trajectory of future EEI initiatives within the organization.”

The announcement follows OIF's hybrid Q3 Technical and MA&E Committees Meeting, which was held last monght in Vancouver.

https://www.oiforum.com/

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CyrusOne plans 7th data center campus in Frankfurt

CyrusOne announced plans for its seventh data center campus in Frankfurt, named FRA7, located on a 63,000 square meter plot at FRANKFURT WESTSIDE; a 73-hectare commercial and industrial mixed-use regeneration project managed by BEOS AG and Swiss Life Asset Managers Deutschland.

This latest news from CyrusOne follows a competitive selection process in which CyrusOne was the favored partner to deliver a data center scheme that prioritizes sustainability, provides re-used waste heat to the WESTSIDE campus, and is aligned to BEOS’ commitment to create spaces that support; creativity, innovation, progress and productivity. CyrusOne’s partnership with BEOS and Swiss Life Asset Managers marks an important step in the company’s ongoing commitment to European expansion and a sustainable future.

The new facility will start with a total capacity of 81 megawatts delivered across nine data halls in two 3-story buildings. CyrusOne aims for an annualised PUE of <1.3 in advance of European energy efficiency directive targets for 2030. It will also fall in line with the anticipated energy efficiency targets proposed by German legislation.

The facility will be powered by renewable energy, as has CyrusOne’s entire operational portfolio in Europe since June 2021. In addition, specific practices are being implemented throughout the design and construction phase to source sustainable materials and lower CO2 emissions.

“Frankfurt is an incredibly important location for CyrusOne in Europe with 60 MW IT capacity across four operational data centers and another 126 MW under development. It is a real milestone to be planning our seventh facility in the city, and our biggest development to date in Frankfurt,” explains Andreas Paduch, Area Vice President, of European Sales at CyrusOne. “We are thrilled to have BEOS, an experienced and innovative local organization, as a key partner for this build at FRANKFURT WESTSIDE and this is the start of a longstanding partnership with this team. It’s fantastic to work with a company so aligned with us on sustainability and biodiversity goals as we move forward on the project together.”

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Verizon debuts Mobile Onsite Network-as-a-Service (NaaS)

Verizon unveiled a Mobile Onsite Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) unit designed to deliver a private network, private MEC, SD-Wan, and satellite connectivity to customer locations.

The mobile unit, which is packaged aboard a 10-foot trailer that can be pulled by truck, was developed with dual-core network capabilities supporting both 4G and 5G standalone functionality. It also provides scalable, reliable 5G and edge compute that can be managed locally by enterprise and public sector customers for enhanced operational flexibility just about wherever they need it. 

"By delivering the mission critical connectivity that our network provides to customer locations, we are demonstrating how 5G and edge computing can help customers address their strategic priorities and continue to develop advanced solutions,” said Srini Kalapala, Senior Vice President for Technology and Product Development at Verizon. “A private network on location delivers the high-speed, high-capacity, and low-latency needed for various applications as well as greater privacy and security.”

The first deployment of Verizon's Mobile Onsite NaaS is at Lockheed Martin's Waterton, Colorado campus.

The Mobile Onsite NaaS can also be used as a Mobile Lab as a Service, which is part of Verizon Innovation Labs’ offerings. Verizon has three Innovation Labs located in Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco that provide customers with integrated spaces with products and solutions for collaboration as well as an active lab environment for development and testing. These spaces include both commercial and private 5G networks, NSA and IMS cores, multiple RF shielded rooms and a full private MEC portfolio for developers. 

https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizons-new-vehicle-brings-emerging-tech-award-winning-connectivity-enterprise-customers

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Sparkle activates BlueMed between Palermo, Genoa, and Milan

Sparkle activated commercial service in the first section of the BlueMed submarine cable connecting Palermo with Genoa to Milan. Service is available at multiples of 100 or 400 Gbps with a latency reduced by 50% compared to the terrestrial cables connecting Sicily with Milan today. 

BlueMed is Sparkle's new cable that will connect Italy with France, Greece and several countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea all the way to Aqaba in Jordan. The cable is part of the Blue & Raman Submarine Cable Systems, built in partnership with Google and other operators and that will extend to Mumbai. It is fully integrated with Sparkle's network, BlueMed.

Each fiber pair is lit with innovative transmission platform with throughput of 30 Tbps, which is currently the highest submarine backbone capacity per fiber pair in service in the Mediterranean region, destined to increase as the technology evolves further. 

Some additional notes:

• The Sicily Hub neutral data center in Palermo - technological heart and intelligence of the Sparkle network, already connected with eighteen international cables landing in Sicily - is enriched with this new and innovative route to continental Europe for the benefit of service providers in Africa and the Middle East as well as of content providers exchanging traffic and digital applications on the island.
• The Genoa Digital Hub in Lagaccio - an open and neutral colocation facility, new interconnection point for terrestrial networks and international submarine cables including Blue & Raman Submarine Cable Systems - sees the first traffic flows activated with potential to develop the city's ecosystem. The hub is also set for significant growth thanks to the Genoa Landing Platform - infrastructure designed to ensure, in addition to BlueRaman and BlueMed, the sustainable landing of up to six new submarine cables seeking diversified access to major European hubs - and the newly established Ge-DIX exchange point.
• The fiber optic system ends its journey at the Milan hub, which has become a rich, high-growth digital ecosystem in recent years. The submarine system's attestation is developed within the STACK campus in Siziano, that offers a wide range of connectivity solutions and can connect all data centers in the Milan area as well as major national and international providers.

After the Palermo-Genoa-Milan route, activations will follow to Pomezia (Rome), Golfo Aranci (Sardinia), Bastia (Corsica) and Marseille planned by the end of 2023, and then during 2024 the other routes in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean.

https://www.tisparkle.com/media/press-release/sparkle-activates-service-bluemed-between-palermo-genoa-and-milan

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Infographic: Where will the BEAD money go?

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) recently announced how it has allocated funding to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five territories to deploy high-speed Internet to all addresses that are currently unserved. The funding, a component of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, totals $42.5 billion in eligible grants.

Here is an infographic from Infinera on Where will the money go? 

https://www.infinera.com/blog/closing-the-digital-divide-with-the-42-billion-bead-program/tag/innovation/

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