Microsoft rolls out big upgrades to Azure networking

Microsoft announced major upgrades to Azure networking capabilities, including the launch of ExpressRoute 100Gbps Direct, ExpressRoute Global Reach, and the general availability of Azure Virtual WAN.  There are also enhancements to Azure Virtual Networks and DNS. The Azure Networking Fall 2018 update comes as part of the company's #MSIgnite conference underway this week in Orlando, Florida.

Here are the highlights:

Azure ExpressRoute Direct 100Gbps connectivity -- a first for a global cloud provider. ExpressRoute Direct with 100G connectivity provides massive data ingress for scenarios such as telemedicine, content distribution, and IoT. The service allows 100 Gbps of network traffic to be directed at Azure Storage and Azure Virtual Networks. The traffic can be on a single 100G ExpressRoute Circuit or the 100G can be subdivided by the customer's business units in any combination of 40G, 10G, 5G, 2G, and 1G ExpressRoute circuits. Microsoft notes that because ExpressRoute is for mission-critical workloads, ExpressRoute Direct, like ExpressRoute, provides physical connectivity via two physical routers in an active-active configuration.

ExpressRoute Global Reach – allows enterprise customers to connect two ExpressRoute circuits together. This allows sites that are already connected to ExpressRoute to now privately exchange data via their ExpressRoute circuits. Customers can thereby use Microsoft's global network to privately send traffic between their sites, for instance between London and Tokyo if both sites are currently served by ExpressRoute. ExpressRoute Global Reach is available in the following locations: Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and the United States with Korea and Singapore coming soon. As Microsoft adds locations, it becomes more like a global carrier.

Big expansion of the Azure Virtual WAN ecosystem. Microsoft is now recommending that Office 365 customers use local Internet breakouts to get onto Microsoft’s global network as quickly as possible and take advantage of the Office 365 distributed edge node ecosystem. The company has previously announced virtual WAN partnerships with Citrix and Riverbed. This has been expanded to include Virtual WAN solutions from 128 Technology, Barracuda, Check Point, NetFoundry, and Palo Alto. Coming soon Azure will include Virtual WAN solutions from CloudGenix, Nuage Networks, Silver Peak, Versa Networks, and VeloCloud.

New Zone Redundant VPN and ExpressRoute Gateways -- customers are now able to deploy Azure VPN and Azure ExpressRoute gateways in Azure Availability Zones, thus making them physically and logically separate within a region to protect on-premises network connectivity to Azure from zone-level failures.

Enhanced Azure Container Networking Interface (CNI) --a plugin brings Azure Networking capabilities to containers by utilizing the same SDN stack that powers Azure VMs. Containers can now connect to peered VNets and to on-premises over ExpressRoute or site-to-site VPN and access services such as Storage and SQL protected by VNet Service Endpoint. Network Security Group (NSG) and User Defined Routing (UDR) rules can be applied directly to containers. Azure CNI is utilized by the Azure Kubernetes Service.

Azure Firewall enters general availability status -- this GA, offers fully stateful network and application level traffic filtering for VNet resources, with built-in high availability and cloud scalability delivered as a service. Customers can protect their VNets by filtering Outbound, Inbound, Spoke-Spoke, VPN and ExpressRoute traffic.

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ECOC 2018: Intel announces 100G silicon photonics transceivers for 5G

At ECOC 2018, Intel announced new 100G silicon photonics transceivers targetted at 5G wireless fronthaul applications. The new transceivers are designed to meet the harsh outdoor conditions of cellular towers with the capability to support optical transport to the nearest baseband unit or central office (up to 10 km). Commercial availability is expected in Q1 2019.

“Our hyperscale cloud customers are currently using Intel’s 100G silicon photonics transceivers to deliver high-performance data center infrastructure at scale. By extending this technology outside the data center and into 5G infrastructure at the edge of the network, we can provide the same benefits to communications service providers while supporting 5G fronthaul bandwidth needs,” stated Dr. Hong Hou, vice president and general manager of Intel’s Silicon Photonics Product Division.

Intel's first 100G silicon photonics product was introduced in 2016. The company says its 100G data center products are now shipping at a run rate of more than a million units per year.

Intel projects the total market opportunity for its connectivity business, which includes silicon photonics, to grow from $4 billion today to an estimated $11 billion total addressable market by 2022.

From this year's Intel Data Center Innovation Summit in August

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ECOC 2018 - Lumentum intros Contentionless Wavelength Switch

At ECOC 2018, Lumentum introduced its next-generation, contentionless MxN Wavelength Selective Switch (WSS), adding to its extensive portfolio of Reconfigurable Optical Add-Drop Multiplexer (ROADM) solutions for optical networking applications.

Lumentum's TrueFlex Twin 8x24 contentionless WSS delivers low loss, removing the need for Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) arrays in many network designs while enabling add/drop port scaling to support capacity growth in CDC networks. The WSS passband filters out wideband noise delivering high performance independent of port count and relaxes complex filtering requirements on transmitters and receivers. Eliminating EDFA arrays enables the delivery of higher density, lower cost, higher reliability, highly power efficient solutions.

Commercial availability is expected in Q1 2019.

"ROADMs have become critical network elements as they enable network operators to dynamically deliver and maximize network bandwidth on demand," said James Goodchild, director product line management, Wavelength Management products. "Current solutions which employ multicast switches are challenged to support the cost, density, and performance required by network operators in the future as they scale next generation Colorless, Directionless, Contentionless (CDC) networks. Only the contentionless MxN WSS, which takes a new innovative approach, provides the scale and performance benefits needed."

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ECOC 2018: Oclaro readies 400G QSFP56-DD FR4 2 km transceivers

Oclaro will begin sampling its high-density QSFP-DD solution, which uses this same 100G PAM4 EML technology in 4 lanes to enable an aggregated data rate of 425 Gbps. First samples are expected later this year and volume production is expected in Q2 2019.

“The breakthrough demonstration of the 100G single lambda optical link was made possible through the use of Oclaro’s world-class integrated indium phosphide (InP) 100G PAM4 EML technology,” said Yves LeMaitre, Chief Strategy Officer at Oclaro. “When combined with the latest generation DSPs, our high-bandwidth EMLs enable new transceiver designs for 100G per wavelength and 400G. Products such as Oclaro’s QSFP-DD are critical to hyperscale data center operators to leverage a new generation of switching ASICs and allow for a faster migration to 400G.”

Oclaro said its new 400G QSFP56-DD FR4 transceiver will enable 36 ports of 400G per 1RU compared to only 18 ports of 400G with CFP8 (1st generation 400G modules). To ensure interoperability, Oclaro has been actively involved in the 100G Lambda MSA and QSFP-DD MSA. In August of this year, Oclaro successfully interfaced the transceiver’s mechanical housing with leading QSFP-DD connector and cage vendors at the QSFP-DD MSA mechanical plug fest. Earlier this month, Oclaro also participated with its 100G QSFP28-FR and 400G QSFP-DD FR4 transceivers in an interoperability test organized by the 100G Lambda MSA.

Some highlights of Oclaro’s 400G QSFP56-DD FR4 Transceivers

• 400 Gigabit Ethernet (400GbE) transceiver operating at a data rate of 425 Gbps
• Compliant to the 400G-FR4 optical interface specification of the 100G Lambda MSA and the 400GAUI-8 electrical interface specification of the IEEE
• Transmission distance up to 2km, which supports 95 percent of links inside data centers
• Compliant to QSFP-DD MSA hardware specification
• Optical transmitter with 4 EMLs in the 1.3 mm wavelength band aligned to the CWDM grid
• Optical receiver with 4 channel PIN photodetector
• Low power consumption of 12 W, which is key to lowering operating expense
• Operating case temperature of 0-to-70 degrees Celsius
• Hot Z-pluggable to 76-pad QSFP-DD electrical connector so that transceivers can be installed or removed without affecting the rest of the network.  This enables a “pay as you grow” model for 400G capacity increases.

At ECOC 2018, Oclaro is demonstrating interoperability of its 100G PAM4 electro-absorption modulated laser (EML) technology integrated into the 100G QSFP28 form factor. Oclaro is participating in the plug fest organized by the 100G Single Lambda Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) (Booth #123).

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ECOC 2018: Cambridge develops graphene-based tunable lasers

Dr. Andrea Ferrari, director of the Cambridge Graphene Centre, which is part of the University of Cambridge, presented research on wavelength tunable lasers in single-layer graphene.

The technology shows potential for use in on-chip optical switches.

https://www.graphene.cam.ac.uk/
https://www.graphene.cam.ac.uk/news/graphene-high-speed-communications

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ECOC 2018: Molex demos 100GbE and 400GbE Optical Solutions

Molex is demonstrating its 100G FR QSFP28 and 400G DR4 and FR4 QSFP-DD products in compliance with the 100G Lambda Multi-Source Agreement (MSA).

Both of the offerings are in Molex’s 100Gbps per wavelength PAM-4 product family which share the same optoelectronics technology platform.

The 100G FR QSFP28 supports a 4x25G NRZ host electrical interface. The module transmits and receives 100G PAM-4 modulated optical signals over 2 kilometers of singlemode fiber. The technology variations can support different reaches such as 100G DR (500m) and 100G LR (10km). Aggregating four 100 Gbps per wavelength lanes, the technology platform will also offer 400G versions such as 400G DR4, 400G FR4, and 4x100G for breakout applications.

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Sunit Patel to head new T-Mobile transition efforts

T-Mobile US announced the appointment of Sunit Patel as its new Executive Vice President, Merger and Integration Lead, effective October 1, 2018.

Patel will lead T-Mobile’s strategic planning efforts to integrate its business with Sprint.

The parties expect the transaction to close in the first half of 2019.

Patel previously served as CenturyLink's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He previously held the same role at Level 3 Communications for more than 14 years before the two companies merged in 2017. Before that, he was CFO and co-founder of Looking Glass Networks, a facilities-based provider of metropolitan telecommunication transport services. He was also previously Treasurer of MCI WorldCom, and Treasurer of MFS Communications, a competitive local exchange carrier acquired by WorldCom.

“We are increasingly optimistic about the path we’re on to create the New T-Mobile and are now looking forward to bringing someone with Sunit’s experience to our team to lead us through the strategic planning for integration of our businesses -- one of the most exciting and integral aspects of this merger,” said T- Mobile President and Chief Operating Officer Mike Sievert. “Sunit has the depth of knowledge needed to create and drive forward a highly complex, strategic initiative of this magnitude. He will have a tremendous impact on shaping the New T-Mobile, and will add even more value to the company for many years to come.”

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Digital Realty announces major expansion, acquisition in Brazil

Digital Realty will acquire 424 acres of undeveloped land in Loudoun County, Virginia for a total purchase price of $236.5 million, or approximately $558,000 per acre.  The site is adjacent to Washington Dulles International Airport and located near bulk transmission lines as well as a major fiber path.
 The site is also located less than four miles from Digital Realty's existing data center campuses in Ashburn, Virginia. 

"We are pleased to expand our footprint and strengthen our position in Northern Virginia, the largest and most important data center market in the world," said Digital Realty Chief Executive Officer A. William Stein.  "Customers are looking for long-term commitment, along with the flexibility to support their deployments and connection nodes, as well as the ability to land and expand within the same location – all of which align perfectly with our Connected Campus™ strategy."

Separately, Digital Realty agreed to acquire Ascenty, a leading data center provider in Brazil, from private equity firm Great Hill Partners in a transaction valued at approximately $1.8 billion. 

Ascenty has eight state-of-the-art data centers strategically located in the key Brazilian metro areas of São Paulo, Campinas, Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza. Most of the Ascenty facilities have been designed and built to Tier III standards and meet internationally recognized facility and service standards. The Ascenty portfolio is comprised of 106.2 megawatts of total planned capacity, including 39.2 megawatts of capacity currently in-service, 34.0 megawatts of capacity under construction and 33.0 megawatts of potential additional capacity. In addition, Ascenty has options or leases on five separate sites representing up to an estimated incremental 66.5 megawatts of potential future growth capacity. Ascenty also operates a proprietary, 4,500-kilometer fiber network connecting Brazil's primary technology, finance, and population hubs of São Paulo, Campinas, Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza.

Brookfield Infrastructure, an affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management, one of the largest owners and operators of infrastructure assets globally, has committed to fund half of the required initial equity investment, currently estimated to be approximately $613 million, excluding Brookfield's share of the transaction costs, in exchange for 49% of the total equity interests in a joint venture entity expected to ultimately own Ascenty.

In addition,  Digital Realty has commenced an underwritten registered public offering of 8,500,000 shares of its common stock.

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Hawaiki selects Ciena's GeoMesh Extreme to upgrade transpacific system to 67 Tbps

Hawaiki Submarine Cable has selected Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme solution based on Waveserver Ai and various packet-optical networking platforms to upgrade capacity on its new subsea network serving Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and the United States. The 15,000-km Hawaiki cable, which began began commercial operations in July 2018, brought an initial 43.8 terabits per second of additional capacity to the market.

Ciena said its GeoMesh solution will offer Hawaiki the lowest cost per transported bit, upgrading the cable to a cumulative 67 terabits per second in transmission speeds - a 53 percent increase of Hawaiki’s design capacity achieved just a few months after its commercial launch. The upgrade includes Ciena’s 6500 Submarine Line Terminating Equipment (SLTE) as well as the Waveserver Ai platform, both powered by WaveLogic Ai, Hawaiki can now scale from 1GbE, 10GbE, and 100GbE services over 200G and 250G wavelengths, offering a larger granularity of capacity products to its customers. Furthermore, deploying these platforms will provide greater flexibility to meet current and future bandwidth demand, including faster delivery and dynamic provisioning.
Additionally, Ciena’s  Blue Planet Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) software will improve network visibility and provide real-time software control, as well as the ability to build customized solutions.

Hawaiki is making its mark in the Pacific region by delivering greater connectivity, diverse routes and competitive pricing that are greatly benefitting local businesses and consumers. Ciena’s optical and packet networking platforms will serve as a great complement to Hawaiki’s already extensive submarine network, addressing and adapting to the modern requirements of a bandwidth-hungry environment.” stated Rick Seeto, Vice President and General Manager of Asia Pacific and Japan, Ciena.

Hawaiki transpacific subsea cable enters service

Sunday, July 22, 2018  Hawaiki, Subsea  

The Hawaiki transpacific subsea cable is now ready for service.

Hawaiki is a 15,000 km fibre optic deep-sea cable linking Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific and United States. The system uses TE SubCom's optical add/drop multiplexing (OADM) nodes allows for additional landings in the Pacific region to be added as needed. Hawaiki will provide 43 Tbps of new capacity in the Pacific region.

The system was built at a cost of US$300 million. Anchor customers on the new cable include Amazon Web Services, Vodafone, American Samoa Telecommunications Authority (ASTCA) and Research and Education Advanced Network New Zealand (REANNZ).

“This 25-year transoceanic infrastructure opens the door for unprecedented levels of economic, social and research collaboration right across the Pacific,” said Hawaiki Chief Executive Officer, Remi Galasso.

“Hawaiki is the fastest and largest cross-sectional capacity link between the U.S. and Australia and New Zealand. It will significantly enhance our connectivity to the rest of the world and, ultimately, improve the everyday life of our communities.”

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Open Data Initiative backed by Microsoft, Adobe, SAP

A new Open Data Initiative is being backed by Microsoft, Adobe and SAP with the promise of letting enterprises derive more value from their own data. The core focus is to eliminate data silos and enable a single view of the customer, helping companies to better govern their data and support privacy and security initiatives.

The Open Data Initiative is a common approach and set of resources for customers based on three guiding principles:

Every organization owns and maintains complete, direct control of all their data.
Customers can enable AI-driven business processes to derive insights and intelligence from unified behavioral and operational data.
A broad partner ecosystem should be able to easily leverage an open and extensible data model to extend the solution.

“Adobe, Microsoft and SAP are partnering to reimagine the customer experience management category,” said Shantanu Narayen, CEO, Adobe. “Together we will give enterprises the ability to harness and action massive volumes of customer data to deliver personalized, real-time customer experiences at scale.”

"Together with Adobe and SAP we are taking a first, critical step to helping companies achieve a level of customer and business understanding that has never before been possible,” said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. “Organizations everywhere have a massive opportunity to build AI-powered digital feedback loops for predictive power, automated workflows and, ultimately, improved business outcomes.”

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/open-data-initiative

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ECOC 2018: Progress with the 100G Lambda MSA

The 100G Lambda Multisource Agreement (MSA) Group, which was formed in October 2017, announced the release D2.0 of three specifications based on 100 Gbps per wavelength PAM4 optical technology.

These updated 100 GbE interface specifications are designated as 100G-FR and 100G-LR for duplex single mode links over 2 km and 10 km respectively.

The MSA has also updated the 400G-FR4 specification for 400 GbE duplex single mode fiber links relying on multiplexing 4 wavelengths of 100 Gb/s PAM4 modulated optical signals. In addition, the MSA is also working on a 400G-LR4 specification for a 10 km reach at 400 GbE.

Plugfest

In addition, members of the 100G Lambda MSA Group announce recently conducted a private interoperability private plugfest hosted by MultiLane. Twelve companies participated.

The areas of focus for this event included testing optical interoperability for 100 GbE and 400 GbE modules and modules that support 4x 100 GbE breakout.

“The rapid convergence of stakeholders and technical agreement highlights the strong industry effort and the demand to bring this technology to market as soon as possible,” said Mark Nowell, MSA co-chair.

“The successful testing between so many members involved in the plugfest shows the rapid maturity of the various product and technology developments across the ecosystem,” said Jeffery Maki, MSA co-chair.

At ECOC, the 100G Lambda MSA Group is hosting module interoperation demonstrations in the 100G Lambda MSA booth (Booth #123)/

The 100G Lambda MSA Group member companies are: Alibaba, Applied OptoElectronics, Arista, Broadcom, Ciena, Cisco, Color Chip, Credo, Delta, Finisar, Foxconn Interconnect Technologies, Fujitsu Optical Components, HiSense, Huawei, IDT, Inphi, Intel, Juniper Networks, Kaiam, Keysight Technologies, Lumentum, Luxtera, Macom, Maxlinear, Mellanox, Microsoft, Mitsubishi Electric, MultiLane, Molex, Neophotonics, Nokia, Oclaro, Rockley Photonics, Semtech, Sicoya, Source Photonics, Sumitomo Electric, TE Connectivity and Tektronix.

www.100glambda.com

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ECOC 2018: Source Photonics demos 50G and 400G PAM4 transceivers

Source Photonics will be participating in the Ethernet Alliance interoperability demonstration showcasing live traffic-utilizing 50G and 400G PAM4-based optical transceivers in OEM equipment at ECOC 2018, September 24-26 in Rome, Italy.

The live demonstration at the Ethernet Alliance Booth #618 will consist of multiple 400G and 50G links among participating network and test equipment manufacturers.

Source Photonics will contribute its 400GBASE-LR8 transceivers in QSFP-DD and CFP8 form factor as well as its 50GBASE-LR QSFP28 modules. Live traffic will be passed among the equipment of Ethernet Alliance member companies including Exfo, Huawei, Ixia, Spirent and Viavi.

Ed Ulrichs, Director PLM, commented: “Source Photonics offers advance solutions to support the migration to the next higher networking speed. The demonstration of our latest 50G and 400G optical transceivers attests the readiness of this technology for wide-scale deployment by connecting them to the networking equipment of various OEMs and proving interoperability.”

Source Photonics also said that it is now accepting sample orders for the high speed 400G QSFP-DD. The company is scheduled to go into production in January 2019. This small form factor module enables the migration to the next higher data rate in a wide field of applications such as datacenter connectivity, optical transport networks and metro networks.

The 50G QSFP28 will be in full production late this year and will support the expansion to converge networks in metro access and 5G applications.

Source Photonics -- booth #416
Ethernet Alliance -- booth #618

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ECOC 2018: Keysight and Ixia demo 400GE and 110 GHz signal analysis

At ECOC 2018, Keysight Technologies is demonstrating its latest high-speed, test solutions in a private room (building SC3, room J), including coherent signal analysis solutions featuring the new Infiniium UXR-Series Real-Time Oscilloscopes and the new N4391B Optical Modulation Analyzer with up to 110 GHz Bandwidth, as well as the M8194A 120 GSa/s arbitrary waveform generator (AWG). The room will include demonstrations of new optical and electrical 400GE / PAM4 compliance test solutions, as well as 1.2 Terabit and 400ZR test equipment for coherent optical applications.

Ixia, a Keysight business, is also demonstrating its 400 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) test solutions in cooperation with other organizations. With the Ethernet Alliance (Stand 618), Ixia will participate in the first multivendor demonstration of interoperability in the 400GE ecosystem with a 400GE switch over OSFP optical transceivers which leveraged all 8 ports in the AresONE OSFP 8x400GE test system to deliver 3.2 Tbps of live Ethernet traffic. The demo also uses passive copper Direct Attached Cable (DAC) assemblies from Amphenol and TE Connectivity Ltd.

Keysight and Ixia solutions are also present at:

• Fujitsu Optical Components (FOC) (Stand 703) is showing Keysight's N1092C DCA-M sampling scope with N1078A optical/electrical clock recovery unit and 86100D DCA-X mainframe with 86108B precision waveform analyzer for the development of their 400G OSFP/QSFPDD transceivers.
• HUBER+SUHNER Cube Optics AG (Stand 410) will present a live demo at its booth of its latest ultra-compact integrated multi-lambda 200 Gbps PAM4 Receiver Optical Sub-Assembly (ROSA), compatible with the 200G and 400GBase-FR8 standard using Keysight’s N1092E DCA-M sampling oscilloscope for analysis.
• Ciena (private room) is using Keysight’s M8290A optical modulation analyzer (OMA) to demonstrate its Wavelogic Ai coherent applications.
• Finisar (Stand 400) is demoing their leading optical transceiver modules operating in the Ixia’s 2nd generation 400GE, AresONE test system. The demonstration consists of AresONE ports transmitting and receiving up to 3.2 Tbps of live Ethernet test traffic with Forward Error Correction (FEC).
• Source Photonics (Stand 416) is demonstrating the maturity of the 400GE ecosystem using their 400G QSFP-DD LR8 transceiver and traffic from Ixia’s field-proven K400 QSFP-DD test system.
• Mellanox Technologies (Stand 432) is using Ixia's AresONE 8x400GE QSFP-DD test system to demonstrate 200Gb/s live traffic using 200GBASE-SR4 multimode fiber transceivers and 400Gb/s QSFP-DD passive copper DAC assemblies.
• Molex (Stand 606) will demonstrate line rate 400G Ethernet traffic with Ixia’s K400 over Molex’s new 3m QSFP-DD DAC. Real-time analysis on K400 will showcase test results of pre-FEC (forward error correction) per lane BER (bit error rate) better than IEEE specifications.

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ECOC 2018: NeoPhotonics shows 400G EML and silicon photonics

At ECOC 2018 this week in Rome, NeoPhotonics is showing its suite of lasers and analog ICs for uncooled, non-hermetic single laser 100G and 4 laser 400G links within data centers.    The product suite includes Electro-Absorptively Modulated Lasers (EML) for 2 km PAM4 based links and high power CW laser sources for 0.5 and 2 km Silicon Photonics-based links, along with the photodetectors, drivers and trans-impedance amplifiers required.

NeoPhotonics anticipates a technology shift to single-laser (lambda) 100Gbps and 4-laser (lambda) 400Gbps using 4 level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM4) driven by demand for higher port density and lower cost per bit for optical connections inside the data center.

The 100G/400G Component Suite from NeoPhotonics includes:

• 53GBaud Uncooled CWDM4 EML, which includes the option for integration with NeoPhotonics’ open drain driver. With an uncooled operating temperature range from 20 to 70C and the capability to operate reliably in “open-air” transceiver designs, thus eliminating hermetic enclosures, this EML is a preferred transmitter solution for PAM4 based FR4 2 km data center applications. Versions are also available at 1310 nm for DR1 and DR4 500 meter applications.
• 53GBaud Open Drain Driver (ODD) for linear operation of EML lasers. With a typical 90mW of power consumption per channel and small size, this high speed driver can be co-packaged with the EML reducing power and increasing linearity and is well suited for use in small form factor pluggable modules.
• 53GBaud PIN photodetectors. The side illumination structure of the PIN PD enables a simple coplanar assembly with a mux/demux chip and TIA and is well suited for compact modules.
• 53GBaud Transimpedance Amplifier (TIA). With low noise and a typical power consumption of 60mA over a 3.3V rail, this TIA is well suited for receiver signal amplification for up to 10km transmission.

In addition, transceiver developers have also begun deployment of silicon photonics based transceivers for industry standard MSAs such as CWDM4, CLR4 and PSM-4, which has led to the need for custom, high power and non-hermetic laser sources to drive these transceivers. To support this emerging Silicon Photonics eco-system, NeoPhotonics has developed and qualified a line of high power, uncooled lasers and laser arrays for several industry leading Silicon Photonics transceiver manufacturers, as well as offering single and quad drivers for Silicon Photonics modulators:

• High Power 40mW and 70mW non-Hermetic CW Laser Sources for Silicon Photonics based CWDM4 FR4 and 1310nm DR1 and DR4 Applications. These efficient, high power DFB lasers can operate up to 75 deg. C and have completed the non-hermetic testing compliant with the Telcordia GR-468-CORE, making them well suited for use in non-hermetic Silicon Photonics based small form factor pluggable modules.
• 53GBaud Quad MZM drivers for Silicon Photonics modulators. This quad driver has a high 3.5Vppd output per channel and a typical 2.2W low power consumption for all four channels designed for small form factor pluggable modules.  This component is also available in single driver configurations for DR1 applications.

“Our complete suite of 53GBaud Linear Optical Components provides all needed optical components for single laser 100Gbps transmitters and receivers, scalable to 400Gbps transceivers with CWDM4 wavelengths,” said Tim Jenks, Chairman and CEO of NeoPhotonics.  “Furthermore, our uncooled, high power CW DFB lasers and laser arrays are critical elements for any 100G, 200G or 400G Silicon Photonics based transceiver.  We are pleased to offer the lasers and critical analog electrical components for both next generation data center transceiver approaches,” continued Mr. Jenks.

www.neophotonics.com

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ECOC 2018: NeoPhotonics cites progress with 64 GBaud for 600G

At ECOC 2018L NeoPhotonics is reporting that its suite of 64 GBaud optical components for coherent systems are currently being used by multiple major customers to develop systems with 600G per wavelength transport capacity.   64 GBaud components double the symbol rate over standard 100G (32 GBaud) coherent systems.

NeoPhotonics' suite consists of three components:

• 64 GBaud CDM:  NeoPhotonics 64 GBaud, polarization multiplexed, quadrature coherent driver modulator (CDM) is shipping in limited availability and features a co-packaged InP modulator with a linear, high bandwidth, differential driver in a compact package designed to be compliant with the anticipated OIF Implementation Agreement.
• 64 GBaud Micro-ICR:  NeoPhotonics Class 40 High Bandwidth Micro-Intradyne Coherent Receiver (Micro-ICR) is in volume production and is designed for 64 GBaud symbol rates, doubling the bandwidth of standard 100G ICRs. The compact package is designed to be compliant with the OIF Implementation Agreement OIF-DPC-MRX-02.0.
• Low Profile Micro-TL:  NeoPhotonics ultra-narrow linewidth external cavity tunable laser features very low phase noise and power consumption and has been proven in volume production. It is now configured in a smaller, lower profile package that is compliant with the OIF Implementation Agreement OIF-MicroITLA-01.

These components work together to enable customers to implement single wavelength 600G or dual wavelength 1.2T data transmission over data center interconnect (DCI) distances of 80 km. 

“We are working closely with customers to provide a matched suite of high speed optical components for 600G per wavelength to enhance system performance and reduce time to market,” said Tim Jenks, Chairman and CEO of NeoPhotonics.  “With our next generation highly integrated COSA, operating at 64 Gbaud and beyond, and our Nano-Tunable Laser, we are working to enable highly compact pluggable 400G modules,” continued Mr. Jenks.

The company says three OEM customers have elected to use all three of these components in their development, while additional customers have elected to use a subset of the NeoPhotonics 64 GBaud coherent component suite.  The components also support 400G over metro distances of 400-600 km using 64 GBaud and 16 QAM or 200G over long-haul distances of greater than 1000 km using 64 GBaud and QPSK.

In addition, at 16:10 pm on Tuesday, September 25th Dr. Winston Way, NeoPhotonics’ CTO Systems, will present a paper entitled “Next-Generation Coherent Pluggable Transceivers in a CDC ROADM Based Optical Network” at the ECOC 2018 Exhibition Market Focus session entitled: “Optical Network Agility/Software Defined Networks.”

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ECOC 2018: 5G requires fiber network infrastructure - Source Photonics

There may be a vast number of opportunities for mobile fronthaul and backhaul on the horizon but improvements in protocols, standards and technology will also need to be made, according to Supriyo Dey, Senior Director Product Line Management at Source Photonics, speaking on the opening day of the ECOC 2018 Exhibition, taking place in Rome, Italy.

Dey commented: “While an exciting era of unprecedented opportunity is almost here in the shape of 5G, it comes with a set of challenges for the whole industry. The advent of this technology is undeniably huge, but there’s a real challenge for those who are hungry to develop its capabilities to match their expectations in terms of performance. Applications such as 3D video, augmented reality, UHD screens, self-driving cars and smart cities to name a few will need to be supported by mobile front and backhaul.

“With these advances in capabilities come new requirements -, up to 10Gb/s data rate to support high quality video, ultra-reliable and low latency communication for autonomous vehicles and massive node communications for them Internet of things.

“The current 4G optical fronthaul and backhaul architecture will not be adequate to support these new applications. While several optical fronthaul and backhaul solutions have been proposed, we have yet to see a clear winner.”

Dey’s observations were delivered at the ECOC18 Exhibition’s Market Focus, as part of an agenda that tackled topics ranging from FTTX evolution and next-generation data centers to optics as an enabler for 5G.

Source Photonics is also showcasing some of its latest products at the exhibition in the form of live demos.

This includes a demonstration with equipment testing experts Ixia, of its 400G QSFP-DD LR8 transceiver. In addition, the company will also demonstrate its 25G SFP28 LR Lite which supports CPRI wireless and 25GBASE-LR applications.

www.sourcephotonics.com

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ECOC 2018: IDT debuts100G Single Lambda EML driver and TIA for 200G/400G

At ECOC 2018, Integrated Device Technology (IDT) is introducing its latest single lambda EML driver and TIA for 200G/400G datacenter applications.

IDT said its 400GbE based on 100G single lambda designs will establish an ecosystem to lower the cost per bit, a key enabler for scalable Switch-to-Switch and Switch-to-Server Optical Links, supported with small form factor modules, such as 200G/400G QSFP-DD, OSFP and 400G OBO. The Electro-Absorption Modulated Laser (EML) and Trans-Impedance Amplifier (TIA) are key analog IC components, and the features of IDT's chip set of high bandwidth, high sensitivity and low power consumption are promising to support those modules.

The IDT 100G single lambda EML Driver is available as a die (HXT45100) and as a packaged driver (HXT45x01) with 1 or 4 channels. The driver family features broad bandwidth, high linearity and low power consumption for the QSFP-DD module form factor. The SMT-type packaged drivers integrate built-in Bias-T, internal high-frequency chokes and input DC blocks, and offers 2Vpp output voltage swing while consuming less than 300mW per channel power.  The bandwidth is over 40GHz with excellent phase flatness and channel isolation.

The 100G single lambda TIA, offered as 1 channel and 4 channel dies (HXR45x00),  provides under 5kohm transimpedance gain, 500mVpp maximum differential output voltage, excellent flat frequency response and low group delay with 3dB bandwidth higher than 36GHz, is very suitable for 100G single lambda applications, with a power dissipation as low as 168mW per channel. The HXR45x00 is configurable by I2C, for 28G applications, with a flat frequency response and 3dB bandwidth of 25GHz and reduced power dissipation down to 135mWper channel.

"We are very excited of the initial results of our single channel and four channel 112G/ch TIA," said Andrea Betti-Berutto, IDT Fellow. "This new generation of TIAs will well satisfy the high performance challenges required for 100G single lambda applications and simultaneously consume very little power and deliver a high sensitivity solution for lower rate applications, such as 28Gbaud-based small form factor modules."

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Molex acquires Nistica for wavelength selective switching (WSS)

Molex has acquired Nistica, a manufacturer of wavelength selective switching (WSS) products. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Nistica, which was founded in 2005 and is based in Bridgewater, New Jersey, is a supplier of agile optical modules that simplify, automate and make affordable the delivery of high bandwidth applications for the global telecommunication markets. The company specializes in WSS, a signal routing engine for metro/long-haul telecom networks.

Molex said Nistica's wavelength management solutions will enhance its portfolio of solutions for metro and long-haul networks. Nistica’s business will be integrated into the Molex Optical Solutions Group, a global provider of optical solutions, including a wide range of optical connectivity, optoelectronics, and optical transport products.

"With the build-out of 5G wireless networks and the growth in data center traffic, our customers are looking for novel optical solutions at the edge and in the core of optical networks," added Ashish Vengsarkar, CEO of Nistica. "The acquisition by Molex enables us to scale in capacity and bring a comprehensive portfolio of next-generation products to the market.”

“The addition of the highly innovative Nistica team and technology portfolio to our business enables us to continue our mission of helping customers drive innovation in areas where optical technology provides them with a competitive advantage,” said Doug Busch, vice president and general manager, Molex Optical Solutions business unit. “Integrating high-port count WSS capability into our optical transport portfolio will allow us to expand our offering to customers driving the dynamic growth of communications networks.”

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Comcast's acquisition of Sky brings 23m customers in 7 countries

Comcast NBCUniversal prevailed over 21st Century Fox and Walt Disney in an auction to acquire Sky, the leading entertainment and communications company in Europe.  The offer of £17.28 per Sky shareimplies a value of $40.0 billion (£30.6 billion) for the fully diluted share capital of Sky.

Sky serves 23 million customers in seven countries – U.K., Ireland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland. Sky has TV ownership rights to English Premier League football for three years starting in 2019. It also holds exclusive partnerships with HBO and Showtime. Sky News is a top European cable news network, and there are additional Sky channels for sports, entertainment, and the arts. In addition, Sky Broadband is a leading (#2) residential broadband provider in the U.K./Ireland, and a new Sky Mobile MVNO was recently launched in Europe. Sky's 2017 revenue was $18.5 billion.

Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts said: “This is a great day for Comcast. Sky is a wonderful company with a great platform, tremendous brand, and accomplished management team. This acquisition will allow us to quickly, efficiently and meaningfully increase our customer base and expand internationally. We couldn’t be more excited by the opportunities in front of us. We now encourage Sky shareholders to accept our offer, which we look forward to completing before the end of October 2018.”

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Alibaba Cloud consolidates its no.1 position in China

Presented this week at the Alibaba Group Investor Day conference.

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