OIF launches 800G Coherent and Co-Packaging Framework projects

OIF launched two new projects – 800G Coherent and Co-Packaging Framework, availability of a new FlexE for 400ZR white paper, newly elected board members/positions and working group representatives.

800G Coherent

In scope for the 800G Coherent project is to define interoperable 800G coherent line specifications for campus and DCI applications. The resulting Implementation Agreement (IA) will:

• Define single-lambda 800G coherent line interfaces for two applications
• Amplified, single span, DWDM links up to 80-120km
• Unamplified, fixed wavelength links of 2-10km
• Support Ethernet client(s) (minimum 100GE) up to 800G aggregate bandwidth

“The next standardized coherent rate beyond 400ZR will be technically challenging with many factors to be considered,” said Tad Hofmeister, Technical Lead, Optical Networking Technologies at Google and OIF Vice President. “With the 800G Coherent IA, OIF is in a unique position to take a leadership role in defining interoperable 800G coherent line interfaces for various applications.”

Co-Packaging Framework IA

The Co-Packaging Framework IA, announced on November 10, 2020, will study the application spaces and relevant technology considerations for co-packaging of communication interfaces with one or more ASICs. A primary objective of this specification is to identify new opportunities for interoperability standards for possible future work at the OIF or other standards organizations. Upon completion, the work will be summarized in a Framework IA.

White Paper

A new OIF white paper addressing 400ZR applications requiring multiplexing of lower rate Ethernet signals (e.g. 100GE) and how to leverage FlexE for this service multiplexing is now available.

The OIF 400ZR IA includes mapping of 400G Ethernet signals as defined in IEEE 802.3, but not lower rate services such as 100G Ethernet. This white paper describes utilizing the OIF FlexE Implementation Agreement multiplexing of lower service rates, such as 100G and 200G Ethernet to a 400G frame that can be carried by 400ZR devices. Example profiles are provided to guide interoperability in common scenarios.

Election Results

Board of Directors:

• Ian Betty, Ciena, continues to serve on the Board and was appointed as President
• Mark Filer, Microsoft, was elected to the Board (two-year term)
• Tad Hofmeister, Google, continues to serve on the Board and was re-appointed as Vice President
• Mike Li, Intel, was re-elected to the Board (one-year term)
• Jeffery Maki, Juniper Networks, was elected to the Board (one-year term)
• Gary Nicholl, Cisco, was re-elected to the Board (two-year term) and appointed as Secretary/Treasurer
• Nathan Tracy, TE Connectivity, was re-elected to the Board (two-year term) and appointed as VP of Marketing

Officers:

• Klaus-Holger Otto, Nokia, was elected as Technical Committee Chair
• Karl Bois, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, was elected as Technical Committee Vice Chair
• Lyndon Ong, Ciena, was re-elected as Market Awareness & Education Committee Co-Chair, Networking
• Richard Ward, Intel, was elected as Market Awareness & Education Committee Co-Chair, Physical and Link Layer
• Dave Brown, Nokia, continues to serve as Director of Communications

Technical Committee:

• Michael Klempa, Amphenol, was elected as Physical and Link Layer Interoperability Working Group Chair (two-year term)
• Jeffery Maki, Juniper Networks, was re-elected as Physical Layer User Group Working Group Chair (two-year term)

“I’m looking forward to serving OIF members as president of this vital organization and thank all those who have served and continue to serve,” said Ian Betty, Ciena and new OIF president. “OIF’s role continues to be critical in making great strides in interoperability solutions for today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. Congratulations to the entire board and those appointed to leadership positions – your role is integral to OIF’s continued success.”

http://www.oiforum.com

Read More

Arm perspective on Next-Gen Edge: Portability is Key

As we think about moving computing from the core data centers to the edge, portability will be key to building out edge infrastructure. In this video, Chris Bergey, SVP/GM Infrastructure Line of Business at Arm, talks about the concept of portability as illustrated in Arm's Project Cassini which brings cloud-native technologies to the edge to enable a secure and portable computing environment.

https://youtu.be/LUY1zJvYQqI

Read More

Marvell debuts O-RAN solution based on Octeon DPU

Marvell introduced a 5G O-RAN portfolio consisting of silicon, software and hardware reference designs spanning the radio unit (RU), distributed unit (DU) and centralized unit (CU) with Ethernet connectivity between these network elements.

Marvell’s O-RAN platform includes its OCTEON Fusion baseband processor family that is currently shipping in volume to tier 1 OEMs. Marvell’s newly announced OCTEON Fusion-O processors maintain the full capabilities of the OCTEON Fusion family including 15 Gbps capacity and support for 200MHz channelization, while adding specific O-RAN functions such as eCPRI compression/decompression and split 7.2 interfaces with integrated fronthaul. Additionally, the platform includes key reference software, allowing OEMs, ODMs and network operators to rapidly bring O-RAN compatible products to market.

mMIMO RU

A 32T32R, 8 DL layer, 100MHz channel radio unit.

• Hardware reference design in partnership with Analog Devices
• Reference lower L1 and beamforming software
• O-RAN management plane software
• O-RAN fronthaul interface
• Analog Devices Transceivers and DFE software

vDU and DU

The OCTEON Fusion-O DU hardware reference designs are available as either a virtualized DU (vDU) PCIe-based offload accelerator or an integrated DU. 

• Dual mode 5G and LTE
• Integrated fronthaul for 7.2 split
• 16DL/8UL layer support
• Reference LTE and 5G L1 software

CU

In addition to support for vDU server configurations, the Marvell O-RAN platform also provides support for our industry-leading L2/L3 OCTEON processors supporting a fully integrated standalone CU implementation.

• Dedicated L2/L3 silicon
• Virtualized L2/L3 support
• Partnership protocol stack ports from industry leaders

https://www.marvell.com/

Read More

Marvell ships its next gen access and metro Ethernet switching silicon

Marvell is now shipping its latest generation Prestera DX 7300 series of Ethernet switches for 5G carrier access and metro networks. Significantly, the new switches incorporate accurate time-sensitive features, integrated MACsec and advanced processing functionality, and support for 400G coherent optics.

Key features of the Prestera DX 7300 series 

• ITU-T G.8273.2 Class C PTP/SyncE, Time Sensitive Networking (802.1CM) compliance for precise 5G timing
• Advanced security with secure boot and integrated 802.1ae 256b MACsec engines for Layer2 data encryption
• Segment Routing (SRV6) for advanced traffic engineering and service chaining
• Enhanced network telemetry and intelligence for actionable metadata exports
• 56Gbps PAM4 SerDes supporting port speeds up to 400Gbps
• Flexible I/O speeds 1G/2.5/5/10/25/50/100/400G

Marvell notes that to support the new RAN deployment models for radio access fronthaul applications, its Prestera DX 7300 family integrates highly accurate time synchronization, 802.1CM Time-Sensitive-Network (TSN) for fronthaul, network slicing and native eCPRI-aware processing. The switches are part of Marvell's open radio access network (open RAN) and virtualized radio access network (vRAN) platform solutions, also announced today.

The Prestera DX 7300 series of switches integrate 56Gbps SerDes, high-capacity MACsec and advanced processing that can be matched with pluggable 400G-ZR optical modules. This functionality enables system manufacturers to develop solutions for multi-access edge computing (MEC) and data center interconnect (DCI) applications that benefit from traffic efficiency, openness and the optimized cost structure of packet Ethernet networks.

"As 5G brings rigorous data protection and performance demands to the transport network, the infrastructure has to meet the requirements for secured communications at higher speeds and data rates to support emerging use cases," said Guy Azrad, general manager and senior vice president of Switching at Marvell. "Our newest Prestera family offers the most secured switching solution with the high-speed interfaces needed to fulfill 5G potential at the industry's lowest power and footprint available today."

Read More

MACOM showcases transimpedance amplifiers for 400ZR, PAM 100G to 800G

At this week's ECOC 2020 Virtual Conference, MACOM is showcasing the following products 

Flip-Chip Quad Channel Driver and Transimpedance Amplifier (TIA) for 400G ZR:  MACOM's linear modulator driver and TIA are high-performance quad-channel flip-chip devices for operation at symbols rates up to 64GBaud. These products offer the low power consumption and the flexibility required to enable next generation 400G ZR modules.

PAM4 100G to 800G Transimpedance Amplifiers: MACOM's portfolio includes a 4x28GBaud TIA and a 1x28GBaud TIA for 53Gbps applications. These products are aimed at high density optical interconnect solutions and are intended for 50G, 100G, 200G, 400G and 800G receivers using multilevel modulation such as PAM4.

https://www.macom.com/

Read More

InnoLight samples OSFP 2xFR4 and DR8+ optics

InnoLight Technology (Suzhou) is introducing a line of 800G OSFP and QSFP-DD800 optics. OSFP 2xFR4 and DR8+ are currently available for early customer evaluation, with QSFP-DD800 DR8+ available in January 2021. Other 800G parts as listed below will be ready for evaluation in 1H 2021. Volume production is currently planned for either Q4, 2021 or Q1 2022 depending upon product type. 

• 800G OSFP 8x100G DR8 & AOC
• 800G OSFP DR8+
• 800G OSFP 2x400G FR4
• 800G OSFP 1x800G LR8
• QSFP-DD800 8x100G DR8 & AOC
• QSFP-DD800 DR8+
• QSFP-DD800 2x400G FR4
• QSFP-DD800 8x100G LR

In addition to the above mentioned 800G products, InnoLight is developing innovative optics to enable 800G transmission in the legacy 4X fiber structure in either multimode OM3/OM4 or single mode fiber plant. These innovative optics will help customers to increase bandwidth to 800G using the existing SR4 or DR4 fiber layouts for point to point or breakout applications. Availability is planned in 2H 2021.

"InnoLight's 800G transceivers continue InnoLight's leadership in high performance pluggable optics, doubling bandwidth capacity without disruption of existing data center infrastructure. With our industry leading 400G deployments, InnoLight is uniquely positioned in driving 800G implementation and to deliver the best price performance optics in the industry. Our new innovative 800G optics to support existing 4x fiber plants are especially suited for Hyperscale DC operators." said Osa Mok, Chief Marketing Officer of InnoLight.

InnoLight is showcasing video demos of 800G pluggable OSFP 2xFR4, 800G OSFP DR8+ and QSFP-DD800 DR8+ at the ECOC 2020 virtual event.

Read More

FCC's C-Band spectrum auction gets underway

 The FCC kicked off its auction of 280 megahertz of prime mid-band spectrum in the 3.7-3.98 GHz band—a portion of the C-band.  This is the FCC’s largest mid-band 5G spectrum auction to date.

“This is a big day for American consumers and U.S. leadership in 5G,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.  “By freeing up this wide swath of critical mid-band spectrum, the FCC is paving the way for Americans to receive fast 5G wireless services.  Together with the recent success of our 3.5 GHz band auction, our work to auction the 2.5 GHz and 3.45 GHz bands in 2021, and the other ground-breaking spectrum auctions we’ve held since 2017, our 5G FAST Plan is in full swing.  American consumers and businesses will benefit from this FCC’s efforts for years to come.” 

Chairman Pai proposed and instituted a plan to repurpose the C-band quickly.  As a result, this mid-band spectrum will be available to deliver next-generation connectivity to American consumers and businesses years ahead of schedule.  The FCC successfully secured commitments from fixed satellite companies to move quickly out of the 3.7-3.98 GHz band and into the upper portion of the C-band, which will free up this crucial mid-band spectrum for 5G wireless services. 

The first round of the clock phase of the auction started on December 8th at 10 a.m. ET.  This auction will offer 5,684 new flexible-use overlay licenses based on Partial Economic Areas (PEAs) for spectrum in the 3.7–3.98 GHz band.  This spectrum holds the potential to be prime spectrum for 5G services given its combination of geographic coverage and capacity, and the FCC’s auction procedures will ensure the assignment to auction winners of contiguous spectrum blocks allowing wide channel bandwidths that support 5G deployment. 

Satellite operators currently using the C-Band have agreed to repack their operations out of the band’s lower 300 megahertz (3.7-4.0 GHz) into the upper 200 megahertz (4.0-4.2 GHz).  The first phase of this transition—the clearing of 120 megahertz of spectrum from 3.7-3.82 GHz in 46 of the nation’s top 50 PEAs—will conclude by December 5, 2021.  The second phase—clearing the lower 120 megahertz of spectrum in the remaining PEAs, plus an additional 180 megahertz from 3.82-4.0 GHz nationwide—will conclude by December 5, 2023.  

Read More

Optoscribe develops glass chip for low-loss coupling to silicon photonics

Optoscribe Ltd. introduced glass chip for low-loss coupling to silicon photonics (SiPh) grating couplers.

The new OptoCplrLT is designed to overcome fiber-to-SiPh photonic integrated circuit (PIC) coupling challenges to enable high volume automated assembly and help drive down costs. 

The device was created using Optoscribe’s proprietary high-speed laser writing technique. It features low-loss light turning curved mirrors, which are uniquely formed in the glass, to direct the light to or from SiPh grating couplers. This prevents the need for bend-tolerant fiber solutions, which are often expensive, challenging and have some significant limitations in size and profile.

To help address footprint challenges, OptoCplrLT has a low-profile interface of less than 1.5mm in height, which allows compact interface layouts that alleviate packaging constraints. It is also compatible with industry-standard materials and processes; for example, the glass chip has a coefficient of thermal expansion matched to the silicon chip, helping to maximise performance.

Russell Childs, CEO of Optoscribe, said: “With data center operators and transceiver manufacturers seeking innovative solutions to help address fiber-to-SiPh PIC coupling challenges, we are pleased to introduce OptoCplrLT™ to help meet market demands of performance, cost and volume, as well as helping to overcome such hurdles including SiPh transceiver packaging and integration.”

  

Read More

AWS previews Amazon HealthLake

AWS announced Amazon HealthLake, a HIPAA-eligible service for healthcare and life sciences organizations. 

Amazon HealthLake aggregates an organization’s complete data across various silos and disparate formats into a centralized AWS data lake and automatically normalizes this information using machine learning. The service identifies each piece of clinical information, tags, and indexes events in a timeline view with standardized labels so it can be easily searched, and structures all of the data into the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) industry standard format for a complete view of the health of individual patients and entire populations. 

“There has been an explosion of digitized health data in recent years with the advent of electronic medical records, but organizations are telling us that unlocking the value from this information using technology like machine learning is still challenging and riddled with barriers,” said Swami Sivasubramanian, Vice President of Amazon Machine Learning for AWS. “With Amazon HealthLake, healthcare organizations can reduce the time it takes to transform health data in the cloud from weeks to minutes so that it can be analyzed securely, even at petabyte scale. This completely reinvents what’s possible with healthcare and brings us that much closer to everyone’s goal of providing patients with more personalized and predictive treatment for individuals and across entire populations.”

Read More

U.S. Senate confirms Nathan Simington to FCC

The U.S. Senate 49-46 to confirm Nathan Simington to a seat on the Federal Communications Commission. He takes the seat previously occupied by Republican Mike O’Rielly. With Republican Ajit Pai leaving as well, the FCC will be split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, until President-elect Biden chooses a new chairman. 

Simington currently serves at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration as a Senior Advisor in the office of Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information.

Outgoing FCC Chairman Ajit Pai stated “I congratulate Nathan on his confirmation by the U.S. Senate and look forward to welcoming him to the Commission.  It has been the greatest honor of my professional life to serve at the FCC, and I am confident that Nathan too will enjoy the challenges and rewards of the job."  

Read More

Fireeye reports cyber attack by a nation state

FireEye confirmed that it was recently attacked by a highly sophisticated cyber threat actor in what it believes was as a state-sponsored attack. 

Kevin Mandia, FireEye's Chief Executive Officer,said the attackers tailored their world-class capabilities specifically to target certain Red Team assessment tools that the company uses to test its customers’ security. These tools mimic the behavior of many cyber threat actors and enable FireEye to provide essential diagnostic security services to our customers. None of the tools contain zero-day exploits. 

FireEye will now need to release the methods and means to detect the use of the stolen Red Team tools. This includes more than 300 countermeasures to minimize the potential impact of the theft of these tools. 

FireEye also said that, consistent with a nation-state cyber-espionage effort, the attacker primarily sought information related to certain government customers. 

https://www.fireeye.com/blog/products-and-services/2020/12/fireeye-shares-details-of-recent-cyber-attack-actions-to-protect-community.html

Read More

Juniper to acquire Apstra for Intent-Based networking and assurance

Juniper Networks agreed to acquire Apstra, a start-up based in Menlo Park, California offering intent-based networking and automated closed loop assurance solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Apstra offers an intent-based network operating system for simplifying the management of data center networks. Intent-Based Networking (IBN) is a closed-loop, continuous validation approach to designing, deploying and managing infrastructure. Apstra automatically generates and deploys full configuration of all devices based on a service description, and continuously provides assurance checks between the intended and operational state. Apstra’s multivendor integrations extend its closed loop automation and analytics to customers independently of their underlying infrastructure, including those running SONiC (Software for Open Networking in the Cloud). 

Juniper said the acquisition expands its commitment to open programmability, adding to its portfolio of solutions that includes powerful switching platforms with native SONiC integration and a deployment-hardened, cloud-native routing stack for the SONiC ecosystem.<br>

"Juniper’s Data Center portfolio is consistently recognized by both analysts and customers as industry leading, with top marks for performance, scale, security and simplified operations through automation. Adding Apstra’s intent-based networking and automated closed loop assurance advances our vision to transform data center operations. With the combination of Juniper and Apstra, customers get the best infrastructure and fabric management with integrated design, deployment and automated root cause identification and remediation to satisfy any Data Center environment. This is networking for the modern cloud era,” stated Rami Rahim, CEO, Juniper Networks.

"We founded Apstra to automate the data center as a holistic system from its initial design to all aspects of its operation and maintenance. Our automation allows valuable network engineers to focus on strategic issues and avoid spending time on network configuration and troubleshooting, particularly with the attendant risk of human error. Joining Apstra with Juniper's strong reputation in networking and its commitment to open networking removes the long-standing tradeoff between manageability and vendor lock-in and advances the industry toward the true self-driving network, said David Cheriton, CEO and Co-Founder, Apstra.

Read More

Apstra's Mansour Karam on What is Intent-based Networking?

Why would Juniper acquire Apstra? In this video from late 2019, Mansour Karam, Co-Founder and President of Apstra, provides a 3-minute overview of Intent-based Networking.

Check out more Network Automation resources: https://nextgeninfra.io/network-automation/

Read More

Europe's Hexa-X project aims to set 6G groundwork

by Benedict Chua, Associate Editor

The Hexa-X project, which is funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, will begin on January 1, 2021 with a focus on developing the vision for future 6G systems.  The project will bring together a consortium of major ICT, industry and academic stakeholders. Ericsson and Nokia have been selected to lead the effort.

Magnus Frodigh, Vice President and Head of Ericsson Research says: “We are proud to be the technical lead of the Hexa-X project, together with a strong line up of consortium partners from industry and academia. In 2030, society will have been shaped by 5G for ten years. While we continue to evolve 5G, now is also the right time to start collaborative 6G research activities. The Hexa-X project will be an important vehicle for joint exploration across European industry and academia, together shaping how exponential technology evolution will meet anticipated demands and opportunities for the 6G era. The road to 6G begins today.”

Peter Vetter, Head of Access and Devices Research, Nokia Bell Labs, said: “Even though there is still a lot of innovation in 5G with the release of new standards, we are already exploring 6G in our research lab. In the 6G era we will see applications that will not only connect humans with machines but also connect humans with the digital world. Such a secure and private connection can be used for preventive healthcare or even to create a 6G network with a sixth sense that intuitively understands our intentions, making our interactions with the physical world more effective and anticipating our needs, thereby improving our productivity.”

Six challenges for Hexa-X

• Connecting intelligence: AI/Machine Learning (ML) technologies need to be a vital and trusted tool for significantly improved efficiency and service experience, serving humans
• Network of networks: multiple types of resources need to be aggregated to create a digital ecosystem that grows more and more capable, intelligent, and heterogeneous, eventually creating a single network of networks
• Sustainability: energy-optimized digital infrastructure for a reduced global ICT environmental footprint, as well as delivering effective and sustainable digitization tools for global industry, society and policymakers
• Global service coverage: efficient and affordable solutions for global service coverage, connecting remote places
• Extreme experience: extreme bitrates, extremely low (imperceptible) latencies, seemingly infinite capacity, and precision localization and sensing
• Trustworthiness: ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of communications and delivering data privacy, operational resilience and security 

https://hexa-x.eu/

Read More

FCC's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund phase one auction

The FCC announced the results of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction in which cable operators, electric cooperatives, incumbent telephone companies, satellite companies, and fixed wireless providers competed in bids to deliver services to specific locations. A total of 180 bidders won auction support, to be distributed over the next 10 years.

Bidders won funding to deploy high-speed broadband to over 5.2 million unserved homes and businesses, almost 99% of the locations available in the auction.  Moreover, 99.7% of these locations will be receiving broadband with speeds of at least 100/20 Mbps, with an overwhelming majority (over 85%) getting gigabit-speed broadband.  

The auction used a multi-round, descending clock auction format in which bidders indicated in each round whether they would commit to provide service to an area at a given performance tier and latency at the current round’s support amount.  The auction was technologically neutral and open to new providers, and bidding procedures prioritized bids for higher speeds and lower latency.

The auction unleashed robust price competition that resulted in more locations being awarded at less cost to Americans who pay into the Universal Service Fund.  The 5,220,833 locations assigned support in the auction had an initial reserve price of over $26 billion over the next decade; through vigorous competition among bidders, the final price tag to cover these locations is now just over $9 billion,

CCO Holdings, LLC (Charter Communications) was assigned the most locations, just over 1.05 million. 

The FCC said itsstructuring of the reverse auction yielded significant savings, as competitive bidding among over 300 providers yielded an allocation of $9.2 billion in support out of the $16 billion set aside for Phase I of the auction.  Importantly, the $6.8 billion in potential Phase I support that was not allocated will be rolled over into the future Phase II auction, which now can draw upon a budget of up to $11.2 billion in targeting partially-served areas (and the few unserved areas that did not receive funding through Phase I).

“I’m thrilled with the incredible success of this auction, which brings welcome news to millions of unconnected rural Americans who for too long have been on the wrong side of the digital divide.  They now stand to gain access to high-speed, high-quality broadband service,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.  “We structured this innovative and groundbreaking auction to be technologically neutral and to prioritize bids for high-speed, low-latency offerings.  We aimed for maximum leverage of taxpayer dollars and for networks that would meet consumers’ increasing broadband needs, and the results show that our strategy worked.  This auction was the single largest step ever taken to bridge the digital divide and is another key success for the Commission in its ongoing commitment to universal service.  I thank our staff for working so hard and so long to get this auction done on time, particularly during the pandemic.” 

The list of winning bidders is posted here:

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-20-1422A2.pdf

Read More

Source Photonics debuts 100G ZR4 QSFP28 Transceiver

Source Photonics announced the release of its new 100G ZR4 QSFP28 transceiver for 80km high-speed data center interconnects and routing applications. 

Leveraging the widely deployed 4 x 25G NRZ optics, 100G ZR4 QSFP28 is the latest addition to the company’s dominant 100G product lines among its leading 100/200/400G portfolio of single-mode transceivers for datacenter and routing applications.

Cloud traffic continues to drive data center growth and the industry requires cost-effective and high-bandwidth interoperable solutions. The Source Photonics 100G ZR4 QSFP28 is cost optimized and low power transceiver supporting 100G Ethernet for extended reach up to 80km transmission that provides point to point network connectivity solutions between data centers or central offices without the need to deploy either complicated, power hungry, and expensive coherent solution or legacy CFP/CFP2 interfaces. The 100G ZR4 QSFP28 alleviates the fiber shortage bottlenecks and enables hyperscale cloud operators to scale their network.

The transceiver is in QSFP28 form factor, the smallest for 100G 80km solution. It is fully compliant with the industry standard QSFP28 and related MSA described in the latest SFF-8665/8636 and digital diagnostic functions are available through an I2C interface. It also complies with IEEE 802.3 100GBASE-ZR4 related specifications. In addition, the module supports standard KR4 FEC (Forward Error Correction) baud rates which will help receive side detect and correct bit errors and improve the overall quality of the link. The 100G ZR4 QSFP28 transceiver is capable to operate over up to 80km point-to-point link without the need for optical amplification and dispersion compensation.

Source Photonics will showcase a product demonstration of the 100G ZR4 QSFP28 transceiver for 80km optical transmission in its virtual booth, in addition to live booth activities, and informative video content during the ECOC 2020 Virtual Exhibition on December 7 to 9.

Source Photonics is currently sampling its 100G ZR4 QSFP28 product, in addition to its latest 100G ER4 and 400G ER8 transceivers. Source Photonics is in full production of its other products for data center and routing applications such as 100G LR4/ER4 Lite, 100G DR1/FR1/LR1, and 400G DR4/FR4/LR4/LR8 transceivers.

http://www.sourcephotonics.com

Read More

Open Eye Consortium completes 50Gbps LR1 and LR4 specs

The Open Eye Consortium (Open Eye MSA)  announced two new specifications targeted for 50Gbps per lane applications: LR1 and LR4 for 10 kilometers, based on the CWDM4 wavelength grid, over a single mode fiber. These new specifications complement the Open Eye MSA’s previously released single and multi-mode specifications.

The Open Eye MSA said its specifications provide an alternative to higher power and higher cost DSP-based solutions. These new specifications are aimed at 53Gbps SFP28 Long-Reach (LR) and 200Gbps QSFP Long Reach (LR) optical module designs for next generation 5G wireless, enterprise and data center networking applications.

The Open Eye MSA aims to accelerate the adoption of PAM-4 optical interconnects scaling to 50Gbps, 100Gbps, 200Gbps, and 400Gbps by expanding upon existing standards to enable optical module implementations using less complex, lower cost, lower power, and optimized analog clock and data recovery (CDR) based architectures in addition to existing digital signal processing (DSP) architectures.

The Open Eye MSA defines the requirements for analog PAM-4 solutions for 50G SFP, 100G DSFP, 100G SFP-DD, 200G QSFP, 400G QSFP-DD and OSFP modules. 

A whitepaper is available to view and download here for interested parties to learn more about the Open Eye’s MSA mission and latest technical information. To access more information about the Open Eye MSA single- and multi-mode specifications please visit: https://www.openeye-msa.org/.

The Open Eye MSA is also excited to announce that its membership has grown to 38 members with the addition of Credo Semiconductor, Fuji Xerox, Hisense and Lumentum to its list of members.

https://www.openeye-msa.org

Read More

Lumentum samples 100G PAM4 directly-modulated laser

Lumentum announced sampling of a new 100G PAM4 (53 Gbaud) directly-modulated laser (DML) for hyperscale data center applications. 

The newly developed 100G PAM4 DML is manufactured with Lumentum's internal wafer production capabilities. It leverages InP technology, using a cavity design to operate with the same high-bandwidth performance of an EML in 100G and 400G applications, but in a small, simple, and cost-effective footprint. The latest DML can lower the cost of 400G DR4 compared with current laser alternatives. Additionally, 800G PSM8 modules can benefit from the capabilities of the new 100G PAM4 DML, which is important as data centers transition to these modules in future top-of-rack and leaf layer applications.

The new product joins Lumentum's portfolio of laser chips that enable a wide-range of MSA-compliant transceiver modules operating at multiple data rates and wavelengths. 

"This latest advancement helps to significantly reduce the cost of 400G DR4 modules in data center infrastructures," said Walter Jankovic, Lumentum Senior Vice President and General Manager, Datacom. "The 100G PAM4 DML goes beyond servicing the current need for cost-effective and innovative InP laser solutions at mass volume by enabling future intra-data center interconnects as the industry moves to 800G."

 

Read More

Cisco to acquire IMImobile for Customer Interaction Management

Cisco agreed to acquire IMImobile PLC (AIM: IMO) in a deal valued at approximately US$730 million.

IMImobile, which is based in London, provides software and services which allow enterprises and organizations to stay constantly connected to their customers through enhanced interactive channels including social, messaging and voice. The company's Customer Interaction Management suite orchestrates smarter interactions with customers.

Cisco plans to integrate IMImobile software and services with its Webex Contact Center solution, creating a solution that is:

• Intelligent: Using AI along the entire customer journey to create super agents and augmented frontline employees.
• Contextual: Providing the customer data needed to personalize interactions.
• Collaborative: Empowering employee collaboration in order to deliver 10x better customer experiences.
• Omnichannel: Connecting with customers in their channel of choice—text, social or voice—throughout the customer journey
• Programmable: Giving the business the ability to orchestrate workflows and personalize customer journeys

“A great customer relationship is built on consistently enjoyable interactions where every touchpoint on every channel is an opportunity for businesses to deliver rich, engaging and intuitive experiences,” said Jeetu Patel, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco’s Security and Applications business. “We look forward to working with IMImobile to help create a comprehensive CXaaS solution for the market—one that gives businesses a platform to provide delightful experiences across the entire customer lifecycle journey.”

Read More

FCC authorizes first Wi-Fi device for 6 GHz spectrum band

The FCC authorized the first Wi-Fi device for use in the 6 GHz spectrum band (5.925–7.125 GHz).  

Specifically, the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology authorized Broadcom’s application for the first 6 GHz transmitter.  

In April, the Commission adopted new rules to expand unlicensed operations in the 6 GHz band, ushering in Wi-Fi 6—the next generation of Wi-Fi—and boosting the growth of the Internet of Things.  FCC Chairman Ajit Pai issued the following statement on today’s news:

“Today, we get an exciting glimpse of America’s Wi-Fi future.  This is the FCC’s first authorization of a device to provide unlicensed services in the 6 GHz spectrum band under the Commission’s new rules.  The Commission cleared the way for such advances with its landmark action earlier this year, making up to 1,200 megahertz of spectrum available for higher powered unlicensed use.  Today, we are starting to see the fruits of this work, and consumers will now start to benefit in a big way.

“We expect Wi-Fi 6 to be over two-and-a-half times faster than the current standard.  This will offer better performance for American consumers at a time when homes and businesses are increasingly reliant on Wi-Fi.  During the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve all seen how Wi-Fi has enabled everything from work-at-home to telehealth to remote learning to streaming and gaming.  Wi-Fi 6 will turbocharge each of these and more, and will also complement commercial 5G networks.  Bottom line:  The American consumer’s wireless experience is about to be transformed for the better.

FCC opens 6 GHz Band to Wi-Fi

Thursday, April 23, 2020  Wi-Fi 6  

The FCC voted to open 1,200 megahertz of spectrum in the 6 GHz band (5.925–7.125 GHz) available for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed uses.  The 6 GHz band is currently populated by, among others, microwave services that are used to support utilities, public safety, and wireless backhaul.  Unlicensed devices will share this spectrum with incumbent licensed services under rules crafted to protect those licensed services and enable both unlicensed and licensed operations to thrive throughout the band.

The new rules authorize indoor low-power operations over the full 1,200 megahertz and standard-power devices in 850 megahertz in the 6 GHz band.  An automated frequency coordination system will prevent standard power access points from operating where they could cause interference to incumbent services. 

The FCC expects its new rules to accelerate the adoption of Wi-Fi 6 and play a major role in the growth of the Internet of Things.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai states: "Ultimately, I expect that 6 GHz unlicensed devices will become a part of consumers’ everyday lives.  And I predict the rules we adopt today will play a major role in the growth of the Internet of Things, connecting appliances, machines, meters, wearables, smart televisions, and other consumer electronics, as well as industrial sensors for manufacturing.  At the same time, our approach will ensure that incumbents in the 6 GHz band are protected from harmful interference.  The microwave services that already use this band are critical to the operations of utilities, public safety, and wireless backhaul operations.  And we are ensuring that those incumbents are protected by requiring the use of automated frequency coordination systems, which will only allow new standard-power operations in areas that will not cause interference to incumbent services, and by placing conservative power limits on low-power indoor operations."

“By making 6 GHz available for unlicensed use, the FCC has secured the future of Wi-Fi. 6 GHz access is a seminal development for connectivity and provides Wi-Fi more capacity to deliver groundbreaking use cases and to unlock novel new Wi-Fi applications,” said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO, Wi-Fi Alliance. “Today’s global climate highlights how important Wi-Fi is in connectivity and productivity, and new Wi-Fi 6E solutions will further increase Wi-Fi’s standing.”

Read More