AT&T Expects 2024 CAPEX in the $21-22 billion range

AT&T expects 2024 capital investment in the $21-22 billion range as it remains focused on building vital digital infrastructure for both mobile and fiber networks.  The company believes it was at “peak capital investment” in 2022 and 2023, and now expects to decrease investments in the year ahead, inclusive of the recently announced deal with Ericsson.

Speaking at the Oppenheimer 4th Annual 5G Summit, Pascal Desroches, chief financial officer of AT&T, provided the following updates:

• AT&T is on track to generate full-year free cash flow of about $16.5 billion, grow adjusted EBITDA by 4%-plus and achieve an adjusted EPS at the higher end of the previously shared $2.35-to-$2.45 range or in the low $2.40’s range.
• AT&T expects to pass 30 million-plus consumer and business fiber locations by the end of 2025. Based on returns from fiber coming in better than initial assumptions, AT&T sees an opportunity to potentially pass an incremental 10 to 15 million consumer and business fiber locations within its existing footprint – assuming similar build parameters and a regulatory environment that remains attractive to building infrastructure.
• AT&T remains on track to reduce net debt and to achieve a leverage target of 2.5x net-debt to adjusted EBITDA in the first half of 2025.
• AT&T’s fixed wireless access (FWA) product – AT&T Internet Air – which is now available in parts of 34 locations. The company remains measured in where and how it offers AT&T Internet Air, and as a result, it expects FWA subscriber growth to vary from quarter to quarter.

https://investors.att.com/news-and-events/events-and-presentations

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Finland's DNA deploys Juniper QFX switches and Apstra software

DNA, a prominent mobile and fixed communications service provider in Finland and a member of the Telenor Group, has implemented an advanced data center network built on Juniper’s Apstra automation software, bolstered by high-performance hardware, and integrated by NEC. 

The new infrastructure in DNA’s data center supports both the services provided to business clients and the company's internal IT operations. 

Furthermore, DNA has selected Juniper Networks QFX Series Switches to drive the operations of its Telco Cloud locations throughout Finland.

Apstra is a turnkey multi-vendor automation solution (both hardware- and OS-agnostic), that provides DNA with a unified, real-time view of millions of data center elements, plus their dynamic performance, relationships and interdependencies. Its capabilities bring agility and more reliability to DNA’s network design, build and operations. The entire network management operations will be streamlined, and IT teams will be able to focus more on other priorities. It also enables DNA to create a set of templates for its data center network built on its desired intent and required business outcomes. Apstra automatically converts this intent into the network configurations and policies necessary to consistently achieve DNA’s defined outcomes.

“Apstra helps to de-risk data center networking significantly but also streamlines the operational overhead, making life much easier for pressured operators. Automation drives down the total cost of ownership in DNA’s data centers and frees up talent, all the while enabling it to open up rich new revenue streams via services which can be taken to market quickly and more reliably,” stated Mansour Karam, Group Vice President Products, Cloud Ready Data Center, Juniper Networks.

https://newsroom.juniper.net/news/news-details/2023/DNA-Plc-Automates-New-Data-Centers-with-Juniper-Networks-and-NEC/default.aspx

https://youtu.be/28oXvpXJ_3A

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Cloudflare: Global Internet traffic continues to grow 25% yoy

Global Internet traffic grew 25% in 2023, in line with peak 2022 growth, according to Cloudflare's Year in Review. 

Some of the biggest highlights of 2023 include:

• Most Popular Internet Service: Google came in first for the second year in a row, followed by Facebook (#2), Apple (#3), and TikTok (#4).
• Most Popular Social Media Platform: Facebook came in first, beating out 2022 leader TikTok (#2), followed up by Instagram (#3) and Twitter/X (#4).
• Most Popular Generative AI Service: OpenAI came in first for this emerging category, followed by Character AI (#2), Quillbot (#3), and Hugging Face (#4).
• Most Targeted Industry: Threat actors most commonly launched attacks on Financial organizations, globally.
• Most Common Cyberthreats: Deceptive links and extortion attempts found in malicious email messages were the top two most leveraged attack types.
• Internet Outages Observed: There were more than 180 Internet outages around the world in 2023 – compared to over 150 in 2022 – with many due to government-directed regional and national shutdowns of Internet connectivity.
• Globally, over two-thirds of mobile device traffic was from Android devices. Android had a >90% share of mobile device traffic in over 25 countries/regions; peak iOS mobile device traffic share was 66%. 
• Global traffic from Starlink nearly tripled in 2023. After initiating service in Brazil in mid-2022, Starlink traffic from that country was up over 17x in 2023. 

“We all depend on the Internet, and Cloudflare’s global network – one of the largest in the world – has evolved into a pillar of the critical infrastructure the digital world relies on,” said Matthew Prince, CEO and co-founder at Cloudflare. “Our unique role on the Internet allows us to see the ebbs and flows of online popularity and emerging technology trends in real-time – such as the boom in AI and accelerated global use of Starlink. It is our responsibility to be transparent and share the data and perspectives from reports like our Year in Review to help keep the online world more informed, resilient, and secure.”

This data comes from Cloudflare Radar, a free tool that lets anyone view global trends and insights across the Internet. Radar is powered by data from Cloudflare’s global network (one of the world’s largest, spanning 300+ cities in 100+ countries), and aggregated and anonymized data from Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 public DNS Resolver, widely used as a fast and private way to browse the Internet.

https://blog.cloudflare.com/radar-2023-year-in-review/

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Oracle opens cloud region in Valparaíso, Chile

Oracle activated a cloud region data center in Valparaíso, Chile. 

The new public cloud region is Oracle’s 2nd in Chile, after Santiago, and its 48th worldwide. It will offer Oracle Cloud’s full capabilities across more than 100 Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) services and cloud applications, including Oracle Autonomous Database, MySQL HeatWave Database Service, Oracle Container Engine for Kubernetes, Oracle Cloud VMware Solution, and AI infrastructure. 

Oracle Cloud Valparaíso Region underscores the company's significant investment across Chile and the broader Latin America region. Oracle now operates seven public cloud regions across Chile, Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico—more than triple that of any other major hyperscaler.

“The arrival of the second Oracle Cloud Region in Chile is a significant milestone as it allows our customers to gain the benefits of OCI’s services, while leveraging best practices for business continuity and disaster recovery,” said Joaquin Ma-Shichoy, managing director, Oracle Chile. “With the opening of the Oracle Cloud Valparaíso Region, we’re strengthening our commitment to Chile’s technological development by enabling organizations—including those in highly regulated industries and with in-country data residency requirements—to accelerate their journeys to the cloud.”

“Given that in Chile the rise of cloud infrastructure is a reality, the arrival of Oracle’s second region not only marks a technological milestone, but it will also help drive digital transformation and new cloud architectures that are more resilient and secure for industries across the country,” said Helder Branco, head of IT operations, Entel. “In addition, the opening of this new region demonstrates Oracle’s commitment to the country and continues to enable local companies to use world-class solutions recognized for their stability and high performance.”

https://www.oracle.com/news/announcement/oracle-becomes-the-first-hyperscaler-with-two-cloud-regions-in-chile-2023-12-12/

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Raytheon pursues Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay

Raytheon has received a $10 million contract from DARPA for the Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay (POWER) program, which aims to revolutionize energy distribution by leveraging power beaming for near-instantaneous energy transport in a resilient, multi-path network.

Under the two-year contract, Raytheon will create an airborne relay design to enable "webs" capable of harvesting, transmitting and redirecting optical beams. These "webs" will transmit energy from ground sources to high altitude for the precision, long-range operation of unmanned systems, sensors and effectors. Harvesting energy will ultimately reduce the military's dependence on fuel as well as its delivery and storage.

"Energy is essential in the modern battlespace, and it is critical to achieving military objectives," said Colin Whelan, president of Advanced Technology at Raytheon. "When operating in contested environments, energy may not always be available or abundant, making the need to generate, store and re-distribute it vital. This technology seeks to enable our military to generate power where it is safe and efficient to do so and easily distribute it to other platforms."

https://raytheon.mediaroom.com/2023-12-12-RTX-to-create-network-of-energy-webs-for-DARPA

https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2022-10-05b

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DC BLOX plans new 216MW data center campus in Georgia

DC BLOX has acquired 72 acres of land in Conyers, Georgia, for a new hyperscale-ready data center campus.

The new campus will span 750,000 square feet of space with 216MW of total power committed by Georgia Power.

The first phase of the project will deliver 160,000 square feet of space to additional tenants, with an expected delivery date in Q4 2025.

DC BLOX is also building a dark fiber ring around the Atlanta metropolitan area, providing significant new fiber capacity for campus tenants and a resilient connection to its dark fiber route.

The facility will be developed with DC BLOX's design and construction partners: Evans General Contractors, DLB Associates, Corgan, Thomas & Hutton, and Bennett & Pless.

"DC BLOX’s ability to build vertically integrated infrastructure solutions including data centers and dark fiber networks is proving to be an important differentiator for our customers," said Jeff Uphues, CEO of DC BLOX.

https://www.dcblox.com/dc-blox-to-build-hyperscale-ready-data-center-campus-rockdale-county-ga/

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CoreSite Expands in New York and Denver

CoreSite expands data center campuses in New York and Denver to fulfill rising capacity and power needs.

• In New York, the new NY3 data center will add 85,000 square feet and 15 critical megawatts of capacity. Construction of the NY3 data center is set to complete in Q4 2024.
• In Denver, CoreSite plans to build a three-building data center campus spanning 600,000 square feet with 60 critical megawatts of capacity. The development is anticipated to have an on-site substation and expand CoreSite’s Denver market footprint, which today includes DE1 (910 15th Street, Denver) and DE2 (639 East 18th Avenue, Denver). The new campus will be constructed on 15 acres, and the first of three facilities will be built with three floors and offer 18 CMW of capacity.

CoreSite says these latest expansions are aimed at public and private cloud providers, enterprises, and network and service providers.

"Our approach to data center design and construction incorporates best practices from ideation to execution. CoreSite’s campus model is driven by customer demand and requirements that have seen a surge with the increased adoption of artificial intelligence and other high-density, high performance computing applications. The New York and Denver market expansions exemplify the need for purpose-built, modern and efficient data centers that can provide native access to the leading cloud providers and a comprehensive interconnection ecosystem." - Brian Warren 

https://www.coresite.com/

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Aliro Quantum develops simulation software for quantum networking

Aliro Quantum has developed simulation software for designing and building quantum networks.

The company's Aliro Simulator allows users to evaluate, fine-tune, and optimize quantum networks before deployment. The simulator models key aspects of a quantum network, from individual optical components to complex heterogeneous networks. The goal is to allow users to assess the accuracy, flexibility, and scalability of their quantum network designs without investing in hardware or software.

"Being able to easily design and simulate quantum network infrastructures will be key to quantum's success," said Jim Ricotta, CEO of Aliro Quantum.

https://www.aliroquantum.com

• Aliro Quantum was founded in 2019 and is based in Brighton, Massachusetts. The company was spun out of NarangLab at Harvard University. In terms of funding, Aliro Technologies (the parent or associated entity of Aliro Quantum) has raised a total of $3 million over three funding rounds, with the latest funding secured on October 10, 2023

Cisco makes an investment in Aliro Quantum 

Wednesday, October 25, 2023    

Aliro Quantum, a start-up based in Boston, announced that Cisco Investments participated in its recently announced round of funding, joining Accenture Ventures and lead investor Flybridge Leaders Fund.Aliro Quantum is developing foundational technologies needed for quantum networks and has filed ten patents that include 124 claims. The company has launched AliroNet, a non-QKD multipurpose entanglement-based secure network solution. Aliro is also...

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Aliro Quantum attracts investment from Accenture

Tuesday, October 10, 2023  Aliro  

Aliro Quantum, a start-up based in Boston developing entanglement-based secure quantum networks, has attracted an equity investment from Accenture. Financial terms were not disclosed.Aliro, spun out of NarangLab at Harvard University, includes world-class experts in quantum and classical networking and is leading the charge in quantum network development by offering the foundational technologies needed for organizations around the world to build...

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Aliro introduces end-to-end entanglement-based Quantum Network 

Wednesday, October 26, 2022  Aliro, Quantum, Start-Ups  

Aliro Quantum, a quantum networking start-up that spun out of NarangLab at Harvard University, introduced its end-to-end entanglement-based Quantum Network solution. AliroNet is hardware vendor agnostic and is licensed in three modes of operation. These three modes of operation align with the genuine quantum network rollout stages. Each mode of operation includes Aliro technical support services with the option to purchase additional services...

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AI is Driving Big Changes in Ethernet Switching

Is it time to rethink data center switching? Nick Kucharewski, SVP and GM, Network Switching from Marvell explains:

• The advent of high-performance AI Cloud computing brings new requirements for Ethernet switching, including high bandwidth, low latency, and the ability to provide deterministic low latency even with multiple users sharing the fabric.
• The solution lies in a new category of Ethernet switch that can provide high bandwidth, deterministic low latency, and high Ric, essential for wider, flatter networks that can connect compute nodes quickly and efficiently.
• As we move forward, switches built for AI cluster compute racks and AI Fabrics will start to diverge from switches built for general-purpose compute, with the former focusing on higher bandwidth, lower latency, and more features for deterministic low latency performance, while the latter will focus on efficiency.

https://youtu.be/s3GfDO3JZFw

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CPO Switches are Here!

Are CPO data center switches ready for market? Near Margalit, GM and VP of Optical Systems Division from Broadcom, answers:

• Demonstrating the reliability of core silicon photonics technology: Margalit emphasizes the need to prove to the market that the core silicon photonics technology is reliable and that this reliability will translate to box-level reliability, similar to pluggable modules.
• Establishing the economic and total cost of ownership benefits of CPO technology: He highlights the importance of showing a clear economic and total cost of ownership benefit of using CPO technology over pluggable modules.
• Addressing the time-to-market criticism of CPO technology: Margalit discusses the criticism of CPO technology's time to market, explaining that as they move from the 25 terabit generation to 51T and beyond, the time between when CPO technology is available to integrate with the switch and when that switch comes to market is decreasing.

https://youtu.be/KsiHanEPkT8

Join us to learn more about the future of CPO switches.

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Equinix Advances Plans for Direct-to-Chip Liquid Cooling

Equinix is expanding its support for advanced liquid cooling technologies to over 100 of its data centers worldwide. This will enable businesses to use the most efficient cooling methods for high-density hardware used in compute-intensive workloads such as artificial intelligence (AI). 

Direct-to-chip liquid cooling, a unique approach that involves cooling the chip directly, will be available in over 45 metros, including major tech hubs like London, Silicon Valley, and Singapore. 

Equinix said its vendor-neutral approach allows customers to choose their preferred hardware provider, ensuring a flexible and efficient data center experience. Equinix supports major liquid cooling technologies, including direct-to-chip and rear-door heat exchangers so that customers can take advantage of the most efficient solutions. 

"Liquid cooling is revolutionizing how data centers cool powerful, high-density hardware that supports emerging technologies, and Equinix is at the heart of that innovation," said Tiffany Osias, Vice President of Global Colocation, Equinix. "We have been helping businesses with significant liquid-cooled deployments across a range of deployment sizes and densities for years. Equinix has the experience and expertise to help organizations innovate data center capacity to support the complex, modern IT deployments that applications like AI require."

https://www.equinix.com/newsroom/press-releases/2023/12/equinix-to-accelerate-and-simplify-liquid-cooling-deployments-to-power-enterprise-ai-workloads

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Nokia and Venture Partners Target Deep Tech Commercialization

Nokia announced long-term strategic partnerships with America’s Frontier Fund (AFF), Roadrunner Venture Studios (RVS) and Celesta Capital to commercialize deep technologies from Nokia Bell Labs.

The venture partners will invest in and help develop technologies incubated and developed within Nokia Bell Labs, forming independent venture-backed companies.

Celesta Capital is a venture capital firm specializing in investments in disruptive technology companies and entrepreneurs. The firm is based in San Francisco.

Key areas of focus and collaboration are expected to include:

• Advanced Communications: Foundational communication technologies that will enable 5G and 6G networks and emerging use cases powering smart cities, factories, precision farming, Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, and connectivity.
• AI and Deep Learning: Autonomous annotation, synthetic data generation, and analytics.
• Next-Generation Semiconductor Fabrication: scaling of near-terahertz RF technology to unlock new applications
• Sensors: novel biomedical and environmental sensors including MEMS-based optical sensors.
• Quantum Computing: advanced cubit architectures for scale-out computing and next generation data centers.

"Celesta Capital is thrilled to collaborate with Nokia, with its unparalleled strength in industrial research and rich technology portfolio," said Sriram Viswanathan, Founding Managing Partner of Celesta Capital. "We believe this partnership with Nokia Bell Labs leverages Celesta Capital's unique strengths in identifying, nurturing and developing high potential technologies into the leading deep tech companies of tomorrow."

"Nokia Bell Labs is a leader in innovation with a robust IP portfolio and research expertise," said Nishant Batra, Chief Strategy and Technology Officer (CSTO) of Nokia. "Partnering with a leading deep tech venture firm like Celesta, with its strong investment acumen and operational experience, will allow us to scale and lead new startups in key technology areas that will create long-term value for Nokia."

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Broadcom funds Quantum Laboratory at Caltech

Broadcom announced a multi-year partnership with Caltech to advance quantum science research and discoveries with the potential to seed new innovative technologies and applications. 

The partnership, supported with a significant investment from Broadcom, will establish the Broadcom Quantum Laboratory at Caltech, a physical collaboration space that will bring together experts in the fields of quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum measurement, and quantum engineering. Broadcom's investment will support joint programming and research to accelerate discovery.

Additionally, over the next five years, Broadcom and Caltech have agreed to host an annual symposium where scientists and engineers from both organizations will explore areas of mutual interest and future development opportunities in relevant fields.

"Developing deep connections to technology leaders like Broadcom amplifies the power of the science and engineering that Caltech can accomplish," says Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum, the Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair and professor of physics. "We share a belief in the transformative potential of quantum discoveries across the disciplines and welcome this new partnership." 

"Broadcom is thrilled to partner with Caltech to launch this critical R&D initiative on quantum computing. As a world-class leader in science and engineering research, Caltech has a long and rich history of technology innovation," says Hock Tan, President and CEO of Broadcom. "This multi-year investment and engineering collaboration reinforces our continued commitment to supporting advanced R&D and represents our relentless pursuit of innovation to connect our customers, employees and communities worldwide."

https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/caltech-and-broadcom-announce-quantum-research-and-development-partnership

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Nokia Bell Labs to relocate Murray Hill campus to New Brunswick

Nokia Bell Labs will relocate its campus to a new state-of-the-art research and development facility in New Brunswick.

The move will establish New Brunswick as Nokia's new R&D hub on the East Coast. The new facility, which will break ground in 2025 and is expected to be completed by 2028.

Nishant Batra, Chief Strategy and Technology Officer at Nokia, said: “Our Murray Hill campus has been home to iconic Nokia Bell Labs innovation for over 80 years. As we look toward the future of Nokia and Nokia Bell Labs in the region, we will take with us all that makes us exceptional – our vision, brainpower, culture of disruptive innovation, and technical prowess – and marry that legacy with a modern research and development facility that is built to our needs. Ultimately, we want a facility that feels right for the next 100 years of Nokia Bell Labs.”

• The Nokia Bell Labs’ campus in Murray Hill, New Jersey, originally established in the 1940s as part of Bell Telephone Laboratories, has been a center of technological innovation for decades. Renowned for developing the transistor in 1947, the facility has been associated with numerous Nobel Prizes, including advancements in lasers, the charge-coupled device, and the creation of the Unix operating system. Following the AT&T breakup in the 1980s, Bell Labs became part of Lucent Technologies, which later merged with Alcatel to form Alcatel-Lucent. In 2016, Nokia acquired Alcatel-Lucent, integrating Bell Labs into its structure. 

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Nokia and BT to develop Telco APIs for 5G monetization

Nokia announced an agreement with BT to develop new 5G network monetization opportunities through Nokia’s Network as Code platform with developer portal (platform) and BT Group’s cloud-native network.

BT Group, which operates the EE mobile network, said it is looking to Nokia’s growing ecosystem of developer partners to gain access to simplified network capabilities in the form of software code that can be built into applications for enterprise, industrial, and consumer use cases.

Nokia has announced a similar agreement with DISH Wireless.

The Nokia platform helps operators monetize their 5G network assets beyond pure connectivity.   It provides application developers with tools such as Software Development Kits (SDK) and open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which give developers access to deep network functionality and data that enables them to build new use cases for their customers.

https://www.nokia.com/about-us/news/releases/2023/12/11/nokia-and-bt-group-sign-agreement-to-drive-new-5g-monetization-opportunities-through-telco-apis/

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U.S. awards first Chips Act Funding to BAE Systems

The U.S. Department of Commerce awarded $35 million in federal incentives under the CHIPS and Science Act to BAE Systems Electronic Systems to support the modernization of the company’s Microelectronics Center, a mature-node production facility in Nashua, New Hampshire. 

This is the first grant issued under the CHIPS and Science Act.

The project will replace aging tools and quadruple the production of chips necessary for critical defense programs including the F-35 fighter jet program.

“We have been clear since day one that the CHIPS for America Program is about advancing our national security and strengthening domestic supply chains, all while creating good jobs supporting long-term U.S. economic growth. As national security becomes as much about the chips inside of our weapons systems as the weapons systems themselves, this first CHIPS announcement shows how central semiconductors are to our national defense,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “Thanks to President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, we have reached preliminary terms to make a substantial investment in New Hampshire’s expanding defense industrial base, which will help make our country and supply chains more secure and bolster the economy of the Granite State.”

https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2023/12/biden-harris-administration-and-bae-systems-inc-announce-chips

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Ayar Labs names Mark Wade as CEO

Ayar Labs, a lstart-up focused on optical I/O for chip-to-chip connectivity, has appointed its co-founder and CTO Mark Wade as its new CEO. Wade succeeds Charles Wuischpard, who will transition out of the company in mid-January and serve in an advisory capacity during the transition period.

“I’m humbled and honored to take on the role of CEO for Ayar Labs,” Wade said. “There is a growing sense of momentum across the industry as it becomes increasingly clear that optical I/O enables large-scale AI compute and other data intensive workloads to operate at bandwidths, energy efficiencies, and latencies that are unachievable through electrical based interconnect technology. I look forward to guiding our incredible team to capitalize on this opportunity, enabling our customers to realize the full potential of in-package optical I/O, and helping the company accelerate into our next growth phase.”

“Mark has been instrumental in building a strong foundation for Ayar Labs and this is a natural progression in an extraordinary journey for both him and the company,” Wuischpard said. “My focus since I joined Ayar Labs was to put the company on the path to long-term growth. With the incredible progress we have made over the past two years in particular, this feels like the right inflection point to make this transition and I couldn’t be more excited to see Mark lead the next phase of the company’s growth as CEO.”

https://www.ayarlabs.com

• Bringing optical I/O as close as possible to the processor is key design aim for high-performance computing. Intel and Ayar Labs demonstrate  a 4 Tbps bidirectional communication between two optically enabled Intel FPGAs using Ayar Labs TeraPHY optical I/O chiplets. Data generated from each FPGA is optically transmitted from one board and received and verified on the other board. 

https://youtu.be/pRQhrjdWtps

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AI/ML Leads to Massive Traffic Across the Network

 Lots of attention is focused on interconnecting GPUs for AI clusters. But what effect does AI have on other segments of the network, such as storage clusters, East-West application flows or core-to-edge? Mansour Karam, VP of Data Center Products from Juniper, explains:

• The data center market is growing at a rapid pace, with AI/ML workloads contributing significantly to this growth. In four years, the market is projected to reach $32 billion, with AI/ML workloads growing at a rate of 46% year on year.
• The key to optimizing AI/ML workloads lies in the technology and infrastructure. Speeds and feeds are crucial, with 800 gig and 1.6 Tbps interfaces on the horizon. Innovations in optics and topologies are needed to minimize the cost and latency of these clusters.
• Beyond hardware, software plays a critical role in maximizing the efficiency of AI/ML workloads. Juniper's expertise in data feeds and speeds, combined with software from Apstra, can provide visibility into latency and performance, enabling automatic tuning of parameters for optimal job completion times.

https://youtu.be/28oXvpXJ_3A

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AI Super Clusters Need Optics to Scale

AI super clusters, powered by vast numbers of GPUs or specialized silicon, are redefining data center architecture. 

Radha Nagarajan, SVP and CTO, Optical and Cloud from Marvell explains:

• The increasing size of AI clusters: AI clusters are growing from a handful of GPUs to super clusters, necessitating efficient data movement over large distances. This growth is driving the need for larger interconnected pods, achievable only through optical connectivity.
• The role of optical connectivity in AI clusters: As AI clusters expand, copper cables and active electrical cables are no longer sufficient due to their limited reach. Optical connectivity becomes critical, especially for AI-centric data centers that are starting to be built today.
• The future of data transport in AI clusters: As the data generated by AI clusters continues to increase, the need for higher data transport speeds is evident. Marvell is pushing ahead with its current 800G and soon 1.6 Tbps solutions. 

https://youtu.be/B2IEZHlhJfE

Want to be involved our video series? Contact info@nextgeninfra.io

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BT unveils Multicast-Assisted Unicast Delivery

BT introduced a Multicast-Assisted Unicast Delivery technology that improves quality and reliability of live content for viewers while driving down costs for broadcasters and networks operators.

MAUD, which was developed by the Content Delivery Research team at BT’s Research Labs at Adastral Park, uses multicast to group single streams into one shared one. MAUD has a further significant advantage over 'ordinary' multicast streams, as its integration is made completely transparent to the player application. BT says MAUD technology uses up to 50% less bandwidth during peak events, reducing energy usage through the use of fewer caches. By freeing up internet capacity, it will help to deliver a higher quality of experience for both live and non-live content.

Howard Watson, Chief Security and Networks Officer at BT Group said: “MAUD is a major breakthrough in how we deliver content over the internet. Developed in our world leading labs at Adastral Park in Suffolk, MAUD could be a key solution to how we manage ever increasing traffic loads. By combining individual streams, MAUD delivers a more reliable, consistent picture, no matter whether customers are watching over Wi-Fi, fibre or mobile networks.”

BT said it is working with major broadcasters and platforms to employ MAUD technology to support live events coverage in 2024.

https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-group-announces-live-tv-technology-breakthrough-to-meet-growing-customer-demand/

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