Networking trends for 2018

1,081 Comments

1. April 21, 2018 at 5:08 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Kat Hall / The Register:
   BT to shutdown its traditional PSTN phone network and shift customers to VoIP by 2025 with public consultations about the closure starting next month

   BT pushes ahead with plans to switch off telephone network
   Consultation next month following plan to shift Brits over to VoIP
   http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/04/19/bt_pushes_ahead_with_plans_to_switch_of_traditional_telephone_network/

   BT is forging ahead with plans to shut its traditional telephone network in Britain, with the intention of shifting all customers over to IP telephony services by 2025.

   The closure of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) is part of plans by BT toward internet-based voice calls via a fibre network. As such it will be looking to close a chunk of exchanges.

   Yesterday, Openreach wrote to its communications providers about the move. The broadband division will open consultation next month on the withdrawal of its Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) products, which are reliant on the PSTN.

   In an email, seen by The Register, it said:

   “This is a truly significant change for the industry and represents a move from an analogue to a digital, fibre led future. These changes will affect how you do business with Openreach.”

   An Openreach spokesman said: “In May, we’ll consult with industry around the process of withdrawing WLR and related products.

   “This follows plans by BT to upgrade its customers from analogue (PSTN) to digital (all IP) telephone services by 2025.

   “We’ll be working with our Communication Provider customers over the coming months as we consider the move to IP voice services – where broadband rather than voice becomes the primary service.”

   Other communications companies in Germany, Japan, Sweden, are already in the process of moving voice to run over IP. Orange has set a goal of having all IP (digital) networks by 2020, and Deutsche Telekom aims to migrate all its lines in Europe to digital by the end of 2018.

   Reply
2. April 22, 2018 at 8:16 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   NS1 brings domain name services to the enterprise
   https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/21/ns1-dns/?utm_source=tcfbpage&sr_share=facebook

   When you think about critical infrastructure, DNS or domain naming services might not pop into your head, but what is more important than making sure your website opens quickly and efficiently for your users. NS1 is a New York City startup trying to bring software smarts and automation to the DNS space.

   Beevers cut his teeth as head of engineering at Voxall, a cloud infrastructure company that was acquired by Internap in 2012 for $35 million. He and his NS1 co-founders saw an opening in the DNS space and launched the company in 2013 with a set of software-defined DNS services.

   “DNS had been around since 1983. The first 20 years were very boring with no commercial ecosystem,” Beevers said. Even when it went commercial in the early 2000s, nobody was looking at this as a software problem. “We saw everyone in this space was a hardware or networking vendor. Nobody was a software company. Nobody had thought about automation or how automation fit into the stack. And nobody saw the big infrastructure trends,” Beevers explained.

   “Our ability around dynamic traffic management and performance reliability gave those ad companies [an advantage].

   Beevers says the Dyn incident in many ways brought the industry closer together. While they compete, they still need to cooperate to keep the domain system up and running. “We compete and are comrades in the internet mess. We will all fall apart if we don’t work together,”

   Reply
3. April 22, 2018 at 8:22 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   “Internet Slow?” 4 Things That Speed Test Users Must Do
   https://blog.paessler.com/internet-slow-4-things-that-speed-test-users-must-do?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=%23B109_Content_Push_2018_04_AllGeos_Link_Ads_Speed_Test&utm_content=speedtest&hs_fb_account_id=2004489912909367&hs_fb_campaign_id=23842869712500129&hs_fb_adset_id=23842869712720129&hs_fb_ad_id=23842869713190129&hs_parent_creative_id=23842869712750129&source=fb

   As a sysadmin you already have a partly annoying life. Requests like “Is the internet broken?” are completely normal; and if one asks such questions as “Why is the Internet slow?”,

   An internet speed test can give users an accurate indication of how much bandwidth is available to you. However, these pages do not analyze the bandwidth directly

   Sadly, internet speed tests often turn out to be not exactly accurate and often it’s because the users haven’t done things on their end to make sure the numbers are correct.

   #1: Restart Your Computer, Modem, Router – EVERYTHING!
   #2: Pause Spotify, Netflix, YouTube and Your Other Background Entertainment
   #3: Clear Your Browser’s Cache
   #4: Choose an HTML5 Speed Test

   Finally, we advise to test bandwidth with an HTML5 based method, not a Flash and Java based one.

   Reply
4. April 23, 2018 at 11:57 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   UK’s National Cyber Security Centre warns use of ZTE equipment poses national security risk
   http://www.lightwaveonline.com/articles/2018/04/uk-s-national-cyber-security-centre-warns-use-of-zte-equipment-poses-national-security-risk.html?cmpid=enl_lightwave_lightwave_friday_5_2018-04-20&pwhid=6b9badc08db25d04d04ee00b499089ffc280910702f8ef99951bdbdad3175f54dcae8b7ad9fa2c1f5697ffa19d05535df56b8dc1e6f75b7b6f6f8c7461ce0b24&eid=289644432&bid=2076102

   As if ZTE wasn’t already having a bad week after the U.S. Department of Commerce imposed a seven-year ban on access to U.S. communications components (see “U.S. Commerce Dept. finds ZTE violated export disciplinary agreement, bans U.S. component supply”), the company’s reputation has been called into question by a UK cyber-security agency. A statement posted April 16, 2018, on the website of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) advised against the use of ZTE equipment in UK telecommunications networks. The post is being backed by a letter addressed to the UK telecommunications community.

   The NCSC is part of the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), a group that provides signal intelligence and related services to the UK government and military. NCSC aims to prevent cyber attacks, manage such incidents, and improve UK network security. And it doesn’t like the looks of ZTE.

   The NSCS concerns mirror those expressed on multiple occasions within U.S. political circles regarding Chinese telecommunications suppliers such as ZTE and Huawei, most recently by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai

   Reply
5. April 23, 2018 at 11:57 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Cignal AI bullish on 400G coherent
   http://www.lightwaveonline.com/articles/2018/04/cignal-ai-bullish-on-400g-coherent.html?cmpid=enl_lightwave_lightwave_friday_5_2018-04-20&pwhid=6b9badc08db25d04d04ee00b499089ffc280910702f8ef99951bdbdad3175f54dcae8b7ad9fa2c1f5697ffa19d05535df56b8dc1e6f75b7b6f6f8c7461ce0b24&eid=289644432&bid=2076102

   Cignal AI doesn’t believe coherent 400-Gbps technology will begin ramping significantly until next year – but it will prove more popular than the market research firm initially anticipated, according to the company’s most recent “Optical Applications Report.” Andrew Schmitt, lead analyst at Cignal AI, cites a growing number of applications for pluggable 400G ZR technology as well as improved performance from systems operating at 400G and greater across all distances.

   “Coherent 400G will cap the growth of existing 200G and 100G technologies by 2020 as new equipment becomes available that maximizes optical capacity independent of reach,” said Andrew Schmitt, lead analyst for Cignal AI. “Compact modular equipment is the enabling platform, with revenue almost quadrupling in 2017, and we expect that it will continue to grow at least 40 percent per year through 2022.”

   Reply
6. April 23, 2018 at 11:58 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   What’s next for ZTE, and optical suppliers, after ban?
   http://www.lightwaveonline.com/articles/2018/04/what-s-next-for-zte-and-optical-suppliers-after-ban.html?cmpid=enl_lightwave_lightwave_friday_5_2018-04-20&pwhid=6b9badc08db25d04d04ee00b499089ffc280910702f8ef99951bdbdad3175f54dcae8b7ad9fa2c1f5697ffa19d05535df56b8dc1e6f75b7b6f6f8c7461ce0b24&eid=289644432&bid=2076102

   A day after the U.S. Department of Commerce activated a previously suspended seven-year ban on U.S. component sales to ZTE (see “U.S. Commerce Dept. finds ZTE violated export disciplinary agreement, bans U.S. component supply”), the optical community is still evaluating the fallout. Questions remain about where ZTE will turn to replace the U.S. optical communications devices that play important roles in ZTE’s systems, as well as how ZTE’s U.S. suppliers will deal with the sudden loss of a customer.

   ZTE says it is taking stock of the situation. “ZTE is aware of the denial order activated by the United States Department of Commerce,” the company posted on its website. “At present, the company is assessing the full range of potential implications that this event has on the company and is communicating with relevant parties proactively in order to respond accordingly.”

   Reply
7. April 23, 2018 at 11:59 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   U.S. Commerce Dept. finds ZTE violated export disciplinary agreement, bans U.S. component supply
   http://www.lightwaveonline.com/articles/2018/04/u-s-commerce-dept-finds-zte-violated-export-disciplinary-agreement-bans-u-s-component-supply.html?cmpid=enl_lightwave_lightwave_friday_5_2018-04-20&pwhid=6b9badc08db25d04d04ee00b499089ffc280910702f8ef99951bdbdad3175f54dcae8b7ad9fa2c1f5697ffa19d05535df56b8dc1e6f75b7b6f6f8c7461ce0b24&eid=289644432&bid=2076102

   The U.S. Department of Commerce announced today that it would ban U.S. companies from providing components to ZTE because the Chinese company failed to comply with the terms of a disciplinary agreement reached in March 2017 arising from U.S. export law violations. The ban, slated to last seven years, also prevents others from reselling U.S. components to ZTE. The action has a direct effect on optical component and subsystems vendors who had ZTE on their customer rosters.

   Reply
8. April 23, 2018 at 4:08 pm

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Pirate Radio in Space
   Silicon Valley startups meet space-law reality.
   https://slate.com/technology/2018/04/space-startup-swarm-defied-the-fcc-to-launch-tiny-satellites.html

   Move fast and break things, the Silicon Valley ethos, arguably has its merits. But there are downsides to taking it literally—particularly with things in the sky traveling 17,000 miles per hour.

   As first reported in March by Mark Harris in IEEE Spectrum, in January a Silicon Valley–based commercial space startup named Swarm Technologies launched four experimental satellites into orbit aboard an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket. SpaceBEEs —as in basic electronic elements—1, 2, 3, and 4 are billed as the world’s smallest communications satellites, about one-quarter the size of a standard 10-cubic-centimeter “CubeSat”—which is already considered a nanosatellite. (Technically, the SpaceBEEs are picosatellites.) The SpaceBEEs are one step on the way to Swarm’s goal of creating a satellite constellation one-four-hundredth the cost of existing communication satellites. Swarm hopes that its satellites, coupled with solar-powered ground stations, can provide wireless connectivity in remote locations, the sort of cheap, ubiquitous connectivity necessary for an “internet of things.”

   Swarm did ask for permission, but when the FCC turned it down, instead of working with regulators to alter its spacecraft design and earn approval, it went ahead and launched anyway. That’s a decision that may have unsavory consequences. Certainly for Swarm, which the FCC can sanction for not following the rules, and other small satellite companies that may find getting FCC licensing more difficult. But Swarm’s activities may have also made the U.S. noncompliant with its international treaty obligations. May have, space-law experts say, because no one thought the rules would be flaunted in this way.

   “By continuing their activities without a license, they have implicated U.S. responsibility in a way that is really the first of its kind,”

   U.S. companies that wish to put satellites in space need some form of authorization, either from the Federal Aviation Administration in the form of a launch license—not applicable in the case of Swarm, because it launched from India—or a radio-spectrum license from the FCC in order to use radio frequencies to communicate with their spacecraft. Technically, the FCC is only authorizing the use of radio frequencies and not the launch itself, but Ian Christensen, director of private sector programs and Johnson’s colleague at the Secure World Foundation, says Swarm’s defiance of the FCC certainly implies an intent to turn its satellites’ radios on. “If you’re not licensed to operate in that spectrum, and therefore your satellites are essentially nonfunctional, why would you launch them?”

   Conduct in space is governed by the legal framework set up by the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which makes nations uniquely responsible for the actions of their nationals in space, whether public entities or private citizens. “Under international law, it doesn’t matter if the space activities are conducted by the government—whether it’s NASA or the Department of Defense—or whether it’s a startup company with only a few people working out of a garage. Under international law, the responsibility is the same,” Johnson says. “The U.S. is internationally responsible for these activities and potentially liable for any damage resulting.”

   “If the FCC doesn’t take kindly to terrestrial pirate radio, it is even less likely to respond favorably to space pirate radio.”

   Swarm may not have pushed the U.S. into noncompliance by merely launching its satellites, according to Christensen, but it is certainly on the verge. “Technically they have not done anything illegal,” he says. Nevertheless, “I think it’s very fair to say they’ve done something wrong.”

   It’s also possible that Swarm applied for and received a radio-frequency-operating license from a different nation

   Because the SpaceBEEs are in orbit and may technically be safe, Swarm could just run the radio-transmission portion of its experiment anyway, uploading data to the SpaceBEEs from ground stations and then transmitting back down as a proof of concept. But that would place the U.S. in noncompliance with the International Telecommunications Union and Swarm even deeper on the FCC naughty list

   FCC could decide to refuse Swarm any operating licenses in the future.

   “That’s the death penalty for a licensee,” says Jim Dunstan, a space and telecommunications lawyer and fellow at TechFreedom. “Their whole business plan now just goes down the drain.”

   Dunstan suspects that Swarm will go to the FCC, hat in hand, and ask forgiveness

   Reply
9. April 24, 2018 at 8:35 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Internet Society Calls on IXPs to Help Solve Internet Routing Problems
   https://www.securityweek.com/internet-society-calls-ixps-help-solve-internet-routing-problems

   The Internet Society is expanding its Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security (MANRS) initiative from just autonomous systems (AS) networks to include internet exchange points (IXPs).

   With its purpose to bring basic security to internet routing, MANRS was launched in 2014 with 9 founding members. Since its launch it has grown to 56 members, out of a total of around 60,000 ASs on the internet. Andrei Robachevsky, the Internet Society’s technology program manager, told SecurityWeek that the immediate target is between 700 and 800 actively conforming members. Since about 80% of all networks are stub networks with no knowledge of other networks, Robachevsky believes that 700 or 800 of the remaining networks will be enough to provide the tipping point necessary to seriously improve internet routing security.

   This basic lack of routing verification between different ASs is the root cause of both accidental and malicious internet routing problems. There are three primary issues: route hijacking, IP Address spoofing, and route leaks — and it is worth noting that there were 14,000 internet routing issues in 2017 alone.

   The classic example of route hijacking occurred in 2008, when YouTube became unavailable for around 2 hours.

   In April 2017, Robachevsky wrote in an Internet Society blog, “Large chunks of network traffic belonging to MasterCard, Visa, and more than two dozen other financial services companies were briefly routed through a Russian telecom. For several minutes, Rostelecom was originating 50 prefixes for numerous other Autonomous Systems, hijacking their traffic.”

   IP address spoofing can be used for different malicious purposes. One of the most dramatic is a reflection/amplification DDoS attack.

   This year, memcached has been used to amplify DDoS attacks sufficient to set new records — first at 1.3Tbps and then within days at 1.7Tbps.

   Reply
10. April 24, 2018 at 1:06 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Champion ONE’s new 100G Open Network (White Box) Switch is the most powerful expression yet of the advantages of open networking. Disaggregated hardware and software unlocks unparalleled flexibility and choice, putting the specific needs of your network first.

    100G Open Network Switches
    http://www.championone.com/100g-switch

    Bolster your network with Champion ONE’s carrier-grade 100G open network switches. These are Top-of-Rack or spine switches in a compact 1RU form factor. They provide line-rate layer 2 or layer 3 (L2/L3) switching across 32 QSFP28 ports, supporting up to 32 40/100GbE, 64 50GbE, or 128 10/25 GbE connections. These switches can be deployed as TOR switches supporting 10/25/50 GbE to servers with 40/50/100 GbE uplinks, or as spine switches supporting 40/45/100 GbE spine interconnects.

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11. April 24, 2018 at 7:28 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Scott Moritz / Bloomberg:
    Verizon added ~359,000 subs last quarter who use watches, wearables, and other devices, helping offset the loss of ~24,000 phone and ~75,000 tablet customers

    Watches, Not Phones, Fuel Verizon’s Subscriber Growth
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-24/verizon-subscriber-uptick-tops-estimates-easing-growth-concerns

    Verizon Communications Inc.’s wireless subscriber rolls surged last quarter, but it was thanks to smartwatches and other wearables — not the phones and tablets that were once its mainstay.

    The results renewed optimism that the largest U.S. mobile-phone carrier can cope with a maturing industry. Even as the company lost phone and tablet subscribers, new customers using mobile service for Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. watches, vehicles and other applications offset the shortfall.

    Verizon and AT&T Inc., its closest competitor in wireless, have been diversifying into media and entertainment in order to sell customers new services now that almost everyone has a mobile phone.

    The wireless industry is heading into a period of transition, with carriers outlining plans for new faster 5G networks and a growing focus on delivering video.

    Reply
12. April 25, 2018 at 10:59 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Cisco touts Application Centric Infrastructure success
    http://www.lightwaveonline.com/articles/2018/04/cisco-touts-application-centric-infrastructure-success.html?cmpid=enl_lightwave_lightwave_datacom_2018-04-24&pwhid=6b9badc08db25d04d04ee00b499089ffc280910702f8ef99951bdbdad3175f54dcae8b7ad9fa2c1f5697ffa19d05535df56b8dc1e6f75b7b6f6f8c7461ce0b24&eid=289644432&bid=2079131

    Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) says that a range of service providers around the world have chosen to deploy the company’s Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI). The software-defined networking (SDN) platform helps enable the delivery of cloud services in an automated, policy-based manner, the company says.

    Reply
13. April 25, 2018 at 11:00 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Sedona researches SDN-based optical network automation with ACINO consortium
    http://www.lightwaveonline.com/articles/2018/04/sedona-researches-sdn-based-optical-network-automation-with-acino-consortium.html?cmpid=enl_lightwave_lightwave_datacom_2018-04-24&pwhid=6b9badc08db25d04d04ee00b499089ffc280910702f8ef99951bdbdad3175f54dcae8b7ad9fa2c1f5697ffa19d05535df56b8dc1e6f75b7b6f6f8c7461ce0b24&eid=289644432&bid=2079131

    Sedona Systems, which provides software-defined networking (SDN) based multilayer network automation and control platforms (see, for example, “Sedona Systems upgrades NetFusion for IP/optical layer convergence, discovery”), says it has completed a successful trial of such technology within the Application-Centric IP/Optical Network Orchestration (ACINO) consortium. ACINO is an H2020 European Union consortium that comprises Sedona, Telefonica, ADVA, CREATE-NET, Acreo, and AIT.

    The ACINO project aimed to develop and demonstrate a modular, open-source IP/optical control platform. The platform would enable intent-based service provisioning and multi-layer restoration and optimization between IP/MPLS and optical layers within an individual network’s service constraints.

    “Automation and optimization of network functions, while being aware of service needs is key in the service provider network architecture. Such capabilities are needed for service providers to stay competitive,”

    Reply
14. April 25, 2018 at 11:09 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    3 common misconceptions about network fabrics
    http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2018/04/3-common-misconceptions-about-network-fabrics.html?cmpid=enl_cim_cim_data_center_newsletter_2018-04-24&pwhid=e8db06ed14609698465f1047e5984b63cb4378bd1778b17304d68673fe5cbd2798aa8300d050a73d96d04d9ea94e73adc417b4d6e8392599eabc952675516bc0&eid=293591077&bid=2078269

    “Fabrics are not a new technology; they’ve been around since 2011 – 2012. However, we’ve seen increased uptake for fabrics outside of the traditional data center and into the enterprise campus.”

    1. They are only for the data center Not anymore. Going back 5-6 years, network fabrics were originally designed to solve how to stretch L2 VLANs across subnets for VM migrations and mobility. We now see far more use cases for network fabrics that extend to the enterprise campus portion of the network.

    2. You need to hire a network programmer Not necessarily. What we are seeing in the industry is that there are different types of network fabrics that appeal to different types of users.

    3. It’s based solely on network overlays Not always! Again, it really depends on the fabric technology.

    Network Fabrics: 5 Common Misconceptions Dispelled
    A clarifying review of fabric technology and its use cases
    https://www.networkworld.com/article/3268150/data-center/network-fabrics-5-common-misconceptions-dispelled.html

    Reply
15. April 25, 2018 at 11:11 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    The 4 primary edge networking archetypes, plus technology requirements
    http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2018/04/vertiv-edge-reqs.html?cmpid=enl_cim_cim_data_center_newsletter_2018-04-24&pwhid=e8db06ed14609698465f1047e5984b63cb4378bd1778b17304d68673fe5cbd2798aa8300d050a73d96d04d9ea94e73adc417b4d6e8392599eabc952675516bc0&eid=293591077&bid=2078269

    Vertiv, formerly Emerson Network Power, this month released Defining Four Edge Archetypes and their Technology Requirements, a global, research-based analysis of network edge use cases, resulting in the identification of four main archetypes for edge applications and the technology required to support them.

    According to a press statement, for the project Vertiv’s experts identified data-centric sets of workload requirements for each edge use case and corresponding needs for performance, availability and security. They examined specific performance requirements, including latency, availability, scalability and security, in conjunction with the need for encryption, authentication and regulatory compliance. They also looked at the need to integrate with existing or legacy applications and other data sources, while considering the number of edge locations in a given network.

    According to Vertiv, the four edge networking archetypes are:

    Data Intensive – This includes use cases where the amount of data makes it impractical to transfer over the network directly to the cloud or from the cloud to point-of-use due to data volume, cost or bandwidth issues. Examples include smart cities, smart factories, smart homes/buildings, high-definition content distribution, high-performance computing, restricted connectivity, virtual reality, and oil and gas digitization. The most widely used example is high-definition content delivery, where major content providers such as Amazon and Netflix actively partner with colocation providers to expand delivery networks to bring data-intensive streaming video closer to users to reduce costs and latency.
    Human-Latency Sensitive – This archetype includes use cases where services are optimized for human consumption, and it is all about speed. Delayed data delivery negatively impacts a user’s technology experience, potentially reducing a retailer’s sales and profitability. Use cases include smart retail, augmented reality, website optimization, and natural language processing.
    Machine-to-Machine Latency Sensitive – Speed also is the defining characteristic of this archetype, which includes the arbitrage market, smart grid, smart security, real-time analytics, low-latency content distribution, and defense force simulation. Because machines are able to process data much faster than humans, the consequences for slow delivery are higher than in the Human-Latency Archetype. For example, delays in commodities and stock trading, where prices fluctuate within fractions of a second, may turn potential gains into losses.
    Life Critical – This archetype encompasses use cases that directly impact human health and safety. Consequently, speed and reliability are vital. Use cases include smart transportation, digital health, connected/autonomous cars, autonomous robots, and drones. Autonomous vehicles, for example, must have updated data to operate safely, as is the case with drones that may be used for e-commerce and package delivery.

    DEFINING FOUR EDGE ARCHETYPES AND THEIR TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS
    https://www.vertivco.com/globalassets/documents/white-papers/vertiv-edgearchetypes-wp-en-na-sl-11490_229156_1.pdf

    Reply
16. April 25, 2018 at 11:23 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Metaswitch CNP IP routing, MPLS networking stacks to arrive in data center via Dell EMC
    http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2018/04/metaswitch-cnp-ip-routing-mpls-networking-stacks-to-arrive-in-data-center-via-dell-emc.html?cmpid=enl_cim_cim_data_center_newsletter_2018-04-24&pwhid=e8db06ed14609698465f1047e5984b63cb4378bd1778b17304d68673fe5cbd2798aa8300d050a73d96d04d9ea94e73adc417b4d6e8392599eabc952675516bc0&eid=293591077&bid=2078269

    As reported at Light Reading, cloud native communications software leader Metaswitch (Los Altos, CA) has announced a collaboration with Dell EMC, who will resell its Composable Network Protocols (CNP). Dell EMC will combine Metaswitch’s CNP IP routing and MPLS networking stacks, which draw from more than 35 years of protocol development and are deployed in the products of more than 250 network OEMS, with its own EMC OS10 Open Edition on ONIE-enabled platforms.

    Metaswitch Composable Network Protocols Head to Market Through Dell EMC
    https://www.lightreading.com/metaswitch-composable-network-protocols-head-to-market-through-dell-emc/d/d-id/741824

    Reply
17. April 25, 2018 at 11:25 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    10 data center power market leaders listed
    http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2018/04/10-data-center-power-market-leaders-listed.html?cmpid=enl_cim_cim_data_center_newsletter_2018-04-24&pwhid=e8db06ed14609698465f1047e5984b63cb4378bd1778b17304d68673fe5cbd2798aa8300d050a73d96d04d9ea94e73adc417b4d6e8392599eabc952675516bc0&eid=293591077&bid=2078269

    According to the analyst, the top 10 leading players in the data center power market include:

    · Emerson Network Power

    · Raritan, Inc.

    · Rittal GmbH & Co. KG

    · Schneider Electric SE

    · Cummins Power Generation

    · Delta Power Solutions

    · Eaton Corporation Plc.

    · General Electric

    · CyberPower Systems

    · ABB Ltd. Among others

    Reply
18. April 25, 2018 at 12:03 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    ZTE and the Unknown Unknowns
    https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1333205

    ZTE Corp. has become the little-understood $17 billion pawn in an escalating U.S./China trade war-and the next move is uncertain.

    Last week’s decision to ban sales to ZTE of U.S. semiconductors and software for seven years will crush the company if it holds. If ZTE becomes a casualty of the trade war, it will disrupt annual revenues of something short of $5 billion dollars in America made components.

    The ban was “quite a shocker…This is a shot into one of the prides of China’s electronics industry and its sovereignty, having the U.S. dictate whether ZTE can be in business,” said Bill McClean, president of IC Insights.

    Reply
19. April 25, 2018 at 12:13 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
    Enterprise communications firm Mitel to be acquired for $2B by Searchlight Capital Partners in an all-cash transaction

    Enterprise firm Mitel to be acquired for $2B by Rackspace investor Searchlight
    https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/24/enterprise-communications-firm-mitel-is-being-acquired-for-2b-by-rackspace-investor-searchlight/

    Mitel, the enterprise communications company that tried but failed to buy Polycom for $2 billion, is now being acquired for $2 billion itself. The company today announced that it has agreed to be acquired by Searchlight Capital Partners in an all-cash transaction of $2 billion, a deal that will also see the company going private.

    Reply
20. April 25, 2018 at 5:47 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Net Neutrality Is Almost Dead. Here’s What That Actually Means For You
    http://www.iflscience.com/technology/net-neutrality-is-almost-dead-heres-what-that-actually-means-for-you/

    Reply
21. April 25, 2018 at 7:47 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Wall Street Journal:
    Sources: US DOJ is investigating whether Huawei violated US sanctions related to Iran, amid broader concerns about the company from the US government — Probe raises the stakes for Huawei, which faces a series of moves by Washington to diminish its already-limited business dealings in the U.S.

    Huawei Under Criminal Investigation Over Iran Sanctions
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/huawei-under-criminal-investigation-over-iran-sanctions-1524663728

    Probe raises the stakes for Huawei, which faces a series of moves by Washington to diminish its already-limited business dealings in the U.S

    Reply
22. April 26, 2018 at 12:22 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Switch Chip Startup Snags $77 Million
    Innovium samples 12.8 Tbit/s switch chip
    https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333215

    Startup Innovium announced it secured $77 million in Series D financing, bringing its total to date to a whopping $160 million. The deal shows investors have confidence the designer of Ethernet switch chips will grab sockets away from Broadcom which dominates the field.

    The round closes as Innovium announced it is sampling its 12.8 and 6.4 Terabit/second switches aimed at large data centers. The funds will be used in part to ramp production of the chips and fuel their road map.

    The news comes four months after Broadcom announced its own 12.8 Tbit/s switch, the Tomahawk-3. Market watchers say Broadcom commands a 73 to 94 percent share of the $1 billion market for Ethernet switch chips. Its closest rival, Cisco Systems, takes most of the rest with systems using its own ASICs.

    Innovium is one of seven semiconductor startups and established companies angling for a slice of Broadcom’s business. Others include Barefoot, Cavium, China’s Centec, Marvell, Mellanox and Nephos.

    Market watchers at the Linley Group expect the competition will drive Ethernet switch costs from about $60/port last year to about $36/port by 2020.

    Reply
23. April 26, 2018 at 12:28 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Nokia Rolls Server for Edge Nets
    AT&T, Google describe network software efforts
    https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333220

    Nokia announced servers tailored for an emerging class of carrier edge networks. The news came at an event where AT&T provided an update on an open source operating system for software-defined networks (SDNs) and Google described early work on a programming tool for SDN.

    Carriers are in an early stage of deploying routers and servers on the edges of their networks to handle rising traffic and enable new low latency services. Both they and big data centers have been slowly working for years to enable software-defined networks based on open interfaces to lower costs and ease management of their large, complex nets.

    Nokia announced its AirFrame servers targeting deployment next to cellular base stations, enabling edge networks. The family of compact but high-performance systems use top Intel Xeon processors with optional accelerators such as Nokia’s ReefShark ASICs.

    Nokia makes a family of ReefShark chips in advanced nodes beyond 16nm to accelerate a wide variety of functions including Layer 1 network processing, security and compression. At least some of the chips sport wide vector units to accelerate neural networking tasks.

    Reply
24. April 27, 2018 at 10:01 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Operators are making the move to 100 Gbps in most parts of the metro – and they’re looking at such transmission rates in the metro access, including for data center interconnect.

    Reply
25. April 27, 2018 at 10:54 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Surveying the New Optical Form Factors for 400 Gigabit Ethernet
    http://www.lightwaveonline.com/articles/2017/12/surveying-the-new-optical-form-factors-for-400-gigabit-ethernet.html?cmpid=enl_lightwave_lightwave_enabling_technologies_2018-04-26&pwhid=6b9badc08db25d04d04ee00b499089ffc280910702f8ef99951bdbdad3175f54dcae8b7ad9fa2c1f5697ffa19d05535df56b8dc1e6f75b7b6f6f8c7461ce0b24&eid=289644432&bid=2082934

    Targeted for massive aggregation of data across an array of applications, 400 Gigabit Ethernet (400GbE) is on schedule for standardization this year within the IEEE 802.3bs™ Ethernet Working Group. Development of new and faster electrical and optical signaling technologies is simultaneously underway across the ever-expanding Ethernet ecosystem.

    Of course, different aspects of the Ethernet ecosystem have different needs in 400GbE I/O form factors. For some, the primary need is density — the goal is to fit as many ports as absolutely possible into a faceplate of 1 rack unit (1RU). For others, the quality of the signal integrity of the given form factor’s electrical connector might be of greater concern. And how critical is backwards compatibility among the list of priorities? What are the technical and cost implications of offering backwards compatibility? Does the form factor provide sufficient packaging volume? What are the reach requirements?

    Plus, as we go to higher data rates, we dissipate more power. With the move to 400-Gbps processing, more components, dissipating more power, are being packed more tightly together within the module and 1RU rack space, making it more challenging to cool the equipment. So, in squeezing I/O ports within the 1RU faceplate to optimize density, is enough open equipment faceplate area being left for perforations for air flow and cooling to maintain system reliability? The answer to that question depends on the thermal-management requirements of the given networking environment.

    often the module form factor that best meets all those needs has come to dominate the volumes. For single electrical interfaces (e.g., 10GbE), SFP dominates. For quad electrical interfaces (e.g., 40GbE and 100GbE), QSFP dominates.

    However, primary challenges for 400GbE module form factors are that the electrical interface has doubled to eight lanes and thermal management needs to improve, making the existing form factors unacceptable as they are. As we’ll see below, however, several of the emerging module options build on either SFP or QSFP to meet expected 400GbE requirements.

    As evidenced by creation of four 400GbE form factors — CFP8, OSFP, QSFP-DD, and COBO — equipment manufacturers, system and component vendors, test and measurement providers, and other Ethernet stakeholders are working swiftly to deliver the varied, pay-as-you-grow options that the world will need to satisfy diverse requirements for standardized interface technology. Despite the differences in the form factors we’ve discussed, it should be noted that all are expected to support industry-standardized electrical and optical interfaces to ensure that systems built with any of them will interoperate in the field.

    Reply
26. April 27, 2018 at 10:56 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    The UNH InterOperability Lab offers BitPhyer Ethernet test tools to public
    http://www.lightwaveonline.com/articles/2018/04/the-unh-interoperability-lab-offers-bitphyer-ethernet-test-tools-to-public.html?cmpid=enl_lightwave_lightwave_enabling_technologies_2018-04-26&pwhid=6b9badc08db25d04d04ee00b499089ffc280910702f8ef99951bdbdad3175f54dcae8b7ad9fa2c1f5697ffa19d05535df56b8dc1e6f75b7b6f6f8c7461ce0b24&eid=289644432&bid=2082934

    The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Lab (UNH-IOL), which has made a name for itself offering test, certification, and standards conformance/interop resources to organizations and vendors (see, for example, “OIF, UNH-IOL partner for Optical Control Plane UNI certification”), says it now will make its BitPhyer Test Tools available to the public. The test resources are particularly useful for test of Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, and automotive Ethernet – areas UNH-IOL describes as “the lower, typically/previously untestable physical layers” of Ethernet.

    The BitPhyer family of hardware platforms can test IEEE 802.3 MAC, Flow Control, PCS, and RS layers. The use of Xilinx FPGAs and custom-built hardware make BitPhyer a flexible bit-level based test system that can grow beyond the Gigabit Media-Independent Interface and Media-Independent Interface (GMII/MII)-based system, says the lab. The platform offers bit-level control that enables the test of what UNH-IOL called “test hard-to-reach portions of the standard,” such as Clause 49 PCS state diagrams and block encoding/decoding.

    BitPhyer Tools
    https://www.iol.unh.edu/solutions/test-tools/ethernet/bitphyer

    BitPhyer is a family of hardware platforms used to test the IEEE 802.3™ MAC, Flow Control, PCS and RS layers for Ethernet devices. This platform is based on Xilinx FPGAs and custom built hardware which are used to create a flexible bit-level based test system. BitPhyer can be used to generate arbitrary bit patterns and frames and enables users to define their own test scripts in addition to the UNH-IOL generated test plans included with the system. The BitPhyer family of hardware platforms supports various speeds and duplexes over several port types from 10Mb/s to 10Gb/s.

    Reply
27. April 27, 2018 at 10:58 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    MultiLane targets ML4015D optical scope at 400 Gigabit Ethernet optical transceiver testing
    http://www.lightwaveonline.com/articles/2018/04/multilane-targets-ml4015d-optical-scope-at-400-gigabit-ethernet-optical-transceiver-testing.html?cmpid=enl_lightwave_lightwave_enabling_technologies_2018-04-26&pwhid=6b9badc08db25d04d04ee00b499089ffc280910702f8ef99951bdbdad3175f54dcae8b7ad9fa2c1f5697ffa19d05535df56b8dc1e6f75b7b6f6f8c7461ce0b24&eid=289644432&bid=2082934

    MultiLane Inc. has unveiled the ML4015D optical scope. The instrument offers 40 GHz of bandwidth for the testing of 400 Gigabit Ethernet optical transceivers as well as optical modules conforming to the 100G Lambda MSA. The ML4015D will outperform competitive, higher-priced alternatives, the company asserts.

    The ML4015D will accommodate 53.1-Gbaud and 26.6-Gbaud PAM4 signal formats as well as 25.8-Gbaud NRZ. The scope offers integrated clock recovery up to 56 Gbaud PAM4, which MultiLane says is an industry first. This feature obviates the need for complicated clocking schemes in the test setup, the company points out.

    Reply
28. April 27, 2018 at 10:58 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    U.S. now investigating Huawei: Reports
    http://www.lightwaveonline.com/articles/2018/04/u-s-now-investigating-huawei-reports.html?cmpid=enl_lightwave_lightwave_enabling_technologies_2018-04-26&pwhid=6b9badc08db25d04d04ee00b499089ffc280910702f8ef99951bdbdad3175f54dcae8b7ad9fa2c1f5697ffa19d05535df56b8dc1e6f75b7b6f6f8c7461ce0b24&eid=289644432&bid=2082934

    Having banned U.S. companies from supplying components to ZTE for shipping U.S. technology to Iran despite a U.S. export embargo, then violating a subsequent disciplinary agreement (see “ZTE: Commerce ban could ‘severely impact the survival and development’ of company”), the U.S. Government is investigating whether Huawei also might have shipped U.S. technology to Iran, according to media reports (including this one from Reuters, which followed an earlier report from the Wall Street Journal

    There appears to be no information on where the investigation stands or whether it has uncovered any evidence of wrongdoing. Huawei has responded to queries by stating that it complies “with all applicable laws and regulations where it operates.”

    Reply
29. April 27, 2018 at 12:39 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Huawei is reportedly under investigation for allegedly violating Iran sanctions
    https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/25/17279856/huawei-iran-sanctions-investigation-justice-department

    The Justice Department is reportedly investigating Chinese electronics company Huawei over possible violations of sanctions against Iran, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

    Huawei Under Criminal Investigation Over Iran Sanctions
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/huawei-under-criminal-investigation-over-iran-sanctions-1524663728?mod=e2twd

    Probe raises the stakes for Huawei, which faces a series of moves by Washington to diminish its already-limited business dealings in the U.S.

    Reply
30. April 27, 2018 at 12:41 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    The Japanese National Institute of Information and Communication Technology (NICT) Network System Research Institute and fiber maker Fujikura have developed a three-way optical fiber capable of broadband communication with a fiber of its outer diameter that can be connected to existing devices.

    The partners have successfully demonstrated a 1045-kilometer transfer test with a data transfer rate of 159 terabytes per second. Enhancement technology was introduced at the recently held OFC 2018 event.

    In order to achieve a record breaking capacity of 159 terabytes, a 16-QAM is used as a multiplexing of a single form at a total of 348 wavelengths and after the MIMO process is discharged, the split formatted signals are discharged after more than 1,000 kilometers of transfer.

    Source: https://www.nanobitteja.fi/uutiset.html?129616

    Reply
31. April 27, 2018 at 12:56 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Nokia did not make a profit at base stations

    Nokia today announced its results for the first quarter of the year. Net sales declined sharply, and the result was left behind by analysts’ expectations, but Nokia itself is keen on development. The outlook for network business is better than ever when the 5G network construction is starting to go faster than expected. At the base stations, the company did not make a profit at the beginning of the year.

    According to CEO Rajeev Suri, confidence in the future is based primarily on the strong first-quarter volume of new orders and the order backlog. Suri believes that Nokia is strong when American postal operators make 5G investment decisions later this year.

    Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7914&via=n&datum=2018-04-26_14:52:25&mottagare=31202

    Reply
32. April 27, 2018 at 12:59 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Nokia Takes Money With Patents

    The Technology Unit’s earnings continued to be strong in Nokia’s first-quarter earnings. Although online business was down, the company expects the introduction of 5G technology to accelerate and accelerate towards the end of the year.

    Nokia’s first-quarter net sales were EUR 4.9 billion, compared to EUR 5.4 billion in the first quarter of 2017. Operating profit (Non-IFRS) decreased to EUR 239 million from last year’s EUR 341 million.

    Net sales of Nokia’s net business alone were € 4.3 billion, but operating profit was only € 43 million. First-quarter net sales and profitability were primarily affected by the decline in net sales in North America.

    Nokia believes that demand for 5G technology will accelerate, especially in North America. The company expects commercial 5G networks to start rolling out towards the end of 2018.

    Source: https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2018/04/26/nokia-takoi-rahaa-patenteilla-verkkonakymat-paranemassa/

    Reply
33. April 27, 2018 at 1:10 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Cabling Designs for Hyperconvergence
    http://www.cablinginstall.com/whitepapers/2018/03/cabling-designs-for-hyperconvergence.html?cmpid=enl_cim_cim_data_center_newsletter_2018-04-24&pwhid=e8db06ed14609698465f1047e5984b63cb4378bd1778b17304d68673fe5cbd2798aa8300d050a73d96d04d9ea94e73adc417b4d6e8392599eabc952675516bc0&eid=293591077&bid=2078269

    When considering the impact converged infrastructure and hyperconvergence are having on cabling, it’s crucial to understand how data center topologies are evolving.

    Reply
34. April 27, 2018 at 1:17 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    DEFINING FOUR EDGE ARCHETYPES
    AND THEIR TECHNOLOGY
    REQUIREMENTS
    https://www.vertivco.com/globalassets/documents/white-papers/vertiv-edgearchetypes-wp-en-na-sl-11490_229156_1.pdf

    Reply
35. April 27, 2018 at 2:24 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Supercharging Chips by Integrating Optical Circuits
    Optical CMOS process could break communications bottleneck
    https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/semiconductors/optoelectronics/optics-on-chips-could-speed-up-computing

    A new way of building optical circuits on ordinary computer chips could speed up communications between microprocessors by orders of magnitude while reducing waste heat, increasing the processing power of laptops and smartphones.

    “What we’re talking about is integrating optics with electronics on the same chip,” says Milos Popovic, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Boston University. The method entails adding “a handful” of processing steps to the standard way of making microprocessors in bulk silicon and should not add much time or cost to the manufacturing process, Popovic says.

    Their approach adds a thin layer of polycrystalline silicon on top of features already on the chips. The same material is used on chips as a gate dielectric, but in a form that absorbs too much light to be useful as a waveguide.

    To make a material more suitable for photonics, the researchers tweaked the deposition process, altering factors such as temperature, to obtain a different crystalline structure. They also took trenches of silicon dioxide, already used to electrically isolate transistors from one another, and made them deeper, to prevent light from leaking out of their polycrystalline silicon to the silicon substrate.

    Using the approach, the researchers built chips with all the necessary photonic components—waveguides, microring resonators, vertical grating couplers, high-speed modulators, and avalanche photodetectors—along with transistors with 65-nm feature sizes. A laser light source would sit outside the chip. The photodetectors rely on defects that absorb the photons. The chips were built at the 65 nm node because that is what the semiconductor manufacturing research fab at SUNY Albany is capable of, but Popovic says it should be easy to apply the same processes to transistors being made with much smaller features.

    Reply
36. April 28, 2018 at 6:39 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Do-it-yourself vs. Red Hat OpenStack Platform
    https://verticalindustriesblog.redhat.com/do-it-yourself-vs-red-hat-openstack-platform/?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY

    The beauty of open source software is that anyone can download the code and then install, configure and use it. The challenge is doing so in a production environment at scale. That’s what communications service providers (CSPs) face as they build out platforms at scale to operate cloud environments that serve millions of users. These cloud platforms include compute, networking and storage hardware as well as software to automate, manage, monitor and secure the platform.

    Reply
37. April 28, 2018 at 8:01 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Facebook’s Internet.org has connected almost 100M to the ‘internet’
    https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/25/internet-org-100-million/?utm_source=tcfbpage&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&sr_share=facebook

    Facebook is getting the developing world online, even as the developed world criticizes its privacy practices. Mark Zuckerberg said today on Facebook’s Q1 2018 earnings call that “our Internet.org efforts have helped almost 100 million people get access to the internet who may not have had it otherwise.” That’s up from 40 million in November 2016.

    Internet.org uses its Free Basics app with access to low-bandwidth services and Express Wi-Fi hotspots operated by local merchants to give people connectivity. Facebook is also testing its Aquila solar-powered drone, which will be able to beam bandwidth down to users in remote areas.

    Reply
38. April 28, 2018 at 9:46 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    The emergence of 112G PAM4 for cloud data centers
    Steve Taranovich -April 20, 2018
    https://www.edn.com/design/analog/4460568/The-emergence-of-112G-PAM4-for-cloud-data-centers

    Broadcom had run experiments on PAM4, PAM8, and PAM16 and found that PAM8 and PAM16 have eyes that are too small; this is where PAM4 stepped in at 56Gbps. Rowe made another observation following DesignCon 2018: 112 is the new 56.

    Other panel members had comments such as PAM4 being made possible with forward-error correction (FEC) and that DSP processing will enable 112 Gbps.

    Sometimes we forget that the cable and connectors might be some of the weakest links in the high-speed channel. Samtec and Credo presented a demo at OFC 2018 this year with Samtec’s Flyover System. They set up two ports of 112 Gbps PAM4 data sourced from Credo clock and data recovery (CDR) chips. The signals were routed through RF jumpers to an SI characterization card for Samtec’s FQSFP-DD connector. The signal then traveled through 12 inches of Samtec ultra-low Skew Twinax cable and then on to a Samtec accelerate high speed cable assembly SI characterization card.

    Then the signal path finally passed through a second set of RF jumpers, to a second Credo CDR and we finally see the channel output on the GUI which shows that the 112 Gbps PAM4 data was run at a pseudo-random bit sequencing of 31 at 2e-7. Voila–we have proof of concept for signals at high speed over a fairly long-reach cable.

    Challenges and opportunities1

    There is an ever-increasing demand for bandwidth (BW) at a blinding pace; the ICs, system, and optics industries are trying to converge on the next generation signaling rate to cater to this surge in BW demand. IEEE 802.3 is working on 100G signaling for 100GBASE-DR1 and the 400GBASE-DR4 & OIF PLL group has started to work on CEI-112G-PAM4-VSR. MACOM has envisioned this transition early and has had the opportunity to “play” with this technology in the lab for over a year.

    Data centers2,3

    Optical packet switching can provide an energy-efficient way to communicate within the data center, especially at such rates of 112 Gbit/s. An analysis has been done using PAM4 and PAM8 with pre-distortion and a look at three kinds of optical receivers. A single-stage system allows the connection of 48 servers using PAM8 along with a semiconductor-optical-amplifier (SOA)-PIN with a 62.5 GHz grid.

    The internal DC interconnection networks account for 23% of the total data center power and most networks use electrical packet switches (EPS), which are connected optically up to 10 Gbit/s. However, higher bit rates are now possible at 40 to 100+ Gbit/s. Performance/cost ratio is important here and the present systems make use of parallel links like 4×25Gbit/s or 10×10 Gbit/s, or even multi-level formats based upon intensity modulation and direct detection (IM-DD).

    The new PAM4 chipset was used in the Reference 4 paper and link performance with real-time DSP leading to a small silicon size was studied for standard OM4 and wideband multimode fiber (WBMMF) to achieve upgrades of 40/50 Gbps and 100/200 Gbps

    In the last 10 years or so, developers ran various different baud rates with quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). Key research efforts recently have focused upon coherent QAM systems with DSP processing to reach longer transmission distances at higher bit rates.

    Problems that are seen in the kind of systems mentioned above are chromatic dispersion (CD) and polarization mode dispersion (PMD), which are corrected by fixed and adaptive linear equalizers

    In the final analysis, a third-order Volterra filter was determined sufficient in all test cases in Reference 5 for low-cost 112 Gb/s PAM4 receivers for metro and data centers’ network segments.

    It looks like 112G is maturing nicely and not a moment too soon as cloud data centers are multiplying across the global landscape. At OFC 2018, Credo showed off their 112G PAM4 offerings.

    Reply
39. April 28, 2018 at 9:51 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Construct a 56 Gbaud PAM4 signal source
    Jeb Binkley & Alexander Katsman -April 23, 2018
    https://www.edn.com/design/test-and-measurement/4460566/Construct-a-56-Gbaud-PAM4-signal-source?utm_source=Aspencore&utm_medium=EDN&utm_campaign=social

    The move to 400GbE has benefits beyond the obvious fact that it’s four times faster than 100GbE. The standard provides a lower price-per-port from its denser structure and improved economy of scale. A simple comparison reveals that a single rack with 32 400GbE ports is less expensive than a four rack 128 port 100GbE configuration. The 400GbE standard also incorporates Forward Error Correction (FEC) that effectively lowers system cost, power consumption, and eases testing efforts.

    To prepare for the roll out of the 400 GbE technology, engineers designing 400GbE circuits and systems will need to test these links, which will consist of eight 56 Gbps or four 112 Gbps lanes. To evaluate a PAM4 receiver running up to 112 Gbit/s (56 Gbaud). You’ll need to generate bit patterns at that rate, which will require a PAM4 signal generator. Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a proposed configuration for such a generator.

    A frequency synthesizer (FS) generates a clock signal at up to 28 GHz, which drives a four-channel pseudorandom bit sequence (PRBS) pattern generator.

    Depending on how the system is built, if all components are incorporated on a single board, then all parallel data traces must be of equal length to eliminate any timing errors. If the system is built utilizing a modular approach, then you’ll need phase-matched cabling for the data paths.

    Benefits of the architecture
    The resulting up to 56Gbaud/s signal, which connects to the PAM4 receiver under test, should meet all the electrical PAM4 signaling and transmitter performance parameters that will be specified in the standards for different symbol/data rates.

    The use of two main parallel data paths (two PRBS generators coupled with one 2-1 MUX) lets you combine two uncorrelated data signals together when forming the final PAM4 signal. The parallel approach provides the flexibility to separately program the data patterns for the MSB and LSB. It also allows the user to phase skew the two signals in both directions to stress the receiver on the other end.

    PAM4 Receiver Tests
    The 56 Gbaud PAM4 signal generator can perform several of the required receiver stress tests. These include tolerance to jitter and noise tests, stressing of the clock recovery, evaluating receiver side equalization capabilities, and measuring the robustness to electrical interference and cross talk.

    A flexible 56Gbaud PAM4 signal generator has been presented that can be built today using readily available commercial off the shelf (COTS) components. While straightforward in nature, the design lets you complete several critical PAM4 receiver end compliance tests and provides the ability to adapt to new standard requirements in the future.

    Reply
40. April 28, 2018 at 9:59 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    T-Mobile is reportedly much closer to a merger deal with Sprint
    https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/27/t-mobile-is-reportedly-much-closer-to-a-merger-deal-with-sprint/?utm_source=tcfbpage&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&sr_share=facebook

    It looks like a potential merger deal between T-Mobile and Sprint, two of the major telecom companies in the U.S., is getting closer and now has set valuation terms, according to a report by Bloomberg.

    Reply
41. April 29, 2018 at 5:16 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    T-Mobile and Sprint have finally announced a merger agreement
    https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/29/t-mobile-and-sprint-have-finally-announced-a-merger-agreement/?utm_source=tcfbpage&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&sr_share=facebook

    Sprint and T-Mobile, after years of going back and forth as to whether they are going to tie up two of the largest telecom providers in the U.S., have announced that the two companies have entered a merger agreement this morning.

    The merger will be an all-stock transaction, and will now be subject to regulatory approval. That latter part is going to be its biggest challenge

    As expected, the argument here is for the expansion of 5G networks as plans for that start to ramp up.

    Reply
42. April 30, 2018 at 9:49 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    The number of mobile subscribers no longer grows in Europe

    In Europe, people have access to about one billion SIM cards. GlobalData’s forecast shows that this number is no longer growing. SIM cards will be introduced all the time, but mostly to the growing M2M traffic.

    Last year, the number of SIM cards grew by 15.8 million in Europe. In fact, the number of mobile connections (M2M) grew by 21.7 million, so the number of SIM cards on a person was slightly reduced.

    According to GlobalData, the number of SIM card holders dropped, especially in Central and Southern Europe, where dual SIM usage fell sharply. The number of subscriptions decreased by 7.5 million in Central and Southern Europe. In Western Europe, however, subscribers buy 1.5 million new SIM cards.

    Mobile data is still growing at a high rate. According to GlobalData, the mobile user spent Western European data on an average of 2.2 gigabytes a month. In Central and Southern Europe, the number grew more than triple, or 3.1 gigabyte per month.

    Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7932-kannykkatilaajien-maara-ei-enaa-kasva-euroopassa

    Reply
43. May 1, 2018 at 6:35 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Majority of U.S. adults still think the internet is ‘mostly’ good for society – but that number is falling
    https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/30/majority-of-u-s-adults-still-think-the-internet-is-mostly-good-for-society-but-that-number-is-falling/?utm_source=tcfbpage&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&sr_share=facebook

    A growing number of U.S. adults no longer view the internet as a largely “good thing” for society, according to a new report from Pew Research Center out today. To be clear, a sizable majority – 70 percent – continue to believe the internet’s development has been mostly good. But that number has dropped by 6 percentage points since 2014, the study finds. Meanwhile, more adults now perceive the internet – perhaps more accurately – as something of a mixed bag. That number has climbed from 8 percent in 2014 to now 14 percent, Pew says.

    Reply
44. May 1, 2018 at 8:58 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Verizon, Cisco Expand Optical Nets
    https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1333224

    An optical networking specialist at Verizon talks about a collaboration with Cisco to create a new class of flexible networking systems based on a new silicon design.

    Circuit emulation is not new by any means, but the ability to do it from DS-0 all the way up to and including OC-192 is. Verizon recently teamed up with Cisco to bring this new capability to fruition in the NCS 42xx platform that comes in several different configurations.

    Previous generation chips could only support DS-n and low bit rate OC-n emulation, allowing the replacement of some legacy digital cross connects but not the underlying transport platforms. Doing circuit emulation for all SONET bit rates not only allows the removal of that equipment, but also greatly simplifies the packet optical core ROADM.

    In the past, these platforms had to support SONET switching and grooming in addition to OTN and packet operations. However, now that all SONET bit rates can be emulated, an MPLS core can be leveraged, thus providing overall better scalability and lower cost points.

    Using this technology, small chassis are being placed in single tenant or multi-tenant customer buildings to encapsulate TDM or SONET and combine them with native Ethernet services to be transported back to the Verizon central office. This allows the customer to continue using their legacy equipment until they are ready for a technology uplift.

    Larger chassis can be placed at the central office to facilitate the conversion from TDM or SONET to packet without dispatching to the customer or remote aggregation point. Either way, the goal is to convert at the edge of the network so that the circuit can traverse a new MPLS-based packet core and the legacy network can be decommissioned.

    Customers will eventually migrate to Ethernet-based access, but it may not happen for many years and will most certainly not all at once. By using the new universal access equipment and MPLS core, customers can be moved at their own pace using the same infrastructure.

    Reply
45. May 1, 2018 at 8:58 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Declining Majority of Online Adults Say the Internet Has Been Good for Society
    http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/04/30/declining-majority-of-online-adults-say-the-internet-has-been-good-for-society/

    At the same time, the contours of connectivity are shifting: One-in-five Americans are now ‘smartphone only’ internet users at home

    Americans tend to view the impact of the internet and other digital technologies on their own lives in largely positive ways, Pew Research Center surveys have shown over the years. A survey of U.S. adults conducted in January 2018 finds continuing evidence of this trend, with the vast majority of internet users (88%) saying the internet has, on balance, been a mostly good thing for them personally.

    But even as they view the internet’s personal impact in a positive light, Americans have grown somewhat more ambivalent about the impact of digital connectivity on society as a whole. A sizable majority of online adults (70%) continue to believe the internet has been a good thing for society.

    Reply
46. May 2, 2018 at 11:10 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Verizon, Cisco Expand Optical Nets
    https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1333224

    An optical networking specialist at Verizon talks about a collaboration with Cisco to create a new class of flexible networking systems based on a new silicon design.

    Circuit emulation is not new by any means, but the ability to do it from DS-0 all the way up to and including OC-192 is. Verizon recently teamed up with Cisco to bring this new capability to fruition in the NCS 42xx platform that comes in several different configurations.

    Previous generation chips could only support DS-n and low bit rate OC-n emulation, allowing the replacement of some legacy digital cross connects but not the underlying transport platforms. Doing circuit emulation for all SONET bit rates not only allows the removal of that equipment, but also greatly simplifies the packet optical core ROADM.

    In the past, these platforms had to support SONET switching and grooming in addition to OTN and packet operations. However, now that all SONET bit rates can be emulated, an MPLS core can be leveraged, thus providing overall better scalability and lower cost points.

    Reply
47. May 2, 2018 at 12:45 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Verizon brings disaggregation, single-platform approach to edge routers
    http://www.lightwaveonline.com/articles/2018/05/verizon-brings-disaggregation-single-platform-approach-to-edge-routers.html?cmpid=enl_lightwave_lightwave_datacom_2018-05-01&pwhid=6b9badc08db25d04d04ee00b499089ffc280910702f8ef99951bdbdad3175f54dcae8b7ad9fa2c1f5697ffa19d05535df56b8dc1e6f75b7b6f6f8c7461ce0b24&eid=289644432&bid=2087289

    Verizon says it has collaborated with router suppliers Cisco and Juniper Networks to combine the service edge routers that support its Ethernet and IP-based services onto a single platform. The approach leverages software-defined networking (SDN) to create a disaggregated control plane for the router platforms, which Verizon expects will improve operational efficiency. The use of external compute capabilities will provide the control plane with capabilities beyond that of a traditional router, the service provider adds.

    “Software-defined networking continues to deliver on its promise to improve network management and also enables us to be more nimble in the ways we serve our customers,” said Michael Altland, director, Network Infrastructure Planning, at Verizon. “By decoupling the control plane from a carrier-grade provider edge routing platform and moving it to general compute servers, we can serve our consumer and enterprise customers from the same platform, giving them all the functionality they need, while running our networks far more efficiently. This will also allow us to take advantage of future advances in server technology as our networks continue to grow.”

    Reply
48. May 2, 2018 at 12:46 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Open source use case: Pick and choose
    http://www.broadbandtechreport.com/articles/2018/04/open-source-use-case-pick-and-choose.html?cmpid=enl_btr_weekly_network_technology_2018-05-01&pwhid=6b9badc08db25d04d04ee00b499089ffc280910702f8ef99951bdbdad3175f54dcae8b7ad9fa2c1f5697ffa19d05535df56b8dc1e6f75b7b6f6f8c7461ce0b24

    For tier 2 and tier 3 cable operators, network modernization can be difficult from both a bandwidth and resources perspective. Yet, the demands on their content delivery networks (CDNs) are increasing. Virtualization can help by bringing content closer to the customer, but it can involve heavy-duty traffic engineering. Open source software code, however, is allowing for a purpose-built, use-case approach that can be cost-effective.

    “Many of the tier 2 and 3 operators are interested in figuring out which open source projects are ready to be used to be part of their strategy,” said John Zannos, CRO and GM, of Inocybe. “These carriers have a prioritization from an ROI perspective that tend to be use-case specific.”

    While the largest of operators have the ability to be active in multiple open source projects, the tier 2 and 3 companies may not have the latitude to be market drivers. Cablevision Argentina, for example, was interested in an open daylight controller to help with a traffic engineering problem in the CDN. Inocybe is helping the operator with the project.

    “They are driven by the desire to be more efficient in how they operate the network and improve the customer’s experience,” Zannos said. “What we found is that they were able to move much more quickly in this engineering proof of concept exercise by being focused on a narrow use case. (We) built the software stack and (used) the right elements of open daylight and stripped apart the parts that weren’t relevant.”

    The open source orchestration project – ONAP, a.k.a. the Open Network Automation Platform – is a large undertaking.

    Reply
49. May 2, 2018 at 12:47 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Cloud services demand booms in 1Q18: Synergy Research
    http://www.lightwaveonline.com/articles/2018/05/cloud-services-demand-booms-in-1q18-synergy-research.html?cmpid=enl_lightwave_lightwave_datacom_2018-05-01&pwhid=6b9badc08db25d04d04ee00b499089ffc280910702f8ef99951bdbdad3175f54dcae8b7ad9fa2c1f5697ffa19d05535df56b8dc1e6f75b7b6f6f8c7461ce0b24&eid=289644432&bid=2087289

    Yes, more businesses are moving their operations to the cloud. Demand for cloud infrastructure services grew a whopping 51% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018, according to Synergy Research Group data. Amazon Web Services (AWS) led the way, but Microsoft, Google, and Alibaba also enjoyed hefty growth. The major players are increasing market share at the expense of smaller players, the market research firm adds.

    Quarterly cloud infrastructure service revenues (including IaaS, PaaS, and hosted private cloud services) reached almost $15 billion in the quarter, Synergy Research estimates. The quarter’s 51% growth rate not only topped that of the year-ago quarter but the full-year 2017 growth rate of 44% and the 2016 growth rate of 50% as well. Public IaaS and PaaS services, which make up the majority of the market, grew by 56% in the quarter. AWS enjoyed revenue growth in the first quarter it hadn’t seen since late 2016, according to Synergy Research.

    “Cloud growth in the last two quarters really has been quite exceptional,”

    Reply
50. May 2, 2018 at 12:55 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Why Can’t China Make Semiconductors?
    After decades of failure, it may now be on the right track.
    https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-04-29/why-can-t-china-make-semiconductors

    Jack Ma says he’s ready for China to make semiconductors at home. It’s a longstanding goal for the Chinese government. And thanks to a recent crackdown on certain technology exports by the U.S., it’s now a critical one. The question is whether China can finally conquer this challenge after decades of failures.

    Semiconductors are the building blocks of electronics, found in everything from flip phones to the servers that make up a supercomputer. Although China long ago mastered the art of making products with semiconductors produced elsewhere (the iPhone is the most famous example), it wants to move beyond being a mere assembler. It aspires to being an originator of products and ideas, especially in cutting-edge industries such as autonomous cars. For that, it needs its own semiconductors.

    That’s no small challenge. China is currently the world’s biggest chip market, but it manufactures only 16 percent of the semiconductors it uses domestically. It imports about $200 billion worth annually — a value exceeding its oil imports. To cultivate a domestic industry, the government has slashed taxes for chip makers and plans to invest as much as $32 billion to become a world leader in design and manufacturing. Yet as history shows, spending won’t be enough.

    Reply