5G? IoT? Fiber Deep? 600G? We Are ready for networking at 2019!
For years we have all been talking about the emergence of 5G services, the Internet of Things (IoT) and the new high-capacity, low-latency network architectures that will be needed to support the resulting onslaught of bandwidth. Higher-speed data rates are critical to electronic evolution and revolution.
Here are some of my collection of newest trends and predictions for year 2018. have picked and mixed here quotations from many articles (linked to source) with some of my own additions to make this posting.
5G: The most newsworthy stories in wireless today are all about 5G. In 2019, we enter a cautious, early-adoption phase of this next generation of wireless technology. 2019 will be the year when we see the first commercial networks turning on and first handsets arriving in the market. Only a small number of users will get a first taste of 5G in specific geographic locations, using specific applications, none of which are ubiquitous or cost-optimized. For more details read my 5G trends for 2019 posting.
Deep fiber: Deep deployment of fiber optics into national network infrastructure might not be as glamorous as the eagerly anticipated launch of fifth-generation mobile networks (5G); however, it is just as important—maybe even more important. Wired broadband access supports as much as 90 percent of all internet traffic even though the majority of traffic ultimately terminates on a wireless device. Wireline and wireless networks are driving new architectures to support the move from 4G LTE to 5G infrastructure. In fact, 5G relies heavily on fiber infrastructure. Service providers in the access market are talking about the evolution of their plants to a Fiber Deep (FD) Architecture. FD architectures move the optical node (the optical-to-electrical conversion point) deeper into the network and closer to the subscriber. This means shorter copper, faster speed, more capacity and reduction in maintenance cost for both cable TV network and telephone line based access networks.
Ethernet: Faster Ethernet speeds are taken to use. These transitions are driven by the increasing global IP traffic. Hyper-scalers and service providers are moving from 100GbE to 400GbE Ethernet rates and beyond. In this speed development 56Gb/s And 112Gb/s SerDes Matter.
TSN: Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) is a set of standards under development by the Time-Sensitive Networking task group of the IEEE 802.1 working group. TSN standards documents that are specified by IEEE 802.1 can be grouped into three basic key component categories that are time synchronization; scheduling and traffic shaping; selection of communication paths, path reservations and fault-tolerance. Industrial Ethernet networks embrace time-sensitive networking (TSN) technology to integrate operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT).
SDN: Software-defined networking (SDN) technology is an approach to cloud computing that facilitates network management and enables programmatically efficient network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring. SD-WAN applies similar technology to a wide area network (WAN). SD-WAN allows companies to build higher-performance WANs using lower-cost and commercially available Internet access, enabling businesses to partially or wholly replace more expensive private WAN connection technologies such as MPLS.
IPv6: IPv4 and IPv6 are the two Protocols Run the Internet in 2019. The long-forecasted day the internet runs out of addresses has arrived and it marks a paradigm shift in the internet’s evolution. Though IPv6 has been available globally since 2012, it has seen a slow, if increasing, adoption rate. The migration to IPv6 is inevitable but will take time during that both systems are in use. In many networks a notable amount of traffic is already IPv6.
New Internet protocols: Internet security gets a boost with TLS 1.3. Also HTTP is in process of switching to a protocol layered on top of UDP. Today’s HTTP (versions 1.0, 1.1, and 2) are all layered on top of TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) that is not very optimal in today’s applications as SSL over TCP requires subsequent round trips to establish the encrypted connection.
IoT: The IoT world is here, and the level and rate of convergence is increasing in volume and velocity. We will see the evolution of converged networks for IoT applications in mind. Network convergence (version 2.0) is here with changes and improvements made since the first converged network (Convergence 1.0). TIA TR-42 (Telecommunications Cabling Systems ANSI/TIA-568 family), BICSI (TDMM and others) and proprietary or third documents must adapt and adjust.
PoE: The IEEE 802.3bt standard, approved by the IEEE Standards Association Board on September 27, 2018, included some significant enhancements especially for LED lighting systems. This specification allows for up to 90W of delivered power for cable lengths of up to 100m through the use of all four pairs of wires.
Trade wars: It seem that there is a high tech “trade war” between USA and China. It affects specifically networking business. Big Chinese manufacturers Huawei and ZTE are have received sanctions and their products are not wanted by many countries citing their business practices and potential security nightmares. For example Japan to halt buying Huawei, ZTE equipment and Huawei has been under fire in UK, just to mention examples. It seems that the business that is lost by Huawei and ZTE could benefit Ericsson and Nokia in the 5G base station markets for short term.
Security: The internet is going to hell and its creators want your help fixing it. All agree on one thing however: Right now there is a serious battle for heart and minds, the future of the internet and global society itself. There seems to be need for a conference to address the fact that people increasingly see tech as a threat and no longer as a pure force for good. Government set to revise internal rules on procurement to protect national cybersecurity. Your DNS might be broken, and you don’t even know it. Some DNS old hacks gets thrown out of use by February 1st, 2019.
WiFi: WiFi technology gets new marketing naming. The numerical sequence includes: Wi-Fi 6 to identify devices that support 802.11ax technology, Wi-Fi 5 to identify devices that support 802.11ac technology, Wi-Fi 4 to identify devices that support 802.11n technology.
Faster mobile: Mobile networks are getting faster in many countries. Mobile networks are killing Wi-Fi for speed around the world. Average data speeds on mobile networks now outpace customer’s Wi-Fi connection, on average, in 33 countries. That’s the The State of Wifi vs Mobile Network Experience as 5G Arrives.
Energy efficiency: We need to develop more energy efficient networking technologies. Today, information and communication technologies globally consume 8% of electricity and doubles every year.
1,186 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
New On-Chip Laser Shines in Many Colors
New frequency comb could greatly boost data rates
https://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/optoelectronics/micro-comb
A weakness of lasers integrated onto microchips is how they can each generate only one color of light at a time. Now researchers have come up with a simple integrated way to help these lasers fire multiple colors, a new study finds.
When it comes to data and telecommunications applications, integrated lasers would ideally generate multiple frequencies of light to boost how much information they could transmit. One way to achieve this end is an “optical frequency comb,” which converts a pulse of light from a single laser into a series of pulses equally spaced in time and made up of different, equally spaced frequencies of light.
Generating combs long required equipment that was expensive, bulky, complex, and delicate. However, in the past decade or so, researchers began developing miniature and integrated comb systems. These microcombs passed light from a laser through a waveguide to a microresonator—a ring in which circulating light could become a soliton, a kind of wave that preserves its shape as it travels. When solitons left these microresonators, they each did so as very stable, regular streams of pulses—in other words, as frequency combs.
But to generate and stabilize these solitons, microcombs needed complex tuning schemes and feedback loops to control the frequency and power of the system. These in turn required optical and electrical components that were difficult to integrate.
Now scientists have devised an integrated way to generate solitons in microcombs on demand, without all the control systems needed previously.
“When the laser and resonator were in one interacting device, it turned out to work orders of magnitude better than the laser by itself. The amount of noise in the system went down by a factor of 1,000 or 10,000,”
The scientists created the smallest comb systems to date. Combs that operated at gigahertz frequencies were roughly 5 square millimeters in size; those operating at terahertz frequencies had a 1-square-millimeter footprint
These findings could help make practical microcombs a reality. “They can become more integrated, manufacturable, cheaper, and work better,”
In theory, a microcomb could help an integrated laser generate hundreds or thousands of different colors, instead of just one, Bowers notes. Light from the input laser had a 1,556-nanometer wavelength; the frequency comb generated pulses ranging from 1,540 to 1,580 nanometers, he says.
In the future, instead of having two chips—the laser and the microcomb—soldered onto a plate, the aim is to have them integrated into one chip
Tomi Engdahl says:
Atom-Thin Switches Could Route 5G and 6G Radio Signals
Texas engineers devise a non-volatile memristor-like switch from 2D hexagonal boron nitride
https://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/devices/atomthin-switches-5g-6g-radio-signals
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.yeint.fi/uutiset/cat8-kaapelit
Category 8 on uusin versio CAT-verkkokaapeleista ja se tuo mukanaan selvän hyppäyksen eteenpäin aikaisemmista kategorioista. Suojausta on paranneltu entisestään ja nopeutta on saatu siten merkittävästi lisää. Fyysisesti kaapeli on samanlainen alempiin kategorioihin verrattuna ja liitäntä on pysynyt RJ45:ssa
Huomioi, että Cat8.1 käy aikaisempien RJ45:sta käyttävien CAT-kaapeleiden kanssa yhteen, kun taas Cat8.2 ei ole yhteensopiva näiden kanssa!
https://www.yeint.fi/cat-kaapelit-vertailussa
Tomi Engdahl says:
#ProjectBlackjack DARPA wants to demonstrate the military utility of a large constellation of small #satellites operating in low earth orbit over optical intersatellite links, forming a mesh network in space.
https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/06/26/how-project-blackjack-is-turning-the-corner/
Tomi Engdahl says:
What is #SyncE, and why is it so important to modern #communications networks? #Ethernet #timing Silicon Labs
Maintain precise timing across large, heterogeneous SyncE networks
https://www.edn.com/maintain-precise-timing-across-large-heterogeneous-synce-networks/?utm_content=buffer3db25&utm_medium=social&utm_source=edn_facebook&utm_campaign=buffer
What is SyncE, and why is it so important to modern communications networks? The short answer is that it’s shorthand for Synchronous Ethernet. The longer answer is that it’s a variant of standard Ethernet that allows all nodes within a network to work in synchronization, despite widely different propagation delays.
It does this using a method for transferring frequency information over Ethernet’s physical layer across a network that is traceable to a reference clock. In doing so, SyncE’s ability to provide frequency synchronization across large, widely-distributed networks, has made it a widely used technology in both wireline access and wireless data backhaul networks. And, as 5G networks continue to roll out, SyncE will be there to support the many applications that require an accurate frequency reference.
SyncE supports creation and distribution of high-quality timing references (such as a PRC) across wired networks and out to the edge of the wireless baseband unit for wireless networks. SyncE eliminates the retiming effort by transmitting the timing frequency over the physical layer along with the data. It is important to note that SyncE is capable of frequency synchronization only, passing the frequency information from node to node in the network. This is different from time synchronization, which includes both frequency and phase distribution in packet-based networks such as precision time protocol (PTP).
SyncE’s network synchronization mechanism is based on a clock hierarchy, with the highest accuracy clock at the top. In virtually all SyncE networks, this is a PRC, which has a precision of 10e-11. This reference can be derived from either a local ultra-stable timing source or, more often, a GPS signal.
Keep in mind that the entire network will have PRC (10e-11) accuracy when the primary reference link is available. The SyncE timing distribution provides a PRC traceable clock to each node during normal SyncE system operation. SyncE is sometimes mistakenly thought to have +/-4.6 ppm timing accuracy, but this is just the free-running accuracy of the EEC clocks. Applications such as mobile networks require accuracy in the neighborhood of +/-50 ppb. When the system is locked and synchronized by a PRC, it should deliver ppb accuracy or better.
It’s important to remember however, that SyncE only provides frequency synchronization and has limitations in that phase data is not propagated. In addition, SyncE does not have a mechanism for transmitting time of day information. Time (frequency and phase) synchronization across packet based Ethernet networks can be done using PTP, which is a two-way message protocol used to synchronize time of day between master and slave ports across an Ethernet network.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.edn.com/comparing-dial-tone-signals/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://businessfibre.co.uk/cost-to-connect/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_vortex
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google’s Loon brings internet-by-balloon to Kenya
https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/technology-44886803
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2020/05/28/mikrokammalla-vauhtia-optiseen-datansiirtoon/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.iflscience.com/technology/experimental-optical-chip-breaks-internet-record-speed/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Elon Musk invites users to test Starlink space internet
The SpaceX CEO now has 500 satellites orbiting earth, and is primed for internet broadband trials this summer.
https://decrypt.co/33080/elon-musk-invites-users-to-test-starlink-space-internet
Tomi Engdahl says:
We Need to Talk About ‘Cloud Neutrality’
A multibillion-dollar, privately-owned infrastructure is now essential to the modern internet economy. That should freak you out
https://www.wired.com/story/we-need-to-talk-about-cloud-neutrality/
The internet is no longer the essential enabler of the tech economy. That title now belongs to the cloud. But the infrastructure of the internet, at least, was publicly financed and subsidized. The government can set rules about how companies have to interact with their customers. Whether and how it sets and enforces those rules isn’t the point, for now. It can.
Tomi Engdahl says:
CW-WDM MSA Group forms to drive new optical interconnect spec
https://www.cablinginstall.com/standards/article/14178432/cwwdm-msa-group-forms-to-drive-new-optical-interconnect-spec
New optical laser sources specification will set the stage for advances in artificial intelligence, data center efficiency, and other advanced applications.
The CW-WDM MSA (Continuous-Wave Wavelength Division Multiplexing Multi-Source Agreement) Group today announced its formation as an industry consortium dedicated to defining and promoting specifications for multi-wavelength advanced integrated optics.
IEEE and MSA standards specify four WDM interfaces for today’s high volume datacom optics. Emerging advanced integrated optics applications, such as silicon photonics (SiPh) based high-density co-packaged optics, optical computing, and AI, are expected to move to 8, 16, and 32 wavelengths.
The CW-WDM MSA Group notes that standardizing higher wavelength counts is a crucial part of an emerging ecosystem which is enabling a leap in efficiency, cost, and bandwidth scaling compared to current technology. Increasing the number of wavelengths, while staying in the O-band and aligning with ITU and IEEE standards, allows developers and suppliers to leverage their strategic investments in the current generation of optical products to accelerate time to market of next generation products.
Notably, the CW-WDM MSA is different from optical communication standards groups in that it solely focuses on specifying the laser source instead of the full communications link, and is not targeted at any specific application.
“Laser sources have been the critical building block of fiber-optic communications, and standardizing their specifications has been key to the success of telecom and datacom optics,” commented Chris Cole, chair of the CW-WDM MSA.
Cole continued, “ITU-T established complete baselines for DWDM and CWDM grids. The IEEE then specified subsets of these grids for high volume data center applications, starting with 40G and 100G Ethernet optics. The CW-WDM MSA will similarly leverage ITU-T and IEEE standards to specify 8, 16 and 32 wavelength grids in O-band for emerging advanced datacom and computing optics. With the definition of multiple grid sets, the MSA will enable developers to choose what is optimum for their application, while allowing laser suppliers to only have to invest in one technology platform.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.edn.com/maintain-precise-timing-across-large-heterogeneous-synce-networks/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=link&utm_medium=EDNWeekly-20200702
Tomi Engdahl says:
Synchronous Ethernet, also referred as SyncE, is an ITU-T standard for computer networking that facilitates the transference of clock signals over the Ethernet physical layer. This signal can then be made traceable to an external clock.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronous_Ethernet
The aim of Synchronous Ethernet is to provide a synchronization signal to those network resources that may eventually require such a type of signal. The Synchronous Ethernet signal transmitted over the Ethernet physical layer should be traceable to an external clock, ideally a master and unique clock for the whole network. Applications include cellular networks, access technologies such as Ethernet passive optical network, and applications such as IPTV or VoIP.
Unlike time-division multiplexing networks, the Ethernet family of computer networks do not carry clock synchronization information. Several means are defined to address this issue. IETF’s Network Time Protocol, IEEE’s 1588-2008 Precision Time Protocol are some of them.
SyncE was standardized by the ITU-T, in cooperation with IEEE, as three recommendations:
ITU-T Rec. G.8261 that defines aspects about the architecture and the wander performance of SyncE networks
ITU-T Rec. G.8262 that specifies Synchronous Ethernet clocks for SyncE
ITU-T Rec. G.8264 that describes the specification of Ethernet Synchronization Messaging Channel (ESMC)
SyncE architecture minimally requires replacement of the internal clock of the Ethernet card by a phase locked loop in order to feed the Ethernet PHY.
Extension of the synchronization network to consider Ethernet as a building block (ITU-T G.8261). This enables Synchronous Ethernet network equipment to be connected to the same synchronization network as Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH). Synchronization for SDH can be transported over Ethernet and vice versa.
ITU-T G.8262 defines Synchronous Ethernet clocks compatible with SDH clocks. Synchronous Ethernet clocks, based on ITU-T G.813 clocks, are defined in terms of accuracy, noise transfer, holdover performance, noise tolerance and noise generation. These clocks are referred to as Ethernet Equipment Slave clocks. While the IEEE 802.3 standard specifies Ethernet clocks to be within ±100 ppm, EECs accuracy must be within ±4.6 ppm. In addition, by timing the Ethernet clock, it is possible to achieve Primary Reference Clock (PRC) traceability at the interfaces.
G.8262/Y.1362 is an ITU-T recommendation for Synchronous Ethernet that defines “timing characteristics of synchronous Ethernet equipment slave clock (EEC). “[1] It was first published in August 2007, amended in 2008 and 2010 and a new version published in 2010.[
A general requirement for SyncE was that any network element (NE) should have at least two reference clocks, and in addition, Ethernet interfaces must be able to generate their own synchronization signal in case they lose their external reference. If such is the case, it is said that the Ethernet node (EN) is in holdover. The synchronous signal must be filtered and regenerated by phase locked loop (PLL) at the Ethernet nodes since it degrades when passing through the network.
Several type of networks can be used to transport the synchronous signal and could be combined indeed. Some of these networks are T1/E1, SONET/SDH and any rate, and SyncE. However legacy Ethernet is not suitable for transmitting synchronization signals. This is important because if the signal crosses a legacy Ethernet island then the synchronization is lost.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The fundamentals of PAM4
https://www.edn.com/the-fundamentals-of-pam4/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=link&utm_medium=EDNFunFriday-20200703
As our society’s hunger for data grows—not only more data, but more data delivered faster—older modulation schemes based on NRZ-type encoding grow increasingly inadequate. We need to get data from point A to point B as efficiently as possible, whether that means between chips on a PC board or from one end of a long-haul optical fiber to the other. A modulation scheme that’s gaining favor in many quarters is PAM4, and in this post we’ll look at the basics of PAM4 before turning to the test and analysis challenges it poses.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Finland’s Nokia on Tuesday became the first major telecom equipment maker to commit to adding open interfaces in its products that will allow mobile operators to build networks that are not tied to a vendor.
The new technology, dubbed Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN), aims to reduce reliance on any one vendor by making every part of a telecom network interoperable and allowing operators to choose different suppliers for different components.
Nokia, unlike other vendors, had been promising to participate in the development of open RAN technology and have joined several industry alliances.
Nokia to add open interfaces to its telecom equipment
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nokia-5g-idUSKBN2480S0
Finland’s Nokia on Tuesday became the first major telecom equipment maker to commit to adding open interfaces in its products that will allow mobile operators to build networks that are not tied to a vendor.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.o-ran.org/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia To Add Open Interfaces To Its Telecom Equipment
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/20/07/07/2159219/nokia-to-add-open-interfaces-to-its-telecom-equipment?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot%2Fto+%28%28Title%29Slashdot+%28rdf%29%29
Nokia has become the first major telecom equipment maker to commit to adding open interfaces in its products that will allow mobile operators to build networks that are not tied to a vendor. Reuters reports:
The new technology, dubbed Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN), aims to reduce reliance on any one vendor by making every part of a telecom network interoperable and allowing operators to choose different suppliers for different components. Currently, Nokia along with Ericsson and Huawei supplies most of the equipment for building telecom networks and mobile operators can only pick one for each part of their network.
As part of the implementation plan, Nokia plans to deploy Open RAN interfaces in its baseband and radio units, a spokesman said
Nokia to add open interfaces to its telecom equipment
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nokia-5g-idUSKBN2480S0
Finland’s Nokia on Tuesday became the first major telecom equipment maker to commit to adding open interfaces in its products that will allow mobile operators to build networks that are not tied to a vendor.
The new technology, dubbed Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN), aims to reduce reliance on any one vendor by making every part of a telecom network interoperable and allowing operators to choose different suppliers for different components.
Currently, Nokia along with Ericsson and Huawei supplies most of the equipment for building telecom networks and mobile operators can only pick one for each part of their network
As part of the implementation plan, Nokia plans to deploy Open RAN interfaces in its baseband and radio units, a spokesman said. An initial set of Open RAN functionalities will become available this year, while the full suite of interfaces is expected to be available in 2021, the company said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia avaa datakeskuksen Linuxilla
https://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10937&via=n&datum=2020-07-10_13:53:14&mottagare=30929
Modernin kytkimen pitää olla suorituskykyinen, laajasti skaalautuva protokollien suhteen ja ennen kaikkea täysin avoin, Atwan painotti.
Nokian uusi ratkaisu on ns. kolmannen polven datakeskusratkaisu. Sen ytimessä on SR Linux -käyttöjärjestelmä (Service Router Linux), johon voidaan tuoda kolmansien osapuolten sovelluksia. NetOps-työkalujen sovelluskehitykseen Nokia tarjoaa FSP-työkalupakettia (fabric services platform), jolla voidaan kehittää toiminta- ja automaatiosovelluksia.
Nokian käyttöjärjestelmä on mallipohjainen. Sovelluksia ei käännetä, alusta sisältää kaikki mahdolliset protokollapinot standardin kernelin päällä. – Sovellusten koodaaminen voidaan tehdä millä kielellä tahansa. Operaattori voi käyttää Nokian valmiita sovelluksia, itse tehtyjä tai kolmansien osapuolten sovelluksia, Atwan korosti.
Hänen mukaansa uuden alustan tarkoitus on mullistaa se, miten datakeskusten mikropalveluarkkitehtuuri on toteutettu. Koko ratkaisu nojaa avoimuuteen.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The CPU might be the most important component of any device in your network, and obviously it has the potential to affect the network performance.
https://blog.paessler.com/why-cpu-monitoring-matters?utm_medium=paidsocial&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=fbin_nu_all_cn-bvbu_b-blog_en_multiplacement_mb_cpm_m%3A24-54-lal01%3Acontent-download_biz_prtg-mbi&hsa_acc=754827561636720&hsa_cam=23844846233210607&hsa_grp=23844846232700607&hsa_ad=23845202347390607&hsa_src=fb&hsa_net=facebook&hsa_ver=3
Tomi Engdahl says:
Using a 56k Modem in 2017! | Nostalgia Nerd
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=17zfz017s9A&feature=youtu.be
Remember the warming sounds of internet dial-up? Trying to get through to your internet provider, without an engaged tone. Trying to get a decent connection speed. Downloading GIFS, GIFS, GIFS. Well, thankfully we can still relive those past experiences thanks to a few ISPs who offer a dial up service. You can also grab a 56k modem cheap enough and even connect it up to your modern Windows 10 PC. So let’s take a look at whether dial up is possible in 2017.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DARPA PIPES Program demonstrates 2 Tbit/s optical interconnects at the chip level
https://www.laserfocusworld.com/fiber-optics/article/14176186/darpa-pipes-program-demonstrates-2-tbits-optical-interconnects-at-the-chip-level
A collaboration between Intel and Ayar Labs has produced the TeraPHY chip, which achieves up to 2.56 Tbit/s I/O over 24 channels with no forward error correction required.
A cooperative effort between researchers at Intel (Santa Clara, CA) and Ayar Labs (Emeryville, CA) has spawned the successful demonstration of high-bandwidth optical I/O interconnects that consume a small fraction of power compared to conventional electrical data links. The demo is a milestone in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program entitled Photonics in the Package for Extreme Scalability (PIPES), established with the ambitious goal of developing advanced in-package silicon photonic interfaces capable of bandwidths greater than 100 Tbit/s at energies less than 1 pJ/bit, capable of kilometer-scale distances and more than 10x better performance compared to today’s state-of-the-art commercial interconnects at 400 Gbit/s.
Replacing copper with optical signaling is the next logical step in keeping up with Moore’s Law, but it’s fraught with challenges. For high-bandwidth transmission, the maximum achievable interconnect distance falls off dramatically and energy efficiency decreases. Heat dissipation is also a problem at high bandwidths and increasing energy densities. Ayar Labs and Intel are striving to overcome this long-standing bandwidth-energy-distance tradeoff to push the demands of Moore’s Law beyond its original limits.1
In a live demonstration at the Optical Fiber Conference 2020 (which Ayar Labs participated in virtually during March 10-12 due to COVID-19), Ayar demonstrated its TeraPHY optical chip technology integrated into an advanced commercial integrated circuit (IC) that traditionally transmits electrons via copper: Intel’s Stratix 10 field-programmable gate array (FPGA). Ayar’s TeraPHY chiplet, containing micron-scale optical waveguides and photonic microring features, was fabricated using the 45-nm-platform CMOS chip manufacturing technology at GlobalFoundries (Santa Clara, CA).
Optical waveguides on the TeraPHY chip are patterned monolithically into the silicon, and are essentially the optical analog of copper wires. Bringing two waveguides in close proximity enables the transfer of photons and thus power from one waveguide to another to create an evanescent coupler. Within the coupler, a 10-µm-diameter microring resonator can electrically modulate the phase and control the direction of the light either through or up to the top of the chip, creating drop ports. Currently, most silicon-photonic chips use a 0.5-mm-sized Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) to control direction and modulate the phase of the photons, which has limitations in bandwidth density and energy efficiency. Because this microring has a 100X smaller footprint than a typical MZI, it enables a 25 to 50X higher bandwidth density and 50X better energy efficiency.
The single-die-package demo featured eight wavelength-division-multiplexed channels each at different wavelengths, with I/O data rates of 16 Gbit/s across four optical macro-chips, for a total of 512 Gbit/s. In production, the DARPA team expects the capacity of a single chiplet to reach up to 2.56 Tbit/s I/O over 24 channels with no forward error correction required and less than 10 ns latency
The TeraPHY optical interconnect is designed to work with an off-chip multiwavelength continuous-wave (CW) laser source and integrate with any type of partner system-on-package: CPU, GPU, ASIC, or FPGA, to connect switches, servers, and cards over distances up to 2 km.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Libtorrent – the engine that powers many of the most popular torrent clients including qBittorrent, Deluge, and many more – has added support for the WebTorrent protocol.
WebTorrent support in libtorrent opens the door for many more torrent clients to connect to browser peers. Browser peers (which must use WebRTC) will now be able to access a huge trove of torrents currently only available to TCP/UDP peers.
The WebTorrent protocol allows peers to connect over WebRTC in addition to the widely supported TCP and UDP transports. In fact, UDP support itself was added to the BitTorrent protocol in a protocol extension and now UDP is the primary transport used by BitTorrent clients.
https://feross.org/libtorrent-webtorrent/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Robot for deploying aerial fiber internet that winds fiber-optic cable around existing power lines instead of underground
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2600net/permalink/2776602822562825/
Tomi Engdahl says:
For the first time, an 800 gigabit per second connection has been made over a live fiber optic link. The connection, a joint test in June conducted by Infinera and Windstream, beamed across a fiber optic line stretching from San Diego and Phoenix. If widely implemented, 800G connections could reduce the costs of operating long-haul fiber networks.
Infinera and Windstream Beam 800 Gigabits Per Second Through a Single Optical Fiber
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/telecom/internet/infinera-and-windstream-beam-800-gigabits-per-second-through-a-single-optical-fiber
For the first time, an 800 gigabit per second connection has been made over a live fiber optic link. The connection, a joint test in June conducted by Infinera and Windstream, beamed through a fiber optic line stretching from San Diego and Phoenix. If widely implemented, 800G connections could reduce the costs of operating long-haul fiber networks.
800G should not be confused with the more commonly-known 5G cellular service. In the latter, the “G” refers to the current generation of wireless technology. In fiber optics, the “G” indicates how many gigabits per second an individual cable can carry. For most long-haul routes today, 100G is standard.
The test conducted by Infinera, an optical transmission equipment manufacturer, and Windstream, a service provider, is not the first 800G demonstration, nor is it even the first 800G over long distances. It is, however, the first demonstration over a live network
Tomi Engdahl says:
Leak reveals details of SpaceX’s Starlink internet service beta program
https://tcrn.ch/3eAMZqW
SpaceX’s Starlink service appears to be getting very close, as the company sent out requests for specific address information to anyone who has registered interest in its beta program this week. Now, a leak initially discovered via the Starlink subreddit (via Business Insider) has provided an early look at how the beta program will operate, and what is expected by SpaceX of anyone who takes part.
Code on SpaceX’s Starlink website contains the first official photos of Elon Musk’s ‘UFO on a stick’ — and key details about the satellite-internet project’s test program
https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starlink-wesbite-user-terminal-satellite-dish-pictures-beta-test-2020-7
Beta users may have to pay only $1 for a Starlink user terminal and internet service, but they also may need to install the devices themselves – and not talk publicly about their participation in the test program.
SpaceX’s founder, Elon Musk, has described the satellite dishes – called user terminals – as looking like a “UFO on a stick.” Though the company has not formally shared images of the terminals, fans have hunted down Starlink test sites listed in US regulatory documents and taken pictures of prototype antennas.
“Starlink terminal has motors to self-orient for optimal view angle. No expert installer required. Just plug in & give it a clear view of the sky,” Musk said. “Can be in garden, on roof, table, pretty much anywhere, so long as it has a wide view of the sky.”
SpaceX is gearing up to launch a private beta for Starlink this summer and a more public user test program later this year. The company sent emails overnight on Monday to Starlink beta applicants requesting addresses for where they’d like service.
Business Insider’s review of the Starlink website’s public source code suggests that SpaceX is very close to finishing a website for beta testers. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Optimizing Network Packet Broker Efficiency with Aggregation TAPs
https://insights.profitap.com/optimizing-network-packet-broker-efficiency-with-aggregation-taps?utm_content=134801897&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&hss_channel=fbp-937557376324166
SPAN ports were the preferred approach to network visibility for years. However, when the limitations of using SPAN became clear, the adoption of network TAPs started to increase. As we all know, network TAPs are more reliable than SPAN ports, and provide complete visibility into the network. But SPAN ports and network TAPs are just one link in the network visibility chain.
Efficient traffic management with Network Packet Brokers
Network Packet Broker (NPB) is a device that helps optimize the access and visibility of a variety of network monitoring, security and acceleration tools to traffic from one or many network links. This device plays a critical role in gaining visibility into complex networks.
Deployed between the network TAPs and the traffic analysis hardware, the main function of the packet broker is to filter specific network traffic to a specific monitoring tool.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why CPU monitoring matters (and what PRTG can do for you)
https://blog.paessler.com/why-cpu-monitoring-matters
The CPU is probably the most important component of any device in your network. And that is “probably” as in probably the earth is spherical. CPU obviously has the potential to affect network performance; not only somehow, but in some cases very seriously.
CPU monitoring is the difference between network stability and performance deterioration. Having no powerful and dependable way to monitor the CPU makes the life of every sysadmin quite difficult.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.etteplan.com/stories/what-private-network-and-why-should-companies-get-one
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.yeint.fi/uutiset/cat8-kaapelit
Tomi Engdahl says:
tested this concept on a little network consisting of three PCs running under Windows 2000. It works well. The network adapters are normal Intel and 3Com models, set to 10 Mbps and Half Duplex. The computers are labelled A, B, C, and the UTP cables from the computers to the hub are 10, 16 and 35 meters long, respectively.
http://www.zen22142.zen.co.uk/Circuits/Interface/pethhub.htm
Tomi Engdahl says:
Staying one step ahead of the competition is crucial for business success in all industries, and telecommunications is not an exception. Here are the key KPIs telecoms should closely monitor to make sure they remain competitive in today’s market.
https://blog.adverity.com/12-kpis-telecoms-should-monitor-stay-ahead-of-the-competition?utm_campaign=EN+%7C+Telco+%7C+Traffic&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid&hsa_acc=100437940101357&hsa_cam=6190981873952&hsa_grp=6194484471952&hsa_ad=6194484472352&hsa_src=fb&hsa_net=facebook&hsa_ver=3
By closely monitoring these KPIs, decision makers at telecoms can make better, data-driven decisions and help the company to lead in the marketplace. Here are 12 selected KPIs that marketers and business decision makers should be monitoring and sharing across the business to make timely decisions based on quality data, and secure growth.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Special Report: Drug cartel ‘narco-antennas’ make life dangerous for Mexico’s cell tower repairmen
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-telecoms-cartels-specialreport/special-report-drug-cartel-narco-antennas-make-life-dangerous-for-mexicos-cell-tower-repairmen-idUSKCN24G1DN
Traffickers often erect their own radio antennas in rural areas. They also install so-called parasite antennas on existing cell towers, layering their criminal communications network on top of the official one. By piggybacking on telecom companies’ infrastructure, cartels save money and evade detection since their own towers are more easily spotted and torn down, law enforcement experts said.
The practice has been widely acknowledged by telecom companies and Mexican officials for years.
Mexico’s Defense Ministry said it provides security for federal agencies that request its help in dismantling “parasitic equipment” installed by cartels on cell towers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cuba’s Underground Gaming Network
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lEplzHraw3c&t=331&feature=youtu.be
Cuba has joined the global network, but high prices have driven Havana’s citizens to construct their own.
Tomi Engdahl says:
U of A physicists develop technology to transform information from microwaves to optical light to ultra-secure quantum communications channels
U of A physicists develop technology to transform information from microwaves to optical light
https://www.folio.ca/u-of-a-physicists-develop-technology-to-transform-information-from-microwaves-to-optical-light/
New tool has potential to translate data from quantum computers to ultra-secure quantum communications channels.
“Many quantum computer technologies work in the microwave regime, while many quantum communications channels, such as fibre and satellite, work with optical light,” explained Lindsay LeBlanc, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Ultracold Gases for Quantum Simulation. “We hope that this platform can be used in the future to transduce quantum signals between these two regimes.”
The new technology works by introducing a strong interaction between microwave radiation and atomic gas. The microwaves are then modulated with an audio signal, encoding information into the microwave. This modulation is passed through the gas atoms, which are then probed with optical light to encode the signal into the light.
“This transfer of information from the microwave domain to the optical domain is the key result,” said LeBlanc. “The wavelengths of these two carrier signals differ by a factor of 50,000. It is not easy to transduce the signal between these regimes, but this transfer proves this is possible.”
“This idea arose by having talks and meeting within the Quanta group—and it turned out to work as well or better than we first expected,” said LeBlanc.
The study, “Atomic Microwave-to-Optical Signal Transduction via Magnetic-Field Coupling in a Resonant Microwave Cavity,” was published in Applied Physics Letters
https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.5144616
Tomi Engdahl says:
US Just Unveiled Its Blueprint For a “Virtually Unhackable” Quantum Internet
AFP
25 JULY 2020
https://www.sciencealert.com/us-begins-planning-for-a-virtually-unhackable-internet-using-quantum-computing
US officials and scientists have begun laying the groundwork for a more secure “virtually unhackable” internet based on quantum computing technology.
Tomi Engdahl says:
At Last, a 2.5Gbps Consumer Network Switch: QNAP Releases QSW-1105-5T 5-Port Switch
https://www.anandtech.com/show/15916/at-last-a-25gbps-consumer-network-switch-qnap-releases-qsw11055t-5port-switch
Tomi Engdahl says:
Talouslehti: Kiina uhkaa Nokiaa ja Ericssonia vastatoimilla, jos EU-maat alkavat sulkea Huawein pois 5G-markkinoiltaan
Wall Street Journalin mukaan kyse olisi yhtiöiden Kiinassa valmistamien laitteiden vientirajoituksista
https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11457377
China May Retaliate Against Nokia and Ericsson If EU Countries Move to Ban Huawei
Chinese Commerce Ministry weighs export controls on Nokia and Ericsson China-made products
https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-may-retaliate-against-nokia-and-ericsson-if-eu-countries-move-to-ban-huawei-11595250557
Tomi Engdahl says:
A completely new plasmonic chip for ultrafast data transmission using light
https://techxplore.com/news/2020-07-plasmonic-chip-ultrafast-transmission.html
The new, highly compact chip brings together the fastest electronic and light-based elements in a single component for the first time.
Today’s optical networks achieve data transmission rates in the region of gigabits (109 bits) per second. The limit is around 100 gigabits per lane und wavelength. In the future, however, transmission rates will need to reach the terabit region (1012 bits per second).
New: electronics and light on the same chip
“The rising demand will call for new solutions,” says Juerg Leuthold, ETH Professor of Photonics and Communications. “The key to this paradigm shift lies in combining electronic and photonic elements on a single chip.” The field of photonics (the science of light particles) studies optical technologies for the transmission, storage and processing of information.
Tomi Engdahl says:
“we’ll call it… The Titanic.. ”
Quantum loop: US unveils blueprint for ‘virtually unhackable’ internet
https://phys.org/news/2020-07-quantum-loop-unveils-blueprint-virtually.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Companies have done what companies do: attempt to maximize profit. What will the government do in response?
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/telecom/internet/indian-mobile-service-providers-suspected-of-providing-discriminatory-services
India’s Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has granted interim relief to telecom companies Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, allowing them to continue with their premium-service plans. The TDSAT order came on 18 July, exactly a week after the country’s telecom regulatory authority had blocked the two companies from offering better speeds to higher-paying customers, citing net neutrality violations.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google is building a new private subsea cable between Europe and the US
https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/28/google-is-building-a-new-private-subsea-cable-between-europe-and-the-u-s/?tpcc=ECFB2020
Google today announced its plans to build a new subsea cable with landing points in New York in the U.S. and Bude, U.K. and Bilbao, Spain in Europe. The new cable, named after the pioneering computer scientist Grace Hopper, will join Google’s various other private subsea cables like Curie between the U.S. and South America, Dunant between the U.S. and France and Equiano between Europe and Africa.
The new cable is scheduled to go online in 2022 and will be built by SubCom, which Google also contracted for work on its Dunant and Curie cables.
Tomi Engdahl says:
#PRTG is able to always keep an eye on all QoS parameters. Latency, packet loss, jitter, and the Mean Opinion Score are monitored continuously.
How to quickly monitor the latency of your network with PRTG
https://blog.paessler.com/how-to-quickly-monitor-the-latency-of-your-network-with-prtg?utm_medium=paidsocial&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=fbin_nu_all_cn-bvbu_b-blog_en_multiplacement_mb_cpm_m%3A24-54-in%3Ait-companies_biz_prtg-mbi&utm_content=en_b-latency-story-itinfrmo_ac103_im075&hsa_acc=754827561636720&hsa_cam=23844846233210607&hsa_grp=23844846232760607&hsa_ad=23845322535890607&hsa_src=fb&hsa_net=facebook&hsa_ver=3
Tomi Engdahl says:
IEEE 802.3™ – Pushing Ethernet Standards Further and Faster
https://beyondstandards.ieee.org/networking/ieee-802-3-pushing-ethernet-standards-further-and-faster/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Cloud Networking is a must for Flexibility, Scalability, and Visibility
https://pentestmag.com/why-cloud-networking-is-a-must-for-flexibility-scalability-and-visibility/
#pentest #magazine #pentestmag #pentestblog #PTblog #cloud #networking #flexibility #scalability #visibility #cybersecurity #infosecurity #infosec
Tomi Engdahl says:
The story of fiber optics has many threads—a whoopee! moment, a glass dress, and a stream of illuminated water are just a few.
The Rich Tapestry of Fiber Optics
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-history/cyberspace/the-rich-tapestry-of-fiber-optics
“Whoopee!” So wrote Donald Keck, a researcher at Corning Glass Works, in the 7 August 1970 entry of his lab notebook. The object of his exuberance was a 29-meter-long piece of highly purified, titanium-doped optical fiber, through which he had successfully passed a light signal with a measured loss of only 17 decibels per kilometer. A few years earlier, typical losses had been closer to 1,000 dB/km. Keck’s experiment was the first demonstration of low-loss optical fiber for telecommunications, and it paved the way for transmitting voice, data, and video over long distances.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Federal Communications Commission has approved Amazon’s plans for its ambitious Kuiper constellation, which entails sending 3,236 satellites into orbit to beam internet coverage down to Earth. The decision is a crucial regulatory step that paves the way for Amazon to start launching the satellites when they’re ready.
FCC approves Amazon’s internet-from-space Kuiper constellation of 3,236 satellites
Though there are caveats to the approval
https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/30/21348768/fcc-amazon-kuiper-satellite-constellation-approval
The Federal Communications Commission has approved Amazon’s plans for its ambitious Kuiper constellation, which entails sending 3,236 satellites into orbit to beam internet coverage down to Earth. The decision is a crucial regulatory step that paves the way for Amazon to start launching the satellites when they’re ready.
The company plans to send the satellites to three different altitudes, and it claims it needs just 578 satellites in orbit to begin service
Amazon said it will invest “more than $10 billion” in Project Kuiper in a blog post.
https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-news/amazon-receives-fcc-approval-for-project-kuiper-satellite-constellation?ots=1&slotNum=0&imprToken=d2b9d960-f012-7dde-f1a&tag=curbedcom06-20&linkCode=w50
Tomi Engdahl says:
Network virtualization by differentially switched VPN for stable business communication with offshore computers
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40860-016-0026-6
Accessing offshore cloud or remote computers via the Internet has become popular. However, in some countries, governmental agencies or organizations may suddenly block international communication links.