Deutsche Telekom's Access 4.0 transforms the network edge

Deutsche Telekom has a working software platform for its Access 4.0 architecture that will start delivering passive optical network (PON) services to German customers later this year. The architecture will also serve as a blueprint for future edge services. 

Hans-Jörg Kolbe

Access 4.0 is a disaggregated design comprising open-source software and platforms that use merchant chips - ‘white-boxes’ - to deliver fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) services. 

“One year ago we had it all as prototypes plugged together to see if it works,” says Hans-Jörg Kolbe, chief engineer and head of SuperSquad Access 4.0. “Since the end of 2019, our target software platform – a first end-to-end system - is up and running.”  

Click to read more ...

Scintil Photonics looks to add light to silicon

It's the second day of Christmastide and Sylvie Menezo is working: “I enjoyed the last two days and now I'm back at work.” 

But then it should not be surprising given how Menezo is both the CEO and CTO of Scintil Photonics, the French start-up that secured €4.4 million in first-round funding last year.

Sylvia Menezo, Scintil Photonics

Origins 

Scintil Photonics’ expertise is in the design of silicon photonics circuits and the addition of active III-V materials - for lasing, gain and modulation - to a silicon substrate.  

The start-up is using its funding to move its technology from the lab to production, working with an unnamed commercial foundry. The firm is also growing its staff, from eight to a dozen by the year-end. 

Menezo worked previously at CEA-Leti, a French technology research institute, where her roles included heading the silicon photonics lab and business development.

Click to read more ...

NeoPhotonics’ growing 400G coherent pluggable portfolio

Part 2: 400-gigabit coherent pluggables 

NeoPhotonics has unveiled its first two 400-gigabit coherent pluggable modules that support the OIF’s 400ZR coherent standard and extended ZR+ modes. 

Ferris LipscombThe company has delivered samples of its ClearLight CFP2-DCO module for trials. The CFP2-DCO supports 400ZR, metro, and long-haul optional transmissions. 

NeoPhotonics has also delivered to a hyperscaler the first samples of a 400-gigabit OSFP pluggable that supports 400ZR and 400ZR+. 

Both modules use Inphi’s latest Canopus 7nm CMOS coherent digital signal processor (DSP) chip. 

Click to read more ...

Books in 2019 - Final Part

Gazettabyte asks industry figures each year to cite the memorable books they have read. These include fiction, non-fiction and work-related titles.

In the second and final part, the recommendations during 2019 of Analysys Mason's Dana Cooperson and Tom Williams from Acacia Communications are included.  

Part 2 of 2

 

Dana Cooperson, Research Director, Analysys Mason

I’ll cheat somewhat and go back several years when picking favourite books and then I’ll focus on titles read in 2019.

I’ve spent a lot of time over the past five years thinking about, helping my kids apply for, and paying for university education, so education-related books have been a focus. 

My first recommendation is Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life, by William Deresiewicz, an ex-professor and admissions counsellor at Yale. 

Click to read more ...

The era of 400G coherent pluggables finally emerges

Part 1: 7nm coherent DSPs, ZR and ZR+

The era of 400-gigabit coherent pluggable modules has moved a step closer with Inphi’s announcement of its Canopus coherent digital signal processor (DSP) and its QSFP-DD ColorZ II optical module. 

NeoPhotonics has also entered the fray, delivering first samples of its 400-gigabit ClearLight CFP2-DCO module that uses the Canopus DSP.

Pranay AiyaThe ColorZ II and ClearLight modules support the 400ZR OIF standard used to link data centres up to 120km apart. They also support extended modes, known as ZR+, that is not standardised.

ZR+’s modes include 400 Gigabit-per-second (Gbps) over distances greater than 400ZR's 120km and lower data rates over metro-regional and long-haul distances.    

The announcements of the Canopus DSP and 400-gigabit pluggable coherent modules highlight the approaches being taken for ZR+. Optical module vendors are aligning around particular merchant DSPs such that interoperability exists but only within each camp.  

Click to read more ...

Books in 2019

Gazettabyte asks industry figures each year to cite the memorable books they have read. These include fiction, non-fiction and work-related titles. 

Here are the choices of Cisco’s Bill Gartner, Sylvie Menezo of silicon photonics start-up, Scintil Photonics, and Andrew Schmitt, directing analyst at Cignal AI.  

Bill Gartner, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cisco Optical Systems and Optics.

At the top of my list is The Gene: An Intimate History, by Siddhartha Mukherjee. Mukherjee does an amazing job of telling the story of the gene, providing historical context dating back to pre-Darwin times through to modern advances in gene therapy. The material is complex but he is great at describing the evolution of thinking about genes and progress in the genome project in layman's terms. 

Click to read more ...

ECOC 2019 industry reflections II

Gazettabyte requested the thoughts of industry figures after attending the ECOC show, held in Dublin. In particular, what developments and trends they noted, what they learned and what, if anything, surprised them. Input from II-VI, Ciena, Fujitsu Optical Components and Acacia Communications. The second and final part. 

Sanjai Parthasarathi, chief marketing officer at II-VI 

One new theme at ECOC is the demand for lower-cost 100-gigabit coherent transceivers for deployment in optical access for wireless access and fibre-deep cable TV. Such demand would significantly expand the market.

It was noteworthy at the show how 5G has become a significant factor influencing the wireless access market, with the potential for wide deployment of dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) technology with wavelength switching and tuning functions, not only in traditional network architectures but interesting new ones too. 

Click to read more ...