Optical networking spending up in all regions except Europe

A new cycle of investment in optical networking in taking place in all regions except Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), says market research company, Ovum. Market growth is being led by North America, while spending is also up in Asia Pacific (APAC) and South and Central America (S&C America). But EMEA will again be down in 2013.

Source data: Ovum

Ovum forecasts that the global optical networking market will grow to US $17.5 billion by 2018, a compound annual growth rate of 3.1 percent.

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The connected vehicle - driving in the cloud

Cars are already more silicon than steel. As makers add LTE high speed broadband, they are destined to become more app than automobile. The possibilities that come with connecting your car to the cloud are scintillating. No wonder Gil Golan, director at General Motors' Advanced Technical Center in Israel, says the automotive industry is at an 'inflection point'.

"If you put LTE to the vehicle ... you are going to open a very wide pipe and you can send to the cloud and get results with almost no latency"

Gil Golan, General Motors

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The CDFP 400 Gig module

• The CDFP will be a 400 Gig short reach module
• Module will enable 4 Terabit line cards 
• Specification will be completed in the next year

A CDFP pluggable multi-source agreement (MSA) has been created to develop a 400 Gigabit module for use in the data centre. "It is a pluggable interface, very similar to the QSFP and CXP [modules]," says Scott Sommers, group product manager at Molex, one of the CDFP MSA members.

Scott Sommers, MolexThe CDFP name stands for 400 (CD in Roman numerals) Form factor Pluggable. The MSA will define the module's mechanical properties and its medium dependent interface (MDI) linking the module to the physical medium. The CDFP will support passive and active copper cable, active optical cable and multi-mode fibre.

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SDN starts to fulfill its network optimisation promise

Infinera, Brocade and ESnet demonstrate the use of software-defined networking to provision and optimise traffic across several networking layers.

Infinera, Brocade and network operator ESnet are claiming a first in demonstrating software-defined networking (SDN) performing network provisioning and optimisation using platforms from more than one vendor.

Mike Capuano, Infinera

The latest collaboration is one of several involving optical vendors that are working to extend SDN to the WAN. ADVA Optical Networking and IBM are working to use SDN to connect data centres, while Ciena and partners have created a test bed to develop SDN technology for the WAN.

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ECOC 2013 review - Part 2

The final part of some of the notable product announcements made at the recent European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) exhibition held in London.  

• Oclaro's Raman and hybrid amplifier platform for new networks
• MxN wavelength-selective switch from JDSU
• 200 Gigabit multi-vendor coherent demonstration
• Tunable SFP+ designs proliferate
• Finisar extends 40 Gigabit QSFP to 40km
• Oclaro’s tackles wireless backhaul with 2km SFP+ module

Finisar's 40km 40 Gig QSFP+ demo. Source: Finisar

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ECOC 2013 review - Part 1

Gazettabyte surveys some of the notable product announcements made at the recent European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) held in London.  

Part 1: Highlights

• First CFP4 module demonstration from Finisar
• Acacia Communications unveils first 100 Gig coherent CFP 
• Oplink announces a 100 Gig direct detection CFP
• Second-generation coherent components take shape   

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Alcatel-Lucent dismisses Nokia rumours as it launches NFV ecosystem

Michel Combes, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent, on a visit to Israel, talks Nokia, The Shift Plan and why service providers are set to regain the initiative.

Michel Combes, CEO. Photo: Kobi Kantor.

The CEO of Alcatel-Lucent, Michel Combes, has brushed off rumours of a tie-up with Nokia, after reports surfaced last week that Nokia's board was considering the move as a strategy option.

"You will have to ask Nokia," said Combes. "I'm fully focussed on the Shift Plan, it is the right plan [for the company]; I don't want to be distracted by anything else."

Combes was speaking at the opening of Alcatel-Lucent's cloud R&D centre in Kfar Saba, Israel, where the company's internal start-up CloudBand is developing cloud technology for carriers.

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