BT and Toshiba to build quantum-secured metro network across London

BT and Toshiba are to build a quantum-secured metro network linking sites in London’s Docklands, the City and the M4 Corridor.  The two companies’ initial focus will be to provide trials for enterprise customers who are carrying sensitive traffic (such as database backups) between sites, and to explore potential future offerings such as encrypted links and “quantum keys-as-a-service."  A timeline has not been disclosed.

BT will provide data services secured using Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) over Openreach’s Optical Spectrum Access Filter Connect (OSA FC) solution for private fibre networks. The QKD links will be provided using a quantum network that includes both core and access components, and will be integrated into BT’s existing network management operations. 

Toshiba will provide quantum key distribution hardware and key management software. The company launched commercial products for QKD, manufactured at its Cambridge site, in the latter half of 2020. Toshiba says it has achieved the highest key rates (1,000’s of keys per second) and longest range of any commercially available fibre QKD system.

While BT and Toshiba have previously installed a point-to-point quantum-secure link between two commercial sites, deploying a full quantum-secured metro network environment with multiple endpoints requires new approaches to integration and management. 

Building on the BT and Toshiba point-to-point solution for the Bristol-based NCC (National Composites Centre) and Centre for Modelling and Simulation (CFMS), this new network will extend the solution to serve multiple customers across the London metropolitan area.  

Howard Watson, CTO of BT, said: “BT and Toshiba have established a global lead in the development of quantum-secure networks. We’re excited to be taking this collaboration to the next level by building the world’s first commercially operational quantum-secured metro network in London. Secure, robust and trusted data transfer is increasingly crucial to our customers across the globe, so we’re proud of the role our Quantum R&D programme is playing in making the world’s networks safer as we enter the dawn of a new age of quantum computing.”

Taro Shimada, Corporate Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at Toshiba Corporation, said: “Our partnership with BT will allow us to offer organisations quantum-secured network services which protect their data from retrospective attacks with a quantum computer. We are delighted to work with BT, with its long heritage of delivering secure, trusted networks. This network paves the way for commercial QKD services in the UK and eventually beyond.”

https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-and-toshiba-to-build-worlds-first-commercial-quantum-secured-metro-network-across-london/

ADVA FSP 3000 powers UK’s first quantum network

Wednesday, June 13, 2018  ADVA, Quantum, UK  

ADVA's FSP 3000 platform is powering a metro transport system in the city of Cambridge that is being used for the UK's first quantum network. The project, which is conducted by the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme, super-encrypts data using quantum key distribution (QKD) for complete and long-term cryptographic data security. ADVA said the openness of its ADVA FSP 3000 platform, which can accept keys from third-party systems utilizing...

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Toshiba Research, BT and ADVA Test ‘Quantum Leap’ Encryption

Sunday, April 27, 2014  ADVA, BT, Quantum  

Toshiba Research Europe, BT, ADVA Optical Networking and the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the UK’s National Measurement Institute, have tested Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) technology over a live fibre network. BT said the idea behind the trial is to leverage the principles of quantum mechanics in transmitting encryption key information. Any attempt to intercept the key can be identified, as it introduces anomalies which can be detected....

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Researchers at University of Bath observe new physical effect of light

Researchers at the University of Bath have observed a new physical effect relating to the interactions between light and twisted (chiral) materials.

The university says the discovery is likely to have implications for emerging new nanotechnologies in communications, nanorobotics and ultra-thin optical components.

Professor Ventsislav Valev, who led the research, said: “The idea that the twist of nanoparticles or molecules could be revealed through even harmonics of light was first formulated over 42 years ago, by a young PhD student – David Andrews. David thought his theory was too elusive to ever be validated experimentally but, two years ago, we demonstrated this phenomenon. Now, we discovered that the twist of nanoparticles can be observed in the odd harmonics of light as well. It’s especially gratifying that the relevant theory was provided by none other than our co-author and nowadays well-established professor – David Andrews!

https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/the-nanophotonics-orchestra-presents-twisting-to-the-light-of-nanoparticles/

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Google's Grace Hopper subsea cable lands in Cornwall

The Grace Hopper subsea cable has landed in Bude, Cornwall, UK. This follows a successful Bilbao landing earlier in September.

Google says Grace Hopper will use a new switching architecture to provide optimum levels of network flexibility and resilience to adjust to unforeseen failures or traffic patterns. 

https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-europe/united-kingdom/our-grace-hopper-subsea-cable-has-landed-uk/?linkId=131609522

Google's Grace Hopper subsea cable to link US-UK-Spain

Tuesday, July 28, 2020  Google, Subsea  

Google unveiled plans for a new subsea cable — Grace Hopper — which will run between the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain. The cable is named for computer science pioneer Grace Brewster Murray Hopper (1906–1992), an admiral in the U.S. Navy best known for her work in developing the COBOL programming language.

The Grace Hopper cable will be equipped with 16 fiber pairs (32 fibers). Subcom has been selected as the lead contractor. The project is expected to be completed in 2022.

Google said the Grace Hopper cable system will be the first to use a novel optical fiber switching that allows for increased reliability by moving traffic around outages.

Grace Hopper joins Google's other private subsea cables, Curie, Dunant and Equiano.

https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/infrastructure/announcing-googles-grace-hopper-subsea-cable-system

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Crosslake Fibre picks Ciena for cable across the English Channel

Crosslake Fibre has selected Ciena for a new submarine cable and terrestrial network between Slough, UK, and Paris, France.  The network, called ‘CrossChannel Fibre,’ is the first fibre cable project of its kind to be built across the busy shipping lanes of the English Channel since 2001. 

Crosslake is deploying Ciena’s 6500 packet-optical platform powered by WaveLogic 5 Extreme. Crosslake is also using Ciena’s Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) with Liquid Spectrum's Channel Margin Gauge app to allocate and scale capacity in real-time, from 600Gbps to 800Gbps, to quickly adapt to changing customer requirements and maximize the value of deployed assets.

“There hasn’t been a new fibre network across the Channel in two decades,” said Mike Cunningham, CEO, Crosslake Fibre. “We saw the need for a modern network infrastructure—one that can handle the rigorous demands of today’s digital world, but also serve generations well into the future. And that’s the vision behind CrossChannel.”

“A lot of online activities, but especially gaming and streaming, call for blazing performance and minimal delays or lag,” said Ian Clarke, Vice President of Global Submarine Solutions, Ciena. “Crosslake’s submarine cable network, with its high reliability and speedy connectivity, plays a pivotal role in elevating experiences like eSports and videoconferencing.”

http://www.crosslakefibre.ca

https://www.ciena.com/

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UK's Vilicom deploys Mavenir for private LTE on windfarm

UK based wireless telecommunications provider, Vilicom is using the Mavenir's MAVair solution as a critical component in delivering UK’s first off-shore private LTE network for windfarm communications and connectivity.

The Vilicom network provides advanced communications and connectivity to sea vessels and workers operating inside the boundaries of the windfarm off the coast of Scotland. The connectivity also allows 

Mavenir's MAVair family includes the flexible Open Virtualised RAN (Open vRAN) where the evolved RAN architecture, designed with cloud-native virtualisation techniques, enables the RAN to flex and adapt based on usage and coverage.

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BT launches new Managed Security Service

BT launched a new Managed Security Service that builds on its existing suite of solutions for enterprise customers.

The service provides customers with proactive monitoring that immediately identifies suspicious activity in a customer’s IT environment and blocks threats and attacks before they happen. 

BT’s Managed Security Service also monitors both on-premises and cloud infrastructure to manage risk more effectively, regardless of how employees connect; to offices, to mobile staff, to the cloud, or across multiple locations globally.

The new service is delivered by a dedicated BT security team and backed by products and services from a range of market-leading security providers including CrowdStrike, Palo Alto and IBM. 

Dean Terry, MD of BT Enterprise’s Corporate and Public Sector unit says: “As we’ve seen recently, cyber criminals continue to cash in on the pandemic, targeting a number of mid to large businesses with ransomware threats. Many organisations have had to radically change how they manage operations and data over the past 18 months, so it’s critical that they adopt cyber security solutions which provide visibility and protections across their entire estate.”

“That’s where we can help as their trusted technology partner. Our Managed Security Service offering will protect our customers in real time, so they needn’t worry about cyber-attacks slowing down progress, damaging their reputation, or standing in the way of embracing new ways of working.”

https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-launches-new-managed-security-service-to-protect-uk-firms-as-they-face-cyber-attack-every-45-seconds/

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STL acquires Clearcomm for FTTx integration expertise

STL (Sterlite Technologies Ltd) has acquired Clearcomm Group Ltd, a UK-based network integration company. The transaction is structured to acquire 100% of the share capital in 2 tranches. Tranche 1 entails acquisition of 80% of the share capital which will happen immediately (subject to customary pre-closing conditions), and is based on an Enterprise Value of GBP 15.5 million. The balance 20% shareholding will be acquired in 2023.

Clearcomm is a privately held company that provides end-to-end network integration solutions and capabilities in the UK, including for large-scale FTTx projects. The company claims revenues in the range of GBP 20 million and growth rates of over 25% over the past 3 years. 

STL said the deal will enhance the presence of its Network Integration solutions across UK and Europe.

Welcoming Clearcomm on board, Dr Anand Agarwal, Group CEO, STL said, "As digital infrastructure investments are increasing across the globe, STL is globalising its System Integration solutions to help build these advanced networks. With the addition of Clearcomm's network integration expertise to STL's Optical Connectivity and Data Centre integration capabilities, we are uniquely positioned to help our customers deliver the most advanced, deep-fiberised digital networks."

https://www.stl.tech/

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Lightspeed to offer XGS PON in East of England

Lightspeed Broadband plans to offer a 10G symmetric fiber broadband service based on XGS-PONg to 1 million homes and businesses in the East of England by the end of 2025. 

Nokia will provide Lightspeed with its XGS-PON kit for both customer homes and the operator’s points of presence, and aggregation switching and IP edge solutions. It also includes Nokia’s whole-home Wi-Fi 6 Beacons and Nokia’s Altiplano management platform.

Steve Haines, CEO, Lightspeed Broadband, said: “We are delighted to be a key account for Nokia, which we feel reflects our strategic relationship and growth potential. Nokia has demonstrated the flexibility and agility we need to support our ambitious deployment plans.”

Jeremy Steventon-Barnes, CTO, Lightspeed Broadband, said: “Following a rigorous selection process we chose Nokia for their industry-leading and future-proofed solution which means we can offer 10Gb/s services with best-in-class whole-home Wi-Fi 6 today, and upgrade to even faster speeds in the future.”

Lightspeed will connect the first 100,000 customers by the end of 2022, starting in 10 market towns in South Lincolnshire and West Norfolk, including Spalding, Stamford, Boston and King’s Lynn, and expanding through Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.

Nokia aims Quillion chipset at next gen access

Tuesday, October 08, 2019  Nokia, Silicon  

Nokia outlined plans for a new family of chipsets to power next-generation massive scale access networks.

The forthcoming "Quillion" chipset will allow operators to introduce 10G PON in their fiber networks and to serve more users from G.fast access nodes. For next-generation fiber access networks, the Quillion chipset powers Nokia’s 16-port Multi-PON line card, which supports both GPON and NG-PON on each port. This allows operators with an existing GPON network to simply “switch on” NG-PON services on each port without recabling or disrupting the GPON service.

Nokia said Quillion is also optimized to allow for low-latency applications that are critical for 5G transport and has built-in programmability to support intents that pave the way toward automated workflows, such as network slicing for 5G transport.

In addition, the Quillion chipset supports copper infrastructure access, including the highest density G.fast and Vplus solutions on the market.

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Openreach offers long-term FTTP price certainty for wholesalers

Openreach announced long-term price certainty on its FTTP (Fibre-to-the-Premises) lines for its wholesale Communications Provider customers in the UK. 

Openreach said its offer is based on the following set of principles:

• Commitment: where CPs choose to purchase from Openreach they commit to using FTTP wherever it’s available (including new provides and technology regrades) - rather than older services such as those based on Fibre-to-the-Cabinet or purely copper technology - with no volume or migration targets.
• Pricing certainty: Openreach will give pricing certainty for up to 10 years in return for this ‘stop-sell’ commitment
• Simplicity: A single national rental price will apply to the entire Openreach FTTP footprint
• 
  Competitive prices: Prices will be competitive whilst offering a fair return for Openreach. CPs can tailor offers across a range of speed tiers and take-up of higher bandwidths will be encouraged with further rebates, whilst pricing is set by Ofcom on the lowest speed tier (40Mbps upstream, 10Mbps downstream).

The offer will be open for participation between 1st October 2021 and 30th March 2022. The long-term pricing certainty will last until 30th September 2031 and be available across the entire FTTP footprint. Discounts are available to CPs where they choose to place new orders with Openreach and commit to making a percentage of those on the FTTP network, where available.

Katie Milligan, Managing Director of Customer, Commercials and Propositions at Openreach said: “Nobody’s building Full Fibre broadband faster, further, or at a higher quality than Openreach, and we’re well on track to reach 25 million premises by December 2026. At the same time we’re determined to make Full Fibre the default option for customers throughout the UK, so we’ve been working closely with Communications Providers to offer simple and competitive pricing which gives them the long-term certainty and flexibility they need."

More than one million homes and businesses have now ordered ultrafast, ultra-reliable full fibre broadband over the Openreach network. BT is investing £15 billion to build the gigabit-capable technology to 25 million UK premises by December 2026 and it’s making the technology available to 43k premises every week, with more than five million homes and businesses already able to place an order.

https://www.openreach.com/news/openreach-announces-special-offer-for-communications-providers-to-drive-adoption-of-full-fibre-broadband/

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Iron Mountain to sell and lease back its UK storage centers

Iron Mountain has sold a portfolio of five storage centers in the UK to Intermediate Capital Group (ICG), generating gross proceeds of approximately $178 million, based on current exchange rates. The transaction, totaling 550,000 square feet, is a sale-leaseback transaction with the properties located in the greater London area. Iron Mountain will remain in these facilities under an initial twelve-year lease term, with options to renew up to an additional 20 years.

“With our strong development pipeline together with highly attractive market valuations for industrial assets, we are pleased to continue our capital recycling program,” said Barry Hytinen, executive vice president and CFO at Iron Mountain. “The sale-leaseback of these assets allows us to generate significant investable proceeds while essentially maintaining long-term control of the facilities. On a leverage neutral basis, we estimate this transaction will generate nearly $140 million of capital, which we intend to invest in higher growth areas, including our data center business.”

https://www.ironmountain.com/

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UK pilots ‘vehicle-to-everything’ road safety system

The UK Government Centre for Connected and Automated Vehicles (CCAV) and the Midlands Future Mobility (MFM) consortium has begun testing a "vehicle-to-everything" environment developed by Vodafone, Nokia and Chordan.

Vodafone’s 4G and 5G network and advanced multi-access edge computing (MEC) technology is built into the platform, allowing real time road information from Highways England to be displayed initially on users’ smartphones, and in the future, on in-car infotainment systems. 

The platform works with Convex, Chordant’s Mobility Data Exchange facility, to enable dynamic data to be exchanged with road operators and their traffic systems and is the UK’s first live implementation of Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) technology. C-V2X combines the latest mobile technologies with in-vehicle computer systems to create new mobility services for improved safety and reliability as well as allowing road operators to build ‘greener’ and more sustainable transport networks.

Mike Waters, Director of Policy, Strategy and Innovation at TfWM, said: “We are now reaching the point where connected vehicle technology is genuinely able to start making a meaningful and very powerful difference to the big issues in transport like safety and energy efficiency. The work we have done with Convex and Vodafone is moving solutions forward not just for the West Midlands, but for the whole country and really exemplifies the UK’s position of global excellence in this space.”

https://www.vodafone.com/news/press-release/trial-uks-first-mobile-vehicle-everything-road-safety-system-goes-live

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Snap to acquire Wave Optics for its AR waveguides

Snap Inc. will acquire WaveOptics, a start-up specializing in Augmented Reality lenses, for approximately $500 million.

WaveOptics, which is based in Oxfordshire, UK and has offices in Taipei and Beijing, develops AR lenses (also known as waveguides) and projectors which can be integrated into smart glasses, enabling users to see digital images overlaid on top of the real world. The waveguide technology transfers the light waves from the light source and projects them into the user’s eye. The technology produces a large eye-box, binocular viewing and a high field of view. WaveOptics previously announced $39 million in Series C funding, including investments from Octopus Ventures, IP Group plc, Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH, China’s Gobi Ventures, Goertek and new investor HostPlus.

https://snap.com/

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Colt appoints Google Cloud exec as EVP of Strategy and Transformation

Colt Technology Services appointed Jaya Deshmukh as Executive Vice President (EVP) of Strategy and Transformation, reporting to Colt’s Chief Executive Officer, Keri Gilder.

Jaya joins Colt from Google Cloud, where most recently she held the position of Head of Strategy – EMEA, responsible for creating and curating Google Cloud’s EMEA strategy. She has also recently held roles at Microsoft, PwC and Cognizant, where she was responsible for implementing digital solutions and accelerating cloud consumption to drive customer success.

Jaya’s appointment follows Colt’s recent announcement of its new three-year strategy, aiming to further develop Colt’s IQ Network through innovation and digitisation.

https://www.colt.net/

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Airspan to set-up 5G lab in Slough, UK

Airspan Networks plans to open a 5G Innovation Lab this month at its Slough, UK offices outside of London.

The company said it intends for the lab to serve multiple purposes: as a showcase and demonstration facility for partners, customers and government institutions, to focus on the development of Open RAN software, 5G sub 6 GHz and mmWave indoor and outdoor equipment, and private network use cases. The lab is expected to feature:

• A full, end-to-end 5G Open RAN solution provided by Airspan software (CU, DU, RIC) and hardware (RU), including mmWave and sub 6GHz radios, ready to connect to any other elements of a 5G network.
• Critical interoperability testing with the key elements of a 5G standalone network: 5G Core, other RAN vendors, devices, transport/PTP, COTS servers, cloud native platforms, orchestrators and xApps.
• Indoor over the air (OTA) RF testing using a recently awarded Ofcom license in sub 6 and a future license in mmWave. This includes massive MIMO and beamforming features.
• Validation of real use cases for public and private networks, to accelerate adoption of Open RAN and showcase its many benefits.
• Development, testing and validation of new features following 3GPP and O-RAN Alliance latest releases in a fully virtualized 5G network based on Open RAN architecture.
• Support for the UK government’s disruptive Supply Chain Diversification plan.

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UK completes spectrum auction for 700 MHz and 3.6-3.8 GHz

Ofcom completed the assignment stage for its recent auction of 700 MHz and 3.6-3.8 GHz bands in the UK.  Here are the results:

• EE Limited – 723-733 MHz and 778-788 MHz;738-758 MHz; and 3680-3720 MHz.
• Hutchison 3G UK Limited – 713-723 MHz and 768-778 MHz.
• Telefónica UK Limited – 703-713 MHz and 758-768 MHz; and 3760-3800 MHz.
• Vodafone Limited – 3720-3760 MHz.

Winners of spectrum in the 3.6-3.8 GHz band also had the opportunity to negotiate their spectrum positions among themselves. This stage was an important step towards helping companies bring their spectrum holdings in the wider 3.4-3.8 GHz band closer together by giving them the opportunity to discuss post-auction trades to consolidate spectrum won in the 3.6-3.8 GHz band and airwaves they already held in the 3.4-3.6 GHz band. Telefónica UK Limited and Vodafone Limited entered into an agreement during the negotiation period.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/features-and-news/final-spectrum-auction-results

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UK's Network Rail invites private investment in railway fibre

Network Rail, which manages most of the railway network in Great Britain, is seeking up to £1bn in private sector investment to pay for upgrades in its trackside fibre optic cable network.

Network Rail operates over 16,000 kilometres of data cables next to the railway. The cable infrastructure delivers data essential to running the railway such as signalling for trains, trackside sensors, CCTV, and internet for trains, railway depots and offices. The upgraded fibre would offer excess capacity that could be leveraged by a third party to run its own telecoms services.

Andrew Haines, Network Rail chief executive, said: “Our telecoms infrastructure requires an upgrade if we are to meet the growing connectivity needs of passengers and the railway itself – particularly to make sure our fibre capacity can handle more data, at greater speed, more reliably.

“This proposal makes good business sense for all parties. We get a cutting-edge, future-proof telecoms infrastructure; the investor gets a great business opportunity; train passengers in Britain get an improved service for years to come; and the taxpayer saves a significant amount of money.”

https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/

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UK's WPD Telecoms deploys Infinera’s XTM metro optical

WPD Telecoms, Western Power Distribution’s telecoms division, selected Infinera’s XTM Series metro optical platform for its high-capacity network, enabling delivery of next-generation high-speed services to its customers across South West England.

WPD Telecoms is currently rolling out new optical infrastructure to build an advanced 100G/200G optical transport network, positioning the company for a smooth transition to the latest generation of 400G pluggable optical technology.

WPD Telecoms said its new network enables the company to meet the increasing demand for optical and packet-based high-speed services. 

“WPD Telecoms invests in the latest leading-edge technology. That is why we selected Infinera’s XTM Series for this major new network,” said Richard Slane, WPD Telecoms Commercial Manager. “We have always found that Infinera’s metro and regional solutions have provided the capacity and functionality we’ve needed, while also being easy to use and very power efficient. We are confident the XTM will provide our network with the capacity required now and will scale easily to 400G when we’re ready.”

“Enhancing WPD Telecoms’ network with Infinera’s latest XTM Series will enable the company to continue offering its customers reliable, high-capacity, low-latency bandwidth using the latest technology in the industry,” said Nick Walden, Senior Vice President, Sales at Infinera. “WPD Telecoms’ longstanding relationship with Infinera and its ongoing selection of Infinera’s metro and regional solutions underscore the value Infinera’s platforms deliver to network operators.”

https://www.infinera.com/press-release/wpd-telecoms-deploys-new-regional-network-with-infinera-xtm-series

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UK to examine NVIDIA’s takeover of ARM

The U.K.'s Digital Secretary, Oliver Dowden, instructed the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to begin an investigation into the proposed sale of ARM to NVIDIA.

ARM, which is headquartered in Cambridge, is a major global player in the semiconductor industry. 

Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden states: “Following careful consideration of the proposed takeover of ARM, I have today issued an intervention notice on national security grounds.

“As a next step and to help me gather the relevant information, the UK’s independent competition authority will now prepare a report on the implications of the transaction, which will help inform any further decisions.

“We want to support our thriving UK tech industry and welcome foreign investment, but it is appropriate that we properly consider the national security implications of a transaction like this.”

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/digital-secretary-instructs-cma-to-look-into-nvidias-takeover-of-arm

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euNetworks connects LSE with hollowcore fibre from Lumenisity

Lumenisity Limited, a start-up based in Romsey, United Kingdom, supplied its ultra low latency CoreSmart cable solution based on "NANF" hollowcore fibres, to euNetworks Fiber UK. The fibre route connects an Interxion data center with the London Stock Exchange.

Lumenisity Limited, which was formed in early 2017 as a spin out from the University of Southampton, said data travels 50% faster in hollowcore cable, reducing latency by 1/3, and providing a round trip saving of 3μs per km. These latency savings are very significant in financial trading applications. 

euNetworks offers a fibre-based, dedicated network platform supporting the bandwidth needs of the financial services community. 

“We’re very pleased to partner with euNetworks to enable them to provide the lowest latency performance to a major trading exchange using our CoreSmart cable,” said Tony Pearson, Business

Development Director at Lumenisity. “We are excited to be collaborating with such an established Carrier and to already have hollowcore deployed, carrying traffic as part of this development.”

“We continue to focus on delivering lowest latency services for our customers. We focus on identifying new and innovative technologies that can be deployed on our network to provide the best possible bandwidth solutions,” said Brady Rafuse, Chief Executive Officer of euNetworks. “We’re excited to be working with Lumenisity, helping to develop and deploy hollowcore fibre. We’re confident that with this technology we can achieve market leading fibre-based latencies much closer to radio frequency systems, without the constraints that are inherently present with those radio frequency solutions.”

https://lumenisity.com/

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Vector Photonics secures funding for PCSEL-based semiconductor laser

Vector Photonics, a spin-out from the University of Glasgow, announced a £1.6m equity investment to commercialise its PCSEL-based, semiconductor laser technology. 

The company’s PCSELs (Photonic Crystal Surface Emitting Lasers) is based on semiconductor research led by Professor Richard Hogg. The company said its technology has applications in data communications, additive manufacturing, including metal and plastic printing, LiDAR, and optical sensing.

Neil Martin, CEO of Vector Photonics, said, “We are pleased to announce the £1.6m equity investment for Vector Photonics, which comes from a consortium of three specialist funding companies – Foresight, the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (UKI2S) and Equity Gap. This is in addition to three government grants worth £2.4m and takes our seed funding round to more than £4m – a fantastic achievement for a one-year-old, Covid era, University of Glasgow start-up.

“Each investment company adds its own unique value to our business and will have board representation. Foresight invests in high growth-potential companies with innovative and transformational technologies via the Foresight Scottish Growth Fund and Foresight Williams, a joint venture with Williams Advanced Engineering. UKI2S is a specialist deep-tech seed fund focused on spin outs from the UK’s research base. Equity Gap is an angel investment syndicate, investing early in new technology businesses throughout Scotland.”

https://www.vectorphotonics.co.uk/

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