Business

Huawei has announced that it is to open a new research and development facility in the UK, creating more than 200 new jobs.

George Osborne, the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, was at Huawei's headquarters in Shenzhen, China, to hear the announcement. He met Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei, toured the Huawei R&D laboratories, and chaired a meeting of UK high-tech companies visiting China.

Alcatel-Lucent and Zain have announced the completion of an agile optical network to provide ultra-broadband access throughout Saudi Arabia.

The fibre-optic backbone network is based on converged wavelength division multiplexing/optical transport (WDM/OTN) technology, enabling Zain to provide 100 gigabit-per-second capability throughout the country main metropolitan areas.

The two companies says they are also conducting a trial of 400 gigabit-per-second data transmission over an existing optical link carrying live network traffic in the city of Jeddah.

TeraXion, a provider of optical components designed for high-speed networks, and Esterline CMC Electronics (CMC), a designer and manufacturer of avionics systems, are joining forces to design next-generation transceivers.

Companies are being invited to celebrate all things fibrous by taking part in Gimme Fibre Day, an annual event created by the FTTH Councils Global Alliance.

The initiative, which will take place on 4 November, is intended 'to celebrate the only future-proof solution and showcase how fibre has positively impacted communities across the world'.

French network equipment manufacturer Alcatel-Lucent has announced it is to cut its work-force by 10,000 – around 15 per cent of the total – in an effort to cut costs.

All geographic areas where Alcatel-Lucent operates will be affected, with the reduction of 4,100 positions in Europe, Middle East and Africa, 3,800 in the Asia-Pacific region, and 2,100 in the Americas. By the end of 2015, Alcatel-Lucent aims to halve the number of its business hubs globally.

M2fx, the inventors and producers of the Miniflex range of fibre cables, have announced a partnership with Middle East Fiber Cable Manufacturing (MEFC), to support its growth in the Middle East.
 
MEFC will provide customers in the region with m2fx’s full product range. It has already supplied more than 500 FTTP installations of Miniflex cable for use in major projects across the region, including external and internal deployments for the Saudi Arabian carrier company Mobily.
 

Transmode has supplied the Slovenian company Telemach with a high-capacity optical network running from the capital Ljubljana to the country's second city, Maribor, and to Vienna in Austria. The network is intended to significantly reduce operating costs and long-term overheads.

A date has been set to start work on a new communications cable linking Africa to South America for the first time.

According to Angola Cables, more than 6,000km of optical fibre cables will be laid between the Angolan coast and the Brazilian city of Fortaleza, during the Cape2Rio2014 regatta – into which the Angola Cables company has entered a team – being held between the 4 January and 4 February 2014.

The company says the cable will be 6,165km long, and is expected to be operational some time in 2015.

Researchers in Hong Kong have successfully tested an optical sensor system that monitors the tracks and warns train operators of potential problems.

A string of fibre-optic sensors running along a 36-km stretch of high-speed commuter railroad lines connecting Hong Kong to mainland China has taken more than 10 million measurements over the past few years to demonstrate that the system can help safeguard trains against accidents.

The FTTH Council Europe has demanded more transparency and honesty from broadband companies following a news release relating to the roll-out of a vectoring solution.