Infinera Expands Cloud Xpress Family for High Capacity Datacenter Interconnect 

 Infinera, provider of Intelligent Transport Networks, announced the expansion of the Cloud Xpress family of metro Cloud platforms. This release adds a new Cloud Xpress platform with 100 gigabit Ethernet (GbE) client services in the same compact form factor along with enhanced functionality. The Cloud Xpress family is designed specifically to address the needs of Cloud service providers, Internet content providers, Internet Exchange service providers, large enterprises and other large-scale datacenter operators.

The Cloud Xpress family, which first started shipping in December 2014, leverages the oPIC-500 optical engine, Infinera’s unique metro-optimized photonic integrated circuit, to deliver DWDM datacenter interconnect services up to 500 gigabits per second (Gb/s) in a compact two rack unit chassis. The new Cloud Xpress with 100 GbE extends the hyper-scale density, simplified operations and low power of the existing Cloud Xpress family that operators can use to easily deploy and scale their networks. With the addition of the new platform, the Cloud Xpress family now supports 10 GbE, 40 GbE and 100 GbE client-side interfaces to match customer specific requirements.

Along with the introduction of the new Cloud Xpress with 100 GbE, Infinera announced important enhancements to the Cloud Xpress family including MACsec encryption for improved security, NETCONF & YANG support for Software Defined Networking (SDN)and ease of use, and LLDP discovery protocols enabling datacenter automation.

“100 GbE is finally becoming available on datacenter switches and achieving cost effective pricing on routers – creating an emerging demand for 100 GbE client-side interfaces on optical equipment designed for metro datacenter interconnect,” said Andrew Schmitt, research director, Carrier Transport Networking at IHS. “Infinera is shipping 10 GbE and 40 GbE; adding 100 GbE is a well-timed extension to the Cloud Xpress family, and helps it retain a leadership position in this emerging product category.”

“As Cloud and application enterprise adoption accelerates, our customers increasingly rely upon Equinix to meet their growing bandwidth demands,” said Teri Francis, vice president of Technology at Equinix. “Infinera’s Cloud Xpress is a Cloud-optimized platform offering the highest density and terabit scalability to interconnect our datacenters while maintaining a very low power footprint. This enables our customers to access Cloud and network nodes between datacenters across the metro with high performance and great efficiency. The new 100 Gbps interfaces will definitely expand the potential applications for Cloud Xpress.”

“The Cloud Xpress platforms are purpose-built for the datacenter interconnect market,” said Stu Elby, senior vice president, Cloud network strategy and technology, Infinera. “Based on Infinera's unique PIC and super-channel technology, the Cloud Xpress provides scale and simplicity while utilizing little power.”

The Infinera Cloud Xpress continues to deliver solutions that provide hyper-scale density, simplified network operations and low power. The Cloud Xpress offers one terabit per second (Tb/s) of input and output capacity in just two rack units, with up to 500 Gb/s of line-side capacity and a mix of 10 GbE, 40 GbE and 100 GbE client-side interfaces. At one watt per Gb/s, Cloud Xpress delivers extremely low power, enabling very high practical rack density in real-world datacenter environments. The rack-and-stack form factor and software approach of the Cloud Xpress enables it to easily integrate into existing Cloud provisioning systems using open SDN APIs.

The Cloud Xpress family also now offers several key features requested by large datacenter operators. NETCONF & YANG support enables smooth integration into datacenter automation and management systems; LLDP protocol awareness for auto-discovery of adjacent switches and routers across the WAN supports efficient connectivity validation and troubleshooting, and MACsec provides end-to-end encryption to keep data secure. Together, these features of the Cloud Xpress enhance ease of use in datacenter environments.

By offering a network appliance-like experience similar to the server and storage infrastructure currently deployed in the Cloud, the Cloud Xpress enables smooth integration into existing operational processes providing Cloud service providers, Internet content providers, Internet Exchange service providers and other large-scale datacenter operators the ability to quickly deliver differentiated services by enabling a virtual pool of intelligent bandwidth.

Strong fundamentals driving opportunities in Asia, Says Barings

• Rising consumption across Asia, market reforms and structural growth support strong investment opportunities over the long-term, believes Barings
• Barings favours companies such as Largan Precision, Airports of Thailand and AmorePacific to benefit from market dynamics
• Barings’ market view mirrors increasingly positive sentiment towards Asia from UK-based intermediaries: new research¹ found 82% are favourable towards Asian equities, an increase of 23% since Q1 2015

Rising consumption, positive political and market reforms, and the strength of the technology sector are three fundamental developments pointing to superior investment opportunities in Asia, according to Baring Asset Management (“Barings”), the international investment management firm. Firms ideally positioned to capitalise include Taiwanese smartphone component manufacturer Largan Precision, Airports of Thailand, and upmarket Korean cosmetic manufacturer AmorePacific.

Barings believes that the improved growth outlook across Asia compared to emerging market peers does not come at a premium: in relative terms, emerging Asia markets are trading at close to one standard deviation below historical norms compared to the rest of the emerging universe – this is lower than it has been for years and, Barings believes, indicates an attractive opportunity for investors.

HyungJin Lee, Manager of the Baring Eastern Trust and Head of Asian Equities, said at a recent round table: “Rising Asian consumption, driven by supportive demographics across the region, is a key theme underpinning many of the companies we favour in the Baring Eastern Trust. For example, as Asian consumers spend more on travel and leisure as well as cosmetics and healthcare, we find companies with attractive valuations and good execution potential, benefiting from these growing markets.

“The potential of technology has been a long-term theme across markets in Asia, but this time the companies are global brands and the opportunities are larger. Recent falls in commodity prices have allowed Asian manufacturers in some industries to benefit from improved profit margins. Add to this the effect of structural change in the region, and we think the outlook for earnings growth for companies is favourable, particularly when compared with emerging market peers.”

Largan Precision is a Taiwanese manufacturer of camera lens modules for smartphones, tablets and digital cameras, among other things. It is a global leader in its market, and almost unique in being able to deliver the high volume of components required with the higher spec migration demanded by global technology manufacturers it supplies to. Barings believes that despite widespread penetration in developed markets, premium brand smartphones and tablets still have significant potential in emerging markets, and cites China as an as-yet ‘untapped’ market for premium products of this type.

Barings also sees great opportunities as a result of the ‘Chinese Tourism Wave’, part of the wider consumption story across the Asia region. As the Chinese are starting to visit other countries for leisure purposes, stocks such as Airports of Thailand have prospered. Thailand has become the third most popular destination for Chinese tourists in recent years, after Hong Kong and Macau. Airports with convenient duty-free shopping opportunities have been beneficiaries of this ‘wave’, and the trend looks set to increase as the number of Chinese taking foreign trips continues to increase.

HyungJin Lee said: “It is only in recent years that many Chinese have taken their first trip abroad, and Thailand is a popular choice. We think companies such as Airports of Thailand stand to benefit or many years from this growth.”

Barings’ positive market view towards Asia mirrors increasingly positive sentiment towards the region from UK-based intermediaries. New research¹ commissioned by Barings on IFAs and intermediaries in Q2 2015 found 82% are currently ‘favourable’ towards Asian equities, an increase of 23% since Q1 2015².

Coutts mid-year investment outlook 2015