INDUSTRY FOCUS TOP NEWS STORIES 2024
OIF UNVEILS THREE CMIS AIs, WHITE PAPER
OIF has unveiled the latest Common Management Interface Specification (CMIS) Implementation Agreement (IA) (version 5.3); the External Laser Small Form Factor (ELSFP) Pluggable CMIS IA; the Formfactor Specific Hardware Management (CMIS-FF) IA; and a new white paper. “These industry-critical IAs represent significant strides in advancing CMIS interoperability across the industry,” said Gary Nicholl,
OIF Board Member and Physical and Link Layer (PLL) Working Group – Management co-vice chair, and Cisco. “These new standards not only enhance the functionality of modules but also streamline the integration process, reducing the time to market for new technologies.” Along with these new IAs, OIF has also released a white paper titled “CMIS: Path to Plug and Play.” This paper outlines how CMIS advertising enables hosts to
write generic software for managing CMIS-compliant modules, significantly reducing integration time and accelerating the deployment of new capabilities in end-user networks. By promoting a standardised provisioning model, this white paper highlights how CMIS 5.3 enhancements pave the way for true plug-and-play functionality in the industry. “The launch of the Path to Plug and Play white paper underscores OIF’s
commitment to simplifying and accelerating the deployment of CMIS,” said Ian Alderdice, OIF PLL WG – Management Co-Vice Chair and Ciena. “By providing a clear path to plug-and- play capabilities, we are empowering the industry to meet the growing demands of high-speed networks with greater efficiency and reliability.”
PRYSMIAN AWARDED US$96.5 MILLION IN STERLITE LAWSUIT
SALES OF OPTICAL TRANSCEIVERS EXCEEDED US$3 BILLION IN Q2 2024
Prysmian won its trade secrets case against its competitor Sterlite Technologies, Inc. and Prysmian’s former executive, Stephen Ssymanski. On August 9th, a South Carolina jury found in favour of Prysmian following a three- week jury trial in U.S. District Court in Columbia, South Carolina. The jury found that Sterlite was unjustly enriched by taking Prysmian’s trade secrets and awarded US$96,500,000 in damages against Sterlite Technologies, Inc. In addition, the jury found that Stephen Ssymanski had been unjustly enriched by misappropriating Prysmian’s trade secrets and awarded US$200,000 against Mr. Ssymanski, personally. Mr. Ssymanski ran Prysmian’s optical fibre cable business in North America, and departed Prysmian for Sterlite, a direct competitor, in August 2020.
LightCounting’s latest Quarterly Market Update report shows that leading vendor’s combined sales set a new record at just over US$3 billion in Q2 2024 – an increase of more than US$1 billion from the same quarter 2023. Sales of Ethernet transceivers increased by 100% year-over-year. Most of the growth came from strong demand for 400G and 800G modules. The second half of 2023 was much stronger compared to the first half of last year, so doubling sales will be a lot more difficult in Q3 and Q4 of 2024 on a y-o-y basis. It says leading transceiver vendors must reach the limits of their capacity for 100G per lane modules, while starting to plan for 200G per lane transceivers. Shortages of components, proliferating across the supply chain, will also limit the growth. The report also finds that sales of optical
misappropriating trade secrets and taking them to his new employer Sterlite, a direct competitor. Sterlite and Ssymanski denied that they had taken anything from Prysmian. At trial, Prysmian ultimately proved that Sterlite had taken thousands and thousands of pages of Prysmian’s confidential information and trade secrets. The materials in Sterlite’s possession included information about Prysmian’s customers, information about Prysmian’s newest products, and information about Prysmian’s plans to expand its manufacturing plants. Much of the information was found in the possession of not just Ssymanski and Sterlite, but also in the possession of executives at Sterlite’s global headquarters in Pune, India.
transceivers for telecom applications remained weak, but there are some signs of improvement, suggesting a stabilisation of demand in the second half of 2024. Combined revenues of telecom equipment suppliers were down 6% y-o-y, but up 14% sequentially. LightCounting says the demand for Ethernet optical transceivers closely follows the spending of key customers – the leading Cloud companies. Alibaba and Alphabet increased their spending by more than 90% and Microsoft by 55% in Q2 2024 on a year-over- year basis, and Nvidia’s revenues were up 122% and Broadcom’s up 47% y-o-y.
Prysmian filed its lawsuit in June 2021, accusing its former executive of
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INDUSTRY FOCUS 2024/2025
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