Intelligent Data Centres Issue 18 | Page 7

CommScope and stc deploy 30-port antennas NEWS ommScope and Saudi Telecom C Company (stc) announced they are deploying 30-port antennas, enabling the operator to bring innovation towards 5G across the Middle East and North Africa. To keep pace with the demands of modern society and expand into new markets, stc is demonstrating use cases for next-generation wireless technologies. The deployment of CommScope’s new customised 30-port antenna enabled stc to support more technologies with less weight and wind-load on towers, solving the challenge of overburdened infrastructure and giving adequate room to deploy 5G equipment. As a result, the service provider is taking another step towards a modern world-class 5G network. CommScope had long been a trusted international partner of stc following years of wide deployments of multiple antenna solutions, including a customised design for 16-port antennas to support increased densification of the 4G/LTE network. Eng Hisham A Alabdaly, Infrastructure Design, General Manager, stc, said: “In line with international developments, the Saudi market is being transformed by the advances of the fourth industrial revolution. Emerging technology breakthroughs like robotics, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things will be backed by 5G infrastructure. Looking towards Vision 2030, tourism, manufacturing and defence could reoccupy the centre of economic stage in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. By any measure, it’s critical we implement new technologies that empower digital services to reach higher levels of efficiency and production.” KIOXIA demonstrates next-generation NVMeTM SSD Form Factor for cloud and enterprise data centres The E3.S specification allows for size, power and capacity options, all with a common connector. Designed for future PCIe generations that offer higher power budgets, EDSFF E3.S delivers improved performance, cooling and flexibility over other form factors. IOXIA Europe GmbH developed and started K shipment of engineering samples of next-generation Enterprise and Datacentre SSD Form Factor (EDSFF) E3.S, which is being standardised by the SNIA SFF TA Technical Work Group. E3.S is a new form factor standard for NVMe SSDs in cloud and enterprise data centres, especially targeting PCIe 5.0 and beyond. The E3.S will contribute to the design and development of next-generation systems, such as cloud, hyperconverged and general purpose servers and all-Flash Array (AFA) systems in cloud and enterprise data centres. KIOXIA’s E3.S engineering samples, based on KIOXIA’s CM6 Series PCIe 4.0 NVMe 1.4 SSD in a 2.5-inch form factor, demonstrated approximately 35% greater performance with the same controller and BiCS FLASH 3D TLC flash memory in the EDSFF E3.S form factor with x4 lanes and 28W (+40%) of power. EDSFF E3.S benefits include: • Higher density of flash storage for more efficient use of power, storage footprint and system rack deployments • Supports PCIe 5.0 and beyond through improved signal integrity • Better cooling and thermal characteristics • Performance and benefits beyond the 2.5-inch form factor version • Drive status can be shown by LED indicators • Supports x8 PCIe lane configurations www.intelligentdatacentres.com Issue 18 7