WCA September 2020

Telecom news

proved that skyrmion crystal grows from a conical magnetic phase, in the same way as real nanocrystals grow from solution.” Unlike those real nanocrystals, however, skyrmions can remove imperfections in the lattice pattern by self-splitting (similar to cell reproduction) – a previously unseen “self-healing” process. To understand the physics behind the growth mechanism that the team observed, the scientists combined micromagnetic simulation with a string method to investigate the interaction force and transition path- ways between various spin states. “We found that there is a competitive repulsive and attractive interactions force between skyrmions in the cone phase that governs the particle-like skyrmion lattice growth,” said Liqin Ke, an Ames Laboratory scientist. “We found that the self-splitting mechanism is more energetically favourable than nucleation and growth of a new skyrmion inside the defective lattice.” The research is fully detailed in the paper Mechanisms of skyrmion and skyrmion crystal formation from the conical phase , published in Nano Letters . Short stories Twenty-two companies in France and Germany have established a non-profit foundation to run Gaia-X, a cloud computing project to establish common standards for storing and processing data within Europe. Gaia-X is a move to reduce Europe’s dependence on major cloud providers such as Amazon and Microsoft, and has the support of both German and French governments. Market research firm Omdia has published its 5G Market Progress Assessment report, examining the deployment progress of 5G based on spectrum availability, operator launches, subscriber take-up and the prevailing regulatory climate. The report’s data shows Switzerland well ahead in 5G deployments, with the UK in a lagging second place. In Switzerland by January 2020 there were 426 localities in which Sunrise (the second largest operator in Switzerland, after Swisscom) had over 80 per cent 5G population coverage, while Swisscom had achieved 90

per cent coverage with what was described by Omdia analyst Stephen Myers as “a basic version” of 5G. Telecom Italia is continuing to cut jobs in a bid to compete with new entrants to the market. Thousands of jobs have already been lost, with a further 700 workers to be shed in an effort to make the company more efficient. Through an agreement with labour unions, the redundancies will be achieved through a voluntary early retirement scheme. The French government has attacked US threats of trade sanctions over digital service taxes. Spain, Indonesia, the UK, India, Austria, France and Italy are among the countries that have passed digital service taxes or similar levies and are planning to start collection. The taxes target online platforms such as Google and Facebook, which generate significant revenue from online advertising but often pay little corporate income tax due to their limited physical presence in the country. reported on a new interconnection point in south-eastern Europe. Together DE-CIX and Lamda Hellix have established the South East Europe Cloud and Interconnection Exchange (SEECIX). SEECIX will focus on peering, interconnection and cloud exchange services to carriers, clouds and enterprises in south-eastern Europe. SEECIX’s starting node is located on Lamda Hellix’s data centre campus in Athens, Greece. Athens’s proximity provides connectivity options to the Middle East, Asia, Africa and the rest of Europe. It complements DE-CIX’s network along southern Europe, including Palermo, Madrid, Istanbul and Marseille. DE-CIX will provide the technology for the SEECIX platform, which is expected to be ready for service later this year. The FTTH Council Europe used June’s virtual General Assembly to set out its work programme for the future. The group is to explore how fibre networks can contribute to a new, greener economy; it will update its study into fibre/5G network convergence; and will carry out an investigation into alleged misleading fibre broadband advertising. telecomramblings.com

Department and the Texas attorney general’s office, adding, “We don’t have any updates or comments on speculation. The facts are clear: our digital advertising products compete across a crowded industry with hundreds of rivals and technologies, and have helped lower costs for advertisers and consumers.” Reuters and other agencies reported in mid-May that state attorneys general led by Texas were likely to file an antitrust lawsuit against Google, and the Wall Street Journal revealed that the Justice Department would be bringing a case, possibly as early as this summer. Antitrust complaints against Google centre on the company’s promotion of its own services in the search engine, and how it charges for search ads. Google, Facebook Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Apple Inc are all under a series of investigations into allegations that the companies unfairly defend their market share. Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory are exploring the possibilities of the quasiparticles skyrmions – nanoscale magnetic vortices driven by ultra-low electrical current. The research could lead to a new generation of data storage and transfer, but scientists are still trying to understand the dynamics of their formation. As a quasiparticle they have no real mass, yet form a periodic pattern very similar to the symmetrical arrangement of atoms inside a crystal, or crystal lattice. The Ames Laboratory team recently discovered that skyrmions reproduce by splitting in a way very similar to biological cell division. The insight could lead to better control and manipulation of skyrmions and help guide the design of high-density and energy-efficient data storage and transfer devices. “In order to integrate skyrmions into future devices, science must have an accurate understanding of their formation mechanism,” said Lin Zhou, a scientist at the laboratory’s Sensitive Instrument Facility. “In this research we directly Splitting the skyrmion could pave the way to new-generation data transfer

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Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2020