Six tips for pitching stories to journalists
There are generally two ways to get your business covered in the media. The first is when a journalist writes about your business without any prompting (reactive), and the second is when you pitch a story to the journalist (proactive).
While most companies would love to be the subject of constant, positive, unprompted coverage, the truth is that journalists are more likely to cover your organisation in this way if your business has made a mistake, or is in crisis. Good-news stories normally rely on proactive efforts by the communications team to disseminate the information.
But you can’t just write a news release or a blog and expect journalists to come knocking at your door. For the best chance of success, you need to package your news in a way that lets journalists clearly understand why it’s important for their readers to know about it.
News releases have their place but, for the most part, it’s more effective to pitch stories directly to a journalist whose readership is likely to be interested.
Journalists receive hundreds of story pitches every day. Even assuming you have a great story (don’t bother pitching if you don’t), it can be hard to stand out from the crowd. These six tips will help maximise your chances of success.
1. Know how the journalist likes to receive pitches
Journalists get a lot of pitches, so your challenge is to make your pitch stand out. Keep track of which journalists prefer to be called and which journalists like to be emailed. When emailing, make your subject lines clear and catchy. Journalists have limited time and will decide whether or not to read your pitch, or even open your email, based on whether your subject line is attention-grabbing and sounds newsworthy.
2. If you don’t have anything relevant, hold off for a more suitable opportunity
Sometimes content simply isn’t ready to be pitched. If you pitch multiple small-scale stories to a journalist, they might be less interested in a bigger pitch later down the track. In some cases, it’s worth holding your pitches until they develop into more significant content.
3. Know the publication
Research the publication a journalist writes for. Make sure your pitch suits the publication, its coverage themes, and its audience. If your pitch is relevant, a journalist is more likely to pick it up.
4. Think big
Offer the journalist insight into your industry’s context, and relate your pitch to current trends or events. Consider how your product or service relates to contemporary industry challenges.
5. Pitch early and respect deadlines
Journalists juggle multiple competing tasks and stories every day, so your pitch won’t necessarily be the most important thing they work on. Give journalists lots of time to prepare. Don’t pitch to them on deadline day, and don’t pitch too close to a large event that you want attention for. Timing is crucial when contacting journalists about stories. The closer deadlines get, the less journalists search for new content. So, pitch early and increase your chances of success by giving journalists plenty of time to plan.
6. Be brief, be helpful, and know your topic
When you pitch to a journalist, be engaging and responsive. Answer the journalist’s questions, and ask questions yourself, so you understand the angle and what questions to expect later down the line. Make yourself accessible for further communication, and maintain a positive relationship, even after you are (hopefully) published. You never know when you’ll need to pitch to this journalist again in the future. If you have good rapport and build trust with a journalist, you’ll find it easier to work together in future.
For more information on pitching stories to journalists, or to book a media training session, contact us today.
Y Soft announces 45 per cent sales growth in FY2018
Sy
dney, Australia – Y Soft® Corporation, a leading enterprise office solution provider, today has announced that its sales volume for fiscal year 2018 (July 2017 to June 2018) grew by 45 per cent over fiscal year 2017 to (USD) 45 million, nearly 1 Billion in Czech Crowns, attributed in part to its multi-product platform strategy and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) pricing model.
Y Soft announced the general availability of YSoft SafeQ 6 as a platform in fiscal year 2017. The platform extended the YSoft SafeQ core product, print management, and included new product capabilities including automated scan workflows and 3D print management, the latter bundled with a 3D printer. Now, in fiscal year 2018, document capture capabilities accounted for 5 per cent of the company’s total fiscal year sales volume representing 15 per cent of the total sales volume growth. The company’s decision to be the first on the market to offer both software and support services as a subscription also had an impact. Fiscal year 2018 saw an increase of closed subscription sales contract volume of 400 per cent over fiscal year 2017.
Sales of YSoft SafeQ 6 overall had an impact as current customers upgraded to the new version and the total number of customers increased to 16,000 from 15,000. The ability of YSoft SafeQ to meet the scalability needs and global requirements of large enterprises is indicated by the growth in the number of customers Y Soft counts on the Global Fortune 500 list; 34 per cent in fiscal year 2018 compared to 31 per cent last fiscal year.
The company’s sales volumes are comprised of software (31%); support/professional services (40%); and hardware, including companion products for YSoft SafeQ – external terminals, card readers and 3D printers (21%). Subscription contracts, which include software and support, were 8 per cent of total sales volume.
Y Soft is committed to supporting its channel partners and throughout the growth, partner satisfaction remained at a high 98 per cent satisfaction level. Additionally, in late fiscal year 2017, Y Soft expanded its manufacturing capabilities and expanded into China in anticipation of growth. In fiscal year 2018, Y Soft expanded its embedded terminal support with Epson, laid the groundwork for new areas of growth by expanding the board with two new positions, a seasoned CFO and a Senior Vice President of Finance.
“The growth we have seen this fiscal year is testament to the hard work of all YSofters, our partner community and the customer feedback we receive,” said Václav Muchna, CEO and co-founder, Y Soft. While we are encouraged from the validation of our strategy we are also excited about the future capabilities we have planned for the platform and the innovation growth engine we have put in place to ensure we continue to deliver new solutions and opportunities for our partners and customers.”
About Y Soft
Y Soft provides intelligent enterprise office solutions that help build smart business. Our YSoft SafeQ workflow solutions platform is used by corporations and SMB organisations to manage, optimise and secure their print and digital processes and workflows. Our 3D print solutions are focused in the education sector where they provide unique workflow and cost recovery benefits.
Founded in 2000, the company is headquartered in Brno, Czech Republic, with offices in North and Latin America, Europe, Middle East/Africa (EMEA) and the Asia Pacific region (APAC). For more information, please visit www.ysoft.com.
How a strong content marketing campaign can help your business
You’ve seen it on social media. It’s been happening on brands’ websites through their blogs, case studies, and videos. You’ve seen it in email newsletters and glossy magazines in your letterbox. Continue reading “How a strong content marketing campaign can help your business”
UTS opens state-of-the-art Tech Lab research facility
Sydney, Australia – The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) has formally opened its latest state-of-the-art research facility, UTS Tech Lab.
The purpose-built, $65 million facility is spread across 9,000 square metres on a site in the industrial hub of Botany that neighbours Sydney Airport and which is in close proximity to a major new technology and innovation precinct recently announced by the NSW Government.
Tech Lab will focus on transdisciplinary research that provides new services to industry, with capabilities that span, but are not limited to, civil and environmental engineering, mechanical and mechatronic engineering, software, electrical and data engineering, systems, management and leadership.
“Over coming decades, Australian business and industry will be transformed – as will the Australian workforce. It’s critical that universities work hand-in-hand with industry to ensure we capitalise on the opportunities – and address the challenges – this presents,” UTS Vice-Chancellor Professor Attila Brungs says. “Facilities like Tech Lab will allow us to do that.”
The Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology (FEIT) at UTS, Professor Ian Burnett, says UTS is already known for its engagement and partnership with industry “but Tech Lab adds new, state-of-the-art facilities that will attract companies and researchers from around the globe to work on new projects in engineering and digital transformation”.
“UTS Tech Lab is a unique research facility in Australia, where academics and researchers from diverse fields will work in tandem with industry and government to develop innovative solutions for the world of tomorrow, taking new technologies from early readiness to commercial viability,” Professor Burnett says.
Tech Lab will cater to a wide range of companies, from big to small, including working with startups. “It will continue to build on Australia’s research strengths and bring industry and academia together to deliver the most technologically advanced products and services. This will provide impact for our partners and jobs for our students and the wider community,” he says.
Tech Lab will offer R&D projects, consultancy, contract work and short courses. It is equipped with state-of-the-art capabilities that include, among other things:
- electromagnetic informatics and antenna chamber
- data analytics, networking and communications
- photonics and optical sensing
- full-scale structural dynamics facilities
- material testing and characterisation
- geotechnical lab
- acoustics laboratories, including anechoic chambers
- electrical power and energy lab
- multimedia lab
- computational intelligence and brain computer interface.
UTS Tech Lab has already welcomed organisations such as Sydney Water, which will work with the facility in robotics and smart sensing in pipelines, as well as Nokia, which will run training courses out of the facility. Tech Lab is also in discussion with many other companies interested in working with UTS in the new facility, especially in areas such as smart cities, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced manufacturing.
The NSW Government recently announced a new technology and innovation precinct in the corridor from the Central Station area in Sydney city, where UTS is based, through to Eveleigh, a suburb just north of Botany. This corridor is home to Australia’s largest cluster of startup firms.
Meanwhile, the NSW Innovation and Productivity Scorecard released last month noted that while NSW leads Australia in terms of research collaborations per institute there is scope to improve collaborative research efforts in NSW and nationally.
“Facilities like UTS Tech Lab will not only help Australia draw closer to countries with strong traditional research collaboration cultures, such as Germany, Canada and Singapore, but leapfrog other nations in innovative approaches to skill building and cross-disciplinary problem solving,” Professor Brungs says.
About The University of Technology Sydney
The University of Technology Sydney (UTS), located in central Sydney, is one of Australia’s leading universities of technology. It is known for fusing innovation, creativity, and technology in its teaching and research, and for being industry-focused. With a total enrolment of more than 40,000 students, UTS is one of the largest universities in Australia. It is rated the number one ‘young’ university in Australia in both the QS and Times Higher Education rankings.
Konica Minolta announces immediate availability of the AccurioPress C83hc
Sydney, Austra
lia – Konica Minolta has announced the immediate availability of the AccurioPress C83hc. This High Chroma digital press gives printers a whole new world of colour reproduction with enhanced performance.
The AccurioPress C83hc can express a much wider colour gamut than CMYK used for conventional printing. Pinks, purples, and bright greens are reproduced much more vividly and faithfully than those reproduced on a conventional CMYK toner print system.
Grant Thomas, Product Marketing Manager, Konica Minolta, said, “The wide colour gamut of the AccurioPress C83hc High Chroma toner creates new printing business opportunities. It means that colours closer to RGB can be obtained, which is great for applications like printing studio photos, photo books, photos of nature, illustrations, computer graphics (CG), web-to-print, and more.
“The printed image will be more natural and impressive when compared to an image produced on a conventional CMYK system. The expansion of spot colour reproduction is useful for printing company logos, high-impact point-of-purchase (POP), packaging, and posters.”
Key features of the AccurioPress C83hc include:
- superb colour reproduction: a unique electro-photo print system that produces colours close to sRGB; something that cannot be achieved with CMYK print systems. When in print mode, colours close to sRGB and CMYK can be obtained with the one system
- automated adjustments: automated colour and registration adjustments are possible with the Intelligent Quality Optimiser (IQ-501) enhancing quality, productivity and, ultimately, profitability
- high productivity: high productivity (81 ppm/A4), high-capacity paper handling and high-spec finishing options for high-volume printing
- excellent versatility: wide paper weight compatibility up to 350 gsm. Excellent versatility handling a variety of media with ease including envelopes, banners, and textured stocks.
- long sheet banner printing: simplex up to 1300 mm and up to 762 mm auto duplex.
The AccurioPress C83hc is equipped with Konica Minolta’s Intelligent Quality Optimiser, IQ-501. The IQ-501 maintains consistent colour reproduction and closed-loop paper registration (image-on-image, image-on-paper, and side-one/side-two registration) is measured and managed automatically in real time during printing operation.
With the IQ-501 consistent realisation of high-quality print contributes to reduced print waste and labour times for set up, reducing the need for manual intervention. It increases uptime with automated system self-correction to ensure colour reproduction remains accurate and, importantly, delivers high-quality print results time after time. The IQ-501 can deliver time savings for print operators of up to 60 per cent and can increase system print productivity by up to 20 per cent.
Konica Minolta provides exceptional service and support to keep commercial printers up and running. The new AccurioPress C83hc is available now.
About Konica Minolta
Konica Minolta Business Solutions Australia Pty Ltd is a market leading provider of integrated solutions and managed services with the power to transform business environments.
Konica Minolta works with organisations large and small to provide integrated print and content management solutions and services to improve productivity, reduce costs, increase security and achieve sustainability outcomes. Optimised Print Services (OPS) combine consultancy with hardware and software implementation and operation.
Headquartered in Sydney, Konica Minolta Australia delivers expert professional services with experienced and responsive client support, in addition to the world-class service provided through its extensive network of direct sales offices and authorised dealers.
For more information: konicaminolta.com.au/home
Konica Minolta appoints Andrew Ward to the role of Sales Manager for Production & Strategic Sales, New South Wales
Sydney, Australia – Konica Minolta has appointed Andrew Ward to the role of Sales Manager for Production & Strategic Sales, New South Wales.
Andrew is focused on assisting commercial printers to improve their businesses and increase efficiencies through the use of Konica Minolta technology, as well as continuing to build a collaborative team that is well-trusted and respected by printers, suppliers, partners and peers.
Andrew has more than 25 years’ experience in the print industry from graphic arts to commercial print. Prior to this role he held various roles at HP and Canon.
Andrew Ward said, “Konica Minolta has a supportive, collaborative culture with a real social conscience, which is what appealed to me. With my broad experience in the industry I look forward to working with business owners to leverage their Konica Minolta technology to drive their businesses forward.”
David Procter, Director of Sales and Service, Konica Minolta, said, “Having experience in both the vendor and commercial print space means that Andrew has a depth of knowledge that will add significant value to our customers. We look forward to seeing how Andrew can motivate and coach a high-performance sales team that delivers outstanding service to our customers.”
About Konica Minolta
Konica Minolta Business Solutions Australia Pty Ltd is a market leading provider of integrated solutions and managed services with the power to transform business environments.
Konica Minolta works with organisations large and small to provide integrated print and content management solutions and services to improve productivity, reduce costs, increase security and achieve sustainability outcomes. Optimised Print Services (OPS) combine consultancy with hardware and software implementation and operation.
Headquartered in Sydney, Konica Minolta Australia delivers expert professional services with experienced and responsive client support, in addition to the world-class service provided through its extensive network of direct sales offices and authorised dealers.
For more information: konicaminolta.com.au/home
ForeScout encourages ANZ partners to get on board with network visibility and IoT security
Sydney, Australia – ForeScout Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSCT), a leading Internet of Things (IoT) security company, is encouraging the channel in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) to transform security through visibility.
Today’s enterprises are challenged with the increasing adoption of IoT devices, which has created new opportunities for the channel community to partner and engage with end-user organisations in need of stronger security. Coupled with an increase in cyber attacks, such as WannaCry, Locky and Mirai, which focused on IoT devices, the need for increased visibility for organisations has never been more important.
The ForeScout Forward Partner Program has been designed to maximise opportunity for channel partners to grow and profit through a more scalable program that benefits partners and their investments. Through a three-level partner model, the channel program fits the growing needs of ForeScout’s ANZ channel partners and provides them with more opportunity to support end-users security needs with professional services and closer integration with complementary solutions.
According to Gartner worldwide IoT security spending will reach $1.5 billion in 2018. [1]
“Gartner is forecasting a huge spend on IoT security and ForeScout is already seeing increased interest from many sectors including financial services and healthcare,” said Adam Gordon, regional director, Australia and New Zealand, ForeScout. “Channel partners see the value in the ForeScout offering because they can demonstrate to their customers time to value in just hours. Once ForeScout is implemented, customers gain immediate visibility of their network, which is a great selling point for our partners.”
“Now is the perfect time for channel organisations in the security space, or looking to expand into security, to partner with ForeScout. There are few solutions being offered that focus on the IoT security market, which means they can get their foot in the door first with ForeScout’s new technology before channel saturation,” added Gordon.
Content Security and Cube Networks are two of ForeScout’s ANZ channel partners who are using ForeScout with their customers to provide visibility across their network. On average, they find up to 60 per cent more devices on their customers’ network than first expected, which then lets them provide more control on what devices should be allowed on the network.
“As a security-focused company with 18 years of experience, we saw the value of getting on board early with ForeScout and being able to offer customers complete visibility of their network, including IoT devices,” said Louis Abdilla, CEO and co-founder, Content Security.
“As a trusted advisor to our customers, we look to partner with technology innovators who provide an agnostic approach in solving real business challenges,” said Matthew Reid, co-founder and director of technical consulting, Cube Networks. “Connecting IoT and OT devices to traditional IT infrastructure introduces many challenges. The synergy between Cube Networks and ForeScout gives our customers ultimate visibility, security, segmentation, policy and control – overcoming those challenges.”
About ForeScout
ForeScout Technologies, Inc. helps make the invisible visible. Our company provides Global 2000 enterprises and government agencies with agentless visibility and control of traditional and IoT devices the instant they connect to the network. Our technology integrates with disparate security tools to help organisations accelerate incident response, break down silos, automate workflows and optimise existing investments. Learn more at www.forescout.com.
References
[1] – https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3869181
Konica Minolta announces the availability of the AccurioPress C3080 series
Sydney, Australia – Enhanced productivity, expanded print services and brilliant quality
Konica Minolta has launched the AccurioPress C3080 series, its revolutionary production digital colour press with features developed to let commercial printers expand into new markets and print revenue streams.
The versatility and reliability offered by the AccurioPress C3080 series lets print professionals surpass their requirements for on-demand printing, which customers now expect. With high print speeds of up to 81ppm that equates to 4,399 A4 sheets per hour or 2,113 SRA3 sheets per hour, the C3080 will help commercial printers manage print deadlines with ease.
The AccurioPress C3080 and the C3070 are both available with the new IQ-501 Intelligent Quality Optimiser that provides a higher level of colour consistency, automated sheet registration (image-on-image, image-on paper and front to back side registration) on every page, measured and managed automatically, in real time, by the digital press.
The IQ-501 Intelligent Quality Optimiser drives results and will further assist to meet customer expectations by: eliminating variability in colour and registration; reducing waste through real-time auto correction/detection; reducing manual intervention; increasing uptime with automated, system self-correction; and executing the highest standards of colour accuracy.
Sue Thelfro general manager, Production & Industrial Print, Konica Minolta, said, “This innovation in digital printing delivers time savings for print operators of up to 60 per cent and can increase system print productivity by up to 20 per cent, ensuring a better experience for customers and increasing overall productivity.
“In an increasingly competitive market it is more important than ever that commercial printers are able to take advantage of new technology that improves their service, speed, and range to customers to ensure business growth. Konica Minolta is dedicated to helping ensure their success into the future by bringing to market new technology like the AccurioPress C3080 series.”
Konica Minolta’s integrated print controller delivers a powerful, affordable colour management solution that supports Konica Minolta Solution Platform Open API and IWS-related applications. The new web-based job management interface lets the user manage their jobs in any web browser without the need to install proprietary software.
Other features of the AccurioPress C3080 include:
- high-speed digital colour printing up to 81ppm in colour and black and white
- high-speed dual colour scanning at up 240ipm
- 3600 x 1200dpi print resolution with 8-bit processing for smooth, superb colour reproduction
- SEAD IV Screen-Enhancing Active Digital Processing providing the highest quality image output
- Simitri HDE toner that brings colours to life while reducing environmental impact
- 18,000 sheet maximum media capacity for long uninterrupted printing
- Media weights from 62 to 350 gsm, 350gsm auto duplex
- Long sheet banner printing: simplex up to 1300mm and up to 762mm auto duplex.
Backed up by the service and support commercial printers have come to expect from Konica Minolta, the new AccurioPress C3080 series is available now.
About Konica Minolta
Konica Minolta Business Solutions Australia Pty Ltd is a market leading provider of integrated solutions and managed services with the power to transform business environments.
Konica Minolta works with organisations large and small to provide integrated print and content management solutions and services to improve productivity, reduce costs, increase security and achieve sustainability outcomes. Optimised Print Services (OPS) combine consultancy with hardware and software implementation and operation.
Headquartered in Sydney, Konica Minolta Australia delivers expert professional services with experienced and responsive client support, in addition to the world-class service provided through its extensive network of direct sales offices and authorised dealers.
For more information: konicaminolta.com.au/home
ForeScout and Carbon Black integrate to reduce business impact of cyber threats
- New technology integration improves endpoint security hygiene and fortifies threat defences across the enterprise
- Together, ForeScout and Carbon Black maximise threat hunting across managed corporate endpoints and unmanaged BYOD and IoT devices
- Automated threat response and network containment limits malware propagation, shortens dwell time and reduces remediation costs
ForeScout Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSCT), a leading internet of things (IoT) security company, and Carbon Black (NASDAQ:CBLK), a leader in next-generation endpoint security, announced a new integration to fortify endpoint defences and accelerate threat containment across enterprise networks. The ForeScout Extended Module for Carbon Black combines ForeScout’s agentless visibility capabilities with Carbon Black’s advanced endpoint protection, offering intelligence from Carbon Black for Indicators of Compromise (IoCs), threat hunting, and ForeScout’s automated remediation and threat response.
“Enterprises are at risk as they continue to lack visibility into the devices connected to their networks as well as confidence that their corporate endpoints are properly configured, patched and free of malware,” said Brendan O’Connell, vice president of product management, ForeScout. “The most prevalent attacks target traditional corporate endpoints and the vast majority exploit known software vulnerabilities and basic configuration errors. By integrating with Carbon Black, we are taking an important step to help our mutual customers harden their endpoint defences and keep threats out.”
According to recent research, traditional antivirus solutions are only able to detect endpoint compromises 47 percent of the time, indicating that signature-based defences are no longer sufficient in protecting modern enterprises. The research also found that 42 percent of breached endpoints involve employee-owned laptops, supporting that most organisations are unaware of a significant number of unmanaged endpoints on their network – BYOD, guest or IoT devices – which often remain invisible to most security tools. If undetected, compromised devices can be used as launch pads to target higher-value assets, gain access to sensitive information and cause significant business impact.
Now, joint customers can leverage ForeScout’s integration with Carbon Black’s Cb Response and Cb Protection for advanced endpoint protection and threat intelligence to proactively combat threats across Carbon Black and ForeScout-managed endpoints, and orchestrate workflows to isolate and remediate compromised devices.
“By integrating with ForeScout, an industry front-runner in device visibility and automated response, we believe we are enabling our customers to gain unmatched threat hunting and containment across their enterprises,” said Tom Barsi, senior vice president of corporate and business development at Carbon Black. “As a result, security teams can accelerate threat response in order to reduce the negative effects of potential security incidents.”
The integration between ForeScout and Carbon Black will provide joint customers with:
- Comprehensive visibility across network-connected devices including BYOD, guest, IoT and off-premises corporate devices
- Improved security hygiene and Carbon Black agent coverage on supported corporate devices
- Joint threat hunting to reduce mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to respond (MTTR) for advanced threats
- Automated threat response and reduced manual processes for improved security operations
Additional Resources:
- Datasheet: ForeScout Extended Module for Carbon Black
- SANS Research Report: Endpoint Protection and Response: A SANS SURVEY
- ForeScout corporate brochure: https://forescout.com/forescout-company-brochure-pr/
- Follow ForeScout online: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Blog
About ForeScout:
ForeScout Technologies, Inc. helps make the invisible visible. Our company provides Global 2000 enterprises and government agencies with agentless visibility and control of traditional and IoT devices the instant they connect to the network. Our technology integrates with disparate security tools to help organisations accelerate incident response, break down silos, automate workflows and optimise existing investments. Learn more at www.forescout.com.
© 2018 ForeScout Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. ForeScout Technologies, Inc. is a Delaware corporation. A list of our trademarks and patents can be found at https://www.forescout.com/company/legal/intellectual-property-patents-trademarks. Other brands, products, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.
About Carbon Black:
Carbon Black (NASDAQ:CBLK) is a leading provider of next-generation endpoint security. Carbon Black serves more than 4,000 customers globally, including 33 of the Fortune 100. As a cybersecurity innovator, Carbon Black has pioneered multiple endpoint security categories, including application control, endpoint detection and response (EDR), and next-generation antivirus (NGAV). Leveraging its big data and analytics cloud platform – the Cb Predictive Security Cloud – Carbon Black solutions enable customers to defend against the most advanced cyber threats, including malware, ransomware, and non-malware attacks. Deployed via the cloud, on premise, or as a managed service, customers use Carbon Black solutions to lock down critical systems, hunt threats, and replace legacy antivirus.
Carbon Black and Predictive Security Cloud are registered trademarks or trademarks of Carbon Black, Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions.
Ixia delivers first 200/100/50GE speed test capability for the K400 400GE QSFP-DD test system
Sydney, Australia – Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: KEYS), a leading technology company that helps enterprises, service providers, and governments accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world, today announced that Ixia, a Keysight Business, is first to ship a 400GE test system with multi-rate 200/100/50GE speed options for the K400 400GE QSFP-DD load module family. These multi-rate speed options allow network equipment manufacturers (NEMs) to test products at speeds based on the new IEEE 802.3cd draft standard and IEEE 802.3bs standard using the 400GE QSFP-DD module at 200GE, 100GE, and 50GE speeds, from a single port.
The demand for bandwidth intensive data centre services such as 4K video and 5G mobile network services is pushing data centre and network operators to equipment with the smallest footprint, lowest power consumption, and fastest electrical interfaces. As a result, network equipment manufacturers are moving from technology based on 28Gb/s electrical lanes with non-return-to-zero (NRZ) encoding to faster 56Gb/s electrical lanes with PAM4 encoding.
“Flexible test solutions are necessary to develop higher speed, multi-rate, high density Ethernet products for the leaders in the data centre space,” said Sunil Kalidindi, vice president product management, at Keysight’s Ixia Solutions Group. “Network devices such as routers, switches and servers must be able to operate at all new speeds in the IEEE 802.3cd draft specification and IEEE 802.3bs on most, or all, ports on their devices.”
56Gb/s technology is at the forefront of Ethernet speed evolution—moving from legacy 25GE, 50GE, and 100GE (based on 28Gbs technology) to the new 200GE, 100GE, and 50GE interfaces expected to come to market this year. The Ixia K400 QSFP-DD load module is the only shipping test solution that can validate these technologies using 400GE-port fan-out media to deliver a future-proof platform for testing 400GE, 200GE, 100GE, or 50GE multi-speed or single-speed network devices.
About Keysight Technologies
Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: KEYS) is a leading technology company that helps enterprises, service providers, and governments accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world. Keysight’s solutions optimize networks and bring electronic products to market faster and at a lower cost with offerings from design simulation, to prototype validation, to manufacturing test, to optimization in networks and cloud environments. Customers span the worldwide communications ecosystem, aerospace and defense, automotive, energy, semiconductor, and general electronics end markets. Keysight generated revenues of $3.2B in fiscal year 2017. In April 2017, Keysight acquired Ixia, a leader in network test, visibility, and security. More information is available at www.keysight.com.