ZTE Corporation and Intel have jointly launched the Light Cloud platform for access networks at the 5G Summit being held at Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona. The Light Cloud solution is based on Intel’s innovative Edge products, impeccably integrated into ZTE’s flagship optical fiber access platform, Titan, thus merging Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) and Network function virtualization (NFVI). The solution employs lightweight blade servers equipped with Intel Xeon D processors. When embedded in an OLT or BRAS device, the blade servers transform it into lightweight cloud infrastructure, thus reducing high capital costs and making a positive environmental impact. The infrastructure opens up computing and storage possibilities based on telecom access equipment, and allows the deployment and distribution of application-sensitive services. The access layer with cloud features is supported by built-in blade servers, and facilitates the ability to offer a wide range of cloud applications and services, including…
The Mobile World Congress – MWC Barcelona 2019 – is here. More than 100,000 mobile industry insiders, telecom specialists, professionals, analysts, reporters, and admirers of the most advanced devices have gathered to explore the wonders of the latest technology. Tech giants such as Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, and Vivo unveiled their innovations just before the show, but here we list some notable smartphones that have been presented at MWC. LG V50 ThinQ South Korea’s LG Electronics has unveiled its first 5G smartphone with a dual screen, the V50 ThinQ. The two screens are independant, enabling users to watch videos on one screen and browse the Internet on the other. Qualcomm’s cutting-edge Snapdragon 855 chipset together with a X50 5G modem will power the V50 model to support high-resolution games and data-rich applications without latency. The phone, with a 6.4-inch OLED full vision display, is equipped with a 4,000 mAh battery and…
VoIP has become an integral part of the day-to-day lives of many people throughout the world, offering a plethora of technological advancements and options, simplifying many communication processes and making interactions more convenient and consumer friendly. VoIP is one of the most talked-about technologies, and its prevalence is anticipated to grow in the upcoming years. Over the last twenty years, VoIP has provided businesses around the world with the convenience of increased mobility, due to constant development and emerging cutting-edge technologies. The usage of VoIP as a service has grown rapidly – between 1998 and 2002, VoIP carried only 1-3% of all voice calls worldwide, but in 2005, VoIP was responsible for more than 200 billion call minutes. With 2019 already underway, let’s have a look at what the future holds for the VoIP communications industry. In particular, we examine the insights and predictions regarding the trends and technologies that will…
Microsoft has announced that the latest version of Skype for desktops and laptops now offers the option of blurring the background during video calls. This feature works to distinguish and isolate the subject from the surrounding background, and places the focus on the person as the most important component of the scene. This will provide a distraction-free space, and help eliminate any embarrassing moments during video conferencing. This option was first introduced in another Microsoft messaging application, Teams. Last September the company announced their support for the background blur in this collaboration app, introducing new features for the workplace chat platform and Office 365. The blur feature has put Artificial Intelligence (AI) to use, as this advanced technology has been trained to recognize the human form. It is not just the speaker’s face that is in focus, but also their hair, hands and arms, thus creating a smooth…
Verizon has announced a successful edge computing trial on a live 5G network, conducted using their newly formed 5G test bed in Houston. The company’s engineers used Multi-Access Edge Compute (MEC) equipment and MEC platform software, incorporated in a network facility closer to the network edge, and managed to decrease network latency by half. The test results are important for next generation networks, enabling 5G to support low-latency applications such as Virtual Reality (VR). Low latency refers to minimizing the round-trip time taken by data packets. This is an essential yet enormously challenging attribute for a 5G network, and its high performance requirements. At present, many mobile applications depend on cloud-based processing that is handled in centralized data centers, and the physical distances involved increase latency. According to Verizon, locating the computing power nearer to the users at the network edge significantly decreases the time to deliver services. …
Telstra, the largest Australian telecommunication company, has announced the launch of a new rapid restoration service for one of its busiest subsea cable routes in Asia. The company has joined forces with Ericsson and Ciena to ensure that their customers stay continuously connected. The solution offers carriers and cloud service providers increased network visibility, flexibility and reliable data access. Nadya Melic, Telstra’s head of Connectivity and Platforms, said the new service is now available on three of its intra-Asia routes, following the successful tests carried out in December 2018. “The Asian region presents one of the most challenging environments for subsea cable systems. Busy and shallow shipping ports in Hong Kong and Singapore, high-levels of fishing activity and an ecosystem prone to natural disasters, all threaten to disrupt or damage underwater infrastructure,” said Melic. The new rapid restoration service on the subsea network will be provided using…
The 1st of January, 2019 saw the first live TV broadcast of the annual Bosingak bell-ringing New Year’s event over a 5G commercial network. SK Telecom, a South Korean wireless carrier, took advantage of the festive opportunity and offered a live, 11-minute broadcast of the country’s largest celebration in Seoul. High-definition footage on an entertainment channel XtvN showed the New Year’s countdown ceremony, the bell-ringing event and interviews. “With today’s successful live TV broadcasting over commercial 5G network, SK Telecom ushers in a new era of 5G-based media services,” said Choi Nak-hoon, Senior Vice President and Head of 5GX IoT/Data Group of SK Telecom. “In this new era, individual creators will be able to provide high-quality live broadcast anytime, anywhere, via 5G smartphones.” SK Telecom commercialised its 5G network in December 2018, accompanied by a ‘T Live Caster’ app. The solution was developed over a period of four…
US telecommunications companies Telinta, offering cloud-based, white label switching and billing solutions for VoIP service providers, and TextBetter, a provider of cloud-based business-texting services, have announced a joint initiative to deliver cooperative solutions for VoIP service providers. VoIP services such as hosted PBX, business and residential VoIP, and mobile connectivity accessible through Telinta’s cloud-based softswitch platform, can be integrated with this unique SMS solution. The white label solution from TextBetter makes it possible for any US phone number to send and receive SMS via email. TextBetter SMS services can be easily added to Telinta’s hosted softswitch platform, without the need to change the ownership of the DIDs. According to Telinta, “this powerful cloud-based combination of VoIP switching, billing, and SMS technology requires no software or hardware for service providers. TextBetter pairs the end user’s existing email with an associated phone number, so that SMS messages can be both…
The problems for the social networking giant Facebook continue to mount as yet another data-sharing scandal has exploded. The New York Times (NYT) has published a thorough investigation detailing Facebook’s data sharing practices, and reported that the social network provided some well-known tech companies with access to hundreds of millions of users’ data without their consent. Interviews with former Facebook employees and its corporate partners, as well as hundreds of pages of documents obtained by the NYT, confirmed that Facebook made the questionable arrangements with partners such as Amazon, Spotify, Netflix and Microsoft. These alliances enabled the companies to “read, write and delete users’ private messages, and to see all participants on a thread”. The records revealed, that “Facebook allowed Microsoft’s Bing search engine to see the names of virtually all Facebook users’ friends without consent. The social network permitted Amazon to obtain users’ names and contact information…
The Nordic telecom companies Telia and Ericsson have made important progress towards implementing 5G innovations for commercial use across Sweden in 2020, by launching their 5G development platform at KTH, the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Their hopes are for the network to play a vital role in developing innovative new solutions and services. The KTH campus was chosen as the host venue due to the research such as remote VR, Internet of Things (IoT) and industry automation being conducted at that facility. Professor Jan Gulliksen, the Vice President for Digitalization at KTH, appreciates this amazing opportunity “to have access to Sweden’s first 5G network here on campus.” He claims that it “gives our researchers, teachers and students a head start when it comes to understanding and developing this new technology ahead of its wider launch. This is exactly the kind of partnership we believe helps stimulate research-driven…