US-based Reinvent Telecom, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Saddleback Communications operating a private-label communications platform as a service (CPaaS), has enhanced the security for its real-time business VoIP, video, unified communications (UC) and collaboration services. The company has now deployed carrier-grade VoIP/SIP security, threat intelligence analytics and fraud-detection technology in cooperation with RedShift Networks, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions for communications service providers. Reinvent Telecom provides the ability for its wholesale partners to deliver secure, reliable and high-quality Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), conferencing and collaboration, Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) and SIP trunking services. Bill Bryant, President at Reinvent Telecom, said, “At Reinvent, we understand that today’s VoIP networks are as vulnerable to cyberattacks as data networks. That’s why we’re doubling down on network security to give our partners and their customers the protection – and peace of mind – they deserve.” The wholesale UCaaS provider…
Apple unifies its app stores by extending the universal purchase option to Mac apps Apple has added the ability for its app developers to sell their cross-platform apps as one universal purchase, including apps that run on macOS. Consumers will just pay once for an app that works across devices such as iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and/or Mac. Developers can choose to create a new app for these platforms using a single app record in the App Store Connect or add platforms to their existing app record. In preparation for the changes, the App Store categories will be unified across the iOS App Store and Mac App Store, to make the apps more discoverable. Apple said that support for universal purchase will launch in March 2020. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/txqz6al Israeli B2B blockchain startup Clear banks $13m in series A funding Blockchain settlement startup Clear has raised USD 13 million in a Series A round.…
The World Economic Forum Centre for Cybersecurity, in cooperation with leading Internet service providers (ISPs) and multilateral organizations around the world, have developed new Internet security principles to help protect up to one billion consumers in 180 countries. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2019, the impact of indiscriminate malicious activity on the Internet can be significant and will carry an estimated global price tag of USD 6 trillion in 2021. The new cybersecurity principles have been endorsed by BT, Deutsche Telekom, Du Telecom, Global Cyber Alliance, Korea Telecom, Proximus, Saudi Telecom, Europol, Singtel, Telstra, Internet Society, and the ITU. It is stated that ISPs are a critical community that have the ability to protect consumers against cybersecurity threats and therefore have a significantly positive impact on their safety. Amy Jordan, Delivery Lead, Platform for Shaping the Future of Cybersecurity and Digital Trust, World Economic Forum, said, “Cybersecurity…
Six global carriers form a group for MEC, 5G interoperability Verizon, Vodafone, America Movil, KT Corporation, Rogers Communications, and Telstra have joined forces to form the first-of-its-kind cooperation, the 5G Future Forum. The world’s leading telecoms and technology service providers will work together to develop interoperable 5G specifications and mobile edge computing across key geographic regions, including the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe. According to the statement from the carriers, they will “develop public and private marketplaces to enhance developer and customer access to 5G, and will share global best practices in technology deployment.” Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/u3vdooh Google acquires no-code app development platform AppSheet Google has announced the acquisition of AppSheet, a no-code enterprise app development platform that allows developers without extensive programming knowledge to collect rich data, fill up apps with AI, or automatically move data. This works by extracting data from a spreadsheet, database or form, and using the…
Telefonica launches Tech and Infra units amid Latam spin-off Spain’s telecom giant Telefonica has announced a major organisational restructuring after a meeting of its board of directors. The company’s chairman and CEO Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete has introduced a new bold strategy to spin off company assets and prepare for industry 4.0. With its 5-point plan, Telefonica aims to generate more than EUR 2 billion a year in additional revenues from 2022, by prioritising its four key markets of Spain, Brazil, the UK and Germany and carrying out an “operational spin-off” of its Latin American business. The company will also set up a subsidiary for its cloud, cybersecurity and IoT businesses called Telefonica Tech and another for its infrastructure assets, Telefonica Infra. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/wjkobwc AT&T and Microsoft launch edge computing network Microsoft and AT&T have integrated 5G with Azure to launch their new Network Edge Compute (NEC) service for…
FIX Network has announced a significant achievement towards their goal of securing transactions and private keys on SIM cards. As an innovative joint venture made of leading teams in telecoms, cybersecurity and blockchain, FIX Network will leverage the existing cellular infrastructure by defining and implementing a new blockchain-based security protocol. According to the announcement, the FIX Network Security Protocol will ensure the security and safety of private keys used by applications on mobile devices, and will provide a trusted environment for protecting a customer’s digital identities and digital assets. A significant innovation by the company is the storage of private keys on the subscriber’s SIM card, and the execution of cryptographic operations on that SIM card using applets. FIX Network emphasized that the private keys are never exposed to the mobile device or to a public network, thus enhancing security of the stored Digital Identities and other digital assets such…
Google Cloud’s Contact Center AI hits general availability Google Cloud has announced the general availability of Contact Centre AI, which will enable corporations to deploy virtual agents for basic customer interactions. The service is built using conversational AI engine Dialogflow, the development suite for creating conversational interfaces such as chat bots and interactive voice responses (IVR). Furthermore, Google Cloud has introduced Cloud Run, a service for managing Knative for serverless apps like Kubernetes, and has also launched the Network Intelligence Centre, an AI-driven network management service. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/yhn43zb9 Moto Razr 2019 is official: A foldable smartphone with no display crease One of the most iconic and best-selling flip phones is reborn. Motorola has unveiled the Moto Razr folding-screen smartphone with a large OLED display that folds in half. The most interesting thing about the new phone is the hinge design: there is a large empty space around it, so…
Samsung’s next flagship phone chip, the Exynos 990, is 20% faster Samsung has released its new Exynos 990 flagship chipset together with the 5G-capable Exynos Modem 5123 that are expected to help the next generation of mobile devices make intensive use of video and artificial intelligence (AI) applications as well as 5G communications. The Korean electronics giant said that the Exynos 990 is 20 percent faster at executing ordinary processing tasks, 20 percent faster in graphics processing and twice as fast in software tuned for the chip’s AI acceleration scheme. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/y2qmemq5 Nvidia and Ericsson announce the first GPU-powered 5G mobile network At this year’s Mobile World Congress in Los Angeles, California, Nvidia announced the partnership with Ericsson and Red Hat to help mobile network operators accelerate 5G deployment. The company has compared the power of its GPU-accelerated EGX hardware to traditional CPU-based servers and claims that a…
BT CEO: We want to be so much more than just another communications provider BT’s Chief Executive Officer Philip Jansen said the company is going to transform itself into a comprehensive provider of digital services, as it doubles down on convergence in the coming years. The UK telecom giant will continue to evolve its product offering to provide seamless connectivity across its fixed line, mobile and Wi-Fi networks. Furthermore, BT has launched the next generation of its converged products, Halo, that will offer unlimited data and calls on mobile and at home as well as inclusive support from BT’s new team of Home Tech Experts. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/y575g9j8 MacOS Catalina: 5 best things about Apple’s new OS for your Mac Apple has launched MacOS Catalina, its new desktop operating system for Macintosh computers, with a host of new features and changes. With this Mac upgrade, Apple divides iTunes into…
FIX Network, an innovative technology company from Vilnius, Lithuania, has developed a new two-factor authentication (2FA) SIM card and app for protecting mobile data and digital identities. The ultimate goal of the company is to provide comprehensive blockchain-based solutions for mobile devices, enabling subscribers to secure their digital assets and identities by safekeeping private keys on their SIM cards. However, due to the urgent and immediate requirement of securing phone numbers – which may be considered to be the most valuable digital identities – FIX Network will provide a free-to-use 2FA application, together with newly issued and truly subscriber-owned phone numbers that will serve as secure and global digital identities. These numbers will be fully controlled by the subscriber, preventing unauthorized porting or malicious hijacking of the phone number. This 2FA solution will also include the practical ability to recover access to digital identities through user-defined policies that include…