European Commission proposes new AI regulations The European Commission is proposing new rules that would allow it to ban any type or deployment of AI that it considers high-risk. The organization also proposes much stricter rules and limitations on the use of biometric data, such as law enforcement using face recognition. Violation of the rules may result in fines of up to 6% of the offending company’s total global turnover. For the biggest tech companies, that sum could reach billions. The commission’s digital chief, Margrethe Vestager, said: “On artificial intelligence, trust is a must, not a nice-to-have.” Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/5e8wcufu Cisco to invest $100 million to combat climate change Cisco has unveiled plans to invest $100 million over the next 10 years to help fight climate change, using the fund in its name for initiatives aimed at reducing emissions and educating communities. Cisco’s efforts will be global, and funding…
Red Hat, a provider of open source solutions, has announced a partnership with NEC Corporation to deliver 5G solutions built on Red Hat OpenShift, the industry’s leading enterprise Kubernetes platform. With this partnership, NEC will be able to deliver its next-generation suite of core capabilities to the OpenShift platform. The NEC 5G core network solutions operating on Red Hat OpenShift will allow organizations to leverage 5G in many applications, including the 5G core, 5G radio access networks (RANs), edge computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and more, creating new income opportunities. This cloud-native network function (CNF) infrastructure will offer service providers a common telecommunications cloud infrastructure for a variety of use cases, helping to reduce management and operational costs. Service providers will also be able to reap the benefits of using an open, horizontal platform that can reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) by 30%, according to an ACG…
Spain approves entry for MWC participants The organizers of the Mobile World Congress 2021, which will take place in Barcelona this summer, have received much-needed good news from the Spanish government. Spain currently bans “non-essential” travel to and from non-EU/Schengen countries. But the GCMA, which manages the MWC, has announced that people who have registered for the event will be classified as “highly skilled workers” and therefore will be excused from this restriction. The GSMA intends to provide the Spanish authorities with details of all registrants and registrants will also be provided with a confirmation of participation. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/35z7nub5 Lumen signs a deal with T-Mobile US Lumen Technologies has taken a major step in expanding its latest edge computing service with a new deal with T-Mobile US. This agreement will allow Lumen to receive access to the operator’s 5G network to reach more of the company’s customers. The…
Black Lotus Labs, a division specializing in threat intelligence at Lumen Technologies that focuses on identifying malware and cyber security threats, has announced the discovery of a group of compromised websites that have been used in watering hole attacks in the past. All visitors who browse one of the sites would be unknowingly infected and vulnerable to the attacker stealing a copy of their Windows authentication credentials that could be used to impersonate them. The activity was only recently brought to light and was discovered on several Ukrainian and one Canadian website. These attacks target websites by inserting a malicious function into the website’s code, which is then executed by the victim’s machine. This type of attack has been used for many years, including the high-level compromise that was traced to the San Francisco International Airport website in April 2020. When analyzing the attacks in Ukraine and Canada,…
Google announces their Network Connectivity Center Google has announced a new product, the Network Connection Center (NCC). NCC is described as a revolution in the simplification of on premises and cloud networking. This new product is an initiative to provide a single control panel for a company of any size to manage all of its networks globally. The Network Connection Center is said to effortlessly join together VPNs, partners and dedicated interconnects, as well as third-party routers and Software-Defined WANs, in order to optimize connectivity, reduce operational burden and minimize costs. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/xaaypzwr AT&T signs a 12-year contract with the US Treasury Department AT&T has cemented a $231 million and 12-year contract with the US Treasury Department to modernize the agency’s voice and data networks and ensure cyber security protection. This agreement is part of the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) technology procurement program. Under…
Singtel, a Singaporean telecommunications conglomerate, and its Australian subsidiary Optus have expanded their 5G ecosystems by adding Amazon Web Services (AWS) Outposts to their portfolio of hybrid cloud technologies from hyperscale cloud providers in their respective multi-access edge compute (MEC) platforms. With Amazon Web Services Outpost, MEC will power 5G solutions such as robotics, drones, autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence to function with very little latency, and closer to end-users. Companies can access MECs with AWS Outposts from the nearest Singtel site, allowing them to seamlessly manage their applications that utilize AWS tools and benefit from extremely low latency data processing. Furthermore, Singtel may optionally install the MEC with AWS Outposts at the customer’s site for testing, in the case where the customer wishes to keep confidential data on its premises. Bill Chang, CEO of group enterprise at Singtel said its partnership with AWS will increase the…
Orange launches satellite broadband service in France Orange-owned satellite broadband business Nordnet has officially launched its satellite broadband service in France. As is well known, Neosat provides broadband services of up to 100 Mbps to homes and businesses in areas with poor connectivity for less than €40 per month. Nordet launched its services just as a new generation of satellite broadband services is beginning to emerge around the globe. The company packages satellite broadband services with a fixed-line telephone service, together with unlimited calls to fixed and mobile telephones and certain other destinations. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/ap4rdryh Microsoft acquires Marsden In continuation to expand its capabilities to better serve industry verticals, Microsoft has acquired The Marsden Group, the company’s current partner focused on rapid prototyping and digital transformation for industrial customers. The acquisition of Marsden, an existing Microsoft Gold partner, will accelerate Microsoft’s capability to take advantage of its cloud,…
Dialpad, a leading cloud communications platform for AI-powered calling, conferencing and contact centers, has announced the launch of the Dialpad Partner Success portal, providing the company’s resale partners with a host of tools and features to help drive business growth. This announcement comes after a record-breaking year for the company. The Dialpad Partner Success Portal provides additional resources and tools to help resellers and agent partners develop and expand their Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS), contact centers and collaborative businesses. The Partner Success Portal is just the first addition to the Dialpad channel program. The company is also developing a new Inside Channel Management (ICM) team to contribute to the growing Channel program. The ICM program will provide special care and attention in an effort to improve relationships with partners. From April 6th, users will be able to sign up for the new Dialpad Success Portal. Mike Kane, VP…
Mobile World Congress 2021 to require a negative Covid test for entry GSMA, the organization hosting the Mobile World Congress 2021, has announced a health and safety plan for its event. Of course, requirements include doing all the usual things such as wearing masks, washing hands, keeping distance, and following the proper sneezing and coughing esthetics, but there are more specific safety outlines. One of the most important stipulations in place will be the requirement of proof of a negative Covid test, which will be fully managed by the MWC app. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/5ssd8d8u Intel to tackle data privacy with DARPA Intel has become a part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a research partner to help run its Data Projection in Virtual Environments (DPRIVE) program. This program is seeking ways to improve fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), that allows the processing of encrypted data without the…

