Global satellite operator Telesat, the Vodafone Group and the University of Surrey in the UK, have successfully accomplished the world’s first 5G backhaul demonstration deploying a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) communications satellite. This successful trial demonstrates that LEO satellites are able to provide efficient backhaul transport channels for mobile network operators (MNOs), including for 5G advanced services. During the live test conducted by these partners in April, Telesat’s Phase 1 LEO satellite was connected to the University of Surrey’s 5G testbed network, with the support of specialist Vodafone engineers. Vodafone also provided some funding and arranged licensing for the demonstration system. John Miller, Head of Satellite Engineering at Vodafone, said: “The use of LEO satellites provides an additional mobile backhaul option and can be an important part of the delivery system particularly to customers in our markets who live in rural areas.” Professor Barry Evans, University of Surrey, said: “The University of Surrey is very…
SSE Enterprise Telecoms, a UK-wide high capacity network and connectivity provider, has announced a new critical network contract with Jisc, a digital technology supplier for the education and research sector in the UK. The agreement includes the launch of the Janet South network and an extension of the UK Backbone network partnership, providing data-intensive research centres access to significant bandwidth and speeds of up to 100 Gbps. Colin Sempill, Managing Director, SSE Enterprise Telecoms, said: “Through utilising our expansive network and industry expertise, Jisc has been able to provide vital connectivity to some of the UK’s most critical education and research facilities. Thanks to our high capacity, low latency services these institutions can collaborate across the UK and the globe.” “We’re very excited to announce the launch of the Janet South Network partnership and further extension of the UK backbone network, which will keep vital institutions producing ground-breaking…
NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com), the ICT solutions and international communications business within the NTT Group, is promoting the expansion and development of its European data center platform with the launch of their Amsterdam 1 Data Center (AMS1). The group’s first data center in the Netherlands has been opened by NTT Com’s subsidiary E-Shelter, which provides secure environments for housing and connectivity of IT and network systems. Tetsuya Shoji, President and CEO of NTT Com, said in his official opening speech: “I am delighted to open our latest state-of-the-art data center campus located in Amsterdam, one of the key internet hubs in Europe”. The carrier-neutral E-Shelter’s AMS1 data center will have a capacity of up to 40 MW IT load spread over a 16,000 square meter campus and, as NTT’s 21st data center in Europe, will leverage more than 400 MVA power capacity across the continent, with plans…
Google Cloud has responded to its customers’ requests for the ability to use open-source technology easily in a cloud-native manner. At Google Cloud Next 2019, the company announced strategic partnerships with seven “leading open source-centric companies” working on data management and analytics. The products from Confluent, DataStax, Elastic, InfluxData, MongoDB, Neo4j and Redis Labs will be integrated into the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and offered as managed services. According to Google, this new project will deliver a seamless user experience in management, billing and support and will simultaneously provide the ability to easily leverage these open-source technologies in Google’s cloud. In addition, the tech giant will cooperate with its partners to build integration with native GCP services like Stackdriver for monitoring and logging, and IAM for user and security policy management. Manvinder Singh, the head of infrastructure partnerships at Google Cloud, said in a press briefing: “As you…
The Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) has launched the first database in the telecommunications industry to track worldwide 5G devices. This new 5G device tracking and reporting facility, which forms part of the GSA Analyser for Mobile Broadband Devices (GAMBoD) database, “represents an important milestone for the 5G ecosystem as it moves from service trials and prototype user equipment to commercially available services and devices”. In its first survey, 5G Device Ecosystem Report, dated March 2019, the GSA identified a total of 23 vendors that have confirmed the upcoming availability of 5G devices, with 33 different devices available, including regional variants. There were 7 publicized 5G device form factors, namely phones, hotspots, indoor CPE, outdoor CPE, modules, Snap-On dongles, adapters and USB terminals. On a per form factor basis, the report identified 12 phones (plus regional variants), 5 hotspots (plus regional variants), 8 CPE devices (indoor and outdoor),…
The extensive lineup of desktop SIP phone systems has been supplemented by yet another cordless solution, as Panasonic Systems Solutions Company of North America has announced the release of their new SIP cordless KX-TPA68 communication terminal. The phone was designed “for intuitive use and added flexibility as a member of the KX-TGP600 SIP cordless phone system family”. The Panasonic KX-TPA68 facilitates collaboration among staff members and enables real-time shared call appearance. The communication terminal allows users to pick up calls, retrieve held calls and join calls from lines shared across multiple KX-TPA68 cordless desk phones that are registered to the same base unit. The included features allow users to monitor the status of up to six phone lines on the same screen in real-time, and complete actions with a single touch. The new solution features an enhanced user interface and is equipped with a 3.5-inch color LCD, 18…
The accomplished blockchain technologies company PeerStream, Inc. has joined the partnership of Telefonica’s cybersecurity unit ElevenPaths and decentralized hardware-based cybersecurity leader Rivetz, to work cooperatively on next-generation zero trust architectures, and offer privacy and security protection for business communications. Alex Harrington, CEO of PeerStream, said: “We are excited to collaborate with such esteemed partners to build groundbreaking software that has the potential to deliver real value for a large worldwide client base. We are honored to join ElevenPaths and Rivetz in this common vision.” PeerStream is focusing on privacy and security improvements and the development of enterprise-grade communications software that is being readied to enter the market under the Backchannel brand. Backchannel incorporates a growing suite of software tools created to control secure, real-time data and messaging channels, including support for video streaming. The company’s decentralized network routing technology may operate on either blockchain or traditional distributed architectures. …
Do you want to change your telecommunication service provider, but need to keep your current phone number? This process is called number portability, and defines the mechanism and procedures that allow you to switch from one phone network service provider to another in any Licensed Service Area (LSA), while maintaining your existing number. Number portability offers customers the right to exercise their choice in selecting a service provider and, at the same time, avoid the inconvenience of being allocated a new phone number. This important facility provides the customer with freedom-of-choice and, as a result, generates competition among service providers encouraging lower tariffs, improved services and enhanced Quality of Service (QoS) of the networks. It is important to note that the portability feature only concerns the phone number, and is not applicable to services. In this article we focus on the complete porting process from start to finish and, at…
A consortium of nine technology companies – Intel, Cisco, Dell EMC, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Facebook, Google, Alibaba and Huawei – has been formed in order to create and launch a new standard, called Compute Express Link (CXL). This project will accelerate ever-expanding data workloads, such as high-performance computing, artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT), rich media services, and cloud applications. Jim Pappas, director of technology initiatives at Intel, said in a statement: “CXL is an important milestone for data-centric computing and will be a foundational standard for an open, dynamic accelerator ecosystem. Like USB and PCI Express, which Intel also cofounded, we can look forward to a new wave of industry innovation and customer value delivered through the CXL standard.” The new cluster of tech giants, described as “the biggest group of influencers driving a modern interconnect standard”, also affirmed the CXL Specification 1.0, which enables…
Telefonica and Facebook have joined forces to launch an open access wholesale rural mobile infrastructure operator, Internet para Todos (IpT) Peru, together with IDB Invest (Inter-American Investment Corporation) and CAF (Development Bank of Latin America). The project aims to bring faster mobile Internet to rural markets and consequently bridge the digital divide in Latin America. An estimated 20 percent of the Latin American population, which is around 100 million people, lack sufficient access to mobile broadband and therefore are deprived of enjoying the benefits offered by the digital economy. “Our new approach will leverage our network as a service to bridge the digital divide as fast as possible while providing any mobile network operator access to rural markets,” said Teresa Gomes, Managing director of Internet para Todos. “Our goal now is to launch and scale the project in Peru and prove what’s possible to the rest of Latin…