Putting a Price on Latency: Startup Network Next Aims to Fix Internet Routing

With things like Google Stadia and 5G putting a new focus on real-time connections, startup Network Next hopes its AdWords-inspired approach to Internet routing will catch on.

Google cloud dives deeper into the data dreamland

Google’s cloud business unit has announced the acquisition of data analytics firm Looker for $2.6 billion, further expanding products available in the ever-growing world of cloud.

Google fleshes out its Stadia cloud gaming platform

Having teased a new cloud gaming platform earlier this year, Google has finally got around to launching it properly.

HTC debuts eye-tracking with enterprise VR launch

HTC has announced it is bringing its enterprise VR product to North America, after teasing executives at CES in January.

Facebook moves to distance itself from Huawei

Social media giant Facebook is blocking the preinstallation of all its apps on Huawei phones according to a report.

UK consumers are resigned to poor data security, research finds

The new EY research in UK’s digital households found over four in ten consumers believed their data would never be fully secure, despite the recent regulatory changes including GDPR.

IBM lays off more than 1,000 employees

IBM on Thursday confirmed reports that it's laying off a small number of employees after online message board TheLayoff first reported the cuts on…

Maine gets tough on telcos over data economy

Maine Governor Janet Mills has signed new privacy rules into law, demanding more proactive engagement from broadband providers in the data-sharing economy.

Facebook ends app pre-installation deal with Huawei

Google, meanwhile, has called the U.S.’s ban on supplying technology to Huawei a security risk.

Ligado claims midband spectrum advantage

Ligado Networks says it has prime midband spectrum that it’s ready to use as soon as the FCC gives it the green light.

Microsoft Nips Amazon in Cloud Revenues, IHS Report Finds

That victory came on the back of its applications business, which generated $8.5 billion in revenues last year compared to just $32 million generated by Amazon.

STS Media will sell FreedomPop ahead of its Boost Mobile bid

STS Media will sell FreedomPop to Red Pocket Mobile, according to a report from Reuters.

CUJO AI aims for 'digital life protection'

With more connected IoT devices, such as locks, lights, thermostats and cameras on home networks, there's an increased need for better security.

SK Telecom, Samsung Electronics and Cisco Sign MOU for 5G Smart Office Business

SK Telecom, Samsung Electronics and Cisco signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on June 5, 2019 to promote 5G-based smart office business. Under the MOU, the three parties will cooperate on planning and developing new 5G smart office services; developing a comprehensive package by integrating their proprietary technologies and services; and jointly promoting integrated marketing initiatives.

Comcast Takes First Shot at Live 4K TV

Cable op will deliver live streams of Women's World Cup over its managed IP network using HEVC at 18 Mbit/s.

Will AT&T Take DirecTV for a Spin[Out]?

The time is right for divestiture of DirecTV, 'the weakest piece in the AT&T puzzle,' and Dish could be the right partner in a deal that would bring much-needed consolidation to the US satellite TV market, UBS says.

Why Cable DAA Is DOA This Year

Cable technologists say DAA rollouts have not ramped up as expected this year because of a variety of factors but still express optimism about 2020 prospects.

Eurobites: Chinese Ban Could Cost Europe €55B, Warns GSMA

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: fiber takes a hold in France; Sharon White to step down from Ofcom; Channel 4 readies new ad data platform.

China's Early 5G Move Doesn't Erase Huawei Doubts

An acceleration of 5G plans looks partly designed to prop up China's homegrown equipment maker, but analysts remain worried.

Arista Fills Out Its Cognitive Enterprise Portfolio

The new PoE switch and WiFi access point bolster its software-led equipment products as it battles against heavyweight Cisco.

Broadband universal service becomes a thing in the UK

UK telecoms operator Ofcom has officially launched something called the broadband ‘universal service obligation, that supposedly entitles everyone to decent broadband.

FCC gives telcos the authority to block robocalls

However, phone companies are not required to block robocalls. And they are also not prohibited from charging for robocall blocking services.

CORRECTION: China Telecom responsible for outages that cut access to WhatsApp

China Telecom, and not Cogent Communications, was the network behind Thursday's network outages in London that cut access to WhatsApp.

YouTube squirms under the contradictions of its censorship

Having initially taken a position in favour of freedom of speech, YouTube has now lurched towards censorship following public pressure.

Sharon White calls it a day at Ofcom

After four years of running the UK telecoms regulator Sharon White has decided she fancies a go at retail.

Amazon almost takes to the skies and rids itself of pesky humans

Amazon has announced another step forward towards the promise of drone delivery and the ambition of a human free business.

Four Chinese operators are awarded 5G licences

All the four incumbent telecom operators in China received commercial 5G licences, raising the curtain on the commercial rollout of the next generation mobile networks in the world’s biggest telecom market.

Pluribus Networks bows new virtual gateway router

On Thursday Pluribus Networks took the wraps off its new white box, multitenant data center gateway router that is optimized for public cloud interconnects.

ADARA ports SD-WAN offerings onto a single VNF

ADARA has combined its SD-WAN products, previously known as SD-WAN Proxy and SD-WAN Router on AWS Marketplace, onto a single VNF.

Donovan outlines AT&T's 5G enterprise strategy

While emphasizing enterprise use cases, Donovan said it's too early to tell how 5G will be priced for consumers.

Akraino Edge stack emerges for 5G, IoT

LF Edge announced the availability of Akraino Edge Stack Release 1, setting a framework to address 5G, IoT and a range of edge use cases.

Pluribus Unveils White Box Gateway Router With Deep Slicing Capabilities

Pluribus calls the product the “industry’s first,” and IHS Markit analyst Michael Howard says that’s accurate. But as more mini data centers pop up everywhere from basements of building to cell tours, he expects more vendors to follow suit.

Google Cloud Lassos Data Analytics Provider Looker for $2.6B

An analyst noted that the deal will help Google Cloud better compete against Microsoft's BI Power platform.

LF Edge Targets Telcos With Akraino Edge Stack Release

Akraino is an open source software stack designed to improve and expand the flexibility of edge cloud services in the 5G core, virtual radio access networks, universal CPE, SD-WAN, and carrier edge media processing.

Microsoft takes top spot for off-premises cloud services revenue: report

Last year Microsoft climbed over Amazon to become the market share leader for total off-premises cloud service revenue, according to a report.

Setting the record straight on Intel in 5G

Intel’s decision to withdraw from the smartphone modem business underlines our long-held view that Intel never needed to win in modems to be successful in 5G.

Huawei signs 5G network deal with Russia’s MTS

The deal includes a pilot launch of 5G networks in the 2019-2020 time frame.

Cisco Scoops Up IoT Security Startup Sentryo

The companies won’t reveal the purchase price, but Cisco has paid billions for IoT startups in the past.

T-Mobile, CBA exchange C-band arguments

If anyone was looking for answers to the C-band conundrum, the panel hosted Wednesday by the Technology Policy Institute provided a lot of them.

Orange Business Services Adds Riverbed’s Aternity to Support SD-WAN

The enterprise services provider plans to offer Aternity as a managed service within its Visibility-as-a-Service portfolio.

Exclusive: Cisco SVP Jeff Reed Talks Firewall of the Future

The vendor also updated its security policy management tool to support additional platforms — with AWS coming soon — and added cloud-based logging with analytics.

Cisco to Buy Sentryo for Industrial IoT

Cisco is acquiring Sentryo to bolster it position in IoT networks serving markets such as oil and gas and transportation.

Hollywood: Don't Let 5G Madness Screw Up TV

Disney, CBS and other content companies are worried that a new 5G proposal could impact TV services for up to 300 million Americans.

AT&T Exec Said Telco's Ideas Will 'Radically Reshape' TV

The OTT-delivered 'thin-client' version of DirecTV will debut in Q3, but AT&T's John Donovan side-stepped questions on how the new offering will disrupt a market full of streaming competitors.

Vodafone UK Gears Up for 5G, SD-WAN Push

A visit to Vodafone UK's headquarters in Newbury reveals what's on the operator's mind – and it's not keen on the prospect of 6G...

China Finally Lights Its 5G Fire

China's government issued commercial 5G licenses to the nation's three main mobile operators as well as China Broadcasting Network Corp., paving the way for the country to engage in a massive buildout.

Eurobites: MegaFon Forms E-Commerce JV With Alibaba

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Norway 5G spectrum auction results; Dutch told to get tough on Huawei; Deutsche Telekom turns on IoT network; Ofcom commits to universal broadband service.

Ciena Keeps Its Foot on the Gas in Q2

For its fiscal quarter ended April 30, Ciena showed more growth and some customer diversification, while continuing to add to its software portfolio.

Huawei Router Prez Gets HiSilicon Job

Jeffrey Gao takes up new role as general manager of Huawei's in-house semiconductor business during a turbulent time for the company.

Telco Staff Face Crisis as Cuts Claim 127K Jobs at Big CSPs Since 2015

Communications service providers tracked by Light Reading have cut 7% of jobs since 2015, and reductions look set to continue.

Cable Techies Eye 25-Gig Path

Even though cable's 10-Gig-enabling broadband spec, Full Duplex DOCSIS, hasn't hit the streets yet, some leading industry engineers are already laying the groundwork for a future DOCSIS spec that would support symmetrical speeds of up to 25 Gigs.

Huawei exec says it's a private company not controlled by China’s government

Huawei's executive director of the board told reporters Huawei is a private company and independent of the government and “to an extent Huawei is not that…

AT&T's Donovan is bullish on fiber, FirstNet and SDN

AT&T Communications CEO John Donovan is rightfully proud of his company's fiber build-outs, but starting next month it will take a more incremental…

Rakuten is building a 3.7 GHz massive MIMO 5G radio with NEC

Rakuten Mobile is working with NEC to develop a 3.7 GHz massive MIMO 5G antenna RU, which will be manufactured by NEC at its facilities in Japan.

How is 5G getting on?

With the FCC announcing the results of its latest spectrum auction, we’re having a look at how the networks and supporting ecosystems are developing around the world.

AT&T, KPN, Orange and Swisscom enable LTE-M roaming across their networks

A consortium on European operators has got together with AT&T to activate LTE-M roaming across North America and Europe.

BT to close 90% of UK office locations

BT’s cost-efficiency strategy has managed to avoid the headlines in recent months, but today it has announced it will be shutting down 270 of its 300 office locations around the UK.

YouTube is a war between mainstream media and independent creators

Internet platforms have become proxies in a culture war between corporate-backed commentators and independent ones.

Industry Voices—Raynovich: SD-WAN market accelerates

Analyst Scott Raynovich details the explosive growth in the SD-WAN sector, and why SD-WAN is so important to enterprises and service providers.

Silver Peak hooks its SD-WAN services to NSC's wagon

Silver Peak has reeled in a partnership with NSC that puts its managed SD-WAN services in front of NSC's service provider and enterprise customers.

No clear winners in the latest US spectrum auction

Millimetre Wave spectrum has been a polarised topic in the US, and now the results are in from the latest auctions, some interesting tales have emerged.

Microsoft, Oracle Link Clouds to Support Enterprise Workloads

The partnership takes advantage of Oracle’s embedded enterprise focus with the larger scale of Microsoft’s Azure platform.

Rakuten, NEC Jointly Develop 5G vRAN Equipment

The companies plan to jointly develop a 3.7 GHz massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) 5G radio that will be manufactured by NEC in Japan.

SentinelOne Scores $120M Series D Amid Skyrocketing Growth

The company says it's on track to be cashflow positive unlike some other big endpoint security vendors (:cough: CrowdStrike and Carbon Black :cough:).

Orange Flags LTE-M Roaming With AT&T, KPN, and Swisscom

Other operators are expected to join the roaming arrangement in the coming months.

Silver Peak Partners With NSC for Managed SD-WAN Services

The partnership gives enterprises and service providers the opportunity to purchase SD-WAN deployment and IT consulting services from one vendor.

States contest FCC’s small cell rule, prompting Senate bill

Twenty-five states, including New York and California, have not adopted the Federal Communications Commission’s new rule regarding the citing of small cell…

BT to consolidate offices around U.K. as a cost-cutting move

BT is also cutting 13,000 employees from its payroll, two-thirds of which will come from U.K. offices.

Cogent CEO sounds the death knell for MPLS

Speaking at an investor conference, Cogent CEO Dave Schaeffer said the MPLS market for telco carriers was in the process of imploding due to SD-WAN's…

AT&T activates LTE-M roaming for IoT with European carriers

The agreements will enable low-power IoT devices to operate across multiple IoT networks.

Snowflake Adds Google Cloud Platform, Azure Govt Support

The GCP integration will allow Snowflake customers to seamlessly store data in Google's public cloud while also tapping into their own analytics warehouse.

There's a New Victor in the Battle Between Mobile Devices & TVs

Yes, we're in a new golden age of TV programming, but that still didn't stop mobile devices from winning the battle over Americans' time.

RDK JV Claims Gains With Service Providers, Device Footprint

Open software venture also developing software to work with consumer premises equipment for DSL and PON networks alongside its traditional focus on DOCSIS/HFC.

AT&T Still Hazy on 5G Pricing Strategy

We know what Verizon is charging for 5G services, and we know what Sprint is charging for 5G services. But AT&T – which claims to be a 'world leader' in 5G – still isn't saying how it might price 5G.

Another FCC Proceeding Pits 5G Industry Against Local Officials

The FCC is considering a new set of rules that would add some wireless network equipment to its existing OTARD regulations. However, some city officials are accusing the agency of overstepping its authority and trampling on local oversight.

India Plans 5G Spectrum Auction, Trials by Year End

India's new administration is plotting an imminent spectrum auction and 5G trial despite industry concern about costs and vendors.

Eurobites: Trump Changes Tune on UK's Use of Huawei (Maybe)

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: big guns team up for LTE-M roaming; Cellnex buys rights to 22 BT towers; Macquarie emerges as front-runner for KCOM sale.

TiVo Declares Victory Against Comcast Following ITC Ruling

TiVo shares spike in after-hours trading Tuesday after International Trade Commission issues an initial determination that favors the video software company.

Telecom Italia Chips Away at Debt With Persidera Sale

The Italian phone company may need deal-making on a much grander scale, and an end to shareholder squabbles, if it is to seriously improve its fortunes.

Huawei launches UK charm offensive while US President Trump is in town

Embattled Chinese vendor Huawei has picked the middle of the US President’s visit to launch an ad campaign highlighting how important it is to the UK.

Altice, Frontier blast AT&T’s proposal to create new class of CBRS devices

Altice USA, Frontier Communications, Motorola Solutions and Windstream are just a handful of entities that told the FCC in no uncertain terms that they object…

Europe told it can force Facebook to do more on illegal content

An opinion revealed by Advocate General Macief Szpunar, a prominent advisor to the European Commission, has suggested Facebook can be forced to do more to crack down on illegal and offensive content.

Huawei offers to meet with U.S. cybersecurity officials

Huawei would be willing to discuss ways to show it is meeting U.S. security standards suggested by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Enhanced privacy protection is now at the core of Apple

At its 2019 developer conference Apple introduced new measures to strengthen user privacy protection, as a point of differentiation from other big tech companies.

AT&T uses climate-change models to site infrastructure

AT&T worked with Argonne National Laboratory to use machine learning for climate-change models. It then applies those models to make decisions about where…

Samsung is already planning for 6G leadership – report

Samsung has reportedly announced the formation of the Advanced Communications Research Centre, which will have the mission of creating a 6G leadership position for Samsung.

Dell EMC deploys Adva's software to boost VNFs in its uCPE solution

Thanks to Adva's Ensemble software, Dell EMC is beefing up its uCPE offering with additional virtual network functions (VNFs).

US attempts first step towards breaking up big tech

The US House Antitrust Subcommittee has formed a bipartisan investigation into competition in digital markets, potentially offering a threat to solid foundation of the technology giants.

Ericsson promotes from within for new marketing head

Swedish kit vendor Ericsson opted to draw on in-house talent to fill the vacancy left by the departure of Helena Norrman.

MVNOs score above wireless carriers in customer satisfaction

ASCI reports customer satisfaction with wireless services has increased 1.4% over the past year.

Trump’s UK Visit Adds to Huawei Confusion

Remarks from President Donald Trump suggest the U.K. could change its position on letting Huawei have limited involvement in 5G networks, although Britain says it is still reviewing the "right policy."

VMware CTO Talks ‘Game Changing’ New Cloud Management Tech

Joe Kinsella, CTO of CloudHealth at VMware, describes the multi-cloud management product, which is under development, as “Google docs for IT management.”

Cisco tops Huawei in service provider core routing market: report

After the completion of this year's first quarter, Cisco regained the top spot from Huawei in the service provider core routing market.

Fusion Burns Through Cash, Files for Bankruptcy

Fusion has been on a downward spiral — struggling to pay down its debt, taking on more loans to stay afloat, and was recently delisted from the Nasdaq.

Samsung launches 5G gaming app with gaming service Hatch

Mobile gaming is emerging as one of the first monetizable use cases for 5G.

Monetizing 5G: Lessons from the 4th wave cycle

We have learned numerous lessons from implementing 4th wave strategies with the ecosystem and regulators around the world over the last eight-plus years. How…

Google pinpoints root cause of Sunday's outage

True to its word, Google provided an update on the root cause for Sunday's large network outage, which it pinned on a server configuration change.

Carrier interconnection poses another problem for Huawei

A Huawei spokesman said he doesn't know what happens with data on Huawei gear of Chinese carriers who interconnect to non-Chinese carriers.

BT selects Juniper Networks to help build its converged network

BT is working with Juniper Networks and other vendors to build out its converged network.

Huawei gets out of the subsea game

A filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange has revealed Huawei will be selling its marine cabling business, the first divestment since relationships turned sour with the White House.

Dell EMC Taps ADVA for On-Board VNF Portfolio

Riding on Dell EMC’s VEP4600, a universal CPE (uCPE), ADVA’s Ensemble Connector can consolidate VNF management on a single piece of hardware.

Equinix Rolls Out Network Edge VNFs With Cisco, Juniper, and Palo Alto Networks

The VNFs are initially launching in five locations: London; Amsterdam; Singapore; California's Silicon Valley; and Ashburn, Virginia.

Bulk of AT&T Fiber Sub Growth Coming From AT&T – Analyst

AT&T Fiber added 1.1 million subs in the past year, good for annual growth of 57%, but rather than stealing share from cable operators, most of those subs appear to be upgrades of existing AT&T broadband customers.

What's Next for Neophotonics?

The optical components specialist had its world turned upside down by the US ban on selling tech to Huawei. Can it regain its feet? Might it even get swallowed up in further components sector consolidation?

Telstra's Chief Executioner Hones His Axe

The Australian operator is reportedly slashing 15,000 contractor jobs and 8,000 internal positions as part of its T22 plan to become a more streamlined, 'digital' business.

Amazon Set to Stream 'Channels' Into Canada

The new array of subscription offerings will include a 12-channel bundle called 'StackTV" that runs $12.99/month and features VoD and live TV networks such as Food Network, History and National Geographic.

CenturyLink's No Sweat Approach to AI

US operator is moving toward a more proactive and predictive operational model as it uses AI tools to extract greater value from its data, but there are hurdles to overcome.

Podcast: Apple Makes Itself Right at Home

In addition to big, expensive Macs and multiple OS updates, Apple's WWDC featured a Homekit improvement to make smart homes more secure and several tweaks to ease consumer worries about how it deals with their data.

Verizon Slaking Mid-Band Spectrum Thirst With 3.5GHz CBRS Deployments

Verizon is embarking on a major deployment of CBRS 3.5GHz spectrum, even before the FCC is officially allowing operations in the band. That's likely because Verizon is thirsty for more mid-band spectrum like the CBRS band.

Eurobites: Nokia Exercises Its 5G Bragging Rights

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Huawei launches ad campaign as Trump tightens the UK's security thumbscrews; Scottish QoE specialist Ciqual acquired; Kinnevik divests shareholding in Millicom.

AT&T, T-Mobile lead bids in 24 GHz auction

AT&T came out as the high bidder in the 24 GHz auction, pledging over $982 million in payments for 831 licenses, but T-Mobile was next in line, making over…

Trump tweets anti-AT&T tirade

Its often said the pen is mightier than the sword, but President Donald Trump seems to think his twitter account is the literary version of a dirty bomb.

Finland’s Uros flies Europe’s flag in Qualcomm smart city program

Qualcomm launched its Smart Cities Accelerator Program with over 40 partners, but fast-growing Finnish company Uros is the only European representative.

Nokia touts 42 commercial 5G deals

Nokia claims it has more announced commercial 5G deals than any other vendor.

4G download speeds improved slightly in Q1 2019 - report

Opensignal's latest report looks at 4G wireless performance across 50 states during the first quarter of 2019.

UK CSPs sign-up to empty Ofcom ‘fairness’ initiative

Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator, has persuaded all major UK communications service providers to promise to ‘put fairness first’.

BT looks to Juniper to trim the network bloat

BT has opted for Juniper Networks to deliver its Network Cloud infrastructure initiative, paving the way for BT’s Network Cloud roll-out.

Ambulance chasers are readying themselves for GDPR assault

While getting a firm ready for the introduction of GDPR was a frantic period, the last 12 months have been relatively quiet period for the rules. However that might all be about to change.

Cisco rules Ethernet switch market; Juniper slips: report

While Cisco continued to flourish with its first-quarter Ethernet switch revenues, Juniper Networks ran into a speed bump.

Marek’s Take: Network slicing is a security nightmare for operators

Vendors say that enterprise use cases will be the killer app for 5G. But network slicing only amplifies the potential for security breaches, and that may make…

Samsung, AMD strike multiyear pact on graphics technology

AMD announced it will be licensing its AMD Radeon graphics technologies to Samsung Electronics for use in devices including smartphones.

Huawei Exits Submarine Cable Business

The vendor inked a deal to sell its majority stake in Huawei Marine Systems, an undersea cable joint venture, for an undisclosed sum.

Huawei seeks to sell off stake in undersea cable business

Huawei is looking to sell off its stake in the company's undersea telecom cable business.

Infineon Will Pay $10B for Cypress in Latest Chip Deal

Cypress specializes in chips for connected devices. Buying the San Jose, California-based company will make Infineon the No. 8 chip manufacturer in the world.

Can the Ark carry Huawei through the smartphone OS chaos?

Huawei registered “Ark OS” at the European trademark office, likely to be the name of its in-house operating system to replace Google for its future smartphones.

Google and Amazon are feeling the antitrust heat in the US

US tech giants Google and Amazon are set to face antitrust investigations in the US according to multiple reports.

Sunday's Google Cloud outage impacts Gmail, YouTube and Snapchat

Google has bounced back from a major outage Sunday that impacted its own services, including YouTube and Gmail, as well as those of some of its clients.

Juniper Scores Deal to Power BT's Unified Cloud Network, 5G

BT will use Juniper’s Contrail SDN, AppFormix monitoring software, and QFX Series ethernet switches.

Ericsson, pdvWireless push for 900 MHz reforms

Ericsson and pdvWireless are among those urging the FCC to act quickly to allow broadband services in the 900 MHz band.

Blaber: Establishing a VR and XR platform for the future

The promise of virtual reality is well understood and the overlay of digital with the real world stands to become hugely disruptive, but the actual reality is…

Here Are the Big Winners in the FCC's 24GHz & 28GHz 5G Auctions

AT&T was the top spender in the FCC's 24GHz 5G auction with $982 million in total bids, while Verizon took the top spot in the 28GHz auction with $505 million in total bids.

Vodafone Puts Ex-Ericsson Exec in Charge of UK Networks

Ericsson's Andrea Donà has replaced Kye Prigg as head of Vodafone UK's networks division, with Prigg moving to Canada's Rogers.

Donald Darkens UK Outlook for Huawei as Brexit Nears

Candidates for the UK's top job are said to air doubts about Huawei as Trump arrives in town on an official state visit.

RJio Lays Off 5K Employees – Report

India's youngest and most aggressive network operator had been the only service provider still recruiting employees. That has now changed.

Vodafone UK Cut 7% of Jobs Last Year

Operator's current focus on efficiency may have ramifications for staff across the entire business.

Eurobites: Germany's Infineon Agrees to Buy Cypress for €9B

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Tele2 and Bite share networks in the Baltics; Telefónica tackles online fraud; BT opts for Juniper to power Network Cloud initiative.

CommScope Takes Aim at Cable Network Virtualization, Low-Latency DOCSIS

Following Arris acquisition, CommScope brings new wares and technologies to this week's Anga Com event in Germany.

NTT Challenges Cloud Giants

NTT Communications needed additional flexibility and automation to compete with the likes of Amazon, Microsoft and Google.