Dell Technologies CTO: Why AI Needs Empathy

AUSTIN — If we want humans to trust artificial intelligence (AI), then we need to teach the machines empathy, according to John Roese, CTO and president of products and operations at Dell Technologies.

Palo Alto Networks Leaps Into SASE Market

Gartner’s hype train gained speed this week as Palo Alto Networks leaped aboard with the launch of its secure access service edge (SASE) platform.

Google undermines US carrier RCS initiative by launching its own

Less than a month after the four US MNOs announced a joint RCS initiative for Android, Google has decided to launch its own.

UK Labour party pledges to nationalise much of BT if elected

A key policy of the Labour party ahead of the UK general election next month is to make broadband ‘free’ by nationalising Openreach.

KaiOS shows why it is critical to Africa’s digital ambition

Working in tandem with Vodacom, KaiOS has brought another smart-feature phone to the market, this time in Tanzania for the remarkable price of $20.

Amazon Challenges Pentagon’s $10B JEDI Award

Amazon Web Services will challenge the Pentagon’s surprise decision to award the $10 billion JEDI cloud contract to Microsoft in federal court.

Microsoft Earns Top Marks in Industrial IoT

Microsoft, C3.ai, PTC, and Siemens are leading the industrial IoT (IIoT) market with analytic services to enhance connectivity that enterprises can use with actionable intent, according to new research from Forrester.

Labour Lobs Broadband Bomb Into UK Telecoms Market

They probably won't see the light of day in the real world, but the Labour Party's 'free fiber for all' plans have certainly raised a few eyebrows in the UK.

Verizon Pitches Free Android TV Box to New 5G Home Subs

Synchronized with its new Disney+ promo, Verizon is also selling the 'Stream TV' device as a standalone to other customers for $69.99.

Eurobites: Orange Eyes Towers Spin-Off – Report

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Nokia expands with VMware; TalkTalk boost profits; BT lands sports rights.

WiCipedia: AI's Data Mining Bias & Small Conferences Take More Risks

This week in our WiC roundup: Smaller conferences have edge; Hidden Figures ladies formally celebrated; AI is sexist; and more.

Parallel Wireless Dishes the Dirt on Tech Mahindra

Independence of systems integrators thrust into the spotlight as Indian SI is accused of favoring Altiostar, in which it owns a stake, despite its claims to be 'vendor-agnostic.'

Ribbon Reels in ECI, Offloads CEO

No wonder investors have panicked – Ribbon waves goodbye to its CEO as it announces an unexpected merger with transport network equipment specialist ECI Telecom. But why?

Russian Carrier Megafon Tests Second-Gen NB-IoT Devices

A new version of the NB-IoT standard supports faster speeds and 'push-to-talk' services, among other things.

Verizon's Indoor 5G Goes the Distance in NFL Stadium Test

A new test of Verizon's 5G network in U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis showed plenty of horsepower, but more importantly it also showed impressive coverage.

Following the Money in the C-Band for 5G

Intelsat — one of the European satellite companies hoping to profit from the sale of C-Band spectrum for 5G — lost half its market value this week. But what will happen next is anyone's guess.

Labour's UK Broadband Plan Would Make Lenin Proud

Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell have cooked up a broadband scheme that could form a modern-day appendix to The Communist Manifesto.

Surging Asian Demand Driving Capacity 'Explosion'

Asian demand and OTT firms are driving a surge in cable investments.

A DEEP Dive on Sunrise's Digital Transformation

Sunrise Communications, the second-largest telecom operator in Switzerland, reported third-quarter service revenue growth of 2.0%.

Ericsson gets some 5G work from MTN South Africa

Swedish kit vendor Ericsson is helping out MTN South Africa with its 5G RAN, transport and core.

Consolidation in the B2B CSP market with Ribbon and ECI set to merge

Two companies involved in providing communications services to other companies are merging to make a single bigger one.

The Indian telecoms crisis shows no sign of abating

The Indian government is showing no sign of backing down on its demands for massive payments from Bharti and Vodafone.

Motorola resurrects the Razr as a foldy smartphone

It was inevitable really, wasn’t it? Motorola is hoping the Razr feature phone brand can be transplanted into the smartphone era.

Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung Hype Open Virtualization

Opening and virtualizing the radio access network (RAN) is a pursuit with almost unanimous support — at least on the surface. Operators, software makers, and equipment vendors have coalesced around this effort with varying degrees of force.

NetApp Treads Troubled Waters in Q2

NetApp continued to wade through troubled waters during Q2, and it expects these waters to remain rough through the end of its current fiscal year. However, every cloud has a silver-lining, and for NetApp the cloud remains one area of both calm and promise.

Axiata Calls On TIP to Fix Telco Cost Problem

One of the developing world's biggest operators runs up data service losses in Malaysia and is looking to the Facebook-led initiative for help.

Samsung Taps HPE, Openet for Multi-Vendor 5G SA Core Test

Samsung says it successfully demonstrated multi-vendor interoperability on its 5G Standalone (SA) core with an assist from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Openet. The test, which was conducted at Samsung’s lab in South Korea, featured the integration of Samsung’s control, user plane network function, and orchestrator with HPE’s shared data environment and network functions, and Openet’s cloud-native network functions software.

Cisco Sinks on Rocky Q1, Dour Q2 Revenue Outlook

Cisco forecast a revenue drop between 3% and 5% for the quarter ahead. Based on this gloomy outlook — and despite the company’s better-than-expected first fiscal quarter 2020 results — Cisco stock fell 7.7% after hours on Wednesday and remained down more than 7% as of this afternoon.

VMware Expands Nokia Test Integration

VMware and Nokia are tightening their embrace to bolster interoperability between VMware’s Telco Cloud platform and Nokia’s software applications. The strengthened ties aim to make it easier for service providers to run Nokia virtualized and containerized network functions on VMware cloud infrastructure — moves that are becoming increasingly important for 5G deployment plans.

Google, Microsoft Azure Beat AWS in Cloud Performance

Cloud providers with private networks trumped those that rely solely on the internet, according to a recent ThousandEyes report on cloud performance.

AWS Launches Data Exchange, Simplifies Third-Party Sharing

Amazon Web Services (AWS) welcomed a new addition to its cloud catalog today with the launch of AWS Data Exchange as an aid to help customers find, subscribe to, and use third-party data in the cloud.

1-Gig a Hot Seller for Vodafone Germany

40% of new broadband customers opt for the company's DOCSIS 3.1-powered gigabit broadband service, according to company CTO Gerhard Mack.

Sprint Opens Up About 5G's Secret 4G Love

'EN-DC' is the technology that allows 5G connections to run simultaneously with 4G connections. The results help highlight why the industry is moving to a new generation of wireless.

TIP Gives Innovative Vendors a Shop Window

The Telecom Infra Project (TIP) has launched an online exchange that highlights which vendors have products that meet TIP requirements, a move that is looking increasingly relevant to operator network strategies.

5G Industrial Automation Isn't Right Around the Corner

With manufacturers like Audi and Bosch testing 5G in an industrial setting, the 5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation (5G-ACIA) is hoping to supercharge the space. But some are cautioning patience.

Eurobites: MTN Gets 5G-Ready With Ericsson

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Telefónica COO supports consolidation; Nokia and AT&T collaborate on IoT in Germany; smart speakers in smart homes.

Despite Early Glitch, Disney+ Streams Past 10M Subs

Initial demand for new direct-to-consumer streaming service has already surpassed some analyst expectations.

China Mobile Exec Calls for 5G Power Subsidies

The industry is not making progress on reducing the cost of 5G power supply, says a top executive at the Chinese operator.

Pan-African initiatives are only way to solve its connectivity conundrum

Connecting the unconnected is an ongoing challenge for anyone in the African telecoms industry, but where do you find the $435 billion to plug the holes?

Vodafone drops OpenRAN bombshell

At the TIP Summit in Amsterdam Vodafone announced it was thinking of shifting all of its European mobile sites to OpenRAN technology

MTN adds credibility to the OpenRAN movement

MTN has announced it will be partnering with Parallel Wireless to deploy 5,000 OpenRAN sites across its network.

DVB consortium moves to bring linear TV into the internet age

The Digital Video Broadcasting consortium has approved a new specification called DVB-I that is designed to improve the delivery of linear TV over the internet.

Facebook can’t stop dabbling in financial services

Not content with trying to create a new global currency, Facebook now lets you pay for stuff through all its apps.

Spectrum shortage is killing African digital ambitions

Telcos complaining about government regulation and policies is not unique to the African continent, though they never seem to get along here.

AT&T Down on Low-Band 5G Speed

AT&T is tempering expectations for its forthcoming 5G network riding on sub-6 GHz spectrum. While AT&T says it was the first wireless operator to demonstrate 1 Gb/s and later 2 Gb/s speeds on a commercial 5G network running on millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum, it’s not making any grand projections for a speed improvement on its forthcoming 5G network running on the lower spectrum bands.

5G Security Warnings Pile Up

5G could eventually connect everyone and everything. But a growing number of researchers are highlighting potential security holes in the standard.

Cisco CEO Robbins: Global Jitters Drive Down Tech Spending

Service providers' declines were matched by a global spending pause as Cisco reported disappointing results for its most recent quarter.

Google Injects Network Intelligence Center Into GCP

Google is rolling network monitoring into its public cloud offerings with the introduction of the Network Intelligence Center, which seeks to help enterprises in the process of switching to the cloud address performance and optimization challenges.

Intel Reveals AI ASICs, Claims $3.5B in AI Revenue in 2019

Intel is pushing further into artificial intelligence (AI) with a series of new products designed to accelerate the impact of AI in cloud and edge computing. The chipmaker says its AI portfolio is on target to generate $3.5 billion in revenue this year.

Docker Unloads Enterprise Biz to Mirantis

Docker Inc.’s ongoing evolution took a significant step today as the container pioneer announced a corporate restructuring plan and that it will sell off its Docker Enterprise business to Mirantis.

AWS, Genesys, Salesforce Purvey New Open Data Model

The weight of a digital transformation looms over on-premises legacy infrastructure and vendors because, as Sid Nag, research VP at Gartner put it, “At this point, cloud adoption is mainstream.” The worldwide public cloud services market is forecast to grow 17% to $266.4 billion in 2020, up from $227.8 billion in 2019, according to Gartner.

US Pay-TV Loses Another 1.2M Subs in Q3

Losses were even worse, at about 1.8 million, when OTT-TV service providers were removed from the subscriber equation.

AT&T Reiterates Plans to Challenge T-Mobile in Lowband 5G This Year

AT&T and T-Mobile are both going to launch lowband 5G sometime this year. But the similarities between their strategies mostly stop there.

Microsoft Bakes Marvell ThunderX2 Into Azure

Microsoft is turning up servers for Microsoft Azure based on Marvell’s ThunderX2 Arm server processor portfolio. The servers are the result of a collaboration that began in March 2017 between Marvell, Microsoft, and Foxconn subsidiary Ingrasys.

Liqid Scores $28M Series B, CEO Touts ‘Record Profit’

Composable infrastructure startup Liqid today said it scored a $28 million Series B funding round bringing its total raised to $50 million. Panorama Point Partners led the latest investment with participation from Iron Gate Capital, and affiliates of DH Capital.

Cable Europe Charts Course to Become 'GIGAEurope' in 2020

Name and structure change coming to industry organization reflects the move to gigabit-class speeds over converged fixed mobile networks and the need to provide a unified voice to Europe's policymakers.

Vodafone Eyes Open RAN Overhaul at 100K Sites, May Swap Existing Suppliers for 5G

The UK-based operator stunned onlookers in Amsterdam today with news it is issuing a tender for a possible redesign of its entire European network.

Hollywood Studios Score $50M Judgement Against Omniverse

In addition to financial damages, consent judgement also hits Omniverse with a permanent injunction.

Eurobites: Orange Plans New West African Backbone

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Vodafone Germany tones up with Amdocs; all change at Telecom Italia; Telia/Bonnier deal gets EU approval.

TIP Plugs Critical Mass, Expands Community Labs

Operators and vendors are starting to pick up what the Telecom Infra Project is throwing down. The effort, which Facebook launched in February 2016, is now a bonafide industry alliance with hundreds of active member organizations. Technology prototypes tested and validated by the group are now commercially available and being deployed in multiple networks.

DOCSIS 3.1 Takes Hold in Europe

Cable's competitive and complementary relationship with 5G, the industry's progress with distributed access networks and its flirtation with a 10-Gig future will also be hot topics at this week's Cable Next-Gen Europe event in Berlin.

Facebook, Telefónica Take OpenRAN 'Live' in Peru, Boast 450K Subs

The new-look network already has 450,000 subscribers and costs far less than traditional infrastructure, says Telefónica.

TIP Advances Give Router Vendors Another Wake-Up Call

As Telefónica moves towards the deployment of TIP mobile transport network routers in Europe and Latin America, widescale white box efforts signal a significant step towards greater carrier-class options for network operators.

Huawei gives extra bonuses to staff that helped counter US sanctions

Embattled Chinese kit telecoms giant Huawei has decided to chuck a bunch of cash at its employees to thank them for hanging in there.

Attracting investment to Africa is not the issue, keeping the value is

Europe has been rubbing the White House up the wrong way with the diabolical intention of reforming regulation, and now it appears Africa might be heading the same direction.

Synchronoss unveiled as tech partner for latest US RCS effort

The Cross Carrier Messaging Initiative will use Synchronoss tech in its attempt to make RCS into a useful mainstream alternative to SMS and OTT messaging services.

Vodafone balances Indian nightmare with solid numbers elsewhere

The latest numbers from telecoms group Vodafone are a mixed bag, with India casting a shadow over some solid performances elsewhere.

Handsets are now the biggest hurdle to adoption in Africa – MTN CEO

Connecting the African continent is always going to be a complicated job, but the availability of handsets is now the biggest challenge according to MTN CEO Rob Schuter.

Michael Dell: The Future of Tech Is Autonomous

AUSTIN — Dell Technologies announced an on-demand buying model for its products and autonomous infrastructure that includes its servers, networking, and storage integrated with VMware software today at Dell Technologies Summit.

Union Wireless: We'll Need a Whole New Network to Get Rid of Huawei

Union Wireless said it will cost up to $110 million to get Huawei equipment out of its network. And that's not the only problem.

TM Forum Claims Open API Adoption Up Amid Vendor Lag

TM Forum’s Open APIs are seeing greater adoption but vendor support continues to lag behind communications service provider (CSP) demand, according to a recent report from the trade organization.

Telefónica Commits to TIP’s Open Mobile Transport Tech

The Telecom Infra Project (TIP) said that it’s making progress on its Disaggregated Cell Site Gateways (DCSG) technology and that Telefónica will be commercially deploying the open mobile transport protocol at scale in Germany.

Rural Carrier MobileNation Apparently Shutting Down in January

MobileNation offers wireless service in parts of Tennessee and Kentucky, and may be close to shutting down. The company isn't answering questions.

The Telecoms.com Podcast: Live, Latin Fiber & Telco AI

This week on the pod: events, dear boy, events. Oh, and fiber innovation in Latin America.

Nyansa Ties Cisco, HPE, Juniper Support Into Voyance Platform

Nyansa added support for Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Meraki, Juniper, and Alcatel Lucent hardware to its Voyance AIOPs platform in an effort to eliminate what it’s calling IT tool glut.

Money Moves: October 2019

Here are some of the most prominent venture capital (VC) and merger and acquisition (M&A) news items from the past month. If you’d like SDxCentral to report on your company’s VC or M&A activity for our Money Moves column, or if you have any tips on that activity, please send the information to Sydney Sawaya (ssawaya@sdxcentral.com).

Frequent Telco Buyer GTT: It's All About Networking, Not Infrastructure

After buying several telcos, GTT looks to offload 'non-strategic' assets as it aims to provide networking services to large and multinational clients.

Eurobites: Germany's Big 3 Enter Network-Sharing Agreement to Tackle 'Dead Spots'

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Ericsson, Swisscom and Qualcomm team up on spectrum sharing; Telkom SA announcement prompts takeover talk; Telecom Italia's edge cloud takes flight.

Charter Syncs Up With Plume for Smart Home Management

MSO is powering a new Advanced In-Home WiFi with OpenSync as it pushes ahead with a plan to develop a broader smart home product and ecosystem.

Vodafone Registers Slight Sales Growth as Debts & Losses Pile Up

Takeover activity, 5G investments and unfriendly Indians are weighing heavily on the UK-based operator's financial performance, but at least revenues inched up.

Ovum's Ed Barton on the Disney+ Launch

Disney is going all out on its new direct-to-consumer streaming channel, which has just launched in the US. Will all the company's dreams come true?

Podcast: Juniper CEO Rami Rahim on 400G, AI & Being a Market Challenger

Phil Harvey and Kelsey Ziser interview Juniper CEO Rami Rahim about his thoughts on 400G, where AI will matter in the enterprise and what it will mean for service providers.

Aqua Buys CloudSploit, Moves Into Cloud Security Posture Management

Aqua Security today said it bought cloud security posture management company CloudSploit for an undisclosed amount. It’s the second acquisition for the container and serverless security vendor, and moves Aqua into cloud security posture management.

Big Overseas Bets Skewer Japanese Telcos

SoftBank and Rakuten report losses on investments in US firms, but one is a far more troubling prospect than the other.

Could T-Mobile's Legere Clean Up the WeWork Mess?

WeWork may be looking at Legere as a clean-up CEO candidate for the troubled startup.

Here Are the 25 Cities Where Dish Will Probably Build 5G First

Dish promises to build a 5G network covering at least 70% of the US population by 2023. Based on new data from Tutela, here are the cities where Dish will probably start.

Germany follows the UK on coverage collaboration

Deutsche Telekom will be joining forces with the German bits of Telefónica and Vodafone so they don’t duplicate each other’s efforts in remote locations.

Ericsson, Swisscom and Qualcomm do 5G dynamic spectrum sharing

Dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) is all about the smooth transition from 4G to 5G and is an important part of rolling out a 5G network.

Vodafone extends broadband reach with new Openreach agreement

Vodafone has broadened its fibre footprint to Birmingham, Bristol and Liverpool after signing a new wholesale agreement with Openreach.

UK security chiefs reportedly warn PM against banning Huawei

The UK is much less likely to hit ambitious broadband targets if Huawei isn’t involved in the 5G network, Johnson has apparently been told.

Back to basics for Huawei as China remains the bedrock of success

Pretty much everyone in the technology world knows Huawei is under pressure, though with its dominance of the Chinese market, it has more than enough to weather the storm.

Democrats Press FCC On Carriers' Sale of User Location Data

A group of representatives in the House Energy and Commerce Committee reiterate request for a report from the FCC on wireless network operators' sale of customers' location information.

Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica, Vodafone Combat Germany's Dead Zones

Germany’s three major operators are banding together to improve network coverage and combat dead zones throughout the country. Deutsche Telekom (DT), Telefónica Deutschland, and Vodafone announced that the collaboration will focus on rural areas, roads, rail, and inland waterway transportation routes.

Juniper Targets VMware, Data Center Complexity With Contrail Insights

Juniper today unveiled Contrail Insights, a network monitoring, and analytics, troubleshooting platform that the vendor says addresses growing complexity within private cloud data centers.

Telcos Need 5G Innovation, but Who will Pay?

The telecom ecosystem is failing just as 5G swings into view.

Helium Already Has Over 1,000 Hotspots in Its User-Made US IoT Network

Helium users spend $495 on a hotspot to create a low-power, wide-area IoT network in the US that now is in 425 cities in the country.

AT&T Sounds Alarm on 5G Security

Enterprises aren’t doing enough to prepare for 5G security risks and need to put a greater emphasis on efforts to virtualize and automate security, according to a report commissioned by AT&T.

Juniper Guns for Cisco, Aruba With Mist AI

Juniper Networks rolled out Mist’s artificial intelligence (AI) engine across wired and wireless networks today to kick off its annual Nxtwork event. It’s the first step in what Juniper calls the “AI-driven enterprise” that will use AI and automation to troubleshoot and self-correct across the entire IT environment.

Eurobites: Vodafone Strikes Deal With Openreach to Widen Fiber Offer in UK

Also in today's EMEA roundup: Zain chooses Ericsson for 5G buildout in Bahrain; Sky and the BBC get cozy; Vodacom profits up; Africa's broadband future.

Nokia in Line for 5G Contracts Worth up to $2.2B With Chinese Telcos

Finnish equipment vendor signs frame agreements with Chinese operators that could lead to lucrative contracts next year.

Telecom Italia Targets €1B in Cloud Sales With Google Tie-Up

Can the ageing Italian operator and young American Internet giant find success at the edge of the network?

Discovery Sizing Up Its Own OTT Play

Programmer looking at direct-to-consumer streaming service that would aggregate Discovery's programming and target US consumers who don't subscribe to pay-TV.

Meet the Execs Tapped to Build & Sell Dish's 5G Network

Dish Network hired Marc Rouanne (of Nokia) and Stephen Bye (of Sprint) to build and sell its planned 5G network. Here's what they have to say about that.