Press Release

Infinera announced today that Infinera’s ICE6 800G coherent optical solution has been deployed to modernize and increase capacity on the transpacific Unity Submarine Cable System, which spans 9,620 kilometers and provides operators with a direct cable route linking Japan and the U.S. By upgrading to Infinera’s ICE6 solution, the cable system will double capacity and provide operators with the highest capacity services at the lowest cost per bit.

The Unity Submarine Cable System is a subsea consortium representing Bharti Airtel Limited, Global Transit Limited (a wholly-owned subsidiary of TIME), Google, KDDI Corp., Telstra and Singtel. By upgrading the network to ICE6, the consortium will be able to increase the life span of the cable by nearly 25% and deliver up to 7.4 Tb/s per fiber pair. This modernization with Infinera’s ICE6-powered GX Series solution also enables operators to get the most out of the subsea cable by minimizing cost per bit while maximizing the spectral efficiency and fiber capacity. This level of performance is achieved by leveraging Infinera’s unique and innovative solution features that include Nyquist subcarriers, forward error correction gain sharing, and photonic integrated circuit-based technology.

“Infinera’s innovative ICE6 technology was selected to upgrade our system because it enables us to extend the life of the Unity Submarine Cable System while providing the highest level of quality for our customers,” said the Unity consortium. “The Unity Submarine Cable System is a critical connection between two continents with the fastest growing bandwidth needs. We needed an industry-leading solution that would enable us to be competitive now and in the future.”

“The Unity Submarine Cable System is one of the highest capacity underwater fiber optic cables ever built between Asia and North America, and Infinera is proud to power it with our latest optical engine technology,” said Nick Walden, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales at Infinera. “The increased capacity will help operators in Asia and the U.S. meet the increasing bandwidth demands on both sides of the Pacific.”

Want to learn more about Infinera and the world of submarine networks? Join Infinera and the wider telecoms industry in discussion at this year’s Submarine Networks EMEA event

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Interview

At Connected Britain 2022, we caught up with PhD student Daisy Curtis to discuss her experience of working alongside 5G Rural Dorset, as well as the importance of digital skills in addressing the gender imbalance in the telecoms sector

As part of her PhD programme, Daisy spent six months working with 5G Rural Dorset, a 5G testbed funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. In the interview below, she shares her first-hand experiences from the project and offers advice to those seeking to craft an effective digital skills programme.

In particular, she spoke against the traditional ‘top-down’ approach to digital skills projects, instead praising a more targeted and integrated approach, with programmes tailored for the learner’s individual needs.

“This collaborative approach is important because it means, for the people seeking skills development, the course is interesting and relevant, and it is also helpful for those running the sessions,” she explained. “People are more likely to pursue further digital skills activities if they found that first activity interesting.”

Daisy also shares her thought on gender inequality in the telecoms industry, championing a holistic approach involving the entire industry, aiming to get women involved at every level of their organisation.

“Representation is important. Seeing women in a variety of roles and having them present in a variety of space – whether that’s conferences, meetings, or hiring panels – is crucial to create a sense of belonging.”

You can watch our full interview with Daisy from the link above.

Is your company doing enough to support the next generation of telecoms professionals and tackle inequality? Join the UK telecoms sector in discussion around this and other important issues at the upcoming Connected North conference

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The Government has today confirmed that UK ISP Sky Broadband has officially become the first “national provider” to adopt a new system from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which allows them to verify – with a customers’ permission – that they are in receipt of key state benefits and therefore eligible for the […]

News 

Reports suggest the company won a tender to sell spyware to state-run telecoms operator Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) just one month before the military overthrew the Burmese government

Israeli software firm Cognyte is coming under scrutiny this week following media reports that the company’s surveillance technology may have been used to commit human rights abuses in Myanmar.

Documents shared by activist group Justice for Myanmar show a January 2021 letter from MPT to the Burmese regulator referencing Cognyte as the winning vendor for an intercept technology tender.

The documents show that the purchase order was issued “by 30th Dec 2020” – a little over a month before a military junta overthrew Myanmar’s civilian government.

Eitay Mack, an Israeli human rights lawyer, has reportedly sent a letter to the Israeli Attorney General calling for a criminal investigation into Cognyte and the nation’s defence and foreign ministries, accusing them of aiding the Burmese military to commit crimes against humanity.

The letter claims that Cognyte “should have known” they were providing technology that would be used to commit crimes against humanity, noting that the Burmese military had already openly rejected the results of the November 2020 democratic election when the contract was signed.

But beyond the moral implications of selling surveillance technology to repressive regimes, there is also a legal element at play here.

Back in 2016, the Myanmar military became infamous for their genocidal oppression of the Muslim Rohingya people, killing thousands and forcing hundreds of thousands more to flee to neighbouring countries. In response, various nations placed sanctions on Myanmar, with the US and the EU both ceasing to supply the Myanmar government with military equipment.

Israel, however, continued to export weapons and equipment to the Burmese government until 2018, only stopping when media pressure grew too intense.

As such, Mack argues that any 2020 deal between Cognyte to sell this equipment to MPT was illegal, with intercept spyware tech classified as defence equipment under Israeli law.

It is currently unclear whether the spyware technology has been actively deployed by MPT, though anonymous sources speaking to Reuters confirmed that the technology was tested by the operator. Other sources also confirmed that some form of intercept spyware was used by the operator, though Cognyte was not referenced specifically.

Cognyte and MPT have refused to comment on the matter.

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Gigabit broadband ISP YouFibre, which sells plans via Netomnia and Cityfibre’s respective UK Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) networks, has introduced a new suite of standard pricing tariffs for all new customers – starting from only £1 a month for the first 3 months of service on their 1Gbps plan. Plus, they recently added a Social Tariff. The […]

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Press release

Expeto, Inc., which enables enterprise networking over private and public mobile networks, today announced a partnership with Portland General Electric (PGE) to accelerate grid modernisation and renewable energy outcomes. The fully integrated energy company with operations across Oregon has chosen Expeto’s NeXtworking™ platform for its commercial private wireless network deployment.

PGE’s mandated decarbonisation targets include an 80% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions associated with serving Oregon retail electricity consumers, compared to its baseline emissions levels by 2030​. The Expeto-enabled PGE private wireless network will support automated grid resiliency, monitoring of field conditions with smart sensors and devices, connected workers for enhanced employee safety and charging stations for electric vehicles on the public grid. This transformation will improve grid resilience and outage recovery times for the benefit of all PGE customers.

PGE selected Expeto to provide next-gen connectivity based on successful deployment in the Connected Utility Lab, which confirmed viability of PGE’s use cases over one year of extensive testing. Expeto has delivered a powerful, secure, virtual private network based on connectivity from tier-one mobile operators, providing the functionality of a private radio network without the capital and operating expenditures of a typical 10-year private network buildout that would require spectrum acquisition, RF analysis, hiring and training teams of engineers and subcontractors, and tower and radio infrastructure permitting and deployment. The result is less costs being passed to the consumer over time.

“We had a choice between dedicating a large capital outlay on a new network that would take many years to build or immediately growing our business through renewables and grid applications as part of a more cost-effective option,” said Ananth Sundaram, Senior Manager Grid Asset Engineering at PGE. “Expeto put sophisticated use cases within reach, like having a private network experience over public connectivity anywhere we need it. The company’s enterprise first approach has resulted in a strategy that gives us confidence our network connectivity is reliable and secure, freeing us to focus on accelerating the transition to a clean, reliable and equitable energy future.”

The Expeto approach provides the scalability needed to support the large number of grid nodes (e.g., DERS, EV charging stations) and devices (e.g., wildfire risk monitoring cameras, AMI) necessary to achieve carbon reduction, resilience and safety goals. The resulting network will eventually cover 4,000 square miles and connect 250,000 devices using existing cellular networks at one-tenth the cost of traditional solutions, helping PGE avoid significant capital and operating expenditures related to a self-built private LTE network over the next 20 years.

“However an enterprise deploys wireless networks for mission critical applications, they want the flexibility and agility to configure and manage it just like their existing IT network and from a multi-tenant, fully containerized platform,” said Expeto VP of product Brian Anderson. “Expeto is the only software platform that enables an enterprise to deploy and manage mobile connectivity according to mission critical business needs, offering unprecedented simplicity, agility and control, and the same seamless experience when roaming in and out of the public network. We are proud to support PGE’s leadership as they accelerate the transition to renewable energy.”

For more information, visit www.expeto.io. 

About Expeto

Expeto makes it easy for enterprises to extend private networks via any type of cellular connectivity and continue to operate just one enterprise mobile network that devices and people can move seamlessly across. The company goes to market directly and via system integrator, network vendor and MNO partners, powering next-gen mobile networking use cases for large, multi-site, mission-critical businesses in industries that include utilities, mining, automotive, agriculture, healthcare, logistics, manufacturing and more. Expeto is based in Vancouver, Canada with U.S. headquarters in Portland, Oregon, and research and development offices in San Francisco and Luxembourg. For more information, please visit https://expeto.io.

For the latest news and developments from the US connectivity sector, join us for the inaugural Connected America 2023 in Dallas, TX on 28th and 29th March.

 

City-focused gigabit broadband ISP Hyperoptic, which is aiming to deploy their “full fibre” (FTTP/B) UK network to cover 2 million premises by the end of 2023 (including 500,000 customers), has appointed ex-Vodafone Consumer Chief, Lutfu Kitapci, to the role of Chief Customer Officer (CCO). At present the operator’s network can already be found in parts […]

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Press Release

Tech Mahindra, a leading provider of digital transformation, consulting, and business re-engineering services and solutions, and Microsoft, have announced a strategic collaboration to enable cloud-powered 5G core network modernization for telecom operators globally. The 5G core network transformation will help telecom operators to develop 5G core use cases and meet their customers’ growing technological (Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), IoT (Internet of Things), and edge computing) requirements. It will further enable them to modernize, optimize, and secure business operations and develop green networks with reduced costs and a faster time to market.

As a part of the collaboration, Tech Mahindra will provide its talent expertise, comprehensive solutions, and managed services offerings like “Network Cloudification as a Service”  and AIOps to telecom operators for their 5G Core networks. The modernization of network core systems and operations powered by AIOps will enable operators to deploy and manage their 5G Core networks and leverage the power of the cloud to deliver new and innovative services to their customers quickly and easily. AIOps will help operators combine big data and machine learning to automate network operations processes, including event correlation and anomaly detection, predicting fault and performance issues, thereby enabling self-serving network operations.

CP Gurnani, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Tech Mahindra, said, “Today, it is critical to leverage next-gen technologies to build relevant and resilient services and solutions for customers across the globe. At Tech Mahindra, we are well-positioned to help telecom operators realize the full potential of their networks and provide innovative and agile services to their customers while also helping them meet their ESG commitments. Our collaboration with Microsoft will further strengthen our service portfolio by combining our deep expertise across the telecom industry with Microsoft Cloud. Further to this collaboration, Tech Mahindra and Microsoft will work together to help telecom operators simplify and transform their operations in order to build green and secure networks by leveraging the power of cloud technologies.”

Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India, said, “Harnessing the power of Microsoft Azure, telecom operators can provide more flexibility and scalability, save infrastructure cost, use AI to automate operations, and differentiate their customer offerings. The collaboration between Tech Mahindra and Microsoft will help our customers build green and secured networks with seamless experiences across the Microsoft cloud and the operator’s network.”

Tech Mahindra will leverage the Microsoft cloud for its Sustainability solution iSustain to measure and monitor KPIs across all three aspects of E, S & G. iSustain will help operators address the challenge of measuring and reducing carbon emissions from the networks while meeting demands of the countless energy intense digital technologies, from AR / VR to IoT. In addition, Tech Mahindra will further enhance the security posture of the operator’s network and operations powered by SenTindra, a cloud-based virtual security operations center developed on Microsoft Sentinel. SenTindra platform offers 300+ scenarios and workflows to support Telecom operators’ Cloud Visibility, Monitoring, and orchestration requirements, making the networks secure and free from downtime.

The partnership is in line with Tech Mahindra’s NXT.NOWTM framework, which aims to enhance the ‘Human Centric Experience’, Tech Mahindra focuses on investing in emerging technologies and solutions that enable digital transformation and meet the evolving needs of the customer.

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