News

The new unit will employ 20 dedicated researchers, working alongside academics, CSPs, and other industry partners to explore the nascent technology

This week, Ericsson has announced its latest investment in the UK, this time taking the form of a new 6G-focussed research unit.

The investment, which will take place over a ten-year period, will employ 20 dedicated researchers, who are set to focus on various 6G-related areas, including network security, AI, energy efficiency, and cognitive networks.

The facility will also support numerous PhD students, as well as a providing a collaborative testing ground for CSPs and other industry partners to jointly research 6G technologies.

The specific amount of funding to be invested in the unit has not been disclosed but is in the “tens of millions of pounds”, according to the company press release.

“Ericsson is at the forefront of global research, innovation and developing open standards that will underpin a future of limitless connectivity and new technologies,” said Magnus Frodigh, VP & Head of Ericsson Research. “Establishing a research program in the UK means the country will be well positioned to utilise its existing high international level of knowledge in wireless systems and technologies to produce ground-breaking 6G research that not only can help shape the future of global standards but also deliver a more connected, efficient and sustainable society.”

The UK government, naturally, has been exuberant about this announcement, calling it a “huge vote of confidence in the UK’s innovative telecoms sector”.

“This pioneering research unit will create new jobs, support students and bring together some of our country’s finest minds to shape the future of telecoms infrastructure in the UK and across the globe,” explained DCMS Secretary of State Michelle Donelan. “Our mission is to lead the world in developing next-generation network tech, and we will soon publish a strategy outlining how we harness 6G to deliver more for people and business.”

With most of the telecoms industry still very much embroiled in the challenge of effectively monetising 5G’s capabilities, it can seem strange that Ericsson is committing so early and so heavily to 6G research. Indeed, the 6G era is unlikely to begin in earnest until 2030 and is currently largely amorphous, with the standardisation process itself still in the early stages of development.

Nonetheless, Ericsson has high hopes for the next generation of mobile connectivity, suggesting that it will “merge the digital and physical world, contribute to a more intelligent, sustainable and efficient society and help deliver new use cases that include multi-sensory extended reality, precision healthcare, smart agriculture, cobots, and intelligent autonomous systems”.

These are some lofty goals and it seems likely that many of these will turn out to be little more than hype, just as similar claims did for 5G. That said, it is never too early to get ahead of the game and Ericsson is far from alone in investing in 6G research, particularly as telecoms continues to take on an increasingly geopolitical element.

In Europe, just last month, the EU’s Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking initiative selected 35 6G-related projects to receive up to €250 million in funding. Similarly, the US, China, and South Korea are all heavily subsidising 6G R&D.

If Ericsson can position themselves as an early leader in 6G technology in Europe, the commercial opportunities could be enormous.

How can the UK become a world leader in 6G? Join the UK telecoms ecosystem in discussion about this and other fascinating topics at the upcoming Connected North conference in Manchester

Also in the news:
Vestager: Restricting “high-risk” vendors a “matter of urgency” for EU
UKRI selects BT consortium for intelligent drone project
IRIS cable set to link Iceland and Ireland

The post Ericsson to pour millions into UK-based 6G research unit first appeared on Total Telecom.

Energy and communications provider Telecom Plus, which trades as UW (Utility Warehouse), has published their latest biannual (H1 FY23) report and revealed that they ended the period with 341,392 broadband ISP customers (up by 17,769 in the last 6 months) and 364,062 mobile customers (up by 39,289). Aside from that, there’s not a lot new […]

Alternative network builders Cityfibre and toob have today signed a unique network access agreement, which will see both sides aiming to benefit from each other’s deployments of their respective gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP networks across the UK. Just to recap. Toob currently aims to cover 1 million premises across the South of England by […]

Network supplier Ericsson has today announced that they’re investing “tens of million pounds” (GBP) in order to establish a new research unit in the United Kingdom, which will be used to help test and develop the next (sixth) generation of 6G mobile and wireless broadband technologies. 6G is currently still in the very early research […]

STARTUP STORIES

We meet bugshell, the Berlin based startup who are building a community to make penetration tests more efficient, transparent, and accessible.

Tell us about your start up
Bugshell is a cybersecurity platform that helps companies analyze the security of their IT from an attacker’s perspective. To do this, the platform taps into a European community consisting of highly specialized cybersecurity experts. Similar to online dating, bugshell matches the needs of its customers with the skills of its experts. Currently, bugshell offers penetration testing and phishing simulations. Our target customers are the German Mittelstand.

What is your USP?
Our USP is the ability to match the best-fitting experts to the requirements of our customers and the ability to transparently map the entire cybersecurity testing process on our platform. This results in significantly more time for testing and higher quality. What is also unique is our EU-exclusive approach.

We only work with European cybersecurity experts using European servers.

What is your relationship with the telecom sector?
IT security is one of the most pressing problems of our time. Companies in the telecom sector are a constant target of cyberattacks. A perfect match for our services, as we test the IT security of a company from an attacker’s perspective. We have also gained significant experience in this field, due to one of our largest clients working in this industry.

How have you got to your current stage of development?
From the very start of our founding in summer 2021, we have been backed by an experienced German business angel. This provided us access to a vast business network and enabled us to develop our platform at lightning speed.

Since April 2022, we are actively engaging clients on the market and have already tested several clients. So far, the feedback has been extremely positive. This is not only due to our transparent processes, but our ability to only test what is necessary at a significantly lower price than our competition.

Why did you establish the business?
Since 2019, damages caused by cyberattacks have risen by several hundred percent. In Germany alone we are looking at EUR 203 billion damages in 2022. This cannot continue and is the reason why we founded bugshell. We think that one of the biggest issues in cybersecurity is that the processes are too slow and not adaptable enough. Companies want to harden their IT security against cyberattacks but lack the ability to do so. To solve this problem, they would need a whole staff of highly skilled employees. But even if the necessary capital is available attracting top talent is extremely difficult.

Their only option is to work with external vendors that offer questionable and inconsistent quality. This is the framework in which bugshell has built its business idea for a scalable platform.

What is your motivation?
The reason to found bugshell was caused more by frustration than inspiration. We wanted to create a European answer against the rising threat of cybercrime. We are also adapting the European idea: Uniting the knowhow of cybersecurity experts from different members states on one platform.

What does the future hold for your business?
Cyberthreats are on the rise and so is the cybersecurity testing market. The German market is the fastest growing market in the EU. Bugshell is, therefore, perfectly positioned. Our goal is to become Europe’s leading IT security platform. We want to foster innovation and give cybersecurity experts a larger voice, with the vision “For a safer digital world” in mind.

Company CV

HQ: Berlin, Germany
Employees: 8
Funding: Pre-seed (Currently in late seed venture capital round)
URL: https://bugshell.com/
Founders

Volker Haupt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/volker-haupt-302461a4/
Inko Lorch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/inko-lorch/
Jakob Semmler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakob-semmler-858437158/

Bugshell are one of the startups exhibiting at Connected Germany on the 6 – 7 December 2022. The event takes place at Mainz Congress, Germany. Get your pass HERE

The post Stay safe – think like an attacker first appeared on Total Telecom.

VIEWPOINT

Globally, enterprises are managing businesses in a highly challenging world with increased volatility, uncertainty and complexity. As a result, enterprises need to leverage the latest technologies to enhance their capabilities to address the new-age market challenges.

In this regard, 5G, with its ability to provide ultra-high-speed and extremely low latency, is helping businesses unlock new capabilities to maximize the available market opportunities. However, since 5G is different from previous communications standards and enables several new and innovative use cases it demands, the service providers must transform their own operations and processes to be able to provide relevant 5G-powered use cases to enterprises.

This is all the more crucial as 5G allows telcos to offer new use cases to enterprises, thus opening new revenue streams for them. The 5G enterprise market size was valued at $1,682 million in 2020 and is projected to reach $16,846 Million by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 33.9% from 2021 to 2028, according to Valuates Research.

Transforming from CSP into a Cognitive Tech-co 

Thailand’s AIS, the country’s leading digital service provider, is moving away from being a traditional Communications Service Provider (CSP) and transforming itself into a Cognitive Tech-Co, so it is able to leverage technologies like data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to provide improved and truly differentiated service and solutions to its enterprise customers.

“This will help us to drive towards the mission that we want to achieve in terms of the way how we can accelerate the digital transformation for Thailand businesses,” says Tanapong Ittisakulchai, Chief Enterprise Business Officer at AIS, who recently attended The 2nd Business Executives Roundtable at the 13th Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF), and also joined Win Win Live in Bangkok for a dialogue on Thailand’s digital transformation.

AIS is Thailand’s biggest service provider and was the first operator to launch 5G in 2020. Now it boasts of around 45 million subscribers, more than 70% of which are active data users. AIS’ 5G covers more than 80% of the country’s population.

AIS believes that 5G also allows it to contribute to the Government’s Thailand 4.0 vision, which was launched recently. The Thailand 4.0 policy is designed to promote and support innovation, creativity, research and development, higher technologies and green technologies.

“As a trusted, smart digital partner, serving Thai organizations to accelerate their digital transformation with a comprehensive suite of digital technology and delivering services with trusted professionals,” says Tanapong Ittisakulchai. The service provider is aiding the digital transformation of Thai enterprises in different verticals like manufacturing, healthcare and energy.

“Our key strategy is to focus on investment, you know, in the intelligence networks, building 5G ecosystem partners with the cloud convergence and AI. You know, we can provide a better data-driven business solution for the customers and more importantly, we partner and build a platform to focus on the vertical industries as well,” explains Tanapong Ittisakulchai.

In this context, the importance of collaboration in building an ecosystem can hardly be exaggerated. However, service providers typically work in silos. As a result, their processes are traditionally not designed to collaborate with other players. To address this problem, AIS is building a “partnership framework that integrates the technology side with the customers, which is more of a vertical solution requirement and then co-creates a sustainable business model.”

Further, AIS is also enabling the digital transformation experience of its enterprise customers by leveraging its own experience. It provides AIS with a unique perspective on the problems enterprises face in digitally transforming their operations.

“At the same time, we learn from the customers as well as about their vertical industries, their requirements, and their challenges, and co-create the solution which is more sustained and builds the proper sustainable solution for the future,” says Tanapong Ittisakulchai. This way, AIS is better able to address the changing requirement of enterprises.

AIS is at the forefront of transforming its operations and has set an example for other service providers to reimagine their processes to better serve the changing needs of the enterprise segment.

 

 

The post AIS: Adopting Cognitive Tech-Co Strategy to Accelerate Digital Transformation of Thai Businesses first appeared on Total Telecom.

STARTUP STORIES

Magdeburg based startup, Embever, believes IoT should be fun and has interesting case studies including trains, forests and living walls. But they also seek to reduce the risk and cost of bringing IoT to your organisation with its 100-Days Program

Tell us about your start up
Embever is a deep-tech company and provides its mainly European customers with a communication platform for upgrading and retrofitting electronic systems with cloud connectivity in the Internet of Things (IoT). With Cloud as a Module, Embever has a product that allows customers to integrate the entire communication path from the device to the enterprise IT in a hybrid module of hardware, cloud systems and connectivity services into their products. Furthermore, Embever offers selected customers development partnerships in the field of Internet of Things and digital product development.

What is your USP?
Cloud as a Module is a product that transparently maps the entire communication path from the device to the customer application. It includes the communication hardware, connectivity performance in the mobile network, channel encryption via closed user groups and VPN, all necessary protocols as well as data brokers and integration adapters including an open web API.

We offer industrial customers the opportunity to realize an initial proof of concept in our 100-day program. Our platform has been specially developed for customers who want to quickly access the Internet of Things market with their products without having their own IoT expertise and who want to outsource the entire communication path.

What is your relationship with the telecom sector?
So far, the telecoms industry has been more of a provider for us. But we have already had some talks with MVNOs and would like to have a strong partner from the sector on our side

How have you got to your current stage of development?
We participated in the Accelerator Programme of Deutsche Bahn in 2019. This programme has made us very familiar with the rail sector and we have also found other customers there who love our solutions.

Why did you establish the business?
I wanted to set up my own business after university. I never imagined that Embever would be in the market for 5 years now and that the opportunities are promising.

Who inspired you?
We have the unique opportunity to try out really innovative approaches with some partners. It motivates me from day to day to see how the Embever team takes on the challenges, solves things and the use cases continue to grow. It is simply a real joy when you move something forward together.

What does the future hold for your business
IoT is a future market that is currently receiving a lot of attention. I think there is a lot for us to do in the coming years. Maybe we can help to democratise IoT and make it easily accessible to smaller companies. Our slogan is IoT is fun! And that is the most important thing, also in cooperation with our partners. The work must be fun

COMPANY CV
HEADQUARTERS: Magdeburg, Germany
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 10
LAST FUNDING TYPE: Bootstrapped
URL: https://www.embever.com/
FOUNDERS:
Richard Abendroth (Director Customer Innovation)
Sascha Thiergart (Director Technology)
Henry Schlag (Managing Director)

You can meet Embever at Connected Germany, 6 – 7 December 2022 at the Mainz Congress, Germany. Book your place at www.totaltele.com/connectedgermany

The post Making a commodity out of IoT first appeared on Total Telecom.

News

The duo will collaborate to jointly develop technologies and services related to the metaverse and 6G, as well as content creation

Today, two of the largest telecoms operators in South Korea and Japan are joining forces with a far-reaching strategic partnership, encompassing both their telecoms and media interests.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will see SK Telecom (SKT) and NTT Docomo work together to jointly produce original content for their respective video distribution platforms, as well as working together for global expansion.

Perhaps more interesting, however, are the pair’s plans to collaborate on the metaverse.

SKT already has its own metaverse platform – Ifland – which it has been enhancing through various acquisitions over the last year, including 3D modelling and video specialists. SKT has also been very clear that it views Ifland as an international opportunity, having already struck a deal with Deutsche Telekom to offer the service in Germany.

Docomo, on the other hand, also offers a growing range of metaverse services, though for now these are fairly limited. Nonetheless, the company’s commitment to this emerging market has been plain to see this year, with the company making a formal push into the metaverse space back in March, setting up an industrial metaverse development company with about 150 engineers.

More recently, the Japanese operator created a new business unit called Qonoq, backed by roughly $412 million and specialising on hardware and software for extended reality. Qonoq is set to build on the work already conducted by Docomo’s NTT XR unit, which was set up back in March.

Now, Docomo and SKT say they will work together to co-create metaverse content, focussing on 3D models, volumetric videos, and virtual cities. In the long-term, the duo could even look to link their respective metaverse platforms, theoretically allowing customers to move seamlessly from one to the other.

Beyond the metaverse, the partnership also expands to both companies’ more traditional stomping grounds in the telecoms space, most notably the development of 5G and 6G technologies. Areas of focus reportedly include 5G stand alone, the use of millimetre-wave, Open RAN/vRAN, and network energy efficiency.

“By combining our technological capabilities and the know-how we have cultivated across years of experience, we hope to create new services that will allow customers around the world to experience new forms of excitement. We look forward to working with SK Telecom to develop the businesses of both companies,” explained NTT Docomo CEO Motoyuki Ii.

“The MOU has a significant meaning as it is a cooperation between the representative mobile operators of Korea and Japan. By working together with NTT DOCOMO in the area of future ICT, we will generate tangible results that drive global ICT innovation,” added SK Telecom CEO Ryu Young-sang.

While the metaverse remains largely intangible for the time being, telcos’ hunt for new revenue streams is very much real. Whether through industrial metaverse offerings or consumer streaming content, telcos need to find new ways of monetising their networks, and SKT and Docomo are looking to be at the forefront of that innovation.

Also in the news:
Vestager: Restricting “high-risk” vendors a “matter of urgency” for EU
UKRI selects BT consortium for intelligent drone project
IRIS cable set to link Iceland and Ireland

The post New SKT and NTT Docomo partnership to focus on content, 6G, and the metaverse first appeared on Total Telecom.

Blackburn-based network operator IX Wireless, which is building a new fixed wireless broadband network for UK ISP 6G Internet (not related to 6G mobile technology), has been hit with a small fine in the Greater Manchester market town of Bury (specifically the suburb of Brandlesholme) after they built unauthorised digital infrastructure. IX Wireless has previously […]

News

The chip designer has told shareholders the issuance of an initial public offering (IPO) will take place later in 2023 than initially planned

According to reports today, Arm has written to private shareholders to inform them that plans to issue an IPO have been delayed, citing the unfavourable global economic climate.

Previously, Arm had been targeting the IPO for Q1 of next year, though this delay should not come as too great a surprise; earlier this month, with Arm’s parent company, Softbank Group, hinted at delaying the IPO during their own investor call.

Analysts have previously suggested that an IPO could value Arm up to $40 billion, with Softbank loath to begin the sale when investor appetite is muted by the strained global economy.

The exact length of the delay to the IPO process is unclear, but Arm told investors that it was “unlikely” to take place in Q1 2023 as hoped.

“Clearly, we want to IPO as soon as is possible. But given the current global economic uncertainty, given the state of financial markets, that’s probably now unlikely to happen before the end of March 2023,” explained Ian Thornton, Arm’s head of investor relations, in the letter to investors. “However, preparations for the IPO are going very well. They’re advanced. And we are fully committed to floating sometime in 2023.”

Softbank, itself struggling under the weight of a number of poor investments exacerbated in recent years by the pandemic, has been mulling its options with Arm for some time.

A controversial deal was struck in 2020 to sell Arm to its US rival Nvidia for $40 billion, but the deal was ultimately scrapped in February 2022, with Softbank claiming that the strict regulatory hurdles were too hard to surmount.

An IPO has been the preferred alternative ever since, with the UK government notably lobbying for the move to make the London Stock Exchange more competitive with its international rivals.

Also in the news:
Vestager: Restricting “high-risk” vendors a “matter of urgency” for EU
UKRI selects BT consortium for intelligent drone project
IRIS cable set to link Iceland and Ireland

The post Arm puts brakes on IPO first appeared on Total Telecom.