News

Network hardware

August 13, 2020 13 Aug'20
UK government redesigns contact-tracing app and begins new trial phase

No official launch, but app is upgraded to offer alerts based on postcode, QR check-in at venues, symptom checker and test booking in conjunction with the official Test and Trace programme
August 12, 2020 12 Aug'20
Broadband upstream usage, speeds spike higher in Q2 2020

As the need for remote working, learning, information and entertainment makes broadband access more important than ever, a consumption report finds mass usage of applications such as Zoom driving uptake of higher-speed packages
August 12, 2020 12 Aug'20
SD-WAN revealed as key enabler for ‘new normal’ remote workforces

Research from software-defined network and cloud platform provider shows the increased importance of software-defined infrastructure to the new work environment
August 11, 2020 11 Aug'20
UK government gigabit broadband scheme nears half a million new premises benchmark

UK government celebrates reaching gigabit broadband services deployment milestone as part of its ambitious target over the lifetime of parliament

August 10, 2020 10 Aug'20
SD-WAN gains momentum with enterprises in Australia

As Australian businesses accelerate migration to the cloud, the underlying network will play an increasingly important role and nearly 60% of enterprises in the country have already implemented SD-WAN
August 07, 2020 07 Aug'20
‘Inadequate’ broadband impacts bottom line for London’s SMEs

Research reveals as many as 85% of small businesses in UK capital do not know how fast their broadband speed needs to be for their business to thrive, and only two-fifths were able to transition to a fully online business model after Covid-19 hit
August 06, 2020 06 Aug'20
Bandwidth Inc wraps up Ribbon deal to boost home network capacity for AWS

Session border controller software edition deployed on AWS to enable enterprise communications company’s customers to improve home working with no disruptions to network performance
August 05, 2020 05 Aug'20
Virgin brings gigabit speeds to Glasgow, Leeds and Bradford

Cable provider extends gigabit broadband footprint to more than 12 million homes with coverage in Scotland’s largest urban conurbation and West Yorkshire twin cities
August 04, 2020 04 Aug'20
‘Precipitous’ rise in network disruptions since March 2020

Research finds that since lockdown, regional network availability and performance has differed between ISP and cloud networks, with cloud provider networks showing greater resilience
August 03, 2020 03 Aug'20
Application monitoring, video games dominate internet traffic in first half of 2020

Increased focus on digital presence during lockdown likely to have prompted companies to invest more in ensuring and measuring application uptime and enhancing customer experience

August 03, 2020 03 Aug'20
Edge server shipments set to double by 2024

As business gets close to the edge, analyst predicts a ‘supercharged’ edge server market over the next five years driven by an associated boom in cloud services
August 03, 2020 03 Aug'20
BT launches drive to support UK SMEs

Small Business Support Scheme will help country’s 5.8 million small businesses boost connectivity, cashflow and confidence following coronavirus pandemic
August 03, 2020 03 Aug'20
Apple smashes sales in third quarter, outpaces rivals in growth

iPhone SE and iPhone 11 sales contribute to record June quarter as Apple defies expectations in first true half of the year
July 31, 2020 31 Jul'20
BT takes Covid-19 hit but claims strong first quarter

Comms provider warns of further impact from pandemic in future quarters as a result of insolvency, slower decision-making by larger customers and lower usage across businesses
July 31, 2020 31 Jul'20
VMware completes participation in UK contact-tracing app development

The day after UK government announced that its long-awaited and controversial contact-tracing application would be available ‘shortly’, VMware revealed it has completed its role in the development
July 31, 2020 31 Jul'20
UK government announces further funding for tech innovators to seize 5G opportunities

Next stage in national programme to pioneer new ways to take advantage of the potential of next-generation networks helping companies harness the power of 5G and boost economic productivity
July 30, 2020 30 Jul'20
UK households suffer as online problems disrupt work during lockdown

Quadient urges broadband and mobile providers to focus on customer service as UK ranks connectivity as more essential than gas, banking or council services
July 30, 2020 30 Jul'20
UK rural full-fibre broadband network expanded further

Over three million more homes and businesses in rural areas of the UK given the opportunity to get ultra-reliable, gigabit-ready, full-fibre broadband by mid-2020s
July 29, 2020 29 Jul'20
£400m full-fibre broadband expansion as Warburg Pincus, DTCP take control of Community Fibre

Expansion of full-fibre network across London will deliver up to 10Gbps of broadband to a million households and businesses
July 28, 2020 28 Jul'20
Google Cloud announces Grace Hopper subsea cable

IT giant connects up first new undersea cable of its kind since 2003 to connect UK, US and Spain
July 27, 2020 27 Jul'20
MainOne West African submarine cable implements Infinera to boost spectrum capacity

Comms tech provider works with global operator to optimise performance on undersea cable serving as West African backbone network for Orange’s international connectivity in Africa
July 24, 2020 24 Jul'20
Amdocs boosts 5G portfolio with Openet acquisition

Deal will bring Openet’s open and network-centric technologies to Amdocs’ portfolio of more than 350 service provider customers worldwide
July 24, 2020 24 Jul'20
Telekom Slovenije introduces 5G

Slovenia’s leading telco unveils the first in a number of phases in its evolution towards next-gen communications
July 24, 2020 24 Jul'20
Aryaka, Check Point announce global managed security partnership

Cloud-first-managed wide area network provider and threat prevention specialist collaborate to produce integrated security and SD-WAN-as-a-service solution
July 23, 2020 23 Jul'20
UK government ignored civil service warning of no benefit in acquisition of OneWeb

Civil service revealed to have taken the rare step of alerting government that $500m investment in troubled satellite company would bring no discernible benefit
July 22, 2020 22 Jul'20
Nokia launches first commercial enterprise 5G standalone private wireless networking

New technology aims to provide ‘direct to 5G’ entry point for high-spec industrial use case validation and ecosystem development
July 22, 2020 22 Jul'20
TfL contracts Capita for London Underground section of emergency services network

Capita will implement the network infrastructure that will enable the emergency services mobile network to work on the London Underground
July 21, 2020 21 Jul'20
A1, Telstra tap Nokia to enhance 5G evolution and pilot network slicing

Self-organising network software deployed to boost automation of leading Australian comms operator’s wide radio access networks as it continues its evolution towards 5G services
July 20, 2020 20 Jul'20
Cloudflare apologises for major net outage

Incident from network engineering team’s routine router configuration update work sees major outage on backbone leading to drops in internet services in Europe, US and Latin America
July 20, 2020 20 Jul'20
Ericsson calls for Europe to ramp up 5G as it wins SoftBank cloud dual-mode core contract

Cloud-native, dual-mode 5G core will provide container-based microservice architecture to help Japanese operator develop new business models
July 17, 2020 17 Jul'20
UK’s first 5G accelerator gains speed

UK 5G testbed springs into life with 12 hours of content in a virtual event lasting over two days, offering business-orientated training programme to show the benefits the technology can bring to enterprises
July 16, 2020 16 Jul'20
More than 90% of UK’s fixed lines meet the challenges of working from home

Study from network benchmarking firm Umlaut reveals that despite fears over whether UK networks could cope with mass remote working, only very few fixed-connection users faced limitations
July 15, 2020 15 Jul'20
UK comms industry counts the cost of Huawei tech ban

After UK government takes decision to remove so-called high-risk tech supplier’s 5G products from national communications infrastructure, operators add up the cost to mobile networks
July 14, 2020 14 Jul'20
Huawei technology banned from UK national comms infrastructure

After NCSC advice, and accepting billions in cost and a significant delay to 5G roll-out, UK government takes decision to remove so-called high-risk tech supplier’s 5G products from mobile network, and begins assessment of risk to fixed fibre nets
July 14, 2020 14 Jul'20
Nokia claims readiness to enable 5G transition ‘seamlessly’

Software upgrade claimed to offer ‘seamless’ transition for installed 4G/LTE technology to 5G infrastructure, avoiding the need for tower climbs enabling immediate enablement of next-generation networks
July 13, 2020 13 Jul'20
Consistent trust gap in contact-tracing apps in US, Europe

Survey of more than 16,000 users in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain about mobile applications for Covid-19 tracking reveals global consensus that user trust needs to be rebuilt by giving citizens choice and control
July 13, 2020 13 Jul'20
INCA calls for added investment in apprenticeships and skills to hit government broadband target

The Independent Networks Cooperative Association welcomes UK government plans to increase investment in workplace training and apprenticeships to address the growing skills shortage in the sector
July 10, 2020 10 Jul'20
Nearly half of employed in UK worked remotely in April 2020

Covid-19 drives upsurge in home working in UK, and of those who did some work remotely, around a third worked fewer hours than usual and the same percentage worked longer hours
July 09, 2020 09 Jul'20
Orange, Nokia claim first successful trial of next-gen optical technology

Next-generation optoelectronics technology designed to allow tripling of total transported capacity on long-haul links
July 09, 2020 09 Jul'20
Huawei warns ban would cause ‘huge damage’ to UK digital economy

On the eve of what are predicted to be swingeing limitations – if not an outright ban – on its products from UK, the Chinese communications technology supplier highlights how far its technology is embedded in national infrastructure
July 08, 2020 08 Jul'20
World’s first 5G eSIM service goes live

Virtual SIM card plan claims to offer pathway to connect users instantly to the world’s fastest mobile network in select countries worldwide
July 08, 2020 08 Jul'20
SD-WAN goes mainstream in remote work surge but network visibility, security are concerns

Survey reveals effect of Covid-19 in what is said to be an age of dynamic disruption, with full sight of traffic activity across much more distributed infrastructure a key priority
July 07, 2020 07 Jul'20
Nokia accelerates Open RAN availability with performance, security enhancements

Leading communications technology supplier announces update in open radio access network solutions to support more rapid development of open innovation ecosystem and telecom supply chain
July 06, 2020 06 Jul'20
Vodafone claims UK standalone 5G first

UK operator says standalone wireless technology will support capabilities such as network slicing, bringing efficiency benefits in mission-critical services
July 03, 2020 03 Jul'20
Virgin Media spreads UK gigabit broadband reach

Launch of gigabit broadband in Merseyside and Edinburgh sees Virgin Media add more than 600,000 homes to fibre network, taking total to 2.7 million properties
July 03, 2020 03 Jul'20
Virgin Media, Cisco unveil first-ever commercial deployment of OpenRoaming at Canary Wharf

Wireless communications based on new connectivity aims to ‘dramatically’ improve efficiencies for more than 20,000 businesses, entrepreneurs, independent retailers, bars, cafes and workspaces in London’s Docklands
July 02, 2020 02 Jul'20
Optimised network infrastructure, visibility, experience management form next frontier in business

Business leaders, C-suite and IT decision-makers must come together to ensure that they invest in the right infrastructure or they will face business failure, says Riverbed report
July 02, 2020 02 Jul'20
Telco edge to accompany 5G roll-outs in APAC

Pilot projects are underway in the Asia-Pacific to deploy telco edge infrastructure to support high-bandwidth, low-latency applications
June 30, 2020 30 Jun'20
Partially accurate exposure notification may be best users get from UK contact tracing app

Renowned UK mobile expert warns that adoption, capability, privacy and user behaviour are issues yet to be addressed with UK contact-tracing app, and that results may not be worthwhile to overall fight against Covid-19
June 30, 2020 30 Jun'20
Alibaba Cloud comes together with Aryaka for global, fully managed SD-WAN

Cloud-first WAN company claims to provide Chinese cloud giant with superior application performance to enterprise customers worldwide
June 29, 2020 29 Jun'20
Nokia nets exclusive Taiwan Mobile 5G deal

Three-year deal sees Finnish comms tech provider selected as single supplier for 5G RAN, Core and IMS Taiwanese operator, continues 5G strategy focused on digital transformation and sustainability
June 29, 2020 29 Jun'20
Ericsson gets head of steam for 5G connectivity in European rail industry

Swedish tech supplier joins Association of the European Rail Supply Industry to show how next-generation networks can enable the industry to meet tomorrow’s IT and communications challenges
June 29, 2020 29 Jun'20
Airports deploy thermal cameras to control Covid-19, science suggests it’s merely ‘safety theatre’

UK airports are rolling out thermal surveillance cameras to identify people who may have coronavirus, but science says the technology is ineffective at detecting and preventing the spread of the disease
June 26, 2020 26 Jun'20
Ford gets into gear with Vodafone 5G for future-proof electric vehicle production

Global automotive giant gains funding to implement and develop the potential of 5G in electric vehicle manufacturing processes in particular as regards cross-site connectivity
June 26, 2020 26 Jun'20
Huawei gets green light for UK development centre

Chinese telecoms equipment provider sets out plans to build an optoelectronics R&D and manufacturing centre in the heart of Silicon Fen
June 26, 2020 26 Jun'20
Enterprises in rural Wales to gain added fibre as voucher scheme doubles in value

Vouchers subsidise the cost for rural homes and businesses to install next-generation, gigabit-capable broadband
June 25, 2020 25 Jun'20
UK, US workers report ‘overwhelmingly’ positive experiences of remote working

Study finds that despite challenges, mass remote working due to Covid-19 has been a net benefit on both sides of the Atlantic, suggesting companies should maintain some degree of flexible working
June 25, 2020 25 Jun'20
Verizon and Digital Catapult create enterprise 5G accelerator programme

Venture will enable retail and brand partners to work directly with UK startups and tech innovators to explore 5G-enabled solutions
June 25, 2020 25 Jun'20
Nokia takes O-RAN leap with 5G AirScale Cloud commercialisation

RAN product designed to help operators generate revenue from 5G services, enable flexible end-to-end network slicing and meet IoT technology and business requirements
June 25, 2020 25 Jun'20
Ericsson, Nokia to power Singapore’s 5G networks

European telecoms network suppliers Ericsson and Nokia have been selected by Singapore telcos to deploy the country’s two standalone 5G networks
June 23, 2020 23 Jun'20
Viavi introduces 3D geolocation for 5G networks

Looking to ‘command’ 5G infrastructures, network monitoring and assurance technology firm unveils what it claims is first patented 3D 5G geolocation system
June 23, 2020 23 Jun'20
Home workers report concerns regarding network capacity shortages

With networks becoming an increasingly critical part of business operations, network intelligence platform provider finds 65% of networking professionals felt extremely or somewhat concerned about their organisation’s network capacity during ...
June 23, 2020 23 Jun'20
Collaboration platform technology to shape the future of construction industry post-Covid-19

Survey from construction management software provider reveals Covid-19 has caused a mind-shift, with the industry realising the benefits of integrated platform technology to improve transparency among teams working remotely
June 23, 2020 23 Jun'20
Nokia claims US live C-band network demo first

Ahead of the expected US spectrum auction in December 2020, Nokia completes first successful US-based 5G trial in C-band
June 19, 2020 19 Jun'20
Home workers increase digital activity but raise broadband performance issues

Research finds lockdown prompts more engagement with the latest technology and gadgets for the home, but a quarter are concerned about a reduction in broadband performance
June 19, 2020 19 Jun'20
Cisco makes statement of intent for ‘new normal’ networking priorities

Networking technology giant adds new capabilities across its intent-based networking portfolio to give customers greater control, security, insights to drive better digital experiences.
June 18, 2020 18 Jun'20
Younger employees find remote working more difficult

Research reveals a disparity between millennials and older generations when it comes to their acclimatisation to remote working, prompting call for firms to provide targeted tools and training for employees during this difficult period
June 17, 2020 17 Jun'20
HPE aims to hit right note for 5G with edge orchestrator

Tech firm says new release gives power back to telcos to offer value-added edge computing services such as AI-powered video analytics, industrial automation and VR retail services
June 17, 2020 17 Jun'20
Firms prepare for new world of hybrid remote and in-office workforce

The return to the office after mass teleworking looks like a long road indeed, with survey predicting it will take over a year for noticeable majority of workers to return, leading to new hybrid model for the workforce
June 16, 2020 16 Jun'20
UK network resilience improves during Covid-19 lockdown

UK’s fixed networks handling increased traffic well since lockdown, but customer experience is somewhat affected, especially when connected via Wi-Fi, on several days starting 20 March 2020
June 15, 2020 15 Jun'20
New Zealand schools to get Wi-Fi 6 in connectivity boost

More than 2,000 schools across New Zealand will be among the first in the country to enjoy the improved coverage and access speeds of Wi-Fi 6
June 15, 2020 15 Jun'20
UK government to investigate water and energy networks to deliver nationwide gigabit broadband

Existing utility pipelines to be examined as way to accelerate national fibre infrastructure roll-out, but critics voice concern about broadband strategy fixating on fibre
June 12, 2020 12 Jun'20
Salisbury becomes UK’s first city to go fully full-fibre

Politicians and broadband provision unit urge homes and businesses to switch to a new ultra-fast and ultra-reliable broadband network
June 12, 2020 12 Jun'20
CityFibre hires 10,000 people to facilitate UK full-fibre roll-out

UK’s third national digital infrastructure platform provider creates thousands of multi-skilled jobs across network of construction partners to facilitate network deployment
June 11, 2020 11 Jun'20
Evidence emerges of slow increase in global mobile cellular network times

Smartphone users may have seen the worst of the negative impact from the coronavirus pandemic on their cellular experience, with time connected to Wi-Fi networks decreasing, Opensignal research finds
June 10, 2020 10 Jun'20
Ericsson continues 5G roll-out in the UK, writes down Chinese assets

It’s a classic case of swings and roundabouts for the Swedish communications technology provider, as it cheers UK win for its 5G technology but admits defeat in business in China
June 10, 2020 10 Jun'20
US networks weather unprecedented traffic during lockdown

“The networks were made for this,” says network technology provider as it shows how US networks have coped with added loads since the stay-at-home order
June 09, 2020 09 Jun'20
SES Water turns on IoT tap to reduce leaks

Vodafone announces 10-year deal with utility firm to provide internet of things solution to revolutionise how water leaks are prevented and detected
June 09, 2020 09 Jun'20
Huawei launches charm offensive to fight ‘high-risk’ label

Global communications technology provider begins fightback against perceived high-risk status and stresses its fundamental role in UK telecoms as it finds itself under further attack from UK and US politicians
June 08, 2020 08 Jun'20
Progress needed for UK fibre roll-out to catch up to peers

Even with the best efforts of the government in meeting its target and various initiatives to support deployment, meeting UK full-fibre gigabit goals depends on ultimate switch-off of the copper network
June 08, 2020 08 Jun'20
South Korea takes global 5G leadership

Initial Omdia market assessment shows home of Samsung as the world’s powerhouse for establishing and commercialising 5G networks
June 05, 2020 05 Jun'20
Third of UK internet users report worse service since lockdown

Even though operators assured at beginning of lockdowns that their infrastructures could cope with the extra strain on home networks, UK internet users say the quality of their online experiences has demonstrably worsened
June 05, 2020 05 Jun'20
Gamgee and QuantWiFi announce managed Wi-Fi strategic partnership

Network technology providers Gamgee and QuantWiFi team up to develop solutions ensuring Wi-Fi for a growing number of consumers whose network experience has become more crucial than ever
June 05, 2020 05 Jun'20
Global enterprise WLAN market dips in first quarter of 2020

Consumer market buoyed but Covid-19 lockdowns blow headwind into enterprise sector for worldwide wireless local area network market for the first quarter of 2020
June 04, 2020 04 Jun'20
Elisa enjoys 5G base station energy, emissions reductions from Nokia liquid cooling

Finnish telecoms operator reduces potential expenses of its base stations by up to 30% and emissions by approximately 80% through liquid cooling
June 04, 2020 04 Jun'20
Outlook for 5G remains positive despite Covid-19

While the current health crisis and economic uncertainty will have a short-term impact on adoption of the next-gen network, analyst insists future for 5G remains bright with more than a billion global 5G connections by 2022
June 03, 2020 03 Jun'20
Telefónica Deutschland, Bell Canada select Ericsson as 5G network partner

Ericsson scores wins for next-generation infrastructure technology on both sides of Atlantic for both core and radio segments
June 02, 2020 02 Jun'20
Vodafone gives six months’ free business broadband to UK SMEs

UK telco introduces scheme to help UK small businesses attempting to cope with new phase in Covid-19 lockdown
June 02, 2020 02 Jun'20
Enterprises planning future with 5G and Wi-Fi 6

Deloitte study shows advanced wireless technologies increasingly seen as a ‘force multiplier’ for emerging technologies including AI, IoT, cloud and edge computing
June 02, 2020 02 Jun'20
Covid-19: Global smartphone sales take a tumble in Q1 2020

Leading analyst Gartner attributes 20% year-on-year decline in device sales to effect of coronavirus pandemic, with leading brands showing sharp falls
June 01, 2020 01 Jun'20
SmarTone deploys Ericsson Spectrum Sharing to open the gates to 5G-based smart city

Hong Kong operator deploys 5G broadly across territory using dynamic spectrum-sharing technology
May 27, 2020 27 May'20
Revealed: Surveillance camera network that covered Dominic Cummings’ lockdown travel

A network of automatic number plate recognition and local authority traffic cameras could help police track Downing Street chief of staff Dominic Cummings’ journeys to Durham and Barnard Castle during the Covid-19 lockdown
May 27, 2020 27 May'20
Three-quarters of people expect to work remotely more often after the lockdown

Current changes in working patterns through the Covid-19 outbreak set to see marked shift in the future, and have major impact on digital infrastructures
May 27, 2020 27 May'20
Covid-19: Managing spikes in website traffic now IT leaders’ biggest challenge

AppDynamics research reveals that 95% of companies plot new tech course after Covid-19 outbreak as technologists see opportunity to show their value to the business
May 27, 2020 27 May'20
EE network sees fivefold leap in Zoom users, 45% increase in voice calls, apps since lockdown

Research from mobile operator highlights changing habits of UK citizens during lockdown, with video conferencing seeing massive leap
May 26, 2020 26 May'20
Huawei hits out at fresh UK network probe

UK cyber security agency confirms it will conduct a new investigation into the security-worthiness of Huawei’s 5G technology
May 26, 2020 26 May'20
Nokia joins the Open RAN Policy Coalition

Finish comms tech provider reinforces its commitment to the development of future secure mobile radio technologies for 5G by joining open and software-defined network technology consortium
May 22, 2020 22 May'20
Rancho Water turns tap on Extreme connectivity for critical water delivery

US public utility uses secure and resilient wired and wireless network systems to power 45,000 service connections across 100,000 acres
May 22, 2020 22 May'20
Openreach taps Nokia to extend full-fibre network capacity

Deal covers essential equipment to extend Gigabit fibre access network across UK
May 19, 2020 19 May'20
European network traffic volumes stabilising

The updated summary report from body of European regulators for electronic communications on how network operators can cope with increased demand for network capacity finds that, by mid-May 2020, all is well