News

Network hardware

• March 24, 2011 24 Mar'11

  Include community broadband networks, Vaizey urges counties

  Counties anxious to roll out broadband networks may be able to get matched funding from government via a new process by the end of the year.

• March 24, 2011 24 Mar'11

  Programmable networks the goal as industry giants hook up

  Deutsche Telekom, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Verizon, Yahoo and 17 other companies are to work together to develop a programmable network management protocol they call Software-Defined Networking through a new body, the Open Networking Foundation

• March 23, 2011 23 Mar'11

  Firefox 4 now available to download

  Mozilla has made Firefox 4 available to download for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Mozilla released...

• March 23, 2011 23 Mar'11

  Amazon Android app store set to shake up status quo, say analysts

  Amazon has launched an online app store for Android-based mobile phones and tablets in competition with Google's own Android Market

• March 22, 2011 22 Mar'11

  Digital Economy Act review starts tomorrow

  The London High Court will tomorrow start its judicial review of the copyright provisions of the Digital Economy Act (DEA) called for by BT and TalkTalk, the UK's largest internet service providers.

• March 22, 2011 22 Mar'11

  Ofcom proposes cap to amount of spectrum for 4G licensees

  Ofcom has released long-awaited proposals for the 2012 auction of 800MHz and 2.6GHz frequencies, the so-called 4G or LTE spectrum, to create more capacity on the UK's mobile networks and possibly extend high-speed mobile broadband to more rural ...

• March 21, 2011 21 Mar'11

  Visa rolls out mobile and e-mail payment system

  Visa has rolled out a service that will enable its customers to transfer money using e-mail, phone or visa account numbers.

• March 16, 2011 16 Mar'11

  Internet must be developed on democratic principles, says Alun Michael

  The development of the internet should be based on "people-centric" principles, says MP Alun Michael, who represents the UK at the UN's Internet Governance Forum (IGF).

• March 16, 2011 16 Mar'11

  Ofcom grants Gigaclear powers to build 1Gbps broadband network

  Businesses and residents of the Thames valley may soon have access to a 1Gbps broadband network, following Ofcom's decision to grant fibre provider Gigaclear powers to dig up roads and other public assets to lay fibre.

• March 16, 2011 16 Mar'11

  One million homes get 100Mbps broadband, says Virgin

  A million homes can now get 100Mbps broadband via Virgin Media's cable network, the company said on Wednesday.

• March 11, 2011 11 Mar'11

  Rural broadband fund triggers technology tussle

  News that the government may be giving serious thought to a "last mile first" approach when it comes to spending public money on broadband projects emerged this week to a cautious response from industry.

• March 11, 2011 11 Mar'11

  AOL to axe 900 jobs

  AOL is to cut 900 jobs, about 20% of its global workforce, following the completion of its $315m (£196m) Huffington Post acquisition.

• March 10, 2011 10 Mar'11

  Rural communities to get broadband with £20m BDUK funding

  Britain's hill farmers may be among the first to get high-speed broadband following the government decision to provide £20m for a new rural community broadband...

• March 09, 2011 09 Mar'11

  Businesses set to exploit SMS messages to reach customers

  SMS text messages are set to take off as a channel for business to communicate with their customers, research by analyst group Ovum Research reveals.

• March 09, 2011 09 Mar'11

  Glasgow wins IBM smarter city grant

  Glasgow has become the first city in the UK to win an IBM smarter cities grant, worth £250,000.

• March 08, 2011 08 Mar'11

  Government to monitor companies supporting critical national infrastructure

  The government is to increase its commitment to further contact with operators of the UK's critical national infrastructure (CNI).

• March 08, 2011 08 Mar'11

  Lancashire issues £40m broadband tender

  Lancashire County Council has issued a request for between three and five tenders to provide superfast broadband to the county within three years at a cost of £20m to £40m.

• March 08, 2011 08 Mar'11

  UK 'dangerously reliant' on GPS sat nav

  The UK could be dangerously dependent on satellite radio navigation systems such as GPS, warns the Royal Academy of Engineering.

• March 08, 2011 08 Mar'11

  Kroes seeks comms bosses' ideas for high-speed broadband funds

  Europe's Digital Agenda boss Nellie Kroes invited CEOs from communications equipment manufacturers, network operators and content providers to suggest new ways to finance her broadband goals.

• March 07, 2011 07 Mar'11

  Intel launches second generation Core vPro processor

  Intel says new chip will increase the speed of business applications by 60%

• March 07, 2011 07 Mar'11

  Libya internet blackout continues

  Libya's internet service is still down following a weekend of blackouts, according to Google's Transparency Report.

• March 04, 2011 04 Mar'11

  Osborne starts race for £50m broadband prize

  Chancellor George Osborne has opened the bidding for an initial £50m for high-speed broadband projects as part of a four-year, £530m plan to extend broadband to rural areas of the UK

• March 04, 2011 04 Mar'11

  Azure propels Southampton's Windows Phone 7 balloon above the clouds

  Microsoft Azure is helping Southampton University to reach above the clouds in a first-of-its-kind experiment to probe the stratosphere using an unmanned vehicle.

• March 04, 2011 04 Mar'11

  BT rolls out cloud-based social network for staff

  BT is rolling out a cloud-based social networking, blogging and data sharing service across 40,000 current and former employees.

• March 04, 2011 04 Mar'11

  South Korean websites come under cyber attack

  Hackers have attacked around 40 South Korean government and private websites.

• March 04, 2011 04 Mar'11

  The future of networking?

  In the past two months, three of the biggest IT networking suppliers have brought intriguing options to market for processing and transporting information

• March 03, 2011 03 Mar'11

  What lessons can be learned from the Vodafone UK network outage?

  After a burglary caused a Vodafone UK network outage, Jenny Williams assesses the business impact of mobile infrastructure

• March 02, 2011 02 Mar'11

  Welsh Assembly sets ambitious broadband targets for national network

  The Welsh Assembly is using ambitious European targets in a tender for next-generation broadband access in the principality.

• February 28, 2011 28 Feb'11

  UPDATE: Stolen network equipment causes Vodafone UK network outage

  The theft of specialist equipment has prevented thousands of users from accessing the Vodafone network.

• February 28, 2011 28 Feb'11

  Mllions affected as Vodafone UK stalls

  As many as 3.2 million Vodafone users may have been unable to make calls due to a UK-wide network outage.

• February 25, 2011 25 Feb'11

  Regional development agency delays £150,000 community broadband project

  A regional development agency has withdrawn at least £150,000 in funding for a community broadband project and is refusing to disclose the reasons for the delay, citing commercial confidentiality.

• February 25, 2011 25 Feb'11

  Huawei asks US to investigate it for threats to national interest

  Huawei, the Chinese telecoms equipment maker, has called for the US government to make a formal investigation of the company to lay to rest allegations that it represents a threat to US national interests.

• February 25, 2011 25 Feb'11

  Intel rolls out high speed cable 'Thunderbolt'

  Intel has rolled out a high-speed PC connection technology named Thunderbolt, in collaboration with Apple.

• February 24, 2011 24 Feb'11

  Cost opacity puts off unified comms uptake

  More than nine out of 10 communications managers want a unified communications infrastructure, but most worry about being able to identify and manage the...

• February 22, 2011 22 Feb'11

  Lufthansa and Deutsche Telecom offer in-flight broadband

  Deutsche Telekom and Lufthansa have stolen a march on BT and British Airways by becoming the first operators to offer up to 5Mbps broadband access in flight.

• February 22, 2011 22 Feb'11

  Middle East governments stepping up internet control, study shows

  The internet has proved to be a powerful tool for rallying social and political change, but Middle East governments have also recognised their capability to disrupt communications

• February 21, 2011 21 Feb'11

  Nokia confirms future of Qt platform

  Nokia Qt Frameworks has set out its formal position in the wake of its parent company entering into a so-called "broad strategic partnership" with Microsoft to develop a new global smartphone ecosystem.

• February 21, 2011 21 Feb'11

  Northern Ireland to get more fibre broadband

  BT says it will speed up the provision of fibre to the cabinet in Northern Ireland, boosting the number of lines connected from 54% to 88%.

• February 21, 2011 21 Feb'11

  Transport for London in talks with Huawei over Underground mobile wireless network

  London Underground could soon receive a mobile network from Chinese manufacturer Huawei.

• February 17, 2011 17 Feb'11

  Mobile payments will change UK banking, says Barclaycard

  The launch of the first mobile payments system in the UK will cause a shift in the traditional model of banking, according to Barclaycard.

• February 17, 2011 17 Feb'11

  Broadband speed is key to Virgin Media results and future

  Heavy consumer demand for high-speed broadband helped push Virgin Media's (VM) sales up 5.8% to a record £3.8bn for 2010, as average revenue per cable user (ARPU) rose almost 5% to £47.51.

• February 16, 2011 16 Feb'11

  Ofcom seeks more data on BT's wholesale broadband costs

  BT customers and competitors may get more financial information about the UK's largest communications provider's wholesale broadband activities following...

• February 16, 2011 16 Feb'11

  J P Morgan trading platform consolidation threatens 3,000 jobs

  J P Morgan Chase has outlined plans to ditch several trading platforms worldwide in the next three years, threatening up to 3,000 jobs.

• February 15, 2011 15 Feb'11

  MWC 2011: Alcatel-Lucent joins China Mobile for cloud radio access network

  China Mobile, the world's biggest mobile phone operator, and network equipment supplier Alcatel-Lucent are to co-develop a next-generation radio access network (RAN).

• February 15, 2011 15 Feb'11

  MWC 2011: Car drivers get online information on the move

  An Israeli company has launched an online car-based information and entertainment system that offers drivers and passengers touch screen and mobile access to nine "content worlds".

• February 15, 2011 15 Feb'11

  MWC 2011: NEC dongle backs up data on the move

  Japanese systems maker NEC has launched "Cloud in Your Pocket", a dongle-based connection that encrypts and backs up data on the move via any available mobile network.

• February 15, 2011 15 Feb'11

  Vodafone joins Intel in M2M partnership

  Vodafone and Intel are teaming up to develop and market machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions that will combine Intel's computing processor platforms with Vodafone's network and connectivity services.

• February 14, 2011 14 Feb'11

  France Telecom-Orange and Deutsche Telekom collaborate on network access

  Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom-Orange plan to explore ways to increase co-operation in ways that could lead to a European super-telco.

• February 14, 2011 14 Feb'11

  TV producer Endemol signs managed services contract with Telstra

  Endemol, the producer of TV shows such as Deal or No Deal, has signed a contract with Telstra International to provide managed network services

• February 11, 2011 11 Feb'11

  Consumer devices accelerate the use of smartphones and tablets at work

  The mobile industry has been, for many years, overly focused on the consumer, sometimes to the detriment of the business customer, but this has changed.

• February 11, 2011 11 Feb'11

  Vtesse loses final appeal over fibre rates

  Vtesse Networks has lost its appeal in the European Court of Justice against a European Commission decision that ruled the UK's business rating system as...

• February 10, 2011 10 Feb'11

  Wales gets £10m to boost broadband

  Wales is to get £10m to roll out early phases of high-speed broadband in Pwllheli and surrounding areas in north Wales.

• February 10, 2011 10 Feb'11

  UK businesses set to buy more low-cost smartphones

  More low-cost smartphones could be used within enterprises as an entry-level market emerges in the UK, according to research.

• February 08, 2011 08 Feb'11

  US communications authority calls for broadband subsidy

  The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is considering subsidies to fund universal broadband internet.

• February 07, 2011 07 Feb'11

  Alcatel-Lucent launches handy base station ahead of MWC

  Alcatel-Lucent has launched a modular scalable mobile network base station and antenna array system that fits into the palm of a hand

• February 04, 2011 04 Feb'11

  Lancaster City Council scraps broadband funding bid

  Lancaster City Council has scrapped support for a "digital village pump" pilot project that would have provided at least seven remote Lancashire villages with fibre to the home (FTTH) for £92 a year.

• February 04, 2011 04 Feb'11

  Vodafone protests Egyptian government propaganda on network

  Vodafone has described the Egyptian authorities' use of its network to send pro-government texts as unacceptable.

• February 03, 2011 03 Feb'11

  Every IPv4 address is now allocated and could run out within weeks

  It's official: the IPv4-based internet is full, or at least it will be within a few weeks

• February 03, 2011 03 Feb'11

  Comic Relief prepares IT for Red Nose Day 2011

  The organisers of this year's Red Nose Day have released details of the IT that will support the enormous peaks of web traffic on the Comic Relief fundraising day on 18 March.

• February 03, 2011 03 Feb'11

  Broadband boosts BT profits to £531m

  An early return to positive cash flow at Global Services helped BT to produce earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation 7% higher on sales that fell 3%

• February 02, 2011 02 Feb'11

  O2 to apply for e-money licence to support NFC payments

  O2 will apply for an e-money licence this year, signalling its commitment to support contactless payments in the UK in the near future.

• February 02, 2011 02 Feb'11

  Ofcom lets mobile network operators trade frequencies ahead of 4G auction

  Communications regulator Ofcom is to allow mobile network operators to trade their existing rights to frequencies for others they would like to use.

• February 02, 2011 02 Feb'11

  Twitter flood heralds Egypt’s return to the internet

  A flood of celebratory and congratulatory tweets on Twitter has greeted the news that internet services have been restored in Egypt.

• February 01, 2011 01 Feb'11

  Rural broadband upheaval as Wooster quits JON

  Community broadband spokesman Adrian Wooster has resigned from the Joint Open Networks Exchange (JON), citing differences of opinion over the speed with which it should attack the UK market.

• February 01, 2011 01 Feb'11

  Cisco CEO John Chambers urges businesses prepare for network economy

  The networked economy has the potential to raise global productivity by up to five percent but security issues could inhibit that, Cisco CEO John Chambers...

• February 01, 2011 01 Feb'11

  Interactive crime map site experiencing problems as millions log on

  An interactive crime map has been launched to allow people to monitor criminal activity in their area.

• January 31, 2011 31 Jan'11

  BMW driving research for the key of the future

  BMW wants to turn your car key into a universal access device using near-field communications (NFC) technology.

• January 31, 2011 31 Jan'11

  Google Android overtakes Nokia Symbian as top smartphone platform

  Google's Android operating system has overtaken Nokia's Symbian platform to become the world's leading smartphone platform.

• January 31, 2011 31 Jan'11

  Network operators must find new partners for LTE, says analyst

  Network operators should seek new partners to make the most of high-speed mobile transmission technology, according to a market analyst.

  International...

• January 31, 2011 31 Jan'11

  Lancashire tenders for £40m county-wide broadband network

  Lancashire County Council (LCC) is to tender for a single network operator to provide a £40m county-wide superfast broadband service by mid-2013.

• January 31, 2011 31 Jan'11

  BT joint venture takes over Lancashire community broadband network supply

  Three community broadband networks in Lancashire have received termination notices following the take-over of their backhaul supply by a joint venture between BT and the county council.

• January 31, 2011 31 Jan'11

  Six-year project could make internet 100 times faster

  The internet could be 100 times faster than it is today if a new £7.2m six-year research project, the Photonics Superhighway, is successful.

• January 31, 2011 31 Jan'11

  Vodafone restores services to Egypt after mobile shutdown

  Mobile operator, Vodafone, has restored mobile phone services in Egypt after a 24-hour shutdown.

• January 31, 2011 31 Jan'11

  Rocky road ahead for mobile market

  Device technology is advancing so fast that legislation and network infrastructure are falling behind. The mobile landscape resembles the seabed moments before the tsunami hits: as the uptake wave sucks back the water, it reveals the rocks and reefs...

• January 28, 2011 28 Jan'11

  Global smartphone shipments rocket 75%

  Global shipments of smartphones reached 94 million units in the fourth quarter of 2010, an increase of 75% compared to the same period in 2009, according to Strategy Analytics.

• January 28, 2011 28 Jan'11

  Tesco rolls out in-store mobile phone network

  Supermarket Tesco is rolling out a converged fixed and mobile voice network across its stores based on GSM technology. Cliff Saran finds out how the rollout is progressing.

• January 28, 2011 28 Jan'11

  Egypt faces internet blackout

  The Egyptian internet has experienced a near blackout following an eruption of protests across the country this week

• January 28, 2011 28 Jan'11

  RIM unable to provide India with Blackberry email monitoring

  Research In Motion (RIM) has said it cannot give the Indian government a means of monitoring its corporate mail service running on the firm's Blackberry handsets.

• January 27, 2011 27 Jan'11

  Sky buys The Cloud

  BSkyB has confirmed plans to acquire UK Wi-Fi network provider The Cloud. The deal allows the broadcaster access to 5,000 public wireless hotspots

• January 27, 2011 27 Jan'11

  Zuckerberg's Facebook page hacked

  The personal page of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was hacked and an unauthorised update was placed on it

• January 27, 2011 27 Jan'11

  TalkTalk to cut hundreds of jobs to boost profitability

  UK broadband provider TalkTalk has announced it is to cut its staff by almost 13% to help improve profitability.

• January 26, 2011 26 Jan'11

  Virgin supplies London schools with 10Mbps fibre optic broadband

  Virgin Media's business division is to supply a managed fibre optic network to London's Grid for Learning that will replace a broadband network supplied by Symmetrix, a Capita company.

• January 26, 2011 26 Jan'11

  PC industry grew 19% on tablet sales and corporate upgrades

  The PC market grew 19% in the fourth quarter of 2010 after a surge in tablet sales, an acceleration of corporate PC upgrades and increased demand for servers and storage, according to research.

• January 26, 2011 26 Jan'11

  Akamai reports huge variation in UK mobile connectivity speeds

  A study from Akamai, the internet content delivery network company, has highlighted major differences in the bandwidth available from UK mobile operators.

• January 26, 2011 26 Jan'11

  O2 to offer free access to its Wi-Fi network

  UK mobile network operator O2 plans to build its own Wi-Fi network, aiming to double the number of premium Wi-Fi hotspots currently offered by BT Openzone and The Cloud combined by 2013.

• January 25, 2011 25 Jan'11

  MP Rory Stewart welcomes Cumbria broadband progress

  MP and rural broadband campaigner Rory Stewart says the goal of superfast communications across Cumbria - one of the key regions for assessing the progress of rural broadband access - has taken a step forward after three recent announcements.

• January 24, 2011 24 Jan'11

  Bluwan's FTTA promises cheap high-speed comms

  Start-up French wireless comms company Bluwan has previewed microwave technology that promises to slash the cost of providing high-speed broadband to rural areas to between 2% and 5% of traditional microwave and fibre networks.

• January 24, 2011 24 Jan'11

  McDonald's to roll out contactless payments in 1,200 UK stores

  Fast-food restaurant chain, McDonald's, will roll out contactless payments in all of its 1,200 UK stores by the end of October

• January 24, 2011 24 Jan'11

  Microwave technology could accelerate rural broadband access

  Start-up French wireless communications company Bluwan has previewed microwave technology that promises to cut the cost of providing high-speed broadband to rural areas.

• January 21, 2011 21 Jan'11

  Rackspace launches system administrator app

  Rackspace has launched an app that allows a CIO or system administrator to dial up or take down servers and storage moment by moment.

• January 21, 2011 21 Jan'11

  Many SMEs don't understand cloud computing

  Despite predictions that the cloud is likely to have its biggest uptake with small businesses, many SMEs still don't what the term means, according to a survey.

• January 20, 2011 20 Jan'11

  Iran gets access to Google Earth, Picasa and Chrome

  Google has announced that Iranians are to be able to download Google Earth, Picasa and Chrome, available for the first time following the easing of US export controls.

• January 20, 2011 20 Jan'11

  Microsoft blames third party for excessive Windows Phone 7 data charges

  Microsoft has pointed the finger at a "third-party solution" for unexplained Windows Phone 7 (WP7) data charges after receiving complaints from users.

• January 20, 2011 20 Jan'11

  Amazon buys Lovefilm movie service

  Online retail giant Amazon has agreed to buy rental-by-post movie and streaming company Lovefilm.

  Market commentators have speculated that the deal...

• January 17, 2011 17 Jan'11

  Babcock outsources next-gen network to C&W Worldwide

  UK-based global engineering firm Babcock has hired Cable&Wireless Worldwide as its sole telecoms supplier for the next three years to consolidate Babcock's legacy network estate and connect its 250 UK and international sites

• January 14, 2011 14 Jan'11

  Mixed reception for Openreach's pole and duct access proposals

  Communications providers are coolly receptive to Openreach's draft proposals to open up BT's poles and ducts to other network operators, but some firms are much less keen.

• January 14, 2011 14 Jan'11

  BT offers pole and duct access - and asks for the same in return

  BT has proposed that network operators that want to share its poles and ducts should have to let BT share their infrastructure too

• January 14, 2011 14 Jan'11

  Riverbed keeps Devon cops on the beat

  A Riverbed wide area network optimisation project has allowed Devon and Cornwall police in remoter areas to spend more time out in the communities they protect.

• January 14, 2011 14 Jan'11

  Vodafone Australia sacks employees over data leak

  Vodafone Australia has sacked several people after four million customer records were exposed in a privacy leak

• January 14, 2011 14 Jan'11

  Government wants hard evidence before changing fibre tax

  The government wants concrete evidence that the business rates tax on lit fibres - the so-called fibre tax - unduly hampers network investment before it considers reviewing the system