Networking and communication

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 Continue Reading

Poor connectivity sees home workers lose over half an hour of work a day

Business leaders reveal pressure of new normal with research revealing four-fifths of home workers experiencing unreliable internet connection while working from home, and nearly half having slow and/or unreliable internet connection Continue Reading

Isle of Wight trial shows positive effect of contact-tracing app, but data privacy body slams UK

Rare piece of good news for long-awaited but much-criticised mobile app as technical conference highlights the positive outcomes for first large public test of coronavirus contact-tracing service Continue Reading

Virgin Media customers targeted in Twitter phish

Customers seeking help from the ISP are being targeted by a scam Twitter account Continue Reading

Intel, VMware broaden 5G collaboration across radio access network

Leading software and chip companies embark on a pre-integrated software platform for virtualised RAN designed to reduce development cycles for communications service providers Continue Reading

‘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 Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

Centrica calls on Vodafone 5G tech to assist delivery of gas storage facility

Gas supplier aims to address 1970s problems at Easington storage terminal with 21st century private 5G mobile network solution Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

Extreme delivers secure access to virtual health services in Madrid

Madrid Digital Telehealth Network expands access to essential health services to 1.5 million citizens, ensuring the safety of patients and staff Continue Reading

Covid collapses secondary smartphone sales but trade-in values increase

$225 million returned to US mobile device consumers in Q2 2020, down by 50% compared with the same quarter last year, however US consumers see 9% increase in the value of their older devices Continue Reading

Nokia to set up robotics lab at Indian Institute of Science

The Nokia Centre of Excellence for Networked Robotics will explore the use of drones, advanced communications and artificial intelligence in agriculture and industrial automation, among other applications Continue Reading

Inside Juniper’s radical IT transformation

Western Australia’s aged care provider Juniper embarked on an aggressive strategy to completely transform its IT operations in just two years Continue Reading

‘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 Continue Reading

Tata Communications unveils new secure digital experience

Global digital ecosystem enabler Tata aims to allow businesses to adapt to the realities of enterprise transformation, workforce mobility and consumer experience in the new digital-first environment Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

The UK’s $500m space technology gamble

In this week’s Computer Weekly we ask why the UK government is spending $500m on a bankrupt satellite technology company. After a European court quashes the EU-US data sharing agreement, we examine the implications for a UK-EU data protection deal after Brexit. And how have small cloud suppliers coped in the pandemic? Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Liverpool scores win with 5G health and social care project

Quality of Mersey is not strained in mobile health communications solutions, with a further £4.3m for 5G-based health and social care innovation to provide safe, free and accessible connectivity to services including health, social care and education Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

Private equity leads Nordic IT sector consolidation

Private equity firms and industrial giants are triggering mergers and acquisitions in the Nordic tech sector as investment slows amid the Covid-19 pandemic Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

Tips for successful virtual sales and consulting meetings

Channel partners should learn to make the most of virtual sales and consulting meetings. Scott Ford of Pronesis Technology Group offers advice on tactics that work. Continue Reading

How to select and set up SD-WAN and DIA

When evaluating different options for SD-WAN and direct internet access, IT teams can't forget to consider application performance, network uptime and support for each option. Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

UK contact-tracing app to be launched ‘shortly’ as Northern Ireland deploys service

Launch imminent for long-awaited and controversial mobile application described as ‘cherry on the cake’ of UK’s Covid-19 test and trace strategy Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

BASF partnership develops AI-powered smart mining

A collaboration with IntelliSense.io is being used to power AI-based optimisation of mining processes Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

EE attains leadership in UK mobile network performance in first half of 2020

As the way in which people use networks has dramatically changed over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, 5G is changing the game in UK mobile, research has found Continue Reading

£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 Continue Reading

Enterprises experience ‘productivity tax’ as remote work environments set for long term

Remote work productivity tracker shows employee productivity has dipped in certain regions and use cases since the advent of Covid-19, perhaps permanently Continue Reading

Firms face remote working challenges as IT teams express concern about infrastructure

Post-lockdown survey finds UK-based IT leaders lack confidence in their organisation’s plan to withstand an unanticipated crisis as Covid-19 dramatically accelerates cloud adoption Continue Reading

Why supply chain visibility is key to APAC retailers

Having complete visibility over the supply chain will enable retailers to tide over the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic and transform their businesses Continue Reading

US Cellular taps Nokia, Ericsson to build out 5G infrastructure

Scandinavian comms tech suppliers on board to support US’s fourth largest telco’s journey to next-generation services Continue Reading

Garmin may have paid hackers ransom, reports suggest

Garmin’s services are coming back online, but the company remains tight-lipped about what exactly happened to it Continue Reading

O2 gains KPMG mandate to meet new demand for remote working

O2 will provide connectivity tools to help support professional services provider’s operational activity Continue Reading

Global telco 5G network infrastructure spending set to almost double in 2020

Research firm finds investments in next-generation networks will reach just over one-fifth of total wireless infrastructure spend Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

Ofcom to free up additional spectrum for wireless services

Regulator takes steps to boost home network users who are now in their home offices and will be there for a considerable period of time Continue Reading

Meet the CIO connecting IT in the most inhospitable environments

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we discuss the challenges of running global IT in the world of copper mining. We look at how tech suppliers are adapting their products to meet the lockdown demands of working from home. And we exam-ine how zero-trust methods can help secure container tech-nology. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Vector and AWS team up on ‘new energy platform’

New Zealand-based energy supplier Vector partners AWS to develop an IoT and analytics platform to speed up processing of smart meter data and to tailor products and pricing for customers Continue Reading

5G enterprise market will overtake consumer cellular by 2036

5G is the first cellular technology generation that enterprise use cases will play a larger role than consumer use cases. Learn more from ABI Research's 5G Technology Summit. Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

Hybrid working becomes the new collaboration imperative

New report reveals that ‘astutely’ navigating work practices, spaces and culture will help respond to crisis, redefine the purpose and reinvent the future of work Continue Reading

An intro to Nutanix Flow software-defined networking for HCI

Learn how Flow SDN brings network policy and management services to Nutanix hyper-converged infrastructure through the automation and streamlining of common networking operations. Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

Telekom Slovenije introduces 5G

Slovenia’s leading telco unveils the first in a number of phases in its evolution towards next-gen communications Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

China doubles up on ‘new infrastructure’ investments

China is shoring up investments in cloud computing, datacentres and the internet of things, among other areas, to ready itself for the post-Covid-19 world Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

Verizon completes long-haul 800Gbps single-wavelength fibre data session

US comms giant sends 800Gbps across long-distance fibre in preparation for significant increase in amount of data from enterprise and consumer 5G applications Continue Reading

UK government moves forward on Shared Rural Network scheme

UK government issues written statement supporting the deployment of 5G and extending 4G mobile coverage to hitherto badly served rural area Continue Reading

Slack takes legal route against ‘weak, copycat’ Teams

Microsoft could be set for another joust with the EU, as its rival, Slack, files an anti-competitive complaint Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

Masergy expands SD-WAN portfolio with SASE, added analytics

With the addition of SD-WAN Secure, software-defined network and cloud platform claims to be the sole source of a single, unified SD-WAN solution Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

Inside Intel’s transition into an enterprise tech company

Computing giant Intel is pushing deeper into the enterprise with investments in data-centric and emerging technologies along with partnerships with local firms to develop new solutions Continue Reading

Manchester City Council deploys 8x8 to maintain remote services

One of the UK’s largest local government authorities implements cloud-based communications system to keep critical services running while keeping agents safe during UK lockdown Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

Avon calling: what happens when lockdown eliminates your business model?

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we talk to global beauty brand Avon, to find out how it coped with a huge lockdown dilemma – how to adapt its door-to-door sales model when its reps couldn’t leave home. Our latest buyer’s guide examines the use of artificial intelligence in IT security. And we analyse the government’s decision to strip Huawei from the UK’s 5G network. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

US remote workers take significant productivity hit through IT disruption

Analysis of remote employee experience and digital workplace post-Covid finds enterprise remote workers have encountered long wait times to address IT and other technical issues Continue Reading

Global business leaders comfortable if not fully prepared for large-scale shift to remote work

Riverbed survey shows new technology investments are expected to enhance corporate performance and wellness as employees increasingly work from anywhere and employers adopt hybrid working models Continue Reading

India’s Jio Platforms eyes global 5G opportunity

Indian mobile network operator Jio Platforms has built a 5G solution that will meet domestic and global demand for 5G services Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

Three areas of remote working to consider

A number of tech firms have used the shift to working from home, to develop new product offerings. We look at the IT impact Continue Reading

‘Future-ready’ attributes key to business resiliency beyond Covid-19, says Vodafone

Social responsibility, sustainability and purpose remain essential as consumers demand clearer commitments, with broadening employer diversity and increasing workplace flexibility key to address growing skill gaps Continue Reading

Unified communications experiencing fastest growth ever in the midst of Covid-19

Customer interest in UCaaS spikes 86% during the Covid-19 pandemic as firms across all industries modernise communications systems for the new normal Continue Reading

Verizon tailors BlueJeans conferencing functionality, inks IBM 5G IoT deal

Newly acquired video-conferencing suite gets feature enhancements as Verizon inks IBM partnership to focus on enabling industrial productivity in 5G-enabled IoT technologies Continue Reading

Over four-fifths of companies will allow employees to work remotely after lockdown

Study finds dynamics of the new work situation means organisations need to manage a more complex, hybrid workforce Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

Covid-19 accelerates UK digital transformation efforts by over five years

Over a third of UK business decision-makers believe changes in operations since Covid-19 have increased digital transformation budgets “dramatically” Continue Reading

NS1 closes $40m series D round to fund connected economy tech

Multimillion-dollar funding round set to accelerate innovation in modern application and access network solutions that power the connected economy Continue Reading

Live from the Lord Moon of the Mall (Pt. II)

“You’ve got to wear a face nappy if you want to come in here,” chunters a half-cut Tim Martin as Matt Hancock enters the Lord Moon of the Mall. “Only joking,” he slurs. “Who am I to tell the health ... Continue Reading

Government proposes IoT security enforcement body

The government is today publishing new proposals concerning planned legislation that will protect users of smart IoT devices from cyber criminals Continue Reading

Warning over security holes in fake Cisco kit

Two counterfeit Cisco Catalyst 2960-X switches were only found after a software update caused them to stop working Continue Reading

Home workers need quality of service

There is no double that business leaders will factor in working from home in the calculations they are doing to lower costs as part of their on-going post pandemic recovery plans. The latest IT ... Continue Reading

NUS develops e-skin system in neuromorphic computing breakthrough

The National University of Singapore has developed an electronic skin system that could give robots and prosthetic devices a sense of touch Continue Reading

How to secure a home network for remote workforces

Remote workers rarely achieve the same network security at home that offices provide. Yet, with the right tools, remote workers can efficiently learn how to secure a home network. Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

London boroughs say Covid-19 shows digital and innovation ‘more important than ever’

An association of councils in the greater London area notes that local government’s capacity to adopt technology and innovate is essential in coping with the post-pandemic world Continue Reading

Check Point unearths critical SigRed bug in Windows DNS

SigRed vulnerability is highly dangerous, but is being fixed as part of the July 2020 Patch Tuesday update Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

HPE extends edge to home network

With employees working from home, IT departments are struggling to provide adequate remote access to corporate systems Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

Yorkshire Water teams with BT to turn on tap for NB-IoT

Narrowband internet of things pilot scheme examines potential to optimise the management of utility firm’s estate and provide greater access for local businesses in South Yorkshire to take advantage of IoT advancement to boost economic growth Continue Reading

APAC hybrid cloud adoption still cloudy

Although there are clear benefits of hybrid cloud, enterprises in Asia-Pacific aren’t making the most of them due to a lack of holistic understanding, strategic frameworks and skillsets Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

Zoom zero-day a reminder to stop using Windows 7

Researchers have disclosed a newly discovered zero-day vulnerability to videoconferencing service Zoom, which only affects users of Windows 7 systems Continue Reading

Half of UK organisations question the relevance of SD-WAN in Covid-driven remote workplace

Research reveals confusion among UK organisations concerning SD-WAN, with optimised WAN covering many bases already and over half of firms leaning towards SASE solutions to meet their requirements Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

Aryaka, 8x8 enhance enterprise communications across managed SD-WAN

Cloud-first WAN company and integrated cloud communications platform forge partnership to accelerate digital transformation for organisations across global workplaces Continue Reading

Automotive-telecoms consortium claims successful completion of intelligent transportation project

Test results show new automotive technology is a reliable and high-performing solution, say partners Continue Reading

UK mobile operators warn removing Huawei tech would cost ‘low billions’ and take five years

Vodafone and BT warn parliamentary committee of serious potential effects on cost, network service availability and 5G roll-out of removing Huawei tech from networks Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading