11569 search results for Open RAN

The past week has seen some very big names in the enterprise software game announce new plans for selling IoT products and services. SAP has revealed IoT kit for its HANA Cloud platform, HP Enterprise has launched the Universal IoT Platform, Hitachi has unveiled its Lumada IoT platform, and Salesforce has decided to use AWS to run its upcoming IoT Cloud. The move sets the stage for further consolidation in the technology markets. The semiconductor marketplace in particular has seen the most visible M&A activity, but the application platform and cloud software market seems ripe for similar acquisitions – as the existing giants of the software industry wake up to the potential scope of the IoT, and acquire the smaller…

Ingenu has announced something of a pivot this week, signing Taiwanese ODM Compal up as a hardware manufacturer for its RPMA modules. With the new picoNode module, about the size of a US quarter, Compal is hoping to transition from a consumer electronics portfolio into one augmented by new IoT devices. Until now, Ingenu has kept the production of its modules in-house, selling its network hardware and appliances to those that license the LPWAN technology – either for an exclusive national rollout, or a smaller private network deployment. The company cites tremendous global demand for its Random Phase Multiple Access (RPMA) 2.4GHz LPWAN technology as a solid opportunity for Compal, which would be able to sell into what is a…

Citibank has launched a trial project in Manhattan that will see Gimbal provide its Bluetooth beacons and software to enable Citibank customers with iPhones to access ATMs and services usually provided by tellers outside of opening hours. Using the Gimbal Series 21 beacons, the project hopes to allow verified Citibank customers into the ATM lobbies in Manhattan, with the underlying goal of keeping non-customers out. That should save a lot on maintenance and cleaning costs, as those lobbies are often abused, but could also go a long way to reassuring some customers who might feel safer in an access-restricted environment – particularly after dark. Similarly, this model allows Citibank to provide more services to customers without having to hire more…

Telefonica and AT&T have gained a great deal of attention for their comprehensive virtualization and software-defined networking (SDN) strategies, but they are being joined by a growing band of operators which are coming near the end of their 4G RAN roll-outs and are turning moving their investment priorities to software. Vodafone is an example. Its $27.6bn Project Spring project to upgrade and expands its LTE and fiber networks is just about complete, and its successor is Project Ocean. This is the top priority in the firm’s network strategy now, and focuses on virtualizing a large number of network functions over the coming few years. The head of the NFV/SDN program, David Amzallag, told LightReading: “We have made a lot of…

Machine learning is no longer a technology confined to supercomputers and massive AI engines – it is coming to the edge of the network and even to the handset, to power new user experiences and make complex decisions close to the user. Google’s work with Movidius, and IBM’s TrueNorth ‘brain chips’ and device-based deployments of Watson, are examples, but perhaps the most ambitious effort comes from Qualcomm with its Zeroth machine learning platform, which can be embedded in the Snapdragon system-on-chip (SoC). Initially, Qualcomm’s Zeroth/Snapdragon work focused on bringing AI algorithms and vision processing to cars, but many other applications are in its sights, as highlighted by its new deep learning software developers’ kit (SDK) for the Snapdragon 820 SoC.…

For once, it was Samsung, not Apple, which was pleasantly surprising investors with better-than-expected smartphone performance. But the Korean firm knows that any upticks in its mobile business are likely to be fleeting and quickly squashed by fierce competition and declining growth – so its developer conference was heavily focused on the new devices which it hopes will offset that decline, mainly in the Internet of Things. In its first quarter results, Samsung credited the “early launch and successful sales” of its Galaxy S7 line with a rise in profits. The company had rushed its new flagship handset out earlier than usual to be well ahead of Apple’s new midrange iPhone and other major launches. It claimed “robust sell-out figures…

If 5G is to deliver on its promises, or even be worth building at all in many markets, it must support a far broader ecosystem, which means more open access to key spectrum and network assets. This issue will be at the heart of regulatory debate and litigation from now until well into the 2020s, and Dish Network has fired the starting gun, with a bid to block Verizon’s acquisition of XO Communications because it would give the US giant unfair control over some key 5G enablers. Satellite TV provider Dish may not have delivered on its own promises to build an LTE network in its spectrum, but it is good at trying to disrupt the status quo for the…

The US operators’ 5G plans are, of course, not all about building on current 4G and IT platform deployments. They also intend to inject brand new spectrum and technology into their next generation networks, and are vying with the usual trailblazers in Japan and Korea to drive that process forward. Verizon has been very public about its goal of being the first US carrier to roll out 5G, as it was in LTE. Trials will begin this year, with the initial focus on fixed wireless. This is usual with a new connectivity standard, since it is simpler to deploy non-mobile networks and acquire devices, before addressing issues of handover and interoperability – and anyway, currently the FCC does not allow…

Google and Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) have announced a partnership that will see Google take delivery of some one-hundred customized Chrysler Pacifica minivans. The pair have said that the deal is the most advanced partnership between a tech firm and a traditional automaker, which will initially double the size of Google’s fleet – currently comprised of Lexus SUVs, Toyota Priuses, and its self-built two-seater cars. Initially, it sounded like Google had secured a manufacturing partner to license its driverless tech to, finally obtaining a revenue opportunity for its long-running autonomous vehicle project. Rumors of a deal with Ford, to be announced at CES, were all but confirmed by the media back in January, but no partnership materialized. With the FCA news,…

M&A, Strategies, Alliances Caterpillar has pledged to connecting its portfolio of heavy machinery, on the back of some poor financial results. Deutsche Telekom has launched an IoT starter kit for industrial customers looking to quickly connect machinery, including a hub, sensors, and SIM card. It also unveiled the prototype SCADA Security system that monitors data to detect machine anomalies. Nokia is acquiring Withings for $191m, adding its wearables and digital health portfolio to the Nokia lineup, as well as 200 staff. Ericsson has opened an IoT lab in Brazil, in partnership with the government, and Vodafone and Huawei have launched a joint lab in England, as well as NB-IoT trials in Turkey. Ericsson has also announced the IoT Accelerator, a…

Here’s bad news for the wireline broadband and home network industries: Americans are moving rapidly away from wireline broadband to wireless mobile broadband services, according to the US Census Bureau’s Computer and Internet Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS), which includes data collected in July 2015 from nearly 53,000 households for NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration) – part of the US Commerce Department. The report said mobile broadband services are competing more directly with wireline broadband services. The NTIA said “the findings suggest that technological changes are driving a profound shift in how Americans use the internet, which may be opening a new digital divide based on the use of particular types of devices and Internet services”.…

As Comcast prepares to activate its MVNO agreement with Verizon in the US – and possibly acquire its own spectrum again – the prospects for wireline-only, or mobile-only, operators look bleak in mature markets. According to new research by Ovum, the race towards quad play models is putting a tight squeeze on pure-play mobile operators in Europe, and the research firm calculates that, in the 10 markets it analyzed, smaller cellular-only players have only betweem 5% and 7% of the market (by subscribers), when mobile and broadband are considered together. Chief research analyst Mark Newman commented: “Even though most are still growing their share of the mobile market, they are excluded from the big-ticket bundled services and experience higher rates…

Microsoft is hanging onto a place in the mobile business by an increasingly thin thread, yet despite a 73% year-on-year fall in handset sales in the first quarter, it still refuses to abandon its disastrous Nokia devices acquisition. Indeed, recent reports indicate it is planning a major launch of Windows 10 mobile hardware, though not until the start of 2017, by which time it may be too late. The usually clear-sighted CEO Satya Nadella demonstrates muddled thinking when it comes to smartphones. He has scarcely hidden his lack of support for his predecessor’s decision to buy Nokia’s handset business, and has slashed its headcount and product range, but he has not shut it down. He argues that Windows 10 needs…

One of the businesses which may shift the competitive balance between Ericsson and Huawei is the Internet of Things, particularly the wide area wireless networks which they hope will boost spending among their traditional customers, and perhaps lure new ones. Both firms are being aggressive in promoting NB-IoT, the upcoming LTE-based narrowband solution for low power wide area networks (LPWANs), even though, last fall, they had backed rival solutions in the 3GPP standards process. The politics behind that fight – which ended officially in a consensus approach, though Ericsson was seen to have won on points – were of the old-fashioned variety mobile vendors understand well. But in the IoT, these giant companies will be trying to outdo one another…

The Samsung Developer Conference was the stage upon which Samsung announced a swathe of new IoT initiatives and updates. Strangely little was said about the upcoming Tizen 3.0, Samsung’s IoT operating system, but a new cloud platform for IoT apps, the first step towards an Amazon Alexa rival, and a slightly confusing connected car presentation are sure to remind many that while Samsung hasn’t been particularly active in the IoT, it has big plans for the future. The Artik Cloud promises to enable companies to collect and manage data generated from any device, and not just the namesake range of Samsung low-power chips. Key to the platform is an open API, that aims to minimize the time that developers spend…