Time to move beyond 5G hype

The next generation wireless network known as 5G is like an abstract painting you can make of it what you want. To some, 5G is “wireless cable,” the means to deliver video and high-speed internet much like a cable system. To others, 5G is the transformational technology necessary to handle the flood of data to enable new capabilities such as autonomous vehicles and remote surgery.

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5G

Strategize to compensate for the leak in core network services revenues

Article | May 18, 2023

There is a fundamental shift in demand for core network services from enterprise customers, away from MPLS and private leased circuits to fixed broadband, Ethernet VPN, and DIA. Omdia forecasts that through 2026, the increase in revenue from fixed broadband, Ethernet VPN and DIA will be insufficient to make up for the decline in revenue from MPLS and private leased circuits.

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5G

Edge use cases need a 5G and beyond user plane

Article | September 28, 2023

Emerging virtual and hybrid private 5G solutions are enabling communication service providers (CSPs) to address a large number of new consumer and enterprise edge use cases. Each of these edge use cases will require a specific network deployment model and edge user plane connectivity. That’s why we’ve designed our 5G edge user plane to tackle five distinct key capabilities: support of flexible network deployments, 3GPP dual-mode support, integrated Gi LAN services, integrated probing with edge analytics and edge exposure enablement. Let’s dive into this blog post to learn how the powerful 5G edge user plane is unlocking new 5G edge use cases. How technological innovation creates value and benefits society has always interested me, influencing my work as a mobile network technologist and sales professional. Since mobile data was introduced in late 90s, both mobile network technology and mobile consumer use cases have evolved enormously. Indeed, a rapid increase in connectivity speed and the introduction of smartphones have pushed the market to adopt mobile web and video and create thousands of new applications. However, sometimes ‘killer use cases’ require both business case and application ecosystem maturity. One example is video conferencing, one of the key services 3G was designed for but was only introduced when the over-the-top (OTT) vendors disrupted the content provider market and popularized social media. Creation of mobile technology has indeed its own innovation cycles and research feeds and therefore can't depend on market pull, but you can draw the conclusion that the time to value greatly benefits when the broad business and technology ecosystem in the value chain collaborate and co-create solutions. Precisely, what’s really exciting about 5G is that it coincides with the maturity of other two disruptive technology enablers for end applications: artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud edge computing. It also comes at a moment when there’s both an urgent need and huge financial support to digitalize society and industry. In fact, more than ever, we are witnessing a close collaboration between technology and business ecosystems. Over the past few years, there have been a large number of public-private consortiums to feed service requirements into 5G standards, explore and validate the value of 5G technology. For example, just to name few, the 5G alliance for connected Industries and automation (5G-ACIA) or European 5G infrastructure Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects. For years, 3GPP standards have been preparing to define advanced 5G connectivity solutions for edge computing and vertical digitalization use cases. In addition, all sorts of consumer and enterprise edge applications are being developed at the same pace in many areas such advanced video processing, AI analytics, immersive gaming, smart grid applications, automated guided vehicles (AGVs) controls or industry automation. The edge ecosystem is particularly complex and involves different players. One key pillar is the wireless connectivity service CSPs offer. 5G-ACIA introduced the concept of virtual private and hybrid private 5G solutions, two emerging solutions that CSPs are exploring to complement their private 5G network offerings. Such solutions allow CSPs to leverage their existing public networks and offer new services in an agile and cost-effective manner using new 5G capabilities such as network slicing. In order to address edge use cases, virtual and hybrid private 5G solutions need to bring the user plane connectivity to the edge by deploying 5G edge user plane functions. The 5G edge user plane supports flexible network deployments One key learning from industry experimentation with 5G is that each use case brings a unique combination of connectivity requirements, in terms of end-to-end performance (uplink and downlink latency, jitter, packet loss and throughput), data privacy and security, robustness, wide vs local area coverage and mobility. Latency and security requirements drive the selection of the edge location, which can be the enterprise premise, CSP access or regional data center or even the extended public edge such as content delivery networks (CDN) content provider or a hyper cloud provider’s (HCP) edge data center. For example, a mobile gaming application can be located in the CSP regional data center or HCP edge, whereas video processing and AI for a factory automation application is located on the factory premise. Also edge distribution can be accounted by CSP for those use cases which produce significant amount of data such as fixed wireless access (FWA) to optimize backhaul costs. Ericsson has a vast experience supporting and driving the ecosystem to realize time critical communication use cases at scale and has conducted detailed latency analysis for different type of deployments. The RAN deployment needs to be carefully planned according to the specific use case performance characteristics. Some use cases can be achieved with existing macro RAN environment -4G or non-standalone 5G-, with macro RAN standalone 5G with or without dedicated quality of service (QoS) profiles or even may require network slicing to partition macro RAN. In contrast, some other use cases will need dedicated RAN deployments. In addition, most use cases will benefit from a dedicated edge user plane function, as it provides a higher level of performance and robustness. In summary, the concrete edge use cases to be offered and CSP’s own solution preferences drive the type of network solution and deployment, which can be a private 5G network, a virtual or a hybrid 5G private network using existing macro or dedicated RAN, with or without network slicing. The edge 5G user plane function should allow for such deployment flexibility and enable the different edge use cases characteristics. Ericsson Local Packet Gateway (LPG) addresses this by: Supporting any access technology, radio deployment model and RAN vendor Seamlessly integrating with Ericsson’s existing dual-mode 5G Core. which is prepared for slicing, efficient routing to edge (also called edge breakout) and advanced QOS and many other 5G edge features described in more detail in next section. Supporting a fast time to service, deployment simplicity and a very low footprint enabling deployment at scale in any type of edge location, up to on enterprise premises. See our previous LPG 5G edge user plane: key requirements for success for details. Providing a high level of robustness and failure resilience by means of a cloud native user plane application designed for high availability and fault resilience, support of geo-redundancy and support of 3GPP control plane and user plane split (CUPS) interface which can be deployed in full mesh with multiple control planes. User plane can also be deployed as a dedicated function within a slice to secure further characteristics and isolation or as a shared function for various slices. 5G edge user plane should enable transition from 4G to more sophisticated 5G connectivity Most of CSPs are embracing edge opportunities. They are viewing the opportunities as an evolution of their existing offerings rather than a revolution, meaning existing 4G enterprise use cases will still need to be supported for some time as the ecosystem matures to support time-critical communications type of use cases. This means 5G edge user plane should be dual-mode and support such a wide breadth of technology. 5G edge user plane should support both 3GPP compliant serving/packet gateway user function (S/PGW-U) and user plane function (UPF) and evolve with advanced UPF features for time-critical communications, such as more stringent end to end QoS and transmission robustness for ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC) or Ethernet connectivity for advanced edge industrial use cases. It should also support 5G peak rates and do not degrade use cases performance characteristics. It should also support dynamic edge routing solutions which are efficient, deployable by multipurpose terminals and mobility proof such as dynamic network slice selection which is preferrable to UPF as uplink classifier as starting solution until standardization evolves. 5G edge user plane should work in conjunction with the CSP’s dual-mode core system, which supports dynamic slicing orchestration, dynamic slice selection, ultra-reliable low latency communications and advanced 5G edge connectivity features such as different service continuity and user plane re-anchoring modes depending on mobility and application resilience needs. Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core with Local Packet Gateway provides such advanced 5G connectivity in a pre-verified manner. In fact, the Ericsson Local Packet Gateway Cloud Native Function (CNF) is based on the same software as the Ericsson Packet Core Gateway (PCG), the market leading cloud-native user plane, which is deployed in 5G live networks today. Such deployment flexibility in edge user plane allows CSP to offer distinct use cases. For example, CSPs can offer mobile gaming service by deploying a cloud virtual reality (VR) gaming center application in their regional data centers. Connectivity with guaranteed low latency QoS can be provided by a dedicated 5G network slice with the dedicated Ericsson Local Packet Gateway, deployed close to the gaming application and connected to the CSP’s existing central core network. The mobile gaming application can use a portable device such as VR glasses or use a multi-purpose smartphone or tablet that supports dynamic slice selection. CSP can reuse their existing public network and macro 5G RAN. As another example, CSP can offer 5G edge connectivity to factories or logistic centers for augmented reality (AR) quality inspection. The AR application is deployed on the factory premise and needs an ultra-reliable and low-latency QoS connection to process in real time all the factory images. This is provided by a dedicated Ericsson Local Packet Gateway with ultra-reliable low latency QoS and redundant configuration being deployed on premises. Edge use cases will require user plane services beyond 3GPP There is a set of non-standardized user plane functions deployed in today’s networks (also called GI/N6 LAN functions) for mobile broadband service that would be also relevant for edge use cases. These functions can be categorized as: Traffic acceleration and optimization of access resources e.g., transport layer optimizers or advanced video traffic shapers Network services e.g., carrier grade NAT devices or external load balancers Service aware traffic monitoring and enforcements needed to realize customized CSP charging data plans or comply with some country regulatory such as content filters Network security functions protecting CSP infrastructure and UEs of security attacks such as subscriber firewalls or distributed denial (DDoS) mitigation systems, and Service chain policers and forwarders to chain and offload these GI/N6 LAN functions. Those can be integrated with operator policy framework to compose and program a unique data pipeline which addresses the specific connectivity needs of a given subscriber and application in the context of a certain use case The current GI/N6 LAN market is very fragmented and addressed by many different vendor specific user plane functions. These functions are deployed as separate appliances or virtualized functions, each with their management system, policy integration and cloud orchestration system which significantly increases CSP’s total cost of ownership (TCO) when deploying and managing them. As CSPs start their edge journey they will need to bring some of these GI/N6 functions to the edge. A very simple and cost-efficient strategy to consolidate these functions in one single edge user plane function. This approach is being adopted by Ericsson Local Packet Gateway: it integrates these functions, including advanced integrated Packet Core Firewall, together with the UPF/S/PGW-U functions. This dramatically reduces the TCO and provides a single hop to the end application, which reduces further the latency. Ericsson Local Packet Gateway also allows to compose and tune the set user plane functions applied to a given traffic in one configuration click, which allows to customize the connectivity for each edge use case. Another consideration is that these GI/N6 functions were designed for legacy mobile broadband. This means they will need to evolve to support 5G peak user throughput rates and new 5G segment requirements, e.g., traffic optimizations should focus on optimizing the throughput of uplink transmissions and reducing the overall jitter and latency. Service aware charging models will evolve as 5G gets monetized, security for edge enterprise connectivity will keep evolving as well. Technological innovation in this space is a must for any edge user plane vendor and should be holistic considering the entire ecosystem and end-to-end solution behavior. As one example, edge user plane can leverage 3GPP exposure interfaces for application detection, use collaborative solutions with content providers or RAN to optimize traffic delivery or even adapt traffic optimizations to new end to end rate adaptation mechanisms such as low latency low loss scalable throughput (L4S). Ericsson, as an end-to-end network provider and key contributor to 5G standardization, is working actively in this space. Edge connectivity needs to be monitored and assured CSPs need to monitor, troubleshoot, and assure the edge user plane connectivity. In many cases the CSP organizations dealing with enterprises services have their own analytic and management systems. Those systems need to evolve to provide visibility of the 5G encrypted communication, up to on enterprise premise and without compromising 5G security and provide advanced insights to meet the stringent service level agreements of edge use cases. Example of user plane data feeds are traffic packet and patterns statistics, key performance indicators at transport level or service quality of experience estimates per application, area of interest, slice and subscriber type. CSP analytic use cases will also evolve, meaning network assurance and service experience management use cases will increasingly adopt AI/ML models with distinct and very demanding UP data sets running in parallel. External probing solutions were not designed for these requirements. The cost of evolving and deploying such solutions to thousands of edges is unaffordable. Ericsson Local Packet Gateway addresses this challenge by supporting integrated dual-mode probing capabilities which includes rich, granular data with pre-processed data and advanced data collection profiles avoiding the need of deploying external taps, packet broker and probes at edge. Software probes are a unique Ericsson dual mode 5G Core feature – a feature that’s very popular with our customers for public network and enterprise solutions. CSP will also introduce network data analytics function (NWDAF) function to enable 5G analytics for further 5G automation, new exposure APIs for verticals and data efficiency. An NWDAF can collect edge user plane and public network data to provide real time analytics which can be consumed by the network functions or by the end edge application to improve further the edge connectivity. Example of those analytics are user mobility, network congestion, quality of service, service experience or abnormal user behavior. Ideally, the NWDAF should be distributed at the edge and deployed co-located to the edge user plane for data efficiency, security and lower actuation latency. Ericsson NWDAF supports such distributed and co-located deployment and analytics and can collect pre-standard data from the Local Packet Gateway data until 3GPP rel-18 specifies UPF event exposure. Edge exposure for advanced edge connectivity Exposure through APIs on the edge is becoming increasingly important for CSPs to enable new services, increase their relevance in the 5G ecosystem and become more attractive partners for hyperscale cloud providers, application ecosystems and other players. Edge applications will be able to consume network capabilities and data to provide advanced services and innovate. Data extracted from edge user plane function will be of high value. For example, to determine the exact UE sessions being anchored by a given edge user plane, the actual monitored QoS, etc. Such exposure capabilities in edge user plane allows application to adapt the content delivery or reconfigure dynamically the connectivity, e.g., change dynamically the negotiated QoS or influence edge routing. As mentioned previously, NWDAF user plane analytics can be also exposed for advanced edge use cases. Ericsson is already working with our customers to create new edge use cases using Ericsson Local Packet Gateway and Edge Exposure Server. Stay tuned! Summary: In this blog post we’ve explained the different considerations that need to be taken into account when selecting the 5G edge user plane, and how it enables flexible virtual private and hybrid 4G private solution deployments and address the user experience idiosyncrasy of myriads of edge use cases. The 5G edge user plane has to be small, cost efficient, easy to deploy but still extremely powerful and advanced in terms of dual connectivity and added value features. Ericsson Local Packet Gateway is designed with all these capabilities in mind and integrates seamlessly with existing CSP dual-mode 5G Core, delivering edge use cases was never that easy.

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Enterprise Mobility, Mobile Infrastructure

Verizon and Unity Collaborate to Integrate 5G and MEC in Gaming

Article | June 16, 2023

Telecommunications conglomerate Verizon has partnered with 3D development platform Unity to create entertainment applications and enterprise toolkits that can render 3D environments almost instantaneously, without the need for expensive hardware. In a press release, Verizon said products from this collaboration will address the demand for instantaneous content in industries such as gaming, retail, and sports, where emphasis is placed on real-time digital immersion. “We are entering an era of technology-led disruption where 5G and MEC will not only transform the full enterprise lifecycle, it will change the way consumers experience gaming and entertainment,” said Verizon Chief Executive Officer Tami Erwin. These products will utilise 5G and Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) technology, taking the best of both worlds to enhance the digital experience for consumers. The concept of edge computing has actually been around for roughly three decades, but it wasn't until recently that we've been able to apply it to Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Edge architecture reduces latency by moving computer services closer to the source — the "edges" — of the data. This not only decongests the centralised cloud of information, but also decreases the distance the data needs to cover to reach user terminals. Meanwhile, 5G is the highly anticipated next generation broadband network that promises to deliver high speeds with just millisecond latencies. Despite the pandemic, its rollout hasn’t slowed down at all, with countries like China, South Korea, and the US getting a first taste of the technology. The promise of lightning-fast connections, however, comes at a steep cost: 5G stations consume plenty of energy to work. Though much of 5G's advantages come from its streamlined digital routing capabilities, it's also underpinned by a powerful network of hardware components — more precisely, printed circuit boards (PCBs). To answer the demand for more energy, engineers use ties to meet PCB requirements for solving the challenges that come with powering a standard board. These include considerations like signal paths and planar delays, among others. Placing the net ties at the right junctions distributes energy more evenly, thus providing efficient power delivery to 5G networks. Despite all the touted capabilities of 5G, experts have flagged cybersecurity as one major concern. As a new innovation, 5G is still fairly unregulated, leaving loopholes and security gaps that cyber criminals can exploit. For instance, the expansion of bandwidth coverage actually opens up vulnerabilities and additional avenues for cyber attacks. Furthermore, the hyper connected nature of IoT devices makes it easier for hackers to gain access to different networks, both private and public; and unwitting users can potentially expose their contacts to virtual attackers. Because of these threats, experts urge telecom companies to lay down a solid bedrock for 5G security before finalising the pivot towards it. For now, it remains to be seen how legislators and regulators will implement standards to guide the public in its use of 5G. Amid this concern, Verizon and Unity are hopeful that their collaboration — and the marriage of 5G and MEC technology — will be a game changer in the gaming, retail, and entertainment industries. “We know the world is demanding high-speed, AAA content, whether it’s an educational augmented reality application or a robot running a simulation of a digital twin,” Unity Vice President for Solutions Ryan Peterson said. “5G is the key piece for us to facilitate these real-time 3D experiences broadly and to better meet the demands of the real-time economy.”

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Network Security

Why Security Vulnerability Assessments Are Necessary?

Article | October 26, 2021

Cybercrimes have increasingly become a matter of concern for companies worldwide. Over the past few years, the rise of big-ticket ransomware attacks and exposure of perilous software supply chain infections has awakened organizations to various digital dangers. So, the big question is, how to combat the security threats that are on meteoric growth? The best solution is to adopt a security vulnerability assessment. What is Security Vulnerability Assessment? A vulnerability assessment involves a systematic review of security hazards, which helps identify IT infrastructure’s weaknesses, risks, and vulnerabilities. When it comes to mitigating vulnerabilities and resolving issues, the collective imperative is to analyze the problem areas before getting them fixed. A security assessment is critically important to combat the complexities and with an effective vulnerability assessment program, organizations use the tools required to comprehend the probable security weaknesses and enable the protection of systems and data from intruders and unauthorized breaches. For most organizations, ensuring the safety of devices, networks, applications, and digital assets are part of a broader vulnerability management strategy. It includes an extensive assessment, in-depth processes, and mitigation methods to explore the entire threat spectrum. Typically, it is conducted regularly. Vulnerability assessment offers a firm assurance in the security of data, especially when some alterations have been implemented or a new service has been added, or, for that matter, and installation of new equipment has taken place. Each assessment provides a perspective about the risk in its periphery and suggests solutions to control the risk factors and the evolving threats. Why Security Vulnerability Assessment Is Necessary? The perpetual threat of cybercrime has necessitated the demand for vulnerability assessments significantly. They make organizations realize their security defects and contribute towards mitigating them. Hackers are forever ready to make phishing attacks. As per reports, hackers are at work every 39 seconds. Thus, it is extremely important to be vigilant or complacent to activate hackers’ and cybercriminals’ machinations. Over the period, cybercrimes are fluctuating and thus need ongoing attention. The ideal solution is to undertake consistent vulnerability assessments to safeguard confidential data, systems, and networks. Furthermore, it helps organizations understand the risk and enables smart decision-making. To ensure security, companies ought to conduct both external and internal scans of their networks. According to Gartner (paywall), “Large organizations with thousands of employees, tens of thousands of servers and many operating systems receive hundreds of requests per year to patch thousands of vulnerabilities that cannot be remediated in less than 15 days.” One of the best reasons security vulnerability assessments are important is because it confirms an enterprise’s management processes and whether it has covered every critical patch through outlined existing remediation. Why Do Companies Need Vulnerability Assessment? A vulnerability assessment provides companies insightful details on all types of security discrepancies in their environment. It paves ways to evaluate the risks associated with the flaws. This helps organizations have a better knowledge of their security scare, overall weaknesses, and assets. Moreover, the first thing that strikes us on hearing about a cyber-attack is the security of data. With the right and adequate implementation of security assessments, the safety and security of important data could be easily protected. A security assessment would be helpful to reduce irrelevant expenses and make space and increase the IT budget to invest in other key aspects. Undoubtedly, data breach causes substantial loss to an organization, which leads to legal hassles and financial hazards. In fact, most of the time companies fail to recover the loss. Thus, it doesn’t harm to place solid policies and methods to strengthen the entire security position of the organization and this can only be possible with a strategic security vulnerability assessment. In a nutshell, this would keep the companies aware and, in all likelihood, keep the cyber-criminals at bay. A CASE STUDY ANALYSIS To cite an example, let’s take how Zensar conducted a three-pronged vulnerability assessment with port scan and penetration scanning. It determined the security of its offerings to meet customer requests for Brainshark, a leading provider of on-demand presentation solutions, helping customers deliver business interaction across 600+ ranking companies in the market. While Brainshark knew their systems were secure and could also establish it through their documentation, they still undertook a third-party security vulnerability assessment. Zensar’s vulnerability assessment procedures were based on the industry’s best practices that included tests for SQL injection, cookie manipulation, access control weakness, session state, and cross-site scripting. The focus of the test was to identify the host and application security concerns. Upon completing the tests and assessments, Brainshark expressed satisfaction and was confident enough in their ability and solution. They knew their security posture was highly protected and secure. Types of Vulnerability Assessments: Vulnerability assessments unearth a variety of system and network vulnerabilities. This indicates the reliability of the assessment process, which is implemented with different tools, scanners, and methods that helps discover the vulnerabilities, risks, and threats. Network-based assessment scanning: It is used to determine the presumptive network security attacks. This kind of scanning can also detect the vulnerable systems on wired as well as wireless networks. Host-based scans: It is easy to locate the vulnerabilities in servers or other network hosts with host-based scanning. This type of scanning provides visibility into the configuration settings and legacy systems. Database scans: Database scans ascertain the weak points in a database to preclude malefic attacks. Application Scans: It examines websites to identify and recognize software vulnerabilities and inaccurate configurations in network or web applications. Summing Up Organizations need to be watchful every minute and ensure the security posture is rigorous, which is only possible with security vulnerability assessments. Based on this criterion, understanding company risks gets simplified in turn preventing intrusions and threats. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS What Are the Advantages of Security Vulnerability Assessment? There are several advantages attached to security vulnerability assessments. To put it precisely, it can help identify the vulnerabilities before cybercriminals do and determine the level of risk. Undoubtedly, opting for vulnerability assessment would save a lot of time and money and mitigate the risk and prevent the irrelevant expenditure that follows after the cyber-attacks. What Are the Disadvantages of Security Vulnerability Assessment? While vulnerability assessments are highly advisable, it has its share of drawbacks which cannot be ignored. One of the primary limitations of vulnerability assessment is that it does not hint at every vulnerability that exists. Moreover, it sometimes signals false positives too. { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [{ "@type": "Question", "name": "What Are the Advantages of Security Vulnerability Assessment?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "There are several advantages attached to security vulnerability assessments. To put it precisely, it can help identify the vulnerabilities before cybercriminals do and determine the level of risk. Undoubtedly, opting for vulnerability assessment would save a lot of time and money and mitigate the risk and prevent the irrelevant expenditure that follows after the cyber-attacks." } },{ "@type": "Question", "name": "What Are the Disadvantages of Security Vulnerability Assessment?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "While vulnerability assessments are highly advisable, it has its share of drawbacks which cannot be ignored. One of the primary limitations of vulnerability assessment is that it does not hint at every vulnerability that exists. Moreover, it sometimes signals false positives too." } }] }

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ComSol

Established in 1987, ComSol have become one of the UK's most trusted suppliers & installers of leading edge data network infrastructure to a vast range of public & private organisations...

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Network Infrastructure

Algeria Telecom Deploys NEC & Juniper Networks' 5G-Ready IP MTA

Algeria Telecom | May 31, 2022

NEC Corporation, a world's leading IT and network transformation service company, and Juniper Networks, a leader in secure, AI-driven networks, have worked with Algeria Telecom, the leader in the Algerian telecommunications market, to roll out its modernized, nationwide IP metro commercial network to support current demand for increased capacity and future 5G and FTTx requires. Algeria Telecom has a mid-term strategy objective to develop a homogenized, optimized transport network with automated capabilities to ensure bandwidth and future-proof its infrastructure in a rising market. NEC and Juniper implemented Algeria Telecom's next-generation IP metro network while maintaining quality of service and the greatest user experience. Algeria Telecom chose Juniper Networks' high-performing, security solutions for SDN-ready, cloud-grade networking and feature-rich, simple and secure connectivity at scale as the innovative foundation of its new platform. The access nodes create separate pre-aggregation, aggregation, and access domains for optimal reliability. Algeria Telecom implemented the Juniper Paragon Automation cloud-native solution package, Paragon Pathfinder and Paragon Planner, to get deep network insight and simplify operations. This ensures 5G and multicloud user experiences. All Juniper systems operate on Junos OS to deliver an easily managed, open solution. Mr. Adel Bentoumi, CEO of Algeria Telecom said that "The successful completion of the IP metro network modernization project by our partners, NEC Corporation and Juniper Networks, will allow us to make the migration to IPV6 and the initiation of digital transformation, as well as the implementation of high speed internet, as we best satisfy the needs of Algeria Telecom customers." The rapid growth of network traffic is a clear indication of the need for modernization and expansion of network capacity. NEC and Juniper have been extremely attentive to our needs, both technical and commercial, working as an extension of our team with their outstanding local engineering abilities, as well as their relentless efforts to assure quality of experience and on-time delivery. Overall, the innovative solutions from Juniper to enable this automated metro cloud architecture have helped us achieve our strategic goals and thrive as we pave the way for 5G.” AllahoumHocine, Head of IP Core, Algeria Telecom Brendan Gibbs, Senior Vice President, Automated WAN Solutions, Juniper Networks said that “Networks have always been a key asset for service providers, but going forward they will be the foundation for every aspect of business transformation in the 5G and cloud era. Algeria Telecom is jumping ahead of the curve by investing in an open, agile and automated network architecture that can drive simplified operations, improved economics and superior end-user experiences.”

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Wireless

TDK Ventures Invests in XCOM Labs

TDK | May 30, 2022

TDK Corporation today announced that its subsidiary TDK Ventures, Inc. has decided to invest in wireless communications disruptor XCOM Labs to accelerate the development of their 5G and wireless communications solutions, which prioritize bandwidth capacity, latency reduction/elimination, and compute load balancing. XCOM is developing wireless technologies to allow smart manufacturing, automation, off-site training, and more immersive telework experiences in the future of work and Industry 4.0. This extends beyond medical, entertainment, and even defense applications to aid in the training and preparation of military troops. Many of the breakthrough technologies seen in the 2G/3G/4G revolutions were developed by XCOM's leadership team, which included Dr. Paul Jacobs, Derek Aberle, and Matt Grob. As present infrastructure cannot keep up with the need for 5G and wireless infrastructure, there is a large demand for further growth and adoption of supporting technologies. Each "G" generation signifies an effort to increase wireless transmission speed, capacity, and overall value. This necessitates not only hardware and software improvements, but also the use of either frequency spectra in new and novel waves or very new frequency bands. The balance of energy, frequency, and transmission is one of several compromises. Higher frequency – and consequently energy signals – can transport more information in less time but degrade faster over distance. In terms of infrastructure, this implies that more transmitting "nodes" in the network are required to convey higher frequency signals over a given region. XCOM is developing technologies that will level the playing field. Their solutions aim to increase spectrum capacity and utility by more than tenfold, allowing the potential promised by 5G and next-generation developers to become a reality. XCOM, for example, is developing further to take digital transformation to the next level via extended reality (XR). They are building a high throughput, low latency wireless technology to enable seamless virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences utilizing a globally accessible 60GHz millimeter wave spectrum. What was previously constrained by the necessity for heavy processing equipment nearby or the poor throughput of smartphone processing is now becoming a full system capable of immersing the user in a metaverse or digital world environment. This will be a significant advancement in the integration of edge computing processing to deliver a more natural user experience. The XCOM team is set on continuing our tradition of excellence and innovating in the wireless space. We understand how important high throughput/low latency is for the future of compute-heavy applications and are working to deliver those capabilities to create real and positive change in our world and industry applications. Our XR technologies are evidence of this progress and show that seamless processing through edge computing can deliver a truly immersive and agile VR/AR system fit for business, entertainment, and more." XCOM's Dr. Jacobs TDK Ventures shares XCOM's dedication to digital transformation for a better, more sustainable future. TDK Ventures will assist XCOM with scaling the effect of their technology by using their network connections, industry partners, and linking XCOM to other TDK business divisions. The platform team at TDK Ventures also offers early product validation, pilots, customer/channel/ecosystem access, market knowledge, operational experience (e.g., materials, manufacturing, fabless, supply chain), and go-to-market/branding coaching.

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Wireless

Vislink Showcases Innovative 5G & Cloud-Based Wireless Solutions

Vislink | May 27, 2022

Vislink, a worldwide leader in the capture, distribution, and management of high quality, live video and data in the media & entertainment, law enforcement, and military industries, presented private network 5G technology during a sports event in the UK to illustrate its potential in broadcast. Vislink and Mobile Viewpoint's adoption heralds a revolution in remote production processes by extending bi-directional IP connections to the edge and allowing virtualized production in the cloud. Vislink's breakthroughs were on display at the Gallagher Premiership Rugby match between Saracens and the Northampton Saints at StoneX Stadium in London, where it backed a BT-led project to highlight the potential for 5G in broadcast contributions by connecting matchday cameras to a standalone private 5G network. In a UK first, this cameras' feed was included in BT Sport's live broadcasts of the match, a first for a customer broadcast. BT Media & Broadcast, BT Sport, Broadcast RF, and Neutral Wireless headed the project. Vislink installed private network 5G transmitters with COFDM technology to illustrate how 5G technology is growing to offer assured quality, low latency video from wireless cameras to give spectators realistic up-close camera views of the athletic event. Mobile Viewpoint's 5G-enabled encoders send camera feeds to the cloud across a secure, low-latency 5G private network and IP LAN. The director can pick camera feeds for the program stream fully in the cloud, utilizing BT Sport's virtualized production process. This cloud-based installation illustrates Mobile Viewpoint's capacity to bring new cost and operating advantages for distant manufacturing operations. Vislink's long-standing expertise in COFDM-based wireless technologies was bolstered last year with the inclusion of Mobile Viewpoint 5G technology capabilities. Vislink now has a best-of-breed portfolio of resilient and efficient solutions for a broad range of deployment situations thanks to the integration of these technologies. Following on from the world's first stand-alone private 5G network for sports broadcasting during the British MotoGP 2021 Grand Prix, this current public demonstration signals another step forward in the company's 5G wireless technology leadership. Vislink and Mobile Viewpoint showed the world's first glass-to-glass All-IP wireless and virtualized manufacturing during this experiment, which was arranged by BT Sport and BT Media & Broadcast. This momentous trial has now established the future course for live event streaming.

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Network Infrastructure

Algeria Telecom Deploys NEC & Juniper Networks' 5G-Ready IP MTA

Algeria Telecom | May 31, 2022

NEC Corporation, a world's leading IT and network transformation service company, and Juniper Networks, a leader in secure, AI-driven networks, have worked with Algeria Telecom, the leader in the Algerian telecommunications market, to roll out its modernized, nationwide IP metro commercial network to support current demand for increased capacity and future 5G and FTTx requires. Algeria Telecom has a mid-term strategy objective to develop a homogenized, optimized transport network with automated capabilities to ensure bandwidth and future-proof its infrastructure in a rising market. NEC and Juniper implemented Algeria Telecom's next-generation IP metro network while maintaining quality of service and the greatest user experience. Algeria Telecom chose Juniper Networks' high-performing, security solutions for SDN-ready, cloud-grade networking and feature-rich, simple and secure connectivity at scale as the innovative foundation of its new platform. The access nodes create separate pre-aggregation, aggregation, and access domains for optimal reliability. Algeria Telecom implemented the Juniper Paragon Automation cloud-native solution package, Paragon Pathfinder and Paragon Planner, to get deep network insight and simplify operations. This ensures 5G and multicloud user experiences. All Juniper systems operate on Junos OS to deliver an easily managed, open solution. Mr. Adel Bentoumi, CEO of Algeria Telecom said that "The successful completion of the IP metro network modernization project by our partners, NEC Corporation and Juniper Networks, will allow us to make the migration to IPV6 and the initiation of digital transformation, as well as the implementation of high speed internet, as we best satisfy the needs of Algeria Telecom customers." The rapid growth of network traffic is a clear indication of the need for modernization and expansion of network capacity. NEC and Juniper have been extremely attentive to our needs, both technical and commercial, working as an extension of our team with their outstanding local engineering abilities, as well as their relentless efforts to assure quality of experience and on-time delivery. Overall, the innovative solutions from Juniper to enable this automated metro cloud architecture have helped us achieve our strategic goals and thrive as we pave the way for 5G.” AllahoumHocine, Head of IP Core, Algeria Telecom Brendan Gibbs, Senior Vice President, Automated WAN Solutions, Juniper Networks said that “Networks have always been a key asset for service providers, but going forward they will be the foundation for every aspect of business transformation in the 5G and cloud era. Algeria Telecom is jumping ahead of the curve by investing in an open, agile and automated network architecture that can drive simplified operations, improved economics and superior end-user experiences.”

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Wireless

TDK Ventures Invests in XCOM Labs

TDK | May 30, 2022

TDK Corporation today announced that its subsidiary TDK Ventures, Inc. has decided to invest in wireless communications disruptor XCOM Labs to accelerate the development of their 5G and wireless communications solutions, which prioritize bandwidth capacity, latency reduction/elimination, and compute load balancing. XCOM is developing wireless technologies to allow smart manufacturing, automation, off-site training, and more immersive telework experiences in the future of work and Industry 4.0. This extends beyond medical, entertainment, and even defense applications to aid in the training and preparation of military troops. Many of the breakthrough technologies seen in the 2G/3G/4G revolutions were developed by XCOM's leadership team, which included Dr. Paul Jacobs, Derek Aberle, and Matt Grob. As present infrastructure cannot keep up with the need for 5G and wireless infrastructure, there is a large demand for further growth and adoption of supporting technologies. Each "G" generation signifies an effort to increase wireless transmission speed, capacity, and overall value. This necessitates not only hardware and software improvements, but also the use of either frequency spectra in new and novel waves or very new frequency bands. The balance of energy, frequency, and transmission is one of several compromises. Higher frequency – and consequently energy signals – can transport more information in less time but degrade faster over distance. In terms of infrastructure, this implies that more transmitting "nodes" in the network are required to convey higher frequency signals over a given region. XCOM is developing technologies that will level the playing field. Their solutions aim to increase spectrum capacity and utility by more than tenfold, allowing the potential promised by 5G and next-generation developers to become a reality. XCOM, for example, is developing further to take digital transformation to the next level via extended reality (XR). They are building a high throughput, low latency wireless technology to enable seamless virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences utilizing a globally accessible 60GHz millimeter wave spectrum. What was previously constrained by the necessity for heavy processing equipment nearby or the poor throughput of smartphone processing is now becoming a full system capable of immersing the user in a metaverse or digital world environment. This will be a significant advancement in the integration of edge computing processing to deliver a more natural user experience. The XCOM team is set on continuing our tradition of excellence and innovating in the wireless space. We understand how important high throughput/low latency is for the future of compute-heavy applications and are working to deliver those capabilities to create real and positive change in our world and industry applications. Our XR technologies are evidence of this progress and show that seamless processing through edge computing can deliver a truly immersive and agile VR/AR system fit for business, entertainment, and more." XCOM's Dr. Jacobs TDK Ventures shares XCOM's dedication to digital transformation for a better, more sustainable future. TDK Ventures will assist XCOM with scaling the effect of their technology by using their network connections, industry partners, and linking XCOM to other TDK business divisions. The platform team at TDK Ventures also offers early product validation, pilots, customer/channel/ecosystem access, market knowledge, operational experience (e.g., materials, manufacturing, fabless, supply chain), and go-to-market/branding coaching.

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Wireless

Vislink Showcases Innovative 5G & Cloud-Based Wireless Solutions

Vislink | May 27, 2022

Vislink, a worldwide leader in the capture, distribution, and management of high quality, live video and data in the media & entertainment, law enforcement, and military industries, presented private network 5G technology during a sports event in the UK to illustrate its potential in broadcast. Vislink and Mobile Viewpoint's adoption heralds a revolution in remote production processes by extending bi-directional IP connections to the edge and allowing virtualized production in the cloud. Vislink's breakthroughs were on display at the Gallagher Premiership Rugby match between Saracens and the Northampton Saints at StoneX Stadium in London, where it backed a BT-led project to highlight the potential for 5G in broadcast contributions by connecting matchday cameras to a standalone private 5G network. In a UK first, this cameras' feed was included in BT Sport's live broadcasts of the match, a first for a customer broadcast. BT Media & Broadcast, BT Sport, Broadcast RF, and Neutral Wireless headed the project. Vislink installed private network 5G transmitters with COFDM technology to illustrate how 5G technology is growing to offer assured quality, low latency video from wireless cameras to give spectators realistic up-close camera views of the athletic event. Mobile Viewpoint's 5G-enabled encoders send camera feeds to the cloud across a secure, low-latency 5G private network and IP LAN. The director can pick camera feeds for the program stream fully in the cloud, utilizing BT Sport's virtualized production process. This cloud-based installation illustrates Mobile Viewpoint's capacity to bring new cost and operating advantages for distant manufacturing operations. Vislink's long-standing expertise in COFDM-based wireless technologies was bolstered last year with the inclusion of Mobile Viewpoint 5G technology capabilities. Vislink now has a best-of-breed portfolio of resilient and efficient solutions for a broad range of deployment situations thanks to the integration of these technologies. Following on from the world's first stand-alone private 5G network for sports broadcasting during the British MotoGP 2021 Grand Prix, this current public demonstration signals another step forward in the company's 5G wireless technology leadership. Vislink and Mobile Viewpoint showed the world's first glass-to-glass All-IP wireless and virtualized manufacturing during this experiment, which was arranged by BT Sport and BT Media & Broadcast. This momentous trial has now established the future course for live event streaming.

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Events