Digital transformation is not only reshaping industries, but also how and where we interact. According to Gartner, by 2026, at least one-quarter of us will spend at least an hour a day in the metaverse for work, shopping, education, socializing, and entertainment. Vendors are already building ways for users to replicate their lives in the digital world, creating new business models in the process. But not everyone is ready: according to Advokate Group, metaverse data is already a lightning-rod topic for 77 percent of consumers, setting up a new battleground over privacy vs. applications and experiences.

We also must address access barriers, which is why the Federal Communications Commission has formed a cross-agency task force to create rules and policies to combat digital discrimination and to promote equal access to broadband across the country, regardless of zip code, income level, ethnicity, race, religion, or national origin.

Leaderboard and innovation news

Quantinuum and IBM have agreed to collaborate to grow the quantum ecosystem. Together they will expand the IBM Quantum Hub with Cambridge Quantum Computing Limited, providing clients with greater access to IBM's quantum computing systems, including IBM's recently announced 127 qubit processor, ‘Eagle.’ Nokia and Kyndryl announced a global network and edge computing alliance to help enterprise customers accelerate their digital transformations with industrial-grade reliable and secure LTE and 5G private wireless networking.

Verizon and the Los Angeles Times are working to change how news is gathered, shared, and consumed. They’ve accelerated deployment of advanced robotics and technology from Verizon and are integrating 4G-connected drones, 5G-connected ground robots, and 3D-modeled data to redefine digital media and add dimension to news reporting and storytelling.

Atos unveiled its new exascale-class supercomputer, the BullSequana XH3000, a hybrid computing platform to enable top scientists and researchers to advance research in sectors such as weather forecasting and climate change, new drug discovery, and genomics. Viasat is teaming up with Arctic Space Technologies to establish and host Viasat's first high-latitude Real-Time Earth facility in Ojebyn, Sweden to provide polar coverage with integrated high-speed data capabilities. Closer to home, BT and BAI Communications are working with Transport for London to enable high-speed mobile and Wi-Fi coverage on the London Underground.

IoT news

Ericsson announced the launch of its IoT Accelerator Connect, a plug-and-play cellular IoT platform to enable CSPs and enterprises to scale their businesses across multiple devices and for projects of all sizes. T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom launched T-IoT, a comprehensive enterprise solution for global IoT connectivity, platform management and support, available across 188 destinations on 383 networks worldwide. Radisys debuted its Connect RAN 5G IoT software stack, which supports diverse IoT use cases from ultra-low-cost, low-battery device-driven deployments like metering and asset tracking to mission-critical, ultra-low latency, time-sensitive industrial deployments, and XR, video surveillance, and wearables deployments.

Security news

In industry security news, AdaptiveMobile Security published a paper that highlights how vulnerabilities in mobile network infrastructure could be weaponized in offensive military operations. Setting out how the combination of military and mobile telecom-enabled targeting capabilities can create a battlefield advantage, the paper illustrates the consistency of such a model with the concept of hybrid warfare.

MATRIXX is teaming up with Google Cloud to maximize customer privacy for public cloud-based IT infrastructure; their initiative will enable faster deployment of consumer and enterprise services worldwide.  

NetSTAR released its next-gen URL categorization and reputation technology, designed to provide OEM partners with a revolutionary new way to categorize encrypted URL traffic and retrieve categorization, threat intelligence, and key metadata from that encrypted traffic.

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