By: Jesse Cryderman
Unknown to most laypersons and the fodder for jokes among telecom insiders, standards are more than just acronyms and geek speak. They enable interoperability, improve security, increase
the speed of networking, spawn innovation, and accelerate the development of new markets. Plus, they can be monetized. In many ways standards are the foundation on which the whole
business of telecommunications rests, and for that reason they’re undeniably consequential. Not all standards are created equal, however…
» read this article
By: Becky Bracken
Connected-car services are hardly a technological novelty. In the European Union, 112 eCall, which automatically alerts emergency assistance when an accident has occurred, will be
mandatory in all new cars and light trucks by October 2015. Regardless of whether a vehicle’s driver and/or passengers are conscious or alert, emergency crews will know the location
of the accident in an instant, which the European Commission has forecasted could prevent 2,500 deaths each year…
» read this article
By: Simon Frost
Ericsson’s vision of “the Networked Society” predicts that 50 billion devices will be connected via broadband, mobility and the cloud by 2020, and that more than 15 billion of those devices
will be enabled for video. It also expects 90 percent of the traffic on global IP networks to be video by as early as 2015. The explosion in fixed and mobile data is being driven by the
proliferation of video-capable connected devices and the desire to view content anytime, anywhere. Research from Ericsson ConsumerLab shows that 67 percent of consumers have reported using
IP-enabled mobile devices to watch television…
» read this article
By: Jesse Cryderman
Unfortunately for the engineers tasked with refining the rules that govern telecommunications, standards aren’t as sexy as the smartphones they empower. And yet telecommunications
standards are the silent enablers that make our modern connected world possible. Like the behind-the-scenes management, production and songwriting pros that made Justin Bieber a megastar,
standards occupy the shadowed sidelines near the stars while creating the very product on which the spotlight shines…
» read this article
By: John Egan, Livia Rosu
The connected-home landscape is continually broadening and evolving, and having consistent, reliable communication is critical to smart-grid operations for the home. Making the grid
into a smart grid is one of several interrelated evolutionary steps occurring in the field of grid communications; it enables service providers and utilities to better manage their
resources and proactively handle problem avoidance and resolution while providing advanced services to the home…
» read this article
By: Becky Bracken
Every time someone signs into an app or service using thier Facebook or Gmail credentials, a thousand telecom network execs bite their collective fist. In their view, a mobile number, not
a Facebook or Amazon login, should be the portal to the app world. “Moving up the app value chain” is how it’s referred to in industry jargon, but the magic making it all possible is the
smart use of APIs, or application programming interfaces. The goal for operators is pretty straightforward: shift from strictly being providers of communications services to offering a
wider array of services that can drive increased revenue, build network traffic and garner crucial loyalty among customers that keeps them coming back for years to come…
» read this article
By: Robin Mersh
Network access has evolved over the past 20 years from just a simple internet offering to the current rush of services and applications, numerous speed and performance
requirements and a variety of core and local access methods. Fixed-mobile convergence (FMC), the cloud and virtualization are new buzzwords that bring with them a host
of new requirements and opportunities. These exciting and revolutionary applications open up a range of experiences for the consumer and require a much more dynamic and robust network…
» read this article
By: Jesse Cryderman
Telefónica acquires E-Plus If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. European network operators are pursuing the same kind of M&A as their US counterparts. On July 23 Telefónica
Deutschland (operating as O2) moved to acquire KPN subsidiary E-Plus, which would result in a new leader in the German mobile market with combined revenues of €8.6 billion. The deal still has to
clear regulatory hurdles, but the global trend toward consolidation is undeniable. Emeka Obiodu, principal analyst at Ovum, believes consolidation was inevitable…
» read this article
By: Tim Young
“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.”― Ralph Waldo EmersonInternational travel can bring about countless joys, from the
beauty of new sights to the taste of new foods. It’s a thrill to stand on foreign soil and take in the sounds and scents of a place so far from home—to simply soak up the
differentness that a new country offers. But being in a place so different from your own can also be a drag: Your money doesn’t always work…
» read this article
