Cisco and Reliance Jio team-up to expand Jio’s existing multi-terabit capacity all-IP services platform

Image Credit: Cisco

By IANS /  28 Feb 2017 , 18:09

Reliance Jio has announced a collaboration with networking giant Cisco to further expand Jios existing multi-terabit capacity with the first All-IP converged network in India. With this network, Jio will offer a combination of high-speed data, mobile video, VoLTE, digital commerce, media, cloud and payment services, Cisco said in a statement.

It is the first network of its kind globally with the fastest growth to 100 million broadband and VoLTE customers, reaching the milestone within six months of launch. “As part of our journey in fulfilling the aspirations of the nation to be a key transformational agent in digital adoption and Leadership, Cisco has been a great partner for in building this highly scalable cloud centric All-IP Digital Services Network Platform meeting unprecedented data growth,” Mathew Oommen, President of Reliance Jio, said in a statement.

A result of co-innovation around product and services between the two companies, the Jio All-IP digital platform is built on Cisco’s Open Network Architecture and Cloud Scale Networking technologies featuring IP/MPLS, spanning areas, including data centre, Wi-Fi, security and contact centre solutions. “We share the vision with Reliance Jio for an open, programmable infrastructure to simplify, automate and virtualise core network functions in order to digitise faster,” Yvette Kanouff, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Service Provider Business at Cisco, added.

Jio has more than 300,000 km of fibre and built India’s largest cloud data centre to build platforms for applications and vertical solutions. Cisco is building the simplified, automated and virtualized network platform of the future on industry-leading software, systems, silicon and services. This enables service providers, media and web companies worldwide to reduce costs, speed time-to-market, secure their networks and sustain profitable growth.

Disclaimer: Reliance Jio is owned by Reliance Industries, who also own Network18, the publisher of Firstpost and tech2.

China launches the first satellite communication smartphone to work with Tiantong-1

Tiangong, Representational Image

  07 Nov 2016 , 09:46

China’s aerospace technology company has unveiled the first satellite smartphone designed for use with the country’s first mobile communications satellite, Tiantong-1 (TT-1), media reports said. The new smartphone, developed by the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), is scheduled to go on sale in two-to-three months, South China Morning Post reported on Sunday.

CASC launched TT-1 into an equator-hugging, geostationary orbit about 35,000km above the earth on August 6, this year. Satellite experts said the new satellite smartphone was a product of the ‘space-based Silk Road’, a long-term strategy proposed by Chinese aerospace companies, institutions and scholars to support the country’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative.

“The TT-1 smartphone is so far capable of covering the territory of China and the whole of South China Sea. We are going to expand our coverage to the whole world by launching a network of TT satellites in the next five years,” said an engineer from CASC. According to the report, the smartphone was specially designed for emergency communication by field geologists or relief workers in remote areas, or when ground telecommunication networks were interrupted by natural disaster or accidents.

Besides satellite coverage, the smartphone is compatible with multiple ground-based cellular networks, including 4G LTE and 3G, supports SMS, WeChat, video and data transmission, and allows free switching between satellite and ground communication. The smartphone will retail from around 10,000 yuan ($1,480), with communication fees starting from around 1 yuan a minute — a tenth of the price charged by Inmarsat.

IANS

The end of the corporate network is coming

By Patrick Gray | November 1, 2016, 10:55 AM PST


General Electric recently announced it may "disconnect" as many as 5,000 sites from its corporate network. Is the idea of a secure, corporate network for employees past its prime?


Corporate networks have been a staple of IT departments since the dawn of IT as a corporate function, and it has been assumed that if you have employees, you'll need to provide a secure internal network for them to get their work done. However, many companies like GE are rethinking this strategy, and providing their employees with connections to the public internet rather than a secured network. Here are some of the reasons behind these moves.



The Internet is now the de facto network

I remember when I was first granted access as an employee to the mysterious entity called "the Internet." Multiple forms were completed and duly signed by various supervisors, and I had to have special proxy and monitoring software installed on my company desktop to search AltaVista and be granted an internet email address. With the rise of globally dispersed workforces, telecommuters, and mobile workers, most companies have provided means to access key software and services over public networks for years. In fact, with my last employer I never connected to the physical corporate network, using the internet for everything from email access to cloud-based tools to get work done.

As companies increasingly prepare applications for access from anywhere, a distinct "company network" seems a bit anachronistic, and in many cases presents an administrative burden, as IT must maintain secure server networks, firewalled "DMZ" networks, and semi-secure employee networks that offer little benefit when the tools for external connectivity are already in place.


Physical security really isn't

One of the major drivers for maintaining a corporate network was the theory that it offered additional security. If someone had already made it into your physical facility, a network jack that offered relatively unfettered access to company resources seemed sensible. However, that theory has long been debunked by anything from physical hacking attempts to

Airtel to approach Trai to clear confusion over the proposed Rs 1,000 cr penalty

Image: Reuters

  27 Oct 2016 , 17:57

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel today said that it will approach government and telecom regulator Trai to clear the “confusion” that led to proposed penalty of over Rs 1,000 crore on it for not providing interconnection facility to Reliance JIO Infocomm.

“We are aware of proposed penalty. We believe there is confusion here. We will find way to go back to Trai and DoT. We are very confident that government will take a very objective position in the Herculean efforts we have put to resolve this issue,” Bharti Airtel MD and CEO for India and South Asia Gopal Vittal said during analyst call today.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recommended the Department of Telecom to slap total penalty of Rs 3,050 crore on Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular for not resolving interconnection issue with Reliance Jio despite its direction that led to high call failure on latter’s network.

“It is part of our regulatory obligation that we provide connect. At the end of the day it is our job to fight in the market and serve customers better. So this is a non-issue,” Vittal said. He said that Jio announced on 31 August, that they would launch services on 5 September.

“There is lot of augmentation that we have done on points of interconnect. We have never seen that kind of augmentation that we have ever done in the past,” Vittal said. He said that the interconnection ports that Airtel has provided per million of customers is more that 2.5 times than of any other operator in India.

“The regulation allows you 90 days to all these augmentation. We have done it literally in 5 weeks,” Vittal said.

Talking about Airtel strategy to counter Reliance Jio’s free 4G mobile service, Vittal said that it is very difficult to offer free service in response but company will look at offering more bundled service like Jio is offering to counter threat from it.

“We believe that when something is free there is only way to compete is to go and give it for free. It is very difficult. In that sense we are watching that space. Free stuff also has impact on quality of network. We are keeping track on that,” Vittal said.

PTI

Disclaimer: Reliance Jio is owned by Reliance Industries, who also own Network18, the publisher of Firstpost and tech2.

Nokia posts a sharp drop in earnings as downturn hits telecom equipment business

Image Credit: REUTERS

  27 Oct 2016 , 17:24

Nokia has succumbed to a downturn in the telecoms equipment business, posting a sharp drop in quarterly earnings and warning that demand for the kit which drives global network traffic would shrink further in the coming year. Its shares fell more than 7 percent to their lowest in three years.

The network gear market is in decline after demand for 4G equipment peaked last year and a new cycle of 5G network upgrades is not expected to begin until around 2020, a trend which earlier this month pummeled rival Ericsson. So far Nokia is seeing scant benefit from the purchase of Franco-American Alcatel Lucent, bought in a 15.6 billion euro ($17 billion) all-share deal earlier this year, though the company said integration efforts were on track.

“Although their underlying profitability is solid, it does not compensate for reported figures being weak… It’s a bit better than Ericsson’s, but it is not a good report,” said Swedbank analyst Mathias Lundberg, who rates the stock “neutral”. “In the near term, Nokia will have tough time ahead … But given time, and with the successful integration of Alcatel Lucent, Nokia could be a very forceful company,” Lundberg added.

Nokia’s third-quarter network sales fell 12 percent from a year ago to 5.32 billion euros against an average expectation of 5.39 billion. Operating profit for the unit fell 36 percent to 432 million. The company said network sales were set to decline at a similar rate in the fourth quarter as in the third, and the market would continue to shrink next year.

“As we look forward, we expect (market) conditions to stabilize somewhat in 2017, with the primary addressable market in which Nokia competes likely to decline in the low single- digits for that year,” Chief Executive Rajeev Suri told a conference call.

Synergy Programmes

Sweden’s Ericsson earlier this month reported a more than 90 percent plunge in third-quarter profit and replaced its chief executive. Yet Nokia is less dependent than Ericsson on mobile broadband demand, as the Alcatel-Lucent merger gave it a larger fixed-line network business. Nokia’s Suri said the company, which is cutting thousands of jobs worldwide, was on track with its Alcatel synergy programme which targets savings of 1.2 billion euros in 2018.

“Challenging networks markets are nothing new to Nokia and I believe we remain well positioned … with our disciplinced operating model, focus on efficiences and costs and our broad portfolio,” Suri said. Nokia’s total third-quarter operating profit fell 18 percent to 556 million euros, but that figure was buoyed by a one-off patent licensing payment.

The company also said Chief Financial Officer Timo Ihamuotila, hailed for Nokia’s succesful recent M&A moves, would quit to join Swiss engineering group ABB, to be replaced by insider Kristian Pullola. Once known for its mobile phones, Nokia sold the handset business to Microsoft in 2014, leaving it with the networks business and a portfolio of technology patents.

Reuters

T-Hub launches program to network startup ecosystems

  16 Oct 2016 , 12:10

T-Hub, one of India’s largest startup ecosystem builder, in partnership with Uber and TiE Silicon Valley has announced the launch of T-Bridge — a unique initiative to connect startup ecosystems from around the world to India. The programme will connect Indian startups with global market opportunities, and help bring global startups to India. T-Bridge will help startups access UberEXCHANGE — Uber’s flagship startup mentorship program and TiE Silicon Valley’s mentor network.

Telangana’s Information Technology Minister K.T. Rama Rao, who is currently on a visit to the US, inaugurated T-Bridge at Uber’s headquarters in San Francisco. He opened T-Hub’s first outpost in the US in association with Uber and TiE Silicon Valley. T-Bridge will enable startup communities in India and around the world to cross-pollinate ideas, innovate and create channels for knowledge transfer.

It will also create a network of mentors, VCs, incubators and accelerators that is advantageous to the Indian startup ecosystem, said a statement released from the minister’s office here on Saturday. T-Bridge will provide a platform for such fast-track tech companies looking to tap into India’s huge consumer market for technology. “We have a strong vision to make Hyderabad one of the top 10 startup cities in the world. T-Bridge is one such move towards opening a channel of investment from the world to the state of Telangana,” said Rao.

“The Telangana government has been one of India’s most progressive states. The vitality and transformational mindset of its leadership gained quick notoriety within the startup world. TiE Silicon Valley is pleased to host the first T-Bridge outpost in Silicon Valley,” said TiE Silicon Valley’s incoming President Ram K. Reddy. “Today more and more people around the world want to build something themselves. Through initiatives like UberEXCHANGE, our mentorship program for Indian startups, we hope to spur entrepreneurship,” said Uber’s senior Vice President for policy and communications, Rachel Whetstone.

Creative partnerships like T-Bridge will strengthen ties between India and the global startup scene, Whetstone said. T-Hub’s CEO Jay Krishnan said since the launch of T-Hub last year, Hyderabad witnessed a threefold increase in startup activity, and added “The city is abuzz with over 30 incubators and co-working spaces. There is something happening in every corner.” “We’re committed to enabling and growing this community and helping Indian entrepreneurs access global resources. T-Bridge is one such initiative in that direction,” Krishnan said.

T-Hub is a unique public/private partnership between the government of Telangana, three of India’s premier academic institutes (IIIT-H, ISB and NALSAR) and key private sector leaders.

IANS

Yahoo Confirms 500 Million Accounts Were Hacked by 'State Sponsored' Hackers

500 million accounts — that's half a Billion users!

That's how many Yahoo accounts were compromised in a massive data breach dating back to 2014 by what was believed to be a "state sponsored" hacking group.

Over a month ago, a hacker was found to be selling login information related to 200 million Yahoo accounts on the Dark Web, although Yahoo acknowledged that the breach was much worse than initially expected.

"A recent investigation by Yahoo! Inc. has confirmed that a copy of certain user account information was stolen from the company's network in late 2014 by what it believes is a state-sponsored actor," reads the statement.

Yahoo is investigating the breach with law enforcement agency and currently believes that users' names, email addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, passwords, and in some cases, encrypted and unencrypted security questions-answers were stolen from millions of Yahoo users.

However, the company does not believe the stolen information includes credit card information or any bank details of the affected users.

Yahoo has been criticized for its slow response to the data breach, but it is now in the process of notifying affected customers via emails and asking them to change their passwords, as well as security questions.

At this moment Yahoo did not provide any evidence on why it believed the breach was work of state-sponsored hackers.

Despite millions of people affected by the breach, the biggest victim here seems to be Yahoo itself.

The data breach reports come just as the company is trying to negotiate a deal to sell itself to Verizon for $4.8 Billion. So, if the breach reports negatively impact its share price, even for the time being, it could cost the company and its shareholders a slice of its buyout value.

Over past few months, a large number of data breaches have been reported to plague companies likeLinkedIn, MySpace, Tumblr, and VK.com as hackers put up for sale massive data dumps of user credentials stolen earlier in the decade.

Change your Password and Use Password Manager

Needless to say, users should immediately change their Yahoo account password. The company will also be prompting anyone who hasn't changed their password since 2014 to do so now.

"Additionally, Yahoo asks users to consider using Yahoo Account Key, a simple authentication tool that eliminates the need to use a password altogether," Yahoo suggests.

Also make sure that you also change your passwords on other online accounts if they use the same password, and enable two-factor authentication for online accounts immediately.

And once again, a strong recommendation: Don't reuse passwords.

If you are unable to remember different passwords for each site, you can adopt a good password manager that allows you to create complex passwords for various sites as well as remember them for you.

We have recently listed some best password managers that could help you understand the importance of password managers and help you choose a suitable one, according to your requirement

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