Telecom Review November 2018

TH E T E L E C O M S I ND U S T RY ME D I A P L ATFORM

Spearheading AI and 5G development in the Middle East Charles Yang, president, Huawei Middle East

The Middle East embraces artificial intelligence: Strategies and initiatives

Can telecoms providers really handle the ‘data tsunami’?

Managing digital identity for a better online experience

CONTENTS

NOVEMBER 2018

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THE TELEC OMS IND U ST RY M E D I A P L AT F O R M

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10 Spearheading AI and 5G development in Middle East

The Middle East embraces artificial intelligence: Strategies and initiatives

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Can telecoms providers really handle the ‘data tsunami’?

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du drives digital transformation to keep people ‘connected’

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Etisalat is ‘Leading the 5G Revolution’ with the commercial deployment of 5G and continued investment in futuristic technologies and services

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Artificial intelligence drives digital transformation of public safety

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“Open source is enabling service providers to get faster access to innovation,” Susan James, Red Hat

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Why humans should be at the heart of innovation

The new digital age comes to life at GITEX 2018 38

NXN brings remote patient monitoring to the Middle East

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SES Networks’ new mPOWER satellites will be an industry game-changer

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Data Consult: Helping businesses succeed in their digital transformation

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Managing digital identity for a better online experience

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Analysts at NetEvents dismiss theory that AI is the ‘silver bullet’ to solving cybersecurity issues

EDITORIAL

NOVEMBER 2018

Editor in Chief & Senior ICT Analyst Toni Eid toni.eid@tracemedia.info

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Toni Eid, founder editor in chief Telecom Review International

Senior Journalists Mark Forker mark@tracemedia.info Christine Ziadeh christine@tracemedia.info Editorial Team Shelley Beyak (Canada), Toni Eid (UAE), Mark Forker (UAE), Hadeel Karnib (Lebanon), Lacinan Ouattara (Ivory Coast), Jennifer Saade (Lebanon), Jeff Seal (USA), Zane Small (New Zealand), Christine Ziadeh (Lebanon) Copy Editor Shelley Beyak Advertising Enquiries Mohammed Ershad ershad@tracemedia.info Graphic Designer Tatiana Issa Responsible Manager Joseph Bou Daher News Provided in cooperation with AFP, the global news agency Published by

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5G is close!

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g is set to be commercially deployed. Commercial testing from the USA, Canada, Asia and the Middle East is running frequently.

Telecom operators and vendors alike are excited about 5G deployment and expect it will bring their businesses up and running again.

A lot of promises are coming with 5G. Operators are looking for increased data traffic, sales and super-high speed which will allow consumers to use more data, especially when video streaming.

Vendors are looking for new deployment as 4G markets are almost saturated, and 5G will increase their businesses.

But, how smooth will the shift be from 4G to 5G? Who is ready for the technical and regulatory challenges, and for the adoption of new prices? How will consumers embrace 5G in terms of upgrading their packages?

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Telecom Review is the global media partner of the upcoming NGMN Forum which will be held in Vancouver, Canada, on November 6 to 8, and we will be sharing daily updates about 5G with our global readers.

This forum will be the largest ever held to tackle the 5G world.

Š All rights reserved Publication of any of the contents is prohibited

Follow our daily news from Vancouver to the world, and get the latest about 5G!

- Year 13 - Issue 143 -

NOVEMBER 2018

Australia seeks access to encrypted data with controversial legislation Major tech giants Facebook, Apple, Alphabet and Amazon have expressed opposition against an Australian law that requires them to give authorities access to private encrypted data related to suspected illegal activities, following fears of the increasing risk of terror attacks. The four tech titans will jointly lobby against the proposed bill ahead of a parliamentary vote. If it enters into force, Australia would be one of the first countries to impose such measures.

“Any kind of attempt by interception agencies, as they are called in the bill, to create tools to weaken encryption is a huge risk to our digital security,” said Lizzie O’Shea, a spokeswoman for the Alliance for a Safe and Secure Internet.

The United States, Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand – often referred to as the Five Eyes nations – have echoed their fear of national security being at risk and demanded access to encrypted emails, text messages and voice communication through legislation in order to monitor suspects.

However, such claims were strongly opposed by technology companies that described this situation as a back-door to users’ data.

Recently, New Zealand was the latest to move ahead with such a legislation announcing that customs officers can now oblige visitors to disclose passwords of their electronic devices.

Those who refuse would have to pay a fines reaching NZ$5,000 ($3,292.00).

GLOBAL NEWS

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China moves closer to commercial 5G launch China’s IMT-2020 (5G) promotion group announced that it has completed the third phase of non-standalone (NSA) trials and reached the halfway point in standalone (SA) trials based on 3GPP’s Release 15 standards unveiled in June and December 2017. The SA trials involved core network functions, basestation functions, outdoor and interoperability trials.

Tests covered indoor and outdoor trials, core network and basestation functions.

Huawei, ZTE and China Information and Communication Technologies Group completed trials using the 3.5GHz and 4.9GHz frequency bands. This phase

saw the participation of more than 20 companies, such as Ericsson, Nokia Shanghai Bell, Samsung, Qualcomm, Intel and Rohde & Schwarz.

Yang Chaobin, president of Huawei 5G product line, said, “The test results showed Huawei’s confidence in providing operators with mature and reliable 5G end-to-end commercial products. They were also the result of the joint efforts of Huawei and many industry partners.”

After completing this step, the group intends to conduct interoperability tests on system and chip system terminals.

Huawei launches new solution to assist customers in deploying hybrid cloud On the sidelines of HUAWEI CONNECT 2018, Huawei launched the FusionCube Hybrid Cloud Solution. Based on Huawei’s FusionCube hyper-converged infrastructure, this modular, integrateddelivered Hybrid Cloud Solution aims to help customers quickly and efficiently deploy and expand hybrid clouds based upon service requirements.

Philip Jiang, general manager of FusionCube and KunLun, Huawei Intelligent Computing Business Department, said: “In the future, 85 percent of applications will run on clouds, and hybrid clouds will be the preferred application deployment mode for enterprises. This latest FusionCube Hybrid Cloud Solution can effectively improve the connectivity between public and private clouds. By leveraging the hyper-convergence capabilities of FusionCube, the solution enables easy hybrid cloud expansion and deployment, implementing modular hybrid cloud construction.”

FusionCube is based on Huawei’s next generation FusionServer V5 powered

by Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors.

By supporting a variety of servers, including blade, high density and rack servers, the solution can satisfy

customer application requirements for innovative services in different scenarios. In addition, FusionCube hyper-convergence delivers industryleading performance by leveraging distributed storage and powerful hardware acceleration technologies.

According to an IDC report, FusionCube has the largest market share inChina.

Huawei entered the Challengers quadrant in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Hyper-Converged Infrastructure.

Using FusionCube, reliable and high availability hybrid clouds can be constructed like building blocks.

Customers can also use softwaredefined components to smoothly transit to clouds.

Huawei has emerged as a global mainstream IT vendor with a broad portfolio of intelligent servers and a full lineup of IT products. Huawei provides IT infrastructure with supreme performance, simplicity and efficiency to help global enterprises and organizations confidently achieve their strategy of digital transformation.

To date, 211 of the Fortune Global 500 and 48 of the top 100 enterprises have selected Huawei as their partner for digital transformation.

NOVEMBER 2018

GLOBAL NEWS

South Korean chipmaker invests in new chip factory South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix inaugurated a new memory chip manufacturing plant in South Korea as part of a 20 trillion won ($17.7 billion) investment aiming at addressing the increasing demand for NAND flash memory chips as storage media for servers. The company had announced in 2015 that it will invest 15.5 trillion won; however, the amount increased due to rising equipment costs for its fine technology process used to make smaller chips – NAND flash chips. SK Hynix plans to enhance its competitiveness in the global flash memory market where it ranks fifth after Samsung Electronics, which is the world

leader in the sector, followed by Toshiba.

However, the South Korean company has the second biggest share of the global market for DRAM memory used for temporary storage in all kinds of electronic devices.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in expressed his support to this project saying that “the government will support the company so that it can invest at the appropriate time.”

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won noted, “We will continue to grow and take on challenges so as to be able to lead the semiconductor industry.”

Nokia deploys private LTE network in Brazil Nokia has been selected by Brazilian power distributor, Elektro, part of the Neoenergia/Iberdrola group, to deploy a private LTE network to increase the reliability and efficiency of the electrical grid in the city of Atibaia and surrounding areas in the state of Sao Paulo.

This highly reliable wireless 4G network, which is the first of its kind in Brazil, will serve more than 75,000 homes and businesses. The LTE network will be deployed in 3.5 Gigahertz (GHz) frequency band, the first such installation in South America. The network will provide business-critical connectivity for grid equipment, smart meters, substations and distributed energy generation sources throughout the service area, enabling grid automation through real-time exchange of information between these devices and Elektro’s Operations Center in Campinas.

This will enable the quick identification of events on the electrical grid for rapid restoration in case of failure, and even to avoid outages before they occur, helping ensure high quality service for Elektro’s customers.

This agreement builds on Nokia’s strong track-record providing missioncritical networks to power utilities, and highlights the company’s strong position

in the emerging market for private LTE networks. It also highlights the progress of Nokia’s strategy of expanding its customer base outside of the traditional telecommunications sphere, a key focus of the company’s diversification efforts.

Mario Ruiz-Tagle, president of Neoenergia, said: “Neoenergia is committed to sustainable development and the full digitalization of its networks.

The project in Atibaia is a pioneering effort here in Brazil, and will deliver increased power efficiency to bring both increased quality and cost savings to our customers. As important, this deployment will enable the introduction of distributed power resources in the future, such as photovoltaic generation and electric vehicles, while providing the required communications for our transformation to new business models.”

Osvaldo Di Campli, head of Nokia Latin America, said: “This private LTE deployment will provide the large-scale connectivity, extensive coverage and high bandwidth service needed for Elektro to extend the reach of its network out into their distribution grid, making the grid much smarter. This future-proof solution will also provide an evolution path to 5G technology in the future, which will offer an array of additional capabilities to keep pace with the fast-evolving utility market.”

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US judge extends monitoring period of ZTE by two years A US federal judge has taken the decision to extend a court-appointed monitoring period on Chinese telecommunications behemoth ZTE by two years - after it was discovered that the vendor had violated a probation that was imposed on the company after it had illegally shipped US goods to Iran.

ZTE issued a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange following the decision by the US court and acknowledged the change in its probation conditions which highlighted that it had included extending the term of the courtappointed monitor to March 2022.

The original monitoring period, imposed to assess ZTE’s compliance with US export control laws, was due to end in 2020.

The Shenzhen-based vendor said a second key term of the judge’s decision was providing the monitor with the same access to certain documents, information, facilities and personnel related to compliance with the Export Control Reform Act of 2018.

The court decision relates to false statements which were made by ZTE during settlement talks and a probationary period in 2017. For the same violation, the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security issued a denial order in April which barred US companies from selling components to ZTE for a period of seven years.

ZTE reached a deal with the US government in early June to remove the sanctions following an intervention by US President Donald Trump, which involved paying a $1 billion fine, placing an additional $400 million in an escrow account with a US bank, appointing a special compliance coordinator and replacing its board of directors.

NOVEMBER 2018

Huawei partners with CMHK on 5G-ready comprehensive transport network Recently, China Mobile Hong Kong Company Limited (CMHK) announced that it will partner with Huawei to build a 5G-ready comprehensive transport network covering 5G transport, enterprise private lines and home broadband.

This project marks CMHK’s transformation from providing pure mobile services to fixed mobile convergence (FMC) services, and strengthens the strategic partnership between Huawei and CMHK over network construction.

With the Intent-Driven Network (IDN) architecture and uNetBuilder digital platform, Huawei’s 5G-ready comprehensive transport network solution provides FlexE, ethernet virtual private network (EVPN), segment routing, PAM4-based 50GE, 96-wavelength 200G OTN system, and other new functions and technologies. Leveraging the network cloud engine (NCE) that implements end-to-end, unified control and management and intelligent O&M, Huawei is able to help CMHK effectively build a 5G-ready comprehensive transport network covering private line and home broadband services at the optimal TCO. 5G is now transport first. CMHK’s cooperation with Huawei to build a 5G-ready comprehensive transport network marks a new step forward in their transport network construction. Drawing on comprehensive experience in 5G transport network construction and advanced technologies, Huawei will help CMHK build a high-standard, best-experience comprehensive transport network and develop multiple services to achieve business success.

GLOBAL NEWS

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Japan’s SBI group partners with Sepior on online wallet for cryptocurrency exchange Sepior ApS, a leader in threshold cryptography for highly secure online transactions, and the SBI Group, the leading Japanese online financial services firm actively developing cryptocurrency markets in Asia, announced an agreement to license Sepior’s Threshold-Sig Wallet Security technology and to jointly develop a proprietary wallet to secure the Online contents and transactions on SBI’s Virtual Currencies exchange platform, VCTRADE. Sepior’s threshold signature approach using multiparty computation (MPC) provides the highest level of encryption key protection available for cryptocurrency wallets, addressing the most salient criteria for achieving Online wallet and transaction security. SBI is setting new standards for cryptocurrency exchange security, in part through more effective key management and

protection using Sepior’s Threshold Wallet technology. Critical requirements for institutional-grade cryptocurrency exchanges include the ability to provide custodial wallet services with the highest level of security for signing transactions, storing private key components, and minimizing the risk of assets being frozen or moved without the approval of the end user or custodians.

Sepior’s patented Threshold Wallet technology, which enables rapid signing of transactions involving multiple parties, is instrumental in helping SBI Virtual Currencies satisfy these requirements.

Also critical is the nature of Sepior’s key protection approach, which eliminates the need for any device or entity to possess the entire private key at any time, making it effectively impossible for an attack to result in key theft.

ZTE takes industry-lead in third phase of 5G technology testing ZTE, a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the mobile internet, has announced that it takes the lead in China’s third phase 5G Technology R&D Test.

ZTE was the industry’s first to complete several SA (standalone) tests at 3.5GHz as well as all NSA (non-standalone) tests at 3.5GHz and 4.9GHz, including laboratory functional test, field test, core network test, AAU RF test and some tests for R16 and future evolution.

As a major supplier, ZTE has participated in China’s 5G Technology R&D Test with 5G end-to-end products, including 5G basestation, 5G core network and 5G device. On July 14th, ZTE restarted the third phase test. Within two months, ZTE had completed new product development, end-to-end test environment deployment, functional testing and field verification, fully demonstrating ZTE’s ability to support 5G commercial deployment. As the industry’s first to complete several

SA (standalone) tests, ZTE complied with the 3GPP standards and SA test specifications, and selected Option 2 of SA network, connecting 5G basestation to 5G core network, so as to build an endto-end 5G architecture and deploy 5G stations independently.

Meanwhile, ZTE fully verified the basic functions of the physical layer, link adaptation and scheduling, multiantenna technology, CU-DU separation architecture and other 5G wireless key contents and deployment scenarios.

Furthermore, ZTE has verified the network performance of the 5G SA mode at 3.5GHz by conducting the field verification of cell throughput, user experience data rate, latency and coverage in Huairou District of Beijing.

The results of the SA test and NSA test completed by ZTE are highly valuable for operators’ 5G deployment plan at this stage, providing with 5G end-to-end commercial products and solutions, thereby enabling operators to realize 5G commercial success in the future.

NOVEMBER 2018

COVER STORY

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Breakthroughs in deep learning and reinforcement learning are driving a new wave of AI advances.

AI applications are now widely deployed across almost all industries, whether through autopiloting technology, unmanned supermarkets, intelligent voice assistants and more. AI has become a new powerful engine that drives industry digital transformation.

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I is creating brandnew experiences for everyone and every organization, from computeraided diagnosis techniques to voice-aided smartphones, handwriting recognition, financial transactions, smart logistics, spam filtering and translation. Smart technology is bringing about major changes in the way businesses develop. It also has a social impact, delivering public goods like precision medicine, environmental sustainability and education.

Spearheading AI and 5G development in the Middle East

As the Middle East continues on its journey of digital transformation, AI has a vital role to play in powering industry growth. To develop the AI industry and unlock the potential of AI, Huawei has made major global and regional announcements in the field in the past month. We hope that through the launches outlined below, we will build an AI ecosystem in the Middle East and support regional governments’ visions to become knowledge-based, diversified economies.

Huawei releases the AI Developer Enablement Program Huawei has launched a series of all new AI offerings with the capabilities to drive industry development, intelligence

NOVEMBER 2018

and accelerate digital transformation.

Huawei also released its AI Developer Enablement Program, which will help build an affordable, effective, reliable and inclusive AI ecosystem.

These announcements took place at HUAWEI CONNECT 2018 in Shanghai.

Under the theme ‘Activate Intelligence’, the conference focused heavily on the challenges, opportunities, innovations and practices of AI. Huawei’s recently-launched portfolio includes a new Ascend series of AI chips – the world’s first AP IP and chip series designed for a full range of scenarios. Huawei predicts that by 2025, the world will see upwards of 40 billion personal smart devices, and 90% of device users will have a smart digital assistant. Data utilization will reach 86% and AI services will be readily available.

Huawei states that AI has recently become a new general purpose technology and will fundamentally change all industries and organizations on earth.

Unlocking cloud intelligence During the event, Huawei also introduced the Huawei Cloud EI Intelligent Twins for cities, an upgrade of the Huawei Cloud Enterprise Intelligence services, which is powered by the latest Huawei AI chips.

Since its inception in 2017, the Huawei Cloud EI has explored more than 200 projects across eight industries, covering cities, manufacturing and logistics. During this time, Huawei found that AI dramatically helps IT support systems evolve to production systems.

“Combining AI with industry insight is difficult; and computing power is a major barrier to AI application,” Jia Yongli, general manager of the EI Product Department of Huawei Cloud BU, noted.

Its cloud business unit also held a side-summit named “The Innovative Path to Intelligent Cloud Data Centers”, fronted by Hou Jinlong, president of Huawei’s IT Product Line.

COVER STORY The summit saw the release of Huawei’s full-stack private cloud solution, FusionCloud 6.5, and introduction of its new generation, mission-critical cloud storage, FusionStorage. These solutions add new capabilities to Huawei’s substantial array of cloud and storage support, laying the foundations for building an intelligent world.

Intelligent connected vehicles Huawei has also introduced Audi and unveiled their future plans together in the field of intelligent connected vehicles (ICV), featuring a demonstration from the new Audi Q7.

As a leader in the field of vehicle technology, Audi is the ideal partner for Huawei, paving the way for the most intelligent and automated driving functions and experiences in the world.

William Xu, director of the board and chief strategy marketing officer of Huawei, commented, “As cars get smarter, we take advantage of our leading ICT technologies with Audi – one of the world’s most successful premium car brands – to lead automatic driving into the fast lane.

Very soon, consumers will enjoy more secure, comfortable, convenient and intelligent self-driving services.”

Accelerating IoT with Bosch Introducing more major global partnerships, Huawei invited leading technology supplier Bosch on stage at the event to outline its plans for accelerating the development of IoT in China.

“We are pleased to have the opportunity to collaborate with Huawei Cloud to offer cloud-based IoT services, providing various functions needed to connect devices and businesses,” said Stefan Ferber, CEO of Bosch Software innovations.

Bosch’s software platform being utilized in the agreement connects web-enabled objects to facilitate data sharing across a multitude of digital services and business models. For example, one of the first services being made commercially available to Chinese consumers through the

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Huawei Cloud will be the Bosch IoT Remote Manager, a service that manages gateways, sensors and devices.

Announcement of global industry cooperation plan A Global Industry Organization (GIO) roundtable was also held where Huawei promoted the digital transformation of industries, and discussed collaboratively building an intelligent world for the future.

It also released a global industry cooperation plan to promote collaboration across industries and fields of technology, digital transformation and AI democratization.

As industry continues to integrate with information and communications technology (ICT), an intelligent society is on the horizon. Huawei is committed to bringing digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world.

Updating intent-driven network Huawei also announced the update of its industry-oriented intent-driven network solution. The solution helps to build a complete network system that enables digital transformation and maximum business value.

The architecture of the system has three major benefits: service-centricity, E2E SLA guarantees and open digital platforms. With the rise of AI and big data in enterprise networks forcing change across industries, this IDN will help enterprise customers build user experience-centric intelligent networks that bind the best of automation, big data and AI for the foreseeable future.

The AI enablement program One of Huawei’s final announcements was the release of its AI Developer Enablement Program. The program will help Huawei collaborate with developers, partners, universities and research institutions.

Huawei will use the program to build a better development ecosystem that can support AI resources, platforms, courses and joint solutions.

NOVEMBER 2018

According to Zheng Yelai, vice president of Huawei and president of Huawei Cloud BU, Huawei’s AI Developer Enablement Program offers a platform for technical communication, talent training and innovation to developers, tutors and Huawei partners.

Huawei aims to build a sustainable ecosystem by focusing on a customercentric strategy that yields mutually beneficial results for its members. By continuing to allocate resources and investments to the development of industry alliances, business alliances, open source communities and developer platforms, Huawei is looking to ramp up its efforts to facilitate the digital transformation of entire industries, while creating a symbiotic and vibrant community to support this shift.

Huawei hosts Innovation Day to discuss AI strategies and upcoming opportunities On the sidelines of Innovation Day at GITEX 2018, Huawei held an AI conference. The event attracted industry experts and government leaders, including the guest of honor and keynote speaker, Mothanna Hamdan Gharaibeh, Jordan Minister of ICT, to strategize on the best path forward to bringing AI to the Middle East.

Huawei organized the conference to foster a discussion on how the Middle East can best position itself to benefit from the imminent arrival of AI. The development of a national AI strategy must become a priority, as AI is a central aspect of national development plans and visions in the region to become diversified, knowledge-based economies. As AI becomes more advanced, it is becoming an allpurpose technology which will drive the development of all industries, creating new venues of innovation and growth.

H. E. Mothanna Gharaibeh, ICT Minister Jordan, said: “Investing in AI is an investment in the future. AI has the potential to solve many intractable challenges we are facing across industries today, by transforming

COVER STORY the way we approach problems, and completing tasks more effectively and efficiently than humans can. It will also free people from spending our labor on tedious and repetitive tasks, allowing us to use our minds to engage in highlevel activities. Investing in Jordan ICT is not only valuable, it is also smart.

Jordan is perfectly poised to benefit from the opportunities of AI; we have at our disposal a population of talented and innovative entrepreneurs. By continuing to invest in progressing the ICT industry and its next evolution in the form of AI, we will open new venues of innovation and economic growth for organizations, and uplift the Kingdom to new heights of prosperity.”

Anwaar Al Shimmari, chief innovation officer, Ministry of Infrastructure Development, UAE, gave a keynote about the benefits of AI in meeting global infrastructure demands, and the ability of robots to deliver information faster, reduce costs and risks. She said: “Robots will use building facility management and asset management concepts to monitor and control infrastructure assets.”

The Middle East is one of the first regions worldwide to import Huawei’s recently-unveiled revolutionary AI products and solutions. The AI conference was held just a week after Huawei rotating chairman, Eric Xu, announced the global launch of Huawei’s AI strategy, as well as its full-stack, all-scenario AI portfolio.

Huawei’s AI portfolio includes its new Ascend series of AI chips – the world’s first AI IP and chip series designed for a full range of scenarios. The portfolio also includes new products and cloud services that are built on Ascend chip capabilities. With its full-stack AI portfolio, Huawei aims to provide pervasive intelligence to help drive industry development and build a fully connected, intelligent world.

Ten future changes: Driving Huawei’s AI strategy Huawei predicts that by 2025, the world will see upwards of 40 billion personal smart devices, and 90% of device users will have a smart digital assistant. Data utilization will reach 86% and AI services will be readily

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available, as prevalent as the air we breathe. According to Huawei, AI has become a new general purpose technology and will change all industries and organizations on earth.

Proactive change is the first step towards a better future in AI. Huawei has defined 10 changes that will help pave the way. They include: • Faster model training • Abundant and affordable computing power • AI deployment and user privacy • New algorithms • AI automation • Practical application • Real-time, closed-loop system • Multi-tech synergy • Platform support • Talent availability These 10 changes are not only Huawei’s hope for the AI industry, they are also the inspiration behind its AI strategy.

Huawei’s AI strategy has five areas of focus: Invest in AI research: Develop fundamental capabilities for machine learning in domains like computer vision, natural language processing and decision/inference, etc. Huawei places special emphasis on machine learning that is: • data and power-efficient (i.e., less data, computing and power needed) • secure and trusted • automated/autonomous Build a full-stack AI portfolio: • Deliver abundant and affordable computing power • Provide an efficient and easy-to-use AI platform with full-pipeline services • Make the portfolio adaptive to all scenarios, both standalone and cooperative scenarios between cloud, edge and device Develop an open ecosystem and talent: Collaborate widely with global academia, industries and partners Strengthen existing portfolio: Introduce an AI mindset and techniques into existing products and

NOVEMBER 2018

COVER STORY

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solutions to create greater value and enhance competitive strengths Drive operational efficiency at Huawei: Apply AI to massive volumes of routine business activities for better efficiency and quality Alaa ElShimy, managing director and vice president at Huawei Enterprise Business Group, said, “AI is on the verge of transforming industries and organizations across the world, and we are committed to helping our customers and partners make the most of the technology’s potential to unlock innovation and economic growth.

Right now the priority is for industry and government leaders to discuss which challenges and opportunities AI can most immediately address, to convert this cutting-edge technology into profitability for organizations. This AI conference will help us and regional governments succeed in our mission to position the Middle East for success in the age of AI.” Huawei hosts the Middle East 5G Ecosystem Conference Huawei hosted the 5G Ecosystem Conference on the sidelines of the 3rd annual Middle East Innovation Day. Under the theme “5G is Now, Sailing to New eMBB Horizons”, the conference promoted a 5G ecosystem in the Middle East by bringing together operators, regulatory agencies, industry leaders and other stakeholders to discuss 5G from a business, policy and industry perspective.

Opening the conference, Mr. Bocar BA, CEO, SAMENA Telecommunications Council, said: “SAMENA Council is engaged and working closely with Huawei, telecom operators, governments’ regulatory authorities and international organizations to create the enabling environment for the development of the 5G ecosystem.

Today’s conference by Huawei has been a successful effort toward this objective, and it will bear positive impact on our industry’s pace of 5G development and launch. 5G is highly important for the region’s digital economy and, being so, will carry tremendous ramifications for socioeconomic progress in the region,

for fostering improved understanding and collaboration among the stakeholders, and for enabling the fulfillment of the global sustainable agenda.”

Mr. Tariq Al Awadhi, executive director Spectrum Affairs, UAE TRA, said: “Our stakeholders have been the key success. They have brought the knowledge and the expertise together to help us succeed in our endeavors.”

During the event, Huawei organized live trials of the most cutting-edge 5G uses cases. These included drone taxis, a virtual room (VR) showroom and teleoperated driving. Huawei also signed

Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with key partners to strengthen the 5G ecosystem, including with Media Pro, Orange Business Service and TPCast. Certificates were awarded to IoT organizations who have demonstrated outstanding value in the field of IoT. Mr. An Jian, president of Carrier Network Business Group, Huawei Middle East, said: “An open, collaborative and sustainable ecosystem will enable and accelerate digital transformation for all industries in ME region. We form and engage in open enablement platforms and business alliances that revolve around

NOVEMBER 2018

COVER STORY

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ME 5G needs. We work together with ecosystem partners on open innovation projects to speed up the development of customized solutions, helping the governments of ME regions to consolidate their strengths in digital transformation and succeed in their national targets pursuits. Huawei will stay committed to openness, collaboration and shared success.”

“5G’s impact will be far-reaching, profiting not only operators but also enterprises, consumers and society through digital transformation. Investing in 5G is thus an economic and social imperative. Today’s 5G Ecosystem Conference is part of our effort to map out the industry blueprint for a fully connected, intelligent world driven by ICT. Our goal at Huawei is to provide strategic insight – and foresight – to our partners in both the public and private sectors, so that together we can navigate the digital transformation journey seamlessly, in an integrated and profitable manner.

As a major telecommunication solutions supplier, Huawei has setup strategic partnerships in 5G areas with carriers, and signed six 5G commercial contracts in the Middle East out of 18 globally. In 2018, Huawei has formed a series of strategic partnerships with telecommunication operators in Kuwait, and has accomplished some significant 5G progress in the country,” Mr. An continued.

Huawei also unveiled a new research paper conducted in partnership with Analysys Mason, a global consulting and research firm specializing in telecoms, media and digital services.

Titled “Unlocking Digital Opportunities with 5G”, the White Paper reveals startling statistics about the impact 5G will have in the GCC, including the fact that 5G could generate almost USD270 billion for the regional ICT sector in the next decade.

The research takes a deep look at the impact 5G will have in the GCC, comparing the country readiness of five different markets with key international benchmarks, and makes recommendations on how operators and governments can capitalize on the technology. The data leaves no doubt

NOVEMBER 2018

COVER STORY

that investing in 5G is worthwhile: in the GCC alone, 5G will provide a cumulative new revenue opportunity over 10 years, totaling USD269 billion, with about 50% of this addressable by operators and the rest by other ICT players.

Aerodyne Group; Luc Serviant – senior vice president Middle East & Africa, Orange Business Services; Caroline Gabriel – senior contributor Analysys Mason; Du Yeqing - VP of 5G Product Line, Huawei; and, Safder Nazir, ME VPDigital Industries Strategy, Huawei.

To arrive at this sum, Analysis Mason and Huawei identified the top 50 use cases for 5G, splitting them into short-term and long-term. For the first phase, enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), connected health, connected cars and smart city applications were the most common sectors to be at the center of the 5G business plan.

After that, robotics and drones, VR and transportation move into the top priorities, along with continued enhancement of MBB. Overall, VR for on-demand video streaming and VR for 4K/8K live video streaming use cases have the most potential to profit operators in the region.

The panel discussed the acceleration of the release of new spectrums for 5G deployment, the current regional 5G policies, the advantages of forming a 5G ecosystem, and the role of carriers in 5G enabling vertical industries.

Given 5G’s wide-ranging applicability, the White Paper makes the case that a digital, sliceable platform is critical to 5G success, as it offers agility and adaptability. Flexibility to address new use cases, even unforeseen ones, as they emerge, quickly and costeffectively, is critical to commercial success in the 5G era. In line with this necessity, the paper advises regulators to promote policy neutrality and open spectrum to accelerate commercial deployment.

The research finds that the GCC is well poised to deploy 5G, with the UAE in particular being the most 5G-ready country in the region. In order to strengthen this position, the White Paper calls for collaboration between operators and vertical industries.

Those operators which develop close relationships with the industry sectors, such as enterprise and healthcare to trial projects, will be first to unlock profit from 5G. In addition, a panel discussion titled “Promoting the growth of 5G Industry and Ecosystem in ME” took place at the conference with panelists: Jonathan Schmitt - chief mobility strategist, Ford MENA; Neil Martin - chief commercial officer, OSN; Rossi Jaafar - Group COO,

Facts and numbers • The global digital economy is growing at a rate 2.5 times faster than the average world GDP. Every one-point increase in the Global Connectivity Index (GCI) score can increase productivity by 2.3% across an entire economy.

• Industries are embedding AI in all five key enabling technologies, transforming traditional connectivity into intelligent connectivity to unleash innovation and economic opportunities on a scale previously unimagined. Entirely new business models, products, processes and services are emerging every day, accelerating growth towards a digital economy that will be worth upwards of US$23 trillion by 2025 and throwing open the gates to a new economic growth cycle.

• In 2018, Huawei rose to 72nd place on the Fortune Global 500 list.

Continuous investment in R&D is one of the key factors that have led to Huawei’s stellar growth, from a small private firm into a Fortune Global 500 company, in just 30 years. Huawei invests about 15% of its annual revenue in R&D, with its R&D spending over the past decade totaling CNY400 billion.

Nearly 80,000 members of Huawei’s 180,000-strong workforce are assigned to R&D and in 2017, Huawei was ranked 6th on the EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard. Huawei believes that the R&D process is not a sprint, but a marathon. As long as a runner is still on the track, they must keep running. In the coming years, Huawei will continue to increase its annual R&D budget to US$10 billion to US$20 billion.

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• Huawei is the world’s first provider of end-to-end 5G pre-commercial systems. At the 2017 World Internet Conference, Huawei’s 3GPP 5G precommercial system was awarded the World Leading Internet Scientific and Technological Achievement.

• Huawei is one of the first – and largest – investors in 5G, with its 5G journey beginning in 2009. The company plans to earmark US$600 million for 5G development by 2018.

• In 2013, Huawei recruited more than 300 top-notch wireless experts from across the globe and built its first 5G research center in Stockholm, a powerhouse of mobile communications technology.

Currently, Huawei’s 5G research network is made up of over 10 research centers in France, the US, Germany, Russia, and other countries and regions.

• In 2016, Huawei set up a dedicated department for 5G product development. At present, the company assigns more than 5,000 developers for 5G products.

• In 2017, Huawei spent CNY4 billion on 5G R&D, and by the end of 2018 expects to spend an additional CNY5 billion to speed up 5G commercialization.

• We are in a great age, in which ICT and digital are rapidly changing every person, home and organization.

These changes are redefining how we live, work, learn and stay healthy.

In this great age, Huawei aspires to become a great company. We want to help mankind take its next steps forward.

• Through relentless breakthroughs in digital technology, we will bring better products and services to our customers, and help integrate digital into daily life and work. Essentially, Huawei’s focus on ICT infrastructure and smart devices is the foundation for a fertile business environment that will integrate information technology, automation and intelligence. This environment will help us enrich our partners’ content, applications and clouds. Working with our partners, we can serve our customers better than ever before.

By Charles Yang, president of Huawei Middle East

For your connectivity, we climb mountains.

Our business is trust.

NOVEMBER 2018

REGIONAL NEWS

18

ITC receives $180m from Chinese bank in bid to boost KSA’s broadband infrastructure As a sign of trust from international financial institutions in the Saudi economy, Integrated Telecom Company (ITC) gets 180 million USD financing boost from China’s ICBC Bank.

This high speed FTTH project is a Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) initiative, signed with ITC last year.

It is a vital component of the Saudi Arabian Vision 2030.

ITC has signed a 180 million USD financing agreement with ICBC China in Beijing, as part of its goal to develop the Kingdom’s leading gigabit broadband infrastructure. Pursuant to this agreement, ICBC will finance ITC’s fiber to the home (FTTH) network rollout, providing 640,000 homes in the Kingdom with gigabit broadband connectivity.

ITC’s CEO, Eng. Ghassan Itani, stated that ITC has achieved an important milestone with this financing agreement, and is proud to participate in this important project carried out with the oversight of the MCIT and the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC). Eng. Itani confirmed that this financing reflects the high degree

of confidence by investors and foreign banks in ITC’s future vision, the Kingdom’s telecommunications sector and the broader Saudi economy.

“This financing will provide additional liquidity to fund ITC’s development plans which focus upon deploying a gigabit broadband network throughout the Kingdom. We are fully committed to play a crucial role in the evolution of the telecommunications sector in KSA, and we have achieved noticeable progress with regard to our transformation strategy,” Eng. Itani added.

MEFC and STC announce consolidated partnership to promote local content program

Middle East Fiber Cable Manufacturing Co. (MEFC), together with its Japanese partner, Fujikura Ltd., held a seminar and technical workshops primarily within the Saudi Telecom Group.

These efforts were made as a result of the strategic partnership with Saudi Telecom Company to promote local content, “RAWAFED”.

The meeting was opened with a speech by the CEO of MEFC Eng., Mohammed T. Alharthy, in which he discussed the cooperation between the MEFC and STC in supplying and managing the fiber optic cable stock supplied to STC over the past years.

He also talked about keeping pace with the development in the fiber optic industry and raising the production capacity to meet communication needs in Saudi Arabia in order to achieve the goals of the national

transformation program 2020.

The director general of sales and marketing and representative of Fujikura Ltd., Yukiharu Maruyama, presented the partnership between MEFC and Japan’s Fujikura Ltd., representing a joint collaboration between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Japan in terms of trade and technical exchange to achieve the Saudi Japanese Vision 2030.

The MEFC signed a memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Telecom Group to promote local content, following the signing of a MoU between MEFC and its current partner, Fujikura Ltd. They have decided to localize the technology and the manufacturing of optical distribution network components and accessories as a direct feature of the RAWAFED program.

The aim of these workshops is to explore opportunities for cooperation between MEFC and STC through the new company that will be established independently, and to create an innovative environment between the existing MEFC and STC through the localization of unique Japanese technology for fiber optic cables. In

addition, this cooperation will create an added value that will increase the efficiency of the deployment of fiber optic networks in the Kingdom, and in the Middle East and North African market.

Moreover, MEFC and its current partner, Fujikura Ltd., have introduced AFLHyperscale (American Fujikura Ltd. Hyperscale) to STC as a global company specialized in the manufacturing of optical distribution network components and accessories.

Christopher Bowers, managing director of AFLHyperscale, Europe and Middle East market, introduced the services and products offered in this business segment in which it is intended for localization by 2020.

The STC’s audience expressed their desire to receive proposals that will add value to the company’s network in the region, which was welcomed by MEFC and AFLHyperscale.

MEFC and AFLHyperscale intend to propose a training program that will ensure delivering the required skills and know-how.

NOVEMBER 2018

REGIONAL NEWS

19

Sofrecom teams up with Comsof to design future-proof fiber networks in MENA region

Sofrecom and Comsof will cooperate more closely to plan and design future-proof fiber networks in the MENA region. Telcos can benefit from the combination of Sofrecom’s consultancy and analytical experience in this sector and the state-of-the-art fiber planning tool of Comsof, resulting in huge planning and design benefits and less worrying about human-made errors.

FTTx rollouts are on the rise everywhere in the world and the Middle-Eastern and North-African region are no exception. It’s vital to invest in a fiber network that’s able to handle the challenges of tomorrow: self-driving cars, HD video streams, VR and AR applications, etc. Deploying a FTTx network is capital intensive. It can run into billions for the larger ones.

So, you better be thoroughly prepared before you start.

project. They are experts in spotting challenges and extracting all possible requirements to make a project successful.

That’s why Sofrecom, subsidiary of Orange Group, specialized in the telco sector, decided to team up with Comsof to help companies and governments plan and design their FTTx projects. Sofrecom has years of experience in analyzing and supporting telecom projects. Its consultants closely collaborate with clients to get a clear picture of a complex

The result is automated software which is fully adapted to the clients’ rules, demands and needs, meaning massive time-saving, more reliable figures, and less worrying about possible human-made inaccuracies.

As the software is already modified to the clients’ specifications, it’s deployable for future FTTx network roll-out endeavors.

With this knowledge, Comsof engineers configure Comsof’s software to the clients’ needs.

FiberPlanIT is the world’s leading FTTx planning and design tool, it has been used in over 200 projects in more than 50 countries.

SAP partners with Canadian University Dubai to spearhead company’s innovation in UAE

German data processing giant Systems Applications and Products (SAP) has announced the opening of a “SAP Next-Gen Chapter” at Canadian University Dubai (CUD), with a mission to share best practices in emerging technologies and science fiction, leading towards digital economy. The university has been selected to act as a lighthouse campus that will support educational institutions across the UAE in the SAP next-gen ‘innovation with purpose’ network to connect, engage and re-image the future of industries.

“SAP is dedicated to launching nextgen chapters across the Middle East and North Africa region to support

youth empowerment,” said Wissam Kadi, global director of SAP NextGen Labs. “As a next-gen member, CUD is enabling youth to lead the era of digital transformation, and support sustainable economic, social and environmental development in support of the UN Global Goals.”

Speaking on behalf of CUD, Dr. Anas Najdawi, associate professor of E-Business, said: “ The SAP next-gen chapter at CUD will engage students and professors in collaborative projects with SAP customers from several industries involved in emerging technologies and science fiction to innovate and cope with changes in digital economy globally in general and UAE in particular.”

“SAP next-gen chapters can host regional faculty training, develop new academic curriculum on SAP Leonardo offerings and showcase thought leadership on digital business,” said Ann Rosenberg,

senior vice president and global head of SAP next-gen. “Some chapters will share best practices in linking student projects using SAP technologies to ‘innovation with purpose’, while others aim to foster student social entrepreneurs. All are dedicated to enabling academia as hubs for industry to recruit SAP skilled graduates and to crowdsource insights on accelerating digital innovation linked to purposeful outcomes aligned with the 17 UN Global Goals.”

SAP next-gen chapters can also run code with purpose by SAP nextgen hackathons to foster a global movement of students developing disruptive solutions to social challenges, educate students on innovation methodologies including science fiction thinking and purpose thinking, and enable academia to run #sheinnovates events to make innovation and technology work better for young women and girls.

NOVEMBER 2018

INTERVIEW

22

du drives digital transformation to keep people ‘connected’ and how its increased focus on emerging technologies such as AI, machine learning and blockchain will ensure it remains the main driver of the digital future in the UAE.

Farid Faraidooni, deputy CEO, Enterprise Solutions at EITC

Du, from Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), showcased and demonstrated some of its cutting-edge innovations and solutions that are helping enterprises achieve their digital transformation objectives at the recently-concluded GITEX Technology Week. Du’s strategic vision is clear and that is to help customers embark upon digitalization. Du has been a pioneer for championing revolutionary technologies that have the capabilities to transform enterprises and industries, and the operator is a key enabler in the UAE’s quest to accelerate its ‘smart transformation’.

T

elecom Review managed to secure an exclusive interview with Farid Faraidooni, deputy CEO, Enterprise Solutions at EITC. Under his dynamic and innovative leadership, the telco has become

the go-to company for businesses and government entities seeking digitalization.

In a compelling and forthright interview, the deputy CEO outlined the importance of some of the major announcements and solutions unveiled by du during GITEX, its strategic vision for the future

Can you tell us more about the announcement you made with Cisco regarding the deployment of a new SD-WAN solution that is specifically designed for enterprises?

The new trend in providing connectivity is in SD-WAN. This new collaboration with Cisco will allow us to provide new software defined intelligent connectivity service and managed branch office services to our customers. This will ultimately help them to become more efficient in terms of their connectivity, both locally and globally, allowing them to dynamically optimize traffic and bandwidth to match business and seasonality demands while balancing performance, operational simplicity and cost. This has the potential to grow in terms of value-added services on top of it – so it will start as a basic connectivity solution for enterprises that have multiple branches either locally or globally.

However, eventually, this will evolve into creating marketplaces that provide enterprises with the ability to connect to global providers of either cloud services or content services. SD-WAN will eventually enable that sort of connectivity going forward. I think this is a great evolution of the traditional connectivity that we provide today.

Has this new SD-WAN solution resonated with the marketplace?

Yes, it definitely has. We already have a great pipeline. We have customers that have already expressed their commitment to deploy the solution when it is operationally ready. It will be operationally ready very soon, probably in the next few weeks. We had been evaluating technologies on SD-WAN for a significant period of time before we finally selected Cisco. Cisco is also a partner of ours on the infrastructure side,

NOVEMBER 2018

INTERVIEW

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so it was an opportunity for us to solidify our collaboration with them further. As I already alluded to, we have a very strong pipeline of customers who are really keen to get into this type of technology.

EITC and Cisco also recently partnered on a joint White Paper which outlined du’s strategic roadmap for digital transformation. How much of a key enabler will Cisco be in terms of helping EITC achieve its 2021 technology vision?

We’re really becoming the transformation partner for our customers in terms of enabling their digital transformation goals and objectives. So we have a various stack of technologies which helps our customers to embark and be successful on their digital transformation journeys.

These technologies range from basic datacenter services, to security services, managed connectivity and smart solutions like AI, internet of things and blockchain. So we have these stacks of managed services that basically allow us to help our customers achieve their digital transformation – whether that’s transforming their customers’ journey, or their own internal process, or a bespoke solution that they want to build, we can help in every aspect of their journey.

Cisco helps us by providing the foundations to be able to offer this to our customers. Part of our infrastructure is built on Cisco technologies and Cisco products and we’re capitalizing on this now by going into SD-WAN and virtual network functions. Cisco is a global leader in bringing these capabilities to life and there’s clearly an advantage for us in terms of collaborating with them in building capabilities that will allow our customers to achieve digital transformation. In addition to this, a significant number of our customers are government ministries that are working hard to deliver the UAE Vision 2021 and a big portion of the vision is digitalization.

We’ve exhibited some examples at our du stand at GITEX which demonstrated clearly how we’re playing a key role in helping various government departments digitize their services and customer journeys.

Can you tell us more about the incredible GOV2071 Guidebook Experience unveiled here at GITEX?

We’re really becoming the transformation partner for our customers

We’ve been a strategic partner of the World Government Summit here in the UAE for several years and we’ve been very active in this partnership. EITC worked with them closely in order to build a structured and realistic timeline regarding the ‘Government in 2071’ vision. We actively participated with leading global futurologists to produce this comprehensive guidebook. It’s a fantastic initiative and we are very proud to be part of it.

This guidebook really points the way in relation to how emerging technologies will impact and reshape our future societies. It really highlights the impact of technological trends and some of the megatrends that are being projected which will fundamentally transform the way we live, work and play. It’s an exciting glimpse into the future and provides you with the opportunity to

imagine what the UAE will look like in 2071.

What major announcements and solutions has du made during GITEX Technology Week?

I want to highlight Dubai Pulse. We’ve been in partnership with the Smart Dubai Office for the last number of years and together we’ve built the Dubai Pulse platform. Du has been the strategic technology partner to them in terms of building the platform, which was built over a year ago. This year, we were very happy to announce a couple of other government entities that joined the platform.

One of the partnerships we announced was with the Dubai Health Authority.

As part of the five-year partnership agreement, du will be providing the authority with virtual solutions to cater

NOVEMBER 2018

INTERVIEW

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to web, application, database and shared services. In addition to this, we also announced a new partnership with Dubai Future Foundation. They will migrate all of their IT back-ends and applications that they’re developing onto the Dubai Pulse platform. In addition, administration and management of all infrastructure components, along with troubleshooting and problem resolution, will be at the core of the relationship agreements. Dubai Community Authority is also migrating to Dubai Pulse to have precise and relevant information published via dashboards to assist important business functions. So these are three great customers on top of the existing customers that joined the platform last year.

Dubai Pulse is a data platform, so we’re hosting most of the Dubai government’s data on the platform. I’m extremely happy that, so far, we have 300 government data sets of various government entities that are hosted on the platform. We’re creating various dashboards by correlating all of this data.

The Dubai Pulse platform has dashboarding capabilities and data science capabilities. This provides valuable information to the leadership to make decisions and to set future strategies to continue to propel the city’s ‘smart transformation’.

At GITEX, we also announced a new partnership agreement with Microsoft.

We signed a MoU with Microsoft on ExpressRoute, which is a solution which provides more efficient connectivity to the Microsoft Azure cloud services.

We also made a significant announcement with RTA. We are enabling free WiFi in over 10,000 taxis that are deployed in Dubai - and this fits in perfectly with our overall strategic vision which is to keep people ‘connected’ at all times.

We have a clear vision for enabling our customers to embark upon their digitalization journey

Du is really driving the digital future here in the UAE. What is it that differentiates du from its competitors?

I think what differentiates us is that we have a clear vision for enabling our customers to embark upon their digitalization journey. It is well-known now and recognized by enterprises and the government that digitalization is a

NOVEMBER 2018

must. The digitalization of the customer journey, the digitalization of the process and the digitalization of their internal services are all necessary for enterprises, as it’s the new way to do business.

We’ve built capabilities and will continue to invest in building capabilities that will allow our customers to do that. This is a distinct competitive edge that we have in the fact that we can consult with our customers, help them to embark on their digitalization journey and realize their vision.

Over the past couple of years, we have invested in building the foundations and the capabilities that will allow us to do that. We are building capabilities in some of the leading technologies like AI, machine learning and blockchain as a service. We have also signed an agreement with one of the leading blockchain technology providers, ConsenSys. Together with ConsenSys, we will build the first blockchain platform as a service (BPaaS) in the UAE. These are some of the capabilities in our product portfolio that really differentiate us from other operators.

What are your primary goals and objectives for the next 12 months?

In the next 12 months, we’re going to strengthen our capabilities around these various industry verticals and areas that we’ve discussed at length throughout this interview. Our primary goal in enhancing our capabilities and improving our solutions is to make it easier for our customer to embrace change and integrate these emerging technologies into their existing operations and business processes.

You’re going to see a lot more capabilities around blockchain as we want to enable enterprises in the UAE to adopt machine learning and AI capabilities. We will continue to invest in the infrastructure required in order to enable enterprises to adapt to these transformative technologies. We don’t develop AI applications ourselves, but we make the infrastructure available which allows the customers to do that.

We’re excited about the future, and we’re uniquely positioned to continue to play a leading role in driving the digital future here in the UAE.

INTERVIEW

We want to enable enterprises in the UAE to adopt machine learning and AI capabilities

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NOVEMBER 2018

INTERVIEW

28

Etisalat is ‘Leading the 5G Revolution’ with the commercial deployment of 5G and continued investment in futuristic technologies and services

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he ‘Future of Mobility’ was one of Etisalat’s key focus areas this year as traditional mobility ecosystems are getting diversified with various technological and social forces, making an impact and radically changing our way of life. This includes the emergence of connected and autonomous vehicles, which will have a profound impact on the way people interact in their daily lives.

The UAE leadership wants 25 percent of all transportation in the country to be autonomous by 2030, and according to Dr. Bin Ali, Etisalat will be a key enabler in helping the government execute its ambitious objectives. In an exclusive interview, Dr. Bin Ali also disclosed the operator’s plans for 5G rollout next year.

Can you tell us about some of the groundbreaking solutions Etisalat is showcasing here at GITEX? At GITEX Technology Week, we are showcasing the digital future comprising of our entire gamut of digital services, solutions and products.

Etisalat also has a special showcase on the future of mobility, which is the best use case for 5G. The arrival of 5G technology will allow faster data transmissions and will prove to be game changing for the autonomous industry.

Dr. Ahmed Bin Ali, SVP, Corporate Communications, Etisalat Group, highlighted the focus this year at the GITEX Technology Week, ‘Driving the Digital Future to Empower Societies’, built on a vision to provide futuristic solutions and services that will have a fundamental impact on people’s lives.

The flying car ‘Pop.Up Next’ is for the first time making its presence outside Europe. It is the first fully electric and zero-emission modular system bringing together road mobility and air transport.

It combines the flexibility of a small two seater ground vehicle with the freedom and speed of a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) air vehicle, thus bridging the automotive and aerospace domains.

Our innovations are designed to encompass all the elements related to people’s everyday lives. Education is very important for developing the next generation of technology leaders here in the UAE. We have developed several solutions to enable our children and students to have a very interactive education that is delivered in a smart way.

This allows them to receive information in a more efficient way that will help them learn faster.

In addition to this, we also unveiled ‘RoboPharmacy’, a showcase of an unmanned, futuristic pharmacy system.

It will be the first hands-on experience of Etisalat’s 5G technology believed to change people’s lives. It uses the 5G connection between the hospital, pharmacy, and capturing the data to provide convenience to the customer through virtual futuristic technologies.

With regards to autonomous transportation, we all know that 5G will be the key enabler in facilitating and

delivering this vision. The transportation sector is going to be radically disrupted by the acceleration of autonomous driving globally. As a pioneer in 5G technology, Etisalat is going to be a major player in shaping the future of mobility in the UAE. Lastly, our strategic vision and goal is to lead the digital future in the UAE, and we’re firmly focusing most of our efforts on the continued development of 5G. We started this journey with 5G back in 2014 and have achieved phenomenal results thus far by breaking global speeds with our testing. Etisalat will always be a leader in 5G. In your expert opinion, what is that differentiates Etisalat from its competitors?

Etisalat is the overall market leader in the telecommunications space in the region.

However, we’re not just a mobile operator or a service provider; we’re a company that provides universal ICT solutions and services. Our experience, knowledge and expertise have undoubtedly strengthened our position in the market, and we are now a leader in providing smart digital solutions for enterprises and all of our customers. We’ve reinforced our innovative leadership through the commercial launch of our 5G services.

Expo 2020 Dubai is the first commercial customer of 5G in the UAE and will be a key driver for them in helping them achieve their objective which is to make the Expo 2020 Dubai site the most connected place on earth.

INTERVIEW

NOVEMBER 2018

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The arrival of 5G technology will allow faster data transmissions and will prove to be game changing for the autonomous industry

Can you outline the role Etisalat is going to play in facilitating the UAE government’s objective which is to make 25 percent of all its transportation autonomous by 2030?

5G will play a key role in autonomous transportation with the need for high speeds and connectivity. The next generation network will be a key enabler in terms of delivering and executing the vision set out by the leadership in the UAE. We have invested a significant amount in our digital infrastructure which has been accelerated through the introduction of our digital arm Etisalat Digital. It has helped us assert a strong foothold in the digital services marketplace, and what we have provided so far will continue to enable all members of society to enjoy living in a smarter more intelligent world.

This will give coverage to all the main cities in the UAE. We are now pushing the mobile handset makers to speed up their side of production to ensure the 5G service is well used.

Etisalat is a pioneer in the development of 5G. When do you think you’ll be in a position to commercially deploy 5G? We have launched 5G in the UAE in May with a limited number of sites in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and now in collaboration with telecom vendors worldwide to have 600 basestations before the end of 2019.

How important is GITEX for Etisalat, and what differentiates the event from other conferences?

GITEX is a platform that really encourages all exhibitors to demonstrate and display their latest cutting-edge innovations and solutions - as the conference is undoubtedly the leading

Etisalat anticipates that customers will have access to 5G internet speeds in homes and on mobile devices by September next year. Expo 2020 Dubai was the first 5G major commercial customer in MEASA to access 5G services.

We’re also encouraging vendors to have their devices and mobile handsets ready by then in order to maximize the incredible benefits that 5G will provide. Etisalat is confident that all of our customers will feel and enjoy the experience of using 5G

ICT industry-event in the Middle East region. The event attracts major technology players on a global scale.

A theme that is prevalent throughout GITEX is how both the public and private sectors have embraced technology that has been inspired by the leadership of the UAE to create digital smart solutions aimed at transforming industries and society. This type of innovation has given encouragement to everybody, to operators, vendors and government entities.

Can you tell us what your primary objectives and goals are for 2019?

Our aim over the next 12 months is to continue our strategy in relation to innovations and 5G. This strategic blueprint will help us maintain our position as the leader in the digital future in the UAE. We have achieved many major milestones in the past few years and aim to continue that creativity and innovation in the future. Our primary objective is to provide our customers with new solutions and concepts that enables’ them to transform their business models in order to create new experiences for their customers.

NOVEMBER 2018

OPINIONS

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Artificial intelligence drives digital transformation of public safety

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fter decades of research and development, AI has evolved to a new stage. Today, AI research extends to areas such as natural language processing, pattern recognition, image recognition, data mining, machine learning, intelligent interface technology and intelligent information processing.

AI is creating brand-new experiences for everyone and every organization, from computer-aided diagnosis techniques to voice-aided smartphones, handwriting recognition, financial transactions, smart logistics, spam filtering and translation.

AI technology is bringing about major changes in the way businesses develop. It has also had a social impact, delivering public goods like precision medicine, environmental sustainability and education. As AI becomes more developed, AI-driven technologies are being implemented across every sector.

One sector particularly relevant to the Middle East is public safety. In Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs; safety, food and water are the most basic needs for human survival. This is especially true for the growing cities of the world.

AI is gaining attention not only for the protection of life and property but also for the promotion of modern governance. AI will directly improve the quality of life of citizens by creating a world with better city management, faster emergency response times, and more accurate identification and apprehension of criminals. In surveillance, for example, AI is booming in the video analytics domain.

Computer vision deep learning has drastically increased the accuracy of facial recognition (FR) and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology.

Breakthroughs in deep learning and reinforcement learning are driving a new wave of AI advances. AI applications are now widely deployed across almost all industries, whether through auto-piloting technology, unmanned supermarkets, intelligent voice assistants and more. AI has become a new powerful engine that drives industry digital transformation.

These have now become a standard feature in safe city solutions to track, trace and alert of known suspect persons and cars in real time. In the command center, AI language processing is being applied to decrease emergency response time. Voice-to-text (V2T) technology transcribes emergency calls and uses V2T keyword and investigation analysis as part of intelligence-led policing in order to increase the efficiency of emergency services. Huawei is a leading player in the global and Middle East public safety industry and we provide multiple AIbased solutions. One is the world’s first AI-enabled software-defined camera (SDC), the M/X series. This series of cameras can be applied to a vast range of scenarios and improve image processing capabilities by 25 times. The other is the industry enabling platform to flexibly orchestrate AI services and introduce components from different partners, such as intelligent analysis, to quickly solve cases and to establish a new intelligent policing process. This approach enables intelligent infrastructure, efficient and collaborative government services, visualized city operations and coordinated city emergency response. Through resource convergence, traditional siloed management transforms into integrated governance, and reactive city response transforms into active management. In light of AI’s clear power to bring benefits to organizations across the world, in recent years, global technology leaders like the US, China, the UK and Germany have recognized the importance of AI and incorporated it into their national plans. Many countries are now racing to launch AI strategies so that they can lead the growth of this powerful industry.

Countries in the Middle East should also prioritize the development of a national

AI strategy. Many already are. The UAE appointed the world’s first Minister of Artificial Intelligence and launched the UAE Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031.

AI technology is central to the success of many components of Saudi Vision 2030.

At Huawei’s flagship event to take place in Shanghai on October 10th – Huawei Connect – we will unveil a new AI strategy and full-stack portfolio. We will follow this by becoming the first in the Middle East to launch and showcase all-scenario AI solutions at GITEX 2018 in Dubai. Huawei is convinced of the value of building a digital ecosystem in the public safety industry, and we will continue to invest in industry-enabling platforms with our partners to drive the digital transformation of the sector. Currently we work with over 20 partners and have brought AI solutions to many of our end customers. In order to keep building the AI ecosystem, in July 2018, we launched the artificial intelligence engineering certification, which offers fundamental knowledge of AI and provides industry-specific applications. We do this out of our commitment to bring digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world. In the new era, safety will be as fundamental as air and water, protecting citizens in every city, supporting the old and weak, and bringing peace and prosperity to all.

We aim to support the region’s long-term economic and development goals, and integral to this is the development of new public safety solutions. We are working with global industry leaders in the security field to create new end-to-end public safety solutions driven by AI and new ICT innovations to create a safer Middle East.

By Charles Yang, president of Huawei Middle East

WOMEN IN ICT

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“Open source is enabling service providers to get faster access to innovation,” Susan James, Red Hat

Susan James, senior director of telecommunications strategy at Red Hat

S

usan James joined Red Hat in May 2018 and has enjoyed a distinguished and decorated career after serving Ericsson with distinction for 27 years.

At the Swedish telecommunications vendor, she was head of Product Line NFV infrastructure and worked extensively with the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). She was also responsible for a number of the network functions in the Ericsson portfolio. A product management veteran, her career has focused on developing products to address technology transitions, and the establishment of new business areas.

Telecom Review managed to secure an exclusive interview with Susan James, senior director of telecommunications strategy at Red Hat, to explore why service providers are suddenly embracing open source software with open arms, the benefits it’s now providing for telco operators, and the challenges they face when migrating to a more open environment.

Finally, service providers are beginning to embrace open source. Why do you think this is happening now?

To a large extent, it’s a necessity for those service providers. If you look at their need

Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to provide reliable and high performing cloud, Linux, middleware, storage and virtualization technologies. Red Hat also offers award-winning support, training and consulting services. As a connective hub in a global network of enterprises, partners and open source communities, Red Hat helps create relevant, innovative technologies that liberate resources for growth and prepare customers for the future of IT. to innovate and their desire to reposition themselves as they move forward, they really need to take advantage of webscale economics. And if you look at where most of that technology is coming from, it’s in the open source community.

For example, Google has open sourced Kubernetes and TensorFlow, which they use as their AI platform. Communities can evolve these technologies further to suit a broader need and innovate on top of them, and use them as a foundation.

As a result, service providers and the whole industry get much faster access to innovation – and much broader range of innovation – than they would if they had to go back and completely design the full stack.

Most equipment providers used to do the hardware, the middleware platform and the applications on top of that. Now they’re able to focus on just the applications, and doing those in the best possible way. So you’re seeing acceleration across the whole industry when open source is one of the components. There was a terrific guest speaker on Day 3 of Red Hat Summit 2018: Chief Decision Scientist, Cassie Kozyrkov, at Google. She gave a great example of the importance of machine learning. She made the point that you don’t have to be able to design a microwave to be able to use it. That’s essentially what I’m trying to say. If you

look at the applications that service providers need going forward, those developers don’t need to be able to build the full stack – they need to take advantage of the tools and bring those capabilities forward. They can take advantage of the foundation that’s there to bring new capabilities forward.

What are some open source benefits that telecom providers should understand?

You can summarize this in six words: innovation, inspiration, freedom, control, quality and security. It’s very much about innovation and the pace of innovation.

But also, one of the great things I took away from Red Hat Summit 2018 was this: so many different industries are using the same technologies and innovating in different ways that it creates a huge community that you can access for inspiration. If you look at how United Parcel Service (UPS) is solving logistics problems in the last mile, service providers can take that work as inspiration and ask how they can solve some of these edge challenges they anticipate in the future.

It also gives companies the freedom to say, “How can I use this technology today, understanding that I’m not tied to that specific technology going forward?” If you’re using proprietary technologies, it’s often very difficult to switch between different technology

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tracks, which means you have to try to predict whether your technology stack is going to address your future needs as well as your present ones. On a more fundamental level, open source gives service providers more control. In the past, they could talk to Cisco or Nokia or Ericsson and say, “We want this capability in the infrastructure,” and those vendors might or might not add that technology to their roadmaps. Working in open source, if service providers really want to have certain capabilities, they have the ability to contribute them to the open source community, to make sure those capabilities are there. You see that happening with different service providers around the world, participating and contributing to many different open source projects.

Open source also gives providers better quality software and greater security. The saying is: the more eyes, the shallower the bugs. As far as things like fault detection, you have a much broader community of people working with the software and testing it, so the faults are found earlier. From a security perspective, if you want to know what the code is, you can go in and have a look at the source code and see what’s there.

That’s been a really interesting takeaway over the past year or so: open source is actually seen as less of a security risk.

What are some of the challenges that service providers face when migrating to a more open environment?

Telecommunications has been based on open standards for years, but when we moved to using open source, we redrew some functional lines. That’s been one of the challenges: traditionally, applications could rely on the platform (e.g. duplicated hardware) to handle resiliency, availability, load balancing, etc. Now that we’re working from a virtualization layer, the applications have to take on more of those responsibilities. This impacts the way applications are developed, how load balancing is handled, how data is managed – a completely different way to solve problems. When applications are built in a cloud-native way, they know how to cope with failure, rather than relying on the underlying platform. Of course, when you put that into operations, a new challenge arises because where/ how you do troubleshooting has also

WOMEN IN ICT changed. A large part of that challenge has been solved through experience, by understanding those things and bringing solutions back into OpenStack. If you look at the OpenStack development over the past two years, the bulk of it has centered on Day 2 operations. Introducing things like Ansible, which lets you automate operations, network provisioning and business processes, has made a significant difference.

How can service providers avoid the fragmentation that can occur when moving to an open source model? How can they promote collaboration instead?

One thing service providers will do, and are doing, is to keep their end goal in mind, which is to advance the industry and serve their end customers better.

When it comes to advancing the industry, operators have always worked together, as have the vendors. That’s why they’ve worked together on standardization for years. Because if they can agree upfront on what needs to be done, then they can all go do their individual parts to achieving it.

There is an established foundation and an established way that the industry works together to achieve its goals, and there are numerous examples of that carrying forward in open source projects.

That’s a large reason why organizations like Open Platform for NFV (OPNFV) are founded, so that we can understand from a service provider perspective what needs to be done and then advance that knowledge through open source projects.

Companies like Ericsson, Nokia, Intel, Amdocs and Cisco have been doing these sorts of things in collaboration with service providers for a long time.

One recent example is the foundation of Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP), where they’re starting to look at how we accelerate the improvements in operational efficiency to, again, serve end users and gain the economies of scale I mentioned earlier.

5G is top of mind for most telecom service providers. What role will open source play in the 5G ecosystem?

Well, we’ll be there! I mean, the 5G platform infrastructure will be based on open source, whether those workloads will be deployed using containers and virtualization, using platforms like Red

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Hat OpenShift Container Platform and Red Hat OpenStack Platform. It will really depend on the type of workloads they want to run and where they want to run them. But more importantly, not just at the infrastructure layer, but the applications that are used to address internet of things (IoT) will be based Linux and open source infrastructure, and open source APIs, again, so that they can tap into that larger community of innovation.

So it will happen at many different layers; but pretty much across the board, most of the applications will be using open source one way or another.

Mobile edge computing (MEC) is another area that is gaining a lot of traction with service providers. What role does open source play in MEC? It’s similar to the 5G question. Of course, the infrastructure will be based on open source infrastructure and it will be potentially based on OpenStack.

But if you look at MEC, it is actually a collaboration of network equipment providers - open source companies like Red Hat, standardization boards like ETSI and service providers all working together in those communities to define what it will look like. It’s been a change from doing just standardization to more actual collaboration in the open source communities, and then going back to the standardization process to define what those interfaces should look like.

Ian Hood, our chief technologist for Global Service Providers, had a very good session at OpenStack Summit 2018 in Vancouver that went into the details of how 5G and MEC will evolve.

What are you final thoughts on the future of open source across multiple industries?

The whole open source movement is becoming far more prevalent in many industries, not just telecommunications, when it comes to how a company innovates. The importance of technology leadership and engaging with partners who can guide you in that journey is extremely important. It’s vital that you work in that ecosystem of network equipment providers, application providers and integrators, in the interest of supporting the whole community, because that’s the source of innovation and the direction of how things will evolve.

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OPINIONS

Why humans should be at the heart of innovation

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My colleagues and I recently returned from one of the region’s largest technology events attended by more than 100,000 guests from 100plus countries. They had the chance to see Sir Tim Berners Lee, the British engineer and scientist who is best known as the inventor of the world wide web, announce a new start up meant to decentralize the internet and restore power to the people in regard to their personal data. I personally find it energizing to know the world’s greatest living genius continues to turn the wheels of innovation 28 years after launching the modern internet.

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his news sums up one of the big themes at the show, that technology offers no value to us unless it creates experiences to augment the well-being of individuals and the larger society. It’s really about empowering people and improving our lives in ways never imagined.

And I’m not just talking about flying taxis and a robot police force.

Something a bit more relatable and closer to my heart – enabling future connectivity.

Middle East and Africa drive future of connectivity The gap between what’s technologically possible and

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OPINIONS

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how organizations are leveraging technology continues to grow. As the Middle East and Africa region reduces dependence on oil and diversifies revenue streams, investment in the digital economy is paving the way for a future of connectivity.

Our customers across the Middle East and Africa are seeing an appetite for unlimited network capacity across healthcare, construction, tourism, high tech and education as people are creating more data today than we have in human history. Whether it’s improving capacity, finding ways to decrease latency or creating connectivity, fiber is the foundation for networks in the future.

Below are three trends shaping the region’s growing need for fiber: • Increased use of consumer technology is driving the need for bandwidth: The last few years have been game-changing with regards to video on demand for the UAE and the region. In addition to watching programs on their mobile devices, consumers are buying 4K televisions to stream internet-based programs which are including more local content. Revenues for virtual and augmented reality devices are expected to grow while smart home technologies like video security, front-door access and mood lighting are being developed to help consumers save money.

• Cities are being built from the ground up: The Middle East and Africa is driving innovation around the future of urbanism. Abu Dhabi and Dubai are among those cities seeking creative ways to use data to improve services and quality of life around healthcare, security, mobility, economic development and housing.

Saudi is building four new cities by 2020, which means fiber can be laid everywhere without disruption to traffic and businesses. The UAE’s Smart City project is uncovering ways to improve traffic and energy networks across the globe.

• The region is focused on homegrown innovation: The region’s

startup community is booming while entrepreneurs are creating Arab-specific mobile technologies which cater to education, logistics, design, finance and art, among other industries. Dubai’s strategy to build the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence ecosystem coupled with creative hubs like the Dubai Design District are underpinning digital transformation across industries.

During GITEX Technology Week 2018, CommScope highlighted its latest solutions to meet the continuous growth of bandwidth needs impacted by these trends: • Digital foundation for smarter buildings: As the number of connected devices grows, the location of these devices is becoming more important.

CommScope’s automated infrastructure management (AIM) system knows exactly what is connected, how it is connected and where it is located. The software automatically tracks changes, issues work orders and documents the entire network. It also provides root-cause analysis in the event

of failure, helping restore services faster.

Next to data transport, power over ethernet (PoE) is the most important enabler of devices that use structured cabling in enterprise buildings today.

The new CommScope research and development lab hopes to demonstrate it doesn’t get too hot, at least for the cables involved.

• Datacenters which enable speeds of the future: With millions of online transactions happening daily, machines are sensing, analyzing and transmitting mission-critical information in milliseconds.

According to Cisco, 400 GbE is now available for testing, deployment and adoption by network operators, paving the way for terabit scale ethernet. With CommScope’s high speed migration solutions, we’re able to help datacenter managers accelerate the growth of their datacenter capacity and the speed of their digital transformation initiatives.

We are quickly moving from 10Gb/s and 40Gb/s to 100Gb/s, 400Gb/s and beyond. The more data consumers and network users need, the more

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OPINIONS

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services they expect, the more critical speed becomes. This is a global phenomenon and one of the top challenges that data center managers will face.

• The road to 5G is paved with fiber: There’s a new era and standard for distributed antenna systems. The all-digital CommScope ERA upends the economics of indoor-building wireless with major space and fiber cable savings. The technology is a key enabler for network densification in LTE Advanced, Gigabit LTE and 5G. Existing ION-E systems can be software-upgraded to be interoperable with ERA. In-building delivery of 5G service will be a major opportunity for operators to own the user experience, differentiate from over-the-top service providers and monetize service offerings. CommScope’s enhanced OneCell small cell solution is uniquely positioned to make indoor 5G an enabler of enterprise business opportunities Feeding the appetite for unlimited data A recent Computer Business Review news story highlighted a report that found video accounts for 58 percent of “downstream” (consumer-side) internet traffic, with Netflix accounting for 15 percent of global internet bandwidth use.

As my colleague, Ehab Kanary, mentioned in a recent blog post, the last few years have been gamechanging with regards to video on demand for the United Arab Emirates and the region. YouTube was Saudi Arabia’s number one social media platform last year, so it’s no surprise Netflix ranked second behind YouTube for the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

These types of spikes in online traffic are yet another reminder that operators must ensure their network is speedy, reliable and consistent across all countries – including rural and hard-to-reach areas. This demand will not go away, with high performance gaming, streaming and

on-demand content only going to grow in prevalence.

Saudi Arabia is investing in communications infrastructure Our customers across the Middle East and Africa are seeing an appetite for unlimited network capacity not only for video consumption but also across industries like construction and high tech. Saudi Arabia is investing in a future of connectivity to enable a business-friendly environment.

Operators in South Africa are accelerating network coverage Providing network connectivity for people who reside in rural areas is part of the local vision to make sure that everyone is connected regardless of whether or not they live in cities, townships or in the rural areas, according to a recent Vodacom press release. It also states that the operator is taking serious steps to

ensure that people in rural areas are connected and have access to fast data speed so that they become part of the internet revolution and take full advantage of its positive impacts.

I think our region is well placed to invest in the right areas if we work together. Technology offers no value to us unless it creates experiences to augment the well-being of individuals and the larger society.

The digital economy depends upon ‘always available’ fast and timely mobile connectivity. Users desire it and organizations must deliver this service and go beyond being a provider. To truly innovate, they must harness the power of digital mobile technology.

By Femi Oshiga, vice president of Service Providers in the Middle East and Africa, CommScope

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INTERVIEW

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NXN brings remote patient monitoring to the Middle East

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XN’s digital transformation capabilities and Tactio’s platform and experience in connected health made the perfect combination for a successful partnership that has the patients’ needs at its heart.

NXN chose Tactio as its digital health innovator partner to be able to introduce patient-centered, digital health programs to healthcare providers in the market.

The program consists of combining mobile patient apps, clinical portals, connected health integrations (incl. Apple watch, Samsung gears, Garmin, A&D Medical, BÜHLMANN Laboratories, Fitbit, Roche, Nonin, Omron, MIR & Welch Allyn and any FDA approved wearables), patient questionnaires, digital coaching programs and HIPAA-compliant messaging on NXN digital platform.

This initiative will accelerate the adoption of digital health programs

In an effort to accelerate the development of patientcentered digital health programs in the Middle East region, NXN has partnered with Tactio Health Group on a smart healthcare program aimed at improving patients’ experience and to help them monitor their health remotely and in a more convenient way. The partnership was announced at GITEX Technology Week 2018 where Telecom Review spoke to Ghazi Atallah, CEO, NXN, about the benefits of such a platform for patients in the Middle East. in home care areas such as elderly care, weight loss, diabetes, hypertension, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and CHF (congestive heart failure) as well as wide range of patientcentered clinical applications such as chronic disease monitoring, population health screening, clinical research, post-acute care and pre/ post-surgery programs.

“We’re launching a program that is specific to certain types of patients. For example, if the patient is diabetic, the application and the wearables that allow you to measure the sugar level, for instance, will be associated with diabetes analysis.

The patients can monitor their key metrics, and their live data is transferred directly to their doctor and nurse, allowing a continuous monitoring of their condition. So, this gives the patients the assurance that their doctor is monitoring their case remotely and engaging with them in real time to guide them on their medical condition,” explained NXN CEO, Ghazi Atallah.

According to him, this partnership is key to bringing remote patient monitoring (RPM) solutions into the Middle East and addressing the need for digital healthcare capable of addressing patients’ needs.

“Tactio Health Group is one of the leading providers in the world of healthcare solutions software, applications and monitoring technology enabling an engaged collaborative remote patient monitoring capability. Through this partnership, we are bringing this capability into the region through our digital experience and ability to deliver digital platforms and services focusing on digital healthcare and addressing the needs of people who are suffering from medical conditions like diabetes or hypertension, weight loss, etc”, Atallah said.

The idea of this partnership was born out of the need to invest in the healthcare sector in the Middle East, not only at the level of hospitals and clinics, but also at the level of the patients themselves. The number

NOVEMBER 2018

INTERVIEW

of chronic patients and postsurgery follow-up requirements are on the rise in the Middle East, and customers increasingly demanding digital, mobile and connected services.

with the hospitals and clinics remotely so this relationship becomes collaborative which is something that hasn’t been addressed before,” stated NXN CEO on the importance of investing in the healthcare sector.

“Healthcare in the region has been underinvested. A lot of investment in the sector is going into the backend world of healthcare such as the hospitals, the ministries and departments within governments.

There hasn’t been enough investment that targets the patient himself.

The readiness of patients in the region to adopt this new approach of healthcare is undisputable, assured Atallah. He explained that people now are very much engaged on their phones and are constantly using applications to do almost everything, therefore, they are already prepared for this kind of platform that is made to make their life easier just like any other mobile application.

What we’re doing here is empowering the patient by providing collaborative and engaging environment to monitor themselves and visualize their progress, but also engaging

However, when thinking about this program, data protection will certainly come to mind given the fact that

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patients are entrusting an application with their personal data, which can be a source of concern for some.

“NXN platform is HIPAA-compliant and secured with high reliability hosted solutions. The application data is encrypted and password-protected to the complexity settings of the patient & medical provider’s choice,” says Ghazi Atallah, in response to security fears.

“The data is encrypted as it comes through and the platform is protected and locally hosted. We are very confident that we can provide the right comfort to our customers. The main point is to share data with doctors, clinics, hospitals and nurses which the patients want to do anyway and that we are facilitating.”

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ICT FEATURE

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The Middle East embraces

artificial intelligence: Strategies and initiatives

The adoption of artificial intelligence has been rapidly accelerating across the regions that embraced its impact on industries, economies and lives. The Middle East has seen a significant increase in the technology’s adoption and parts of the region have already embraced the new digital age.

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study conducted by the International Data Corporation (IDC) estimated that spending on cognitive and artificial intelligence (AI) systems in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region will grow from $37.5 million in 2017 to over $100 million by 2021,

representing a growth rate of 32% a year.

The Middle East has chosen to be part of the technological disruption and shift towards advanced technologies, namely artificial intelligence. The latter will have a huge impact on the region, notably at the economic level given the benefits of AI in generating revenues and

increasing countries’ GDP. In fact, a study by PwC estimates that the Middle East is expected to accrue 2% of the total global benefits of AI in 2030, which is equivalent to US$320 billion. In absolute terms, the largest gains are expected to accrue to Saudi Arabia where AI is expected to contribute over US$135.2 billion in 2030 to the economy, equivalent to 12.4% of GDP. In relative terms,

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the UAE is expected to see the largest impact of close to 14% of 2030 GDP. The KSA and UAE have been largely investing in artificial intelligence which puts them on top of the countries in the region aiming to adopt the technology and leverage it. Governments and businesses are striving to strengthen their AI capabilities and are committing to strategies they have elaborated in this regard. Infrastructure and access to skilled labor are also two factors that enabled the development of AI in these two countries, in particular, compared to a slower development in other Middle Eastern countries.

The UAE’s strategy for AI launched in October 2017 reflects the government’s commitment to technologically enhancing the nation.

In addition, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, appointed H.E. Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama as the first Minister of State for AI. In this context, The UAE Minister for Artificial Intelligence and Invest India have signed in July a Memorandum of Understanding for the India-UAE Artificial Intelligence Bridge, which is dedicated to spur discussion and explore options for both countries to grow their artificial intelligence economies. This partnership will generate an estimated $20 billion USD in economic benefits over the next decade. The UAE-India collaboration will seek to evaluate the dynamic nature of innovation and technology by convening a UAE-India AI Working Committee (TWG) between the UAE Ministry for Artificial Intelligence, Invest India and Startup India. The TWG will meet once a year with the mandate to increase investment in AI startups and research activities in partnership with the private sector.

“How a country chooses to embrace artificial intelligence will have a tremendous impact on a country’s ability to innovate and prosper. In the coming years, data and processing will be a catalyst for innovation and business growth and serve as the

ICT FEATURE backbone of more effective and efficient service delivery systems,” said His Excellency Omar Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence for the United Arab Emirates on the occasion.

Furthermore, UAE-based telecommunications service provider, EITC (du), has formalized an ongoing collaboration into a strategic partnership with Microsoft on an artificial intelligence program designed to empower employees, engage customers, optimize operations and streamline the delivery of products and services.

Over the past 10 months, du has been working closely with Microsoft on identifying ways to incorporate digitally transformative technologies such as AI and machine learning into the company’s ICT infrastructure, and to train du employees on ways to leverage them. Some of Microsoft’s technologies and platforms, such as its cloud services platform Azure, as well as its Cognitive Services and Facial Recognition platforms, are currently being showcased at EITC’s newly-opened Idea Hub in Dubai.

UAE operator, Etisalat, has also been focusing on AI in several initiatives, most importantly in its partnership with the government-supported Dubai Future Accelerators. Dubai Future Accelerators was launched in 2016

by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and the chairman of Dubai Future Foundation under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai. The program is a government initiative that aims to bring the world’s most exciting and transformative technology startups to Dubai, to collaborate with local entities and find solutions for future challenges.

This partnership is part of the Etisalat Digital strategy to bring the latest technologies and innovations to enable a smart ecosystem. The 5th cohort of Dubai Future Accelerators is focusing on creating smart innovative solutions based on emerging technologies like

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AI and blockchain. The technology themes for the challenges under the fifth cohort of this program revolve around using AI and blockchain to address key areas of any smart city.

Saudi Arabia has also been very active in the development of AI-based technologies in a bid to achieve digital transformation. To that end, it has established Saudi Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Program 2020 that identify digital transformation as a key goal.

Saudi Arabia was the first country in the world to grant citizenship to a robot. Sophia, the female robot built by Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics, was introduced at a large investment conference in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The purpose of presenting the robot was to give an example of how robot technology and artificial intelligence will make machines more human-like in the future.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 recognizes the important role that development of advanced technology, AI and industrial automation will play in the future of society, particularly as an economic diversification tool.

Saudi telecom operator, STC, has adopted a new strategic approach which will help accelerate its digital transformation through its new DARE strategy, which is based on the following four pillars: Digitizing STC, Accelerate performance of core assets, Reinvent customer experience and Expand aggressively scale and scope. The DARE strategy is well aligned with the information revolution that is taking place globally through technologies such as internet of things, information security, data analysis and artificial intelligence.

AI has the potential to fundamentally disrupt markets in the Middle East through the creation of innovative new services and new business models. Leaders should explore the possibilities and set their strategies in order to grasp the endless opportunities provided by artificial intelligence in the region.

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INTERVIEW

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SES Networks’ new mPOWER satellites will be an industry game-changer Gint Atkinson, VP of Network Strategy and Architecture Technology at SES Networks, has said that its next generation Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) constellation, O3b mPOWER, will be an industry game-changer.

Telecom Review managed to secure an interview with the charismatic executive at Telecoms World Middle East, who eloquently expressed what his future predictions were within the ever-evolving satellite industry ecosystem.

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n a fascinating discussion, Atkinson outlined his role and responsibilities at SES Networks, the impact emerging technologies like 5G will have for satellite operators, the challenges facing the industry, and its strategic market focus to maintain growth over the next 12 months.

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Can you tell us what SES Network is showcasing here at Telecoms World?

We’re using Telecoms World Middle East to showcase our exciting new innovation - O3b mPOWER. O3b mPOWER is our new MEO constellation that’s going to deliver unprecedented capacity. The O3b mPOWER constellation will comprise seven satellites, with each satellite delivering over 4,000 beams. So, we’re looking at a terabit-scalable system that provides us with great flexibility that can pick up customers and deliver them to any place they want to go.

Using O3b mPOWER, we’re going to deliver massive amount of data for customers to datacenters around the world, especially in remote areas which are lacking terrestrial networks. We will be able to retrieve data and deliver it to where it can be picked up by major cloud providers such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google and IBM. This new solution is a big game-changer, especially because this is built on our successful O3b MEO constellation which has been offering reliable and fiber-like connectivity. O3b mPOWER, when launched in 2021, will be integrated with our existing O3b and GEO satellites, enabling our customers to deliver data and video content much more effectively and efficiently than any other constellations.

Can you outline to us what your main roles and responsibilities are as VP of Network Strategy and Architecture Technology at SES Networks?

My main role and responsibility is to identify and define our future network service platform. The biggest aspect of that is determining how we’re going to take satellite technology and integrate it seamlessly with 5G networks. With SES playing a leading role in satellite-5G integration, and actively involved with 5G-related standardization activities, my role is to commercialize these standards into products and services that can benefit our customers.

In addition to this, my other primary responsibility is to build platforms that are going to integrate our GEO satellites and MEO constellation. The aim here is to create managed end-to-end services and platforms that will offer the best customer experience. The idea is to optimize the utilization of all our assets

INTERVIEW across orbits and offer up a single point of service to the customer.

Demands for IoT, 5G and cloud are set to grow. What is SES Networks doing to ensure success in these emerging potential revenue streams?

On a commercial front, we’re looking at how we deploy our network and determine what capabilities we’re going to have. We’re going to put more infrastructures out at the edge and we aim to build the capability for mobile edge computing. This will allow us to extend mobile network capabilities - 4G, 5G and LTE all the way out to the edge.

In addition to this, we will be able to cache content at the edge and offer compute. This is going to build the stickiness factor with our connectivity services and it’s also going to attract many more players onto our network.

So instead of just providing satellite capacity, we’re going to be providing LANS connectivity and 5G edge infrastructure. We’re targeting that the 5G edge is going to be designed for wholesale services for hosting so other mobile providers will come and put their service at our edge.

I have also mentioned that SES is very active when it comes to setting critical industry standards and technology initiatives. We are constantly engaging with government and institution bodies on 5G polices, playing a leading role in jointly defining the technology roadmap and ecosystem development, and partaking in key 5G trials.

In your expert opinion, what are the biggest challenges currently facing the satellite industry?

The biggest challenge is positioning satellite services within the emerging 5G ecosystem. Where do we, as satellite operators, fit in? As a satellite operator, our greatest strengths lie in our ability to take our customers from the edge to the cloud, and bring it back from the cloud to the edge. This strength is based on satellite’s ability to reach millions of people in one single beam regardless of geographical terrains and physical distances. This particular strength is also what will enable us to deliver a lot of edge-based service that is essential for a cloud- and 5G-driven world.

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We believe we have an important and critical role to play here, and will need technical solutions to ensure that satellite communication fits in with the whole 5G ecosystem and architecture.

What are your main goals and objectives for the next 12 months?

Whether it’s the deployment of 4G services or providing high performance internet, these managed services enabled by us have completely transformed communities and businesses of people living in remote North America, underserved islands of Pacific Islands, under-connected Latin America as well as landlocked African countries. Hence, my primary goals are to build more platforms that will host more managed services based on multiple fleets, and launch edge capability and edge-based service. As we move towards working with more cloud partners such as IBM Cloud, we will be working to launch more services so they can integrate with actual cloudbased services.

Our greatest strengths lie in our ability to take our customers from the edge to the cloud, and bring it back from the cloud to the edge

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OPERATORS’ NEWS

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du offers multi-tile dashboards in partnership with the Community Development Authority

Du, from Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), has announced it will partner with the Community Development Authority (CDA) to assist in the creation of multitile dashboards to provide slick, quick and accurate insights for the CDA’s business activities.

The CDA’s team needed to develop a multi-tile dashboard to facilitate quick decision-making. One of the main concerns for the CDA was to have precise and relevant information published via dashboards to assist in important business functions.

Ahmed Abdul Karim Julfar, director general, CDA, said, “Investing resources to build effective partnerships is at the core of the CDA’s mission to develop social services aligned with the Dubai Government’s goals of attaining sustainable development and a cohesive, happy society.

By implementing the Dubai Pulse dashboard solutions, the CDA’s ability to enhance community engagement will improve immensely.”

Osman Sultan, CEO, EITC said, “We are delighted to collaborate with the CDA for the implementation of an efficient, seamless, safe and impactful smart city experience. The Dubai Pulse dashboard solutions we have provided are worldclass and will be more than sufficient in delivering key metrics and insights for consideration toward the CDA’s key business functions. Our next-level knowhow and collaboration has combined

to augment the efficiencies such data manipulation can provide.”

Seeking to address their dashboard requirements with the utmost care and priority, the CDA approached du and Dubai Pulse’s solution team who determined that the Dubai Pulse Business Intelligence Platform would best serve the CDA’s digital requirements for a better UAE community. A dedicated instance of the Dubai Pulse BI platform was carved out of the existing one and was hosted in the high performance IaaS cube dedicated to the CDA. This ensured a low-cost and high performing platform for BI activities within Dubai Pulse’s highly-secure environment. Through its Smart Dubai strategic partnership, du is able to offer bespoke data solutions to key industries across the UAE, from government to finance to healthcare, in order to grow data possibilities every day.

EITC and Microsoft collaborate on AI program to transform customer experience

UAE-based telecommunications service provider, EITC (du), has announced it has formalized an ongoing collaboration into a strategic partnership with Microsoft on an artificial intelligence program designed to empower employees, engage customers, optimize operations and streamline the delivery of products and services.

Microsoft technologies such as Cognitive Services and Facial Text Speech is being evaluated by du to strengthen overall customer experience through intelligent

customer care, that will also include preventive and predictive maintenance capabilities. Over the past 10 months, du has been working closely with Microsoft on identifying ways to incorporate digitally transformative technologies such as AI and machine learning into the company’s ICT infrastructure and train du employees on ways to leverage them. Some of Microsoft’s technologies and platforms – such as its cloud services platform Azure, as well as its Cognitive Services and Facial Recognition platforms, are currently being showcased at EITC’s newly-opened Idea Hub in Dubai.

This hub comes, in part, as EITC works to provide integrated ICT service, connecting people, knowledge, devices and information in support of the UAE Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031 - UAE AI Strategy 2031. Preventative

maintenance is a solution that combines the internet of things with machine-learning models to monitor equipment and identify conditions early that are likely to result in suboptimal performance or breakdowns.

In identifying these conditions, intelligent back-office systems can raise alerts that inform providers ahead of time that a fault is about to occur.

Appropriately equipped field technicians can then be dispatched to pre-emptively replace end-of-life components, leading to lower costs, happier customers and increased brand trust.

The intelligent cloud can also provide front-line employees with real-time information on customers, offering a 360-degree view of the individual, from simple profiles and past engagement, to preferences and likely purchases.

NOVEMBER 2018

OPERATORS’ NEWS

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Alfa launches e-waste recycling initiative in cooperation with Ericsson

Under the auspices and in the presence of H.E. the Minister of Telecommunications Jamal Jarrah, Alfa, managed by Orascom TMT, and Ericsson launched the first of its kind e-waste recycling initiative in Lebanon. It involved the packing of 460 tons of expired electronic waste such as transmitters and antennas that were stored in Alfa warehouses. This e-waste material was placed in 35 containers and the process of exporting them to Sweden, where they will be recycled according to international standards, has started via the port of Beirut. The initiative was announced at a press conference attended by Alfa CEO and Chairman Marwan Hayek, head of Ericsson Levant

Mohamad Dergham, officials from the two companies and social and media figures. The initiative is part of the Alfa 4-Nature program and its commitment to the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Plan and is a contribution from Alfa that facilitates finding a solution to the waste crisis through responsible e-waste management. In his speech, Dergham stressed that “the significance and importance of proper electronic waste recycling cannot be overstated.

Without it, the environmental impact can be devastating. E-waste from electronic products poses a great danger to the environment if not properly recycled or disposed.” He added, “Our partnership with Alfa in the e-waste agreement aims to raise awareness about this issue and ensure that end-of-life electronics are disposed in an environmentally responsible manner.”

As for Hayek, he stressed, “This first and unique event in Lebanon comes in light of the increasing waste crisis and its adverse

effects on the environment in general and on human health in particular. Alfa has taken upon itself to be a positive element in society and a source of happiness and is ready to play a positive role in solving any social or environmental problem or to highlight any idea that can help in finding solutions.”

H.E. Jamal Jarrah commented, “Electronic pollution is one of the most dangerous sources of pollution, especially in light of the constant technological development (3G, 4G and 5G). The Lebanese people have a large consumption rate of electronic equipment compared to the consumption rates in the region, especially among the youth. This AlfaEricsson initiative is one of the most important initiatives that we can see in the field of industrial, chemical and electronic pollution disposal. For the first time in Lebanon, there is awareness and attention to this fundamental subject and its treatment, especially since e-waste has an impact on the entire country.”

touch conducts breakthrough commercial trial of 5G technology

Touch, the leading mobile telecommunications and data operator in Lebanon, managed by Zain, held an event under the auspices of the Prime Minister Designate Saad Hariri represented by the Caretaker Minister of Telecommunications Jamal Jarrah. This trial showcased the real 5G experience that customers shall have once it is deployed in the country and 5G-enabled devices become available.

During the trial, touch Chief Executive Officer Emre Gurkan announced that the first commercial 5G site in Lebanon will be installed at touch’s new location in downtown Beirut. This state-of-the-art 5G

site will act as an incubator for and bolster the country’s digital startup ecosystem, aiming to have a significant trickledown effect enabling a range of new innovators to deliver compelling services.

The 5G demonstration comprised of the successful conclusion of throughput speeds of approximately 1.5 Gbps being achieved. Touch demonstrated cloud VR that operated over the 5G network, while also showcasing the network’s ability to undertake 16 channels high quality 4K video playing simultaneously.

Minister Jarrah addressed the audience at the Grand Serail and said: “At the Ministry of Telecommunications, we are determined to modernize the existing infrastructure to accommodate the latest technology advancements. So we began to deploy fiber optics across Lebanon, to benefit the Lebanese citizens with modern technology, in addition to expanding mobile networks to keep up with developments.”

Commenting on the successful 5G trial, touch CEO Emre Gurkan said, “This is a momentous milestone for touch given our stated goal to innovate for the betterment of the customers we serve, and to improve the quality of life for all in Lebanon. This trial gives a fantastic preview of the truly awesome power this technology possesses and the incredible services and applications it will drive.”

This groundbreaking trial forms part of touch’s progressive 5G implementation, which has seen the operator investing in the necessary infrastructure with the view to deploying live 5G sites in 2019 onwards. The technology is expected to be a profound development for the telecom industry globally, bringing new business models and opportunities to industry sectors such as agricultural, heavy industry, tourism, automotive, medical, remote management, audio visual and public sectors, to name a few.

NOVEMBER 2018

OPERATORS’ NEWS

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Etisalat and Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal offer the “Visitor Package” deals and discounts on activities such as theme parks, restaurants, shopping and other lifestyle categories. Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal plans to make Etisalat’s services available at the seaport and other access points for tourists visiting the Emirate.

Etisalat announced its partnership with Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal (Abu Dhabi Ports) to offer a package that includes a visitor SIM card and a selection of offers to all visitors arriving at Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal.

Through the partnership, passengers and crew arriving at Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal can avail of the package and offers from the Etisalat kiosk in the passengers’ hall. Etisalat is the first service provider to introduce such an exclusive Visitor Package for those coming to the Emirate. This package includes visitor SIM card and a booklet of vouchers with an array of

Sultan Al Dhaheri, general manager, Etisalat Abu Dhabi, said, “Etisalat is proud to be associated with Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal to launch this first of its kind initiative, which is exclusively for cruise visitors arriving at the capital. We have always worked closely with the government in supporting initiatives that contribute to the tourism sector. These exclusive offers will add value to our visitors, especially the visitor SIM card bundled with offers. This is in line with our nation’s vision for 2018 as the “Year of Zayed” and a perfect opportunity for Etisalat to partner with the government on this significant initiative. The Visitor Package caters to specific needs of visitors

in the capital and is in line with the leadership’s direction to increase the happiness index of the country.”

Noura Rashid Al Dhaheri, Cruise Terminal Manager, Abu Dhabi Ports, said, “We live in a connected world where travelers want to share their adventures at the touch of a button with friends and family back home as they experience them. We are, therefore, delighted to partner with Etisalat on its Visitor Package as additional service provided to Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal passengers’ and crew.

Last year was a hugely successful season for Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal, and the new season, which started this month on 3rd October, looks likely to be even stronger, with additional homeporting ships and increased passenger volume. So, the Visitor Package from Etisalat is perfectly timed and yet another great reason to enjoy a cruise to Abu Dhabi.”

EITC launches ‘Ideas Hub’ in effort to accelerate Dubai’s smart city transformation

H.E. Omar Sultan Al Olama, UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, launched “EITC’s Idea Hub” at the company’s headquarters in Dubai Internet City, during the launch event hosted by Osman Sultan, CEO of EITC. It was attended by Mohamed Al Hussaini, chairman of EITC, Farid Faraidooni, deputy CEO, ICT Solutions at EITC, and Fahad Al Hassawi, deputy CEO, Telco Services, EITC, amongst other senior members

of the management team. H.E. Al Olama was briefed on the technologies showcased on display at the Idea Hub from EITC that are set to transform the digital services landscape in the UAE. This hub comes in part as EITC works to provide integrated ICT service, connecting people, knowledge, devices and information in support of the UAE Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031 – UAE AI strategy 2031.

During the launch ceremony, HE Omar Sultan Al Olama said: “Our focus in the UAE is to create favorable conditions for innovations and positive disruption to take place; it’s all about agility and functionality. Innovation comes before legislation here in the UAE; a decision that we took on to shift and accelerate the pace of the development cycle of new technologies, services or products and allow for new entrants to the

innovation ecosystem to take an active and leading role.”

Osman Sultan, chief executive officer, Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), said: “We are delighted to welcome H.E. Omar Sultan Al Olama to our Idea Hub to showcase our commitment to the UAE’s digital transformation. We believe that ICT is our biggest opportunity in the future to enhance the UAE’s position as a global hub for tourism, commerce and more importantly, as a happy place to live.”

EITC’s ICT solutions division empowers UAE government entities and organizations with cutting-edge, end-toend ICT services, and leverages latest platforms and technologies such as internet of things, cloud-based services and applications, managed services, blockchain and AI.

NOVEMBER 2018

OPERATORS’ NEWS

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STC announces partnership to accelerate blockchain adoption in KSA allows clients to create blockchain nodes in a sandbox environment and build blockchain networks and test use cases without the need for infrastructure investment or heavy development.

Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and ConsenSys, a leader in blockchain technology, announced the launch of blockchain on STC Cloud, a move set to accelerate blockchain adoption in the Kingdom. It will provide enterprises and governments with a path to enable mass adoption of the technology through dramatically lowering the costs of prototyping and experimentation with blockchain.

STC and ConsenSys will be showcasing the new technology during GITEX 2018, the biggest technology show in Middle East and North Africa. This product

Riyadh S. Muawad, vice president of Government Sales & Key Accounts at STC Business, added, “Blockchain on is one of several initiatives STC aims to rollout to its customers to pave the way for blockchain adoption.

STC is committed to provide its customers with innovative solutions, and blockchain on is one of many to be provided.”

Talal AlBakr, vice president of Cloud Services at STC Solutions, added, “Adding blockchain to STC’s Cloud Marketplace allows customers to start a private blockchain network with a click of a button. This service is a unique innovative offering on our marketplace that helps organizations

to rapidly build and deploy blockchain applications.”

In line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, this latest launch will further open emerging technology avenues by bringing blockchain technology to empower various industry verticals across Saudi Arabia.

Lina Hediah, executive director, ConsenSys MENA, added, “The service will allow enterprises to build private blockchains, rapidly deploy nodes, experiment with coding on the blockchain in a test environment without the need for any development nor infrastructure requirements.”

“ConsenSys’ blockchain on cloud will enable public and private entities to create a new network or join an existing network, on which they can deploy blockchain applications and smart contracts,” said Rami Maalouf, lead of ConsenSys Solutions in MENA.

Saudi operator launches digital payment platform and STC Group’s strategy for digital growth and transformation, in parallel to its pivotal role in Saudi Vision 2030 as an enabler for digital transformation.

Saudi Telecom Company (STC) announced the launch of STC Pay. The new investment arm is specialized in digital payments and the provision of financial technology (FINTECH) services for individuals and institutes.

This comes in line with Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency’s orientations

“Digital financial services are one of the new growth paths of STC Group as per its digital growth and transformation strategy, especially at this time of rapid change in the telecommunications industry and digital information revolution,” STC Group’s CEO Eng. Nasser Al Nasser said, pointing out that “the new company provides a quality addition to the development of Digital Payments services in collaboration with major financial institutions and banks both locally and globally.”

The chairman of STC Pay, Dr. Tareq Inaya, said that the online platform provides integrated digital financial services to companies and

individuals alike. It enables business owners to reach a large segment of STC customers allows individuals to benefit from secure and advanced digital financial services that are in line with their expectations, and facilitates daily purchases and transactions.

For his part, STC Pay’s CEO, Saleh Mosaibah, said that the company will provide its services in the form of a digital wallet which the customer recharges to pay for his purchases at shops, restaurants and application stores at any time.

The service also makes it easier to send and receive money from and to family and friends through the contact list. It also allows you to transfer money to any bank account within Saudi Arabia, to pay STC bills through the app and to recharge SAWA card.

NOVEMBER 2018

INTERVIEW

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Data Consult, a leading firm in the Middle East and Africa, has long been working on delivering integrated solutions and services to businesses in order to safeguard sustainability. Aiming for client satisfaction, it covers all of their inquires while delivering high quality services with more than 500 projects delivered per year. In an exclusive interview with Telecom Review, Elias Houayek, CEO of Data Consult, talks about the different services and solutions this company offers, and how it operates to keep its name in a competitive market based on a key success factor - “scalability�.

Data Consult: Helping businesses succeed in their digital transformation

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n addition, Houayek wants Data Consult to be the go-to partner for institutions looking to digitalize on the way they operate, and describes the team as digital enablers.

He also elaborated the way data is transforming the ICT industry and how it is redefining business strategies.

Today, data is a pivotal concern for businesses undertaking digital transformation so that they are not left behind in this fast-evolving era.

INTERVIEW

NOVEMBER 2018

Many companies have started their transformation; however, they find themselves facing various challenges concerning the protection of their data, the use of public cloud, the creation of an adequate workplace and proper customer-enterprise collaboration. This has made the creation of solution provider companies possible.

Such companies study the client’s current infrastructure, evaluate the client’s needs, specify the mix of manufacturers’ hardware and software required to meet project goals, and install the hardware and software at the client’s site.

First of all, can you give us an overview of Data Consult’s scope of business? What are the main services and solutions that you offer?

Mostly, Data Consult supplies, integrates and operates a wide spectrum of technology services focused on the following six areas: service provider networking, cyber security, customer and enterprise collaboration, internet of things, the digital workspace, and the public cloud migration and adoption.

and allows them to focus on their core business.

Our success is attributed to our reliability: we deliver on all the 500+ projects we design per year, as we proudly score 98% on customer satisfaction surveys measuring the quality of our managed services.

Clients know that we guarantee a competitive edge by helping them anticipate operational hurdles and transform the way they are doing business. No matter the sector, companies are undergoing an evolution in the way they operate, the ones that will survive and thrive are the ones who will succeed their digital transformation.

Innovation and full adoption of new technologies are key factors in succeeding with our customers.

In your opinion, which of the services you offer have succeeded the most so far and why? And how can your solutions give your customers a constant competitive advantage?

All of our services are well valued by our clients. Mostly, companies appreciate our managed services because it helps them benefit the maximum from their technology investments, minimizes downtime

In your opinion, how did data transform the ICT industry and how is it redefining business strategies?

Relatively, data was always there, but now we have the proper tools to extract, process, analyze and act accordingly. This means that by harvesting this massive flow, we can prevent or minimize the risk of malfunctions, improve performance, detect threats or enhance the way we collaborate with our customers.

Same applies in IoT applications; the data generated should serve to improve our lives in general.

Therefore, data is now becoming accessible and well-shaped for those needing it. Our role, at the heart of

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the network, is more important than ever. We are able to measure almost everything. That’s why we built a data integration expertise three years ago in order to help our clients extract the most valuable business insights from this data.

What is Data Consult’s main vision and how are you working to fulfill it?

Currently, Data Consult’s aim is to be the go-to partner for every business or institution that is looking to digitally transform the way they operate. We see ourselves as the technology extension of our customer’s organization. The key success factor here is scalability.

When you have your cost down and your performance optimized, you can focus on your core business, and this is what gives companies a competitive edge.

At what levels can Data Consult assist its customers so that their business can thrive amid all of this competition on the market?

Nowadays, business will be relying more and more on technology. All of the advancements in this field, specifically the way data is now being processed, are transforming businesses around the world. We like to think of ourselves as digital enablers. We help businesses operate state-of-the-art infrastructures for them to extract all the value of their technology investment. We also make sure that through our innovative services, they are able to utilize data to further enhance their competitive advantage and gain in agility to operate at optimum performance levels.

We see ourselves as the technology extension of our customer’s organization

NOVEMBER 2018

ICT FEATURE

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Can telecoms providers really handle the ‘data tsunami’?

Today’s connected world is generating huge amounts of data and it is only the beginning. In the near future, technologies that are now at their early adoption and still undergoing development will produce unimaginable amounts of data that will go through the cloud and subsequently the telecommunications infrastructure.

Companies will then face challenges mostly related to providing enough bandwidth. Changing the way they handle data is a must.

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G will allow all devices to be connected to the internet anytime and anywhere. Imagine to what extent this technology will increase data, especially that it will ease access to the internet and will activate the deployment of other technologies that are now ready to use and have been put on hold until the fifth generation network was commercially deployed and available to consumers.

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ICT FEATURE

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One example of the huge volume of data generated by technologies today is connected cars. Infotainment systems and in-car WiFi require more bandwidth from the telecom providers in order to function and provide the desired features to the drivers. And it is not only about connected cars, but also about every device that is basically “connected” and capable of using data through the cloud.

To be able to cope with the increased amounts of data, telecommunications service providers need high performance hardware and infrastructure to support the tasks that are necessary to carry the flow of data. Capable hardware is characterized by high performance processing ability where the device can easily switch processing functions – an advantage that FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays) provide. FPGAs are semiconductor chips that are designed to perform specialized computations at extremely high speeds. They can be used to accelerate processes to speeds more rapidly than a CPU can perform at, boosting the overall performance of the telecommunications device.

In addition to high performance processing, other measures can help telecom providers embrace the data invasion. The edge device can be processed to generate this data.

An article by Forbes Insights gives the example of a smart thermostat to explain how processing is done on edge devices to create this data.

A smart thermostat monitors the temperature but only acts to control the heating or cooling system when target temperatures are reached.

Moreover, an important step is the aggregation of data. The total data of an operation can be transmitted, instead of transmitting the data of each step of the operation. Results can be aggregated and sent as summary of the details, including the specific variables that were taken into consideration when gathering the data. This will facilitate the processing and analysis of data, thus

helping to handle the huge amount of data generated.

Edge datacenters can also be very helpful when it comes to managing the flow of data. Those datacenters are located near the devices that are generating data. Their proximity accelerates the processing of data and allows the device to respond in milliseconds, thus maximizing its performance. Edge datacenters are enabled by high speed CPUs, FPGAs and other low energy devices that boost their performance level.

The use of high performance hardware and improved infrastructure will allow telecom providers to handle the large of amount of data that will be generated in the future. Everything will be equipped with sensors and connected to the internet, which means everything will generate data.

Whether cars, home appliances, cameras, etc., a huge amount of data will be created.

In the future, every house will have a smart doorbell equipped with a facial recognition feature that can capture the visitor’s face and share it with the owners. All roads will be equipped with intelligent security cameras, and road safety systems that will

generate data by the minute. IoT won’t be an emerging technology, but the foundation of every system. That is why telecom providers are invited to start managing the flow of data as of right now.

However, before thinking about how to handle the exponential increase of data, it is important to look into the way data is used in order to determine the success of the IoT market. “We are extracting data from everywhere around us, and it will only be a success if we take care of it,” Sigfox co-founder, Ludovic Le Moan, said. “If you take data from sensors at a higher cost than its own value you are killing the market. By getting the right technology, whatever it is, to create a differential between the core value, of data and the cost of extraction, multiplied by billions and billions of data, you create a big industry and a big economy.”

According to Le Moan, IoT was “not a question of technology,” and the market will only truly thrive if the data extracted from connected devices is used in the smartest and most cost-efficient way. Data is the keyword here and it all revolves around how to use it, how to protect it and how to handle its increasing volumes.

NOVEMBER 2018

COVERAGE

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The new digital age comes to life at GITEX 2018 Tech-savvy consumers, ICT experts and companies in every tech-related field were all present at the mostattended event in the Middle East. The 38th edition of the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX) was held at Dubai’s World Trade Center, and gathered over 4,000 exhibitors from 100 countries ranging from large companies to startups and government entities. Dubai’s Crown Prince and chairman of Dubai Executive Council, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, opened GITEX 2018 and visited the stands of the most prominent technological companies. entities like Ajman Municipality, Fujairah Department of Public Works, Sharjah Municipality, Ras Al Khaimah Municipality, Umm Al Quwain municipality and Shurooq.

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ach year, operators and vendors seize the opportunity to be present at GITEX, to make important announcements, unveil new solutions and products, and sign MoUs. Etisalat took visitors on a journey of the future with a showcase of digital innovations and solutions for consumers and businesses across zones focusing on 5G, retail, healthcare, education, smart living, IoT and a unique 3D showcase of the upcoming ‘Expo 2020 Dubai’.

The event also witnessed strategic partnerships of Etisalat with government

Dr. Ahmed Bin Ali, senior vice president, Corporate Communication, Etisalat Group, said: “Etisalat has always enthralled visitors at GITEX Technology Week with the unique global innovations we get on our stand every year. The showcases were unique as there was something new to learn, experience and witness in every zone. With the theme focused on ‘Leading the 5G Revolution’, our every showcase was about how 5G can make these digital innovations a reality and become part of our lives.

2018, which is an extension of its deep strategic relationship with the World Government Summit.

Complimenting GITEX 2018’s theme, ‘Experience Urbanism’, the ‘Government in 2071’ experience allowed individuals to explore reflections of what the future may hold, based on societal and technological megatrends, where these megatrends collide, innovations occur and are expected to produce significant change across society.

“Our main focus was on highlighting ‘Driving the Digital Future to Empower Societies’ which is why every zone gathered the best in technology to take the visitors on this digital journey. We look forward to bringing more of such innovations and solutions next year and attracting more visitors to the event from across the world.”

“We are proud to partner with du to bring this future-forward experience to life here in the UAE. The Government in 2071: Guidebook aims to help both government and private sector leaders, such as du, align their strategies with projected dramatic shifts in the coming decades. After all, with proper planning and agile decision-making, leaders today can play a positive role in shaping the future of their companies or countries,” said His Excellency Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence and managing drector of the World Government Summit.

UAE telecommunications operator du, from Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), unveiled the much-anticipated ‘Government in 2071’ Guidebook Experience at GITEX Technology Week

In addition, du partnered with Nokia at GITEX 2018 and successfully demonstrated 5G capabilities through a virtual reality (VR) game. Visitors at the event were able to experience the high speed and low latency of 5G

NOVEMBER 2018

COVERAGE

through a football-related VR game. The demo showcased the difference in data throughput and latency of a 5G network in comparison with a 4G network. A user wearing VR goggles gets to take a penalty against a virtual football goalkeeper. In 4G mode - with higher latency - the shot is slower and thus easier for the keeper to catch the ball. When the mode is switched to faster 5G with lower latency, the user can score.

of the technology through dramatically lowering the costs of prototyping and experimentation with blockchain.

Bernard Najm, head of the Middle East Market Unit at Nokia, said: “We have been closely working with du for the past few years. This successful VR demo is just one of the many innovative use cases enabled by 5G. New use cases provide an opportunity to add new revenue streams for telcos like du, and also help them enhance the happiness of their subscribers.”

“Adding blockchain to STC’s Cloud Marketplace allows customers to start a private blockchain network with a click of a button. This service is a unique innovative offering on our marketplace that helps organizations to rapidly build and deploy blockchain applications,” said Talal AlBakr, vice president of Cloud Services at STC Solutions.

Ericsson was present at GITEX this year as part of its partnership with Etisalat.

The two digital giants demonstrated IoT accelerator capabilities, as well as locally developed and promoted use cases for the UAE transportation sector.

The demonstrations included Secure Vehicle Tracking, Automotive Surveillance and eCall Accident Simulation Alert, which notifies authorities, emergency services, insurance providers, the Roads and Transport Authority, and other vital stakeholders of the occurrence of an accident. Additionally, Etisalat Digital and Ericsson showcased the latest smart parking and smart traffic light control solutions.

The solution is built using Ericsson and Etisalat IoT platforms, and provides an integrated approach to traffic management optimization, paving the way towards a true smart and sustainable city. The solution automates the transport ecosystem of roads, vehicles, drivers and traffic management authorities. By uniting technology and markets, cities can solve traffic issues.

STC had an exceptional presence this year at the event where, along with ConsenSys, a leader in blockchain technology, it announced the launch of blockchain on STC Cloud, a move set to accelerate blockchain adoption in the Kingdom. It will provide enterprises and governments with a path to enable mass adoption

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STC and ConsenSys showcased the new technology that allows clients to create blockchain nodes in a sandbox environment, and build blockchain networks and test use cases without the need for infrastructure investment or heavy development.

Smart Dubai concluded another successful participation in GITEX Technology Week, where it showcased its main strategies, services and initiatives that seek to cement Dubai’s global lead in the smart city sector. It collaborated with 59 government entities and private companies in Dubai, who joined the exhibition under its umbrella and showcased ground-breaking smart government services that spread happiness among Dubai’s citizens, residents and visitors. The Smart Dubai Pavilion at GITEX Technology Week 2018 garnered local and international attention, with its displays exhibiting Dubai’s sweeping progress in terms of smart transformation.

“At GITEX Technology Week 2018, we shed extensive light on Dubai’s pioneering smart experience, and underlined the achievements that have been attained so far, which bring us closer to establishing Dubai as the happiest and smartest city in the world,” H.E. Dr Aisha said. “We have signed a significant number of agreements and partnerships that will play an effective role in setting clear visions for the future and maintain the happiness and wellbeing of all members of our community.”

Huawei Middle East Innovation Day Huawei hosted the 5G Ecosystem Conference on the sidelines of the 3rd annual Middle East Innovation Day held during GITEX 2018. Under the theme “5G

is Now, Sailing to New eMBB Horizons,” the conference promoted a 5G ecosystem in the Middle East by bringing together operators, regulatory agencies, industry leaders and other stakeholders to discuss 5G from a business, policy and industry perspective. Huawei also unveiled a new research paper conducted in partnership with Analysys Mason, a global consulting and research firm specializing in telecoms, media and digital services. Titled “Unlocking Digital Opportunities with 5G”, the White Paper reveals startling statistics about the impact 5G will have in the GCC, including the fact that 5G could generate almost USD270 billion for the regional ICT sector in the next decade.

Huawei wrapped its 3rd Innovation Day with a panel focusing on artificial intelligence and its impact of different industries. Moderated by Toni Eid, CEO, Trace Media, the panel discussed the importance of raising awareness on artificial intelligence and how it will actually improve lives. All panelists agreed that AI should be used for the good of human beings and to fill the digital gap still existing in many countries around the world.

NOVEMBER 2018

VENDORS’ NEWS

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Ericsson, Qualcomm complete data call on new band in preparation for 5G launch

After their recent completion of a 5G data call on 39 GHz, Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies are now announcing a standard-based, overthe-air, non-standalone (NSA) 5G NR lab data call on 28 GHz band using commercial radio and a smartphone form factor device.

The 3GPP-compliant, multi-vendor interoperability 5G NR downlink lab data call on 28 GHz was achieved at Ericsson Kista Lab in September and offers further proof of 5G’s

commercial readiness. Over the past months, Ericsson and its partners have successfully conducted 3GPPcompliant interoperability tests on the 3.5 GHz mid-band, 28 GHz and 39 GHz millimeter wave (mmWave) bands. Access to new high frequency bands is a key component in providing ultra-high speeds and low latencies.

hardware – including its 5G NR radio AIR5121 and baseband products – together with a mobile test device powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 5G modem.

Thomas Noren, head of 5G Commercialization at Ericsson, says, “By adding 28 GHz to the list of spectrum bands supported and tested by our equipment for initial 5G launches, we make it easier for our customers to rollout early 5G services to their users. This is made possible by our collaborative efforts with key partners to build a solid 5G ecosystem.”

In February 2018, more than 20 operators were trialing 5G networks using the band, according to GSMA Intelligence. Service providers, particularly in Europe, South Korea and in the US, are interested in deploying early 5G services on 28 GHz band, starting 2018-2019.

The lab demonstration used Ericsson’s commercially available 5G

The global marketplace is driving demand for additional frequencies, such as the 28 GHz, in order to meet the needs of data-hungry consumers.

The lab data call on 28 GHz is the latest in a succession of interoperability tests performed with industry partners such as Qualcomm Technologies.

Huawei announces partnership in bid to enhance VR capabilities over 5G October 2018, at the region’s largest technology exhibition, GITEX, in Dubai.

Huawei, a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices, and TPCAST, who introduced the world’s first commercial wireless virtual reality (VR) solution, will cooperate on exploring a cloud-based VR project in the Middle East. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at Huawei’s 5G Ecosystem Conference during Huawei Innovation day on 15

The collaboration will be enabled by the emerging 5G broadband digital ecosystem. Huawei is a pioneer in the emerging technology that will provide users with multiple gigabit speeds within homes, offices and public spaces. Faster internet speeds will enhance gaming and video streaming capabilities. Consumers will have easier access to smart technologies driven by the internet of things. Networks will have a far lower latency, allowing for deeper smartphone penetration.

As part of the collaboration, Huawei will provide its cloud video and VR platform which allows video content to be accessed, managed and operated efficiently, along with

high specification set-top-boxes (STB). TPCAST will provide ultra-low latency codec, a VR back-end control protocol, as well as multi-user wireless VR central management.

Both parties will share their global and local ecosystem partner resources to open market exploration in Middle East.

Globally, Huawei was first to unveil a full range of end-to-end 3GPPcompliant 5G product solutions, covering the core network, bearer network, basestation and terminals, and the world’s first 5G chipset.

The company’s research and development into 5G technology falls within its corporate social responsibility ethos to bring digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected and intelligent world.

NOVEMBER 2018

VENDORS’ NEWS

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ZTE launches industry’s first large-capacity non-blocking electrical cross OTN cluster product adding a new board, ZTE’s nonblocking electrical cross OTN cluster product is capable of effectively relieving the pressure of power supply and power consumption in the backbone equipment room.

ZTE Corporation, a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the mobile internet, released the industry’s first largecapacity OTN cluster product supporting non-blocking electrical cross at the PT/EXPO COMM CHINA 2018. This product is applied to large-capacity service scheduling nodes, such as metro cores and backbones, and is capable of satisfying the requirements of the future network for ultra-large bandwidth and flexible scheduling of transport devices.

Featuring flexible service scheduling among multiple subracks without

Also, it boasts great support to the non-blocking connection among all subracks, thereby greatly reducing network planning complexity and simplifying operation and maintenance.

Ranking No. 1 in the industry, the product’s cross capacity can be extended to 384T, fully satisfying the massive network service scheduling requirements of future network core nodes.

Meanwhile, this product supports SDN intelligent open architecture and VC/packet functions, echoing the future network evolution direction and enabling the unified multi-service transport. By means of the silicon/

optical integration technology, ZTE’s non-blocking electrical cross OTN cluster product adopts largeperformance low-power chips and optical components developed by ZTE itself, greatly reducing power consumption while saving operation and maintenance costs for customers.

As the industry’s leading manufacturer of optical communication devices, ZTE continuously invests in the R&D of new technologies and products for optical transport networks. By virtue of the advantages in technologies and solutions, ZTE’s OTN products have been deployed on a large scale in the world - over 400 ZTE 100G/beyond100G networks deployed with ZTE’s total fiber length reaching 400 000+ kilometers.

According to Ovum’s latest report, ZTE ranks Top 2 in terms of the global OTN switching market shares, and ranks No.1 in terms of the access WDM market share.

Nokia’s fixed wireless products help operators accelerate ultrabroadband deployment Now they are poised to improve performance significantly through their investment in 5G.

Nokia is introducing new Fixed Wireless Access products to help operators accelerate ultra-broadband deployments and deliver more bandwidth to people sooner.

The enhanced portfolio includes new Fast-Mile high-gain outdoor receivers and indoor gateways that are easy to install and significantly enhance the ultrabroadband experience for customers.

Mobile operators invested in 4G to bring broadband speeds to mobile networks.

In both cases, mobile operators have an opportunity to capture new revenue streams from the delivery of ultrabroadband services to customers using fixed wireless access technologies.

With 4G networks, peak residential broadband speeds of several hundred megabits per second are possible - but not always achievable. Nokia Fast-Mile will drive these speeds to wider areas with very high-gain outdoor receivers that improve spectral efficiency by 4-5x versus using indoor antennas.

The results are higher speeds for the user, more consistent performance at the cell edge and lower radio access network (RAN) costs for the operator. These new

receivers can be equipped with Automatic Beam Alignment to help establish an optimal connection to cell sites. Nokia’s Fast-Mile smartphone application provides operators and customers with a guided set of instructions that help simplify installation.

Nokia is also introducing a set of powerful indoor gateways, available in the first half of 2019, that come with high-gain antennas and 4x4 multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) to deliver superior performance.

These fully self-contained residential gateways will include options for plain old telephone service (POTS) and ethernet ports. With high gain outdoor and indoor models, operators can quickly add FWA to their portfolio with minimal upfront costs. With the evolution to 5G, operators will be able to deliver gigabit peak speeds.

NOVEMBER 2018

ICT FEATURE

56

Managing digital identity for a better online experience

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orming a digital identity to access an online service will require you, first of all, to set a username or an email address and associate a password to it. But that’s not all. There is other information that is also being collected, such as the consumer’s date of birth, social security number, purchasing behavior or history, online search activities, medical history, etc.

Every day, we drown further into the Online world.

With the fast development of services, consumers are making more Online purchases and accessing more services through their mobiles. For example, purchasing goods or carrying out a bank operation through its mobile application are common actions that have never been easier. Undoubtedly, this is considered a huge step forward for technology; however, it carries various challenges regarding the security of the consumer’s digital identity and the privacy of their personal data online. One of the biggest challenges is developing systems that allow any person to authenticate his/her online identity.

This leads us to two different notions: digital identification and digital authentication. The identification process is saying who you are, providing information about yourself such as your name and surname, birthdate, gender, level of education, etc.; whereas, the authentication process is proving that you are who you say you are, proving to the other party that they are dealing with the right person. That is done through passwords as the first step, and for more security, biometrics can be added afterwards such as iris recognition, retina recognition, voice recognition, fingerprints, face ID and chips.

Very often, people put their actual personal information online. This places the consumer in a position where he/she is prone to privacy and security risks leading to identity theft.

This phenomenon has been rising in recent years which is why it takes not just one, but two and even multiple factors to complete a “sign-in” along with authentication systems that are becoming even more sophisticated.

An example of that would be Apple’s facial recognition system, Face ID. This system changes the fingerprint for the face, so that iPhone X users can authenticate and access their device, verify payments with Apple Pay or pay in the App Store.

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There are new tools, big data and analytics that can help to algorithmically validate whether a person or organization is who or what he claims to be. However, gathering and curating this data, connecting it together and assigning a confidence score to the conclusion is still challenging.

Traditionally, digital identity issues were considered as a businessto-business concern. But as consumers adopt more active roles as stakeholders while completing their online operations, this relationship is becoming a business-to-businessto-consumer one. The increase of consumers’ interaction in the online place is leading to higher expectations and demands. For instance, people try to avoid having to rekey their data every time. Instead, they follow what is immediate and what keeps them always connected. So, people will expect technology to perform better and security to be higher.

Back in the simple times, people used to only take precautions to prevent hackers from stealing their passwords. Today, privacy has gone to a a whole new level, especially with citizens having to share their fingerprints or iris scans. These should be given the same level of protection as other personal data, such as medical records, financial information and employment history.

Protection systems alone aren’t enough if users themselves don’t have some Online maturity. They choose what kind of information goes online and what kind doesn’t. But, they should be informed of who is collecting their biometric data, why it is being collected, how it will be used, where it will be stored and who will have access to it.

but positive factors also exist. In the near future, in light of this fastgrowing pace, the open banking sector is is likely to witness much more activity. And, if that service is to truly take off, ensuring your identity is protected must be a key component.

The frequency and severity of data breaches highlight the growing importance of identity authentication.

Just as security is front-of-mind for companies, it is increasingly important to consumers as well.

Getting the hang of digital identity could be good for the economy because it would make digital trade smoother, easier and faster. In the industry, talks were play about these issues for some time. Maybe the solution will come this year, or maybe it will be years away. But, there is definitely a change in the air.

It’s true that with these developments, one may face challenges and risks,

It would be smart for companies to get their heads managed identity

and how it might affect their business model.

As we move forward in life, we leave behind crumbs of digital data in those miscellaneous sites we visit, essentially forming a digital silhouette of ourselves. This silhouette may even be a better representation of ourselves, as it saves and remembers our precise information and searches from the past. This digital identity can predict, from past data, what our actions will be in the future, thus suggesting sites we might be interested in surfing. We expect to see more mobility, greater demand for security and trust, an accelerated shift towards smart cities, and more calls for public supervision of digital identification systems.

NOVEMBER 2018

COVERAGE

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Analysts at NetEvents dismiss theory that AI is the ‘silver bullet’ to solving cybersecurity issues Cybersecurity experts and analysts have refuted the theory that emerging technologies such as AI will resolve the complex cybersecurity challenges facing organizations and enterprises globally.

T

he predictions regarding the emerging technologies that are being projected to have a seismic impact in relation to cybersecurity were made at the recent NetEvents conference that was held in the stunning Algarve resort in Portugal.

NetEvents is an incredibly unique symposium that attracts the leading analysts and organizations from the global cybersecurity ecosystem.

NetEvents has established itself as a leader in fostering an environment where global leaders from the cybersecurity industry can meet regularly to share their

viewpoints, predictions and projections over two-days of intensive networking and panel discussions.

Cybersecurity is an ever-evolving space that has been further disrupted by the integration of revolutionary new technologies such as AI, Internet of Things and Big Data – and the emergence of these new technologies have heightened the complex challenges for stakeholders in the cybersecurity sector.

The EMEA Press and Analyst Summit hosted by NetEvents in Portugal at the end of September, was entitled ‘Innovators in Cloud, AI, IoT & Security’.

The first plenary debate in the morning

provoked plenty of robust debate in a session which was chaired by Scott Raynovich, Principal Analyst, Futuriom who was joined on a panel by Philip Griffiths, Head of EMEA Partnerships, NetFoundry; Rik Turner, Principal Analyst, Infrastructure Solutions, Ovum; and Atchison Frazer, Worldwide Head of Marketing, Versa Networks.

The charismatic Raynovich highlighted the intricate challenges facing the network for cloud applications and claimed that cloud will amount to 50% of enterprise application spending. The corporate WAN will be increasingly important but is becoming a bottleneck.

A further challenge, he said, is how to build multi-cloud networks that are

NOVEMBER 2018

COVERAGE

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secure and automated. The Principal Analyst at Futuriom added that the migration to the cloud will result in siloed roles to change.

Raynovich said, “VPN issues include performance, security, management and configuration, but managers agree traditional VPNs are not the best solution for industrial IoT. They’re looking for better solutions for extranets, B2B, and supply chain... Routers are the problem as they are too difficult and timeconsuming to configure, so people want automation”.

The next presentation was entitled ‘The Security Professional’s Best Friend: Artificial Intelligence’ which was moderated by Rik Turner, Principal Analyst, Infrastructure Solutions, Ovum.

He was joined on a panel containing Jan Guldentops, Director, BA Test Labs; Simon Crumplin, Founder & CEO, Secrutiny and Roark Pollock, SVP Marketing at Ziften Technologies .

This particular panel discussion was certainly the most entertaining throughout the two-day event and provoked some colorful exchanges between the panelists and some outspoken members of the media assembled who debated whether or not AI was the silver bullet for cybersecurity that some IT decision-makers believe.

New research from global cybersecurity firm ESET has revealed that the recent hype surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) is deceiving three in four IT decision makers (75%) into believing the technologies are the silver bullet to solving their cybersecurity challenges. The hype, ESET says, is causing confusion among IT teams and could be putting organizations at greater risk of falling victim to cybercrime.

The debate surrounding AI and Machine Learning was discussed in detail during this presentation. In his opening keynote speech, Turner claimed that the security sector has transitioned away from prevention to recognition, and added that total prevention was impossible, and thus the industry is now focused on detection, mitigation and remediation.

According to Turner, the reason for the industry embarking upon this

path is due to an exponential rise in malware caused by organized gangs and state-sponsored groups. Turner said, “Malware has become more sophisticated and is generated faster, but most – 98.1% – may be deployed but are not exploited. So now what’s required is a threat response using intelligence, such as that provided by machine learning”.

However, this was emphatically rejected by Guldentops, who said AI is the next B.S. term in the cybersecurity ecosystem.

The Director at BA Test Labs said, “ML has been in existence for 15 years”, citing as an example spam filters. “It’s not magic, just a tool – real AI is 30 years away.”

Roark Pollock, SVP of Marketing at Ziften Technologies highlighted how our traditional security models are failing and added that the existing protection gap is at least two weeks. According to Pollock, the traditional models employed in cybersecurity are only trained to detect files and not scripts.

In relation to machine learning and AI, he dismissed the belief amongst 75% of IT decision makers that AI was the ‘silver bullet’ that would alleviate all our cybersecurity fears and challenges, but did concede that the technology could be utilized to help organizations make more informed decisions.

Pollock said, “I believe there’s still a window for Machine Learning and AI to look at the risk posture and vulnerability posture of our organizations to help us make more intelligent decisions.

Machine Learning definitely helps to reduce the overall cost of our ecosystem. However, what is the right amount of security? There’s no such thing as perfect security.” So how do we determine that?

Simon Crumplin, Founder& CEO of Secrutiny rejected the theory that security was such a complex industry and that the ever-evolving disruptive nature of cybersecurity has increased the complexities within the security space.

Crumplin said, “Security isn’t as complicated as we make it. It’s relatively simple. If I have confidence and integrity in my data then I can start to make predictions.

The security vendors in attendance then had the opportunity to discuss their company’s new solutions and future plans with analysts and journalists through a series of networking sessions that took place over the next two days .

One eye-catching announcement made during the NetEvents seminar was from US firm Ziften Technologies who announced an extension to its partnership agreement with US technology behemoth Microsoft.

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GLOSSARY-E-

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Encoding

Encoding is the process of converting data from one form to another. While “encoding� can be used as a verb, it is often used as a noun, and refers to a specific type of encoded data. There are several types of encoding, including image encoding, audio and video encoding, and character encoding.

E-waste

Electronic waste (e-waste) refers to the disposal of broken or obsolete electronic components and materials. E-waste materials may be valuable and recyclable, such as random access memory and reusable laptops. However, hazardous materials, such as cathode ray tube monitors, require special handling in disposal. Common discarded electronic products include computers, televisions, stereos, copiers and fax machines.

Edge computing

In IT, it is defined as the deployment of data-handling activities or other network operations away from centralized and always-connected network segments, and toward individual sources of data capture, such as endpoints like laptops, tablets or smartphones. Through this type of network engineering, IT professionals hope to improve network security and enhance other network outcomes.

EMR

An electronic medical record (EMR) is a digital medical record that either originates from an electronic format or is converted from paper or hard copy to an online version.

End-to-end encryption (E2EE)

It is a method used for securing encrypted data while it is moving from the source to the destination. The objective of end-to-end encryption is to encrypt data at the web level and to decrypt it at the database or application server. It can solve the problem of revealing data while net sniffing if a web server has been compromised. If implemented with trusted algorithms, end-to-end encryption can provide the highest level of data protection.

EVENTS’ CALENDAR

MEF 2018 MEF18 focuses on enabling agile, assured and orchestrated communications services for the digital economy. It uniquely empowers industry stakeholders with high-quality content, extraordinary peer-to-peer networking opportunities, and valuable insight into cutting-edge services and technologies.

Place: Los Angeles, USA

NGMN Industry Conference & Exhibition Vancouver

6 8

NGMN is proud to announce the 7th NGMN Industry Conference & Exhibition taking place in Vancouver. As with the previous NGMN Industry Conference & Exhibitions you can expect first-class line-up of top management speakers and panelists, world-leading vendor exhibition open throughout the conference as well as the evening event and great networking opportunities.

NOVEMBER

Place: JW Marriott Parq, Vancouver, Canada

19 21

Telecom Review Summit Dubai 2018 Telecom Review will hold the 11th edition of its summit for two consecutive days. The first day will be under the theme “It’s All About SMART Networking” and the second day will be under the theme “Building the SMART Future”.

Place: The Meydan Hotel, Dubai, UAE

NOVEMBER

29 2

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Global Internet of Things Contest & Congress 2018 With the theme of “Finding Innovators,” the Global IoT Congress 2018 will capture the latest, strongest and best technologies and solutions globally and support them to become the new focus of the IoT industry. It is willing to provide innovators in the industry opportunities to showcase their ideas and expand their business.

Place: Beijing, China

10 11

Latest updates on: www.telecomreview.com

DECEMBER

OCTOBER NOVEMBER

NOVEMBER 2018