• AT&T Business launches EdgeVis Cloud cloud-enabled video monitoring
• MásOrange might retain Huawei – report
• Dell’Oro dissects the RAN sector

In today’s industry news roundup: The B2B division of AT&T has combined cloud, edge-based video streaming and analytics to offer a managed video monitoring system to enterprises; Spanish operator MásOrange is reportedly having second thoughts about dropping Huawei from its network plans; Dell’Oro thinks again about the future of the RAN market; and much more!

AT&T Business has launched AT&T Video Intelligence with EdgeVis Cloud, a new service designed to meet the increasing use of video in business operations and safety. The managed cloud deployment option will “help organisations scale and manage live video monitoring across a wide range of operating environments while reducing deployment complexity and infrastructure requirements… by combining edge-based optimised video streaming, secure transmission, analytics and alerting with an AT&T-managed cloud backend,” according to the US operator’s B2B division. The new offering builds on AT&T’s existing IoT Video Intelligence solution, which combines video and IoT analytics into a unified platform. “With EdgeVis Cloud, AT&T adds a cloud-managed deployment model designed to make live video easier to deploy and scale across a wider range of locations and operating conditions,” noted the operator. “The solution helps customers securely transmit video with audio across available network connections, optimize performance based on bandwidth conditions, and share video streams or alerts with authorized users as needed,” it added. “Video is one of the most important data streams for businesses, and it has to work wherever operations happen,” noted Lani Ingram, VP of connected solutions at AT&T Business. “We’re helping customers move from fixed, infrastructure-heavy video environments to a more flexible model that can support live visibility, analytics, and faster decision-making across the places they operate,” she added.

Spanish operator MásOrange is reportedly undergoing a reassessment of its vendor partnerships that could see it roll back on plans to reduce the amount of Huawei kit in its network. According to Spanish newspaper Expansion (subscription required), Orange’s Spanish operation could reverse its plan to build its entire mobile network using Ericsson equipment and instead either stick with some Huawei-supplied technology, or turn to another supplier, such as Nokia or Samsung. MásOrange had been due to reduce its reliance on Chinese suppliers, removing ZTE (which was a minor supplier) completely and reducing Huawei’s equipment share from 54% to around 37% across several phases, the first of which was due to end by 2028. Ericsson was due to see its share rise from 43% to 63% in phase one (its share is currently at around 57%), but according to Expansion, MásOrange has warned Ericsson it may not go ahead with its second phase, which would have seen the Swedish vendor replace all remaining Huawei kit, with the report claiming that the operator feels Ericsson has not met agreed targets. MásOrange is now expected to hold a tender in October, which will partially focus on its use of mid-band spectrum and could see it adjust its strategy, though the operator told Expansion that, so far, it has not changed its supplier strategy plans. The operator will also need to factor in the potential impact of the European Commission’s revised Cybersecurity Act, which aims to crack down on the deployment of technology supplied by high-risk suppliers. 

Still with radio access network sector developments… Open RAN is entering a “new phase” that will see open fronthaul, cloud RAN and multi-vendor RAN deployment cycles follow increasingly distinct trajectories, driven by differences in technology readiness. According to Dell’Oro Group’s August RAN Report, differences in deployment economics and operator priorities are leading to differing paths for different forms of the RAN. “Open RAN is increasingly becoming a story about interface standardization rather than supplier diversification,” said Stefan Pongratz, VP of RAN Market Research at Dell’Oro Group. The report claims that the long-term outlook for Open RAN remains largely unchanged, with open fronthaul continuing to gain traction and expected to become the preferred interface across next-generation RAN platforms, especially among major non-Chinese RAN suppliers (Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung). However, in the near term, most Open RAN deployments will be dominated by the deployment of radios and baseband systems from a single vendor. Dell’Oro also expects cloud RAN adoption to increasingly depend on the economics of the merchant compute and accelerators required for such a deployment (relative to purpose-built RAN platform alternatives). The analyst firm also revised down its forecast for cloud RAN, noting that deployment economics, silicon innovation and architecture choices will impact its popularity and that it is not shaping up to be “the default with the 6G upgrade cycle”.

Comcast Business, the enterprise services division of the giant US cable operator, has teamed up with Colt Technology Services to develop “API-driven interoperability across their networks and service platforms, built on Mplify’s Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) standards,” which offer “a new model for global connectivity designed to deliver a unified, automated experience to large enterprises.” (Mplify, formerly the MEF, has plenty of experience in helping to service interoperability thanks to its years of work developing specifications for multi-network carrier Ethernet services.) The “strategic collaboration” with Colt is the latest development for the Comcast Business Innovation Lab and is its first interaction with an international operator. The development addresses “a challenge multinational enterprises are navigating right now: how to procure, provision, and manage connectivity across multiple carriers and continents without the friction that has traditionally made cross-border network operations slow, manual, and expensive,” according to Comcast Business, which cites itself and Colt as “recognised leaders in network-as-a-service (NaaS)”. Colt’s VP of technology and innovation, Mirko Voltolini, noted: “Our vision is simple: global connectivity should be easy. Customers shouldn’t see the boundaries between networks or carriers, they should simply get the connectivity they need, wherever they do business. By linking our platforms through open, standards-based APIs, Colt and Comcast Business are removing complexity, streamlining procurement and service management, and creating an ‘easy button’ for global connectivity. The result is a faster, simpler, and more seamless experience for enterprises.”

Server giant Supermicro is one of the companies benefitting from the seemingly endless investments in AI factory and other datacentre infrastructure. It has reported full financial year revenues of $39.1bn, up by 78% year on year, while its operating profit more than doubled to $2.77bn. For the current financial year that ends on 30 June 2027, the vendor expects revenues in the range of $65bn to $72bn. Charles Liang, Supermicro’s founder, president and CEO stated: “Our Total AI/IT Solutions strategy continues to deliver strong results, we added several hundred enterprise and other customers in the past year, generated more than $60bn in new orders, and booked record backlog entering fiscal 2027. As demand accelerates, we are improving profitability through a richer enterprise customer mix and broader adoption of our optimized Data Center Building Block Solutions (DCBBS) architecture. Combined with continued investment in technology leadership, manufacturing scale, and global compliance, we are enabling customers to deploy AI infrastructure faster and more efficiently.”  

As more and more AI infrastructure investments turn into deployments, expect to hear a lot more about investments and innovation in power management technology and power infrastructure. A case in point: Only days after Nvidia was linked to a potential $3bn investment in power infrastructure developer Lancium, which is one of the key infrastructure partners for The Stargate Project, the AI technology giant published a blog outlining why AI compute infrastructure needs a new power architecture – namely, 800 VDC (volts direct current), which, according to Nvidia, distributes power at a higher voltage than traditional alternating current (AC) infrastructure as it “simplifies that path” between the electricity grid and the compute infrastructure. Nvidia’s DSX reference design for AI datacentres guides facilities developers “through the transition from today’s AC infrastructure through hybrid architectures and into fully native 800 VDC facilities,” noted the vendor. Nvidia also noted that it has been working with Google and Microsoft on the development of the VDC architecture through the Open Compute Project (OCP), and published a joint white paper March this year and the LVDC Solid-State Transformer Specification v0.3 in July. “More than 80 equipment manufacturers and infrastructure companies are already building products to this specification,” noted Nvidia. 

There’s been some reaction to the UK’s reported ailing telecom sector following our coverage of a new Global Telecom Health Index which ranks the UK market as the second unhealthiest of 34 countries (only Italy ranked lower). It seems some within the UK aren’t really surprised at the country’s low standing. Rajiv Datta, CEO of wholesale fibre access network operator nexfibre, believes Kearney’s index “offers clear counsel” for UK operators and policymakers – more concentrated markets have better fibre coverage and take-up, which is better for customers. In comments shared with the media, he stated: “The UK’s telecoms market is fragmented and fragile. To deliver greater choice and quality for consumers and businesses alike, it requires a scaled, financially-secure, wholesale challenger. Consolidation will be crucial as the route to sustainable competition and a healthier sector. The UK now has an opportunity to move beyond fragmentation and build a competitive, resilient fibre market that can support the country’s digital and economic ambitions for generations to come.” Of course, it is no surprise to see Datta pushing for consolidation – the wholesale player, which is a joint venture of infrastructure investor Infravia (50%) and Virgin Media O2’s parent companies Telefónica and Liberty Global (25% each via an investment vehicle), is currently facing an investigation from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) into its planned acquisition of Netomnia. And, of course, others (such as CityFibre) would argue that a scaled wholesale fibre access challenger already exists… You can hear more from Datta here.

The online buzz following the announcement that Japan’s Sony Semiconductor Solutions and giant chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) have formed a new 747bn yen ($4.7bn) joint venture focused on the development and production of image sensors has alerted the analyst team at GlobalData. Although the official announcement about the JV noted that Sony and TSMC are focused on the “volume production of image sensors for smartphones utilising advanced manufacturing process technology”, the research firm noted in a note sent to the media that industry commentators “have focused on [the JV’s] potential role in the emerging ‘physical AI’ ecosystem, where robots, autonomous vehicles, drones, and AI-enabled machines need sensors to perceive their surroundings before they can act.” Shreyasee Majumder, social media analyst at GlobalData, noted: “Influencers are increasingly viewing image sensors as a critical component of the next phase of AI infrastructure. The conversation is shifting from the traditional focus on GPUs and AI compute toward the hardware required to connect AI systems with the physical world. While sentiment remains strongly positive around the strategic rationale of the Sony-TSMC partnership, influencers caution that details around the reported investment size, ownership structure, and production timeline have yet to be formally confirmed by the companies.”

– The staff, TelecomTV