What’s up with… TIM, BT, DT, Microsoft, Orange

• TIM takes on BT’s Italian job
• Deutsche Telekom and Microsoft forge tighter cloud relationship
• Orange surveys the security landscape, commits to ‘inclusive’ AI

BT’s latest international shrinkage, the love affair between telcos and hyperscalers and some deep thinking from Orange win the race to the front of the news queue today. 

TIM (Telecom Italia) is buying two business units from BT in Italy that serve the SME and public sector markets. The units turn over about €90 million in annual revenues. BT says this is part of its ongoing revamp of its global operations, though it should be noted also that Italy has been something of a trouble spot for BT in recent years following an accounting scandal. See this press release for more details.

Deutsche Telekom and Microsoft are becoming even better buddies to deliver the best possible cloud services to enterprise users. “We have agreed on the framework for joint strategic growth with our long-term partner Microsoft. We are delighted,” said Adel Al-Saleh, member of the Deutsche Telekom Board of Management and CEO of T-Systems. “This partnership will enable us to enhance services for our customers. We will also be supporting each other with digitalization and network build-out.” The telcos and hyperscalers really are becoming best pals – how will it all end? For more on the DT/Microsoft relationship, see this announcement. 

Orange Cyberdefense has released its annual report, the Security Navigator, that “provides a unique and comprehensive view of the cybersecurity ecosystem during the health crisis, which has hit all countries and companies,” and looks ahead to what the world should expect in 2021. 

Also from the French telco: Orange is proudly showing off a new badge (OK, it’s a certificate…) that highlights its commitment to “designing and developing artificial intelligence in a responsible and inclusive manner.” See this press release for more details. Orange is putting AI to good use in multiple ways across its network and operations. 

Ericsson has landed a cloud native dual-mode 5G core detal at Japanese operator KDDI. See this announcement for more details.

It’s hardly surprising that after this tumultuous year we’re seeing a spate of top-level shake-ups, desk-clearings and ship-jumpings. Nutanix has settled on Rajiv Ramaswami, who led VMware’s Networking and Security business, to replace its retiring CEO, and co-founder Dheeraj Pandey, who  announced his departure plans earlier this year. VMware and Nutanix are arch-rivals in the cloud software space and are both headed in the same direction business model-wise, towards hyperconverged infrastructure and software as a service.

Telefónica has further strengthened  its position as a leader in the fight against climate change in CDP’s world ranking. Telefónica is the only spanish telco on the ‘A List’, which includes ten telecom companies, five of them European, from a total of 270 companies worldwide selected from over 9,600 that have reported to the CDP, the highest number so far. Read more...

ADVA and Advantech  today announced a joint test-drive portal initiative for remote evaluation of SD-WAN and security solutions on universal CPE (uCPE). The test drive tech is based around ADVA’s Ensemble suite of network functions virtualization (NFV) technology and Advantech’s edge appliances. Read more...

Deloitte Global’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) predictions for 2021 highlight how worldwide trends in TMT may affect businesses and consumers worldwide.... and how many of the trends are being driven by the global pandemic’s economic and societal impacts. Read more...

DISH says it’s successfully integrated and validated end-to-end 5G connections using the industry's first O-RAN compliant FDD radio, developed by MTI. The field validation took place through DISH's fully-virtualized standalone 5G core network in Cheyenne, WY. DISH has also reached an agreement with MTI for Open RAN radio units (RUs) to help support its nationwide network deployment. Read more...

The combined consumer and enterprise worldwide wireless local area network (WLAN) market segments (mostly Wi-Fi) rose 12.0% year over year in the third quarter of 2020.  The return to growth in the overall market is a rebound for the market, having declined 9.5% year over year in the second quarter of 2020 says IDC. Read more...

Qualcomm has announced the Qualcomm IoT Services Suite, which it claims delivers comprehensive, end-to-end, IoT as a Service (IoTaaS) solutions to enable the digital transformation of smart cities and smart connected spaces globally. Read more...

- The staff, TelecomTV