• Verizon and Azure team on private edge
• AT&T to help companies reduce carbon emissions
• China wants data on state-run clouds

Private edge networking and sustainability efforts top today’s pile of industry news items.  

Verizon has teamed up with Microsoft Azure to develop and offer an on-premises, private edge compute solution that builds upon the collaboration announced last year. “Verizon 5G Edge with Microsoft Azure Stack Edge is a cloud computing platform that brings compute and storage services to the edge of the network at the customer premises providing enterprises with increased efficiencies, higher levels of security, and the low lag and high bandwidth needed for applications involving computer vision, augmented and virtual reality, and machine learning,” states the operator in this announcement. The solution is already being used by logistics and supply chain solutions company Ice Mobility, which is using Verizon 5G Edge with Azure Stack Edge to help with computer vision-assisted product packing to improve on site quality assurance (see picture above). Ice Mobility is now “exploring additional 5G applications that leverage initial computer vision and 5G Edge investments to provide tangible, material automation enhancements, such as near real-time activity-based costing,” according to Verizon. 

Through its AT&T Connected Climate initiative, the giant US operator is aiming to help businesses “collectively reduce a gigaton of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions —1 billion metric tons — by 2035, an effort which will contribute to a better, more sustainable world.” It has teamed up with partners such as Microsoft, Equinix, and Duke Energy, along with research universities, and a range of other organizations to “deliver broadband-enabled climate solutions at global scale.” Read more.

The Chinese authorities now appear to be putting the squeeze on domestic private cloud providers such as Alibaba and Tencent. Reuters reports that the city of Tianjin recently asked municipally-controlled companies to migrate their data from private sector cloud operators to a state-backed cloud system by next year.

Deutsche Telekom says it is on track with its 5G and FTTH rollout: It has deployed its fibre access network to 430,000 additional premises since the start of 2021 and now has 55,000 antennas active in its 5G network. Read more. 

Zoom has reported revenues of more than $1 billion for its second quarter, a year-on-year increase of 54%, and a net profit of $316.9 million. “In Q2, we achieved our first billion-dollar revenue quarter while delivering strong profitability and cash flow,” stated Zoom founder and CEO Eric S. Yuan. “Q2 also marked several milestones on our expansion beyond the UC platform. We launched Zoom Apps, bringing over 50 apps directly into the Zoom experience, and Zoom Events, an all-in-one digital events service. Today we are a global brand counting over half a million customers with more than 10 employees, which we believe positions us extremely well to support organizations and individuals as they look to reimagine work, communications, and collaboration.” Amazingly, Zoom’s share price has fallen almost 16% today because investors were expecting better growth numbers.