stc partners Tecnotree on enterprise digitalisation program
Tecnotree, a provider of digital solutions for the telecoms industry, has announced a strategic partnership with stc to provide help deliver stc’s Enterprise Digitalisation Program (EDP).
The digital transformation project will provide stc’s enterprise customers with a seamless and personalised omnichannel experience.
“Upgrading our digital services will provide our customers with enhanced connectivity solutions, thereby accelerating the deployment of smart applications and promoting digital transformation,” said Fahad Abdulrahman Al Ali, chief technology officer at stc
“This initiative builds on stc’s commitment to continuously offer its enterprise customers with less restricted solutions that accelerate digital transformation with an aim to increase productivity and operational efficiency.”
The three-year partnership supports the company’s goal of becoming a digital leader across the region.
The EDP aims to transform stc’s legacy BSS infrastructure with an open ecosystem made up of multi-speed digital architecture, enabling the company to rapidly deploy new capability models and integrate both partner and third-party digital channels into a single framework.
“We are delighted that stc has selected our award-winning Digital BSS Suite to support their digital transformation journey,” added Padma Ravichander, CEO at Tecnotree.
“As a world class digital leader, they have recognised that digitalisation has become a core necessity to compete in today’s telecom industry. We look forward to using our TM Forum Gold-Badge certified products and years of global digital transformation experience to help stc emerge as the leader in the digitally connected ecosystem.”
Nick Jeffery joins Frontier Communications as president and CEO
Frontier Communications Corporation has announced plans to appoint industry veteran Nick Jeffery as the company’s new president and CEO.
Effective as of 1 March 2021 and following the end of his notice period with Vodafone UK, Jeffery will succeed Bernie Han, who will step down as president and chief executive officer in the new year.
Han will remain on the company’s board of directors and oversee the CEO transition until emergence from Chapter 11, at which point Jeffery will join the board.
Jeffery enters the role with nearly 30 years of operational expertise and leadership in the telecoms industry. He most recently, served as CEO of Vodafone UK, overseeing the business through a successful four-year customer-centric turnaround and transformation.
Jeffery also spent over a decade at Cable & Wireless, one of the world’s largest wireline companies, where he led the UK and international markets business units.
“I am honoured to be appointed Frontier’s next CEO, and I am excited to lead the Company in its next phase. Frontier owns a unique set of assets and maintains a competitive market position. My immediate focus will be on serving our customers as we enhance the network through investments in our existing footprint and in adjacent markets while building operational excellence across the organisation,” said Jeffery.
“I am committed to delivering world-class customer service. I look forward to speaking and meeting with our employees while working with Bernie, the Board and leadership team to ensure a seamless transition.”
NGMN and O-RAN Alliance form co-operation
The Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance and the O-RAN Alliance have formed a co-operation in the area of Radio Access Network (RAN) decomposition of 4G and 5G networks.
Under the terms of the co-operation, both organisations aim to enable and to support the successful delivery of 5G-based communication solutions of open and intelligent RAN networks.
“NGMN and the O-RAN ALLIANCE share the mission to support the standardisation of 5G interoperable networks”, said Anita Doehler, CEO of the NGMN Alliance.
“We are looking forward to a close co-operation with the O-RAN ALLIANCE and to exchange our views on the RAN decomposition for 5G networks, in particular the various RAN functional splits and the transport requirements to support the various deployment options. As a wide number of industry activities are related to this subject, we also look to encourage industry alignment.”
Effective immediately, both parties will collaborate on activities related to transport for disaggregated RAN architectures, eventually expanding the collaboration to other areas.
“Since its formation in 2018, the O-RAN ALLIANCE has successfully delivered new standards for an open and intelligent RAN,” said Alex Choi, COO of the O-RAN Alliance and SVP of technology strategy & innovation, Deutsche Telekom.
“As the transport is the glue that connects radio sites, edge data centres and centralised clouds in a disaggregated RAN architecture, significant effort is required to design and define a robust and scalable transport to meet stringent requirements of future networks. We look forward to working with NGMN to achieve this and we encourage industry alignment.”
Zayo completes sale of select data centre assets to DataBank
Zayo Group Holdings has completed its sale of the company’s zColo data centre assets in the US and UK to DataBank.
A subsequent second closing for zColo’s data centres in France is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2021.
“With the close of the zColo-DataBank transaction, Zayo is able to focus 100% of its attention on its core Network business and customers. Today, Zayo has an unparalleled depth and breadth of fibre assets across the US, Canada and Western Europe through which it serves many of the world’s most impactful companies,” said Steve Smith, CEO of Zayo.
“The close of this transaction will allow us to take Zayo to the next level - better aligning our resources around network quality, customer service, innovative solutions and expanded reach.”
Looking ahead, Zayo and DataBank expect to collaborate closely in bringing colocation solutions to Zayo’s fibre customers and network connectivity solutions to DataBank’s colocation and cloud customers. In addition, Zayo and DataBank will continue to be material customers of one another.
J.P. Morgan is serving as financial advisor to Zayo Group in connection with the transaction and Skadden Arps is serving as legal counsel. DH Capital is acting as the financial advisor to DataBank, and Jones Day is serving as legal advisor.
Samsung and IBM partner on industry 4.0 solutions
Samsung Electronics and IBM are collaborating to develop edge computing, 5G, and hybrid cloud solutions to help businesses maximise on industry 4.0 opportunities.
Specifically, Samsung and IBM will work together to provide enterprises with new solutions for mobile edge computing and end-to-end private 5G networks that run on open architecture and empower workers through 5G-enabled Samsung Galaxy devices.
The partnership will combine Samsung’s Galaxy 5G mobile devices and advanced end-to-end enterprise network solutions with IBM’s network management, hybrid cloud, and edge computing offerings and network expertise, as well as its industry solutions leveraging AI, and Red Hat’s open architecture.
Together the goal is to develop open, hybrid cloud solutions that enable enterprises to draw greater insights from data at the edge to improve operational performance, increase worker safety, and minimise downtime. Both companies also plan to explore how manufacturers can use private 5G or 4G networks and 5G mobile devices with Industrial IoT solutions.
