Tuesday, 22 November 2016 13:26
Should OTT platforms be held accountable for the actions of their users?
OTT platforms may have revolutionized communication and driven the connected movement, but there’s trouble in internet sharing paradise. The rise of streaming capabilities in social media apps, such as Facebook and Twitter, has made online interactions more appealing, with some now referring to Facebook and Twitter as media companies, which Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg fervently denies. But because of the freedoms that social media allows, as well as the anonymity it provides for users, many abuse it. Twitter, for example,…
Wednesday, 16 November 2016 07:42
Saudi operator feud ends with Mobily’s SAR 2.2bn claim against Zain KSA rejected
After two years of uncertainty for Saudi telecom operators Mobily (Etihad Etisalat) and Zain KSA, an arbitration judgment panel in Saudi Arabia finally ended the feud on November 13, in Zain’s favor. Mobily is Saudi Arabia’s second largest telecom operator. In December 2014, Mobily sought arbitration to obtain 2.2 billion riyals ($586.28 million) it says was owned to it by its rival Zain KSA. The dispute came about between the companies over a 2008 contract under which Mobily would provide…
Monday, 07 November 2016 12:02
How can we defend against the rising flood of DDoS attacks?
DDoS attacks are threatening the world on a global scale. Over the course of just one month, two major recent attacks have unfolded against nations. On October 21, internet service provider Dyn, which routes and manages internet traffic in the U.S., suffered a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on its domain name service. As a result, many leading internet services including Twitter, Spotify and Amazon suffered service outages and interruptions. Two weeks later, on November 4, the West African…
Thursday, 03 November 2016 05:11
Bitcoin’s hidden value is in its tracking technology called the blockchain
Blockchain might not be something you’ve heard of before, but leading governments around the world have certainly taken notice. It’s a technology that could revolutionize the way organizations are run. The hidden value of bitcoin, the digital crypto-currency platform, lies in the technology that verifies and tracks transactions by network nodes that record the information in a public distributed ledger called the blockchain, which uses bitcoin as its unit of account. It works without a central repository or single administrator,…
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Monday, 24 October 2016 10:23
Suspicion of corporate mergers: The fear of “self-dealing and discrimination”
Global revenue made from telecom services is expected to reach over 1.2 trillion Euros in 2018, says research group Statista. The telecom sector continues to be at the epicenter for growth, innovation, and disruption for virtually any industry, and leading telcos aren’t holding back from the opportunity to capitalize on this growth. The latest example of this is AT&T, the U.S. telecoms heavyweight, and its recently announced $85 billion deal to purchase Time Warner that would create a powerhouse with…
Monday, 24 October 2016 10:15
Telecom heavyweights showcased their latest innovations at Dubai’s GITEX 2016
This year's 36th GITEX Technology Week in Dubai hosted the Global Startup Movement, in response to the need for an industry hub for investors, incubators, and accelerators to identify the world's next great startups and support youth empowerment. Dubai's Crown Prince and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum opened GITEX 2016, which ran for five days from 16-20 October. Huawei Middle East Innovation Day Setting off GITEX 2016 on a high…
Wednesday, 12 October 2016 06:35
Russia’s secretive cyber tactics have amounted to accusations of political sabotage
Current relations between Russia and the United States are edging dangerously close to the Cold War era, due to stalled efforts to end the conflict in Syria, and a formal accusation of cybercrime. On October 7, the U.S. government formally accused Russia of trying to “interfere” with the American presidential election, and promised to respond at an undisclosed time and place. Adding to the already tense relations between the two nations, a joint statement from the Department of Homeland Security…
Thursday, 06 October 2016 08:53
AT&T’s Project AirGig has ‘potential to transform internet access’ beyond current broadband
AT&T unveiled Project AirGig, a transformative technology from AT&T Labs that could one day deliver low-cost, multi-gigabit wireless internet speeds using power lines. AT&T is deep in the experimentation phase. This technology will be easier to deploy than fiber, can run over license-free spectrum and can deliver ultra-fast wireless connectivity to any home or handheld wireless device. AT&T designed Project AirGig literally from the ground up to be both practical and transformational. Their initial and ongoing testing at AT&T outdoor…
Wednesday, 05 October 2016 05:19
Big data analytics: How far will businesses go to uncover their customers’ desires?
To deliver products and services that people want, businesses must learn to think like them to better understand buyer perception and bridge a relationship with their respective market. The concept of collecting data for analysis has been around for years – capturing data that streams into businesses, and then analyzing the findings to obtain valuable customer information. But only in today’s rapidly evolving realm of big data analytics, we are seeing organizations capitalizing on the ability to tap into millions…
Tuesday, 04 October 2016 10:26
As VoWiFi becomes widely deployed, additional test areas will grow in importance
Have you ever wondered why your premium smartphone is dropping a call, or sounds cheap, when back at home it worked really well? It’s due to the weak network, right? Customers still find it more natural to blame the network rather than admit they might have chosen the wrong phone. For this reason, Voice over WiFi (VoWiFi) arrives adding a new complication: Can handover between mobile and WiFi networks happen seamlessly and without loss of quality? VoWiFi presents a new…
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Wednesday, 28 September 2016 12:00
Global analysts gathered in Silicon Valley to discover breakthroughs in IoT & Cloud Innovation
Nestled in the picturesque hills of Saratoga, California, media analysts from around the world gathered at the Mountain Winery for NetEvents' 2016 Global Press & Analyst Summit which focused on IoT and Cloud Innovation. The event marked a vintage year for NetEvents, which launched in 1996. The thrill of NetEvents is the chance for press to meet with informed visionaries of our time, such as Bob Metcalfe, founder of the Ethernet, who was honored at last year's event. This year's…
Sunday, 25 September 2016 07:28
Despite criticism, Facebook’s mimicking method has shaped its mega success
Copying ideas is an issue that has caused tech giants to clash in publicly fought patent battles. In 1996, Apple’s founder Steve Jobs famously quoted Picasso who said: “Good artists copy; great artists steal”. That idea seems to have rippled throughout the tech industry – and it particularly applies to one of Apple’s most prominent rivals, Facebook. When it comes to OTTs and the innovative communication tools being introduced by the likes of Snapchat, Facebook has gained a reputation for…
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