Mobile and Wireless

To enhance the passenger experience, Telenor Maritime has teamed up with Finnlines to introduce its mobile ecosystem onboard passenger ships. The deployment of a connectivity platform with Mobile/3G, Premium Wi-Fi, Ka-VSAT and mobile broadband backhaul benefits passengers on routes in the Baltic Sea. 

Orange Bank has introduced a new and innovative customer experience that allows customers to interact with their bank when and where they want via a digital advisor called Djingo. Djingo is powered by IBM Watson delivered through IBM Services. 

To help telecom service providers better understand key trends and identify new opportunities for monetization, Mobileum and Juniper Research announced a new roaming revenue and CX report. The research will help telecom service providers provide better customer service to travelers and better overall network efficiency. 

Connected Devices and the Internet of Things (IoT)

Ericsson dominated news in connected devices and IoT this month. Enabling massive adoption of IoT is a precursor to making 5G a reality. In recognition of this, Ericsson launched the IoT Accelerator Marketplace to address the need for collaboration within the digital ecosystem community. The initiative will benefit both developers and service providers' needs within the digital ecosystem needs. In Greece, Ericsson has completed deployment of cellular NB-IoT clusters in the COSMOTE 4G network to support emerging mMTC (massive Machine Type Communications) use cases. The network covers eleven Greek cities and hotspots. Additionally, in a partnership, Singtel and Ericsson have made a nationwide cellular IoT network commercially available for the first time in Singapore to accelerate the proliferation of IoT devices. 

In other IoT advancement news, Nokia and Marubeni signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop, test and deliver IoT services to local and global enterprise customers. The solution will be based on Nokia's worldwide IoT network (WING). 

In Norway, Telenor Group and Wireless Trondheim opened the doors of the new IoT ProtoLab for entrepreneuers, scientists and students seeking to develop new IoT services and products. The goal is to increase innovation and new national competences in addition to promoting healthy competition among Norwegian entrepreneurs. 

Seeking to usher in a new era of connected car solutions, Verizon announced the launch of Verizon Connect. Verizon Connect integrates two recently acquired fleet and mobile workforce management companies with Verizon's existing connected vehicle division under a single, combined brand. 

This month also brought an announcement from Kerlin and IoTerop, who announced that Kerlink will leverage widely used open standards for firmware updates and remote management of LoRaWAN end-devices. The collaboration confirms Kerlink's long-term commitment to compatibility and interoperability in its growing portfolio of products as IoT evolves. 

In New Jersey, Hudson Fiber confirmed its agreement to deploy smart grid connectivity across eight prime properties in Jersey City, Hoboken and Paramus. The properties will connect to the HFN smart-grid platform. 

Security

New research this month from Juniper Research finds that global business spend on cybersecurity solutions will grow by 33% over the next four years, reaching $134 billion annually by 2022. Driven by digital transformation and IoT but also the increasing prioritization of security by medium-sized enterprises, the spend will accelerate as businesses understand the threat posed and work to increase asset protection.

While Juniper projects spend will increase, a new report from Verizon found that speed-to-market priorities and a lack of threat awareness across numerous industries put enterprises' mobile data security at risk. Nearly a third of survey respondents indicated knowingly sacrificing security to prioritize business performance in the shorter term.