To ensure that momentum is maintained for the development of innovative connectivity solutions, Carnegie Technology this month announced the launch of Carnegie Labs, a new research and development division Carnegie Labs which will be focusing on developing new technologies for global wireless access and connectivity.

The need for speed

One central facet of this month’s technological advances is the need for speed, with companies focused on increasing speed throughout the communications ecosystem – from networks to connections to the devices that take advantage of it all.

Nokia and T-Mobile this month achieved LTE speeds near 1 Gbps in a demonstration using Nokia's deployed 4.5G Pro technology. The demonstration, conducted at T-Mobile's lab in Bellevue, Washington, encompassed technologies currently live in the operator's network, including carrier aggregation, 256 QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) and 4x4 MIMO (Multiple Input and Multiple Output) on Nokia's commercially available radio access hardware. With Category 16 (Cat 16) capable devices becoming commercially available early this year, the solution enables an even faster network for T-Mobile. Currently, the network provides speeds up to 400 Mbps.

Verizon announced the launch of a new broadband service that provides instant Internet connections with equal upload and download speeds for customers with a number of connected devices. The new Fios Instant Internet's 750/750 Mbps symmetrical speeds will be available to nearly seven million homes and businesses in greater New York City / northern New Jersey, Philadelphia and Richmond, with more to follow later this year.

EXFO Inc. unveiled a new optical short link characterization solution that it claims is five times faster than currently available software and will accurately test link loss, length, and high-level link mapping in under 10 seconds per fiber. Fast Short Link is a new feature of EXFO’s iOLM software driving its line of OTDRs to optimal performance through automation and intelligent diagnostics. Fast Short Link is designed for applications such as data centers, FTTA, Enterprise LAN/WAN and for any other high count of short links.

Security: Staying ahead of cyberthreats

Security and protection from cyberattack, identity theft, privacy breaches, and general intrusion continue to top the news. Advances in policy and products continue to try to keep pace with current and emerging threats.

ETNO and GSMA Europe this month called on the European Commission to revise its new e-privacy regulation to make it more customer-friendly and innovation-ready so telcos can provide faster, more innovative consumer services. The call was in response to the European Commission’s Proposal for a Regulation on e-Privacy which is intended to replace Directive 2002/58/EC and add to the existing General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). ETNO and GSMA Europe stated they recognize the European Commission’s goal to protect the confidentiality of electronic communications and establish a harmonized framework for electronic communications data but want to ensure it allows a positive customer experience and supports innovation for telco operators.

CyberGhost VPN announced the launch of an Android native core VPN service for a seamless mobile connectivity and cybersecurity subscriber experience. The new Android app is designed to adapt to various use scenarios such as unblocking streaming services, protecting and encrypting any connection while on public WiFi's, and offering enhanced anonymity for privacy-concerned users.

A new report by Juniper Research released in January predicts that the vast scale of embedded connectivity related to the Internet of Things (IoT) will lead to an unmanageable cybersecurity risk created by botnets. Juniper’s latest study, Internet of Things for Security Providers: Opportunities, Strategies, & Market Leaders 2016-2021, found that recent IoT botnets will prove merely to be the tip of the cybersecurity iceberg. Botnets were uncovered as a key factor in the largest DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack ever recorded last year.