In the US, Nokia also announced this month that it has been selected by Kansas City Power and Light (KCP&L) to enhance microwave communications for mission-critical services related to the company's power transmission and distribution grid.

Radisys announced this month that it has partnered with NS Solution in Japan to offer NFV and SDN solutions in Asia to stay ahead of increasing data traffic and to offer disruptive applications.

5G Gains Ground

5G appears to be making big strides with an announcement by a consortium comprised of AT&T, Ericsson, NTT Docomo, Orange, Qualcomm, SK Telecom, Sprint, Telstra, T-Mobile, Verizon and Vodafone stating that it has demonstrated a multi-vendor interoperability connection, compliant with the Non-Standalone (NSA) 5G New Radio (NR) global 3GPP standard. The demonstration paves the way for 5G deployments, speculating that certain 5G use cases could be available as early as 2019 according to the press release.

Ericsson seems to be doubling down on 5G, announcing that it has secured 370 million USD to support R&D activities around 5G and other mobile innovations. This month, the company also announced it has been selected to modernize the 5G-ready network for DT in Germany, that it successfully tested standalone pre-standard 5G in a UK field trial with Vodafone and academics at King's College in London, and that it is launching the first 5G Life Campus in Hasselt, Belgium with Corda Campus.

In the US, Verizon announced that it has selected Ericsson to help them prepare for its commercial launch of 5G in 2018. Verizon also announced that it plans to launch 5G residential broadband services in three to five markets in 2018, starting with Sacramento, California. In 2017, the company successfully trialed 5G applications in 11 markets. Verizon also expanded it's 10,000 square foot device testing lab in New Jersey, to support 5G and IoT use cases, devices, and applications.

In South Korea, SK Telecom announced it has developed new relay technologies for 5G after a six-month collaboration project with local partners. High Definition Antenna, SK Telecom, and SK Telesys tested various radio wave reflection and amplification techniques to influence the direction of waves in the 28 GHz band, a candidate for 5G, to help expand coverage around obstacles.

AT&T announced that it is launching its largest 5G fixed wireless trial with Magnolia Market in Texas at the Silos in Waco.  The approximately 5,000 people per day who visit Magnolia will get a glimpse into the future of 5G connectivity. The trial service will be distributed through Wi-Fi, leveraging millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum, 5G radio and antenna prototypes, and AT&T's NFV platform, FlexWareSM, as the router. The result of this and other trails is intended to be used to expedite AT&T's planned, standards-based roll out of 5G in 2018.

IoT News

A new report issued by Juniper Research found that smart audio hardware is estimated to grow by more than 300 percent over the next five years. The report predicts the market will grow from an estimated $2.5 billion in 2017, to $10 billion by 2022. The Smart Audio Devices: Strategies & Forecasts 2017-2022 report cites that the proliferation of audio assistants combined with premium audio and new features as the primary drivers. The report also recognized Amazon as the current leader in the space and indicates their main challengers are Google, Harman/Kardon, Sonos, Sony, and Onkyo. The report also also suggests the need for more holistic integration to foster faster innovation and deployment of future offerings.

Huawei and Wapwag announced an agreement that will lay the foundation for the digital transformation of the water supply industry. The agreement includes the integration of Huawei's Edge Computing IoT solution with Wapwag's smart water supply management platform. The combined solution can control millions of smart-water-supply devices to provide a continuous, safe water supply to equipment, enterprises, and society.

In other IoT News, Orange Business Services announced it has signed a three-year agreement with Cargotec for worldwide IoT connectivity for the transport of goods. Kerlink Announced that it will be helping to power Proximus' LoRaWAN^TM network in Belgium. The network deployment will provide cell-densification, reaching more than 1,000 Kerlink Wirnet^TM units in the field. In Asia, DRVR tapped TATA Communications to modernize it's vehicle fleet in Thailand, Myanmar, Philippines and Indonesia.