Orange Business Services increases video services in cloud (France)
Orange Business Services to expand its portfolio of video services with Telepresence Pass, a new cloud offering soft, flexible and economical for companies. Telepresence is a Pass offering video services simple to implement, and perennial with multiple benefits.
Telepresence Pass provides businesses a simple way to capitalize on the benefits of videoconferencing systems “immersive” in-house and externally with partners, customers and suppliers. Pass Telepresence is an underwritten offering opex mode, which allows companies to significantly reduce their material and human investment.
Vivek Badrinath, Executive Director of Orange Business Services, said that their ambition is to provide businesses across the video, without limitation. He added that the key is to offer companies a wide range of video services so they can choose the solution that best meets their business needs.
Telepresence Pass adds to the complete and comprehensive portfolio of video services in Orange Business Services. It relies on a network supporting efficient, high on the experience of Orange Business Services in the field of videoconferencing and on a global strategy oriented businesses, allowing them to make the most of their investments in videoconferencing.
A network ready for Telepresence with guarantees unmatched capacity, service quality and coverage , the network quality is the success of the video conferencing experience. Experience Immersive Telepresence is open in 21 additional countries and continued progress of the network Orange Business Services offers a service availability of 99.95 percent.
Nicolas Roy, Director of Network Solutions Business Unit, Orange Business Services, said that of all the applications, the video is the most demanding bandwidth and quality of real-time service. Further, the group continues to invest about $ 990 million per year in its international backbone network and related IT infrastructure so that our customers can benefit from a level of coverage, bandwidth and optimal quality and an experience Exceptional video.
Interoperability: operators, terminals and access type interoperability conditions the ability of firms to collaborate with their entire ecosystem, with any type of equipment and through all the interconnected networks. Orange had already established agreements with Telepresence Interoperability four major operators (AT&T, BT, Telefonica and Tata) and announces it has signed a new contract with Verizon Enterprise Solutions. Orange also confirms its determination and leadership in taking the chair of the consortium OVCC (Open Visual Collaboration Consortium), to promote the development of uses of videoconference with increasing interoperability.
Flexibility of service management and customer support Orange Business Services offers a full range of offers video services, offering ease of use and management for users and for IT managers. Every IT department can indeed choose a management flexible and responsive to their expectations – the full support internally to the delivery of turnkey solutions and fully managed by Orange Business Services. Users have a reservation service video conferencing simple and ongoing support 24/7.
Digicel offers bonus payouts to workers who choose to leave (Jamaica)
Telecom operator Digicel is offering its employees a bonus package under its voluntary separation programme (VSP), which is open for two weeks, According to a report by the Jamaican Observer, permanent, temporary and part-time employees are eligible to receive enhanced packages based on years of service as well as extended health cover, pro rata bonuses and career change advisory sessions.
The move is aimed at driving efficiencies and maximising performance following the integration of the Jamaican Claro operations into the company, said Digicel, noting that the programme is being initiated as the company diversifies from being a pure mobile service provider into offering customers options that include 4G mobile, cloud computing and, soon, mobile financial services.
In a statement, Digicel Jamaica CEO, Mark Linehan, said that with progress comes change — but their commitment to delivering an excellent service to their valued customers remains the same. Now is the time to review operations to ensure they are well positioned to meet the opportunities that are ahead of them and that they have the right people with the right skills in the right jobs.
He added that since launching here in Jamaica in 2001, the business has grown and developed hugely. From their origins as a pure mobile service provider, today they are evolving into a full service converged communications provider.
Telefónica and Intel launch an innovative pilot for hybrid clouds (Spain, USA)
Telefónica Digital and Intel have developed a joint pilot to demonstrate that enterprises can easily scale up their computing capacity by moving or growing applications from their internal data centers to the external public or third party cloud.
Telefónica Digital, Intel Labs and the Intel Architecture Group announced that they have successfully conducted the first phase of a joint innovative research program to prove technologies that will allow large, small and medium enterprises to seamlessly migrate computing workloads from their local data center to a third-party public cloud. This solution demonstrates the concept of a cloud-bursting hybrid cloud service.
This solution allows enterprises to move as much of their applications and information technology as they wish to the public cloud, allowing them to keep their important applications (or parts of applications) running internally. This flexibility allows enterprises to meet temporary spikes in demand for business continuity, and to optimize their data center use and capacity.
Companies can now seamlessly interact between their internal cloud and the external public cloud, with no portability or interoperability issues between these two different environments.
The public cloud provides an integrated portal where enterprises will be able to manage their internal data center resources and the resources deployed on the public cloud. Enterprises will be able to interoperate transparently between these two environments. The hybrid cloud provides complete IT capabilities to IT managers in a quick, secure, efficient and flexible manner.
This joint pilot has demonstrated successfully the cloud-bursting exchange from a local private cloud (played by the Intel Cloud Builder facility) to the public cloud (played by the Telefónica Virtual Data Center public cloud service). Cloud resource provisioning across the hybrid cloud is achieved under the OpenStack framework, proving the feasibility of distributing workloads from private to public clouds on top of this open source platform.
The next phase of activities are planned to illustrate the trustworthy enforcement of infrastructure management policies across cloud service boundaries. Operational parameters such as power management policies will be deployed using Intel Trusted Execution Technology, Intel Node Manager and Intel Data Center Manager.
Jim Blakley, Intel Architecture Systems Integration Division Director at Intel, said that this capability brings a previously unavailable level of transparency and federation between cloud consumers and Cloud providers, helping preserve the service policies across cloud boundaries down to the hardware platform level. Cloud consumers will have an easier time assessing service quality and SLA compliance. Cloud providers will be able to offer differentiated cloud services even when their offering is part of a larger service.
Moisés Navarro, Cloud Global Director for Telefónica Digital said that innovations like ‘GoToCloud’ or ‘Real Elastic Cloud’, developed by Telefónica, show their clear commitment on taking care of clients’ needs as well as providing value to the cloud service model. From the Telefónica Digital perspective, the hybrid cloud will contribute to the data-center operator’s ‘Go to Cloud’ strategy that aims to boost the migration of corporate applications to the cloud, as an evolution of its Virtual Data Center cloud product.
ZTE Corp identifies revenue potential in offering computing services to carriers (China)
According to reports, Shi Lirong, President, ZTE Corp, has said that there is big potential in offering customer services to mobile-phone companies. He said that the company has tie-ups with telecom operators China Mobile Ltd and China Unicom Ltd for a virtual office, with as many as 8 million users for its unified communication systems.
As per sources, Shi added that selling computer services will give ZTE a new source of revenue from existing network-equipment customers who seek ways to generate more sales from the pipes that carry phone calls and data. Further, he believes that cloud computing could account for one-third of the Shenzhen- based company’s sales within three to five years.
Industry analysts claim that ZTE has its work cut out for itself in order for it to be considered globally competitive with other players such as Huawei Technologies Co. and Cisco Systems Inc.
Safaricom launches cloud computing services (Kenya)
Mobile network operator Safaricom has launched an indigenous public cloud solution in the region. According to reports, Safaricom invested US$ 24 million for setting up the infrastructure and is expected to invest an additional US$ 18 million over the next two years.
Cloud Computing is online-based computing in which shared resources (such as network printers), software, and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand. Companies essentially pay for one license for each user and receive a host of applications as opposed to paying for them individually and installing them on their machines.
According to reports, Bob Collymore, CEO, Safaricom has said that this launch means a great deal for them and shows that the partnerships they have built pack great strategic potential and value for their customers. With this move, they have solidly positioned themselvea as the go-to provider for cost-efficient and secure corporate data solutions of scale and impact in this market.
He added that they believe that the full potential of enterprise data services will not be tapped unless they deploy ‘world class’ solutions to match corporate and public sector requirements. Their partnership with SST, Cisco and EMC² on the SafaricomCLOUD is sharply focused on achieving this end through an unmatched cloud computing offering.
Orange Business Services highlights strategic focus on Middle East region at conference in Oman
Orange Business Services, the B2B arm of France Telecom-Orange and one of the largest ICT employers in the Middle East, has identified the Middle East as a strategic region for the next five years. The company is focusing on the opportunities presented by smart cities, cloud computing and the development of the enterprise services market.
This strategy was presented during the annual Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMEA) regional meeting held in Muscat. Customers and partners joined more than 200 senior Orange Business Services staff representing 80 countries.
Philippe Koebel, Senior Vice President and Head of Emerging Markets for Orange Business Services, said: Orange Business Services has all of the necessary needed assets in the region to contribute to our strong business ambition in the emerging markets of generating 1 billion euros in revenue by 2015. We offer a full range of solutions from various local network access options through Business VPN up to telepresence, unified communications and fully connected smart cities. With 2,000 regional staff, five regional offices, a major service center, and two Orange labs, Orange Business Services is well equipped to meet the needs of our customers whether simple or complex.â€
Orange Business Services is a smart city pioneer, delivering telecommunications infrastructure solutions to cities that provide ubiquitous IP-based infrastructure and connectivity, backed by innovative related ICT services, including voice solutions, business and on-demand connectivity, public Wi-Fi and state-of-the-art security.
2010 proved to be a successful year for Orange Business Services in the region with 10 major new clients added and a range of high profile smart city project wins. Orange Business Services supports more than 500 multinational customers in EEMEA, including: BHP Billiton, Ecobank, Lafarge, MAF Carrefour, Omantel, South African Breweries, and United Arab Shipping Company (UASC).
To address the cloud computing demand, Orange Business Services appointed its first Middle East & Africa Regional Cloud Director in August 2010 and, along with Cisco, EMC and VMware, announced Flexible 4 Business to offer end-to-end cloud computing services for enterprises.
Macquarie Telecom increases half year guidance (Australia)
ASX -listed managed Macquarie Telecom has increased its earnings guidance to $20 million for the half year ending 31 December 2010.
The expected result would exceed the company’s previous EBITDA guidance of between $15 million and $17 million.
According to Chief Executive David Tudehope, the company experienced increased demand for its hosting services. The company also has a telco division which offers IP network, voice and mobile services. They believe the trend of outsourcing is accelerating due to the higher speed internet connectivity driving web technology and the associated demand for managed hosting.
He added that the emergence of cloud computing, which is a natural extension of hosting, will increase this trend and provide new market opportunities.
The full year financial results were now expected to be between $37 million and $39 million, a 30% increase. The half results would be released on February 24.
Lenovo unveils Mobile Internet Devices Division
Lenovo has established a new business group, the Mobile Internet and Digital Home Business Group (MIDH), responsible for creating mobile Internet-focused devices, including tablets and smartphones, as well as devices for new categories like cloud computing, smart TV and the digital home.
Liu Jun, formerly senior vice president and president of Lenovo’s Product Group, will lead the new group as president. He is based at the company’s China headquarters in Beijing. The company has promoted Peter Hortensius, formerly head of its Think Product Group, to president of its Product Group. He is based at Lenovo’s USA headquarters.
According to Yang Yuanqing, Chief Executive Officer, Lenovo recognizes the tremendous growth potential of the mobile internet, as well as that of new categories like cloud computing and smart TV, and so they are putting the focus and investments in place to fully capitalize on these opportunities to drive growth in their business today and for many years to come. The Mobile Internet and Digital Home Business Group will help us leverage their leadership in the PC arena to create a rich portfolio of Internet-centric devices. At the same time, they will use their creativity, innovation and technical prowess to help their customers navigate the future of personal technology worldwide.
Lenovo launched the IdeaPad U1 Hybrid (a combination of a slate and laptop) and the LePad slate at the recent International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
Chunghwa Telecom inks a Cloud-Computing deal with Skycloud (China)
Chunghwa Telecom Co. has signed a deal with Beijing-based Skycloud Technology (China) Inc. to mutually develop infrastructure and solutions for cloud-computing services in China.
According to Chunghwa Telecom’s statement, the pact is aimed at providing solutions and services to customers in mainland China.
Cloud computing allows users to access and store data through the Internet instead of on their own hardware.
NSN to open Smart Lab in South Korea
Nokia Siemens Networks has announced its plans to set up a Smart Lab in Seoul, South Korea, which will be focused on developing smart device-optimized applications, services and networks.
The lab will explore the potential of wireless broadband technologies for delivering a superior end-user experience. The lab is expected to open in the first quarter of 2011.
The focus of the lab would include R&D and industry collaboration on advanced broadband wireless technologies that support industry mega trends such as cloud computing, M2M, smart devices and other new form factors.
