Telecom Italia is buffing up its corporate halo as it announces that it is the first telco in the world to make it into the top ten of companies appearing in the Refinitiv Diversity and Inclusion Index, a scheme that measures the performance of more than 7,000 companies when it comes to the hot topics of diversity and inclusion. The Index is based on the theory that companies tracking, reporting and achieving on diversity, inclusion and people development targets will offer better performance over time than those achieving lower scores, or not tracking these measures.

Telenor Connexion, a long-term partner of Ericsson's IoT Accelerator IoT platform, is to offer connectivity management services via AWS Marketplace to enterprise developers across the globe. AWS Marketplace is meant to simplify the purchase and deployment of cellular IoT connectivity, allowing nterprise developers to build IoT offerings in the cloud without leaving their development ecosystem.

In other IoT news, Amsterdam-based Gamgee has joined forces with Teltonika Networks, a Lithuanian hardware manufacturer, on a range of smart-home services.

UK broadband provider TalkTalk has been delving into the future of work with a study that, among other findings, discovers that 58% of workers in the UK think they have been more productive toiling away at home during the coronavirus pandemic than they would have been had they gone into the office. The Lockdown Lessons report also found that 30% of business leaders said working remotely had made their teams more productive, while over a third said they were working more collaboratively, despite not having to wear pants. Click here for the full report.

Varnish Software, the Stockholm-based caching technology specialist, has launched a new, "5G-ready" content delivery network (CDN) that, says the company, enables customers to build new services that harness the power of 5G and mobile edge computing (MEC). The new offering, Varnish Edge Cloud, delivers 150 Gbit/s from a single node and sub-millisecond response times.

ElevenPaths, the cybersecurity arm of Telefónica, has achieved Microsoft's Gold Security Competency status, recognizing its ability to deliver security-related services on Azure and Microsoft365. Earlier this year Microsoft and Telefónica announced plans to expand their global partnership to help speed up the process of "digital transformation" for companies and organizations of all shapes and sizes.

A1 Telekom Austria has had its climate targets certified by the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi) for the first time, effectively confirming that the operator's efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions are "actively contributing" to the goals set out by the Paris Agreement on climate change. A1 is hoping to halve direct and indirect carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and to be carbon neutral from 2030 onwards.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading