Eurobites: Nokia bolsters boffins' network of networks

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: BT tests 5G with Qualcomm, lands network deal with NATS; Liberty Global farms out Horizon platform to Infosys; Netflix tests gaming on TVs and laptops.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

August 15, 2023

2 Min Read
Eurobites: Nokia bolsters boffins' network of networks
"I feel like a GÉANT idiot in this outfit."(Source: Universal Images Group North America LLC/Alamy Stock Photo)

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: BT tests 5G with Qualcomm, lands network deal with NATS; Liberty Global farms out Horizon platform to Infosys; Netflix tests gaming on TVs and laptops.

Nokia is lending its IP network expertise to a major IP backbone upgrade for GÉANT, the pan-European data network for the research and education community. In a project being led by cybersecurity company Nomios, GÉANT's existing IP/MPLS routing and switching infrastructure will be completely replaced, with 800GE Ethernet routing interfaces being deployed, tripling network capacity. GÉANT interconnects 40 research and education networks in 40 European countries, and links 50 million users and institutions to more than 100 additional clusters in every region of the world.

  • BT has installed 5G test facilities at Qualcomm's research lab in Farnborough, UK, to validate new 5G technologies that the operator hopes will help it deploy and monetize 5G features and services more quickly.

  • BT has also landed a seven-year networks deal with NATS, the air navigation specialist formerly known as National Air Traffic Services. NATS' critical data network will become BT's responsibility, while BT will also upgrade the organization's cybersecurity setup. NATS provides air traffic services at 14 UK airports and manages all UK airspace from two air traffic control centers, one in Scotland and one in the south of England.

  • Liberty Global, which holds a big stake in the UK's Virgin Media O2 and several other European cable operations, has farmed out the development of its Horizon video platform to Infosys, the India-based multinational IT services giant, in a five-year deal worth €1.5 billion (US$1.6 billion). If all goes well and the contract is extended to eight years, Infosys will pocket €2.3 billion ($2.5 billion). Liberty Global will also license the platform to Infosys so that it can offer the technology to new operators in new markets "outside the Liberty family," though Liberty Global says it will "continue to control product roadmaps" and retain all intellectual property relating to the Horizon platform. The move represents the extension of an existing relationship between the two companies.

  • Netflix is beta testing the playing of video games through select TVs in the UK and Canada, as well as PCs and Macs through Netflix.com on supported browsers. Two games will be used for this limited initial test: Oxenfree from Night School Studio, a Netflix Game Studio, and Molehew's Mining Adventure, a gem-mining arcade game.

  • Pipcall, a UK-based provider of hosted telephony services for small and midsized businesses, has appointed former Orange SVP Duncan Ward as its new CEO. Ward's focus will be on increasing sales of Mobile+, Pipcall's unified communications offering. He succeeds Simon Hochhauser, the founder and previous CEO, who becomes executive chairman.

    — Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

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About the Author

Paul Rainford

Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

Paul is based on the Isle of Wight, a rocky outcrop off the English coast that is home only to a colony of technology journalists and several thousand puffins.

He has worked as a writer and copy editor since the age of William Caxton, covering the design industry, D-list celebs, tourism and much, much more.

During the noughties Paul took time out from his page proofs and marker pens to run a small hotel with his other half in the wilds of Exmoor. There he developed a range of skills including carrying cooked breakfasts, lying to unwanted guests and stopping leaks with old towels.

Now back, slightly befuddled, in the world of online journalism, Paul is thoroughly engaged with the modern world, regularly firing up his VHS video recorder and accidentally sending text messages to strangers using a chipped Nokia feature phone.

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