Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Deutsche Telekom tests LTE-V with Huawei and others; soccer's cybersecurity own goal; Telia increases capacity with Coriant.
European Union member states have approved the new framework for data transfers between the EU and the US, the so-called Privacy Shield, paving the way for its formal adoption on a legal basis. The Privacy Shield, which replaces the discredited Safe Harbor arrangements, is intended to place stronger obligations on US companies handing Europeans' personal data, limit US government access to such data and provide EU citizens affected by such issues with greater chance of redress. Safe Harbor was blown apart by the Schrems ruling, a judgment in a case brought by an Austrian privacy activist, Maximillian Schrems, who was unhappy about how data held on him by Facebook was being transferred from Facebook's European servers in Ireland to the US mothership. (See Eurobites: EU Data Watchdog Dents Privacy Shield, Eurobites: US Buffs Up Data 'Privacy Shield' and Eurobites: 'Safe Harbor' Heads for Calmer Waters.)
Amazon Web Services Inc. says Britain's decision to leave the European Union will not affect its plan to open data centers in the UK, reports Tech Week Europe. AWS UK manager Gavin Jackson told the audience at Amazon's AWS Summit in London: "Our message to everybody in this room is to keep calm and keep innovating in the UK with cloud and AWS." It is thought the data centers will open late 2016/early 2017.
Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT) has begun testing LTE-V, the connected-car variant of LTE, with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and a group of car manufacturers that includes Audi and Toyota. The tests are taking place on the A9 motorway in Germany, and will look to find out how well the technology performs in both vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure modes. DT infrastructure has been equipped with Huawei LTE-V hardware to support the trials.
As the Euro 2016 soccer tournament heads towards its final showdown between hosts France and Wales-conquering Portugal, Allot Ltd. (Nasdaq: ALLT), in collaboration with Kaspersky Lab , has issued a report that, the vendor says, reveals that the cybersecurity risks for "digitally active" sports fans more than doubled during the championships. Among its findings: 17% of mobile users who exhibited little interest in sports apps and websites before the games become highly digital active during the games, becoming prime targets for malware; an increase in online betting and social networking are major contributors to an increased cybersecurity risk; and the total number of mobile sports fans at high risk of cybersecurity threats more than doubled during the games. And in case you missed it last night, this is why Germany aren't in Sunday's final. (See Euro 2016 Doubles Fans' Exposure to Cybersecurity Threats.)
Sweden's Telia Carrier is to deploy 400G-enabled technology from Coriant in its pan-European backbone. According to the operator, the deployment will double the capacity on its DWDM infrastructure.
The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has published a set of European standards for eIDAS, the regulation relating to the use of electronic signatures, electronic seals and electronic time-stamps. To drool over ETSI's full list of eIDAS standards, click here.
UK regulator Ofcom has released its latest customer complaints data (covering the period January to March 2016) and chief flak-catchers this time include Vodafone UK , whose 29 complaints per 100,000 far outdoes its nearest rival in the mobile sector hall of shame, Talk Mobile, which notched up 8 per 100,000. On the landline front, Post Office HomePhone, a relative newcomer, topped the complaints charts, attracting 29 per 100,000, with TalkTalk just below them on 28. For the full picture, click here.
— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading
