Hello, I’m Richard Auld and I am a Director at SICOM, a network consultancy business that specialises in optical fibre solutions and infrastructure. Using “dark fibre”—a fibre that has not been lit and is private to the customer—we connect buildings. 

One of the current projects that I am working on uses spare telco fibres to identify leaks in nearby water pipes. Our job is to find the available fibre and match it to five trial sites in an OFWAT-sponsored project, a fascinating task that has proved to be incredibly rewarding.

Penn Engineers have developed a new chip that uses light waves, rather than electricity, to perform the complex math essential to training AI. The chip has the potential to radically accelerate the processing speed of computers while also reducing their energy consumption.

New bill requires at least 1,250 megahertz of spectrum between 1.3-13.2 GHz be auctioned for full-power, licensed commercial use

It has been slightly more than a year since the auction authority of the Federal Communications Commission was allowed to lapse, and a new, Republican-backed bill has been introduced that may generate some movement on the restoration of that authority and a legislative direction for midband spectrum development.

A research team at KAIST has developed the world’s first AI semiconductor capable of processing a large language model (LLM) with ultra-low power consumption using neuromorphic computing technology.
 
The technology aims to develop integrated circuits mimicking the human nervous system so that chips could be able to perform more sophisticated tasks that require adaption and reasoning with far less energy consumption.

Ericsson and Nokia are reportedly expanding their in-house chip design capabilities to better compete in the 5G era.

A report form Nikkei Asia indicates that the telecom giants will follow Huawei’s lead in designing chips, allowing both to improve network efficiency and differentiate wireless connectivity technology offerings from rivals.

According to the piece, Ericsson’s Freddie Sodegren, who heads the technology and strategy for business told the publication that it has been investing more in chip development over the past six or seven years.

The LLM generative AI chatbot can engage in human-like interactions with customers and handle more sophisticated customer requests.

VOXI by Vodafone has become the first telco in the UK to develop and deploy a large language model (LLM) chatbot to transform its digital customer services.

Netomnia, one of the fastest growing altnets in the UK, along with ISP sister company YouFibre, has raised a further £147.5 million, increasing its committed debt financing to £377.5 million.

Netomnia has successfully completed an additional fundraise of £147.5 million in its accordion facility welcoming three new lenders: Barclays, Alpha Bank and Nord/LB, with support from all incumbent lenders.

A group of altnets say lengthy prison sentences for deliberately causing damage to fibre networks should be wielded as a deterrent against vandalism.

This is the main thrust of a letter sent by UK fibre altnets Ogi and Vorboss to Michelle Donelan, the Secretary of State who heads up the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

Ogi, Vorboss and the dozen or so other altnets that have signed the letter are understandably concerned about the recent spate of attacks on physical infrastructure, and want the government to do something about it.

ORCA Computing, in collaboration with BT Group, hosted a demonstration day at BT Group’s R&D centre – Adastral Park in Ipswich for businesses, universities, data centre providers and users. Unveiling the vision of the ‘Quantum Data Centre of the Future’ (QDCF) project, the day showcased technology innovations to demonstrate how quantum communication and computing systems can integrate with classical data centres.

Toyota Material Handling, the US-based forklift truck manufacturer, is running its business critical operations at its 200,000 square-foot (19,000 square-metre) factory in Columbus, Indiana, “exclusively” over an Ericsson-made private 5G network in CBRS spectrum, it has said. The private 5G installation was completed last November by US system integrator STEP. It has replaced its entire Wi-Fi network with private 5G, a statement said.