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Sorting out LTE-M and NB-IoT

The competition for supremacy in the “long-range” IoT connectivity category pits the cellular industry against a raft of technologies like Sigfox, LoRa, LoRaWAN to provide low-power wireless area networks. For the non-cellular entrants, the challenge is to deploy their networks far and wide —...

3 tips for developing an edge computing strategy (Reality Check)

Businesses have benefitted over the last few years from a wide variety of options for IT infrastructure, but edge computing has arrived and is redefining the way we approach today’s data center. Edge computing refers to compute, networking and storage capabilities that take place...

The importance of securing device data ahead of GDPR (Reality Check)

As we found with the recent Facebook/ Cambridge Analytica situation, companies and organizations across multiple sectors are collecting, managing, utilizing and processing vast amounts of consumer data every single day. This data, often stored across personal and company devices, is increasingly being accessed for...

Evolving the network core symbiotically with the cloud (Reality Check)

  It has been a decade or so since society began to discover the many benefits of the cloud. Since then, online services have changed our lives: how we communicate with others, how we entertain ourselves, how we do business and run the infrastructure that...

The new era of Software-Defined IT: Where we’re going next (Reality Check)

Two years ago, I was welcoming our customers to the era of Software-Defined IT (SDIT). Today, that warm welcome still stands as more and more companies are embracing software-defined networking (SDN), SD-WAN, cloud migration, and software as a service (SaaS) technologies. Additionally, as the digital evolution of business exponentially accelerates, we see profound impacts...

Analyst Angle: Why the standardization of IoT security cannot come soon enough

  IoT device manufacturers are governed by a keen consumer demand for desirable features and intuitive functionality. Security concerns, in stark contrast, have been given relatively little thought — especially among lower-end consumer IoT products. However, striking a more equitable balance between ease of use...

Cognitive manufacturing in continuous process

What shall we call it? Cognitive manufacturing? The Industrial Internet of Things? Factory Digitization? Industry 4.0? Emerson Automation Solutions calls it the Plantweb Digital Ecosystem, and Bob Karschnia, Emerson’s VP/GM Wireless, says that while each of these terms has a slightly different meaning, in...

SD-WAN as a tool for mergers and acquisitions (Reader Forum)

Your company has just acquired or agreed to merge with another firm. Exciting times are ahead, as your group is taking the lead in combining the IT functions. You have a lot to deal with, consolidating duplicate infrastructure and reconciling a multitude of applications,...

Telenor and Cisco to work with smart cities in Norway

Telenor and Cisco are to establish a “joint lab environment” to develop smart cities solutions for civic authorities and services providers in Telenor’s home market, Norway. Cisco said the project will build upon Telenor’s existing connectivity infrastructure, including its Wi-Fi, WAN and mobile networks in...

3 precautions for using wireless IP security cameras (Reader Forum)

Traditional analog CCTV camera systems are quickly losing favor, and IP cameras are taking their place. This is mostly because analog cameras produce low-resolution video while IP cameras produce high-resolution digital footage. Additionally, an IP camera allows for two-way communication between the camera and...

Five gaps marketing leaders must close with IT to improve customer experience (Reality Check)

In today’s world where consumers are continuously bombarded with marketing messages; delivering the right ones, in the right context, and at the right time is essential. More than ever, marketing teams are expected to drive revenue growth and, in a maturing telecom industry, exceptional customer...

Analyst Angle: Robotics at CES — not there yet

The year kicked off, as usual, with the big CES show in Las Vegas. Some of the hot trends on display this year were AI, IoT, and Robotics. And while overall, the progress shown at CES is quite impressive, it seems like most of...

Software-defined networking and Wi-Fi: Delivering wireless access to the edge (Reader Forum)

  Software-defined networking, and SD-WAN in particular, is helping to redefine IT strategies for organizations across a number of industries. Companies with distributed operations have been traditionally dependent on resource-intensive, time-consuming and expensive processes to accommodate the networking needs of their business – and their...

Analyst Angle: Why mobile is a strategic asset of the enterprise

Enterprise (not just IT) are finding that mobile is a strategic asset. From the Board to the CEO to all his direct reports and the lines of business, they all require mobility to remain competitive in the marketplace. The tools include enterprise mobility management...

Reality Check: How analytics, cognitive & automation will propel the mobile enterprise in 2018

The physical workplace as we know it has changed. Mobility and on-demand access to data and services have dissolved the four walls of the enterprise. Connected endpoints, location technology, and leading-edge visualization technology have blurred the lines between the virtual and the physical. The...

CAT-M and NB-IoT adoption — a global view (Reader Forum)

Battle for adoption As the demand for worldwide IoT rapidly rises, so does the need for low power, low-cost and low throughput cellular devices. CAT-M and NB-IoT, the two cellular technologies leading the cellular IoT era, are competing for position and adoption around the world. When...

Analyst Angle: How Mobile Device Management (MDM) migrated into Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM)

It all started innocently enough with software to manage mobile device assets. Then, with an explosion in mobile devices, software & services, MDM has evolved into much more capable mobile software that does many things besides managing mobile devices, and thus Enterprise Mobility Management...

Analyst Angle: Six trends that are driving Industrial IoT

I'm just back from CES, and it's clear that IoT in the home offers a certain magic that interests press and consumers. But even though voice agents are gaining traction, and ushering in a new world of connected smart homes, the big action in...

Avoid the disruptors: retaining IoT market share in the face of attack from OTT providers (Reality Check)

The Internet of Things (IoT) is fueled by the abundance of reduced cost infrastructure of compute, storage and networking, with a myriad of service integrations from device management to data analytics. As the cost of entry for IoT continues to fall, coupled with competing...

Commercial buildings: The evolution from intelligent to smart (Reader Forum)

For commercial buildings in 2018, four trends define the evolution of networking technology that will drive buildings from just being intelligent to being smart: mobility, cybersecurity, low voltage power and workplace efficiency. These trends continue to influence the types of network infrastructure and devices...

Two weeks to a digital factory

It’s a fast-paced world. This is especially true in the world of manufacturing. To keep pace and stay competitive, manufacturers must adopt a strategic, targeted approach to production — and that means going digital. However, today’s definition of digital implies more than software downloads...

Analyst Angle: network efficiency evolution from simple access to appropriation for enterprise use cases

Cellular network efficiency increases significantly with each generation, especially as the value chain discovers new technologies to improve spectrum use. The following chart illustrates how 3G, 4G, and 5G started and what their peak achievements have been. The top speed for 5G will likely...

Analyst Angle: The ICARUS initiative: Using IoT to build a global sensor network of animals

The new generation of mobility called the Internet of Things (IoT) has evolved very quickly to become a ‘super brand’ covering not only mobility but smart cities, wireless meter reading and a host of other vertical market segments. IoT started as a simple, focused market...

The cascading technology trap in smart city deployments (Reader Forum)

Based on the hands-on involvement of the Xona Partners team in the design and rollout of smart cities, we found a clear lag in the deployment of technologies and services versus what technologies enable. We call this the cascading technology trap: technologies are evolving...