Eurobites: Telenor, Ericsson turn to AI to save energy

Telenor and Ericsson have joined forces to explore the use of AI and machine learning technology to improve the energy efficiency of mobile networks without compromising on the quality of connectivity provided by them. The three-year collaboration will see the companies deploying AI/ML systems on a live test network, with anomaly detection and spectrum being considered alongside the technology's energy-saving potential.

BT has turned to Ciena's Blue Planet software to simplify the way it automates the orchestration and delivery of its network services. In practice, says BT, this means that when a customer hits the "buy" button on one of BT's broadband products, the activation of network services, from local network through to BT's core network, to Openreach systems and the wider Internet, will be effectively automated. Similarly, if changes are made to a particular service, as is common with BT's business customers, Blue Planet can streamline the process of implementing those changes, adding new capacity, lines or capabilities "dynamically." All this, BT claims, eliminates more than half a dozen legacy systems currently delivering service orchestration.

And in another US hook-up, BT is to roll out its new Global Fabric network-as-a-service platform in Digital Realty carrier-neutral data centers around the world. This, says BT, will allow its business customers to get more out of their data by making it easier for employees to access it securely.

Can't find enough depressing news right now? Try this: The number of cyber-extortion victims has increased 46% globally over the past 12 months, according to Security Navigator 2024, a research report published by Orange Cyberdefense, Orange's cybersecurity arm. The manufacturing sector is the hardest hit in terms of confirmed incidents, says the report (32.43%), followed by retail trade (21.73%) and professional, scientific and technological services (9.84%). The "threat actors," as Orange call them, are increasingly motivated by politics or ideology, the report found.

Vodafone Romania claims that device sales and customer satisfaction have increased at its new-look EasyTech stores, where customers are encouraged to recycle their old phones, the walls are made from natural plants and the ceilings decorated with recycled fabric. The first EasyTech store is opening in Bucharest in March and the concept will also be rolled out in Ireland, Greece, Egypt and Turkey.

Eco-friendly yet strangely empty. (Source: Vodafone)

Has 5G finally found its killer app? Nordic operator Tele2 is tackling the perennial issue of fancy-chocolate theft with its "Chocolate Bytes" connected box, which alerts the owner of top-notch confectionery by phone if an authorized individual opens the lid of said box. In the words of Tele2's press release, the groundbreaking technology "helps avoid that last-minute dash to the shop by discovering the praline thief in good time before Christmas." Well, it makes a change from open RAN.

No one, but no one, steals my pralines. (Source: Tele2)