Category: IT news

Ericsson 5G portfolio update puts energy efficiency center stage

• Seven new RAN products and solutions led by the flagship dual-band Radio 4490, which consumes 25 percent less power compared to current product.
• Easy-to-deploy portfolio additions also include compact active-passive antennas, high-capacity ultra-lightweight Massive MIMO radios, and software features for energy savings and enhanced 5G performance.
• Powered by next-generation Ericsson Silicon, the additions will lead to lower-footprint 5G sites, boosting bandwidth, energy efficiency and user experience.

(NUT DESK)  continues to strengthen its radio access network (RAN) portfolio with solutions that address the 5G rollout and sustainability goals of communications service providers. Announced today, the portfolio additions will deliver sizeable energy savings and up to ten-fold capacity increases – with minimal or no added footprint.

Leading the portfolio enhancements is Radio 4490, a dual-band radio that delivers 25 percent lower power consumption and lesser weight compared to the current product. This radio type is compatible with most of the radio sites globally as it supports the main FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) bands being used by many service providers for their 5G deployment.

Ericsson is also launching a high-power version of the new dual-band radio, 4490 HP, which enables up to 50 percent more output power compared to current radios. The two new radios apply passive cooling – reducing power consumption further, as fans are not needed. They are also Cloud RAN-ready.

Per Narvinger, Head of Product Area Networks, Ericsson, says: “We continue to evolve our RAN portfolio with more solutions for smart, slim, and sustainable 5G networks. Our latest innovations will further optimize 5G sites for both purpose-built and Cloud RAN deployments.”

5G rollouts are accelerating across the world, with frontrunners gearing up for the shift to 5G Standalone to drive new consumer and enterprise use cases. Introducing 5G means added spectrum and hardware – which is where Ericsson’s new products play a key role through the ability to raise capacity while slashing power usage – fueling efforts to break the energy curve.

The portfolio additions also include:

• Easy-to-install 64T/R Massive MIMO AIR 6428 for mid-band, with 400MHz bandwidth for efficient RAN sharing, in a single-person-carry 25kg radio.
• Highly integrated, multi-band Antenna 4602 – only 398mm wide, designed for best wind load durability and for maintained site build requirements.
• Next-generation Interleaved AIR 3218 with industry-leading low height and weight, enabling Massive MIMO rollouts without growing visual antenna footprint.
• Expanded Deep Sleep mode software for new radios and Massive MIMO portfolios. Consumes up to 70 percent less power per radio during low traffic hours.
• Coverage Boost is a versatile 5G carrier aggregation software that delivers 60 percent wider reach for mid-band TDD (Time Division Duplex) compared to dual connectivity. It supports RAN Compute and Cloud RAN platforms.

The new products are powered by next-generation Ericsson Silicon, with its footprint-reducing, less power-consuming multi-band, and wide-band capabilities for remote and Massive MIMO radios.

Videos: Ericsson experts explain the benefits of the new RAN products

Gede Darmayusa , Director and CTO, PT XL Axiata, says: “XL Axiata always strives to provide the best customer experience to meet the ever-increasing demand for data services through the adoption of new technologies and other network initiatives. We have been pioneering the use of Ericsson’s first-generation dual-band radio technology since 2019. With the launch of the new dual-band 4T4R radio, we expect this innovation to continue to help us maximize user experience with greater energy efficiency and operational excellence.”

Ed Gubbins, Principal Analyst at Global Data, says: “With this launch Ericsson has shown its commitment to sustainability through energy-efficient products and solutions for 5G rollouts and site expansions. Ericsson’s recipe includes in-house silicon, innovative radio and antenna product engineering, and advanced software features.”

Learn more about the new RAN portfolio additions

Supernet and Avara Announce the Award of PKR 250 million worth Project Within a Multi-Million Dollar Long-Term Program to Supply Multiplexers and Associated Services in Pakistan

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Supernet Limited (“Supernet”) announced today that they, in conjunction with their Australian technology partner Avara Technologies Pty Ltd (“Avara”) have been awarded a new project worth approximately PKR 250 million within a long-term program that they were awarded in 2021 by a major Pakistani customer.

The new project valued at approximately PKR 250 million constitutes Phase 3 of the program for the supply of multiservice multiplexers and associated operations, maintenance, warranty and support services. The program includes establishment of a repair facility in Pakistan and transfer of knowledge through an expansive training program enabling in-country engineers and technicians to rectify faults throughout the equipment’s lifecycle.

Avara’s DynaFlex product family is a flexible, fully featured, access multiplexer with powerful cross-connect and protection capabilities. With the ability to handle a wide range of interfaces like POTS, SCADA, Ethernet, Serial Data and Tele-Protection, the DynaFlex platform is an ideal choice for transporting mission critical TDM services over PDH, SDH, Ethernet or MPLS-TP packet-based interfaces. DynaFlex offers a broad range of hot pluggable channel cards to complement a range of physical interfaces in a modular manner.

In 2021 Supernet and Avara successfully delivered in time the first batch of DynaFlex multiplexers under Phase 1 of the program despite supply chain and logistics challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The delivery for Phase 2 is under implementation with the newly awarded Phase 3 expected to reach completion towards the tail end of 2022.

Ali Akhtar. Supernet’s Head of BU, Telecoms & Defense and Lasha Aponso, CEO, Avara jointly stated, “This is a major triumph for us right at the start of 2022 and we are thrilled to have been awarded this new project. It reaffirms the trust and satisfaction of the customers in our products and services. On the back of this victory, we’re charging full steam ahead with our plans to expand business in Pakistan.”

Huawei Applauds engineers in ICT industry Who learnt about new innovative technologies in the Tiger 2021 program

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) The Huawei Pakistan Tiger Program 2021 closing ceremony took place in the evening, the main theme behind this program was based around the young engineers in the ICT industry who can learn about new innovative technologies. A framework was drafted for this program and distributed amongst the participants.Hamid Mohiuddin, CEO Silicon ST, Jehan Ara, CEO Katalyst labs, Shan Xiaoping, Director Channel Huawei, Shahzad Rasheed, CTO Huawei Technologies & Fawad-ul-Haq, Director- Public Affairs, EBG were all present at the closing ceremony.

The best trainers were provided to facilitate them with whatever they needed. In the last few months, the participants adapted to the new technologies. Wanting to give back to the industry, Huawei launched the firstbatch, when the program will be launched next year, there will be more improvements based on everyone’s suggestions. 23participants took place in the program, learning about computer cloud, storage etc.They went through different evaluations, regarding how they can sell these technologies to their respective customers. Each participant had to come up with a solution to present to their customers as well. The theme of this program was ‘Continuous learning’. Winners will get the opportunity to attend Huawei Cloud and a 300 dollar voucher to do the certifications for the Cloud program.

Yasir Ilyaas, Shahbaz Akhtar, Muhammad Faheem, Muazz Qazi, Umer Yaqoob, Moizz ul Hassan were some of winners of the program.

Mr. Gao stated at the event, “Despite the challenges posed by COVID 19, Huawei Pakistan still made it possible to be number one in the industry.”

Mr. Zarrar Khan, CBSO GROUP PTCL Business Solutions said, “The last 25 years of my career has been greatly influenced. Mentors need to be chosen very carefully, as they can have a very important impact. The tiger program is a very great initiative.”

Jahan Ara also reaffirmed the sentiment, “The ICT industry in Pakistan has been growing at a great rate, the prices have been bad for the world, but good for the ICT industry, the customers gained during this period. The lack of human resource is an issue that needs to be tackled with. There is no shortage of talent in this country, I’m glad to see that Huawei is grooming the talent and providing mentorship. If you choose your mentor wisely, it can be of immense benefit to you, and that relationship continues to grow throughout your career. There is still so much work to be done, especially in rural ideas, only by this way, will we be able to achieve the vision of Digital Pakistan. Together as an industry we will continue to work to make sure that the resource is polished and benefits people from all over country, thank you Huawei and we wish for your continued support.”

Mr. Fawad stated,“This program contains all the technical courses, next year there will be more courses, our ecosystemis big enough that we are developing our partners and their resources. The ecosystem is very important for Huawei. All the stakeholders of Huawei are involved, this is very good for all of us. Our partners are the key players for the industry, especially for areas where ICT talent grooming is needed.”

Mr. Shan from Huawei mentioned:“Huawei invests in the long term development of our partner ecosystem, so not only do we pay attention to the company business growth, we also give high importance to the development of individuals. Mentorship is something that is essential for becoming a successful person, especially in this highly competitive ICT industry. We have heavily invested in partners, and incentives given to individuals. This year, 2021, 2.8 million USD have been given to partners in Pakistan, and to individuals, 26 million PKR, those who are working at partner side.”

Mr. ShahzadRasheed mentioned,“This month we have achieved a big milestone, we are number 1 IP leader in Pakistan from the revenue point of view, as well as number of installments. Credit goes to our partners and our tigers. During my early days of my first occupation, where I had decided to work for the rest of my life, it was the mentorship that guided me to move on and bring me to where I am. That is the importance of a mentor.”

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Microsoft, world leading software company, has been empowering young girls to enter the realm of Software application development. Microsoft Power platform has made things easy for even primary grade students to develop customize applications as per their need. Power Platform is a great fit to automate basic business processes with power automate, perform data analysis with Power BI, create simple Power Apps experiences and build practical chatbots with Power Virtual Agents.  Due to user friendly nature, 10-year-old Two Pakistani twins Girls Zara and Zenubia have become the youngest to have the certification and the youngest twin pair in the world to pass the Microsoft Power Platform Fundamentals certification. Their journey to app development with little or no coding knowledge began with embracing a growth mindset and encouraged creative expression and self-discovery from an early age.

The success story of twin sister begins, when both were exposed to Microsoft Learn platform which included apps and resources that would lead them to create their very first Microsoft Power Platform app—an expense tracker that reads data from an Excel spreadsheet and helps users create a budget. Their father stimulated their interest in software as he was forced to work from home during the COVID-19 lockdown. They started learning about software from there and learned basic programming by themselves. Even after their schooling resumed, they continued to build on their interest in programming and started replicating applications gaining experience from the web in their free time and build expense management solutions for their father.

The Microsoft Power Platform is one of the world’s leading platforms for low-code applications and business intelligence, and one of the core pillars of the Microsoft cloud offering. The Platform is widely used across the globe as most effective way to develop customize software applications and transforming the way people solve real life problems with the help of technology. The Power Platform certification is meant for individuals that want to build solutions for their organizations using the Microsoft Power Platform. It enables individuals to automate business processes, perform data analytics, and integrate artificial intelligence to build new solutions.

Microsoft Education Lead for Pakistan, Mr. Jibran said “Microsoft believes in empowering people of all ages to bring best out of them in term of creativity and innovative solutions with the help of Technology. Microsoft has long history of nurturing creative minds by offering user-friendly technological platforms that are easy to use even at early age. Microsoft continue to strive for intelligent solutions that have early adoption to prepare next generation of Tech savvy”.

However, these exceptionally highly intellectual girls are not the first Pakistanis to achieve this high success at a very small age rather Arfa Karim was only nine years old when she became the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) in the world. She was also the youngest recipient of the Pride of Performance award in Pakistan, and her name was entered in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

Administrative sources of Apple said that iPhone users’ entire photo libraries will be checked for known child abuse images if they are stored in the online iCloud service.

The disclosure came in a series of media briefings in which Apple is seeking to dispel alarm over its announcement last week that it will scan users’ phones, tablets and computers for millions of illegal pictures.

While Google, Microsoft and other technology platforms check uploaded photos or emailed attachments against a database of identifiers provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and other clearing houses, security experts faulted Apple’s plan as more invasive.

In a posting to its website on Sunday, Apple said it would fight any such attempts, which can occur in secret courts.

“We have faced demands to build and deploy government-mandated changes that degrade the privacy of users before, and have steadfastly refused those demands,” Apple wrote. “We will continue to refuse them in the future.”

In the briefing on Monday, Apple officials said the company’s system, which will roll out this fall with the release of its iOS 15 operating system, will check existing files on a user’s device if users have those photos synched to the company’s storage servers.

Julie Cordua, chief executive of Thorn, a group that has developed technology to help law enforcement officials detect sex trafficking, said about half of child sexual abuse material is formatted as video.

Apple’s system does not check videos before they are uploaded to the company’s cloud, but the company said it plans to expand its system in unspecified ways in the future.

Apple has come under international pressure for the low numbers of its reports of abuse material compared with other providers. Some European jurisdictions are debating legislation to hold platforms more accountable for the spread of such material.

Company executives argued on Monday that on-device checks preserve privacy more than running checks on Apple’s cloud storage directly. Among other things, the architecture of the new system does not tell Apple anything about a user’s content unless a threshold number of images has been surpassed, which then triggers a human review.

The executives acknowledged that a user could be implicated by malicious actors who win control of a device and remotely install known child abuse material. But they said they expected any such attacks to be very rare and that in any case a review would then look for other signs of criminal hacking.

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan witnessed a detailed demonstration of a new locally-made electronic voting machine (EVM). Federal Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz along with the officials of his ministry gave a detailed briefing to PM Imran Khan about the working of the electronic voting machine (EVM).

Shibli Faraz said there is no need for internet connectivity for the EVMs, the software used is in the machine is of international standard, he added.

On the occasion, PM Imran Khan witnessed a detailed demonstration of the EVM and also cast his vote. The premier also congratulated Shibli Faraz and his team for producing such EVMs.

Earlier in the month of June, Prime Minister Imran Khan had reiterated the incumbent government’s resolve to ensure transparency in the electoral process in the country.

The premier also instructed that the process of electoral reforms, electronic voting and voting rights for overseas Pakistanis be completed at the earliest.

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

With much anticipation and hype built around Windows 11 which arrives before the year end, come the refreshed versions of Microsoft Paint and Photos.

Initially spotted by Windows Latest, Microsoft has quietly posted pics of the two refreshed apps on stock photography website Unsplash.

As you might expect, the refresh updates the MS Paint app to better fit in with the overall Windows 11 design.

The old ribbon menu is bids its final goodbye once and for all and with it all our nostalgia with the app as it’s being replaced by a Fluent header.

In its revamped look, the MS Paint’s simplified toolbar has reportedly replaced the Undo and Redo buttons up at the top next to the File and View options.

Last, but not the least to be noted, the whole new packaging has rounded corners and WinUI controls as well. WinUI is a user interface layer that contains modern controls and styles for building Windows apps.

However, it doesn’t appear, not as yet anyway, that there are any additional functions and new tools. But whom are we kidding, MS Paint was never a full-featured graphics editor in the vein of Photoshop.