LONDON, UK – 4 June, 2024 – Westcon-Comstor, a global technology provider and specialist distributor, today announced an expansion of its partnership with Juniper Networks, a leader in secure, AI-Native Networking solutions, into the UK & Ireland and France.

The distribution agreement will see Westcon drive adoption of Juniper’s full portfolio of industry-leading AI-Native Networking products and solutions across the new markets, recruiting new channel partners through awareness and marketing campaigns and enabling existing partners to achieve growth, for example through support with financing and implementation.

Westcon is a strategic distribution partner for Juniper Networks, driving partner education and enablement and providing a suite of value-added services and technology insights, powered by a dedicated team of in-house Juniper specialists.

The expansion into the UK & Ireland and France represents a further strengthening of the two companies’ partnership in EMEA, with distribution agreements already in place in Benelux, Cyprus, DACH, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Sub-Saharan Africa and UAE.

It comes at a time of rapid innovation by Juniper Networks. Juniper launched its AI-Native Networking Platform earlier this year, designed from the ground up to assure that every connection is reliable, measurable and secure for every device, user, application and asset. This was followed by the latest evolution of its global Juniper Partner Advantage (JPA) programme. The new elements will help partners leverage AI for IT Operations (AIOps) to offer managed networking services for increased reliability, agility and reach on the path to unlocking new revenue opportunities.

“Juniper has a long-standing reputation as a constant innovator, delivering networking solutions that make every connection count in the AI, cloud and 5G era,” said Marianne Nickenig, VP Networking EMEA & VP Revenue Operations EU, Westcon Europe at Westcon-Comstor. “This expansion of our strategic relationship is testament to the success we have achieved together within the EMEA region, and we are thrilled to now bring Juniper’s innovative products and services, wrapped in Westcon’s value-added services, to partners in the UK & Ireland and France.”

“Westcon has exceptional expertise across our entire portfolio, international reach and a compelling range of value-added services. Juniper’s distribution partners play an important role in the success of Juniper and our market ecosystem and we are pleased to be further strengthening our ties through this geographic expansion,” said Bert Zeleken, Head of Partner and Distribution Sales, EMEA at Juniper Networks. “AI represents the biggest technology revolution since the creation of the internet itself, and we are excited, through this agreement with Westcon, to further enhance the reach of our AI-Native Networking solutions to Westcon’s audiences in the UK & Ireland and France.”

KUALA LUMPUR — May 31, 2024 — Amagi, the leader in cloud-based SaaS technology for broadcast and connected TV (CTV), deployed on Amazon Web Services (AWS), today announced its partnership with Malaysia’s leading media and entertainment company, Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad (Astro).

Astro, in partnership with Amagi, is modernizing systems and infrastructure for the playout and origination of its existing linear channels and playout disaster recovery capabilities and transitioning them to AWS, the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud. This marks a milestone in ASEAN’s broadcast industry. The Amagi playout deployment will help Astro optimize its media operations, enhance business agility, increase service resilience, and mitigate the risks of maintaining legacy systems.

The upcoming launch of the AWS Asia-Pacific (Malaysia) region complements Astro’s ongoing broadcast transformation journey, which aims to further enable the deployment of innovative media and entertainment solutions. By capitalizing on the robust cloud infrastructure, unparalleled scalability, and advanced services provided by AWS, Astro aims to further improve enhanced in-country network infrastructure resiliency and performance, thus delivering enriched customer experiences.

Defining the Future of Broadcast
Broadcasters have traditionally managed their channel automation and playout systems within on-premises data centers. As Astro continues its expansion across multiple regions, the organization will see workflows being optimized, media operations enhanced, and playout system management streamlined. To further complement the company’s pursuit of these goals, Astro will implement Amagi’s flagship products on AWS: the Amagi CLOUDPORT channel playout platform and the Amagi MONITORING solution. These advanced solutions will support Astro’s commitment to operational excellence, offering enhanced resiliency and enabling quicker upgrades to service capabilities, thereby meeting the evolving needs of the broadcasting landscape.
Mauro Di Pietro Paolo, Chief Technology Officer at Astro, said: “As Malaysia’s leading broadcaster, Astro continues to drive innovation, and our partnership with Amagi underscores our continuous dedication to pioneering advancements in the industry. At Astro, we needed a playout platform that would align with our vision for transformation in our broadcast and media operations, have in-built disaster recovery capabilities, and provide a modernization path for our end-of-life on-premises systems. We’ve selected Amagi because of their proven track record of deploying playout systems on AWS and have demonstrated their ability to be a transformational platform.”

Srinivasan KA, Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer at Amagi, said: “We are delighted to partner with Astro, one of the most innovative and forward-looking media companies in Asia, to help them achieve their cloud transformation goals. By leveraging our cloud-native solutions built on AWS’s global infrastructure, we can provide Astro with a scalable, secure, and cost-effective playout platform to support their current and future needs. This collaboration also demonstrates our commitment to empowering media companies with cutting-edge cloud technology and best-in-class service.”

“The broadcast industry is rapidly changing, requiring broadcasters to stay competitive with increased agility, resiliency, cost efficiency, and unified workflows, which can be achieved with AWS cloud. AWS is proud to work with solutions providers like Amagi to drive the industry forward,” said Pete Murray, Country Manager at AWS. “We’re thrilled to see our long-term customer Astro continue its transformative journey to delight their customers, and with Amagi, we look forward to digitalizing and advancing the future of Malaysia’s media and entertainment industry.”

Amagi and Astro launched broadcast station playout origination on AWS for the first channels and disaster recovery services in May 2024. This marks the first large-scale, cloud-based playout solution by a broadcaster in Malaysia. To meet the ever-changing needs of these networks, Amagi will continue to work closely with Astro to scale and evolve its Amagi CLOUDPORT solution. More information about Amagi and its solutions is available at www.amagi.com.

# # #

About Astro
Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad (Astro) is Malaysia’s leading content and entertainment company, serving 5.3 million homes or 67% of Malaysian TV households, 8,400 enterprises, 18.2 million weekly listeners across FM radio and online, and 15.6 million visitors to our digital brands every month. We serve Malaysians with three distinct services – Astro Pay-TV, NJOI Prepaid and sooka, our own OTT for the millennials; and Astro Fibre, our own broadband service, offers greater value with its content-broadband bundles. Close to a million homes are already streaming the best of home entertainment via our Hybrid 4K UHD Ultra Box and HD Ulti Box, which can be self-installed and run on both satellite and broadband. Today, our customers enjoy streaming our local signatures, Astro Originals, live sports and the best global shows from Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, HBO GO, iQIYI, TVBAnywhere+, beIN SPORTS CONNECT, BBC Player, Viu, ZEE5, WeTV, Qalbox by MuslimPro, and our own TV companion app Astro GO. Astro Radio, home to the country’s highest-rated radio brands across all key languages, and our digital brands including AWANI, SYOK, Gempak, Xuan and Astro Ulagam, connect Malaysians to content and stories that matter.

About Amazon Web Services
For over 15 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS offers over 200 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning, and AI, Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), media, and application development, deployment, and management from 102 Availability Zones (AZs) within 32 geographic regions around the world.
In March 2023, AWS announced plans to launch an AWS Infrastructure Region in Malaysia in 2024. As part of its commitment to the region, AWS is planning to invest $6 billion (approx. MYR 25.5 billion) in Malaysia by 2037.

About Amagi
Amagi is a next-generation media technology company that provides cloud broadcast and targeted advertising solutions to broadcast TV and streaming TV platforms. Amagi enables content owners to launch, distribute, and monetize live linear channels on Free Ad-supported Streaming TV and video services platforms. Amagi also offers 24×7 cloud-managed services bringing simplicity, advanced automation, and transparency to the entire broadcast operations. Overall, Amagi supports 800+ content brands, 800+ playout chains, and over 3800+ channel deliveries on its platform in over 150 countries. Amagi has a presence in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Melbourne, Seoul, Singapore, and broadcast operations in New Delhi, and innovation centers in Bangalore, Zagreb, and Lodz.

Link to Word Doc: www.wallstcom.com/Amagi/240531-Amagi-Astro_AWS_Playout_Services.docx

Photo Link: www.wallstcom.com/Amagi/PR_Astro_banner.jpg
Photo Caption: Amagi and Astro PR Announcement Banner

Kingston, Jamaica – Tuesday, June 4, 2024: Digicel Group is thrilled to announce the activation of its subsea fibre cable, Deep Blue One. This significant investment in international submarine capacity will supercharge connectivity across the Caribbean and South America, particularly benefiting French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago.

Digicel’s advanced fibre cable network will provide seamless connectivity to the countries it serves, facilitating uninterrupted communication and real-time data transmission. Deep Blue One also presents an invaluable opportunity to connect offshore oil and gas rigs, supporting the growing energy sector in the region and fostering collaboration among key stakeholders in the oil and gas industry.

Marcelo Cataldo, Digicel Group’s Chief Executive Officer said, “Subsea fibre has long been the backbone of global connectivity, and Deep Blue One is set to serve as a catalyst for the next wave of economic development in the region. At Digicel, our focus has always been on keeping our customers connected to the people and things that matter most; driving economic development in the countries we serve is a key part of that. This is an exciting milestone for us, and we are committed to unlocking new opportunities for growth and innovation across the region.”

Deep Blue One’s redundant pathways and cutting-edge technology ensures reliability, optimal operational efficiency and minimal downtime even in challenging environments. Leveraging the latest technology, this subsea cable network is also designed to accommodate future growth and evolving technological requirements, offering scalability and flexibility to meet industry demands. Additionally, as part of Digicel’s commitment to minimising its environmental impact, the build out of Deep Blue One prioritised sustainable practices, while supporting the transition towards a greener future.

In addition to connectivity, Deep Blue One will bring a full economic ecosystem for the benefit of all. The link between increased connectivity and improved economic outcomes has long been proven, with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) reporting that a 10% increase in fixed broadband penetration can result in up to 2.3% increase in GDP per capita, while a 10% increase in mobile broadband penetration can result in up to 2.8% increase in GDP per capita.

ENDS

About Digicel

Enabling customers to live, work, play and flourish in a connected world, Digicel’s world class LTE and fibre networks deliver state-of-the-art mobile, home and business solutions.

Serving 10 million consumer and business customers in 25 markets in the Caribbean and Central America, its investments of over US$5 billion and a commitment to its communities through its Digicel Foundations in Haiti, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago have contributed to positive outcomes for over 2 million people to date.

With the Better Connected ethos at the heart of everything, its 5,000 employees worldwide work together to make that a powerful reality for customers, communities and countries day in, day out.

Digicel also delivers news, sports broadcasting, digital media and financial services in several of its markets.

Visit www.digicelgroup.com for more.

News

Cisco has made over 20 AI-focused investments and acquisitions in the last several years 

Cisco has announced that it has launched a $1 billion fund to invest in AI startups in a push to become more dominant in the AI sphere. 

At the company’s “Cisco Live” event in Las Vegas, CEO Chuck Robbins said that despite a billion-dollar investment being considered small in the AI world, “part of our investment thesis is that there are unique co-development activities that we can enter into with [startups] to bring you more innovative solutions and help you navigate the AI transition.”  

The firm also say that the investment aligns with the company strategy “to connect and protect the AI era.” 

According to the press release, related investments in more established AI companies have already begun, with almost $200 having been invested in companies including: 

– Mistral AI, which specialises in generative artificial intelligence 

– Scale AI, which provides end-to-end platform providing training and validation for AI applications 

– Cohere, which provides security-focused frontier large language models (LLMs) for businesses 

“At Cisco, we believe we are well positioned to be the best strategic partner for our customers in the AI era as they look to build, secure, and power AI,” said Mark Patterson, Cisco’s Chief Strategy Officer. 

“In addition to building essential technology to connect, secure and advance AI, Cisco is committed to investing in the broader AI ecosystem to more effectively meet our customers’ needs,” he continued. 

The company are not just investing in startups, but partnering with larger firms too. Again at the “Cisco Live” event in Las Vegas, the two companies announced an AI cluster solution the data center that “transforms how customers build, manage and optimize infrastructure and software.” 

The companies say that it is designed so that customers can focus on AI innivationsinnovations and new revenue streams instead of IT management. 

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter 

Also in the news:
KPN forms new JV to monetise tower assets
Swisscom’s Fastweb sells FiberCop stake for €439m
General election over, India’s 5G auction facing further delays

The UK has no shortage of retail broadband providers, but today another one has been officially launched in the shape of Fareham-based Beebu (BeeBu Telecom Limited), which like a lot of newer entrants appears to be harnessing several of the market’s alternative full fibre (FTTP) network operators.

The provider’s current partners are said to include CityFibre, MS3, Freedom Fibre, FullFibre and F&W Networks, although they’re eyeing more partnerships for the near future. “BeeBu full-fibre is accessible to 14.8 million homes in the UK and is on track to be available in 16 million homes by August 2024“, states the announcement, which quietly reflects the fact that they’re also available via Openreach’s national network.

Behind the scenes, BeeBu is also said to be supported by Vantage Cloud, which is facilitating their ISP automation platform to help provide customer experience and support. In addition, the provider is preparing several forthcoming announcements about initiatives like ‘Switch & Save’ and a “significant” UK sponsorship.

David Kilby, CEO of BeeBu, said:

“Over the past 18 months, we have witnessed multiple broadband companies entering the market, some catering to niche communities, specific regions, or localities. However, a recurring trend is that customer service and reliability are somewhat lacking, failing to meet consumer expectations.

BeeBu approaches this differently. Since the inception of this project, we have aimed to stand out, providing ultrafast full-fibre broadband access to more UK homes than any other provider, all the while ensuring it is highly dependable and cost-effective.”

The challenge for Beebu is that various other ISPs in the market often make similar claims and standing out in such a busy crowd remains an incredibly difficult task.

News

The deal will see around 60% of KPN’s tower and rooftop assets passed over to the new joint venture with ABP

This week, incumbent Dutch telecoms operator KPN has announced the creation of a new joint venture with Dutch pension fund ABP to manage tower infrastructure across the country.

The deal will see KPN contribute around 60% of its existing tower and rooftop base station portfolio to the joint venture, with a further 800 sites being added from ABP’s tower subsidiary Open Tower Company (OTC).

The deal will also see KPN take over Novec, a passive infrastructure operator owned by energy grid operator TenneT, which also has a minority stake in OTC. Novec

Once combined, the new TowerCo will manage and operate around 3,800 mobile towers ad rooftop sites.

In total, KPN will pay €120 million to Novec and OTC shareholders to balance the scales in the deal. KPN will hold a 51% stake in the business, with the remaining 49% owed by ABP.

This is the second joint venture between KPN and ABP, the first being a €1 billion open access wholesale fibre network operator Glaspoort created back in 2021.

KPN says the deal to monetise its passive infrastructure assets is crucial to its ongoing strategic focus on flexibility, growth, and technological development.

“We have built up a very good position with our mobile network in recent years. We want to maintain and further expand this in the future, also in view of the ever-growing data traffic,” said KPN chief exec Joost Farwerck in a translated statement. “With this collaboration we gain more control and flexibility at a large number of locations of our mobile infrastructure and at the same time we realise a more sustainable cost model.”

As part of the deal, KPN has agreed to a 20-year master services agreement with the new TowerCo, as well as a 10-year build-to-suit programme that will see the TowerCo build additional towers as necessary.

The deal is subject to all typical regulatory approvals.

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter 

Also in the news:
German government sells $2.7 billion stake in Deutsche Telekom
News in Brief: Cable updates from Submarine Networks EMEA
STC joins e& in eying up United Group 

News 

The deal is subject to the completion of KKR’s takeover of TIM’s fixed infrastructure business NetCo, which includes FiberCop 

Swisscom has announced that its Italian subsidiary FastWeb has sold its 4.5% share of FiberCop to KKR’s subsidiary Optics BidCo for €439 million. 

FiberCop is an infrastructure operator established in 2021 by Telecom Italia (TIM), KKR and Fastweb to manage TIM’s ‘last mile’ fibre network, the passive fibre-to-the-home infrastructure that links homes to the cabinet at the end of the street. 

The transaction is subject to the completion of TIM’s sale of its fixed network operations (i.e., NetCo) to KKR, which is expected to be completed next quarter. 

In the announcement’s short press release, Fastweb confirmed that it “remains fully committed to its mission of driving innovation and connectivity in the country through investments in key telecommunications infrastructures.” 

Therefore, it will continue to invest in its own fibre network and remain a provider of wholesale services to third parties. 

The news comes just days after the European Commission gave KKR the green light for its planned takeover of TIM’s NetCo for €22 billion. Having completed a full investigation centred around competition concerns, the body decided that the acquisition “would not significantly reduce the level of competition in the market for wholesale broadband access services in Italy.” 

Swisscom’s involvement in the Italian telecoms sector does not end there. Last quarter, the company announced a binding deal with Vodafone Italia to acquire its local business unit for €8 billion. Once the deal is complete, the unit will be merged with Fastweb to create Italy’s second-largest fixed-line broadband operator behind TIM. 

This deal is expected to be finalised next year. 

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter 

Also in the news:
German government sells $2.7 billion stake in Deutsche Telekom
News in Brief: Cable updates from Submarine Networks EMEA
STC joins e& in eying up United Group 

Alternative UK broadband ISP Trooli, which is backed by Agnar UK Infrastructure (here) and has already extended their full fibre (FTTP) network to cover 334,000 premises (RFS) across England and Scotland (here), has started informing customers about both an unusual change of home “telecom equipment” and of their ownership structure.

Firstly, customers of the provider have informed ISPreview that Trooli recently sent out a new notice, which informed them about how they are “reorganising parts of the Trooli business“. This is said to involve moving all existing customers who have an agreement with Trooli Ltd – either within contract terms or monthly rolling out of contract terms – to a new “customer management system” with Hermod Retail Limited “for the provision of broadband services“.

The announcement states that Hermod Retail Limited is part of the same group as Trooli Ltd, and is trading as Trooli, and indeed a quick check via Companies House shows that both companies share the same address and two of the same French Directors (Maxime Buisson and Elie Nammar). Hermod Retail Limited was only incorporated in February 2024.

Customers are then told that the service currently provided by Trooli will “remain the same“, including their associated terms and conditions and policies (inc. privacy policy). “The only change to you is that your contract will be with Hermod Retail Limited, rather than Trooli Ltd,” added the announcement. Customer accounts are then expected to be migrated gradually “over the coming weeks“.

Generally speaking, broadband ISPs don’t need to migrate customers between different companies purely for the sake of adopting a customer management system, which makes us suspect that this might be more in the service of separating the business into a separate retail and wholesale (network) side. In theory, such a change might open up new opportunities for Trooli to pursue, while potentially also making the network easier to sell.

Replacing Customer Modems / CPE

In addition to the above, some of Trooli’s customers have also recently recieved another unusual notification, which informs them about an “upcoming scheduled maintenance activity that will involve changing the telecom equipment at your property” (we believe this will be taking place in a couple of months’ time). The change is described as being “essential to ensure the continued and uninterrupted service on which you rely.”

“To efficiently carry out this equipment upgrade, we have partnered with a trusted and experienced company, Fibre Optic Installation Ltd, which specialises in telecom installations. They will contact you shortly to arrange a convenient time to access your property and complete the necessary changes,” added the notice. The upgrade process itself is “expected” to take no more than a maximum of 45 minutes.

The notice includes no information about precisely what “telecom equipment” is being changed, which could impact either Trooli’s Optical Network Terminal (ONT) or their broadband router. But since generally ISPs don’t need to send out engineers for router replacements, then we rather suspect this relates to a change of ONT.

In full fibre networks, the ONT is an optical modem that gets installed on the wall, inside your home, and is then connected to your router. But such unexpected ONT swaps are extremely rare and normally only occur in very specific circumstances, such as during a key change of network platform, or to replace faulty / misconfigured kit or for security reasons. For example, Openreach will replace the ONT for ISP customers who upgrade to one of their new 1.2 or 1.8Gbps tiers, while Lit Fibre had to swap some ONTs after a software update went wrong (here).

Some of Trooli’s customers have asked the provider’s support agents about this and were told that it isn’t due to a fault, but relates more to an upgrade that allows the operator to harness better equipment. But clearly more context is needed to help explain both notifications, and we’ve asked Trooli to comment, although over the past year it’s often been hard to get them to respond to any of our queries – PR is perhaps not their strongest point.

News 

The new data centre will be built on the site of a former LCD panel factory owned by Foxconn, Sharp’s parent company 

Japan’s KDDI and Sharp have begun discussions with Super Micro Computer Inc. and Datasection to build an AI datacentre in Japan, which they say will be the largest in Asia. 

According to the press release, the companies have entered into discussions and aim to “start operations as early as possible.” 

The data centre will be built on the Sharp Sakai Plant in Osaka, which is set to close in September having become unprofitable. 

The newly constructed data centre will be powered by Nvidia’s GB200 NVL72s, server racks specialised in training and running AI models. The site will host at last 1,000 servers.  

KDDI noted that there are three main challenges when building an AI data centre with a large scale computing platform: 

procuring state-of-the-art computing equipment;
developing a highly-efficient cooling system to manage heat generation;
and securing electric power and space.

The companies claim they can “effectively and efficiently” tackle these challenges by combining their assets and expertise. 

 “We expect that the former Sharp Sakai Plant will be able to provide adequate electric power and space to support the AI data center’s electricity needs,” explained KDDI in a statement. 

“Datasection will support the operation of AI data centre. KDDI will provide robust support to this project through the construction and operation of AI data centre and network infrastructure,” it continued. 

Japan has been a hotbed for AI and datacentre investment as the race for global dominance ramps up. In April, Microsoft announced a $2.9 billion investment over the next two years, focussing on cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. In January, AWS announced an investment of 2.2 trillion yen ($15.24 billion) in the country’s cloud computing infrastructure by 2027. The investment is in addition to the 1.51 trillion yen ($10.20 billion) it has already spent on increasing cloud capacity in Japan.  

Tadao Nagasaki, head of the Japan unit of AWS said during the announcement’s press conference that the company sees “Japan as a very important country,” 

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter 

Also in the news:
German government sells $2.7 billion stake in Deutsche Telekom
News in Brief: Cable updates from Submarine Networks EMEA
STC joins e& in eying up United Group