Author: Malcolm Rogers

Based in Sydney, Australia, Malcolm Rogers is an Analyst with GlobalData. He is responsible for delivering research and consulting projects leveraging research and analysis from across the Global Data technology group. Malcolm offers impactful market data and insight to enterprise buyers, service providers and the vendor community across Asia-Pacific. Current areas of focus include telecommunications networks and services, mobile markets, and enterprise ICT services. He specializes in the analysis of the communications and technology markets across the countries in Asia-Pacific. Malcolm is also in charge of modeling and forecasting demand and service revenue for fixed, mobile and pay-TV services on a quarterly basis, and regularly publishes research and analysis on key country, regional and global trends on telecommunications networks and digital services. He also contributes to custom and consulting projects in Asia Pacific.

Optus and Lendlease Partner to Go After the Smart Autonomous Building Market

by Malcolm Rogers, posted in Communicate
M. Rogers

Summary Bullets:

• The Optus and Lendlease collaboration on smart spaces has the potential to offer innovative building automation solutions leveraging 5G connectivity, IoT, and AI analytics.

• There is strong competition in the Australian market for smart spaces as other competitors from telco to operational tech providers offer solutions that play to their strengths.

Optus has capped off a week of customers wins with the announcement that it is entering into a partnership with Lendlease that will see the Australian property and construction giant become a customer as well as a collaborator on future solutions. Lendlease is the latest deal, which follows Optus wins with Super Retail Group for a 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) solution and CouriersPlease for a broader range of IT services including SD-WAN, mobile, WiFi, and telephony. While Lendlease also represents a large customer win, as the company will move over 3,000 fixed data and mobile services to Optus across 80 locations, the deal also includes a joint venture that will see Optus and Lendlease collaborate on the development of smart building/smart spaces solutions. Lendlease will bring its ‘Podium Property Insights’ (PPI) platform, a sensor and software platform aimed at delivering insights analysis for property managers, while Optus will offer networking connectivity and IoT expertise.

Continue reading “Optus and Lendlease Partner to Go After the Smart Autonomous Building Market” →

AI-Video Can Boost Telcos’ Industrial Solutions, but Requires Careful Partnering

by Malcolm Rogers, posted in IT Leader

M. Rogers

Summary Bullets:

• Telcos have a good opportunity to leverage AI-video systems in their wider industrial solutions portfolio as the market has rapidly matured.

• Rather than develop solutions in house, telcos should look to partner with existing vendors due to the complexity of developing AI video algorithms and integrating with industrial systems.

The use of AI-enabled video surveillance systems continues to rise across Australia as well as globally with a myriad of use cases like public safety, facilities management, crowd management, asset management, and more. However, these systems also generate a large amount of video data, which requires significant bandwidth and storage capacity to process and store. This makes the video or video surveillance as a service an attractive market for telcos and managed service providers as they seek to expand their revenue base as traditional service margins decline. However, the market for AI-video solutions is rapidly maturing and diversifying, with a growing field of specialists developing specific vertically aligned use cases for AI-video from retail, to government, to mining, education, and more. Further, video systems are increasingly integrated with other IT and operational systems such as physical security, communications networks and IoT platforms creating a complex ecosystem of solutions, vendors, use cases, and monetization models to navigate.

Continue reading “AI-Video Can Boost Telcos’ Industrial Solutions, but Requires Careful Partnering” →

GlobalData’s New Digital Infrastructure Australia Report Highlights the Vendors Best Positioned to Win Deals in the Cloud Network Convergence Era

by Malcolm Rogers, posted in IT Leader

M. Rogers

Summary Bullets:

• As enterprise embrace hyperscale cloud platforms and networking services are more tightly integrated with cloud offerings, a diverse range of vendors are now competing for digital infrastructure services in Australia.

• Telcos are focused on evolving a network as a service approach, connecting as many clouds as possible, while systems integrators (SIs) and IT managed services providers (MSPs) are looking more at the migration towards an ongoing management of multi-cloud infrastructure.

The market for digital infrastructure services in Australia is served by a broad range of players that include both domestic and international players across telecommunications companies, IT MSPs, SIs, hyperscalers, and data center specialists. Further, many of the leading providers rely on packaging products and services from other vendors alongside their own to provide more complete set of solutions. For example, a telco offering its networking services alongside re-selling IaaS from a hyperscale cloud provider, or an SI offering managed network and managed cloud contracts from multiple vendors. As enterprise databases and applications increasingly move towards hyperscale environments led by a few players, digital infrastructure providers need to differentiate around areas like network visibility and performance, service automation, consulting and advisory, service orchestration, cost management, and managed services. As such, the covered vendors all have different strengths based on their background.

Continue reading “GlobalData’s New Digital Infrastructure Australia Report Highlights the Vendors Best Positioned to Win Deals in the Cloud Network Convergence Era” →

Agribusiness is New Tech Battleground for Australia’s Telcos

by Malcolm Rogers, posted in IT Leader

M. Rogers

Summary Bullets:

• TPG and Telstra have had multiple trials with various agribusiness in Australia, leveraging 5G, AI, IoT, and data services to develop solutions for livestock.

• Both companies have yet to develop commercialized solutions, and could consider joint ventures with or acquisitions of agritech firms to fully capitalize on the vertical opportunity.

Cows, potatoes, and tomatoes could be the next tech and telco battleground in Australia. Leading telcos Telstra and TPG have both made recent announcements around their efforts to develop converged technology offerings centered on agriculture use cases.

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TPG is in a More Perilous Place following ACCC’s Axing of Network Sharing Deal

by Malcolm Rogers, posted in Communicate, Network

M. Rogers

Summary Bullets:

• Following the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) decision to oppose the Telstra TPG network sharing agreement, TPG should be more concerned about its strategic importance.

• While impact to Telstra would be limited, TPG faces setbacks to its enterprise growth strategy in FWA, 5G SD-WAN, private cloud, and overall pricing strategy.

In February of 2022, Telstra and TPG entered into a ten-year network sharing agreement, subject to regulatory approval. However, nearly one year later, the ACCC has rejected the deal on anti-competitive grounds. The agreement would have seen Telstra grant TPG use of 3,700 Telstra mobile sites in regional and rural Australia, allowing TPG to enter new markets and moving its overall population coverage from 96% to 99%. Meanwhile Telstra would have been gained access to some of TPG’s spectrum for 4G and 5G services, boosting overall network capacity.

Continue reading “TPG is in a More Perilous Place following ACCC’s Axing of Network Sharing Deal” →

ThousandEyes Could be a Key Differentiator in Cisco’s Cloud Networking Quest

by Malcolm Rogers, posted in Big Data

M. Rogers

Summary Bullets:

• Cisco’s efforts to further integrate ThousandEyes across its solution portfolio offers a powerful tool as it aims to grow as a leading cloud-networking platform provider.

• While ThousandEyes offers great visibility into the entire stack, Cisco could offer deeper integrations in areas like WAN optimization to make the most of its investment.

During the Keynote at this year’s Cisco Live 2022 APJ, in Melbourne Australia, Cisco executive VP and GM of security and collaboration, Jeetu Patel stated that providing a vendor-neutral platform for cloud-networking was core to the company’s strategy. More specifically the company hopes to abstract the security and networking layers away from the leading hyperscale platforms, and to provide a unified platform for networking services and security that allows traffic to flow securely to any cloud platform. This is a lofty goal, and Cisco has a long list of competitors in the networking, monitoring, and security space. The hyperscalers are growing their WAN offerings While Cisco remains one of the leaders in networking and is growing stronger in security, the company needs to develop as many points of differentiation as possible to achieve this goal.

Continue reading “ThousandEyes Could be a Key Differentiator in Cisco’s Cloud Networking Quest” →

Pentanet: Australia’s Regional Player Trying to be the Next Generation of Telco

by Malcolm Rogers, posted in Network

M. Rogers

Summary Bullets:

• While many of the largest telecom operators in the world are struggling to monetize next generation technologies and services supported by 5G, one small regional player in Australia is doing just that.

• Pentanet, a Perth-based, regional FWA provider is using its 5G mmWave spectrum to launch gigabit-services using mesh technology while it is also taking on cloud gaming with an exclusive Nvidia partnership.

Around the globe, telecom operators continue to face increasing margin pressure and competition from OTTs in their traditional communications space. This has prompted the industry to explore new revenue streams to combat competitive pressures. New 5G networks are commonly cited as an asset operators can leverage to create differentiated services, taking advantage of the increased speeds and latency made available by the technology. Some common areas often cited as early 5G opportunities for the telcos include services in content like AR/VR or cloud gaming, improved fixed broadband using FWA, smart cities, and industrial applications. However, for many operators breaking into these new markets has proved challenging. The investment in new platforms is cost prohibitive at a time when they need to maintain legacy services that make up the core of their business. Some operators are unable to invest in 5G standalone, or nationwide rollouts which limits the performance of their network. In many cases it is the largest telcos with the deepest pockets that have been able to bring next generation services to market, either for consumers or enterprise. However, there is one small telecoms operator based in Perth, Australia that is demonstrating how telcos can bring next generation services to market even on a small scale.

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From FutureNet Asia: Many in the Telco Industry See that AI and Open Standards are Needed to Tackle Complexity of Cloud Native Networks of the 5G Era

by Malcolm Rogers, posted in IT Leader

M. Rogers

Summary Bullets:

• As operators modernize networks towards the goal of cloud native architectures, the multi-domain, cloud-oriented nature breeds complexity, which is the leading challenge today.

• To tackle this complexity, operators, vendors and a new breed of network platform vendor are turning to AI tools for orchestration management and assurance as well as APIs and open standards.

FutureNet Asia, a leading conference bringing the telecoms industry together to discuss strategic and commercial priorities was held this October in Singapore. The event saw leading players from the operator side including Bharti Airtel, Indosat Hutchinson Ooredoo, and Telenor Asia, the infrastructure side such as Juniper, Dell, and Intel, heavy representation from network enablement vendors such as Amdocs, BluePlanet, and Rakuten Symphony, and newer players with a focus on cloud-native and AI enabled networks like B-YOND and Robin.IO, come together to discuss the future of operator networks and how AI will play a role in delivering services in the 5G era. Operators like IOH shared their journey towards automated cloud native networks, including the challenges still ahead, while vendors like VMware and B-YOND discussed how they are assisting their operator partners in dealing with the complexity of these new architectures with automation, including the use of AI tools. Below is a discussion of some of the key challenges raised and how the industry is addressing them. Continue reading “From FutureNet Asia: Many in the Telco Industry See that AI and Open Standards are Needed to Tackle Complexity of Cloud Native Networks of the 5G Era” →

Regulatory Roundup: Regulators Are Making Moves to Drive Industrial 5G, but Deeper Cooperation with Industry Partners Is Needed

by Malcolm Rogers, posted in IT Leader

M. Rogers

Summary Bullets:

  • In the month of March 2022, telecoms regulators around the world have been implementing initiatives and programs to encourage enterprise adoption of 5G services.
  • Despite initiatives from governments and operators to drive use of 5G by industry, adoption is still low and increased collaboration is necessary.

Regulatory Support for Industrial 5G Development

Across the globe, regulators are taking various steps to encourage non-telecoms industry to participate in the development of a 5G ecosystem.  The promise of 5G goes beyond enhanced connectivity and download speeds for consumers to being a force for economic uplift within the enterprise sector as well.  To this end, regulators are encouraging 5G development through policies such as temporary spectrum licenses, enhancing the interoperability capabilities of private 5G networks, or developing 5G testbeds accessible for businesses.  These policies are generally done in concert with moves from private industry to support take-up and trialing of 5G services by enterprise.  This brief post reviews and analyzes some of the recent moves in the month of March 2022 from regulators trying to encourage industrial 5G development. Continue reading “Regulatory Roundup: Regulators Are Making Moves to Drive Industrial 5G, but Deeper Cooperation with Industry Partners Is Needed” →

Radian Arc, the Tiny Edge Infrastructure Provider Driving 5G Monetization

by Malcolm Rogers, posted in Big Data, Cloud Enable

Summary Bullets:

M. Rogers

• Radian Arc, a Perth-based edge infrastructure provider is helping telco monetize 5G with cloud gaming, but is turning its sights on enterprise applications.

• Radian Arc’s built for purpose edge infrastructure and partner marketplace could offer a template for a CAPEX free way for telcos to monetize 5G.

Radian Arc, founded only in 2020, is making a name for itself in the emerging cloud gaming industry. Cloud gaming works largely the same way as video streaming services, with content and processing stored and run on remote servers with the visual outputs of the game being streamed to an end user device. Radian Arc, however, is not a gaming company, instead positioning as an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provider, specifically focusing on providing graphical processing unit (GPU) and storage solutions. However, unlike IaaS providers in the public cloud space like AWS or Azure, or traditional private cloud IaaS, Radian Arc is focused exclusively on delivering their infrastructure at the edge of telecom operator networks.

Continue reading “Radian Arc, the Tiny Edge Infrastructure Provider Driving 5G Monetization” →