Author: Rob Pritchard

Tech Giants Team to Form Climate Impact Symbiosis Coalition

by Rob Pritchard, posted in Big Data, IT Leader

Robert Pritchard July 2022 100

Summary Bullets:

• Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Salesforce to pursue nature-based carbon removal procurement in their sustainability efforts, and to encourage others to follow suit.

• Large tech companies continue to lead in the battle against climate change, whilst also being major consumers of energy, water, and other natural resources.

Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Salesforce have formed the Symbiosis Coalition, which aims to facilitate an “advanced market commitment” (AMC) of up to 20 million tons of nature-based carbon removal credits (defined as “measurable, verifiable emission reductions from certified climate action projects”). The agreement is believed to be “the first and largest AMC ever” (surely being the first, it must be the largest…) for nature-based carbon removal, equating in volume to the 2030 carbon removal goals of the state of California.

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Lower Emissions, Circularity, and Repurposing Street Furniture for Sustainability in the UK

by Rob Pritchard, posted in Communicate, Internet of Things, IT Leader, Network
R. Pritchard

Summary Bullets:

• Virgin Media O2 reports significant direct carbon emissions reductions, climate-related efficiencies through smart meters, and progress in the circular economy with device refurbishment and reuse.

• BT’s trial of repurposed street cabinets for vehicle charging adds to initiatives and innovations that illustrate potential power of action by tech companies and customers.

In the week reported, the world’s oceans have broken temperature records every single day of 2023 and – shortly after – the UK government was defeated in court for not doing enough to meet its targets for cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, it is encouraging to see telcos in the UK addressing the global climate crisis.

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UK Telcos Mark World Earth Day

by Rob Pritchard, posted in Communicate, IT Leader
R. Pritchard

Summary Bullets:

• UK telcos are using Earth Day to launch new climate change and circular economy initiatives for all types of customers from consumers to businesses.

• Selling benefits like cost savings and guaranteeing refurbished equipment alongside providing emissions reduction training, advice, and tools enable further sustainability progress.

April 22, 2024 marks Earth Day, which highlights the importance of protecting the environment. The impact of climate change is becoming more of a daily event worldwide as evidenced by reports of unprecedented flooding in Dubai (UAE) and Guangdong (China) in just the past seven days. Telcos in the UK are using Earth Day to launch and re-emphasize initiatives and programs they are undertaking to address the challenge of CO2 reduction.

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Orange Business Flux Vision Uses AI to Address Sustainability Challenges

by Rob Pritchard, posted in Big Data, IT Leader

R. Pritchard

Summary Bullets:

• Orange Business has enhanced its Flux Vision real-time population flow observation tool with measurement of carbon footprints produced by the movement of people and goods.

• Using anonymized technical data points and AI-driven analysis, it helps local authorities, and tourism, distribution, and transport customers address sustainability challenges and save money.

Orange Business Flux Vision is a real-time population flow observation tool that provides anonymized data from the company’s mobile network. Launched ten years ago, the GDPR-compliant solution helps in implementing development strategies by local authorities and customers in the tourism, distribution, and transport industries.

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European Commission Agrees Data Center Emissions Reporting Act

by Rob Pritchard, posted in Big Data, Cloud Enable, Communicate, IT Leader
R. Pritchard

Summary Bullets:

• The European Commission (EC) continues to set the benchmark for sustainability reporting in technology as part of the European Energy Efficiency Directive (EEED).

• Signs of ongoing innovation to mitigate climate damage from data centers and use scarce resources as efficiently as possible as demand continues to grow.

The European Union’s climate goals aim to “enhance present and future energy security and affordability.” With the information and communication technology (ICT) sector as a focus for sustainability, the EC notes that in 2018, the energy consumption of data centers in the EU was 76.8 TWh. This is expected to rise by 28% to 98.5 TWh by 2030, with data centers accounting for 3.2% of energy demand by 2030 (2018: 2.7%). It notes that “these projections are expected to be revised upwards considering the strong growth of emerging services and technologies such as streaming, cloud gaming, blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and virtual reality.”

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Need For AI Data Center Efficiency Drives Innovation

by Rob Pritchard, posted in Big Data, Cloud Enable, Communicate
R. Pritchard

Summary Bullets:

• SKT is partnering to use targeted liquid cooling with thermal fluids to lower the temperature of the hottest server components in its AI data centers.

• Industry estimates indicate AI will accelerate data center power and water consumption to the equivalent of major developed countries – causing growing concern.

South Korea Telecom (SKT), the South Korean communications company that is positioning itself as ‘an AI company,’ has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Iceotope Technologies and SK Enmove to collaborate on the development of liquid cooling solutions to optimize the energy efficiency of its AI data centers because air conditioning and cooling systems consume the largest amount of energy in data centers. It has been calculated that AI will cause energy usage at data centers to double from their present levels: The International Energy Agency (IEA) sees electricity consumption from data centers, AI, and cryptocurrency doubling by 2026, having globally consumer an estimated 460 TeraWatt-hours (TWh) in 2022. If that happened, demand would be roughly equivalent to the electricity consumption of Japan.

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Financial Engineering Driving the Rise of NetCos

by Rob Pritchard, posted in Communicate
R. Pritchard

Summary Bullets:

• Virgin Media O2, Liberty Global, and Telefónica announce ‘NetCo,’ a wholesale national fiber provider to secure new financing and consolidate the UK altnet market.

• Fragmentation of the value chain illustrates a shift from the end-to-end infrastructure-to-customer ownership model to a layered model focused on separated wholesale and retail operations.

On February 16, 2024, Virgin Media O2, Liberty Global, and Telefónica announced plans to form a national fixed network company (NetCo) in the UK, focused on completing Virgin Media O2’s full-fiber network rollout and opening up opportunities to explore new sources of finance as well as to facilitate consolidation among altnets. The goal is to be positioned as the leading nationwide challenger to BT Group’s Openreach. The NetCo will complete the current ongoing upgrade program of overlaying full fiber on the existing cable network.

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Partner or Do – a Telco Technology Dilemma

by Rob Pritchard, posted in Communicate, Internet of Things, Mobilize, Secure
R. Pritchard

Summary Bullets:

• Vodafone has partnered Microsoft for generative AI (GenAI) and to scale its soon-to-be standalone IoT business with the goal of targeting over 300 million business and consumer customers.

• Telcos need to make difficult decisions over what they need to keep in-house as market differentiators and where they need to partner for best-of-breed solutions.

On January 16, 2024, Vodafone and Microsoft announced a 10-year strategic partnership “to bring generative AI, digital services, and the cloud to more than 300 million businesses and consumers” across Vodafone’s footprint in Europe and Africa. Vodafone is to invest $1.5 billion over that period in cloud and customer-focused AI services in conjunction with Microsoft, with Microsoft returning the favor by using Vodafone’s fixed and mobile connectivity services. Microsoft also intends to invest in Vodafone’s managed IoT connectivity platform as it becomes a standalone business by April 2024 (for more details, please see: Vodafone’s Microsoft AI and IoT Partnership is Bold but Raises Vendor-Neutrality Questions, January 16, 2024).

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UK Full-Fiber and 5G Rollout Going Well

by Rob Pritchard, posted in Communicate, Internet of Things, Mobilize, Network
R. Pritchard

Summary Bullets:

• Ofcom’s analysis shows substantial progress in the nationwide availability of superfast fixed broadband and 5G – crucial business enablers in the SME segment.

• Beyond faster connectivity for everyday office, admin, and communications, a growing range of case-specific solutions are being enabled to improve efficiency.

UK regulator Ofcom has updated its ‘Connected Nations’ report with 2023 availability figures for broadband and mobile services in the UK, including the rollout of fixed full-fiber and 5G mobile networks. With an estimated GBP7.9 billion invested in UK telecoms infrastructure in 2022 (GBP5.6 billion fixed, GBP1.8 billion mobile, GBP600 million ‘other’), full-fiber broadband is now available at 57% of UK residential premises (2022: 42%), and gigabit-capable broadband coverage levels now exceed 78% of UK premises (70% in 2022).

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Time to Move to Smart Enterprise Customer Segmentation

by Rob Pritchard, posted in Communicate, Network
R. Pritchard

Summary Bullets:

• Identifying the most valuable enterprise customers is a challenge, but in a highly competitive world, service providers must exploit smarter segmentation to survive and thrive.

• One-size-fits-all targeting based on number of employees is easy, but complacent. Growth comes from identifying small and medium-sized businesses that are the 10% driving productivity.

UK government number crunchers for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have found that ‘the most efficient 10% of businesses were responsible for 63% growth in UK labor productivity between 2011 and 2019 (1998-2007: 49%).’

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