AT&T this week announced it’s giving away a Roku Premiere streaming device to DirecTV Now customers when they prepay for two months of service. The carrier said the move will help customers explore new ways to experience TV programming.
“Consumers want premium live TV with even more choice and flexibility, which DirecTV Now provides,” Brad Bentley, EVP and CMO for AT&T Entertainment Group, said. “But those looking to cut the cable cord may not always know the best place to start. We’re making it easy by eliminating up-front cost and providing a cost-effective solution to stream the content they crave from their living room couches.”
Verizon is now giving enterprise customers the option to pay as they go using its Hosted Network Services instead of purchasing and installing proprietary hardware in their data center locations.
“Hosted Network Services enables our enterprise customers to deploy and maintain services quickly, securely, and reliably,” said Shawn Hakl, VP of new products and innovation at Verizon. “Coupled with our enterprise orchestration and other virtual network services, Hosted Network Services gives our customers access to one of the most comprehensive end-to-end service delivery and application libraries on the market.”
Additionally, with the introduction of this common hosted services platform, Secure Cloud Interconnect (SCI) customers can also now take advantage of the flexibility of Virtual Network Services with their cloud resources.
Verizon has been focused on software-defined networking/network function virtualization (SDN/NFV) since 2015 when it launched the first globally managed software-defined wide area network (SD WAN) service. Since then, the company has deployed additional service-chained applications, including its virtualized edge uCPE deployment model and enterprise orchestration. Verizon said its Hosted Network Services offering is compatible with those delivery models, as well as with Verizon’s traditional network offerings, for service-chained applications at the edge. These services can be deployed across different access options – including private MPLS VPNs to dedicated internet, broadband, and wireless access – in over 30 global locations.
Additional expansions will continue throughout this year, the carrier noted.
U.S. Cellular is offering a free iPhone 7 to all new customers who switch and turn in a qualifying smartphone. Eligible trade-ins include the iPhone 5s or Samsung Galaxy S6 or better in undamaged working condition. Alternatively, current customers who upgrade to any new iPhone will receive a $100 promo card in store to purchase accessories, and those purchasing the 9.7-inch iPad Pro will save $200 off the regular price.
Huawei has partnered with Tableau to provide comprehensive big data services via mutual authentication of Huawei’s FusionInsight big data platform and Tableau’s data visualization software.
Huawei’s FusionInsight is a converged data processing and service platform for customers in various industries. It integrates the Hadoop ecosystem, massively parallel processing database (MPPDB), and big data cloud services.
Tableau’s data visualization software visualizes data for customers, assisting them in analyzing and sharing that data.
Huawei indicated its partnership with Tableau will provide customers with more comprehensive and diversified big data processing and analysis solutions.
Actility, a provider of Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN), and Canadian communication service provider IoTCAN have launched a LoRaWAN network covering the Greater Toronto area. This is first step in the rollout of a national IoT network in Canada, the companies said.
IoTCAN reported it is working with several key partners to provide carrier-grade fully-integrated customizable solutions, encompassing different elements of the IoT value chain in the LPWAN segment, including devices, network, and application layers. Actility’s contribution is the ThingPark IoT technology platform and experience in nationwide LPWAN deployments globally.
IoTCAN expects to have expanded to more than 300 sites by the year-end, covering major metropolitan and industrial areas in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, and British Columbia.
