Qualcomm Incorporated announced that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., is working closely with Baidu in the implementation of the Qualcomm IZat Integrated Hardware Location Platform, which will be available in the latest generation of Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets across all tiers.

The IZat Integrated Hardware Location Platform integrates conventional GNSS positioning and sensor-based positioning with terrestrial positioning techniques using cellular network and Wi-Fi positioning available from Baidu. The fused position information, when combined with user motion and contextual information obtained from sensors (such as accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer) is designed to improve positioning accuracy and coverage, reduce power consumption of mobile phones and bring optimal user experiences to smartphone users. The IZat Integrated Hardware Location Platform will also support optimized features and capabilities such as low-power location tracking, low-power geo-fencing, and sensor based pedestrian navigation particularly in challenging outdoor or indoor environments.

Canadian telecommunications provider K-Mobile announced it will hire 100 Syrian refugees as the company expands to 250 stores across the Greater Toronto Area. The refugees will be among 1,000 new hires the company is planning is part of its expansion.

Small Cell Forum has appointed David Orloff as its new Chair, replacing outgoing Chair Alan Law.  As director of RAN product introduction at AT&T, Orloff brings a wealth of real world, dense network deployment experience, which will help him lead SCF’s new work program to lay the groundwork for 5G.

EyeLock LLC, a provider of iris-based identity authentication solutions, announced new technology that authenticates identities at distances of 60 cm, with glasses, contact lenses and daylight. The technology is architected for implementation across smartphones and mobile devices, as well as automotive, healthcare and other edge-of-network applications.