Telefónica carries tele-surgery over 5G

Telefónica demonstrated an expert assistance system for medical interventions using an Augmented Reality (AR) system over a 5G connection.

The demonstration occurred at the IV Advanced Digestive Endoscopy Conference.

The presentation covered seven digestive endoscopy surgeries by two world leaders in endoscopy. Dr Pedro Rosón Rodríguez, Head of the Digestive System Service of the Quirónsalud Málaga Hospital, who conducted the surgery from the Endoscopy Room at Quirónsalud Málaga, had the supervision and advice from Japan of Dr Katsumi Yamamoto, director of the Endoscopy Centre of Osaka Hospital.

A Huawei 5G CPE (Customer Provider Equipment) managed both inbound and outbound communications.

Following this operation, there are plans to conduct a similar one using once again Telefónica's 5G technology.  This time Dr Pedro Rosón will advise directly on an operation to be carried out on a patient at the Poniente Hospital in El Ejido (Almería), a centre run by the Andalusian health service and carried out by Dr Francisco Gallego, head of the Endoscopy service at this hospital.

https://www.telefonica.com/en/web/press-office/-/quironsalud-malaga-hospital-and-telefonica-present-the-first-system-of-expert-remote-assistance-to-surgeries-based-on-5g-and-the-integration-of-medica

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T-Mobile commits to more wind energy

T-Mobile US is launching its Solomon Forks Wind Project with ENGIE US Wind in Kansas and signing agreements with five additional clean energy sources across the country. These initiatives will bring the company to 95% of its RE100 commitment to use 100% renewable energy by 2021. Along with reducing energy consumption and building green facilities nationwide, T-Mobile is buying enough green power annually to account for every unit of electricity the company consumes. With the addition of today’s five new contracts, the Un-carrier is now participating in a total of EIGHT clean energy projects across the U.S. Once they’re all up and running, they will bring 3,017,000 MWh of green energy online.

"In 2018 we made a big industry-leading commitment to power ALL of T-Mobile — from cell towers to customer care centers to retail stores to headquarters — with renewable energy. Why? Simple. We know our operations have an impact on the environment and we want to do what we can to reduce that. Efforts like the ones we announced today just prove we continue to be ALL IN!” said John Legere, CEO at T-Mobile. “And by the way, I still challenge the other guys to do better and join us in our commitment to 100% green energy."

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Mavenir cites strong interest in OpenRAN

OpenRAN has strong industry momentum, according to a recent Mobile Operator survey on OpenRAN conducted by mobile industry analyst and consultant firm Senza Fili on behalf of Mavenir.

Key results of the survey:

• 100% of operators are considering using OpenRAN in key scenarios
• 43% of respondents are open to replace current vendors
• Cost savings were mentioned by 25% of respondents as a reason to consider multiple vendors
• 84% of operators will consider deploying RRUs and BBUs from different vendors in OpenRAN deployments
• Lower cost radios seen as a key component to OpenRAN interface adoption

Monica Paolini, Founder and President of Senza Fili, said, “There was overwhelming response to the operator survey. The trend shows great interest in moving to OpenRAN sooner rather than later.”

“Mavenir has been a pioneer of OpenRAN and open interfaces,” said John Baker, SVP Mavenir. “We’ve been participating in and driving OpenRAN business transformation so the results from this survey are very encouraging. For the first time in many years, opportunities for new suppliers in what has been a closed ecosystem, are now opening and operators are actively making this change happen.”

https://mavenir.com/buzz/press-releases/mavenir-survey-reveals-100-mobile-operators-plan-implement-openran

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Samsung announces 12-Layer 3D-TSV chip packaging

Samsung Electronics announced the industry's first 12-layer 3D-TSV (Through Silicon Via) technology.

Samsung's new packaging technology vertically interconnects 12 DRAM chips through a three-dimensional configuration of more than 60,000 TSV holes, each of which is one-twentieth the thickness of a single strand of human hair. The thickness of the package (720㎛) remains the same as current 8-layer High Bandwidth Memory-2 (HBM2) products, which is a substantial advancement in component design. In addition, the 3D packaging technology also features a shorter data transmission time between chips than the currently existing wire bonding technology, resulting in significantly faster speed and lower power consumption.

Samsung says that by increasing the number of stacked layers from eight to 12, it will be able to mass produce 24-gigabyte (GB) High Bandwidth Memory, which provides three times the capacity of 8GB high bandwidth memory on the market today.

“Packaging technology that secures all of the intricacies of ultra-performance memory is becoming tremendously important, with the wide variety of new-age applications, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and High Power Computing (HPC)," said Hong-Joo Baek, executive vice president of TSP (Test & System Package) at Samsung Electronics. "As Moore's law scaling reaches its limit, the role of 3D-TSV technology is expected to become even more critical. We want to be at the forefront of this state-of-the-art chip packaging technology."

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Sprint purchases 173MW of wind energy from Duke

Sprint signed a 12-year virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with Duke Energy for 173.3 megawatts (MW) of new wind energy. Duke Energy Renewables will build, own and operate the 182-MW Maryneal Windpower project located in Nolan County, Texas, that will come online in 2020. 

Sprint said this agreement will enable it to significantly reduce its carbon footprint and achieve approximately 30 percent renewable energy for its total electricity portfolio. The project will provide enough renewable energy to power the equivalent of more than 54,000 U.S. homes and will reduce carbon emissions equivalent to removing more than 96,000 cars from the road annually.

"Sprint is serious about minimizing its carbon impact, and operating as a more sustainable company," said Sprint Foundation Chairman Doug Michelman. "This wind project will help us make substantial progress towards offsetting the energy we use across our operations, including our headquarters, retail stores, call centers and cell towers."

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Avaya and RingCentral enter alliance

Avaya Holdings Corp. (AVYA) announced an exclusive strategic partnership with RingCentral.

Under the deal, Avaya will introduce "Avaya Cloud Office by RingCentral", a new global unified communications as a service (UCaaS) solution.

RingCentral is contributing $500 million to its partnership with Avaya, including a $125 million investment of 3% redeemable preferred equity that is convertible at $16 per share, representing an approximate 6% position in Avaya on as-converted basis. RingCentral will also pay Avaya an advance of $375 million primarily in stock for future payments and certain licensing rights.

In addition, Avaya’s Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program under which it may purchase up to $500 million of Avaya’s common stock. Avaya also announced plans to pay down $250 million of the principal debt under its Term Loan B.

“Avaya and RingCentral’s joint investment and commitment to bringing Avaya Cloud Office to market creates an unprecedented opportunity to accelerate the transition to the cloud with attractive economics for our customers and partners,” said Jim Chirico, President and CEO of Avaya. “This also gives us the opportunity to unlock value from a largely unmonetized base of our business as it brings compelling value to our customers and partners. We believe this highly complementary partnership is a game changer that expands the total addressable market for Avaya and creates meaningful value for both Avaya and RingCentral.”

“This strategic partnership leverages the respective strengths of Avaya and RingCentral to provide a definitive differentiated solution,” said Vlad Shmunis, Founder, Chairman and CEO of RingCentral. “We are excited to bring RingCentral’s leading UCaaS platform to Avaya’s installed base of over 100 million users and over 4,700 partners, providing long-term growth opportunities for both our companies.”

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