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Elon Musk has announced that his SpaceX Starlink project, which aims to deliver global broadband service through a satellite constellation, will go live in October — a month later than what was planned.Musk took to Twitter to confirm that the company received “good feedback” from its Starlink beta 10 users, and that there were now plans to roll out beta 10.1, which beta users can request from this Friday, ahead of an official launch next month.Beta services are currently operating in 11 different countries. SpaceX outlined as part of beta services, users can expect to see data speeds vary from 50Mbps to 150Mbps and latency from 20ms to 40ms in “most locations over the next several months” while the Starlink system continues to be enhanced. There will also be brief periods of no connectivity at all, the company added.The company shipped 100,000 terminals to customers in August. At the time, Musk noted licence approval to provide telco services remained pending in “many more countries”. In other SpaceX news, the company’s first private crewed mission arrived safely back to Earth on Saturday. After three days orbiting the Earth at altitudes of 590 kilometres above the Earth’s surface, the Inspiration4 crew splashed down off the coast of Florida at 7:06 pm EDT, 18 September, 2021, in the fully automated Crew Dragon spacecraft.

On board were four crew members: Shift4 Payments founder and CEO Jared Issacman, cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux, geoscientist Sian Proctor, and aerospace employee Chris Sembroski. They each underwent six months of training prior to launch.   During their multi-day journey, the crew carried out scientific research to improve human health on Earth and during future long-duration spaceflights. Some of the research involved measuring movement, sleep, heart rate and rhythm, bloody oxygen, cabin noise, and light intensity.The Inspiration4 mission also fundraised more than $210 million to help children with cancer at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. RELATED COVERAGE More

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Among the “servitization” of all things tech infrastructure at Lenovo Tech World this month, the company announced a smattering of new Windows laptops, Chromebooks, and Android tablets. Its new ThinkPads will be among the first to ship Windows 11, and the new Chromebook follows up Lenovo’s breakout 10″ Duet 2-in-1 by upping the screen size to 13″. While, like the recently announced HP Chromebook 11 X2, it has a Snapdragon processor and a second USB-C connector, it lacks the down-market portable charm of the first Duet but comes in well under the price of the forthcoming HP.But one feature of Lenovo’s new Android tablets was the most significant from a cross-device standpoint as they will be the first client devices to support Lenovo’s Project Unity. On the surface, the effort seems like an answer to Apple’s Sidecar feature, which allows an iPad to serve as an external display to a Mac. However, unlike Sidecar or other options like Duet that would enable an Android tablet to serve as an external display for a PC or Mac, Unity allows the continued use of Android apps in “second screen” mode because screen extension is done via an app. It’s a useful feature, albeit one that may become less advantageous over time if Microsoft can fully execute on its now-delayed plans to integrate Android apps into Windows 11. While Wi-Fi will be the go-to way to connect the devices at launch, Lenovo says it is exploring other connection means.

With Unity, secondary screens are paired with a PC via a QR code. (This may remind some of Lenovo’s early work with SHAREit, a local cross-platform file sharing app that the PC maker eventually spun out.) Lenovo hints, though, that Unity is far more ambitious than just extending screens in that it is based on Lenovo’s UDS (users-devices-services) ecosystem. Little has been said publicly about UDS, but Lenovo has confirmed that users will have to be logged into their Lenovo accounts to use Project Unity and that elements of UDS are included in both the Windows and Android apps, enabling Project Unity features. As for why the functionality is limited to Lenovo’s forthcoming tablets, the company explains that it requires at least Android 11 or later from the client-side.While smartphone heavyweights Samsung and Xiaomi both offer Windows PCs and Android tablets, Project Unity takes advantage of Lenovo’s standing as the only of the “Big Three” PC vendors that crosses that platform divide. Nonetheless, its Lenovo-branded Android business is a small one compared to that of Motorola, which has seen a comeback even as many of its feature phone-era contemporary brands have faded. One may chalk that up in part to Lenovo taking a hands-off approach to the pioneering cellular brand. Indeed, having both Lenovo PCs and Motorola smartphones driving the company’s ThinkReality A3 glasses represents a rare brand crossover.But Motorola smartphones are so far sitting out Project Unity. Rather, Motorola launched its own cross-device screen outreach feature, dubbed “Ready for.” It includes such features as a DeX-like desktop environment (with distant echoes of the line’s Atrix 4G laptop dock) for external monitors and usage as a more capable webcam for PCs. Lenovo’s PC and phone businesses can justify separating the initiatives names in that the phone features have nothing to do technically with Project Unity. Still, the broad connotation of that name and the hints Lenovo has dropped about its ambitious roadmap make the separation a missed opportunity for now. That said, if, as was shown during a Lenovo Tech World video segment, Project Unity can find relevance in the company’s modest Smart Clock, Motorola could eventually play into Project Unity while preserving “Ready for” as a distinct set of features.PREVIOUS AND RELATED CONTENTLenovo Project Unity allows tablet to extend PCs while using native functions. The new wireless connectivity app will be available on the new Lenovo Tab P12 Pro tablet.

For laptops, multiple options for multiple screensFrom a simple way to steal a glance at your smartphone to slide-out second screens, a host of options provide the benefits of multiple displays to laptops.Apple Sidecar: Use your iPad as a second screen for your MacApple’s new Catalina and iPadOS updates make your iPad more useful than ever.   More

Alphabet’s X ‘moonshot labs’ has beamed 700TB of data across the Congo River, offering a potentially cheaper alternative to laying fiber cables in difficult terrain. Google’s solution for crossing the Congo River is to create a connection between Brazzaville and Kinshasa that relies on “free space” optics, which was also used to transmit data in its now shut down Loon project. It uses light to transmit data between two points, in this case a 4.8 kilometer distance that would required a 400 km land route for fiber due to the river. Connectivity is five times more expensive in Kinshasa because the fiber connection has so far to travel. 

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The Taara links sent 700 TB of data over 20 days with 99.9% availability. That’s like “watching a FIFA World Cup match in HD 270,000 times”, the Taara team note. SEE: Fiber vs. cable: What is the difference?The optical wireless beams link up with ISPs or cell providers’ file-optic networks, in this case African provider Econet’s. Taara’s technical advances on wireless optical communication come from the Taara terminals’ ability to search and find the other sensor’s beam of light, and then “lock-in” to create a high-bandwidth connection. The technology is affected by things like fog, haze and disturbances from wildlife, but Taara’s director of engineering, Baris Erkmen, reckons it is viable to deliver faster, lower-cost connectivity to the 17 million people living in these two cities. 

So long as there is a clear line of sight, Taara can transmit data up to 20 Gbps between two points up to 20 km apart. They are intended to extend existing fiber networks.   “Taara’s terminals search for each other, detect the other’s beam of light, and lock-in like a handshake to create a high-bandwidth connection,” Erkman explains. Taara engineers have been refining its atmospheric sensing, mirror controls and motion-detection capabilities to help Taara terminals automatically respond to changes in the environment and maintain a robust connection.”These techniques combined with better pointing and tracking capabilities have meant that when Taara’s beam has been affected by haze, light rain, or birds (or a curious monkey) we’ve not seen any service interruptions,” noted Erkmen. SEE: Quantum cryptography: This air-filled fiber optic cable can transport un-hackable keys, say researchersX sees potential for the wireless optical technology to extend fiber networks around forests, water bodies, railway tracks, or land with high real-estate costs. While Loon shared some larger goals with Space X’s Starlink satellite constellation, X’s wireless optical technology appears to be less ambitious but possibly still practical for large parts of the world, according to its map of viable locations below that are shaded in red. 
Alphabet

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A new research paper by the Productivity Commission has indicated that while working from home is not for everyone, it is likely to stay even after the COVID-19 pandemic.The research paper [PDF] found that prior to the pandemic, about 8% of people regularly worked from home. These people were most likely female, older than those who did not work from home, worked part-time, provided care for children and people with disability, and lived in regional or remote areas. This percentage, however, increased to 40%, even when stay-at-home orders eased in early 2021. “While this percentage may not always remain so high it is inevitable that more Australians will work from home,” Productivity Commission chair Michael Brennan said.The report also showed that the pandemic created a “forced experiment” on workers and firms when it came to working from home, showing many jobs — mainly those occupations that typically use computers and require less public interaction — could work remotely. The report highlighted some benefits that came with working from home included cost and time savings as employees did not have to commute into work, the ability to work effectively from home, and flexibility to combine paid work with other tasks. More control over time, including giving people time to sleep, exercise, and cook nutritious food were also cited as benefits. There are also downsides to working from home, the report said. It pointed out working from home could have long-term effects on career prospects as it reduces opportunities for networking and face-to-face interaction with managers, as well as mental and physical health effects due to increased social isolation and hours of work. The Productivity Commission said it expected workers and firms to negotiate what working-from-home arrangements would look like going forward, dubbing it the “second wave of experimentation” involving some trial and error. A so-called hybrid model where workers split their time between the office and home is also anticipated to be a popular outcome.

“Working from home won’t suit everyone or every business but for many employees working from home arrangements will be a factor in deciding which job to take,” Brennan said.”Some employees have even indicated they would be prepared to take less pay in return for the ability to work from home.”These findings are further echoed by research that Microsoft carried out internally. According to Microsoft ANZ chief operating officer Steven Miller, nearly three-quarters of staff wanted to return to the office to collaborate in-person with co-workers and for social interaction but at the same time, they enjoyed skipping the commute into the office and a healthy work-life balance. He described this feedback as a paradox that many companies will face post-pandemic and something that would need to be considered.”Every leader, every organisation will need to create new operating models across people, places, and process, and those same companies will need to have a better employee experience for all employees, whether that be in the virtual boardroom or on the factory floor, or the retail store. Those companies that attract and retain their better talent will thrive in the next phase of our post-pandemic recovery,” Miller said. The Productivity Commission report also noted the potential role that regulation could play as work-from-home arrangements grow. It raised questions about what health and safety risks could arise when working from home, what responsibilities firms have to address common household risks, and how firms could ensure workers have the “right to disconnect”. It warned that government needed to monitor regulations to “ensure they are safe and fair as well as flexible and efficient, and continue to reflect the reality of many people’s daily work”, but it believes no immediate action needs to be taken. “On balance working from home can unlock significant gains in terms of flexibility and time for employees and could even increase the nation’s productivity,” Brennan said.”Risks can be managed but we should keep an eye on them and be ready to intervene if necessary.”Westpac switches branch legacy phone system for Microsoft Teams CallingWestpac said it will begin rolling out Microsoft Teams Calling at all its branches to support its increasingly remote workforce.The move will see Westpac consolidate its multiple legacy phone and voicemail systems into a single cloud-based platform that will allow voicemails to be transcribed in Teams and access via mobile phone. The move comes off the back of Westpac deploying software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) technology in all branches last year to improve the speed of internet and technology capabilities.”The SD-WAN deployment last year really set the foundation for us to deliver improved digital solutions in branches,” Westpac workplaces services head Paul McKenna said. “MS Teams Calling means our branch employees are able to answer customer calls from anywhere, which is particularly important as employees in some COVID hotspots are working remotely.”Since deploying SD-WAN in branches, Westpac said it has also commenced the rollout of the technology in its corporate sites and will start deployment in international offices next year. Related Coverage More

Cisco
Cisco executives on Wednesday outlined the strategic pillars that will drive forward its business over the next four years, forecasting revenue and earnings growth of 5% to 7% through 2025. At the 2021 Investor Day, the company said it’s targeting a $400 billion total addressable market (TAM) in existing and expansion markets and another $500 billion of potential TAM in adjacent markets. 
Cisco
“It’s clear we’re not opportunity constrained,”  Liz Centoni, Cisco Chief Strategy Officer and GM of applications, said at the event. “There are meaningful opportunities in each of our existing markets with ample room to penetrate even further within each one… The expansion markets are large, and they’re growing with significant opportunities tied to higher CAGRs.”CEO Chuck Robbins said the future of the business will stand on six technology areas: secure, agile networks; hybrid work; security; internet for the future; optimized application experiences; and capabilities at the edge. “Those are the technology areas we think are leading customers in multi-year investment cycles,” Robbins said. 
Cisco
Meanwhile, from a business model perspective, Cisco is in an ongoing effort to increase increase its subscription software revenue. When Robbins took the helm of Cisco in 2015, the company brought in $3.4 billion in subscription software. In fiscal year 2021, it was nearly $12 billion. Eighty percent of Cisco’s software is now sold as a subscription. Meanwhile, Cisco’s $15 billion in FY 21 software revenue makes it one of the 10 biggest software companies in the world, noted CFO Scott Herren. “That’s a very under-appreciated aspect of the transition we’ve made over the years,” he said. 
Cisco

Robbins acknowledged the vision for Cisco’s future is complex. “The technology we build and deliver — it’s a broad portfolio, and it is complicated,” he said. He added, however, “We have probably the most precise execution tied back to our strategy that we’ve had in as long as I can remember.”Robbins highlighted Cisco’s growing business with web scalers and its focus on the cloud as an example of the company’s evolution over recent years. The webscale space now represents 30% of Cisco’s service provider segment. “Four or five years ago, cloud was viewed as a negative headwind for Cisco,” Robbins said. On a later conference call, he added, “This existential threat that was cloud five years ago has now become a driver of not only our overall business [but also] our transformation, which is contributing to the subscription space.” More

Dubbed Grace Hopper, the subsea cable uses new optical fiber switching to boost capacity.
Image: Google
Google has completed the UK leg of its private trans-Atlantic subsea cable connecting the US, the UK and Spain, offering it more secure connections than what’s available on the public internet. Dubbed Grace Hopper after the computer science pioneer who among many other things helped design the COBOL programming language, the subsea cable uses new optical fiber switching to boost capacity. 

Google funded the subsea 16-fibre pair cable that connects New York to Bude, Cornwall, about 250 miles south of London, and Bilbao on Spain’s Atlantic north coast. It will also support Google’s new cloud region in Madrid. SEE: Is remote working good or bad? Big tech companies just can’t seem to decideThe Grace Hopper cable is a milestone for Google as it’s the company’s first self-funded cable to the UK and similarly was the first self-funded cable to Spain. It’s also one of the first new cables to connect the US and the UK since 2003.Google says it signals its ongoing investments in the UK to support users of its core products, such as Google Maps, Search, Gmail, various Workspace apps, and Meet, as well as UK tech firms that use Google Cloud Platform.”Improving the diversity and resilience of Google’s network is crucial to our ability to continue supporting one of the UK’s most vital sectors, as well as its long-term economic success,” says Jayne Stowell, a strategic negotiator for Google Cloud’s global infrastructure.

The other selling point of the subsea cable is that it supports video meetings and other online services that became essential to replacing in-person meetings during the pandemic.  “With the ongoing pandemic fostering a new digital normal, Google-funded subsea cables allow us to plan and prepare for the future capacity needs of our customers, no matter where they are in the world. Grace Hopper will connect the UK to help meet the rapidly growing demand for high-bandwidth connectivity and services,” says Stowell. “The multi-directional switching architecture is a significant breakthrough for uncertain times, and will more tightly integrate the upcoming Google Cloud region in Madrid into our global infrastructure,” she added. Google’s other subsea cables include Curie, between Chile and Los Angeles; Equiano, between Portugal and South Africa; Dunant, which connects the US and France, along with a Havfrue link in Denmark; the recently announced subsea cable called Apricot, connecting Singapore, Japan, Guam, the Philippines, Taiwan and Indonesia; and the companion Echo subsea cable connecting the US, Singapore, Guam and Indonesia.Across the world undersea cables are becoming part of the geopolitical calculations of many countries. And the Atlantic Council, a US think tank, this week raised an alarm about threats to subsea internet cable infrastructure. “The undersea cables that carry Internet traffic around the world are an understudied and often underappreciated element of modern Internet geopolitics, security, and resilience. It is estimated that upwards of 95 percent of intercontinental Internet traffic is carried over these cables,” the Atlantic Council warned in a paper urging the Biden Administration to bolster protections for this infrastructure. SEE: Video meeting overload is real. Here’s how you can to stop the stress building upThe council has particular concerns about China’s growing influence on private subsea cables through its own internet giants. “Authoritarian governments, especially in Beijing, are reshaping the Internet’s physical layout through companies that control Internet infrastructure, to route data more favorably, to route data more favorably, gain better control of internet chokepoints, and potentially gain espionage advantage,” it notes. “Second, more companies that manage undersea cables are using network management systems to centralize control over active components (such as reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADMs) and robotic patch bays in remote network operations centers), which introduces new levels of operational security risk. Third, the explosive growth of cloud computing has increased the volume and sensitivity of data crossing these cables.” More

Juniper Networks on Tuesday announced updates to its enterprise portfolio that will make it easier for organizations to deploy, operate and troubleshoot campus networks. The enhancements include a new campus fabric management capability that should help enterprises handle the growing number of mobile and IoT devices on their networks. Juniper is also expanding the capabilities of the the Marvis Virtual Network Assistant, to offer more proactive problem remediation.Both updates are ultimately about improving the user experience, said Christian Gilby, Juniper’s Senior Director of Product Marketing for the AI-driven enterprise. “It’s about the user device experience, but it’s also about IT experience,” he told ZDNet. “I think that’s been one of the things that the industry has really not paid enough attention to in the past — how do we make it easier for an IT team to manage and operate the network, especially if you look at what’s been going on devices-wise. You’ve got more and more devices coming into the network, and you’ve got to start to automate and leverage AI, so that you can deal with all of those devices.”Juniper is giving customers AI-driven campus fabric management capabilities via Juniper Mist Wired Assurance, the platform used to manage wired access in the campus. With EVPN-VXLAN campus fabric management, customers will be able to segment traffic in critical ways. A health care customer, for example, may have to segment its network to handle a growing number of device types, from patient smartphones connecting to Netflix to heart monitors and infusion pumps. Traditionally, campus networks have used VLANs for fabric management, but that solution doesn’t offer the ability to scale or segregate traffic as today’s device landscape requires. “For example, you don’t want an HVAC system on the same network as point of sale, because historically a lot of those security breaches have happened there,” Gilby said. “So it’s all about how do we secure the network and do it with simplicity.”

The Juniper Mist Cloud gives administrators a simple UI from which they can choose a topology, define networks of interest, identify required physical connections and apply the correct underlying policies.Meanwhile, Juniper is also expanding the Marvis Virtual Network Assistant (VNA) for AI-driven, proactive troubleshooting. Marvis Actions takes insight derived from the Mist AI engine, such as the root cause of a problem, and recommends solutions for IT managers. Juniper is adding new actions, including persistently failing wired/wireless clients, bad cables, access point (AP) coverage holes, bad WAN links and insufficient RF capacity, among others.   One of Juniper’s customers, a large retailer, used the service to analyze its more than 150,000 store access points. It found coverage holes in seven of its stores. “It’s for needle in the haystack kinds of problems, and this is what AI is really well suited to do,” Gilby said.

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The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has charged former Vocus chair Vaughan Garfield Bowen for allegedly performing insider trading after he sold millions of the company’s shares just prior to the announcement it had failed to be acquired for the third time in as many years.Bowen has been charged with two counts of insider trading for disposing of over 5.6 million shares. Bowen allegedly had inside knowledge of EQT Infrastructure withdrawing its proposal to acquire Vocus in June 2019.Bowen is currently an executive director for Uniti Group and was the founder of M2 Group, which merged with Vocus in 2016. Following the merger, Bowen had a stint as Vocus’ chairman in early 2018 [PDF]. EQT Infrastructure had offered to acquire Vocus at AU$5.25 per share in May 2019, but the deal fell through a few weeks later during the deal’s due diligence process.At the time, Vocus had received interest from various potential suitors, but it repeatedly could not seal the deal. In 2017, private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co and Affinity Equity Partners both submitted separate offers to acquire Vocus, but both of those offers were eventually terminated due to the network provider missing its FY17 net profit guidance.Two years later, EQT Infrastructure put out its offer before quickly rescinding it. Energy provider AGL then presented an offer shortly after, but that was also dropped due to there not being “sufficient certainty of creating value”.Vocus was finally acquired in June of this year after a consortium consisting of Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) and superannuation fund Aware Super bought the network provider for around AU$3.5 billion, or AU$5.50 per share.

MIRA started its chase of Vocus at the start of February, while Aware Super joined the fray later that month after it was spurned by greenfields fibre company Opticomm last year.If found guilty, Bowen could face up to 30 years of imprisonment.Bowen will face a committal mention hearing in the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria in December. RELATED COVERAGE More