Networking

An NBN FttN node getting a Nokia line card installed
Image: Corinne Reichert/ZDNet
Sticking to its mantra that publishing long term forecasts could hurt the company responsible for the National Broadband Network, the NBN Co Corporate Plan 2022 has restricted itself to stating finances for the current fiscal year. “NBN Co is targeting annual revenue and other income in FY22 of between AU$5 billion to AU$5.2 billion and EBITDA in the range of AU$3 billion to AU$3.2 billion,” the company said in a rare mention of fiscal information. Unlike in years past, it did not state net profit nor capital expenditure for the coming year. Compared to the last year’s set of figures that did, the company said it was previously expecting revenue to be AU$5.3 billion, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) to be AU$3.3 billion, and to post a net loss of AU$2.2 billion. Capital expenditure for FY22 was previously flagged as AU$3.8 billion. On topics it would talk about, NBN said it was on track to get 75% of its footprint, around 8 million premises, capable of handling 1Gbps ultrafast speeds by 2023. Last year: Backflip to the home: NBN to upgrade FttN areas with fibre “From a total fixed-line network perspective, and in less than a year, the proportion of customers now able to access our ultrafast plans has doubled to 40% and is climbing higher every month,” CEO Stephen Rue and chair Ziggy Switkowski wrote. “We have also made considerable progress in our hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) network enhancement program. This program has seen the proportion of HFC customers able to access NBN Co’s higher [1Gbps] wholesale speed plan …. increase from 7% in May 2020, to 90% today.”

The company added that all 2.5 million HFC premises could access download speeds of up to 250Mbps. To hit its 75% target, NBN said its entire single-dwelling premises within the fibre to the curb (FttC) footprint would be able to be upgraded to full fibre connections when customers wanted speeds over 250Mbps. The first customers will be able to do so in 2022. The company added it has 11,000 complex installations remaining in its footprint. Rue and Switkowski added the network was tested and “passed with flying colours” in the previous year. Farewell, sweet forecasting table.
Image: NBN
NBN details 300,000 further FttN upgrade areas Building from its previous announcements, NBN said on Tuesday it had added 300,000 premises to its fibre to the node (FttN) upgrade plans, taking the total to 1.4 million premises. NBN is planning to make FttN on-demand upgrades available to 2 million premises when an order is placed for a service over 100Mbps. NBN is set to conduct a “small-scale launch” in November to allow the first customers to place orders with retailers for upgrades. The new areas to get upgrades are listed below, broken down by state. New South Wales Albion Park Rail, Alstonville, Ambarvale, Avalon Beach, Banora Point, Beaumont Hills, Berkeley, Brighton-Le-Sands, Broulee, Bundeena, Callala Bay, Callala Beach, Campbelltown, Currans Hill, Dalmeny, Farmborough Heights, Figtree, Glen Alpine, Glenmore Park, Glenwood, Goonellabah, Goulburn, Harrington Park, Kellyville, Kellyville Ridge, Keiraville, Lake Heights, Lennox Heads, Mollymook Beach, Mount Warrigal, North Nowra, Palm Beach, Pottsville, Rouse Hill, Ruse, Stanhope Gardens, Sussex Inlet, Sutherland, The Ponds, Tweed Heads, Tweed Heads South, Unanderra, Warrawong, Windang, Yamba. Victoria Beaconsfield, Berwick, Craigieburn, Echuca, Kialla, Mornington, Narre Warren South, Lakes Entrance, Myrtleford, Newport, Packenham, Port Fairy, Sunbury, Tarneit, Traralgon, Wangaratta, Warrnambool, Williamstown, Williamstown North, Woori Yallock. Queensland Battery Hill, Bellbowrie, Bli Bli, Brassall, Brinsmead, Coomera, Darling Heights, Edmonton, Condon, Harristown, Maroochydore, Moggill, Newtown, Oakey, Palm Cove, Redland Bay, Sippy Downs, Smithfield, Springfield Lakes, Toowoomba City, Upper Coomera, Yorkeys Knob. South Australia Clovelly Park, Craigmore, Findon, Mitchell Park, Morphett Vale, Rosewater, Woodville South. Western Australia Armadale, Atwell, Bassendean, Bayswater, Beaconsfield, Cannington, Claremont, Forrestfield, Fremantle, Innaloo, Morley, Myaree, Piarra Waters, Port Kennedy, Rockingham, Safety Bay, Seville Grove, Shoalwater, Stirling, Waikiki, Wattle Grove, White Gum Valley, Willagee, Wilson. Related Coverage More

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In such a short time, coronavirus has changed the way that we work and communicate, but thanks to video conferencing apps, it is now possible to do business from anywhere in the world. These apps have become an integral part of business, proving that they are here to stay, especially given the rise of the remote worker and teleworking.The right video conferencing app can provide everything you need for successful meetings and events in a world increasingly gone digital. But which is better when it comes to Zoom versus BlueJeans? We take a deep dive.

Multi-faceted tele-networking with intelligent workplace solutions

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Specs HD videoDolby Voice audioUnlimited recordingsTranscriptions in real-timeMeeting highlightsCustom performance analyticsAdvanced security featuresUnlimited 1:1 meetingsUnlimited group meetingsMeet for as long as neededFeaturesBlueJeans is trusted with the business of big companies like Adobe, Facebook, and Virgin.  There are several ways to meet using BlueJeans software, with multiple room systems all easily categorized for your use: BlueJeans Meetings: Enjoy secure virtual meetings.BlueJeans Events: Gain access to interactive live streaming for webinars and virtual events.BlueJeans Rooms: Use Rooms for private, intelligent workspaces.BlueJeans Gateway: Use Microsoft Teams rooms via Cloud Video Interop.BlueJeans Telehealth: Enjoy virtual healthcare with BlueJeans Telehealth.BlueJeans features one-touch access to several types of meeting platforms and is compatible with multiple devices and browsers for easy compatibility. There are upgraded security measures boasting enhanced HD video with Dolby Voice audio. An added benefit is that guests do not need an account to join your meeting, so you can still meet with whomever you like without the requirement of a paid subscription.  

How much does BlueJeans cost?

Plans and pricingThere are several plan options to use the BlueJeans platform. All plans come with unlimited 1:1 meetings and group meetings with the ability to meet for as long as needed.PlanPricePrimary featuresVirtual MeetingsBlueJeans Standard$12.49 host/mo$119.88 host/yrUp to 100 participantsFive hours of meeting recording per hostBlueJeans Pro$17.49 host/mo$167.88 host/yrUp to 150 participants25 hours of meeting recording per hostCommand Center AnalyticsSlack and Microsoft Teams workstream integrationsOkta and Splunk security integrationsBlueJeans Enterprise$19.99 host/mo$199.92 host/yrUp to 200 participantsUnlimited meeting recording per hostAutomated closed captioningReal-time transcriptionBrand customizationBlueJeans Enterprise PlusContact for quoteCustom licensing, access, and supportWebinars/EventsBlueJeans Video Webinars/Events – 100 attendees$99/mo$996/yrUnlimited non-concurrent webinarsMaximum two-hour webinarsAttendee workflow and reportingAttendee engagement featuresFacebook Live streamingAutomated closed captioningBlueJeans Video Webinars/Events – 200 attendees$379/mo$3,756/yrUnlimited non-concurrent webinarsMaximum two-hour webinarsAttendee workflow and reportingAttendee engagement featuresFacebook Live streamingAutomated closed captioningBlueJeans Video Webinars/Events – 500 attendees$599/mo$5,988/yrUnlimited non-concurrent webinarsMaximum two-hour webinarsAttendee workflow and reportingAttendee engagement featuresFacebook Live streamingAutomated closed captioningLarge-Scale Video EventsContact for quoteUp to 50,000 view-only attendeesFlexible event lengthBlueJeans Accelerator for network performanceRestricted EventsAdvanced supportGateway for Microsoft TeamsPer Room Plan$113.85 room/mo$1,188 room/yrCloud video interopUp to 19 roomsLarge Scale Deployment PlanContact for quoteCompatible with all SIP/H.323 endpointsFour-step deployment processOne-touch meeting joinReal-Time call analyticsDeployment support

What are the pros and cons to BlueJeans?

ProsBlueJeans brings the power of Verizon to its virtual meeting tools, offering an extra layer of security and reliability for your peace of mind. It is a simple matter to get set up, and users also rave about the excellent audio quality on each call. BlueJeans also offers the power to host more than 10,000 guests with its event and webinar plans.ConsBlueJeans does have some setbacks. Users have reported issues with software updates, leading to complications and delays when it comes time to meet. There are also reports that the software can become glitchy when connecting via external platforms, so users recommend using the BlueJeans app for best functionality. BlueJeans does not offer a free plan, so you will need to subscribe for use after the free 14-day trial concludes.

Flexible, HIPAA-compliant telenetworking solutions for large corporations

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SpecsHIPAA-compliant telehealth Zoom Apps for easy integrationMeetings for 10,000+ participantsZoom home phone serviceUnlimited group meetingsUnlimited one-on-one meetings Lobby chat optionCloud recordingsMonetizationLive streamingFeaturesJoin existing Zoom customers such as Capital One, Western Union, DocuSign, and Nasdaq. Zoom gives you several options for your telenetworking, including:Zoom Meetings: Host up to 500 guests with unlimited group and one-on-one meetings.Zoom Rooms: Keep your meetings secure with Zoom Rooms. Zoom Events and Webinars: Enjoy full-scale event and webinar management for over 10,000 guests.Zoom App Marketplace: Zoom Apps integrate right into your video, including Slack, Zoom for HubSpot, and Google Workspace integrations.Zoom for Home: There is also phone service and integration with smart homes via Zoom for Home.Zoom United: Bundle chat, phone, and meetings for up to 500 guests.Host anywhere from 100 guests for free to more than 10,000 guests with special licensing. Zoom’s free plan is generous with hosting for 100 guests, unlimited meetings of 40 minutes or less, and one-on-one meetings with a 30-hour time limit. There is also available chat for participants with the ability to stream via your favorite social media platforms and cloud storage. Users also have the ability to host multi-session events with full attendee reporting and engagement reports for additional insight.

How much does Zoom cost?

Plans and pricingPlanPricePrimary featuresZoom MeetingsBasic$0Host up to 100 guestsUnlimited group meetings up to 40 minutesUnlimited one-on-one meetings with 30-hour limitPrivate and group chatPro$14.99/month per license$149.90/year per licenseHost up to 100 guestsUnlimited group and one-on-one meetings with 30-hour limitSocial media streaming1 GB cloud recording per licenseBusiness$19.99/month per license$199.90/year per licenseHost up to 300 guestsSingle sign-onRecording transcriptsManaged domainsCompany branding Large Enterprise-Ready$19.99/month per license$240/year per licenseHost up to 500 participantsUnlimited cloud storageRecording transcriptsZoom Events & Zoom WebinarsZoom Webinar 500$79/month per licenseUp to 500 guestsUnlimited webinars for up to 30 hours eachExportable registration and attendee listsLive streamingMonetizationCloud recordingsEngagement reportsZoom Events 500$99/month per licenseWebinar package plus:Event management toolsEvent hub to organize and showcase eventMulti-session eventsCustom registration and ticketingAttendee networking lobby with chatPost-event recording managementDetailed event reportingZoom Webinar 1,000$340/month per license$3,400/year per licenseWebinar package plus:Up to 1,000 guestsZoom Events 1,000$440/month per license$4,400/year per licenseEvents package plus:Up to 1,000 guestsZoom Webinar 3,000$990/month per license$9,900/year per licenseWebinar package plus:Up to 3,000 guestsZoom Events 3,000$1290/month per license$12,900/year per licenseEvents package plus:Up to 3,000 guestsZoom Webinar 5,000$2,490/month per license$24,900/year per licenseWebinar package plus:Up to 5,000 guestsZoom Events 5,000$3,240/month per license$32,400/year per licenseEvents package plus:Up to 5,000 guestsZoom Webinar 10,000$6,490/month per license$64.900/year per licenseWebinar package plus:Up to 10,000 guestsZoom Events 10,000Contact for pricingEvents package plus:Up to 10,000 guestsZoom Webinar 10,000+Contact for pricingWebinar package plus:Up to 10,000+ guestsZoom Events 10,000+Contact for pricingEvents package plus:Up to 10,000+ guestsZoom RoomsZoom Rooms$49/month per room$499/year per room(free 30-day trial)Up to 49 Zoom Rooms licensesZoom UnitedPro$25/month per user$250/yearChat and Phone, plus:Meetings up to 100 participants1 GB cloud storage recording per licenseSocial media streamingBusiness$30/month per user$300/yearChat and Phone, plus:Meetings up to 300 participantsSingle sign-onRecording transcriptsManaged domainsCompany brandingEnterprise$30/month per user$360/yearChat and Phone, plus:Meetings up to 500 participants

What are the pros and cons to BlueJeans?

ProsZoom makes it easy to use its software, offering a free plan for customers. Guests are not required to make an account, so you can get started that much sooner. There are unlimited meetings, so you do not have to track usage, and if you upgrade to a paid plan, you can host webinars for more than 10,000 guests.ConsZoom’s free plan does carry limitations, like limiting the time for each meeting to 40 minutes. It also limits how many guests you can invite, even when you subscribe to a paid plan. Zoom has several options for plans, with pricing ranging from the free plan to custom quotes that cost several thousand dollars per month for your larger corporations. For smaller groups, the amount you pay depends on the features you choose, but can still add up quickly.

How do BlueJeans and Zoom compare?

Although similar, there are some key differences between BlueJeans and Zoom that can help you determine which may be a better fit for you.Software requirementsBlueJeans offers its own app for download, as well as a desktop software that works with Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. Zoom also has an app and is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux systems, plus several other systems, like Mint, CentOS, and Fedora operating systems.Meeting typesBoth Zoom and BlueJeans have meeting and event features with the option for private rooms. From there, the services each offer their own custom features. While BlueJeans offers virtual telehealth and a Gateway feature for Microsoft Teams, Zoom takes a different focus with webinars and a loaded app marketplace. Zoom also integrates with your smart home to create an all-in-one home bundle of phone, chat, and meetings for up to 500 attendees.UsageThere is an enormous difference when comparing the usage available between BlueJeans and Zoom. Zoom accommodates meetings with up to 500 guests, but if you sign up for BlueJeans, you can host webinars and events for more than 10,000 guests. If you anticipate that you will hold large meetings in the future, BlueJeans gives you the room to grow, something that Zoom lacks.PriceBlueJeans Virtual Meetings begin at $12.49 per month for its Standard plan, but pricing quickly becomes more expensive as you begin adding extra features. There is no free plan, but there is a free 14-day trial, so you can take the features for a test drive before you have to commit with your credit card. Zoom does not offer a free trial, but there is a free plan if you need basic meeting capability. 

Which video conferencing app is right for you?

If…Then…You have short, occasional meetings,Zoom is right for youYou manage large teams,BlueJeans Gateway can help.You need virtual health care,BlueJeans TeleHealth is for you.You have a smart home,Zoom for Home can integrate with your home.You have a lot of meetings and want to save money,Consider bundling services with Zoom United.

Are there alternative video conferencing apps worth considering?

Zoom and BlueJeans are far from the only telenetworking solutions. Other alternatives for your video conferencing include companies such as these:Google Meet: Also known as Google Hangouts Meet, Google Meet allows users to interact within the Google Workspace. GoToMeeting: As one of the original meeting apps, GoToMeeting has a high limit for your meeting team, but you will have to upgrade when you want to meet with more than 150 attendees.Microsoft Teams: A subscription is necessary to access advanced features, but Microsoft Teams offers a convenient way to communicate and work within the Microsoft platform.Cisco Webex: The free plan gives access to up to 100 guests for a maximum of 50 minutes per meeting. 

Is Zoom or BlueJeans free to use?

You can use Zoom for free, but BlueJeans requires users to purchase a plan after the 14-day trial. 

Which video conferencing app is best for business?

BlueJeans offers expanded meeting capability with extra features like virtual telehealth and large webinar capacity to best meet the needs of a growing business.

Which video conferencing app is best for personal use?

Zoom is a video conferencing software that is best for personal use with an affordable free plan, expanded meeting tools, and smart home integration to make life at home a breeze.

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When organizations moved abruptly to remote work at the start of the pandemic, they had to quickly shift their network and security capabilities. That meant some shortcuts were taken and some priorities were left on the table. 

Not surprisingly, that abrupt turnaround had some negative consequences for organizations. A new survey commissioned by Palo Alto Networks examines the impacts of those decisions, as well as the steps organizations are taking now, as they plan for more permanent hybrid work strategies. As many as 61% of respondents said struggled to provide the necessary remote security to support work-from-home capabilities, according to the survey. Security certainly wasn’t the only problem. Yet by mid-2021, most organizations felt comfortable with their network and addressed earlier user complaints about collaboration tool performance and efficacy. Security continues to top the list of significant ongoing challenges for 51% of respondents. That said, one-fourth to one-third of respondents are still struggling to provide a positive, well-rounded user experience. The newly-released survey, conducted for Palo Alto Networks by ONR, polled 3,000 people, including technology executives, as well as members of networking, security and operations teams. At the time of the survey, more than two-thirds of organizations indicated that between 25% to 75% of their workforce is still working remotely. Meanwhile, 44% expect to have over half of their employees working remotely in 12 months’ time. As many as 62% of survey respondents are in the process of optimizing their hybrid workforce, with 94% considering some sort of hybrid workforce over the next 12 months.Earlier in the pandemic, IT teams took different approaches to the remote-work pivot: Most (44%) respondents said their organizations made investments to improve remote network access but invested relatively little in remote security. 

Another 35% said their organizations invested robustly in both network access capabilities and security. Another 21% said their organizations made very few changes in both their existing network architecture or security. Among those with minimal upgrades to their network, 48% now believe that their network cannot support current remote work demands or that their remote network is not sustainable. By contrast, this sentiment is expressed by only 21% of those who evolved their network and 14% of those who evolved both their network and their remote security.
Palo Alto Networks
Meanwhile, 53% of organizations that prioritized remote access over security are now exposed to a significant increase in security risks from unchecked acceptable use policy violations and unsanctioned application usage. Those who made minimal changes to their remote access saw a 23% increase in security issues. Use policy violations should have been predictable. “As has been the case in the past, when security measures become a burden – slowing down systems or otherwise impeding productivity and impairing the user experience – employees will often find creative ways to evade them,” the report says. “Remote work and the rise of cloud-based applications has made that easier than ever before. The expansion of remote work has opened the door to both an increased burden of security and an increased opportunity to evade controls.”The report suggest that supplying employees with effective collaboration and productivity tools would give workers less incentive to find security workarounds. Organizations that lack effective remote collaboration tools said that their users are over 8x more likely to report high levels of security evasion. Additionally, the survey shows that 60% of organizations expanded BYOD to enable their employees to work from home. However, as a result, organizations that allow increased BYOD usage have employees who are over 8x more likely to ignore, circumvent, or disable security than those who restricted BYOD. Now, as organizations look more at the long-term picture, 74% say a single end-to-end remote security solution would improve their posture. Additionally, 71% of organizations expect to have their security mostly or completely in the cloud over the next 24 months. More

Image: Aussie Broadband
Aussie Broadband has capped off a bumper year, with the telco saying it now has 401,000 customers in total, up 53%, consisting of 363,000 residential lines, an increase of 50%, and business and wholesale jumping 90% to 37,500. The end result is the telco reporting revenue up 84% to AU$350 million, and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) prior to AU$1.5 million in IPO expenses growing five-fold to AU$19 million. In the fourth quarter alone, the company reported revenue of AU$100 million. All up, Aussie Broadband ended the year by closing last year’s AU$12.3 million loss into a AU$4.2 million loss. By segment, residential was responsible for AU$305 million in revenue, up 84%, and EBITDA jumping from basically flat to AU$12.5 million. For the business segment, revenue increased 83% to AU$45.2 million and EBITDA more than doubled to AU$6.7 million. Average revenue per customer was AU$78 per month for residential, and just shy of AU$130 for business customers. “EBITDA was driven by customer growth in both business and residential segments, increase in ARPU, careful CVC management, and NBN extending COVID-19 CVC credits and promotional rebates,” the company said.Over the year to June 30, Aussie Broadband said it added almost 13,000 services, and completed a network switch from Telstra to Optus. The company said it was seeing good migration numbers from Telstra base onto Optus, and would try to upsell its NBN customers onto its mobile offering in future.

In the coming year, Aussie Broadband said it would complete its 1,200km fibre build that will link up 85 NBN points of interconnect and 21 data centres with multiple 100G link, with the other 36 NBN points of interconnected hooked up with a single 100G connection. From the 2023 fiscal year, the company said the build will save around AU$15 million annually. As of June 30, the company had 250km completed. Aussie Broadband also expects to make one acquisition in the first half of FY22, and appoint a head of mergers and acquisitions in April. “Due to the dynamic and changing nature of the retail telecommunications market, ongoing lockdowns and the impact on CVC expense, the company will not be providing guidance for FY22,” it said. Related Coverage More

Once upon a time, roughly thirty years ago, there was a computer network called America Online. 

AOL, as it was typically referred to, sent out little diskettes in the mail, and sometimes slipped them into the middle of popular magazines. The diskettes were a way for people to go online. There was already an Internet, but most people didn’t know how to use it or even that it existed.  AOL, and a couple of competitors, Compuserve and Prodigy, offered people online things they could do, such as chat with other people. Mostly, the services helped people to get around the difficult aspects of what are known as Internet protocols. Internet computers need to communicate via connections that require a dedicated communications line, and a so-called IP address, which in turn requires a software program called TCP/IP. Most people’s computers didn’t have any of that.  Instead, the little diskette in the magazine let a person plug their computer into their telephone modem — once they’d bought a modem at the local computer store — and dial up a server computer that would admit them to the world of AOL or, alternatively, to the world of Compuserve or Prodigy. Some people grumbled at how many diskettes were stuck inside magazines, but the diskettes were an effective way to attract new people to sign up and use the service. Many people spent days and days at a time on AOL and the other services. The services had only one drawback, which was that they were limited. People couldn’t do just whatever they wanted, they could only pick from a small menu of functions, such as chat, that the services provided. And the services didn’t grow or change much, they stayed pretty much the same for years because it wasn’t in their interest to change when the diskettes kept bringing people in.  Back in the early ’90s, AOL mailed out little diskettes and stuck them in magazines to get people to come online. Facebook didn’t have to resort to such cheesy tactics, but it similiarly has offered a curated set of free activities that have trapped people inside a walled garden, just like AOL.
Tiernan Ray for ZDNet
Most people didn’t mind that the services were limited and didn’t change. People were just excited to be in a place called Cyberspace. Suddenly, they could send a message to someone in a different town, even a different country, even people that they had never met. People could also adopt a secret identity, such as “picklefinger0237,” and the anonymity made interacting even more exciting. Right about the same time as AOL, a smart person named Tim Berners-Lee, who worked at a prestigious research organization, published some software people could use to connect from their computer to any computer that also had the software. It was the World Wide Web. The software quickly caught the attention of many people and it blew their minds. With a real Internet connection, a person could reach any computer in the world. People saw that they didn’t have to accept the small menu of functions that AOL offered them. 

Moreover, the excitement that people felt when they were sending a message to a person in another town now swelled until it became a fervor to see the world. People had a sense the small little place in Cyberspace where they had dwelt was nothing compared to a vast universe just over the garden wall. The excitement pushed even ordinary people to find out how to sign up with a thing called an “Internet Service Provider.” It required people to understand something called “point to point protocol,” which was almost like learning science, but still less annoying than all the diskettes. As it grew and grew, the World Wide Web became an amazing place in contrast to AOL. People found they could visit articles and whole magazines written by people they’d never met, even from around the world. And there was a constant stream of innovation, with lots of software appearing all the time that made “surfing” the Web amazing.  People even discovered more of the Internet, such as things like “file transfer protocol,” where they could get lots of stuff no one had ever seen in the form of files. Programs such as “finger” let a person see who had been online, which, again, blew people’s minds.  People were so excited by the World Wide Web, they never wanted to go back to AOL or Compuserve or Prodigy. The three services withered. Mostly, people who were older held onto their AOL accounts because they still had an email address linked to AOL and it was a little confusing to try to get a new email address. But over time, with help from the younger generation, even those people were able to shift to using new email services and enjoy the Web.  Soon after people became excited about the Web, business people started to say it was sad that AOL and Compuserve and Prodigy had withered away because they had been a great way to make money for a time.  The business people decided that there should be a way to make something like AOL, even though everyone thought Web sites were amazing and didn’t want to go back. A content company called CNET (a sister site of ZDNet)  invented a service called Snap Online. They put out T-shirts telling people it was like having AOL but so much better. They wrote the word Snap with an exclamation point — Snap! — so that it was even more exciting.  The service, though, didn’t make a lot of money, in fact, it cost CNET a lot of money, $101 million dollars through 1999, before CNET sold it to another company called NBC Internet. NBC eventually merged with a cable company called Comcast, and Snap was forgotten.   Other people tried to make another AOL, including a group of the smartest venture capitalists in the world, who spent nearly $50 million to create a site that would be more like meeting real people, called Friendster. It had some success at the beginning because people really wanted to meet not just new people but people they knew. Then people cooled on Friendster, and it got sold — for a lot less money than it had taken to build it — to a Malaysian online payments firm. People mostly forgot about Friendster. None of those failures deterred business people, and they created new services, including a service called MySpace, where people could put up information about their rock bands.  Also: Why is your identity trapped inside a social network? Finally, some smart people hit on a formula and they created some brand-new places for people to meet. One of them was called Facebook. People got excited about Facebook because it was a place where they could find real people they knew, just like MySpace, but also because it had some features like AOL, like the game Farmville.  Business people were even more excited because Facebook started to generate a lot of advertising revenue. Advertisers liked Facebook because it not only knew who was talking to whom, it also knew a little bit about the hobbies and interests of people. Advertisers liked that because they could use the information to “target” their ads like never before. Smart people said that Facebook had what are known as “network effects.” It became more powerful the more people joined it. A scientist deduced the possible reason. It was because Facebook had what’s called a “scale free” network that solved the problem of how to meet up. Most people didn’t know that many people, but everyone knew one or two people who knew a whole lot of people. Those one or two people were the hubs in a social “graph” that allowed even lonely people to meet lots more people, in the same way everyone in Hollywood knew someone who had worked with the famous actor Kevin Bacon on a movie. As more lonely people met new people — and old friends — via Facebook, Facebook grew and grew. Its revenue swelled from $153 million dollars a year to $2 billion to $18 billion until one day it was making almost $120 billion dollars a year selling advertisements as people did stuff together. Facebook became one of the most powerful entities in the world, worth over a trillion dollars, because it had so many people doing stuff, almost two billion people. There were just a couple problems with Facebook. Facebook was a lot like AOL. It limited people by telling them with whom they could communicate. And unlike AOL and Compuserve and Prodigy, people couldn’t just be any fun identity they wanted, like picklefinger0237. They had to present themselves as themselves because advertisers liked to know who was talking to whom. Many people didn’t really mind that they were limited in whom they could talk to. They liked to “build their brand,” they said, by showing off pictures of themselves and talking a lot about themselves. Also, people felt it was fine because just like with AOL, they had a couple other options, including Pinterest and Twitter and LinkedIn and Instagram, and even a new thing called Snap, without the exclamation point. Those were like having Compuserve and Prodigy back in the day. But a few people got concerned. They noticed that not only did Facebook and services like it limit who could talk, and to whom those people could talk. The concerned people noticed that the services manipulated how people talked to one another, with computer algorithms called “data voodoo dolls.” Even business people became alarmed. They said Facebook had “zucked” people by betraying people’s trust.  Also: Physics explains why there is no information on social media One of the bad things was that people no longer had control. They had given so much information about themselves to Facebook and its competitors that it was like those companies owned people when they were in Cyberspace.  The services didn’t seem to do a great job of handling people’s information, either. Even though they wouldn’t let people talk to just anyone they wanted, Facebook and the other services went and sold people’s information to people they didn’t know in far-away countries. And everywhere a person would go on the Internet, Facebook and its competitors would let advertisers keep following them, keeping track of them, which people had never counted on when they joined up.
Concerned thinkers said the new online services were watching everyone’s behavior and shaping it and invading their privacy. The consequences became worse and worse. People had thought they were relating to one another, but they were really screaming at one another like in a school lunchroom food fight.  The reason they were screaming was because the data voodoo dolls and the other algorithmic tools weren’t really bringing people together, they were encouraging repetitive patterns of behavior, like getting people mad by constantly displaying the most inflammatory things people said about anything and everything. It was all for the purpose of sorting people’s behavior into convenient buckets as a way to communicate a clear buying signal to help advertisers.  Even the people who were excited about building their brands had some misgivings. They suspected at times that their identities were not real. They were now simply a figment of an advertising database that constructed an identity for them in order to keep people coming to Facebook and other services. It was almost as if people didn’t exist anymore when they were in Cyberspace.  Then one day, someone smart built a new technology that didn’t require people to sign away their information. Now, people could meet anyone they wanted and talk about whatever they wanted, not just what Facebook or its competitors said was okay. People felt more relaxed, too, because even though there were ads, people could meet up in Cyberspace without every single action they took being used to fuel an advertising machine.  People got excited again, like the first time they found the Web and gave up on AOL. But there our story ends, because that chapter has not yet been written. More

RingCentral
RingCentral has revealed several new capabilities for its Message Video Phone (MVP) unified communications platform to make meetings more secure, feature-rich, and easier to use. The pandemic drove the adoption of products such as RingCentral’s, and the usage of it has remained high as the world remains in an indefinite hybrid work mode. UC apps enable workers to collaborate when they are physically distant, often with better results than if they were in the same room. 

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The best VoIP services: Replicate a traditional office phone at home

Are you transitioning your on-premises workforce to a work-at-home powerhouse? Do you need to put a business phone on every desk, even if those desks are in the corner of a spare bedroom? If you’re trying to replicate a traditional office phone PBX remotely, we have 12 recommendations that should get you talking.

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When the pandemic began, most of the UC-as-a-Service (UCaaS) providers — RingCentral included — had basic functions. Since then, there has been a mad dash to add more features to improve the products. This set of product updates adds several innovations that address some of the key aspects of remote work.Specifically, RingCentral announced the following: Dynamic end-to-end encryption (E2EE): This is a term that has caused great confusion in the UC industry because some vendors stretched the definition. E2EE is not just about encrypting data in flight. It also requires encrypting data at rest and at every point in the journey. There is a debate as to where and when the data should be encrypted. One might think all calls but then some of the vendor tools, such as transcription, may not work because the data is encrypted. RingCentral now offers dynamic E2EE, in which users can turn E2EE on or off mid-meeting across its mobile and desktop clients or through the browser. With other vendors, the user needs to shut down the meeting, turn on encryption, and then start the meeting again. Now it can be used whenever necessary. C5:2020 certification compliance: The Cloud Computing Compliance Criteria Catalog, or C5, is a set of security controls that was developed by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) in Germany. The certification was first published in 2016 and was BSI’s guideline for cloud computing security. With this release, RingCentral announced that its MVP, Video Pro, Video Pro+, Engage Digital, and Engage Voice products are all compliant with C5:2020. Buyers should do their homework on this; most UCaaS providers claim to be C5 compliant, but most only meet the 2016 certification. RingCentral Add-Ins: This brings a number of leading apps into RingCentral Team Messaging for an integrated workflow. For example, instead of having to download a file from RingCentral and then upload it into DocuSign for a digital signature, users can sign directly in RingCentral through the DocuSign add-in. In addition to DocuSign, RingCentral will have add-ins with Akazio, Asana, BugSnag, Github, Hubspot, Jira, Keeper AI, Prodoscore, RingClone, and Trello with more coming. These are in addition to the more than 250 apps integrations in the RingCentral AppGallery.  Add-in integrations will be available mid-October, but developers can build now. Microsoft Teams embedded dialer: Microsoft Teams has seen a significant boost in usage with the pandemic, because the bundling with Office 365 made it fast and easy for businesses to adopt it. While Teams is adequate in the areas of messaging and video, its calling function is expensive and lacks many of the key features that businesses now require. RingCentral for Microsoft Teams brings Ring’s best-in-class enterprise calling capabilities to Teams. The integration makes the RingCentral dial pad available directly in Teams; this lets customers use Teams for messaging but will have a significantly better calling experience than with Teams calling. Mobile Heads Up Display (HUD): Earlier this year, RingCentral added HUD functionality to its desktop app enabling power users, such as admins and receptionists, to have a centralized view of all callable extensions. The HUD will be available on the mobile client by year-end. Two years ago, this feature wasn’t needed, but now that more of the world is working from home, the ability to manage call queues and other information from a mobile device is necessary. Team huddle capabilities: This is an interesting extension to MVP, because it enables users to create ad-hoc collaborative spaces in which users can pop in and out as they desire. A good analogy is how Discord works, where gamers can jump into and out of collaborative sessions. This is targeted at use cases where a person or team would want to let people drop in at their leisure. IT service desks, HR departments, or break-out rooms at events are good examples. Enhancements to immersive experiences: Last year RingCentral launched its own video capabilities as an alternative to the Zoom partnership. Since then, it has quickly added capabilities that have brought it to par with much of the field. This week it added the following video experiences: breakout rooms for small group discussions within meetings; transparent speaker when overlay mode is used.  Without this, the active speaker can often block on-screen content;  new immersive scenes such as virtual conference rooms and newsrooms to better replicate an in-person session; auto-framing capabilities that continuously center the speaker. While many cameras do this, RingCentral does this in software and will work with any camera; touch up appearances, where users can touch up their skin, add virtual makeup, color their lips and whiten their teeth. This is an example where virtual meetings can have an advantage over in person. It’s been a busy few months for RingCentral, but in a pre-briefing, the company told me to be on the lookout for more news soon. The Enterprise Connect event is at the end of September, and RingCentral is a major sponsor, so I’m expecting news there. Buyers of UCaaS products are the real winners here because RingCentral and its competitors have all stepped on the innovation pedal and are rolling out new features at an unprecedented rate. More

Xiaomi has reported it garnered 87.8 billion yuan in second quarter revenue, a 64% year-on year improvement on last year’s 53.5 billion yuan, as the Chinese technology giant’s smartphone market share globally continues to surge.For the six months to June 30, the company also posted net income of 8.3 billion yuan, nearly double the 4.5 billion yuan recorded during the same period last year. Breaking the company’s revenue down into segments, the company’s smartphone business increased by 86.8% year-over-year to 59 billion yuan, off the back of selling 52.9 million units and knocking Apple off the number two spot in the global smartphone market based on data by Canalys.The company’s IoT and lifestyle products business chipped in close to 21 billion yuan, following a 36% increase on last year, while internet services contributed 7 billion yuan in total revenue.During the period, the number of IoT devices that were connected to its AIoT platform reached 374.5 million units, Xiaomi added. Meanwhile, its monthly active users of its AI Assistant exceeded the 100 million mark, hitting 102 million, while its Mi Home App grew to 56.5 million. Xiaomi stated it also experienced strong growth momentum in markets outside of China, with sales amounting to 43.6 billion yuan, and accounted for nearly 50% of total revenue. The company further added that during the second quarter, it recorded 3.1 billion yuan in R&D expenses, representing a year-over-year increase of 56.5%.

“We remain steadfast in our pursuit of technological advancement which strengthens the backbone of our business,” Xiaomi noted. Last month, Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun announced the company would further expand its R&D team by recruiting more than 5,000 engineers this year. Jun added the company predicts R&D expenses will exceed 13 billion yuan this year, compared to the nearly 10 billion yuan it spent in 2020.During its results, the company also announced its acquisition of autonomous driving technology firm Deepmotion for $77.3 million. It will form part of Xiaomi’s broader plans to plough $10 billion to start a new electric vehicle business, touting it believes electric vehicles are a crucial part of its smart ecosystem. “It is an inseparable and crucial part that forms the smart ecosystem; it is an inevitable choice to expand the integrated ecosystem of AIoT smart living; it is also the only path for us to fulfil the vision of the company and to bring a better life to everyone through technology,” Jun said in an open letter published in March. RELATED COVERAGE More

Image: NBN
Victoria has parted with AU$73 million of its AU$550 million Connecting Victoria fund in order to see areas of the state receive fibre-to-the-premise connectivity. NBN said the money would be held in trust by it under the Victorian NBN State Program Fund label, with the first project to be 11 new business fibre zones that cover 10,000 businesses in Benalla, Colac, Cranbourne South, Dromana, Hamilton, Lara, Pakenham North, Pakenham South, Portland, Warragul, and Wonthaggi-Inverloch. With the addition of the new zones, NBN said it has 295 zones that cover 860,000 businesses around the country. The Victorian funds will also be used to flip users on fibre to the node, fixed wireless, and satellite connectivity to full fibre lines. The company will part with money from its AU$300 million regional co-investment fund and the AU$50 million set aside for working with local and state governments on extending business fibre zones to help fund projects to be determined between NBN and Victoria. “When we made a substantial commitment to network upgrades towards the end of last year, we also announced that this would include significant funding to be made available for co-investment opportunities with state and territory governments and local councils,” NBN CEO Stephen Rue said. “The Victorian government has been the first to seize this opportunity, and the program we have announced today fits perfectly with the Victorian government’s overall AU$550 million Connecting Victoria program.” Related Coverage More