The Microsoft Worldwide Telecommunications Industry team is pleased to share with you the December 2019 Telecommunications Industry Newsletter, available to both internal and external audiences. We encourage you to share it with your colleagues and distribute it to your customers and partners as appropriate. As always, we welcome your input, feedback, and suggestions!

1. Telecommunications Industry Newsletter
December 16, 2019
The Microsoft Worldwide Telecommunications Industry team is pleased to share
with you the December 2019 Telecommunications Industry Newsletter, available to
both internal and external audiences. We encourage you to share it with your
colleagues and distribute it to your customers and partners as appropriate. As
always, we welcome your input, feedback, and suggestions!
Transforming to a digital business is a key theme across global communications
service providers and many industry leaders are pursuing a new paradigm by
leveraging agile new technologies, systems, and services to enable this
transformation. This newsletter showcases how the telecommunications industry
leverages Microsoft and partner technologies like cloud, artificial intelligence, big
data, virtual network functions, and blockchain to accelerate the transformation to
digital services.
MICROSOFT CUSTOMERS PARTNERS EVENTS
Microsoft in the News
Telecom industry news featuring Microsoft business, products, services,
and hardware partners.
Networking enables the new world of Edge and 5G Computing
At the recent Microsoft Ignite 2019 conference, we introduced two new and related
perspectives on the future and roadmap of edge computing. Before getting further into
the details of Network Edge Compute (NEC) and Multi-access Edge Compute (MEC), let’s
take a look at the key scenarios which are emerging in line with 5G network deployments.
For a decade, we have been working with customers to move their workloads from their
on-premises locations to Azure to take advantage of the massive economies of scale of
the public cloud. We get this scale with the ongoing build-out of new Azure regions and
the constant increase of capacity in our existing regions, reducing the overall costs of
running data centers.

2. For most workloads, running in the cloud is the best choice. Our ability to innovate and
run Azure as efficiently as possible allows customers to focus on their business instead of
managing physical hardware and associated space, power, cooling, and physical security.
Now, with the advent of 5G mobile technology promising larger bandwidth and better
reliability, we see significant requirements for low latency offerings to enable scenarios
such as smart-buildings, factories, and agriculture. The “smart” prefix highlights that there
is a compute-intensive workload, typically running machine learning or artificial
intelligence-type logic, requiring compute resources to execute in near real-time.
Ultimately the latency, or the time from when data is generated to the time it is analyzed,
and a meaningful result is available, becomes critical for these smart-scenarios. Latency
has become the new currency, and to reduce latency we need to move the required
computing resources closer to the sensors, data origin or users.
more
GALLIUM: Targeting global telecom
Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) is
raising awareness of the ongoing activity by a
group we call GALLIUM, targeting
telecommunication providers. When Microsoft
customers have been targeted by this activity, we
notified them directly with

3. ETSI Open Source MANO unveils
Release SEVEN, enables more than
20,000 cloud-native applications for
NFV
Release SEVEN brings major enhancements
designed to improve the overall user experience
and interoperability choices, including an
improved workflow for #VNF configuration for
faster and complex operations and support for
Microsoft Azure
Why Cloud Native is important to CSPs
There is a growing feeling that the telecoms
industry has spent too long on network
virtualisation and instead needs to redirect its
long-term focus on cloud native technologies, as
CSPs look to become more like the cloud
providers and ramp up ...
Lessons learned when migrating SAP to
the cloud
Like many companies, Microsoft uses SAP for
mission-critical business functions for finance,
human resources, and global trade. When it came
time to move our SAP estate to the cloud we
went through a process of planning and
assessment prior to migrate ...
Cisco Goes SONiC on New Networking
Platforms
Cisco has collaborated closely with Microsoft to
drive large scale networking. Today, at the launch
of Cisco Silicon One and the Cisco 8000, we are
happy to share progress we have made together
on the fundamental building blocks of open
networking.

4. Qualcomm reveals Snapdragon 7c and
8c for always-connected budget PCs
When Qualcomm announced a dedicated
processor solution for laptops in 2018, the
company said the Snapdragon 8cx would offer
OEMs not only the world’s first 7-nanometer chip
for Windows PCs, but ...
MOTC, Microsoft partner on Qatar’s
Digital Transformation Agenda
The Ministry of Transport and Communications
(MOTC) and Microsoft, have announced a new
partnership that will accelerate the digital
transformation agenda across Qatar with the
selection of Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud
platform to achieve..
Microsoft plans to establish new cloud
datacenter region in Qatar
Microsoft today announced plans to establish a
new cloud datacenter region in Qatar to deliver
its intelligent, trusted cloud services and expand
the Microsoft global cloud infrastructure to 55
cloud regions in 20 countries.
2019 Global Telecoms Awards
A huge congratulations to our partner Telefonica
the winner for Advancing Artificial Intelligence #AI
with their innovative #Aura platform

5. The cloud is coming to the edge
because latency matters
The past two weeks have marked a milestone for
edge computing. In that time period, both
Amazon and Microsoft have signed deals with
large telco carriers to bring their cloud services to
the edge. Both announcements focused on 5G
and edge computing,
Azure Synapse Analytics: Re-envisioning
the data warehouse
About four years ago, the Microsoft Azure team
began to notice a big problem troubl ing many of
its customers. A mass migration to the cloud was
in full swing, as enterprises signed up by the
thousands to reap the benefits of flexible, large –
scale …
Qualcomm and Microsoft want to build
the office of tomorrow
The workplace of the future is set to be more
interactive and collaborative than ever before as
new technology helps bring workers all over the
world closer together.
Edge Roundup: November 25th —
December 1st 2019
In this week’s edition of the Edge Roundup, we
cover the new battle plans to defeat gamers’ most
dangerous enemy: lag.

6. MediaTek and Intel partner up to bring
5G to laptops
Intel and MediaTek are working together to bring
5G to PCs. Dell and HP could be among the first
manufacturers to include 5G connectivity to
laptops.
Operators Dish on Edge Computing
Strategies at MEF 2019
Together with our service provider partners,
Microsoft is developing broad edge capabilities to
enable new scenarios in public safety, IoT, and
personal services that exploit the high bandwidth,
low latency capabilities of #Edge + #5G
Microsoft CDP helps businesses unify
customer data
The Microsoft CDP became generally available in
April. The platform is one of many customer data
platforms on the market, competing with Adobe,
Salesforce, Oracle and SAP. Its entry into the CDP
market is a move to directly compete with
Salesforce ...
Transform every conversation with
Microsoft Teams phones
Microsoft Teams phones provides a complete
phone experience for calling and meeting. With a
broad portfolio of Teams phones, customers will
be able to quickly and easily join meetings, make
phone ...

7. Microsoft Earns Top Marks in Industrial
IoT
Microsoft, C3.ai, PTC, and Siemens are leading the
industrial IoT (IIoT) market with analytic services
to enhance connectivity that enterprises can use
with actionable intent, according to new research
from Forrester.
Customer Stories & Case Studies
New telecommunications customer stories, case studies, and more.
NTT and Microsoft form a strategic alliance to enable new digital
solutions
NTT Corporation (NTT) and Microsoft Corp. today announced a multi-year strategic
alliance aimed at delivering secure and reliable solutions that help enterprise customers
accelerate their digital transformations. The alliance will bring together NTT’s best-in-class
ICT infrastructure, managed services and cybersecurity expertise, with Microsoft’s trusted
cloud platform and AI technologies. Key initiatives of the alliance include the creation of a
Global Digital Fabric, development of digital enterprise solutions built on Microsoft Azure,
and co-innovation of next-generation technologies in the area of all-photonics network
and digital twin computing.

8. As one of the world’s largest global technology and business solution organizations, NTT
provides integrated services that include digital business consulting and managed services
for cybersecurity, applications, cloud, datacenters and global networks in over 190
countries and regions. As part of the strategic alliance, NTT has chosen Microsoft Azure as
its preferred cloud platform for modernizing its global IT infrastructure and customer
solutions in the areas of advanced analytics for cybersecurity threat intelligence and the
hybrid-IT management platform.
“NTT is committed to helping enterprises realize their digital transformation initiatives to
help create a smarter world. We believe that the combination of the Microsoft Azure
platform along with NTT’s connected infrastructure and service delivery capabilities will
accelerate these efforts. Additionally, the companies will collaborate on IOWN, including
areas such as all-photonics network and digital twin computing,” said Jun Sawada,
President and CEO of NTT.
“Our strategic alliance combines NTT’s global infrastructure and services expertise with the
power of Azure,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. “Together, we will build new
solutions spanning AI, cybersecurity and hybrid cloud, as we work to help enterprise
customers everywhere accelerate their digital transformation.”
FierceTelecom | Microsoft strikes up another strategic alliance, this time with NTT Communications
SDxCentral | Microsoft, NTT Tap Azure, AI to Target Enterprises
Singtel's Trustwave Launches Advanced
Threat Detection and Response Services
for Microsoft Azure
Trustwave announced the launch of services to
bolster threat monitoring, detection and response
natively in Microsoft Azure. As a preferred global
managed security services provider (MSSP)
partner, Trustwave is offering consulting and
professional ..
Equinix expands EMEA cloud services
through Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute -
Data Economy
Equinix has announced the availability of private
connectivity to Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute
cloud services at Equinix Business Exchange (IBX)
data centres in multiple EMEA markets.

9. Telstra Programmable Network on
Platform Equinix® Connects Seamlessly
to Other Cloud Providers
Equinix provides secure and scalable
interconnections in 200+ densely-connected and
strategically-located facilities around the world.
Leveraging Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric™ (ECX
Fabric™), Telstra Programmable Network (TPN)
provides connectivity..
AT&T integrating 5G with Microsoft cloud to enable next-generation
solutions on the edge
Microsoft and AT&T are ramping up innovation in the early days of their strategic
alliance announced in July. One area of focus is aimed at enabling new 5G, cloud and
edge computing solutions to drive enterprise capabilities for companies around the world.
The companies are opening select preview availability for Network Edge Compute (NEC)
technology, which weaves Microsoft Azure cloud services into AT&T network edge
locations closer to customers. This means AT&T’s software-defined and virtualized 5G
core – what the company calls the Network Cloud – is now capable of delivering Azure
services. NEC will initially be available for a limited set of select customers in Dallas. Next
year, Los Angeles and Atlanta are targeted for select customer availability.
From making the world’s first 5G millimeter wave browsing session on a commercial 5G
device to groundbreaking commercial installations in healthcare, manufacturing and
entertainment, AT&T has proved itself to be a leader in 5G. The company recently
activated an industry-first 400-gigabit connection between Dallas and Atlanta to support
video, gaming and other 5G needs. AT&T serves parts of 21 cities with its 5G network
using millimeter wave spectrum (5G+) and plans to offer nationwide 5G in the first half of
2020.

10. AT&T | AT&T Integrating 5G with Microsoft Cloud to Enable Next-Generation Solutions on the Edge
GeekWire | Microsoft and AT&T reveal the 1st major initiative to come out of their big cloud-5G
partnership
TelecomTV | AT&T integrating 5G with Microsoft cloud to enable next-generation solutions on the edge
SDxCentral | AT&T, Microsoft NEC Work Starts In Dallas
TechSpot | AT&T and Microsoft partnership on network edge compute highlights future of cloud and 5G
Tata Communications Transformation Services and Fortinet set to enable
SD-WAN on Azure
Tata Communications Transformation Services Limited (TCTS), partner of choice for the
world’s leading Communication Service Providers (CSPs) and a wholly owned subsidiary of
Tata Communications Limited, and Fortinet, working with Microsoft Azure ...
Macquarie Telecom, Microsoft Ink
VMware SD-WAN Deal
Macquarie Telecom has sealed an agreement to
deliver VMware software-defined wide-area
networking (SD-WAN) by VeloCloud services
through the Microsoft Azure marketplace. The
arrangement sees Macquarie become one of the
first managed service providers
Partner News
Telecommunications partner press releases, highlights, and more.
Ingram Micro Cloud Certified as
Microsoft Azure Expert Managed
Service Provider
Ingram Micro Cloud today announced that it has
earned the Microsoft Azure Expert Managed
Service Provider (MSP) certification, the premier
certification for MSPs ...

11. Silver Peak Injects Multi-Fabric
Orchestration Into EdgeConnect
Silver Peak’s Unity EdgeConnect SD-WAN
platform today received a healthy injection of
enhancements including many that promise to
address network complexity and cloud adoption..
New capabilities ...
Robotic process automation platform
developer enriches its software with
Azure Cognitive Services
Automation Anywhere, a global robotic process
automation (RPA) platform developer, wanted to
enrich its AI-enabled document workflow
solution, IQ Bot, with unique capabilities. Using
Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services in containers,
the RPA platform
EdgeConneX teams up with Azure for
private cloud offerings in its Munich
data center
EdgeConneX is continuing to turn up cloud
services at the network edge by offering the
Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute service in its
Munich data center. The carrier neutral
EdgeConneX Munich ...
Aryaka Adds Microsoft Azure Active Directory Integration to Managed
SD-WAN Service
Aryaka®, the cloud-first WAN company and #1 end-to-end managed SD-WAN provider,
today introduced integration with Microsoft Azure Active Directory to enhance the end-
user application and authentication experience.

12. Zero-touch Cisco UC On-Boarding
October 15, 2019 by David Levy. Akkadian
Provisioning Manager’s Native Integration with
Active Directory Zero-Touch Cisco UC On-
Boarding. For IT professionals, the holy grail of
any automation initiative is the complete
elimination of any manual work
KPMG to invest US$5 billion in its digital
strategy
Consultancy firm KPMG is to invest US$5 billion in
its digital strategy. As part of a five-year
agreement, it will implement Microsoft 365,
Teams, Azure and artificial intelligence (AI)
services. KPMG will use Microsoft Azure and its AI
capabilities
TCS Microsoft Business: TCS launches
Microsoft Business Unit to help
enterprises leverage AI, ML, Telecom
TCS launches Microsoft Business Unit to help
enterprises leverage AI, ML The MBU will be led
by Siva Ganesan, who has been with TCS for over
29 years and held various global leadership roles.
Events & Webcasts
Upcoming and recent telecommunications industry events and webcasts
featuring Microsoft and our partners.
Qualcomm Snapdragon Tech Summit
2019
From the company that introduced the world’s
first 7nm platform purpose-built for PCs comes
two new platforms engineered for more—more
CPU performance, more GPU performance, and
more continuous usage with multi-day battery
life.

13. Tackling B2B Selling Complexity
WEBINAR
Are you missing opportunities with your business
customers because your sales cycle is agonizingly
slow, manual and error-prone?
Azure Synapse Analytics
Register for this virtual event to learn how Azure Synapse Analytics can help you query
data on your terms, with on-demand or provisioned resources.
Investing in IoT, Cloud, and Edge
Peggy and Sam George, vice president of Azure
IoT, Microsoft, talk IoT (Internet of Things), AI
(artificial intelligence), cloud, edge, and more. He
dives into the topic of digital transformation and
how Microsoft has gone through its own digital ...
How to achieve consistent growth in
your Microsoft CSP business
In this webinar, seasoned cloud expert
Sabarinathan Sampath will discuss about the best
practices and important processes (that are also
recommended by Microsoft) that CSPs must
implement to achieve a consistent growth in their
Microsoft business.
Do you have news to share about Microsoft or our partners in
telecommunications? Send us your news to be included in the next edition.
For more information on the Microsoft Telecommunications industry visit:

14. microsoft.com/telco @MSFTTelco