Eurobites: Sunrise tries on Red Hat for size | Light Reading

20 Aug Eurobites: Sunrise tries on Red Hat for size | Light Reading

Also in today’s EMEA regional roundup: Kudelski H1 whacked by pandemic; CityFibre rolls along M4 corridor; Spotify goes quiet.

Switzerland’s Sunrise has turned to Red Hat for the development of a “hybrid cloud-ready platform,” one that the operator hopes will ease its migration from old-school architectures to a microservices environment. Sunrise – currently the subject of a $7.4 billion takeover bid by cable giant Liberty Global – has already shifted several critical customer applications to the new architecture, including the wonderfully named Roaming Cockpit, which enables customers to configure roaming services and to purchase roaming packages for travelling abroad.

Still in Switzerland, media content protection firm Kudelski Group saw pandemic-related project delays and cancellations savage its first-half figures, with revenues down from $400.6 million last year to $320.1 million this time around, while operating income before depreciation and amortization was down from $15.5 million to $4.9 million. The company now expects full-year EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) of $45-$55 million.

UK alternative fiber network provider CityFibre has announced fresh investment in Swindon and Slough, two towns situated in the M4 corridor west of London. In Swindon, CityFibre is investing 40 million ($52.4 million); in Slough, it’s 24 million ($31.5 million). VolkerSmart Technologies will be doing the digging and rolling on both projects. CityFibre is under pressure to extend full-fiber networks to 8 million UK properties, up from a previous target of 5 million, after its 200 million ($253 million) takeover of FibreNation from TalkTalk in January of this year. (See CityFibre expands UK empire with 200M acquisition and CityFibre plans jobs splurge to boost UK fiber build.)

Spotify, the Swedish-owned music streaming service, went down for more than hour worldwide on Wednesday, leaving millions bereft of their favorite tunes but at least in some cases out of range of hugely irritating adverts. As the BBC reports, the issues began at 1 p.m. BST and were resolved after about 90 minutes, though without any real explanation of what went wrong.

Cloud services firm UKCloud has been recognized for its support of ex-military personnel by Britain’s Ministry of Defence. In announcing its award, UKCloud referenced Danielle Thomas, who, after a period of self-doubt and uncertainty following a spell serving in the British Army, has found fulfilling work as an NOC Associate at the company. UKCloud is a signatory to the Armed Forces Covenant, which is described by its backers as a “promise by the nation ensuring that those who serve or who have served in the armed forces, and their families, are treated fairly.”

A study by UK mobile operator O2 has confirmed what we already know: COVID-19 has brought about a sea-change in our approach to shopping. The study found that 44% of customers believe the pandemic will have a permanent impact on the way they shop, with 47% stating that the number of times they shop online will definitely increase. For more details that aren’t that surprising really, clickhere to download the full report.

Fun Fact Corner: On this very day, 124 years ago, two American brothers of Swedish immigrant stock, John and Charles Erickson, teamed up with a Mr. A. E. Keith to file an application for the patent to the world’s first dial telephone based a “finger wheel” dial instead of clunky push buttons. Patent No. 597,062 was granted about a year and a half later. For the full story, told in loving detail by the Kansas Historical Society, click here.

“I’m sorry sir, I didn’t quite catch that… you want to register a patent for what?”

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading