New Measuring the Information Society Report 2018 shows big progress, big gaps
ITU News – More and more people worldwide have access to and are using the Internet. At the same time, ICT prices have dropped globally in the last decade. However, stronger information and communication technology (ICT) skills are needed to connect people everywhere.
These are some of the top highlights in ITU’s new Measuring the Information Society Report 2018, released today.
The MIS Report also finds that improved ICT regulation and policy-making have played a pivotal role in creating the conditions for the reduction of prices, ensuring that part of the efficiency gains of higher ICT adoption are passed on to consumers.
“This year’s report shows how increased investment in broadband technologies is driving the global digital transformation and enabling more people to access a myriad of services at the click of a button,” says ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao.
The report finds that there continues to be a general upward trend in the access to and use of ICTs. Most importantly, the world has crossed the halfway line in terms of Internet use, with 51.2 per cent of the world population using the Internet by the end of 2018. more>
By Darren McKinney – The state of cable business services, fiber versus coax, the addition of mobile services along with the advent of 5G (friend or foe), new service offerings, service level agreements, the move to virtualization, and more, were all hot topics at the recent Light Reading 
By Leo-Geert van den Berg – Did you know the Netherlands is Europe’s 
datacenter.com – Digital transformation has gotten a lot of attention. It involves not just the implementation of new technologies, but the alteration of business processes and models to fully leverage those technologies. This enables organizations to gain unprecedented levels of productivity, enhance customer experience, drive innovation and create competitive advantages.
y Nicholas Polson and James Scott – We teach data science to hundreds of students per year, and they’re all fascinated by artificial intelligence. And they ask great questions.
By Kent Jordan – Data center interconnect (DCI) is at the heart of new global business models, cloud adoption, and digital content delivery and services. Cloud, ICP, and colocation operators are dominating DCI sales, and DCI is becoming more crucial for other industries as well. According to the Equinix Global Interconnection Index, global interconnect bandwidth is forecast to grow to over 8,200T by 2021, which is substantially higher than last year’s projection.
By Scott McFeely – As I travel around the world meeting with our customers, I hear time and time again about their continued struggles building and maintaining packet networks.
By Frank O. Miller – Packet-optical network gear gets pretty pampered in the data center, with regulated temperatures and a whole team of techs on hand to fix any problems. But what happens if you want to put your equipment outside, closer to your customers? How do you know your switches and other gear will be tough enough to survive?
