Connectivity

Microsoft 365 Business Subscription Customers Get Shared Computer Activation (SCA)

Posted on by Andy Miller

SMEs that need to have multiple users (connecting to and using the same remote computer) but only have a (less-expensive) Microsoft 365 Business subscription have been given a boost by Microsoft in the form expanded rights with the imminent roll-out of SCA for Microsoft 365 Business.

What Is SCA?

Shared Computer Activation (SCA) is a service that allows a business to deploy Office 365 on a computer that is accessed by multiple users.

SCA That Doesn’t Count Against The Device Limit

The latest announcement from Microsoft means that Microsoft 365 Business subscribers (who would normally only be able to install and activate the Office 365 Business Client on a limited number of devices such as 5 PCs) will, with the roll-out from 30th April, be able to benefit from being able to use the Office 365 Business Client with shared computer activation enabled in a way that doesn’t count against that device limit.

Where It’s Useful

Situations (where this can add value and be useful to SMEs) include :

  • Multiple workers on different shifts at the same premises needing to use a shared computer with each worker using Excel on that computer during their shift to track orders & shipments.
  • Multiple workers use Word on shared computers at a work station throughout the day to create reports from a template.
  • Business owners and accounts staff can connect remotely to a Windows 2016 Server running Remote Desktop Services (RDS) to use Excel and the company’s accounting software.
  • Field service employees use Office on a computer that’s located in a conference room to update/write reports.
  • Remote workers connect from home connect to Windows Virtual Desktops (WVD) in Azure with Office installed to work on specific accounts/records.

Limitations

It is important to note that M365 Business does not include Office 365 Pro Plus, just the activation rights in the existing business client that comes in M365B.  The new SCA rights in M365 Business will, therefore, still require that each user be licensed, because companies can’t legally share Office on a single PC among, e.g. 5 users, where only three are covered by M365 Business licenses.

Also, users can only share the Windows, not a Mac version of Office on an SCA-covered machine.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Although Microsoft is not giving anything away as such with the SCA rights in M365 Business, it is, however, introducing something that takes account of how some industries need to work with software in real life i.e. computers often need to be  shared by multiple users with different user profiles, and multiple users in some businesses need to connect to the same remote computer at the same time. In this respect, it may add a great deal of value for many businesses, and in doing so, may help gain and retain customers, and lead to new opportunities for Microsoft.

SMEs are likely to welcome this added value service from Microsoft as they may have been stuck between having to choose E3 (without SCA), saving costs, and try to implement time-consuming workarounds to get more out of what they had.

Even though the roll-out date starts on April 30th, it may take a couple of months before the full roll-out is completed.

School Enlists Chinese Help To Upgrade To Enhanced Wi-Fi

Posted on by Andy Miller

The Lytchett Minster School in Dorset recently made the news among IT commentators after demonstrating how it could overcome the connectivity challenges of its rural location, cut costs and increase efficiency by upgrading its on-site network with Chinese company TP-Link’s enhanced Wi-Fi.

Challenges

As recently featured by Computer Weekly, the school had to contend with a rural campus location and the resulting poor connectivity, next to a grade II listed 18th century manor house, and a rudimentary system of ageing individual home-user access points (APs) mounted in school corridors which required users to disconnect and reconnect when roaming around.   Also, the old wireless network was not voucher-based and was insecure (the pre-shared key could be compromised), which meant that staff had to reset each AP’s password individually (with remote authentication dial-in user service help) and users had to keep reconnecting each of their devices to the network.

As is the case with so many schools, Lytchett Minster School had to make its limited budget go as far as possible in the upgrade.  This meant the need to minimise price per AP and annual licensing fees while getting the best value, efficient and effective wireless infrastructure solution.

Requirements

It was decided that the most important requirements on the school’s list were power over Ethernet (PoE), Radius authentication, centralised management, provision of multiple service set identifiers (SSIDs) and voucher authentication.

TP-Link Chosen

The school chose Chinese company TP-Link to upgrade their on-site network based on features offered, value for money, and the fact that TP-Link builds its hardware itself instead of outsourcing and, therefore, doesn’t charge licensing fees.

Founded in 1996 by two brothers and based in Shenzhen, China, TP-Link is a manufacturer of computer networking products and is now the world’s number 1 provider of consumer Wi-Fi networking devices, shipping products to over 170 countries.

Change

Changing to the upgraded, enhanced Wi-Fi meant that the old APs could be moved from corridors into classrooms for optimum performance and coverage. The changes to a better enhanced Wi-Fi network also meant that access control lists could issue users with vouchers that restricted network access at the subnet according to core user group, out of hours separate public access SSID could be offered to users of the school’s sports facilities, larger numbers of staff iPads and phones could be used for teaching, and special provisions could be made for the BYOD policy for  sixth form students.

The new system also enabled easier, centralised management of the network with data from each AP being displayed to the IT department on large screens, with no more need to perform network reboots (as these can happen automatically at 6 am every day to avoid disrupting lessons), and the ability to carry out all key tasks from a central interface.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

This story is an example of how the potential of an organisation (a school in this case) was limited by poor Wi-Fi provision, partly due to its rural location and old, inadequate hardware. The school showed that today, it is possible for a school based in Dorset to choose a Chinese tech firm as a partner to deliver a business-class wireless network solution that meets all operational requirements within budget, and without the extra cost of ongoing licence fees. An enhanced Wi-Fi system of this kind also offers the convenience, transparency and ease of centralised control.

Is Huawei Really Dragging Its Feet Over Security?

Posted on by Andy Miller

After espionage chiefs from the ‘Five Eyes’ agreed last July that they would try to contain the global growth of Chinese telecom Huawei (over fears that it was spying for China), a new report from the Huawei Cybersecurity Evaluation Centre (HCSEC) says that the company is still not fixing previously identified security problems.

Summary – Bans, Detention, and Trump’s Trade War Efforts

Last summer saw US President Trump put China in his sights for a trade war, and with a climate of fear about possible Russian interference in US political affairs, you could be forgiven for thinking that it would have been relatively easy for Mr Trump to point the finger at China too, while implicating US tech giant Apple’s biggest competitor at the same time.  In fact, after the ‘Five-Eyes’ (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S.) announced that Huawei could be spying for the Chinese state, the US, Australia and New Zealand banned Huawei Technologies Ltd from being a supplier for fifth-generation networks, and Japan banned Huawei from official contracts from December 2018.

Also, pressure was put on Deutsche Telekom, the majority owner of T-Mobile US, to stop using Huawei equipment, and Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei, was detained in Vancouver at the request of U.S. authorities for allegedly violating US sanctions on Iran.  China’s state-run media and some other commentators suggested (perhaps unsurprisingly) that Meng’s detention appeared to be politically or economically motivated.

Huawei Sues

Huawei has been left with no option but to sue the US government in a Texas court, and to claim the ban on the use of Huawei equipment by any US federal violates parts of the US Constitution.

Promised Transformation

Last November, in the face of mounting concerns and criticism, Huawei’s board of directors resolved to carry out a companywide transformation programme to the with a starting investment of US $2Bn, to enhance software engineering capabilities.  The company also said it would work with UK operators and the NCSC to make sure that the implementation met required standards along the way.

New Report Says Old Problems Not Fixed

The new report by HCSEC claims that Huawei isn’t making any real, material progress on the problems identified in the 2018 report.  HCSECs Oversight Board is still concerned about Huawei’s approach to software development, and the risk that it may pose to UK operators.  The Board is also concerned about the security aspects of the Huawei equipment currently deployed in the UK.

Huawei is world’s top producer of telecoms equipment and No.3 maker of smartphones. However, BT for example, has been using Huawei systems as part of its network, but after security concerns were expressed last year, it has been removing Huawei systems from the core of the mobile network EE, which it purchased in 2016.

Loser Attitude?

Huawei has met recent criticism from the US by saying that it is simply the result of the US displaying a “loser attitude” because it can’t compete with Huawei’s success.

Spying Would Be Suicide

The chief legal officer of Huawei, Song Liuping, has pointed out that spying would be commercial “suicide” anyway for Huawei because more than 48% of its business comes from overseas markets.

Popular Products

It would be true to say that Huawei’s consumer products (i.e. phones) have proven to be very popular despite the accusations made against the company.  Huawei has predicted that it could become the world’s biggest-selling smartphone vendor this year and that all three business groups – consumer, carrier and enterprise, are expected to post double-digit growth in 2019.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Many commentators acknowledge that there may be political and economic motivations behind some of the measures being taken against Huawei.  The point that the ‘Five-Eyes’ have been trying to highlight is that possibly, Huawei’s products and network software could have backdoors built-in to them which could, in theory, allow covert surveillance or control, or destruction of phone networks (which are accessible via the internet).  The fear is that those acting for the Chinese state could gain access to the data stored/routed through Huawei devices, telecoms equipment and software, and could even, perhaps, monitor the conversations on mobile phones. No evidence of this has been made public to date.

One thing that is hard to deny, however, is the popularity of Huawei’s consumer products.  The company has now become the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment and has overtaken US giant Apple in terms of the number of handsets that it ships worldwide.  UK stores are still stocking and selling its handsets, and the warnings of various governments look unlikely, for the time being, to make any major dent in that side of its business, although more outright bans from more countries (for a company that ships nearly half of its products overseas) could soon begin to hurt.

Automatic Compensation For Broadband Problems Begins

Posted on by Andy Miller

Next week will see the introduction of automatic compensation, without having to ask, for customers of BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Zen Internet who experience delayed repairs, installations or missed engineer appointments.

More To Follow

PlusNet has also committed to the scheme but hasn’t provided a timescale while Hyperopic and Vodafone will begin automatic compensation later this year, and EE is likely to start paying compensation automatically in 2020.

Finally Agreed Last December

Initially announced by Ofcom back in November 2017 following a review and intervention in the broadband market, the voluntary agreement, which will only apply if a fault takes longer than two days to fix, was reached between Openreach and the five UK service providers last December.

The Scale of Broadband Problems

Ofcom figures show that there are a staggering 7.2 million cases of broadband or landline customers suffering delayed repairs, installations or missed appointments per year and before this scheme only 1 in 7 customers received compensation.  Those few who did receive the compensation had to ask for it rather than it being automatically paid, as is the big change with the new agreement.

How Much?

The new agreement (which was reached after more than 6 months of negotiations and which is subject to a 12-month review of Cancelled Provisions) should mean that £8 compensation per-day can be paid, with £25 compensation if an engineer does not arrive on schedule or cancels within 24 hours, and an offer of £5-per-day can be made for new services not starting on time.

Customers whose providers are not in the scheme can choose to switch to a new provider if they are unhappy with their current service.

Fastest Way?

Ofcom’s answer to the questions about why there are no formal regulations for automatic compensation and why this is still a voluntary agreement is that it has proved to be the quickest way to get a commitment from the largest companies and to get some kind of scheme up and running for 95% of households.

Openreach – Given Own Quality Standards

Openreach (who many blame for the origin of many broadband problems because of their responsibility for the physical infrastructure in the UK over many years) has been set its own set of tough Quality of Service (QoS) standards by Ofcom.  However, Openreach’s position of not paying out for force-majeure  events, and Ofcom expecting retail ISPs to cover those costs themselves has led to some ISPs perhaps feeling that they will still end up paying for Openreach’s failures.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For businesses, a fast and reliable broadband connection is vital to operate and compete effectively in today’s marketplace. Problems with broadband services can be very costly and frustrating for businesses, and many businesses feel that they shouldn’t have to fight for compensation on top of the problems caused by poor broadband services and that current levels of compensation are too low, and don’t come close to reflecting the harm caused. Automatic compensation at higher levels is, therefore, welcome news, but many businesses may still think that the amounts on offer are unlikely to cover the disruption and problems caused after several days of broadband problems.

The new automatic compensation scheme will still be good news for small businesses because one-third of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) choose residential landline and broadband services, and around half (49%) of SMEs don’t know if they’re entitled to compensation when service falls short (Ofcom figures).

It is also reassuring to know that the main providers are on board with the scheme and that Ofcom plans to monitor its implementation, review it after one year, and step in if it’s not working well enough for customers.

The Web @ 30

Posted on by Andy Miller

It was back in March 1989, 30 years ago, that the World Wide Web as we know it was created by a computer scientist at the CERN particle physics lab near Geneva, Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

From Proposal To Reality

Sir Tim Berners-Lee wrote a proposal in March 1989, entitled “Information Management: A Proposal” which was based upon his vision of having a unifying structure for multiple computers, which by 1991 had developed into the World Wide Web.

The proposal, which was mainly focused on how information could be easily stored, shared, and accessed by CERN staff (and scientists, universities and institutions) expressed concern about “the problems of loss of information about complex evolving systems” and how “a solution based on a distributed hypertext system” could be used to help.  It was envisioned that a web of notes with links (like references) between them could be more useful than the existing fixed hierarchical system.

The Internet, rather than the Web, had existed for quite some time but had been developed for military purposes so that communications in a country could be retained even when some hubs may have been damaged or destroyed.  This early Internet was also used by researchers and computer scientists, but did not have the user-friendly, hyperlinked structure that Sir Tim Berners-Lee created, which he based upon his experience of writing a linked, hotspot-based program for keeping track of software (back in 1980) called ‘Enquire’.

First Website

The first website was hosted on Sir Berners-Lee’s NeXT computer.  This was the computer built by the company set up by Steve Jobs after being ousted from the early Apple company.  The website was dedicated to the World Wide Web project itself.

Public Domain

The first World Wide Web software was introduced to the public domain on April 30th 1993.  With the next release available with an open licence, CERN was able to help provide a huge boost to the growth and popularity of the Web.

Celebrations at CERN

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the World Wide Web, CERN hosted an event on 12th March 2019 in partnership with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and with the World Wide Web Foundation at which Sir Berners-Lee was the key speaker.

Web Memories

With the web being a relatively new, and constantly evolving part of modern life, many people reading this may have similar memories of using the Web from the 90s onwards.  These memories of the early Web include:

  • Being able to access library archives and records digitally for the first time, rather than actually having to go to a physical library and being able to copy and print off results rather than using a library photocopier (as was the pre-Web way).
  • The popular introduction of ‘chatrooms’ in the early 1990s – the forerunners of social networks.
  • In the late 90s bookshops stocked pocket-sized web directories, which were like mini phone books for the best websites.
  • Very slow dial-up modems using the telephone line, and CD-ROM disks to provide (relatively expensive) connections to the Internet.  Popular paid-for early service providers were AOL and Compuserve, but many people still used paid-for slots in Internet cafes. British ISP Freeserve opened up Internet access to the wider market in 1998 by providing free connections in the UK.
  • Lycos, Ask Jeeves and AltaVista (pre-Google days) were popular search engines in the late 90s, and the popular browsers in the UK were Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, and Netscape Navigator which could also be used as an early website builder.
  • Early animated Gifs were succeeded by the introduction of Flash.  This enabled animation to be incorporated into websites, flash games were created, as were whole cartoon-like websites in Flash. In the beginning, the only problem was that search engines couldn’t read Flash files, and therefore, Flash websites tended to suffer in the search engine results.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

The evolution of the Web, originally envisioned and brought into being by Sir Berners-Lee, has revolutionized business, not least with email, and the ability to trade and shop online, globally.  In opening up the business world it has created many often unforeseen opportunities but has also opened businesses up to threats e.g. global competition and security issues.

In recent interviews, as well as expressing pride in his creation, and how it was mainly a force for good in the first 15 years, Sir Tim Berners-Lee has also expressed concern about how the Web has recently been used in a negative way to influence election results (the Cambridge Analytica / Facebook scandal), and that it has also shown how it can be used effectively to spread misinformation.  Sir Tim has also acknowledged, however, that the access that young people have had to information (in countries where Web use is not restricted) has created a generation who are more like online activists who are able to challenge and question the decisions of those in power.

Could 5G’s High Frequency Be Dangerous?

Posted on by Andy Miller

5G may be the next generation of mobile internet that could provide new and innovative opportunities and boost to new industries, but there have been some concerns that its high-frequency mmWave spectrum could pose new health risks.

Long-Held Concerns

Ever since there have been mobile phones, there have always been concerns that prolonged exposure to low-energy, non-ionising electromagnetic radiation radio waves, the type used by current mobile phones, could increase a person’s risk of health problems such as developing cancerous brain tumours. This radio frequency (RF) radiation does not have enough energy to ionise an atom or molecule, and therefore, is unlikely to have enough energy to damage cell DNA in a way that would cause cancer.  This is the reason why recent research has shown that it is now believed to be unlikely that radio waves from mobile phones or base stations could increase the risk of any health problems.

Even though it is now generally accepted that normal use of current generation mobile phones is relatively safe, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has still given a cautious classification of RF radiation as “possibly carcinogenic to humans”.

What’s Different About 5G?

5G is different because it will use 3 Spectrum bands, low-band spectrum (LTE), mid-band spectrum, and what some believe to be the potentially dangerous mmWave high-frequency spectrum.

The mmWave spectrum, however, is still not close to the kind of ionising wavelengths that can cause damage to DNA.  In fact, mmWave high-frequency spectrum technology appears to be quite some way from the maximum human RF absorption frequency of about 70MHz. Also, mmWave will mostly be deployed in a spectrum that suffers from high reflection rates – 24 to 29GHz.  This should mean that any absorption by the body will be confined to the surface layers of the skin rather than the deeper tissue that is reached by lower frequency radiation.

So, Is It Safe?

Based on the science of radiation, and current evidence and limits relating to mobile phone use, there’s nothing to directly suggest 5G mmWave poses a significant health risk, but 5G is not here and in popular use yet, so more research will need to be done on the subject in future.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

5G represents a great opportunity for business.  Its increased speed and lower latency allow the downloading of films and games in seconds and watching them without any buffering, and this kind of speed will allow all kinds of new opportunities for presentation media e.g. in advertising, on social media and on websites.

Many different types of businesses could benefit from improved connectivity with remote workers or with salespeople in remote areas.

Also, the news from an O2 forecast is that 5G could deliver time savings that could bring £6 billion a year in productivity savings in the UK and that 5G-enabled tools and smart items could save UK householders £450 a year in food, council and fuel bills.

Safety, however, is a major concern for all businesses, but even though 5G will use a higher frequency, there is no compelling evidence to date to show that it would pose new health risks to users.  In the UK, it will be some time before 5G networks are up and running to any significant level, and this means that there will be time for research to be conducted in areas where 5G use is at a more advanced stage.

Russia Plans Disconnect From Rest of World Internet For Cyber-Defence Test

Posted on by Andy Miller

Russia has set itself a deadline of 1st April to test “unplugging” the entire country from the global Internet for reasons relating to defence and control.

Giant Intranet Dubbed “Runet”

The impending test of a complete ‘pulling up of the drawbridge’ from the rest of the world is being planned in order to ensure compliance with a new (draft) law in Russia called the Digital Economy National Program.  This will require Russia’s ISPs to show that they can operate in the event of any foreign powers acting to isolate the country online with a “targeted large-scale external influence” i.e. a cyber-attack.

The plan, which is being overseen by Natalya Kasperskaya, co-founder of Kaspersky the antivirus company and former wife of CEO Eugene, will mean that Russia can unplug from the wider Internet, and create its own internal ‘Intranet’ (the ‘Runet’) where data can still pass between Russian citizens and organisations from inside the nation rather than being routed internationally.

Moving Router Points Inside Russia

A move of this scale involves attempting to move the country’s key router points inside Russia. This means that ISPs will have to show that they can direct all Internet traffic entering and leaving Russia through state-controlled routing points, whereby traffic can be filtered so that, if required, traffic destined for outside Russia is discarded, and attempts to launch cyber-attacks on Russia can be more easily detected and thwarted.

Own Version of DNS

Other measures needed to give Russia the ability to completely unplug include building its own version of the net’s DNS address system. This is currently overseen by 12 organisations outside Russia, but copies of the net’s core address book now exist inside Russia.

Why?

Russia has been implicated in many different international incidents that could provoke cyber-attack reprisals and misinformation interference. For example, the alleged interference in US presidential election campaign and UK referendum, and the Novichok attack in Salisbury.  There has also been deterioration of the relationship between the US and Russia, and widespread criticism of Russia in the western media.

Censorship and Control?

Even though the word from Russia is that the ability to ‘unplug’ is for defence from external aggression, many commentators see it as a move to be able to exert more state control in a way that is perhaps similar that seen in China with its extensive firewall.

In Russia, control of social media could, for example, thwart attempts from the people to organise mass protests against Putin, such as those seen in 2011-13.

Also, the ability to control what people can see and say online can mean that websites that promote anti-state views and information can be blacklisted. It has been reported that there is already an extensive blacklist of banned websites and that Russia now requires popular bloggers to register with the state.  There have also been reports of Russians facing fines and jail for social media posts that have been judged to have ridiculed the Kremlin or Orthodox Church.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Business and trade tend to benefit from open channels of communication, and when states move to shut down communication channels in this way, it prevents the promotion and advertising of products, creates costs and bureaucracy, and damages the prospects and competitiveness of those organisations exporting to and from Russia. This kind of communications shutdown may be useful for the purposes of the state, but it can only really be harmful for international trade, and for those businesses within Russia itself looking to sell overseas.

Anything that portrays the image of a controlling and/or inward-looking state can also damage industries such as tourism and can make companies in those states appear to be risky to deal with.

Apple’s Video-Calling ‘Eavesdropping’ Bug

Posted on by Andy Miller

Apple Inc has found itself at the centre of a security alert after a bug in group-calling of its FaceTime video-calling feature has been found to allow eavesdropping of a call’s recipient to take place prior to the call being taken.

Sound, Video & Broadcasting

As well as allowing the caller to hear audio from the recipient’s phone even if the recipient has not yet picked up the call, if the recipient has pressed the power button on the side of the iPhone e.g. to silence/ignore the incoming call, the same bug was also found to have allowed callers to see video of the person they were calling before that person had picked up the call. This was because pressing the power button effectively started a broadcast from the recipient’s phone to the caller’s phone.

Data Privacy Day

Unfortunately for Apple, insult was added to injury as news of the bug was announced on Data Privacy Day, a global event that was introduced by the Council of Europe in 2007 in order to raise awareness about the importance of protecting privacy. Shortly before news of the Apple group FaceTime bug was made public, Apple’s Chief Executive, Tim Cook, had taken to Twitter to highlight the importance of privacy protection.

It Never Rains…But It Pours

To make things even worse, news of the bug was made public on the day before Apple was due to announce its reduced revenue forecast figures as part of its quarterly financial results. Apple has publicly reduced its expected revenue forecast by £3.8bn.  Apple’s chief executive put the blame for the revised lower revenue mainly on the unforeseen “magnitude of the economic deceleration, particularly in Greater China”.  He also blamed several other factors such as a battery replacement programme, problems with foreign exchange fluctuations, and the end of carrier subsidies for new phones.

Feature Disabled

In order to close the security and privacy hole that the bug created, Apple announced online that it had disabled the Group FaceTime feature at 3:16 AM on Tuesday.

Fix On The Way

Apple has announced that a fix for the bug will be available later this week as part of Apple’s iOS 12.2 update.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Apple has disabled the Group FaceTime feature with the promise of a fix within days, which should provide protection from any new attempts to exploit the bug. Those users who are especially concerned can also decide to disable FaceTime in the iPhone altogether via the phone’s settings.

Even though the feature has been disabled, the potential seriousness of allowing eavesdropping of private conversations and the broadcasting of video from a call recipient’s phone appears to have been a major threat to the privacy and security of some Apple phone users.  This has caused some tech commentators to express their surprise that a bug like this could be discovered in the trusted, trillion-dollar company’s products, and concern to be expressed that those users who, for whatever reason, don’t update their phones to the latest operating system, may not be protected.

No More Windows 10 Mobile Support – Microsoft Suggests Switching

Posted on by Andy Miller

Microsoft has formally announced on its support pages that, as of December 10th 2019, Windows 10 Mobile users can no longer expect security updates and support, and Microsoft recommends that customers then move to a supported Android or iOS device.

Windows 10 Mobile

Windows 10 Mobile is a mobile OS that was released in 2015 as the successor of Windows Phone 8.1 and is essentially an edition of Windows 10 running on devices that have less than a 9-inch screen. 

The end of Windows 10 Mobile support comes just over four years after Microsoft’s failed acquisition of Nokia’s devices and services businesses, which led to Microsoft having to write off $7.6 billion in 2015.  At the time, tech commentators wondered why Microsoft had got into the low-margin, highly competitive phone business, and Microsoft shifted its strategy from the standalone phone business to a strategy to grow the Windows ecosystem.  This effectively put the writing on the wall for Windows 10 Mobile, and many tech commentators have been waiting over the years for the formal announcement for the end of support to come.

What Is Coming To An End?

In this announcement, Microsoft has said that new security updates, non-security hot-fixes, free assisted support options, or online technical content updates from Microsoft for free will end for users of Windows 10 Mobile as of December 10, 2019. 

Microsoft has also stressed that, although third parties or paid support programs may still provide ongoing support, Microsoft support will not publicly provide updates or patches for Windows 10 Mobile after that date.

The announcement does not mean that Windows 10 Mobile devices will shut down with the cessation of support, but that continuing to use the devices afterwards will mean higher risks because of issues such as the lack of security updates and the phasing-out of backups.

Which Models?

Microsoft says that only device models that are eligible for Windows 10 Mobile, version 1709 are supported through the December 10th end date. Also, for Lumia 640 and 640 XL phone models, Window 10 Mobile version 1703 was the last supported OS version and will reach end of support on June 11th, 2019.

What Now?

The suggestion from Microsoft itself to Windows 10 Mobile customers is to move to a supported Android or iOS device.

Those customers who plan to keep using their Windows 10 Mobile device after the December 10th support cut-off date have been encouraged by Microsoft to manually create a backup before that date.  This can be done using Settings->Update & Security->Backup>More Options and then tapping on ‘Back up now’.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

This announcement from Microsoft is certainly not unexpected.  Where commercial customers are concerned, they have the same cut-off dates as domestic customers, but Microsoft has said that it will be working with many commercial customers to ensure a successful migration to a supported platform prior to the end of support date. 

This is an acceptance and acknowledgement by Microsoft that most of the partners and customers of businesses already use Android or iOS platforms and devices.

Some commentators have suggested that the move to end support for Windows 10 Mobile may also be a way for Microsoft to clear the decks ready for the introduction of a new folding smartphone, codenamed ‘Andromeda’.  This remains to be seen.

02 Outage – What Happened

Posted on by Andy Miller

After last week’s major O2 4G mobile network outage which left millions of customers with no network data access has been blamed on an expired software certificate that 3rd party supplier Ericsson had installed for some customers at business-critical part of the network.

What Happened?

On Thursday last week, O2 smartphone users were unable to use their mobile phone data for 24 hours.  O2, which is owned Spanish communications company Telefonica, has the UK’s second-largest mobile network, which is part of BT, and as well as having 25 million users, it provides services for the Sky, Tesco, Giffgaff and Lycamobile networks (whose networks were also affected).  It is estimated, therefore, that the outage affected around 35 million users in the UK and other parts of Europe (and even Japan’s SoftBank).

As well as the considerable disruption and inconvenience caused to individual customers, there were knock-on disruptive effects for organisations that run connectivity services on O2’s network, including Transport for London (TfL), Shropshire Council and a number of NHS trusts. In the case of TfL, bus information display boards, part of the Countdown Systems network, stopped working at approximately 5 am. Shropshire Council reported problems with its car park payment machines, which use O2 data connections.

£Millions In Damages + Compensation Expected

The scope, severity and duration of O2’s data network outage, and the impact on the company’s reputation as well as on its users have led to reports that 02 looks likely to seek up to £100 million in damages from Ericsson.

Also, O2 has already made announcements about how it plans to compensate customers.  For example, Pay As You Go customers look set to get 10% extra when they top up their phone in the new year or 10% off when they buy data for mobile broadband devices.

Both O2 and Ericsson have apologised.  It has been reported that Telefonica’s UK chief executive Mark Evans has promised a full audit of the problem across both organisations, and Marielle Lindgren, chief executive of Ericsson UK and Ireland has said that the software that caused the issues will be decommissioned.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Modern businesses now rely heavily on stable and reliable broadband connections and data network services.  Any disruption to these can be very disruptive and costly to businesses with potentially disastrous consequences.  In this case, a whole day was lost, and the true cost to UK businesses  (and their customers) may be difficult to calculate. For O2 and Ericsson, the incident appears to have caused some damage to their reputations.

As several tech commentators have since pointed out, the incident has illustrated how complex IT infrastructure has become and how, despite this complexity, organisations must stay on top of matters relating to software certificates, particularly those in business-critical systems. This incident also illustrates how problems with machine identities at critical nodes can have a wide-reaching impact on business and the economy.

Some commentators have also highlighted how operators picking up more IoT traffic and the introduction of 5G could mean that businesses are likely to experience more outages of this nature in the future.  The incident with O2 may also make some businesses take another look at their mobile strategies, feel less comfortable putting all their communications through a mobile operator, and take steps to reduce their dependence on any single external point of failure.