Author: Eternity Lab

Is it possible that a public authority destroyed the email account of a lead lawyer assigned to a high-profile and controversial legal case, while the case was still ongoing?

And that for more than six years, that authority refused to undertake adequate searches as to who, when, why and how the account was destroyed?

And that when it finally did conduct such searches, it was too late to have retained almost all of the information as to when and why the account was destroyed?

Yes, that is precisely what happened with the Julian Assange case.

The UK authorities have finally conducted detailed searches to try to reconstruct how, when and why they deleted the email account of the lead Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) lawyer involved in liaising with Sweden over allegations against the WikiLeaks founder.

CPS Lawyer Paul Close advised Swedish prosecutors not to interview Assange in London after Sweden issued extradition proceedings against him over rape allegations. His advice helped create the legal paralysis that kept Assange arbitrarily detained in London and under investigation in Sweden for years.

Today, all investigations against Assange have been closed. The WikiLeaks founder was freed in June 2024, but the full truth is still not known.

Relentless litigation

The CPS was ordered to conduct the searches after a ruling in January 2025 by the London First-tier Tribunal, chaired by Judge Foss, required it to hand over any information it had that could shed light on the deletion of Close’s emails.

This followed a relentless Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation by investigative journalist – and the author of this article – Stefania Maurizi, led by the British barrister Estelle Dehon KC, after we discovered in 2017 that key documents had been destroyed. 

At that time, the Crown Prosecution Service disclosed to us some of Close’s emails that had been kept in paper files, but we identified gaps in the timing of the correspondence and the CPS explained those gaps by reference to the deletion of the email account. 

“If there ever existed further emails,” the CPS stated, “they were not printed off and filed by Paul Close, and the electronic copies were deleted when he retired and are no longer in the possession of the CPS.”

Since 2017, we have been trying to unearth the truth about the deleted information and to determine if there is any way to retrieve it, or if it is now permanently lost.

Missing documents cover crucial period

The missing documentation concerns some of the most crucial phases in the Assange case, such as when Sweden issued a European arrest warrant against the WikiLeaks founder in December 2010, when he took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in June 2012, and when he obtained asylum in August 2012.

In those years, the CPS was headed by Keir Starmer, who was the director of public prosecutions. However, during the past 10 years of our FOIA battle, none of the documents released to us by the CPS provide any evidence that Paul Close ever acted at the instruction of Starmer.

New information released by CPS

As a result of its new searches, the CPS released the following information to us: 

• The last login to Close’s email account was 31 March 2014, but the CPS has been unable to find information on exactly when his account was deleted.
• Neither the CPS’s former IT service provider nor the CPS’s extradition unit have retained any “transactional data” – information on the deletion of Close’s account
• The CPS authorities were already aware in September 2017 that the account had been deleted: “It now transpires that all the data associated with Paul’s account has been deleted and is not capable of being recovered,” wrote the head of departmental security at the CPS on 15 September 2017.

As to why the Crown Prosecution Service deleted Close’s account, the CPS has always maintained that it was done in accordance with standard procedure, after he retired in March 2014. 

However, from 2017 to 2023, the CPS refused to take our repeated requests for information seriously and provided contradictory statements on exactly when the emails were destroyed.

The leavers process document

It was only in 2023, after Judge O’Connor ordered it to shed light on the destruction of documents, that the Crown Prosecution Service provided a copy of the “leavers process document”.

According to the CPS’s version of the facts, the leavers process document justified the deletion of Close’s email account and outlined the standard operating procedures – which the CPS said were in place in 2014 – for deleting the accounts of CPS lawyers and employees when they retired.

But while the two rulings – one by Judge O’Connor in June 2023, the other by Judge Foss in January 2025 – have opened a crack in the wall of secrecy surrounding the destruction of key documents, too many mysteries remain.

If Close’s account was deleted under standard and legal procedure outlined in an official document, why in six years of our FOIA litigation did no one ever mention that document to us? 

And why did the CPS refuse to provide information for years? And why did it take two rulings by two judges to search for such information?

Had the UK authorities with the Crown Prosecution Service addressed our requests seriously from the very beginning, it is likely the CPS’s former IT service provider or the CPS’s extradition unit would have still had data about the destruction of documents.

“The tribunal decision [by Judge Foss] vindicated Ms Maurizi’s contention that the CPS never properly dealt with her request and was likely to hold information about the deletion of Paul Close’s emails,” Estelle Dehon KC, a prominent FOIA specialist with Cornerstone Barristers representing us in the FOIA litigation since 2017, told Computer Weekly. 

“Now the CPS has disclosed some further limited information, but that raises further questions, so a review will be requested,” Dehon added.

Why we need metadata

To determine whether the leavers process document is genuine, and whether the email in which it was internally circulated by the CPS is genuine, it would be important to obtain the associated metadata, but the CPS authorities have refused to release it to us, and Judge Foss ruled in their favour when it comes to metadata.

“Email metadata includes information about how and when emails have travelled over the internet, as well as which individuals and computers have been involved,” Steven Murdoch, professor of security engineering at University College London and a Royal Society University research fellow, told Computer Weekly.

“This information is added to an email as ‘headers’, which are not typically shown to users but are invaluable to investigators trying to establish the authenticity and significance of the email,” Murdoch added.

“For example, these headers can indicate whether an email is genuine, how it might have been modified and by whom, as well as whether it really is from who it claims to be,” he said.

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Carrier-integrated and over-the-top (OTT) solutions for critical push-to-talk (PTT) services over mobile and broadband PTT services have been in existence for more than 20 years. Now, the sector is reforming to the point where service revenue associated with mission-critical (MCPTT) and broadband PTT subscriptions over commercial mobile operator and critical communications broadband networks will surpass $12bn by the end of 2028, according to research from SNS Telecom & IT.

PTT services fundamentally improve collaboration and productivity for commercial business users across a diverse range of sectors. The MCPTT & broadband PTT market: 2025 – 2030 study defines MCPTT as an evolution of PoC/PTToC (PTT-Over-Cellular) technology aimed at meeting or exceeding the performance of mission-critical group communications in digital land mobile radio (LMD) systems, such as APCO P25 and Tetra.

It noted that enabling voice services with fast call setup times, clear audio quality in high-noise environments, priority/pre-emption, and other differentiating features, MCPTT solutions may also incorporate mission-critical video (MCVideo) and mission-critical data (MCData) capabilities. These three services are collectively referred to as MCX or MCS (mission-critical PTT, video and data) in 3GPP terminology. MCPTX and push-to-anything (PTX) are also used.

The analyst sees MCPTT and broader MCX services as a more recent addition to the market and are largely driven by public safety broadband, future railway mobile communication system (FRMCS) readiness, utility grid transformation and Industry 4.0 digitisation initiatives.

The report forecasts strong demand for such services and calculates that MCPTT and broadband PTT service revenue will grow at a CAGR of approximately 11% between 2025 and 2028, eventually accounting for more than $12bn the end of that period.

Although non-critical broadband PTT services are cited as continuing to constitute the bulk of subscriptions, much of this growth will be driven by 3GPP standards-compliant MCX service offerings, which are increasingly being adopted by business and mission-critical end user organisations of all sizes across a host of industries.

Looking at who will be the leading players in the industry, the report highlights AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Southern Linc, Telus, Bell Canada, SFR, KPN, Swisscom, Telia, Føroya Tele, Plus (Polkomtel), STC (Saudi Telecom Company), Omantel, Telstra, Telecom Argentina and other public mobile operators as having either deployed or are in the process of launching MCPTT service offerings to expand their B2B customer base among first responders and other critical communications user groups.

MCPTT functionality has been implemented in purpose-built critical communications broadband networks such as South Korea’s Safe-Net and LTE-R networks; FirstNet – via AT&T in the US but with direct integration into a dedicated core network; France’s Radio Network of the Future (RRF); and the UK’s controversial Emergency Services Network (ESN). Also in the US are deployments by the Georgia State Patrol, Dallas (Georgia) Police Department and other state/local first responder agencies across the country. 

Other implementations include Hub One’s private cellular network in Paris airports; Spain’s  State Emergency Digital Radiocommunications System (SIRDEE); the Italian Ministry of Interior’s public safety LTE platform; Tampnet’s offshore private 4G/5G networks; Finland’s VIRVE 2.0 mission-critical broadband service; Türkiye’s KETUM hybrid narrowband-broadband system; Oman’s public safety broadband network; Qatar MOI’s (Ministry of Interior) private LTE network; and Nedaa’s 4G network for critical communications in Dubai.

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There has been turmoil across global financial markets following the introduction of the new US tariffs, and datacentre equipment providers that source parts and electronic components and manufacture their products globally are facing hikes in costs that may end up being passed on to IT buyers.

In January, analyst IDC reported that the server market grew by 100.8% in spending in the third quarter of 2024, driven by the continued mass deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) servers by hyperscalers and other large IT buyers. There was also fairly strong demand for traditional datacentre servers, which it said experienced a strong unit growth of 18.7% year over year.

The growth in server sales, according to IDC, had occurred in spite of high inflation, a slowdown in economic activity, supply chain disruption and geopolitical conflict. This was before the US administration’s policy to impose tariffs on almost every country it trades with.

A complex, intertwined global supply chain is involved in the manufacture of datacentre equipment such as servers, networking and storage products.

Servers that run datacentres for governments and major businesses, and provide cloud computing for hyperscalers, rely on sourcing key semiconductor components, which are soldered on printed circuit boards and slotted into server chassis and cases in a manufacturing process spread across the world.

The Trump tariffs will impact every US business that trades either directly or indirectly with a country outside of the US. If they are based outside of the US, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and manufacturers of parts used by an OEM will face a tariff on those products and materials.

Beyond retaliatory counter-measures being taken by other countries, individual businesses, wherever they are located, may realign their sourcing and manufacturing capabilities to limit the effects of the tariffs.

Worldwide manufacturing in datacentre equipment 

As part of their sustainability reporting, the leading server companies list all of their suppliers and the countries these are based in. For instance, HPE’s list of final assembly suppliers include businesses in China, Mexico, Singapore, Germany, Czechia, the Netherlands, Taiwan and the US.

Storage supplied by Hitachi may come from the Netherlands or the US; it also uses a Foxconn company for storage, which puts together servers for HPE in its facilities in China, Mexico and Czechia. HPE’s networking products are manufactured in various locations including the Philippines, Vietnam and China.

Meanwhile, Dell’s supplier list includes American-Canadian multinational Celistica for final assembly, which has plants in China, Laos and Mexico. Like HPE, its servers require components from a multitude of companies.

Well-known parts makers listed by Dell include IBM for storage, Intel, LG, Samsung and Seagate, among others. The list also shows which facilities these firms are using to supply Dell. For instance, while IBM is a US incorporated business, Dell gets its IBM storage products from IBM facilities in China, Japan and Mexico – which, at the time of writing, are countries that are being hit hard by the new US tariffs.

Server maker Lenovo, which is regarded as a Chinese manufacturer, is set to see a significant rise in the cost of its products imported into the US as a result of a trade war now brewing between the US and China.

While no one knows how these tariffs will play out, what is clear is that every economy is striving to become more digital, and this requires hardware such as servers, which need parts from all over the world.

Component manufacturing

For instance, looking at the server processor, which is seeing an evolution as demand for AI workloads increases, Intel recently announced it would be expanding its portfolio of semiconductor technology development and sustainable manufacturing capabilities through what it calls the Intel Foundry. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said: “Our supplier ecosystem is essential to collectively deliver these capabilities sustainably, at scale.”

In the US, Intel said it has been expanding existing operations in Arizona, New Mexico and Oregon, and building a new manufacturing campus in Ohio. It also announced expansion plans in Ireland, Israel, Germany and Poland.

Publicly listed companies are required to state the risks to the business that could impact their performance. Looking at Intel rival AMD’s January 10K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where it posts its quarterly results, the company said: “We rely on third parties to manufacture our products, and if they are unable to do so on a timely basis in sufficient quantities and using competitive technologies, our business could be materially adversely affected.”

Just as the server manufacturers leverage a global supply chain of parts manufacturers and final assembly companies, the processors at the heart of every server rely on an intricate set of relationships with global semiconductor partners.

Like many chipmakers, AMD relies on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) for the production of all wafers for microprocessor and graphics processor unit (GPU) products at 7 nanometer (nm) or smaller nodes. For the remainder of its chips, AMD uses GlobalFoundries, a company with joint head offices in Malta and New York, which claims its global manufacturing facilities are located in areas that have a low risk of natural disasters. TSMC, along with another Tawanise manufacturer, United Microelectronics, and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, provide AMD with programmable logic devices for its integrated circuits.

In its 10K SEC filing, AMD stated: “Our third-party package assembly partners are responsible for packaging technology used to fabricate our products. It is important to have reliable relationships with all of these third-party manufacturing suppliers to ensure adequate product supply to respond to customer demand.”

Nvidia is a fabless semiconductor firm, which means it also relies on TSMC and Samsung Electronics for the manufacturing of the GPUs that power many modern AI applications. According to CSI Market.com, it uses memory chips from US-based Micron Technology, as well as South Korea’s SK Hynix and Samsung.

Who ultimately pays?

It’s unclear whether datacentre equipment manufacturers will be able to swallow the price hike in components sourced from countries with high US tariffs. If they pass on these costs, IT buyers will have to spend significantly more than they have budgeted for.

Lenovo, however, illustrated a potential way to limit the effects. As of March 2024, it had over 12,000 people working at its various Chinese manufacturing sites. However, the site in Hungary has 1,000 workers. While smaller than the China-based workforce, it’s not insignificant.

No one expects every company across the global server manufacturing supply chain to become US-incorporated, but there are a number of Chinese ecommerce businesses that locate warehouses in Europe to avoid import duties.

They say a week in politics is a long time, but for datacentre equipment manufacturer and its supply chain partners, strategically moving production to facilities located in countries with lower tariffs could reduce the impact of Trump’s decision.

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The gigabit broadband revolution continues to be on a roll in the UK as two new deployments show the diversity of installations across the country, increasing internet speeds and reliability for residents and businesses across the centre of St Helens, and installing gigabit-capable full-fibre broadband to over 35,000 premises in rural and underserved areas in Cornwall.

In the industrial north-west, business internet and networks provider Elevate has been awarded a contract to build a full-fibre internet network for St Helens Borough Council as part of the town’s Digital Infrastructure Project.

This will support the regeneration of the town centre as part of the Town Fund Programme, funded by the UK government’s Ministry of Homes, Communities and Local Government, and underpins and future-proofs St Helens’ digital ambition to ensure infrastructure will service the requirements of residents, businesses and visitors for decades to come.

The council has planned the project with digital infrastructure company CJ Founds Associates, which has helped it develop the Commercial Case and Contracting Strategy, including wider innovative use cases and digital initiatives.

The contract also sees Elevate working with Tute Education, an online education partner for local authorities, schools and non-mainstream settings. Elevate will give Tute a percentage of the investment to further drive social value by supporting schools, students, parents and carers across St Helens to make connected education more accessible.

Commenting on the deployment, councillor Anthony Burns, leader of St Helens Borough Council, said: “This Town Deal project is a key part of our transformational work to develop St Helens town centre, and will prove a real boost to businesses, residents and visitors, enabling better support for things like future 5G connectivity in the borough. This scheme will also provide digital infrastructure pulling together the other Town Deal project sites across St Helens town centre, making us one of the most digitally connected towns in the region.”

In Cornwall, meanwhile, as part of its expanding partnership with Wildanet – an independent Cornish internet service provider which claims to be the largest alternative network provider (altnet) in the county – solution provider Xantaro is deploying fully integrated street cabinet and exchange solutions to optimise build speed, enhance network resilience and reduce maintenance costs in a deployment that is part of the UK government’s Project Gigabit scheme.

The two-year deployment deadline is said to require “an aggressive build pace without compromising on quality”. The pre-configured street cabinets and exchange solutions are claimed to offer high-performance connectivity by incorporating an advanced cabinet design solution incorporating Nokia optical line terminals, VIAVI centralised OTDR test heads, out-of-band management. smart locks from iLOQ, and environmental sensors.

By integrating these technologies within a fully pre-tested and configured solution, Xantaro said it is enabling faster, more efficient network roll-out, ensuring that Wildanet’s infrastructure meets the government’s stringent delivery requirements while reducing long-term operational costs.

“Rolling out fibre networks at scale and speed requires smart infrastructure that not only accelerates deployment but also ensures long-term performance,” commented Stephen Kingdom, chief technology officer for fixed networks at Xantaro.

“Our fully integrated, pre-configured street cabinets allow altnets like Wildanet to deploy faster while reducing maintenance overhead. Features like real-time monitoring, smart security, and the inherent noise pollution reduction heat exchangers bring, make these cabinets an ideal solution for high-quality, community-friendly broadband expansion. As [government executive agency] BDUK contracts ramp up, we look forward to supporting more altnets in meeting deployment targets while ensuring the highest quality network experience for communities.”

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Global law firm Freshfields has outlined its commitment to ensuring all 5,700 of its staff can confidently use artificial intelligence (AI) tools every day to do their jobs, as it embarks on a large-scale roll-out of Google’s generative AI (GenAI) chatbot, Gemini.

Speaking to Computer Weekly, Freshfields’ global chief innovation officer, Gil Perez, said the company is “laser-focused” on getting every member of staff to “master AI” in support of its push to deliver “client-centric innovation” in a responsible and ethical way.

“We are particularly focused on harnessing AI as a tool to augment and empower our lawyers to produce higher quality work products in an efficient manner,” he said. “Conducting legal research, analysing large datasets and summarising the results [are] prime use cases.”

In support of these efforts, the company has committed to rolling out Google Cloud’s online business productivity suite, Google Workspace, which comes equipped with the tech giant’s GenAI agent, Gemini.

Freshfields said it also has plans to draw on Google’s AI capabilities to create new products that it hopes will transform how the legal industry works.

As an example, the company said it plans to make use of Google’s Vertex AI platform to create bespoke AI agents to tackle specific repetitive and time-consuming internal legal and business processes.

We are particularly focused on harnessing AI as a tool to augment and empower our lawyers to produce higher quality work products in an efficient manner Gil Perez, Freshfields

Furthermore, the company said it also plans to use Google’s NotebookLM technology to create documents and glean new insights from existing materials. It also plans to use Gemini to power Freshfields’ proprietary technology, which it claims will help accelerate the pace of document reviews and due diligence tasks.

Perez said the use of generative AI is becoming increasingly prevalent across the highly regulated legal sector, with the technology being used to accelerate day-to-day productivity tasks, such as drafting emails, translating documents and creating meeting summaries. There is also a role for the technology to assist with legal research, document drafting and regulatory compliance tasks, he added. 

“We are [also] witnessing accelerated adoption in streamlining e-discovery document reviews in large-scale disputes, [and] semi-automating due diligence contract review processes in transactional matters, [which is] significantly reducing time spent on routine tasks.”

Even so, he said it is important that “humans remain in the loop” in all of these use cases, and that – given the highly regulated nature of the legal sector – guardrails are put in place to ensure AI is deployed responsibly and ethically.

“Our number one priority is the responsible and ethical deployment of AI to benefit our clients. This necessitates establishing robust guardrails and controls to ensure client data security and maximise the value derived from AI technologies,” said Perez.

“This includes, for example, addressing concerns surrounding data privacy, the need for transparent and explainable AI models, and the need to integrate AI into existing legal workflows.”

To assist with this process, he said there is a cross-functional board in place that is responsible for directing the company’s overall innovation and AI strategy. In addition, Freshfields has created an AI oversight committee to ensure the technology’s compliant development and use.

“We are seeing significant progress on all fronts, especially with the new ‘deep thinking’ and reasoning capabilities Google and others have exposed in their latest models,” said Perez.

“Furthermore, we are collaborating closely with Google Cloud to tailor their tools, including the Google Workspace suite, to meet the specific requirements of a regulated legal sector. Google Cloud has been responsive to our feedback, actively working to ensure their products align with our compliance needs,” he added.

The partnership is one of several Google Cloud customer wins that are expected to be announced over the coming days, to coincide with the onset of the public cloud giant’s annual user conference, Google Cloud Next, in Las Vegas.

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said GenAI tools are a good fit for teams navigating complex workflows and problems within highly regulated industries.

“We’ve been a proud partner of Freshfields’ innovation journey for years with Google Workspace,” Kurian added. “We believe that our AI technologies can help Freshfields deliver new innovations for its organisation, clients and the legal industry overall.”

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Like many in the IT security profession, I welcomed the recent remarks made by outgoing CISA chief Jen Easterly, in which she pointed out that making software safer may not be easy or cheap, but is the only way to truly protect IT systems. 

Easterly’s comparison of today’s software industry with the “before seat belts” automotive industry of the 1960s struck me as particularly apt. Unsafe at Any Speed, published in 1965 by Ralph Nader, precipitated transformational change in the auto industry, arguing as long as carmakers were allowed to self-regulate, they would continue to prioritise style, cost, performance and calculated obsolescence over safety and the best interests of the consumer. 

They would also continue to victim-blame when it came to accidents, casting drivers in the role of “the nut behind the wheel”, rather than shouldering the responsibility for inherently poorly designed cars. 

Sixty years on, there are clear parallels with modern software products. With developers in hot pursuit of style, speed and other priorities, bugs and vulnerabilities persist. And there’s a fair amount of finger-pointing at users, too. We are told they don’t know how to use these systems safely or to protect them adequately. This convenient narrative conveys the message that, with users like these, is it any wonder that ‘accidents’ like ransomware attacks and data breaches occur?

But as Easterly has pointed out, that’s just not fair. We cannot continue to accept dangerous software and we need to dig deeper into the issues and flaws that lead to breaches. The work that CISA is doing with the Secure By Design initiative is an incredibly important and constructive step in holding the software industry more accountable. 

But as customers, we also need to play our part in pushing for change. In the year or so following the publication of Nader’s book, the United States adopted two auto-safety laws and established the National Traffic Safety Agency. Over the decades since then, customer pressure has helped drive the widespread introduction of seat belts, anti-lock brakes and airbags.

Demanding better from suppliers 

As buyers of software, organisations should demand better from suppliers – and the IT security team must play an active role in any and all negotiations with them. In fact, it should be involved from the earliest stages, stepping in during the procurement process and championing the security message.

Without that involvement, the risk is that an inherently insecure piece of corporate software gets purchased and installed, later resulting in a whole stack of problems for IT security: lots of patches, lots of updates, plenty of fire drills and emergency responses. In short, you’ve got a piece of software that represents a significant drain on resources and a consistent source of interruptions for the IT security team. In terms of the car analogy, you’ve just purchased a lemon. 

After all, it’s not unheard of for an executive team to make a software procurement decision based on what other organisations are doing, what product is considered to be ‘market-leading’, an existing relationship between the organisation and a particular supplier, or numerous other considerations – but all to the exclusion of what’s actually best for the organisation’s environment and its security. 

In reality, the CISO and their team are accountable for making sure that every piece of technology brought into the organisation aligns with its risk posture and its well-defined security controls. In short, they have to determine whether this proposed purchase will meet the same requirements that every other piece of software is expected to meet. 

In my experience, this is where a formalised ‘blind’ Request for Proposal (RFP) process can pay dividends, ensuring that software procurement decisions are not swayed by brand reputation or marketing clout. From there, the IT security team should be actively engaged in proof of concepts (POCs) that involve trying out elements of the new software within the current environment, making sure they work and identifying any potential issues, taking the software for a “test drive,” if you will.  

This will give the IT security team a solid foundation for engaging colleagues from elsewhere in the business in a robust conversation about risk. It’s rarely (if ever) a case of the IT security team attempting to veto a purchase. It’s more about them helping the organisation to understand how to mitigate identified risks – or accept them, if the organisation turns out to be comfortable with those risks. Above all, it’s about understanding risk-appetite within the organisation and how that plays out within the context of what the business is trying to achieve.

Buyer beware

But above all, the IT security team should be part of a wider organisational effort to expect more from suppliers – our own effort to insist on ‘Secure by Design’, within the microcosm of an individual purchase. 

Put simply, the risk landscape that IT teams face today, with its many data breaches and attacks, is the direct result of not expecting more, of simply accepting that regulations and compliance requirements around IT security must necessarily be shouldered by the purchasers of software, and not its creators. 

That must change. We must raise our expectations and shift accountability, because until that happens, customers will continue taking on work post-implementation that software companies  fail to carry out when they design products. If customers didn’t have that work to do, then they could spend more time looking at how they could run their environments better, provide better customer experiences, and help businesses achieve their top- and bottom-line financial targets.

For the auto industry, the first priority had to be a safer, more accident-proof automobile. For us, it must be safer, more breach-proof software.

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IBM has unveiled its newest mainframe computer, the Z17, which it claims has redefined artificial intelligence (AI) at scale. The next generation of the company’s mainframe system is powered by an IBM Telum II processor, and has been optimised, according to IBM, to run workloads such as generative and agentic AI.

In terms of AI, IBM said the Z17 enables enterprises to run analytics on all of their transactions in real time, and has the ability to process 50% more AI inference operations per day than its predecessor, the Z16. 

The Z17 AI inferencing capabilities are powered by what IBM calls “a second-generation on-chip AI accelerator” that it said has been built into the IBM Telum II processor.

The AI accelerator offers increased frequency, compute capacity, plus a 40% larger cache, which IBM said enables it to run more than 450 billion inferencing operations in a day, with a response time of one millisecond. 

The Z17 also offers IBM’s Spyre Accelerator, which will be available later in the year. This provides additional AI compute capabilities to complement the Telum II processor. According to IBM, the combination of Spyre and Telum II accelerators means the Z17 can support multi-model AI. Spyre adds generative AI capabilities to the Z17, which IBM said enables the mainframe system to run large language models (LLMs) and AI assistants securely.

Discussing how this will help enterprises that use the Z17, Ric Lewis, senior vice-president of infrastructure for IBM, said: “The industry is quickly learning that AI will only be as valuable as the infrastructure it runs on. Only 1% of the enterprise data is part of large language models. With Z17, businesses can put their untapped enterprise data to work for AI in a secure, cost-effective way.”

IBM has also added AIops capabilities as part of the Z17 by including IBM Watsonx Code Assistant for Z and IBM Watsonx Assistant for Z. IBM said Watsonx Assistant for Z will be integrated with Z Operations Unite to provide AI chat-based incident detection and resolution for the first time using live systems data.

Along with the Z17, the company announced IBM Z Operations Unite, which brings together operational data from multiple sources across IBM Z, in OpenTelemetry format, which it said streamlines IT operations with AI.

According to IBM, the IT tool helps admins detect anomalies quicker, enabling them to isolate the impact of potential incidents and reduce the resolution time from hours to minutes. IBM Z Operations Unite provides what IBM claims is “intelligent correlation of events from multiple sources”. It also works with Watsonx Assistant for Z, which can provide expert advice and enable the IT operations team to take actions based on this guidance.

IBM has also taken steps to help its customers deploy quantum safe encryption. IBM chief product officer Tina Tarquinio said: “We have quantum safe encryption on our system and we are now introducing new tools to help our clients get on this quantum safe journey quicker.”

She described the deployment of quantum safe technology as “a heavy lift” involving switching encryption algorithms.

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Research has calculated that the embedded subscriber identity module (eSIM) market is currently on track to be worth $34.6bn by 2033. Aiming to tap into this arena and looking to unlock new value for mobile operators and global users alike, global communications and technology investor BTS Group has made a strategic investment in ZIM Connections(ZIM).

Said to provide a gateway to global eSIM connectivity for businesses and consumers worldwide, ZIM was founded by Giulia Acchioni and Irina Gheorghiu in 2020 after a visit to the Philippines inspired them to address the problems they repeatedly faced in getting internet connection abroad.

The stated mission of the UK-based firm is “to create a world where connectivity knows no boundaries … where everyone feels confident to pursue their dreams, and each moment is a chance to connect, share and create unforgettable memories”.

The company has now grown to the point where it describes itself as providing a gateway to global eSIM connectivity for businesses worldwide. It offers “a plug-and-play” eSIM platform with global coverage in more than 200 destinations, simplifying connectivity management and enabling telecom providers to expand their services without complex integration.

BTS Group is an investment company working in the global communications and technology sectors. Through its portfolio of companies, it supports solutions in voice, cloud telephony, messaging, omnichannel, identity, eSIM connectivity and digital transformation for operators, enterprises and digital players. The investment in ZIM is said to mark a significant expansion for BTS Group into digital mobile assets, supporting operators through new roaming and monetisation opportunities.

In addition, by adding the financial backing of BTS Group, the company believes the complementary strengths of both companies will mean ZIM has entered into partnership that can drive enhanced global connectivity solutions through eSIM technology for operators and end users.

Specifically, ZIM will work with BTS Group-owned BTS – a global provider, technology enabler and trusted partner to communications technology players – to use the latter’s relationships with mobile network operators (MNOs) to bring direct mobile connectivity to ZIM. This is intended to improve end user experience by enabling faster, more reliable mobile access across regions, while also creating revenue opportunities for mobile providers by driving global eSIM roaming traffic from global users and travellers to their networks.

Additionally, BTS Group will offer a white-label eSIM app and platform, powered by ZIM, to its operator partners. This solution is said to enable MNOs to rapidly launch a branded, customer-facing eSIM app connected to their existing backend infrastructure – without complex integration or in-house development – while maintaining ownership of the underlying connectivity and giving them full visibility and control over their users.

“Joining forces with BTS Group allows us to scale our technology and reach, making seamless, high-quality mobile connectivity accessible to more users and businesses around the world,” said Giulia Acchioni Mena, co-founder and COO of ZIM Connections.

“With BTS Group as a strategic partner, we can bring our white-label eSIM solution to a broader range of operators – making it easy for them to deliver global coverage while eliminating the technical complexities traditionally associated with eSIM implementation.”

Rafael Olloqui, CEO and co-founder of BTS Group, added: “With smartphone eSIM adoption expected to reach 76% by 2030 [citing GSMA Intelligence research], this investment represents a strategic move into one of the fastest-growing segments in telecom. As global travel and eSIM adoption accelerate, we’re helping operators capitalise on emerging roaming opportunities.”

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Conflicting rumors about the overhauled design of Apple’s iOS 19 update have been circulating for months, but on Monday, a new leak might have provided some clarity.

A few weeks ago, Front Page Tech shared an “exclusive first look” at iOS 19, supposedly giving us an early look at Apple’s 2025 software refresh for the iPhone. Shortly after the video went up, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman took to social media to note that the leaked images were “based on either very old builds or vague descriptions.”

Front Page Tech didn’t immediately respond to the accusation, but today, the channel uploaded another video, firing back at Gurman and sharing even more details about the software:

Front Page Tech host Jon Prosser claims that Gurman’s post actually prompted him to go back and take a closer look at the leaked iOS 19 build. When he did, he noticed that tapping on icons changed their shape. The icons suddenly became more rounded, similar to the look of the apps on visionOS, but not quite a perfect circle.

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Other changes in iOS 19 uncovered this time around included on-screen elements shimmering when the phone moves, rounder brightness and volume sliders in Control Center, new animated tabs at the bottom of Apple’s first-party apps, the search field at the bottom of the Messages app, and subtle visual changes to the Settings app.

Finally, Front Page Tech revealed a new feature for the Camera app. According to Prosser, the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max models will allow users to record videos with the rear-facing and front-facing cameras simultaneously. This very feature has been available on Samsung phones for over a decade, but better late than never, I guess.

Gurman has yet to say anything about this video, but we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled.

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Aeound a year ago, Open Broadcast Systems introduced its OBE 5G Flyaway mobile bonding solution system to allow sports broadcasters to reach fibre and satellite picture quality over cellular networks and deliver them as standard Constant Bitrate MPEG Transport Streams. To further its mobile video portfolio and enhance remote production over the public internet, it has now introduced 5G Assist.

London-based Open Broadcast Systems said that it is revolutionising the provision of advanced broadcast technology, moving the industry towards a flexible, cost efficient and software-driven future. Its solutions are designed to deliver services to mass audiences on a frequent basis including major sporting and breaking news events.

The company said that its products are designed to adapt to the pressures and challenges of the modern broadcast environment, and that in being intrinsically agile its solutions can be developed and installed in extremely short timeframes, without compromising on quality.

As it made the launch of the new 5G Assist product, the low-latency encoding and decoding firm said using the using the public internet for remote production has obvious benefits in terms of flexibility and cost-efficiency. The new technology is available immediately in Open Broadcast Systems software-based encoders and decoders, which see use in delivering premium video content over any network.

However, the company conceded that as a shared resource the public internet can lead to severe challenges when it comes to packet loss and picture quality.

In operation, 5G Assist uses a supplementary network, such as a telecoms operator’s mobile network or a satellite infrastructure, alongside the main internet connection to perform packet recoveries, in addition to recovery attempts performed over the main connection. Using 5G Assist, Open Broadcast Systems assured that broadcasters can reduce packet loss and lower overall latency in their remote productions when using the public internet.

“5G Assist is a game changer, enabling broadcasters to get the best of both worlds with the flexibility and cost-savings of public internet and the low-latency that remote production needs,” said Kieran Kunhya, founder and CEO of Open Broadcast Systems.

The launch of 5G Assist comes just weeks after the latest development in the UK government-backed Mobile O-RAN for Highly Dense Environments (5G MoDE) project, which saw its team successfully deliver a temporary Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) 5G Cell on Wheels outside the Twickenham rugby stadium at the recent England vs Italy Six Nations rugby fixture.

5G MoDE believes that its work is “not just about winning a competition”, but about redefining the future of mobile connectivity. The project aims to have a significant impact on the high-density mobile traffic landscape, driving the adoption of open mobile networks and creating a more connected and empowered world.

Open Broadcast Systems believes it can enhance spectrum efficiency, reduce energy consumption, optimise network capacity, minimise environmental impact and provide superior service, even in densely populated areas such as stadiums hosting sporting occasions where large amounts of video are streamed.

The 5G assist launch also comes just after leading UK BT announced the first successful trial of multicast-assisted unicast delivery (MAUD) live streaming platform.Developed in collaboration with Broadpeak, MAUD is designed to enhance live video streaming quality and reliability for viewers and increase content delivery efficiency for broadcasters and content delivery networks (CDNs) by flattening peaks of network traffic by switching to multicast delivery, which is a more efficient way of delivering content over the internet.

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