Eurobites: BT adds scale to its cybersecurity offer with Google

BT is hitching its cybersecurity wagon more tightly to Google, signing a deal that sees it become an official reseller of the search giant's Autonomic Security Operations (ASO) offering based on Google Chronicle. The idea is that customers get the scale of Google combined with the on-the-ground expertise of BT's cybersecurity team. BT already houses its data in Google Cloud, so this deal can be seen as an extension of that arrangement. Threat intelligence software from Mandiant, which Google acquired in 2022, will also be included in the partnership.

Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen will today be using his meeting with Nato to discuss, among other things, the damage done last weekend to a subsea gas pipeline and telecom cable running between Finland and Estonia, YLE reports. Sabotage is suspected, though no one is naming names at this stage. Finnish operator Elisa said in a statement that the incident has not affected its services, describing the cable in question as "redundant." According to Reuters, Norwegian seismology institute Norsar said it had detected a "probable explosion" close to the pipeline at around the time of the outage but added that more analysis was required.

Ericsson has adjusted the place settings at its top table, appointing Chris Houghton as chief operating officer and Åsa Tamsons as head of its enterprise wireless solutions division. Houghton has been with Ericsson for 35 years, most recently as senior vice president for the North East Asia region, while Tamsons is currently serving as senior vice president for the technologies and new businesses division. George Mulhern, currently head of the enterprise wireless solutions division, will retire from Ericsson during 2024, as will Nunzio Mirtillo, currently head of Ericsson's South East Asia, Oceania & India region.

French communications regulator Arcep has assembled a new scientific committee to drive its investigations into future networks, with Nokia's Jean-Luc Beylat and Cisco's Giovanna Carofiglio taking two spots on the 12-strong panel. They will consider, among other posers, what shape future networks may take and what impact they will have on Arcep's job as a regulator.

American Tower has appointed Thierry Amarger (pictured below) as CEO of its European operations, succeeding Pieter Nel, who has announced his retirement. Amarger has most recently been serving as American Tower's CEO in France and has also held senior positions at Microsoft and Nokia during his career of more than 25 years.

UAE-based Kush Investments has acquired virtual fibers on Sparkle's Equiano subsea cable, which connects South Africa to Nigeria and Portugal. Kush is hoping the deal will generate new telecom opportunities in West Africa. The agreement follows the one reached last June for a virtual fiber on the upcoming Blue & Raman cable between Djibouti and Europe.

A Dutch study has concluded that by 2027 the AI industry could consume as much energy as a country the size of the Netherlands, or half a percent of global electricity consumption. As the BBC reports, the author of the study, Alex De Vries, worked on the assumption that chip designer Nvidia would supply around 95% of the AI processing gear required by the sector and then based his calculations of what this kit would need in terms of electricity.

Telia has extended its contract as a provider and developer of mobility data to Fintraffic, a Finnish road and traffic management company. Specifically, Fintraffic will be using Telia's Crowd Insights service, which can be used to analyze movement patterns through anonymized and aggregated mobile network data.