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Breaking down barriers
Ericsson has teamed with
Facebook and other partners with
the goal to make internet access
available to the two-thirds of the
world who are not yet connected.
There are still many regions in the world
where connectivity is not taken for granted
and where slow networks with insufficient
capacity are a common issue.
The goal of Internet.org, a partnership
between Ericsson, Facebook and
other technology companies, including
Samsung and Qualcomm, is that everyone
in the world should benefit from the
opportunities of connectivity. Together,
the companies brainstorm initiatives that
will support the furthering of connectivity
worldwide, and pool their resources to
implement these initiatives.
Hackathons spark ideas
To bridge the connectivity gap, apps need
to be able to run even with very limited network
parameters. While 4G network technology
is common in many countries,
much of the world still operates on 2G and
3G standards. Ericsson sponsored hackathons
in 2014 to provide developers with
simulated network environments running
networks of various capabilities, so that
they could test their work on these other
networks. With the insights gained, developers
were able to make changes to their
apps for better performance the same day.
Optimization with XL Axiata
Also in 2014, Ericsson and Facebook
released data on a long-term project that
focused on the development of a model
Ericsson has joined Facebook and other companies
to address barriers to internet access in Internet.org.
for improving networking performance.
Through joint testing of Indonesian operator
XL Axiata’s network with Facebook
starting in December 2013, Ericsson
identified network issues affecting performance
and made alterations to the
radio network, DNS servers and content
delivery network that resulted in up to
70% improvement in app coverage.
The model developed in this project
has been leveraged into Ericsson’s
App Experience Optimization service,
expanding the offering worldwide.
Innovation Lab
Ericsson and Facebook have partnered on
the Internet.org Innovation Lab, which
opened on Facebook’s Menlo Park campus
in February 2015. It provides the test
environments and expertise for optimizing
applications, networks, devices and services
for the next five billion internet users.
Much like Ericsson’s smartphone labs,
this location is open to developers to
experiment with their app’s performance
on a global scale, without the cost and
complications of traveling worldwide. Apps
can be tested in a real-world envi ronment
and under conditions which are typical for
growth markets. It also gives developers a
way to ensure their apps will run in very
remote areas and to optimize the apps for
customers who are commonly exposed to
network capacity and accessibility issues.
Ericsson provides access to simulated
network environments, analysis of network
performance, and control of networks to
implement optimization efforts.
Ericsson | Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility Report 2014
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