Vodafone New Zealand has today switched on 5G in parts of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown, as well as showcased two of the first local use cases utilising the network’s potential to transform New Zealanders lives with increased online speeds, better responsiveness and more capacity for connected devices.

At an event in Wellington, Mana Williams from youth advisory non-profit VOYCE – Whakarongo Mai, a partner of the Vodafone Foundation, Vodafone’s charitable arm which aims to improve the lives of young New Zealanders, officially turned on the Vodafone 5G network alongside Thaigan Govender, Lead Engineer on the 5G project .

Jason Paris, Vodafone New Zealand CEO, said: “Our team has been working hard to light up Aotearoa with a remarkable new 5G mobile network, along with awesome new smartphones in time for Christmas.

“This is just the beginning of a new technology era for New Zealand. We expect Vodafone New Zealand customers using 5G to experience mobile download speeds of potentially 5-10 times the current 4G speeds. This means Kiwis can download large files like movies much more quickly and start to experience a new world of entertainment such as cloud-based gaming – while businesses can further innovate with new technologies and connected devices.

“5G is our most powerful tool yet that will make the ‘life remotes’ in our pocket even more essential.

The fifth generation network will mean our cities and communities can become more connected, smarter, safer and healthier. 5G represents greater speed, latency, capacity and security – as well as an enhanced internet of things. If 4G was the era of the Smartphone, 5G will be the era of Connected Everything.

“Four in five New Zealanders say mobile connectivity is important to the economy, while three in four Kiwis believe New Zealand will get left behind without access to the latest technologies. We’re pleased to deliver even better mobile connectivity for the country, and provide the next platform for New Zealand innovators to create awesome new applications or businesses.”

To access 5G, Kiwis need a 5G device from Vodafone New Zealand or selected New Zealand retailers, a Vodafone 5G Ready plan and be in a 5G coverage area. Those customers will be able to experience 5G at no extra cost until 30 June 2020. To access 5G from 1 July 2020, customers will be able to purchase a 5G Add On for $10 per connection, per month (or the equivalent Prepay term).

5G device launch partner, Samsung has released two new models on the Vodafone 5G network, both offering faster speeds and better processing capacity. The Note 10+ 5G model boasts all the features and capability of the Note 10+ that users love, enhanced by the speeds and reliability of the 5G connection. As well as the Samsung Galaxy A90 5G, which is a more affordable phone, with three rear cameras, an internal expandable memory.

Two of the first New Zealand 5G use cases were showcased at the Wellington event, highlighting the potential of the 5G network to transform the way Kiwis live and work.

Rob Cochrane, New Zealand Police Chief Information Officer, presented a 5G-enabled drone that can take 4K quality video and feed it back instantly to police officers on the ground. “5G technology will really help us keep New Zealanders safe. While drone footage over a 4G connection is useful, with a 5G network connection the quality improves dramatically meaning we can scan the environment allowing a faster response to keep the community safe.”

Hamilton-based artificial intelligence company, Aware Group, displayed an innovative 5G tool for retail businesses. Chief Technology Officer, Jourdan Templeton, explained: “We’ve developed a plug-and-play retail optimisation solution that gives business owners a heat map of how people are interacting with products in their stores. While some of this you can do this over 4G, it now becomes cost-effective with 5G due to the ability to use cloud-based storage enabled by the higher network capacity and greater processing speeds.”

The Vodafone team will continue to build the 5G network over the coming few years, adding Nokia 5G technology to more than 1,500 existing cell sites around the country – up from the initial 100 cell sites that are now live.

Tony Baird, Technology Director, explained: “This is day one of our live 5G network and we will continue our work to bring the best connectivity and technology solutions to New Zealanders.

“We’re using 3.5GHz spectrum to launch 5G, and our current radio spectrum holdings will mean that Vodafone customers see an uplift of up to 10 times current 4G speeds. However to reach the one gigabit speeds that we’re seeing internationally, we’ll need approximately 100MHz of 3.5GHz spectrum so will continue to work with the government on the early allocation and auction processes.”

Vodafone will continue to develop its 5G broadband offering, building on the recent trial the company completed at Wellington Airport showing Kiwis the potential of 5G speeds over wi-fi. “Vodafone 5G fixed broadband solutions will open up connectivity choices for many more Vodafone New Zealand customers, especially those looking for a plug and play wireless solution with quick and easy downloads.”

To discover the potential of 5G and how it can transform your business and life, please visit Vodafone NZs official 5G website.

The post New Zealand Enters the 5G Fast Lane thanks to Vodafone NZ appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Industry computing specialists NetGear has announced to us here at STG that they are launching two new products this week during CES 2018 in Las Vegas that amp up your game play; Nighthawk Pro Gaming WiFi Router (XR500) and Nighthawk Pro Gaming SX10 10G / Multi-Gig LAN Switch (GS810EMX).

Whether you’re online gaming, hosting a LAN party, or streaming high-definition content, the new NETGEAR Pro Gaming products will take your network to a whole new level of speed, performance, personalisation and control.

Gamers are looking for every advantage to maximise their ability to thrive in their online multi-player game of choice. Regardless of whether you are a serious or casual gamer on either a console or PC, the Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router XR500 and the Nighthawk Pro Gaming Switch SX10 will give you greater command over who you play with and prevent unwanted interruptions, giving you the ability to level up your gameplay.

Nighthawk Pro Gaming WiFi Router (XR500)

This new groundbreaking NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro Gaming WiFi Router (XR500) leverages advanced cutting-edge software to optimise network connections by stabilising ping, reducing lag spikes, and keeping you always-on with reliable wired and wireless connectivity for advanced online game play. The Gaming Dashboard, Geo Filter, Quality of Service (QoS) and Network Monitoring capabilities enable customisation and gaming performance unmatched in the router space. The Nighthawk Pro Gaming WiFi Router includes best-in-class hardware features such as a dual-core 1.7GHz processor, Quad-stream Wave 2 WiFi with MU-MIMO, and four external high-power antennas wrapped up in an aggressive and formidable enclosure.

The NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro Gaming SX10 10G / Multi-Gig LAN Switch (GS810EMX), a 2018 CES Innovation Awards Honoree, succeeds the Nighthawk S8000 and is set to provide you with an advanced 10G switch to prioritise streams with QoS to fine-tune your game play. The Nighthawk Pro Gaming SX10 LAN Switch offers hard-wired speeds for gamers who demand that competitive edge with completely lag-free performance. It has two auto-adaptive 10Gigabit / Multi-Gigabit ports delivering seamless data transfer with five different connectivity speeds providing options for the variety of connected devices: 100Mbps, 1Gbps, 2.5Gbps, 5Gbps or 10Gbps. With link aggregation, the switch will achieve 20Gbps transfer speeds between the Nighthawk Pro Gaming SX10 Switch and your network devices such as networked storage like NETGEAR ReadyNAS. One of the main software features of the switch, the Gaming Dashboard, provides analytics for an overview into all that is happening with your network and what ports need to be prioritised for the best quality of game play.

Nighthawk Pro Gaming WiFi Router (XR500)

“All online gamers, whether they are casual, avid or professional, have one thing in common — the need for responsive, reliable, low-lag game play. With the introduction of Nighthawk Pro Gaming, NETGEAR is demonstrating our dedication to gamers to deliver products that enhance gaming performance,” says David Henry, senior vice president of Connected Home for NETGEAR.  “We have worked tirelessly with gamers to engineer features that deliver best-in-class performance, customisation and ease-of-use for the ultimate gaming experience. There should not be anything on your network that prevents you from having the ultimate game experience. With Nighthawk Pro Gaming, you will now have the power to win.”

Nighthawk Pro Gaming SX10

Nighthawk Pro Gaming WiFi Router (XR500) Specs:

With the new Nighthawk Pro Gaming WiFi Router, you’ll enjoy frustration-free online and network gaming. Its MU-MIMO WiFi streams simultaneously to multiple devices on the same network so you and your pals can smoothly game online at the same time without affecting each other’s performance. Here are some of the other key reasons you’ll want to make the Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router the centerpiece of your gaming experience:

• Gaming Dashboard — On a single screen, view real-time bandwidth utilisation by device, ping delays, and many other parameters.
• Geo Filter — Fix your gaming lag by limiting distance to servers or other players, get a guaranteed local connection, and create black/white lists of your preferred servers.
• Quality of Service (QoS) — Prioritise gaming devices and allocate bandwidth by device to eliminate lag due to queuing at the ISP network.
• Gaming VPN — Protect your network identity, prevent DDoS attack, and use the VPN client to connect to the VPN server.
• Network Monitor — Check on bandwidth-hogging devices and identify the applications which could be causing lag.
• Gigabit Ethernet Ports — Maximise speed with four (4) GbE LAN ports for wired connections, ideal for fast-paced gaming and high-quality streaming.
• 802.11ac WiFi — Enjoy Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO) for simultaneous streaming, Quad-Stream, and 160MHz for faster speeds.
• Dual-Core 1.7GHz Processor — Support more devices for better 4K streaming, VR gaming, surfing, and more with this powerful, faster processor.
• AC2600 WiFi — Take advantage of up to 800+1733 Mbps wireless speed, and double the available bandwidth with simultaneous dual-band WiFi.
• High-Performance Antennas — Get better WiFi coverage and faster speeds with four (4) external antennas.
• Memory — Enjoy plenty of headroom with 256 MB flash and 512 MB RAM.
• Beamforming+ — Enjoy more reliable connections for fewer drops, providing jitter-free network performance.

Nighthawk Pro Gaming SX10 10G /M ulti- Gig LAN Switch (GS810EMX) Specs:

The new award-winning Nighthawk Pro Gaming SX10 8-port Switch is versatile, high-performing, and customisable for limitless gaming. It offers close-to-zero latency, a new gaming dashboard, and precision-driven auto-diagnostics for the high demands of the gaming world. It also includes the full set of NETGEAR Smart Managed Plus Switch software features. No wonder it’s been honored in the CES Innovation Awards competition for its excellence in design and engineering! If you need more reasons to add a Nighthawk Pro Gaming SX10 switch to your network, keep reading:

• Two (2) 5-speed 10Gigabit/Multi-Gig Uplinks — Increase speeds and expand the bandwidth of your network with ports that automatically adapt to deliver 100Mbps, 1Gbps, 2.5Gbps, 5Gbps or 10Gbps.
• Gigabit Ethernet LAN Ports — Connect more wired devices for fast action gaming parties though the provided 8 GbE LAN ports.
• Gaming Dashboard — Get real-time insight on performance and configuration in a unified view.
• Customisable RGB LED Controls — Personalise every light on your switch by color for better visibility, and easily adjust brightness and frequency.
• Up to 20Gbps Port-Trunking/Link Aggregation (LAG) — Aggregate Gigabit or Multi-Gigabit ports for even faster speeds.
• Advanced VLAN & QoS Configuration — Give your gaming devices the priority they deserve.
• Intuitive Interface — Take advantage of a mobile-optimised GUI and “one-click” pre-configured settings for all media needs.
• Low Latency — Experience the smoothest gaming and fastest action.
• Auto-Diagnostics — Troubleshoot instantly so you get back into the game faster.
• Silent/Fan-less operation — Enjoy silent operation, thanks to an aluminum enclosure that dissipates heat so there’s no need for vents or a fan.
• Integration with Nighthawk — Combine with NETGEAR Nighthawk routers for a top-notch home networking experience perfect for gaming.
• Warranty — Enjoy peace of mind with your 3-year hardware warranty and free technical support options.

“Designed to meet the specialised needs of the gamer, the new Nighthawk Pro Gaming SX10 10GbE LAN Switch comes equipped with dedicated features designed to eliminate laggy game play,” said Richard Jonker, senior vice president of SMB for NETGEAR. “With the Nighthawk Pro Gaming SX10 Switch, we made it easy to offload high-bandwidth applications to reduce congestion for your network. The gaming dashboard offers real-time insights into bandwidth utilisation by device, so you can ensure optimum performance and know where your bandwidth is being used.”

Pricing and release date of both NetGear Nighthawk devices is still to be determined in 2018.

The post NETGEAR INTRODUCES NIGHTHAWK PRO GAMING appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

As mobility evolves beyond the smartphone, 5G is becoming one of the most impactful technology transformations we are likely to see in our lifetimes. It will bring seamless connectivity, massive computing capabilities and rapid access to the cloud together for the first time.

In doing so, 5G will enable exciting new experiences and compelling new business use cases that will forever transform the way we live, work and play. One of the most exciting and globally accessible ways we can help the world begin to understand and better experience the 5G future is through our Worldwide Olympic Partner sponsorship.

Today in Seoul, South Korea, we celebrated the 100-day countdown to the games by announcing a collaboration with KT Corporation, a South Korean communications service provider, to develop the world’s largest 5G showcase at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang 2018. During the games’ window, KT will deliver the first broad-scale 5G network paired with Intel 5G technologies that will enable a series of immersive on-site 5G-powered experiences.

The upcoming Olympic Winter Games will offer a preview of our 5G future. Our joint activations will give visitors a unique opportunity to experience 5G technologies. And they will highlight Intel’s unique 5G strengths across the network, client and cloud – the foundation for a massive new wave of connected devices and data. For 5G to become reality, all these elements need to come together into a powerful end-to-end 5G solution.

I like to think of Intel as the 5G technology standard-bearer, bringing visitors and businesses at the games groundbreaking access to wireless broadband at gigabit speeds, ultra-low latency video distribution and livestreamed immersive content. This 5G experience will be underpinned by powerful edge and core network computing capabilities powered by Intel high-performance processors.

At PyeongChang 2018, Intel, KT and our ecosystem collaborators will deliver a 5G showcase in Gangneung Olympic Park, and in Gwanghwamoon, Seoul and at other Olympic venues across Korea.

In addition, there will be 5G experiences made possible by the Intel 5G Mobile Trial Platform and Intel 5G network technologies (including FlexRAN technology) that will be activated on the 5G network at a variety of Olympic locations.

For centuries, the Olympics has served as the premier forum for testing the limits of human performance. This year, Intel will add to the experience by flexing our technology and innovation muscle. I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of Intel and our goal to push the boundaries of technology through this groundbreaking industry collaboration and illustration of the transformational power of 5G.

The post Intel Powers the Olympics! appeared first on Shane the Gamer.