Marking March’s top pieces of coverage

March has been another successful month here at Babel. It has been great to see the sun finally come out over the previously gloomy and grey city of London, making the commutes more enjoyable in the morning!

This month, we also celebrated the brilliant women at Babel on International Womens’ Day. Our associate director Simon Coughlin sat down with our managing director, Jenny Mowat, and one of our directors, Pippa Cranham, to discuss their experiences as women in the tech and PR industries in the latest episode of the Digital Communicators podcast. One of our consultants, Amelia Waters, also wrote a very engaging blog about why International Womens’ Day in 2022 is still as important as it was over 100 years ago when the day was first celebrated. You can read all about this and more in Amelia’s blog. But – without further ado, here are my top pieces of coverage from March. 

Halfway into March, China’s own Silicon Valley, Shenzhen, was forced to lockdown for at least a week to try and curb the spread of covid-19. Foxconn and many of the global tech giants such as Apple outsource a lot of their manufacturing to Shenzhen, which has caused them to experience severe disruptions to their normal operations. In response to this, Alan Laing, managing director for UK and Ireland at IFS, told the Metro that he believes that this period of suspended disruption will be felt globally, which is not good news for our already struggling supply chains.

Next up is client Ciena which joined in the conversation surrounding the concern that satellite internet (like Elon Musk’s Starlink) will cause undersea cables to become extinct. Despite these concerns, many experts told Business Insider that this is not the case and that satellite systems and submarine telecoms cables can co-exist and work to combat the digital divide in different areas. For example, satellite systems are perfect for  more rural areas, despite being more expensive to install. Senior director of Ciena, Brian Lavallee, came out in support of this idea and stated that satellite internet networks and undersea cables are highly complementary of one another and will not cause the conflict that others have been speculating about.

While we are on the topic of the digital divide… In a byline for telecoms.com, Minchul Ho, general manager of Baicells, shared how distributed 5G networks can help to combat the digital divide. Billions of people across the world have limited or no access to the internet or broadband, an issue that was exacerbated by the pandemic. Minchul reveals how distributed decentralised open-source software networks are being used by enterprises and consumers to encourage the expansion of wireless connectivity. Users can purchase small cells, and connect them to a distributed core network, enabling them to organically and rapidly deliver connectivity to their local area. Interestingly, those who buy these small cells are rewarded with cryptocurrency – an added incentive to extend connectivity in the region.

Finally, the CTO of client Vaarst, Kari Dempsey, has been featured in Verdict as part of its ‘CTO Talk’ series. The Q&A outlined the various innovative practices that Vaarst is pioneering in the energy sector. These practices involve combining autonomy, computer vision, and robotics to help the world transition into cleaner and more renewable sources of energy. Kari also mentions that their technology can help industries to improve current infrastructure to help society progress. She also discusses how important it is for CTOs to be kind as she believes that it is the most effective motivator for teams, which is not only beneficial for teams but also for CTOs who will be able to prioritise and work with other people more effectively.

And that concludes  March’s top pieces of coverage. If you are interested in hearing more about how Babel can help your business get into these top-tier publications, please do not hesitate to get in touch.