Blogs

SD-WAN (Software-Denied Wide Area Network) is the cornerstone of the widely applied SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) architecture. It brings all traffic, regardless of connection type, to a single network platform where IT administrators can centrally manage it. SD-WAN allows enterprises and SASE vendors to collect innumerable amounts of networking and cybersecurity data. How can you unleash the power of this unprecedentedly large data tank? That is where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) come into play.

The internet of things is fundamentally altering how organizations do business, and maturing underlying technologies will make IoT easier to implement and help investors and companies seize new opportunities. By connecting devices and sensors to the internet, we are entering an age where data analytics, connectivity, and automation are creating innovations and progress previously out of reach. As the Industry 4.0 and home automation movements gain more traction, we will see IoT devices and embedded systems become more and more prevalent in our daily lives. The businesses that understand the use cases and potential of IoT are the businesses that will likely drive innovation over the next 10 years. After years of hype, anticipation, and steady uptake, the Internet of Things (IoT) seems poised to cross over into mainstream business use. The number of businesses that use IoT technologies has increased from 13% in 2018 to about 25% today. And the worldwide number of IoT-connected devices is projected to increase to 43 billion by 2023, according to a report by Ericsson. This level of uptake is both a result and an impetus of the developing technologies that underpin the IoT. For one, technological advancement means that IoT technology will become easier to implement, opening the door for a wider variety of companies to benefit from IoT applications. Indeed, although large enterprises began to invest their sizable resources in IoT technologies years ago, the beneficiaries of this latest wave of IoT maturity will be small and medium-size enterprises.

Atos is the global leader in digital transformation with 111 000 employees in 71 countries. For Atos, welcoming and securing their guests and employees was challenging with their legacy hardware-based solution. They decided to move to an innovative cloud-based solution to improve the level of service and scale with the group's growth. Atos chose Cloudi-Fi as their official provider for their guest WiFi project.

According to the definition by the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA), cloud computing is an on-demand service model for IT provision, often based on virtualization and distributed computing technologies. Cloud computing architectures have characteristics, including highly abstracted resources, near-instant scalability, and flexibility, near instantaneous provisioning, shared resources, service on demand, etc. While cloud computing brings many benefits, cloud security has consistently been the top concern when enterprises immigrate to the cloud. In this article, we will discuss the top 3 cloud security challenges enterprises are facing. You can then understand how these 3 issues make cloud security different. 

In November 2021, China announced the rollout of the new Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL). With the Cybersecurity Law and the Data Security Law, the PIPL is the third of three Chinese laws designed to provide a comprehensive approach to cybersecurity, data security, and data privacy. With this law coming into effect from November 1, 2021, it is expected to alter how multinational companies outside China interact with their Chinese customers and this also has implications for Global data privacy advocacy since China enjoys a major share of the global markets. The PIPL is the first comprehensive, national-level personal information protection law in China. However, the PIPL does not replace but enhances and clarifies, earlier personal information laws and regulations. In this article, we will have a brief overview of the Chinese data privacy laws and we will discuss in detail the implications of these laws on companies processing their data in China.

Network access control (NAC) is the process of controlling users’ and devices’ access to a corporate or private network. NAC ensures that only authenticated and authorized devices can get connected and communicate with the network in a secure and compliant manner. Today, the increasing prevalence of IoT devices poses large security risks to the corporate network. IT teams are tasked with onboarding those unmanaged devices securely, determining the level of access allowed, and monitoring devices’ behavior on the network.The traditional NAC solutions have three fundamental capabilities - authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA). In this blog article, we will discuss how NAC solutions can evolve to offer more robust capacities that meet the need for IoT security. 

With the internet becoming more regulated and secure for users, organizations and websites want to stay ahead of the regulations while providing their prospects and customers with the best digital experience in a compliant manner. Cookies are an essential tool that can help businesses get a detailed insight into their users' online activity. Hence they can aid businesses in presenting the correct propositions to their customers. Technically speaking, cookies are small text files that websites place on your device while browsing. They are processed and stored by your web browser. In and of themselves, cookies are harmless and serve crucial functions for websites.

Internet of Things (IoT) is the new trend that has fueled the transformation of many industries and reshaped our enterprises today. The variety and volume of connected devices grow on a daily basis. According to a new forecast from International Data Corporation (IDC), there will be 41.6 billion connected IoT devices by 2025, generating a staggering 79.4 zettabytes (ZB) of data in 2025.

‍In a phygital world, the online and offline channels are no longer substitutes but good complementaries. Physical experiences can be enhanced with the convenience and excess of information the internet holds, whereas digital experiences can be enhanced with human connections or physical enhancements. Through blending the physical and digital worlds, retailers can streamline and personalize their customer journey and ultimately create immersive, immediate, and interactive customer experiences.

Cloudi-Fi to securely connect users and devices to applications and services across over 150 warehouses and offices of FM Logistics globally. Today, Cloudi-Fi and FM Logistic announced a five-year agreement under which Cloudi-Fi will help FM Logistic manage its guest WiFi with worldwide carrier-grade authentication and compliance. Through this agreement, Cloudi-Fi will provide a cloud-based connectivity service in FM Logistic’s warehouses globally, helping the company deploy a single secure Internet access solution for guests worldwide while complying with local regulations.

On January 1, 2021 as the UK formally left the European Union, the UK is now a “Third World Country” under the EU’s GDPR, hence the EU-GDPR is a European regulation and does no longer apply to the UK. The general data protection regime under UK law has been modified to address the EU-GDPR's removal from domestic applicability. The regulations amended the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 and merged it with the EU GDPR requirements to form a new, UK-specific data protection regime that works in a UK context after Brexit. This new regulatory framework for UK data protection is known as UK-GDPR. On January 1, 2021 as the UK formally left the European Union, the UK is now a “Third World Country” under the EU’s GDPR, hence the EU-GDPR is a European regulation and does no longer apply to the UK.

In today’s world, digital information is increasing exponentially. Cyberattacks are nearly unavoidable and data breaches can be devastating and costly. Organizations that fail to protect data security could face hefty fines from regulators and expensive lawsuit settlements with customers. Thus, it becomes unprecedentedly significant to prevent unauthorized access to data and the leak of personal data. Albeit not exclusive, encryption as a concept that is explicitly mentioned as “one possible technical and organizational measure to secure data” in GDPR, plays a prominent role to secure personal data for privacy and compliance. 

In recent years, 5G adoption has been viewed as a race, with the earliest adopters seen as the "winners" — of the biggest business opportunities and the first chances to sell the new technology to customers. But an array of 5G issues and challenges have caused deployment to play out a bit differently than anticipated. Rather than a marathon progressing deterministically toward a finish line, it's been more like a puzzle to be put together piece by piece.

The promise and potential of 5G has captured the attention of business leaders, telecommunication giants and technology policy makers alike. With the first band of 5G services already out in the market, this article explores more about what is 5G technology? Research on digital evolution has shown that advances in 5G technology deployment in mobility, healthcare, manufacturing and retail alone could boost global GDP by $1.2-2 trillion by 2030. We discuss some strong underlying trends boosting the 5G adaptation.

With an increasing number of people working from home and the wide adoption of the cloud, enterprises are facing several challenges when shifting to the cloud. One of the toughest hurdles enterprises will see is to facilitate direct, secure, and controlled internet access on any device, on any network, from any location, and on any cloud. In this context, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) - a term originally coined by Gartner in a 2019 report - has become a buzzword among vendors, enterprises, and consultants alike as it enables a secure and fast cloud transformation.

In order to have a sustainable business in today’s world, protecting customers’ privacy is key and it comes with securing their data. In the Middle East, the privacy landscape has been flourishing in the last ten years with privacy laws and regulations emerging across the region, especially with the implementation of GDPR in Europe.

Once upon a time, wireless network design planning involved grabbing a floor plan and plotting locations for access points with a protractor. This was a tedious and time consuming activity. Access points no longer require manual power and channel settings.

Today, the travel and tourism industry in the United Arab Emirates is facing a significant change with the rising technology trends that are enabled thanks to the daily mobile phone usage, especially by millennials. In fact, the smartphone penetration in UAE reached 78% in the last 3 years, one of the highest in the world.

You may be selling online and furiously trying to engage your customers in the digital world, you’re taking risks by discarding the fact that consumers still love to shop in stores. The brand experience is much more enjoyable when the website experience is consistent with the experience in store.

The emergence of wireless networking and advanced broadband - especially scalable technologies based on the cloud, has revolutionised how universities view education. Education has transformed - from a one off activity of taking classes, to a comprehensive ecosystem of services.

The General Data privacy regulation (GDPR), passed in May 2018 has been a significant milestone in protecting user rights and ensuring data privacy.

While the “tipping point” in the market for electric vehicles (EVs) will not be reached for some years, continued investments by both new companies and established automotive players promise that EV models will displace internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and gain a major share of the global market in the next 10 years.

COVID-19 is one of the greatest challenges the world has faced in centuries. It has transformed the lives of millions of people all across the globe, severely impacting industries across multiple sectors.

The recent worldwide pandemic has brought unprecedented changes in the global socio-economic order. Brands are no different, with a trend towards an increased focus on customer personalization, only the brands that shall anticipate, observe and act will come out victorious in these testing times.

If digital transformation is the core of many strategies today, especially during this pandemic, as many companies are looking to reinvent themselves, restaurants are not an exception.

According to Bain and Boston Consulting Group, due to Covid-19 luxury brands’ sales could fall up to 35% this year.

Are you staying in your hometown during this summer break? Or are you going to visit other cities in your country or overseas? In any case, you probably want to stay up to date with the world news and just have a free access to Internet while wandering.

A recent report written by 99 firms regarding the Mobile Marketing statistics for 2020 showed that nearly 80% of smartphone users rely on SMS opt-in to make a purchasing decision while shopping.

Last week we gathered unique data to have a global overview regarding the situation of the pandemic and its impact on the businesses all around the world.

Covid-19 has hit mankind hard and lockdowns of half of the population has stroke the economy globally. Despite previous historical crises, this pandemic is a unique event in our era and needs to be understood distinctly.

Today, WiFi has become essential in our daily lives for our own personal use but also for businesses. Moreover, with the introduction of the Internet of Things or “IoT”, devices need to have a frictionless WiFi network to be connected.

Since May 2018, there were over 145K complains about data privacy in Europe. Therefore, businesses all over the continent felt the urge to review their policies and to deal with this issue.

We are currently facing an unprecedented situation. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals are working hard to provide the most adapted healthcare services for their patients and to ensure them the best stay during their care.

The Financial Times 1000 Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies report is out! And guess what, Cloudi-Fi is ranked in the Top 10 of the French companies in the Technology sector!

Last January, the number of daily mobile users have reached 67% which represents 5 billion people all around the world. As this trend increased by 100 million between 2018 and 2019, we can estimate that it will continue to grow during the next year...

This month, our Cloudi-Fi team had the opportunity to participate for the second time to the NRF 2020 Retail’s Big Show along with Business France at the French Tech Pavilion in New York. During these three days of exhibition, we participated to a Store...

With around fifteen social network connectors to date, Cloudi-Fi officially opens its doors to the Chinese customers by providing a transparent connection to the guest WiFi thanks to the WeChat connector...

WiFi analytics, the phygital knowledge of visitors Today, more than 90% of store visitors use their smartphone while shopping. Indeed, the mobile has become a privileged extension for customers as they hardly disconnect from their digital bubble even in-store. It is a...

According to The Research Insights, the Customer Loyalty Software Market is expected to increase by +23% between 2019 and 2025. Nowadays, customers are overwhelmed by the multiplicity of choices: Where to shop? How to shop? Which brands to...

What are the latest trends of 2019 in Digital? Did you know that nearly 70% of the world population use their mobile phone everyday? We Are Social and Hootsuite have gathered some interesting figures as well as international trends of digital, social media, mobile and...

How to avoid your employees to use the wireless guest service? When designing wireless services, I.T departments usually create one service/SSID for employees and one for visitors (check my tips to deploy this). The wireless service for visitor usually...

5 key points to unlock guest wifi You have deployed your Wireless infrastructure for your employees and your are considering enabling a guest SSID for people visiting your premises. Here are a few tricks to make it easy! Preamble: Don't mistakenly consider...

Do you need to launch a mobile app? Saying that mobile is more and more used won’t change your life. But did you know that 66% of the global population (source : wearesocial 2017) has its own mobile phone nowadays? A trend that won’t cool down, especially...

When deploying an hotspot solution, your company may consider to export the data generated to your internal application. In this article I will describe some example of technical manner to implement data export.

Deploying Hotspot service can be very easy from a technical point of view, more tricky from a marketing point of view but clearly a nightmare from a legal standpoint.Discussions with the legal department are usually very tense, you would like to move on but you see their feedback as a brake to the project.In this article, I’ll list some questions you should ask to your legal department before deploying any Hotspot solution. This should be more effective that the eternal question “I need to deploy <put your new service here>, are you OK?”.

In my first article, I gave some steps to choose the right hotspot solution matching with your network constraints and business needs. I will develop hereafter the different possible topologies to deploy WiFi hotspot in your organisation. But first, let me define some interesting terms. Central Switching/Local Switching. This term is related to the way the Wireless infrastructure will manage the traffic from your guests to Internet. Local switching means that the WiFi Access Point will send the guest traffic to the local LAN/WAN/Firewall infrastructure. In Central switching, the Access Point will send this traffic to a central collection point (usually the wireless controller hosted in Data Center) in order to be centrally managed (in term of routing and security).

Deploying WiFi hotspot in on site can be very easy. There are plenty of local providers in the market that will install a box in your premises for a few dozen dollars a month. If you are a multinational company, you can choose to iterate the same choose-negotiate-sign-order-deliver process in each country (each city?) or you can choose a global Hotspot provider for all your locations. You got it, this is the good choice but let me argue.

Hotspot, wireless guest, free WiFi… however you name it, there is a big trend to propose Internet connectivity via WiFi all over the world. Cisco says the number of public Hotspot will reach +500M in 2020 and nearly half of them will be in Asia Pacific.

If some companies or stores are not very keen on having a lot of people using their WiFi. At the opposite, you should want to get more users on yours. Depending on your goals, some tips are very useful to choose the best name for your SSID and then get more visitors on your WiFi.