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Telford Superfast Extension

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Telford & Wrekin Council’s cabinet is set to approve a scheme which will open up Superfast broadband to around 120 extra businesses in the borough.

If an application for European funding is successful, the Marches Broadband Grant project will provide eligible businesses across Telford & Wrekin with a fully funded grant to access fibre broadband.

In Telford and Wrekin, 98 per cent of the borough will be covered by the end of 2017 as a result of the Council’s Superfast Telford partnership with BT and Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK).

The council is committed to seeking a solution for the other 2% of the borough, of which this scheme is potentially one, to get coverage as close to 100 per cent as possible.

The Telford & Wrekin element of the £4m project is seeking £237,818 funding from the European Regional Development Fund , which requires match funding of £158,545.

It is assumed that the level of grant payment to businesses will on average be between £7,000 and £25,000 per business although many grants in Telford and Wrekin are likely to be towards the lower end of the spectrum, as it has more accessible, semi-rural areas.

It will only be open to businesses that have not been broadband enabled by either the current Superfast Telford programme or by other commercial broadband investment.

A total of 124 eligible businesses have initially been identified in Telford and Wrekin and an expected output of around 22 per cent or 27 businesses, including a significant number of micro enterprises will potentially benefit.

Councillor Angela McClements, Telford & Wrekin Council’s cabinet member for Customer and Neighbourhood Services, said: “We have made a commitment to extend fibre broadband coverage across the borough as far as possible.

“The priority is the delivery of Superfast Telford which is still in the early stages of delivery.

“However the Marches Broadband Grant scheme opens up the availability of fibre broadband to businesses that might not be covered by Superfast Telford, although some eligible businesses may receive superfast connectivity via the main programme.

“This demonstrates our commitment to ensure that as close to as 100 per cent of the borough as possible has access to superfast connectivity and all the benefits it brings.”

Telford & Wrekin Council’s cabinet – which meets on 21 July – is being asked to approve proposals for the match funding mechanism.

They are also being asked to enter into a partnership agreement with project partners Shropshire and Herefordshire Councils to deliver the grant project.

– telford.gov.uk

Interested in the development of Superfast Broadband and Business? Why not check out our latest job roles in these sectors by clicking here!

BT & EE Collaborate on New Sports App

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BT and EE join forces for first time as they look to promote ‘innovation and customer experience’

Following BT’s acquisition of EE earlier this year, the two firms are to work together for the first time to launch a sports app offer that will only be available to EE mobile customers.

The app offer is aimed at new and existing EE customers and will provide them with access to sports updates and BT Sport content. BT Sport has rights to show Premier League football, the FA Cup, Champions League, Moto GP, Aviva Premiership rugby and sailing competition The America’s Cup. It will also provide customers with access to the full line-up of BT Sport channels.

To promote the partnership the app will be pushed out in-store, the first time a BT service will be sold by EE staff, and with a multi-million pound TV ad campaign at the end of the month starring Kevin Bacon alongside footballers Harry Redknapp and Rio Ferdinand. EE will also make use of video MMS for the first time as part of a direct marketing campaign that will send customers personal direct messages including video.

Max Taylor, EE’s managing director for digital, communications and innovation, believes the launch will offer a real benefit to customers. “It’s the first customer benefit as a result of the acquisition of EE by BT and offers a great customer experience.”

Although BT and EE are collaborating on the sports app, EE is still responsible for its own brand and that the two companies remain quite separate, although they are finding ways to work together.

“We have regular meetings, we are working together with the group brand and marketing roles and continue to share resources. However, we bring things to market slightly differently and to slightly different audiences,” Taylor said.

“EE’s target audience is ‘metro-techno’, which is typically late 20’s and a single user, whereas BT is slightly more focused around families and household, with a slightly older demographic.”

Yet in spite of those differences, Taylor believes EE and BT have a lot in common. “We both come from very innovative backgrounds and both have a deep passion for the customer. There is one thing that we want to focus on even more and that is to deliver and make dramatic improvement to the customer experience.”

The takeover has already led to changes in the EE marketing department. Its former CMO Pippa Dunn and brand director Spencer McHugh have both left, while former marketer Marc Allera has taken over as CEO. Yet Taylor said while their departures were “unfortunate” there is still a “long list of experienced marketers” working at EE. That includes Taylor, who has been there for 15 years.

The main difference between pre-takeover and now is the focus on digital: “We are looking to dial up our digital communications and our focus on the customer, particularly our base communications – the opportunity to deliver service and the proposition messages to our customers.”

Going forward, priorities include investing in EE’s network, with the aim to increase EE 4G coverage geographically to 95% by 2020. The brand also sees video as the future and will programme its content services to deliver this.

“Our world class network is our bedrock, it is the number one thing our customers look for and is where we invest our money,” Taylor said. “We will be looking to bring content services to market that really exploit a great network and are built around video.”

The brand also aims to double ‘My EE’ users from five million customers to 10 million by the end of this financial year, allowing customers to view and “interrogate” their bills themselves. “More personalisation, optimisation, campaign integration and innovation will be at the heart of the brand moving forward,” Taylor added.

– Rachel Gee

IT Jobs feature: John Hanke creator of Pokémon GO!

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IT Jobs feature: John Hanke Software Developer and Founder of Niantic creator of Pokémon GO

Here’s The Inspiring Story of The Creator Of Pokémon GO, John Hanke! Find out why it has taken him over 20 years to create an overnight success and what other IT jobs he has done throughout his career. Pokémon GO is everywhere. In just a week, it has become a worldwide sensation, and caused massive profits for Nintendo. But did you know that it took 20 years for creator John Hanke to make Pokémon GO to what it is today?

This week, the Pokémon Go app has broken all records, with 10 million+ downloads in the first week, exceeding Twitter in daily active users, and with higher average user time than Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram & WhatsApp.How did John Hanke create such a massive overnight craze? Here’s the 10 times he levelled up in his lifetime to reach Pokémon Go and what IT jobs he did along the way.

1st IT Job: In 1996, while still a student, John co-created the very first MMO (massively multiplayer online game) called ‘Meridian 59’. –

IT Jobs

He sold the game to 3DO to move on to a bigger passion: mapping the world.

2nd IT Job: In 2000, John launched ‘Keyhole’ to come up with a way to link maps with aerial photography, and create the first online, GPS-linked 3D aerial map of the world –

 

3rd IT Job: In 2004, Google bought Keyhole and with John’s help, turned Keyhole into what is now ‘Google Earth’. That’s when John decided to focus at creating GPS-based games

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4th IT Job: John ran the Google Geo team from 2004 to 2010, creating Google Maps and Google Street View.

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During this time, he collected the team that would later create Pokémon Go.

5th IT Job In 2010, John launched Niantic Labs as a start-up funded by Google to create a game layer on maps.

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“TT’S THIS IDEA THAT THERE’S STUFF ABOUT THE WORLD THAT’S REALLY COOL BUT EVEN THOUGH IT’S ON THE INTERNET, IT’S HARD TO KNOW WHEN YOU’RE ACTUALLY THERE.”John explains why he called it Niantic:“The Niantic is the name of a whaling ship that came up during the gold rush and through a variety of circumstances got dragged on shore. This happened with other ships, too. Over the years, San Francisco was basically just built over these ships. You could stand on top of them now, and you wouldn’t know it.”

6th IT Job In 2012, John then created Niantic’s first geo-based MMO, “Ingress”.

“I ALWAYS THOUGHT YOU COULD MAKE AN AWESOME GAME USING ALL THE GEO DATA THAT WE HAVE. I WATCHED PHONES BECOME MORE AND MORE POWERFUL AND I THOUGHT THE TIME WOULD COME THAT YOU COULD DO A REALLY AWESOME REAL-WORLD ADVENTURE-BASED GAME.”John explains: “In the case of Ingress the activity is layered on top of the real world and on your phone. The inspiration was that it was something that I always used to daydream about while I was commuting back and forth from home to Google.”

7th IT Job: In 2014, Google and the Pokémon Company teamed up for an April Fools’ Day joke, which allowed viewers to find Pokémon creatures on Google maps.

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It was a viral hit, and got John thinking the idea could be turned into a real game.

8th IT Job: John decided to build Pokémon Go on the user-generated meeting points created by players of Ingress, and the most popular became the Pokéstops and gyms in Pokémon Go.

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“THERE ARE PORTALS IN ANTARTICA AND THE NORTH POLE, AND MOST POINTS IN BETWEEN.”As John says, ”The Pokéstops are submitted by users, so obviously they’re based on places people go. We had essentially two and a half years of people going to all the places where they thought they should be able to play Ingress, so it’s some pretty remote places.”

9th IT Job: John raised $25 million from Google, Nintendo, the Pokémon Company and other investors from Dec 2015 to Feb 2016 to create 40 new IT Jobs and launch Pokémon Go this year.

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10th IT Job: John and his team launched Pokémon Go on July 6th in USA, Australia and New Zealand.

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Since its launch, Nintendo’s share price has risen $12 billion, and the app is already generating over $2 million daily in in-app purchases, making it an overnight phenomenon.

The overnight success of Pokémon Go has taken John Hanke 20 years to create. Throughout these 20 years, while he had a big vision of a game layer over the world, he didn’t know what form it would take. At every step, he just focused at his next level up.

 

Self-Driving Robots To Deliver Food In London

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The self-driving robot uses a GPS tracker coupled with on-board cameras and sensors to help it navigate the streets at 4mph.

Six-wheeled self-driving delivery robots which trundle along at 4mph will soon be used to deliver meals to homes around London.

The self-driving robots can navigate through city streets using a GPS tracker coupled with on-board cameras and sensors.

When the robot arrives at its destination, the customer has to type in a code that has been sent to them.

This lets them open the robot’s lid to collect their food.

So far, 30 robots have travelled 5,000 miles during tests in Greenwich, Milton Keynes and Glastonbury.

Now food delivery firm Just Eat plans to start using them to deliver food to homes in London later this month.

Allan Martinson, the chief operating officer of developer Starship Technologies, said: “We haven’t lost a single robot in eight months, or been involved in any accidents that resulted in loss or injury.”

He said most people who’ve spotted them in the street are unfazed, but kids “love it”.

“We’ve seen them try to chase it, hug it. One person tried to feed it a banana.”

To prevent theft and other interference, it is fitted with a movement sensor that sends an alert if it is lifted off the ground.

It also has nine cameras and two-way audio to a control room, from which humans oversee the robot army.

It is cheaper than regular delivery – costing around £1 to transport goods within a 3 mile radius.

Just Eat chief executive David Buttress said: “In busy times there’s a shortage of supply drivers. These will enable restaurants to meet the demand.”

– Sky News

SSC Bloodhound Development Back on Track

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SSC Bloodhound Development progress has resumed after pending for 10 months.

SSC Bloodhound development had been on hold in recent months because of a shortage of cash, but new sponsorship deals mean engineers can now resume their work.

October 2017 will mark the 20th anniversary of the current land speed record – 763mph (1,228km/h), which was set by Thrust SSC in the US desert.

Bloodhound intends to raise this to 800mph, running in South Africa.

The new sponsors are not immediately being identified, but their support puts the British project on a solid financial footing.

“We now have the most vision of forward-funding that we’ve ever had,” said components chief Conor La Grue.

“In the past, we’ve only ever really had funding to plan two to three months ahead.

“We’re now in a position to go all the way through to taking the record.”

Engineers that were let go during the hibernation are being brought back; outstanding components needed to fully finish the vehicle are being ordered.

The near-complete car was showcased at Canary Wharf in London last September.

Since then it has been sitting largely untouched at Bloodhound’s technical HQ in Bristol.

Now, it will be stripped down from its initial “dry build” and then reassembled, with fluids, ready to go racing.

A key task is to complete the development of the vehicle’s rocket system.

Bloodhound will be using a Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine to get itself rolling and to reach speeds in the low hundreds (mph), but it will need a booster to take it through the sound barrier and on to 800mph.

The rocket itself is being sourced from the Nammo company in Norway, but it will use a Bloodhound-designed gearbox and pump driven by a Jaguar V8.

Testing of these elements all operating together will be conducted in the autumn.

The team intends to employ the rocket in a monopropellant configuration. This means no fuel grain is burned in the motor.

To produce thrust, concentrated hydrogen peroxide is merely pumped at pressure across a catalyst, where it decomposes into steam and oxygen. The hot gases are then directed out through a nozzle at high velocity.

It is the simplest way to use the rocket. Only if Bloodhound attempts to run faster than 1,000mph – something it still hopes to do in 2018 – will the Nammo technology need to burn a rubber propellant.

The new schedule calls for the race-ready car to be doing some trial runs at the Newquay aerohub in Cornwall in May or June of next year.

These runs will only get up to about 200mph but should be very instructive for the engineers, enabling them to check, for example, that all the software has every system working in unison.

“Fortunately, we don’t have the millions of lines of code that they had in the space shuttle,” said chief engineer Mark Chapman.

“We’re talking now about being in South Africa in August/September 2017. This would give us a few weeks of running to shake the car down, increase the speed and then go for the record around October.

“The date would be quite poignant because it would be exactly 20 years since Thrust SSC.”

Bloodhound is the direct descendant of Thrust. The project director (Richard Noble), the driver (Andy Green) and the aerodynamicist (Ron Ayers) have reprised their roles.

The big difference this time around is the supporting education programme.

Bloodhound was conceived as a way to enthuse young people into STEM subjects.

More than 5,000 schools have now taken part in learning programmes based on the science of land speed records.

– Jonathan Amos

15 New Shropshire Jobs to be Created

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15 new Shropshire jobs are on their way at one of North Shropshire’s best-known companies, GroContinental, as it works to complete a 75,000 sq ft warehouse on its site.

Whitchurch-based storage and distribution firm Grocontinental is set to create 15 Shropshire jobs at its new warehouse, which will also be the largest the company has built to date.

The site will have space for 32,000 pallets, taking the company’s total storage capacity to 197,000 pallets.

It is anticipated that the new warehouse will be used to house existing customers’ dairy products, mainly cheese. The warehouse is due to be completed in October, and will include high-density racking, dedicated cheese grading and visitor facilities.

Job opportunities will include roles for warehouse operatives, administrators, cheese grading/sampling assistants and stock controllers.

Grocontinental has also launched a recruitment campaign for casual and full-time drivers on a range of flexible shift patterns.

Family-run Grocontinental has continued to invest heavily in the construction of new facilities and the purchase of the vehicles to secure its ongoing growth.

Managing director David Grocott said: “We have experienced an increased level of demand for space and enquiries are ahead of what we’ve seen in previous years.

“Although we are in a challenging and competitive market, our investment programme in quality facilities and equipment have ensured we remain ahead of the game.

– Shropshirestar

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