Madrid has strengthened emergency response capabilities through a new collaboration between Orange and Ericsson, integrating a dedicated slice within Orange’s 5G Standalone network.
Advanced radio access and core technologies allow emergency teams to operate on prioritised connectivity during high network demand.
Police, fire and medical services benefit from guaranteed bandwidth and low-latency communications, ensuring uninterrupted coordination during incidents.
The infrastructure by Ericsson enables dynamic switching between public 5G and emergency spectrum, supporting rapid deployment when physical networks are compromised.
Resilience remains central to the design, with autonomous power systems and redundancy maintaining operations during outages. Live video transmission from firefighters’ helmets illustrates how real time data improves risk assessment and decision making on the ground.
By combining telecom innovation with public safety needs, the initiative reinforces Madrid’s role in the emergency communications leadership of the EU and demonstrates how 5G can support critical services at scale.
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Google Cloud’s 2026 AI Agent Trends Report shows AI agents are moving from experimental tools to central business systems. Employees are shifting from routine execution to oversight and strategic decision-making.
The report highlights agents managing end-to-end workflows across teams, thereby improving efficiency and streamlining complex processes. Personalised customer service is becoming faster and more accurate thanks to these systems.
Security operations are seeing benefits as AI agents handle alerts, investigations and fraud detection more effectively. Human analysts can now focus on higher-value tasks while routine work is automated.
Companies are investing in continuous training to build an AI-ready workforce. The report emphasises that people, not just technology, will determine the success of AI adoption.
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A drone school in northeastern Japan is developing AI drones to detect bears. The system will send real-time locations to authorities via a smartphone app.
The drones have night-vision and infrared cameras and follow bears automatically once detected. Each drone flies for one hour before handing off surveillance and returning to base.
AI was trained using photos of black and brown bears from a local zoo. Officials hope it will reduce dangerous encounters and offer non-lethal ways to manage bears.
Other companies are testing similar systems in Fukushima and selling AI-equipped drones commercially. The academy aims to prevent human-bear conflicts and keep people and wildlife separate.
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Cybersecurity researchers have identified a large Android-based botnet capable of more than distributed denial-of-service attacks, highlighting growing risks from compromised consumer devices. The botnet, dubbed Kimwolf, is estimated to control close to two million infected systems worldwide.
The findings come from QiAnXin XLab, which said Kimwolf has infected around 1.8 million devices, mainly smart TVs, set-top boxes and tablets. Most infections were observed in Brazil, India, the US, Argentina, South Africa and the Philippines.
XLab said the infection vector remains unclear, but affected devices were linked to low-cost Android-based brands used for media streaming. Researchers noted repeated attempts to disrupt the Kimwolf, with its command-and-control infrastructure taken down several times before re-emerging.
According to the report, Kimwolf has adapted by shifting to decentralised infrastructure, including the use of Ethereum Name Service domains. Analysts also identified overlaps in code and infrastructure with AISURU, a botnet linked to record-scale DDoS attacks.
Cloudflare recently described AISURU as one of the largest robot networks observed, capable of attacks exceeding 29 terabits per second. XLab said shared infrastructure suggests both botnets are operated by the same threat group.
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Investment in data centres worldwide reached a record $61bn in 2025, according to a new report from S&P Global. The surge is being driven by growing demand for AI workloads, with construction and expansion showing little sign of slowing.
Analysts describe the market as a ‘global construction frenzy’ as companies race to meet rising hardware and energy requirements.
The report highlights that investors, unable to buy existing facilities, are increasingly turning to new builds. The sector, with 500 data centres in the UK and 4,000 in the US, is projected to expand faster over the next five years than the previous five.
The AI boom is pushing energy- and computer-intensive workloads to new extremes.
Concerns are emerging about potential overspending in the AI sector. Analysts note that companies like OpenAI, Oracle, and Nvidia are investing heavily despite uncertain returns.
OpenAI is expected to spend $143bn from 2024 to 2029, prompting concerns over profitability while still holding potential for major innovations. The rapid expansion of data centres also carries significant energy implications.
The International Energy Agency forecasts data centre electricity demand could more than double by 2030, matching Japan’s current total consumption and underscoring the scale needed for AI growth.
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Cloudflare released its sixth annual Year in Review, providing a comprehensive snapshot of global Internet trends in 2025. The report highlights rising digital reliance, AI progress, and evolving security threats across Cloudflare’s network and Radar data.
Global Internet traffic rose 19 percent year-on-year, reflecting increased use for personal and professional activities. A key trend was the move from large-scale AI training to continuous AI inference, alongside rapid growth in generative AI platforms.
Google and Meta remained the most popular services, while ChatGPT led in generative AI usage.
Cybersecurity remained a critical concern. Post-quantum encryption now protects 52 percent of Internet traffic, yet record-breaking DDoS attacks underscored rising cyber risks.
Civil society and non-profit organisations were the most targeted sectors for the first time, while government actions caused nearly half of the major Internet outages.
Connectivity varied by region, with Europe leading in speed and quality and Spain ranking highest globally. The report outlines 2025’s Internet challenges and progress, providing insights for governments, businesses, and users aiming for greater resilience and security.
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DDoS attacks in 2025 became short and automated, often ending in minutes with minimal warning. Traditional response times are now insufficient against these high-speed threats.
Attackers increasingly use multiple hosts and blended vectors, including TCP, UDP, DNS, and SYN floods. IoT botnets and residential proxies amplify scale, with global capacity exceeding 250 Tbps.
Algorithmic orchestration allows attacks to adapt and escalate automatically. Even low-tech campaigns remain disruptive to weaker networks, highlighting the need for continuous monitoring.
Defenders must adopt AI-driven, sub-minute mitigation and self-defending architectures. Real-time detection is now essential to maintain uptime and prevent reputational damage.
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Former UK chancellor George Osborne has joined OpenAI in a London-based role. He will lead the OpenAI for Countries programme focused on government partnerships.
The initiative aims to help governments build AI capacity and ensure systems reflect democratic values. OpenAI says more than 50 countries are already involved.
Osborne will work on developing AI infrastructure, boosting AI literacy and improving public services. The role follows discussions with OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman.
His appointment comes as UK-US tech talks face setbacks and investment in AI accelerates. Against this backdrop, financial authorities have warned of risks linked to the sector’s rapid growth.
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Vietnam’s 5G network now reaches approximately 59 percent of the population, slightly over one year after commercial services launched in October 2024.
Government data presented at Internet Day 2025 show that Vietnam ranks 10th globally for fixed broadband speed and 15th for mobile broadband, reflecting rapid improvements in national connectivity.
Officials described the Internet as a second living space for citizens, with nearly 80 million users spending an average of seven hours online each day for work, education and social interaction.
Authorities highlighted that expanded 5G coverage supports the development of a digital economy, e-government services and a more connected digital society.
Alongside infrastructure growth, policymakers stressed the need for stronger digital trust.
Vietnam is shifting towards clearer legal frameworks instead of reliance on voluntary self-regulation, while prioritising cybersecurity, data governance and protection against online fraud, deepfakes and AI-driven deception to sustain long-term digital transformation.
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The US tech company, Oracle, has expanded Oracle Database@Google Cloud to India, making the service available through Google Cloud’s Mumbai region.
Enterprises can access Oracle Exadata, Autonomous AI Database and AI Lakehouse services while keeping data in the region to meet sovereignty and regulatory requirements.
The multicloud offering allows organisations to combine Oracle enterprise data with Google Cloud analytics and AI tools, including BigQuery, Vertex AI and Gemini models.
Customers can modernise applications and migrate mission-critical workloads without sacrificing performance, security or low-latency access.
Oracle Database@Google Cloud is available through the Google Cloud Marketplace, enabling customers to procure services via trusted partners instead of navigating complex contracting models.
Oracle and Google Cloud partners can also integrate the service into broader multicloud solutions.
The launch reflects growing demand for flexible multicloud architectures in India, supporting AI-driven innovation, advanced analytics and accelerated IT modernisation across regulated and data-intensive industries.
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