Jeff Barak

ByJEFF BARAKAPRIL 21, 2026 18:30 On the 78th anniversary of Israel’s founding, nothing quite sums up Israel’s status as a Trumpian vassal than the United States flags fluttering in the spring breeze alongside Israeli flags on the main highway leading to Jerusalem. Each year, the highway is bedecked in the blue-and-white flag, flying proudly as the country celebrates Israel’s independence; only this year, the Zionist symbol is sharing prominence with the Stars and Stripes.

The telecom industry is in the midst of a significant network transformation as it faces mounting pressure to reduce operational costs, enhance network resiliency, and deliver exceptional customer experiences. To achieve these goals, telecom operators are investing and migrating their 5G ecosystem to distributed networks built upon cloud-native technologies.

“What gets me very excited,” the Microsoft CTO continued “is how you can use Gen AI to generate new revenues from new services, for example, use AI to prevent fraud of elderly relatives in live phone conversations, monitor children’s voice calls/chats to protect them.” Partnering for growth was an element of Amdocs general manager Sarit Assaf’s appearance on the conference’s main stage, alongside Microsoft vice president telecommunications, Silvia Candiani, in conversation with TM Forum chief...