- New buzzwords! New-cloud, MOFN and common cloud
- AI is still topping the trend list but we are sensing a change
- Fashion alert! Sneakers and trainers are in
MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS, BARCELONA – Sun-seekers spent the day outside as much as possible today as temps climbed into the low 60s in Barcelona. Inside the Fira, booths were packed, and traffic was heavy on the show floor, more so than yesterday.
We are seeing the big trend of the show coming into focus and while might think it’s AI, you would be wrong. We will give you our full rundown on that trend tomorrow. In the meanwhile, scroll down to keep reading our wrap up from Day 2.
Check out our written coverage from the day
MWC: Broadcom braids 5G, satellite and fiber
Broadcom's new VeloSky appliance is designed to help carriers monetize their 5G and satellite investments.
MWC: SoftBank says this AI-RAN thing is beyond a PowerPoint
SoftBank and friends are here to tell everyone who’ll listen that they’re as serious as a heart attack when it comes to AI and the RAN, and it’s not just a marketing ploy.
MWC: WBA says 6G should be inclusive from the get-go
The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) is pushing for greater collaboration between multiple stakeholders – Wi-Fi, cellular, non-terrestrial networks, etc., when it comes time to set the standards for 6G
MWC: Telco cloud transformation proving itself worthy, says AWS
AI has emerged as a wild card, a catalyst that could accelerate innovation but it's also widening the skills gap
Quote of the day
Michaël Trabbia, Executive Vice President and CEO of Orange Wholesale, told us that the industry is changing so fast, he needs to set aside time to go into his office, shut the door and “just think.” We know the feeling.
New buzzword alert
Three new buzzwords dropped at the conference:
Neocloud: Introduced to us by Travis Ewert, global head of platform development, Digital Realty, it refers to a new generation of GPU-as-a-Service and AI-as-a-service providers, including Vultr and CoreWeave.
Managed Optical Fiber Networks (MOFN): Ciena’s Francisco Sant'anna, senior advisor, solutions marketing, told us about MOFN, not to be confused with MUFON (the Mutual UFO Network). Sant’anna (not to be confused with Carlos Santana) pronounced MOFN to rhyme with “coffin,” but his colleague Brian Lavallée is trying out the pronunciation “muffin,” and says it’s catching on. Guess that makes him the Muffin Man?
Common cloud: Red Hat’s telecom chief architect Rimma Iontel told us about the “common cloud,” which is not the common cold being passed around MWC attendees, but rather the trend of telcos using shared cloud infrastructure to run both network and IT functions.
We’ll tell you more about all three of these trends as soon as we load up on DayQuil.
Seen and heard
Arrcus makes AI switch and partnership waves
Arrcus held a short press conference today to delve into a number of MWC announcements. First off, CEO Shekar Ayyar announced a telco-grade AI internet switch developed in collaboration with Nvidia, designed to help telecommunications companies monetize AI services. The company also showcased key partnerships with Liberty Global, Broadcom, Ufi Space and Lanner that demonstrate innovative networking solutions for AI and 5G applications.
MEF spreads the open API love
MEF is collaborating with GSMA to develop network APIs for application developers, focusing on quality on demand for video streaming, according to Daniel Bar Lev, chief product officer at MEF. They're specifically working to create open standard APIs that allow seamless connectivity between wireless and wireline networks, with over 160 service providers implementing or planning to implement these APIs. The goal is to enable application developers to access network infrastructure across both mobile and fixed networks more easily, using Life Cycle Service Orchestration (LSO) APIs originally based on TM Forum standards.
But wait, there’s more. Aduna, the JV from Ericsson and multiple operators that serves as an intermediary between application developers and network infrastructure, is working to connect application developers with mobile operators and infrastructure. By implementing MEF's LSO APIs, Aduna is hoping to help orchestrate both wireless infrastructure operators and fixed wireline players to simplify how application developers can leverage network resources for services like quality on-demand video streaming.
Juniper Networks mum on merger trouble but big on AI
Juniper Networks made three key announcements focused on AI networking. Jeff Aaron, GVP Product Marketing, at Juniper Networks chatted with us about their AI-native platform, which spans wireless, routing and data center technologies. They vendor also launched an AI-optimized branch switch (EX 4000), enhanced WAN routing with AIOps capabilities, and introduced a solution for "Neocloud" AI providers offering GPU and AI-as-a-service. (See buzzwords above for more info on neocloud).
We asked for a comment on the US Department of Justice’s block on HPE’s $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks, but Aaron couldn’t comment beyond saying, “It's got to play out as process. You know, obviously, we still very vehemently believe that the DOJ was wrong. I think a lot of analysts agree with us, and we think it's just gonna take longer now. We still think it's gonna come through.”
Mavenir CEO says some things never change
An interview with Mavenir CEO Pardeep Kohli reminded us that some things never change, or are slow to change. Collectively speaking, mobile operators are notorious for taking too long to make decisions about adding new vendors, whether it be in BSS, the network or somewhere else.
Asked about Mavenir’s biggest challenges, he said they always want their customers, which are mobile operators, to step up their decision making.
“We want our customers to be more agile and move faster to adopt new things, then only can innovation help,” he said. “We always want them to do things faster.”
Mavenir’s business runs the gamut, from IMS and the core to RAN. In the core, “we’re doing OK,” he said. As for the RAN, “we need to figure out how do we actually gain market share. That’s really the challenge.”
AI: Where to get the hardware and where to put it?
We found Federated Wireless President and CEO Iyad Tarazi at the Leaders Lounge in Hall 3 of the convention. He’s well versed in spectrum, radio tech, cloud software, machine learning, transport and more.
He thinks the big issue on everyone’s mind right now is where to get the hardware for the next phase of AI and where to put it.
“The big question that everybody's going through is: Where should I put the hardware? Should I put it in the cloud and use it like I did the last generation of cloud and just rent them from cloud companies? Should I deploy them in my data centers myself and just have my own GPUs so I can do the training myself within my environment? Should I put them in my network infrastructure, like on the radios, like on routers?”
That’s the overriding theme, he said. “I think that everybody now is going through that analysis to find out – how do I get access to this hardware? Do I buy it? Do I rent it? Do I get it from my mobile operator? Do I get it from a data center operator? That’s what most of the discussion here is about,” he told Fierce.
RIP BYOD?
Security concerns are leading enterprise CIOs to reconsider letting employees bring their own devices to work (BYOD), according to BT Business CTO Colin Bannon. "They're actually afraid of data loss," Bannon said. "You have new employees, new generations who are technologically savvy, installing dictation AI apps on their BYOD devices."
Mitch Wagner, chief analyst for Fierce Network Research, was at that moment recording Bannon's presentation using a dictation app on his BYOD device — Mitch has been covering telecom and enterprise for more than 35 years, but he's young at heart.
We asked the question: Will tariffs be a trip-up?
Maybe: Arrcus CEO Shekar Ayyar said his company has partnerships with companies all over the world which may be a challenge, but he thinks they will be able to adapt.
Yes: “It’s confusing as hell,” said Jeff Aaron, GVP Product Marketing, at Juniper Networks. “So we've been looking at supply chain, just making sure we're fairly well distributed, you know, if there was bits in Mexico that are impacted, make sure we can do it in Vietnam, or even some of it, you know, in the US. Yeah, and I don't think we're alone there. Yeah, to be honest, I think most companies probably did a lot of that diversification when the supply chain issues happened with the pandemic two years ago.
MWC oddity of the day
e& has a robot woman in their booth. She looks like a combination of the audio-animatronic Abraham Lincoln in Disney World’s Hall of Presidents attraction and Lady Penelope from Gerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds superhero puppets TV show, and to make matters worse, she is wearing really horrible wig. (See her on the right.)
Trend alert! Sneakers and trainers are way in
Welp, gone are the days of dress shoes on the show floor. Everyone – and we mean everyone – is wearing sneakers (a.k.a. trainers). Sneakers with suits! Sneakers with dresses! Sneakers with wide-legged flowing pants. Sneakers with saris. Sneakers with thwabs. Sneakers are everywhere!
That’s it for today. Onward to tomorrow!
Catch up on yesterday here: MWC: Seen and heard on Day 1 - ‘Slow is the new down’
Stay up to date on all the news from Mobile World Congress with Fierce Network and FNTV.