Please join me in welcoming Tim Downs to PR Vibes®!
Tim Downs is the market development consultant for the GSMA’s Mobile World Congress Las Vegas and has been following emerging trends in enterprise wireless networking since the CBRS framework for licensed enterprise spectrum was developed eight years ago. PR Vibes® recently spoke with him about the upcoming MWC Las Vegas show, set to take place Oct. 7-10 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Between a bustling trade show floor and a well-stocked conference and summit program, the show promises to offer the perfect jumping-off point for anyone interested in the enterprise private wireless networking market, enterprise Internet of Things (IoT), the implementation of AI in advanced use cases, and how all those things come together from a mobile perspective.
PR Vibes: How is MWC Las Vegas growing and evolving this year?
Downs: The show is expanding its focus more this year, and is firmly pointed towards serving enterprise IT, CIOs and CTOs on next-generation mobile technologies for their business or their facilities. Enterprises in the U.S. are moving towards digital transformation, smart SCADA and industrial IoT. That includes everything from sensor networks and robots in a factory to autonomous vehicles.
Given the recent explosion of interest in and adoption of AI, organizations need an enterprise-grade LTE or 5G network with a low-latency kind of footprint – because there is no support for AI until you’ve got things connected.
Enterprises can partner with carriers to get high-bandwidth, low-latency networking, but hundreds and hundreds of companies are also turning towards implementing private wireless networks on their own. And, the mobile suppliers and the large systems integrators of the world are looking to enable some of the most exciting enterprise applications you can think of.
PR Vibes: What are some of those applications? Are we talking about a combination of enterprise wireless, IoT and AI?
Downs: Yes! For example, the manufacturing sector is implementing new robotics and new factory systems, and they use AI to manage those and keep them running 24/7. They know that if they want to network 4,000 mission-critical sensors or machines, they can’t do it with Wi-Fi.
Another example is, if you’re a farmer, and you have a labor shortage in Nebraska, as they do, and you want to understand what’s going on with your crops, you might have IoT sensors in the field to collect data on, say, rainfall amounts and upload it to the cloud. There, an AI can interpret it and provide projections and other real-time data to the farmer. Agribusiness has also already started adopting remotely driven tractors and combines that are controlled by someone sitting in an office miles away. You cannot network those things with Wi-Fi. You need a mobile network to cover those vast distances.
Then there are municipal examples, like maritime ports. They need to manage trucks moving around, forklifts moving around, containers moving around, ships moving around, human workers moving around. They want to be able to track those assets.
PR Vibes: Tell me a little bit about the connected-car showcase that’s happening at MWC Las Vegas.
Downs: Cars have always been a priority to the carriers. They are now being connected to IoT-specific mobile networks by the tens of millions. There are a lot of thoughts on it, and a lot of people trying to figure out the business model. So if you want to know what T-Mobile thinks about networking cars, they’ll be at the show. If you want to hear what the former head of Ford’s connected-car division thinks about the future of a connected vehicles, he’ll be there.
PR Vibes: Is the enterprise wireless focus a differentiator for MWC Las Vegas?
Downs: There’s no other show that’s bringing private wireless networks, IoT and AI together under one roof. MWC Las Vegas is the only place where you will gather with thousands of people learning from each other on, say, how to develop a private LTE or 5G plan for their university; or how to connect their manufacturing plant gear start-to-finish. Sure, there are other mobile shows (mostly focused on global carriers), and specific shows for IoT and things like LoRaWAN, and even shows about AI – but we’re interested in bringing all those pieces together for enterprises under one roof.
There will also be a lot at the event for systems integrators and channel partners that want to learn about something new to sell. The sponsors and exhibitors that are there are really the ones that are leading the way in terms of this technology and services.
PR Vibes: In terms of what people might be looking to learn at the show, how difficult is it to implement a private wireless network? That would be a top first question, yes?
Downs: That’s the great thing about today’s ecosystem. Suppliers and systems integrators have fully embraced this and are ready to demonstrate how it can be done.
PR Vibes: Any final thoughts on the show, Tim?
Downs: This show is really at the tip of the spear in the mobile ecosystem. It’s not yesterday’s mobile industry. In fact, we’re seeing brand-new business opportunities. The landscape has gone from 30 years of it being about a supplier talking to a mobile carrier, to it now being a supplier and mobile carrier talking to the enterprise CIO and CTO. It’s an exciting shift, and it’s all on view at MWC Las Vegas.