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The 2015 Innovation Awards

By: Scott St. John, Pipeline, Tim Young

The Power of InnovationThere is something perfect in the incongruity of standing in a century-old hotel—a relic of the final days of the Belle Époque—and being exposed to some of the most advanced technology in the world. As jarring as the juxtaposition may seem, Le Negresco represents the tremendous optimism and perseverance that could be found in its bustling corridors when it opened its doors in 1913. It was the brainchild of Romanian-born Henri Negresco and was designed by Édouard Niermans, who also designed the Moulin Rouge and many other prominent theaters and hotels throughout France…

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Vendor Spotlight: Razorsight

By: Jesse Cryderman

Last week I opened the mailbox to find two brochures from competing residential communications service providers (CSPs). One ad piece was promoting service for a telco-TV operator with which I already subscribe. The other was advertising a service tier that is actually unavailable in my area. I shook my head in disbelief as I threw away the flyers--tossing this marketing material in the trash was symbolic of a systemic issue that is plaguing service providers today. These ads had zero value, but considerable cost, and will do nothing to improve the bottom line for the companies that sent them…

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Robot Cops, Smart Toasters, and Artificial Dogs

By: Jesse Cryderman

The world is slowly becoming a lot like the science fiction movies I watched as a kid. At Mobile World Congress, there were robots scurrying around on Segways, drones that could deliver the mail or video record a children’s sporting event, self-driving cars, and devices of every stripe that fall into the Internet of Things (IoT) category. This is where the Jetsons stuff is happening, and I, for one, am excited. Robot pets, and smart toasters are coming, and they present some interesting opportunities for service providers…

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Managed Services Mean More Innovation

By: Barry Dowd

Today’s data-centric mobile experience is driving a fundamental shift in the communications industry: away from physical transactions and services towards a new digital era – think mobile broadband access, online banking, downloadable content, and much more. This new and dynamic ecosystem requires service providers to be innovative, flexible and able to scale quickly in order to monetize digital services and defend their market share against disruptive new entrants and over the top (OTT) players…

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5G Deployment: The Long Road Ahead

By: Ed Fox

The hottest buzzword of the season? 5G. From telecommunications to healthcare, technologists are abuzz, speculating what a 5G network will mean for consumers and businesses alike. We’re consumed by the possibilities of a truly connected network—medical advances, smart homes, lightning fast connections, self-driving cars—the list goes on. Yet, before we put the cart before the horse, we need to examine the technological realities of the 5G network.The truth is, the road to 5G deployment will be long and the ride will be bumpy…

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The Cutting Edge of Cool

By: Jesse Cryderman

Mobile World Congress 2015 surpassed its own attendance record last month, drawing more than 93,000 visitors to Barcelona.  Better weather and consistently bigger crowds, even late in the week, helped boost a buzz which was palpable at times. The Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G took center stage at MWC2015, and supporting technologies of these two trendy topics were equally hot, including NFV, SDN, small cells, millimeter wave technology, and advanced analytics solutions of every stripe.5G Takes ShapeThe 5GPP delivered its vision of a ubiquitous 5G network and Ericsson, Nokia Networks, and Huawei were pegged as the companies to watch in 5G network equipment development…

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Innovating Healthcare with Vodafone

By: Dennis Lottero

We are in the midst of a revolutionary moment in the delivery and practice of healthcare and pharmaceutical trial practices across the globe. The proliferation of ubiquitous connectivity, sensors, analytics, Big Data capabilities, cloud infrastructures and multiple other innovative technologies are rapidly changing the face of medicine, patient care and the ability to manage trials, medical devices, home care and intervention protocols. M2M solutions remotely connect patients and clinicians using digital medical devices that enable mobile data capture and data sharing…

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Funding the Future: Tech Incubators

By: Jesse Cryderman

Communications service providers (CSPs) have a tough road ahead. It is no secret that their legacy revenue models have taken a big hit and they are being outmaneuvered by low-cost over-the-top (OTT) players. In telecommunications, Skype, Facebook/WhatsApp, Google Voice and Google Chat, Viber, and others have pushed the cost of voice and messaging down to zero. In video, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, YouTube and a host of other competitors have had a similar impact on premium content monetization. The arrival of direct-to-consumer options like HBONow has further fragmented the revenue model for MSOs, as consumers can now purchase a la carte from outside the walls of the cableco…

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The Future of LTE

By: Randy Cox

Of all the life-altering technology we enjoy every day, few things are as pervasive as our cell phones. As our lifeline to family and friends and a repository of all human knowledge, they have evolved from being convenient to indispensable. This is reflected in the adoption of the latest radio technology by mobile carriers, as the number of LTE subscribers exceeded 300 million last year. LTE is the most flexible and capable radio access technology available today, and 3GPP is continuing its development with the next iteration coming in Release 13, which is expected to be released next year…

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Why WebRTC Is Key for Telcos Selling Unified Communications

By: Arvind Rangarajan

By the end of 2019, 6.7 billion devices are forecast to support WebRTC with 2 billion active consumer users and 900 million business users, according to an April 2015 update of Disruptive Analysis’ WebRTC Market Status & Forecasts Report. WebRTC is one of the most discussed enterprise technologies today, as its ability to enable browser-to-browser communications for voice, video and real-time unified communications unlocks a host of new and more seamless ways for enterprises to interact with customers, partners, suppliers and others…

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Virtualizing the Broadband Edge

By: Adam Dunstan

Broadband service begins with edge access. It stands to reason that the process of virtualizing broadband capabilities should also start at the edge. Of course, there are things that just cannot be virtualized, such as physical connectivity, which remains a fact of life in fixed broadband. But, the edge is arguably the largest component of any service provider network, so it is the logical place to start. Leaving aside the in-premise connectivity equipment, as its upgrade is a costly logistical problem, the next component after physical connectivity is packet processing at the broadband edge, where the process of delivering services begins in the network…

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Industry News - June 2015

By: Jesse Cryderman

Unless you were sleeping under a rock last month, you heard the big news: Charter Communications intends to purchase Time Warner Cable and consolidate it, along with Bright House Networks, into one monolithic multi-system operator (MSO). Charter moved quickly on the deal following the collapse of the Comcast/TWC merger. Charter may have a better chance with regulators, since it's a smaller player, and the combined companies would have the muscle and size to truly compete with Comcast…

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Letter from the Editor - June 2015

By: Tim Young

“Innovation is serendipity, so you don’t know what people will make.” -Tim Berners-Lee We are in an industry largely driven by and, in many ways, obsessed with innovation as a concept. That’s true for the wider communications world, always looking to change the way people interact with one another and consume media. It’s even truer for firms dedicated to making the products and services offered by communications service providers more reliable, more profitable, and more satisfactory for customers…

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