Monthly News Digest - March 2016
By: Jim Schakenbach
Mobile World Congress
The big news this month, of course, was the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona, Spain February 22-25. The international conference and exhibit drew close to 100,000 attendees, eclipsing the prior record of 94,000 visitors reached last year. In the 11th edition of the show in Barcelona, over 2,000 exhibitors showcased products in a wide gamut of areas including the fifth generation of cellular networking technologies, emerging architectures such as SDN (Software Defined Networking), NFV (Network Function Virtualization), Internet of Things (IoT) applications, mobile endpoints (smartphones, tablets and wearables), as well as VR (Virtual Reality) headsets.
The industry event generated lots of news, much of it about international alliances and partnerships launched to tackle major issues such as mobile security, IoT technology standardization, 5G innovation and more. Despite challenges felt by many of the attending media and official media partners of the event, Pipeline had the opportunity to meet with dozens of industry innovators in all facets of information and communications technology (ICE) including leading service providers, technology developers and purveyors of solutions ranging from OSS, BSS, CEM, data analytics, security and assurance, networking technology, and much more. Look for ongoing coverage of these industry thought leaders throughout the related issues of Pipeline in the months to come.
Secure mobile communications providers Strategic Security Systems International (3SI) and CommuniTake Technologies announced a multi-phased strategic partnership to address governmental and business wireless communications security needs, including new technologies platforms and devices. The companies claim the new partnership will fuse innovative security concepts, technologies, platforms, and devices to provide a rock-solid mobile cybersecurity solution for enterprises and government agencies.
Digital security provider Gemalto and IoT platform developer Jasper took the opportunity presented by the Congress to announce a partnership to simplify global deployment of IoT devices and services through on-demand subscription management using embedded SIM. According to their Mobile World Congress announcement, customers can provision and manage subscriptions on devices remotely via a single embedded SIM (eSIM), resulting in more efficient and cost-effective deployment models while enabling rapid distribution and device activation.
Not finished, Gemalto went on to team up with the 35-member mobile operator Bridge Alliance and demonstrate a GSMA standards-based solution for multi-country deployment of hermetically-sealed M2M and IoT devices such as connected cars or smart meters. The group demonstrated how these units could connect securely using remote, over-the-air provisioning.
German telecom provider Deutsche Telekom and South Korean provider SK Telecom used the Mobile World Congress stage as well to unveil their plan to develop standardized 5G and IoT technologies in a partnership that will open doors to new growth opportunities for mobile providers in the European and Asia Pacific markets.
Collaborative innovation
There were even more major partnerships and alliances being made around the world this month. Nine leading telecommunications providers -- Mobile TeleSystems PJSC, BT, Deutsche Telekom, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, Millicom, Orange, Rogers, TeliaSonera and TIM -- have joined forces to build a new Partnering Operator Alliance that will enable partner businesses to more efficiently and quickly bring innovative products and services to a potential customer base of around one billion customers in more than 80 countries. The alliance is being built around a cooperative agreement between international telecom operators and service providers to provide connectivity and services to fellow partnership members in their respective regions, enabling them to cut enterprise customer provisioning time from weeks or months to days or even hours.
The Netherlands' largest cable operator, Ziggo, is creating a joint venture with the country's second largest mobile network, Vodafone, to create a more competitive integrated communications organization. The news follows months of speculation about a possible merger or take-over, and the creation of a Dutch JV can be seen as a first move towards a closer relationship between the two companies.
