In conjunction with MWC Barcelona 2022 which will be taking place from the 28th of February to the 3rd of March, Tara Neal, Executive Editor of The Fast Mode spoke briefly to Michael Clegg, VP & GM, 5G, Embedded/IoT at Supermicro on the company's plans and showcases for this year's event.
Tara: What do you think MWC 2022 will be all about?
Michael: The mobile industry is very broad-based, so we can expect multiple themes. There will likely be a lot of positioning around the metaverse in the applications space. Almost every company has an xVerse of some sort they will use as a messaging tool. Metaverse covers many technologies, including 5G, telco cloud, edge computing, IoT, security, amongst others. Notably, it includes AI/ML, AR/VR, and Digital Twins, which are technologies that will complement, enhance and gain benefits from 5G. We can expect more discussion on Private 5G, Open RAN, plus new features coming out of 3GPP Release 17 and 18, with an early lead-up to 6G. Finally, we think that there will be a greater focus on sustainability.
Tara: And what are your MWC 2022 plans?
Michael: Supermicro will demonstrate a wide range of solutions with several software vendors featuring the latest CPU processors. These include:
- Lidar benefits at the edge for Smart Cities, Retail and Transportation (Ouster)
- Digital Signage as an edge AI platform for multiple use cases (Smartpoint.io) and the benefits for 5G/LTE operators
- Computer Vision use cases for Smart Cities, Retail and Transportation using Intel and Supermicro (VSBLTY/Intel/HCL/AGIS)
- Benefits of Augmented Reality for Industry 4.0 Applications (TaqTile)
- ORAN capabilities and deployment updates with Parallel Wireless and SuperMicro
- Industry 4.0 Edge-to-Cloud capabilities with Supermicro/Netapp/NVIDIA
Tara: How has the pandemic impacted the operational and business landscape of the tech segment you are operating in?
Michael: The pandemic drove an acceleration in digital transformation and remote access, which has been positive for Supermicro. The need for more compute was commensurated with connectivity. We also built an HPC cluster for a US national lab in a short timeframe to aid in Covid research. As for everyone else, supply chain shortages have been an area where software virtualization has helped to reduce the dependency on custom appliances. The main impact has been an acceleration for adoption timeframes.
Tara: What emerging trends/technologies have you observed in your tech segment in recent months?
Michael: Open RAN and private 5G continue to influence the industry, and deployment of Massive-MIMO is underway. As Standalone 5G deployment ramps up, we see the focus shifting to cloud-native and containers. Many applications utilize video and AI/ML, especially at the edge. Liquid cooling has become more prevalent, and we see this increasing in the future. Server performance and Ethernet speeds will increase significantly, aiding virtualization and digital worlds.
Tara: How do you see those trends/technologies affecting your business or that of your customers?
Michael: As a server supplier, these trends are all positive for Supermicro. With digital transformation, we foresee continued growth of the server market across data centers and edge, with rapid growth in AI. Liquid cooling will enable higher performance compute more workloads per server which benefit everyone. Private 5G will enable digital transformation across all industry verticals. 5G Open RAN, and Cloud Native core will spur adoption of COTS servers in 5G networks and, with scale plus automation, enable a reduction in OPEX.
Michael Clegg has secured market leadership for Supermicro in product categories covering 5G, cloud, edge and IIoT server infrastructure. He also advises start-ups pioneering and commercializing Internet products and services. Before Supermicro he served as VP of Global Sales at Plume Design; COO at Morro Data, a provider of Cached Cloud File Storage-as-a-Service; and SVP & GM for NETGEAR's Service Provider business unit growing the business tenfold globally and achieving #1 market share in Wi-Fi gateways.
