In conjunction with the ongoing MWC Barcelona 2022, Tara Neal, Executive Editor of The Fast Mode spoke to Natasha Tamaskar, Head of Global Marketing, Business Strategy and Digital Endpoints Business at Radisys on the company's plans and showcases for this year's event.
Tara: What do you think MWC 2022 will be all about? And what are your MWC 2022 plans?
Natasha: This year, we expect that MWC 2022 will be about the industry coming together in force for the first time since the pandemic began. There have been many lessons learned during this time, and the importance of access to broadband connectivity and digital engagement is greater than ever.
Radisys’ theme for MWC this year is ‘Connectivity Reimagined, Experience Reimagined, Telco Reimagined.” We will be showcasing in Booth 5B81 our end-to-end portfolio of open telecom and digital engagement solutions that operate at the intersection of three key factors – disaggregation, broadband-everywhere, and advanced monetization.
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Disaggregation for mobile and FTTX access networks.
At MWC, we will demonstrate 5G NR solutions enabled by our Release 16 compliant 5G software and systems integration capabilities. We will showcase our 5G small cells with a highly optimized architecture and low footprint; a network-in-a-box with 5G vRAN protocol software; and triple-play services over XGS-PON with our Combo PON OLTs to show how our solution offers flexibility and scalability to transform FTTX networks. -
Broadband-everywhere
At MWC, we demonstrate the realization of true, converged broadband-everywhere networks powered by software-defined disaggregated Open RAN and xHaul transport, supported by automation, analytics monetization and guaranteed assurance of service. -
Advanced monetization of new services.
At MWC, our Smart Living Demonstration featuring our Reach Smart Home will show service providers how they can bundle smart home services with their broadband plans to increase revenue and customer stickiness. Radisys’ Smart Home Operator Dashboard brings insightful business KPIs for monetizing new services.
Attendees can interact with our Engage portfolio, including Engage Video Assistant and our new Engage Digital Platform, and learn how they can use the Engage media and analytics capabilities to easily build and deploy new applications. At MWC, we will highlight the video analytics capabilities of the Engage Platform- including mask detection and social distancing.
Tara: How has the pandemic impacted the operational and business landscape of the tech segment you are operating in?
Natasha: The pandemic has placed additional emphasis on access to broadband connectivity for all as work, education, and play all shifted online. In the U.S., the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) was created to bridge the digital divide in rural America. Radisys leveraged its more than 30 years of telecom solution building and integration expertise to support service providers’ networks with our comprehensive and flexible broadband access solutions.
The pandemic has also increased demand for programmable communications services such as conversational AI applications, video-based customer care, hyper-personalized social engagement and human-machine collaboration. To meet this demand, Radisys launched its Engage Digital Platform – a cloud communication platform that empowers service providers to unlock their networks with new high-margin digital services applicable for both consumers and enterprises. Our Radisys Engage Platform with video analytics capabilities enables service providers to use the analytics to build specific applications such as biometric authentication and COVID policy enforcement.
Tara: What emerging trends/technologies have you observed in your tech segment in recent months?
Natasha: There are a number of telecom trends that have gained traction in recent months, including trends around network disaggregation. We are beginning to see Open RAN move from trials to commercial deployments as the specifications have matured, and Radisys will be demonstrating its Open RAN multi-platform approach at MWC. At MWC, we are sponsors of the Open RAN Summit and will be speaking on a panel to discuss Open RAN opportunity use cases.
We are also seeing open disaggregation for fixed networks take off. During MWC, Radisys along with Deutsche Telekom and Jio will share their joint vision on disaggregated access during an interactive panel on the DT Booth Stage.
Communications service providers for 4G and 5G mobile networks and for fixed broadband and fixed wireless networks are also focused in maximizing the return on their network investments and increasing customer value by offering enhanced digital services for residential and business use cases. At the same time, service providers want to be able to monetize their mobile and fixed network investments. One example is service providers can offer smart home services and devices to their customers paired with their broadband data packages. This results in extensible network utility that make data plans sticker while increasing ARPU.
The high-performance and low latency capabilities of 5G have also resulted in a growing number of private networks. Enterprises and industry verticals are deploying their own private wireless network to gain increased control and automation. These networks often leverage small cell technology to pinpoint coverage.
Additionally, advances in technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, and advanced speech analytics are taking digital communications and engagement to the next level. We are seeing increased demand for our digital engagement portfolio to support services such as video conferencing, digital customer care, team collaboration and immersive media applications – all of which have seen a surge in usage during the pandemic. We’ll be demonstrating these technologies during MWC.
Natasha heads corporate & product marketing, business strategy, as well as the digital endpoints business for Radisys. She has over 20 years of global telecom expertise in business strategy, product management and marketing and business development in cloud platforms, CPaaS, network intelligence, wireless core, and voice and data network security solutions.
