WWT's Top Two Takeaways from Mobile World Congress

The 2019 Mobile World Congress underscored the importance of accelerating the speed of 5G virtualized infrastructure deployment – and for service providers to monetize that investment through new enterprise services. A pair of new developments showcased at MWC promise to help accomplish both goals.

Intel demos new advances in NGCO and IoT at MWC 2019

Our WWT team recently attended the 2019 Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona – four immersive days of exhibitions, thought leadership, multimedia experiences and networking as thousands of attendees explored collaborative opportunities in the emerging realm of 5G.

While there was much to see and learn over four busy days, MWC revealed some pressing needs of service providers (SPs) that must be addressed on two important fronts: the need to accelerate deployment of a 5G virtualized infrastructure, and a viable way for them to monetize their 5G investment through enterprise services.

WWT and its longtime technology partner Intel are jointly making significant investments in WWT's Advanced Technology Center (ATC) to address the SPs' need to accelerate and monetize their 5G infrastructure investment. Two standout initiatives toward that end were showcased in the Intel booth at MWC, complete with compelling product and use case demos. You'll soon be learning more about these two new solution offerings – our top two takeaways from the conference.

Takeaway 1: NGCO/VCO

Our first big takeaway from Mobile World Congress involves facilitating the migration of telecommunications service providers to a next-generation central office/virtual office, (NGCO/VCO) based on Intel® architecture. This technology can provide scale, flexibility, and agility to deploy new telecommunications services while saving costs and protecting infrastructure investments.

Accelerated deployment of a 5G virtualized infrastructure is needed to ensure that SPs meet their 5G service activation timelines. WWT, along with Intel and Red Hat, have partnered to validate standard infrastructure solutions for the next-gen NGCO and VCO. The validation effort is taking place in our ATC to help customers quickly select the appropriate solutions for their virtual infrastructure deployments. Once their selection process is completed, customers can use WWT's Global Integration Centers in Saint Louis, Amsterdam, and Singapore to integrate the software and hardware contained in the solutions into racks and deploy them at scale.

In the Intel booth at MWC, we witnessed a demonstration of Intel's NGCO concept. The imminent arrival of 5G architectures, along with software-defined networking and network functions virtualization, will drive change in traditional service provider networks, many of which are still equipped for processing traditional dial-tone phone calls. Also driving change is the industry's embrace of new technologies and techniques, altering the way carriers plan, deploy and manage their infrastructure.

The trick is in identifying where will this transformation occur. Intel and WWT believe it'll happen at the Edge of the network – and we're planning accordingly, teaming on a solution for the Next Generation Central Office.

With the arrival of 5G, the traditional central office must evolve to keep up with exponentially climbing network traffic. In the push to modernize aging telco data centers, containerization will be key to creating a cloud-ready, commodity-based central office product that enables agile deployment of new end-to-end services.

Takeaway 2: Intel® IoT Market Ready Solutions (Intel® IMRS)

Intel® IoT Market Ready Solutions (Intel® IMRS) are scalable, end-to-end solution sets that harness the capabilities of the Internet of Things (IoT) for clearly defined objectives. Intel and its ecosystem partners, including WWT, leverage the power of mining IoT data to help businesses solve challenges, transforming that data to derive actionable business insights — paving the way for more informed choices, greater levels of efficiency, and enhanced productivity.

By creating Intel IMRS, Intel is fulfilling the promise of the Internet of Things – assembling advanced technology to streamline operations, lower costs, increase revenue, and transform customer experiences through countless use cases across many industries.

Intel IMRS will help enable SPs to monetize their 5G infrastructure investments through offering 5G enterprise services. These services will require software and hardware on the customer premise and applications running on Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) nodes at the edge of their 5G networks.

Intel and WWT are working with SPs to define the most compelling vertical solutions for enterprise customers. We'll then validate the combined premise-based software/hardware and MEC-based applications to ensure the SPs' Enterprise sales teams can market them with confidence. Once validated, the premise-based components of the vertical solutions will be bundled and made available as SKUs to order from WWT's IC via Telcobuy, WWT's unique distributor subsidiary for the SP industry.

More than 102 proven Intel IMRS solutions are already vetted and ready for immediate deployment, some of which were demoed in the Intel booth at MWC.

• Intel's Industrial Super Demo illustrates how computer vision, AI, edge computing resources and 5G connectivity can result in a safer workplace. The demo consists of a robotic arm performing a task in a work zone. The system knows when an unfamiliar object enters the zone – a person, for instance. It sends a signal to an edge server, which powers down the robotic arm until the zone is clear – maximizing safety, productivity and other efficiencies.
• The 5G-enabled AI retailstore of the future will transform the shopping experience and allow for pop-up retail opportunities. Employing AI and computer vision, the store admits shoppers who scan in through a card-reading transom. They browse the aisles, choose their purchases, and exit without the need for a checkout line – they're charged automatically. For the customer, it's a slick, frictionless experience. For the retailer, it significantly reduces operating costs. And, it's a highly portable environment that can be erected on the fly virtually anywhere.

Market opportunities abound for Intel IMRS

In addition to industrial and retail, other important market applications for Intel IMRS solutions include healthcare (diagnostic imaging, remote care), Smart Cities (smart lighting, community safety) and Hospitality (traveler service kiosks, automated check-in).

In fact, the vertical applications for Intel IMRS are practically boundless, yet businesses may be unaware that these solutions even exist, or could benefit them. This is where an experienced, trusted technology advisor provides value, helping identify appropriate solutions and making a compelling business case for deployment.

WWT is helping customers extend Intel IMRS solutions beyond these on-premise use cases so service providers can capitalize on other opportunities as well. Those businesses are now providing valuable IoT offerings to their own customers, based on their unique environment and needs – pre-validated solutions that also have elements of customization.

How will 5G reshape your world?

Mobile World Congress was WWT's opportunity to extend the value of its longstanding Intel partnership as we explore these and other collaborative opportunities in 5G, IoT, NGCO and a lot more. We invite you to visit our Advanced Technology Center for a look at the joint solutions that will drive the transition to a smarter, faster, connected world.

For some more talk about the 2019 Mobile World Congress, check out this episode of WWT TEC17's podcast series.