Cisco Leads with 5G at Mobile World Congress 2019 Los Angeles

Cisco – 5G and IoT sponsor of the main event for Mobility in America

The momentum for Cisco in 5G continues to grow as this week we continue to make the strong case the indeed, Cisco is the most important 5G technology vendor.  Cisco executives and subject matter experts shared their knowledge and experience through six seminars and sessions.  Oh, and then there were the 74 customer meetings and demonstrations of Open vRAN and software-defined network, and the Unified Domain Center.  Of course, if you were there you know all of this, but if you missed the show, well then, this blog is for you.

Cisco Presence at MWC19 LA

As we did last year, we chose to “upscale” our customer’s experience by going off the noise of the exhibit floor and built a comfortable suite with meeting rooms and solution showcases. This provides a quieter, stress-free environment for better quality conversations.

Here we showcased the Open Software-Defined Network and Unified Domain Center.

Open Software-Defined Network:  This solution leverages the work of the Open vRAN Eco-System and Cisco “5G Now” architecture.  This solution is being deployed in Japan by Rakuten and being evaluated by dozens more service providers around the globe. Interestingly, this network can also be designed for Private Network implementations and is “Any Access” – Cellular, Wi-Fi/Wi-Fi6, CBRS.

Unified Domain Network: Introduced this past February at MWC Barcelona, this solution gives service providers with new revenue stream and greater customer loyalty with what is arguably the “5G Killer App” by letting Enterprise customers extend their Local Area Networks (LAN) across the mobile operator’s Wide Area Network (WAN).

Cisco 5G Momentum Grows Around the Global and in the Air:

We had five press releases and announcements for 5G with our customers this week – NTT Docomo, KDDI, Telefonica, Telenor, and Gogo.

Cisco Transporting NTT Docomo 5G

Cisco was selected by NTT Docomo for their Japan nationwide 5G mobile backhaul. Cisco’s industry-leading Segment Routing technology as well as its orchestration will support their vital platform next decade.

Cisco Powering KDDI’s Network Refresh for 5G

Cisco strengthens its relationship with KDDI as a lead technology partner to ready KDDI’s network for 5G

KDDI is using a broad mix of Cisco’s 5G Now portfolio beginning with the Cisco Virtualized Packet Core at the heart of the network, and Control and User Plane Separation (CUPS) architectureto offer better, faster services to its customers.

KDDI aims to advance its 5G services business to span various applicable areas, including healthcare, industrial, automotive, sports and entertainment.

Cisco Deploys Intent-Based Networking Technology into the Telefonica Network to Optimize and Simplify its Operations for a 5G World

Telefonica is using Cisco’s Crosswork Network Automation suite to automate its network with more orchestration capabilities, cloud-based SaaS apps for routing intelligence, and enhanced security to prevent and respond to incidents

The Cisco cloud-powered automation solution is critical in preparing the network for future 5G capacity demands and service agility to deliver always-on connectivity to Telefonica customers

Beginning with Spain, the companies are working together to automate Telefonica network operations throughout its footprint in Europe and Latin America

Cisco Strengthens Partnership with Telenor on 5G in Norway

Cisco and Telenor signed a new agreement to ready Telenor’s core network for 5G

Telenor’s 5G NSA Network will enable faster, more secure and flexible mobile services to support consumer, enterprise and IoT markets

Since 2010, Cisco has provided core technology to Telenor’s 3G and 4G networks. The network is constantly being modernized to stay ahead of the market. In 2018, the companies upgraded Telenor Norway’s core network to provide Scandinavia’s first nationwide network for IoT.

Gogo Announces Partners for 5G Network and Onboard Systems

Cisco, Airspan Networks, and First RF Corp. each will provide necessary elements to Gogo’s 5G solution for aviation.

Cisco will provide core network solutions that will power Gogo’s nationwide air-to-ground (ATG) 5G network. Cisco was selected for its expertise in providing 4G/5G solutions for some of the world’s largest wireless telecommunications networks. Cisco’s innovation in network technologies is ideally suited for the advancements Gogo’s ATG network requires.

Together, Gogo and Cisco will redefine the inflight entertainment and connectivity experience with a high throughput, low latency nationwide 5G network.

Cisco Press & Analyst Event Monday Night 10/21

The evening before the start of MWC19 LA, Cisco held an event for the Press and Analyst community. Cisco was joined by two of our Open vRAN Eco-system partners Intel and Altiostar: 3 dominant U.S.-based players. Together, we shared our advancements in 5G, and our milestones within the ecosystem including Open vRAN, 5G & Cloud together (milestones with Rakuten project), and various hot topic industry insights, etc.

Cisco’s Voice is Heard:

Cisco executives were in high demand for video and print interviews.  These included Jonathan Davidson, SVP/GM for Service Provider Business and Michael Beesley, CTO for SP were interviewed by Mitch Wagner of Light Reading, Linda Hardesty of Fierce Wireless, and Dan Meyer of SDX Central.  Additionally, JL Valente, VP interviewed with Jim Carroll for Converged Digest on Telco Cloud.

Cisco participated in six different seminars and sessions over the week.

Kishen Mangat, VP/GM for Mobility, Automation Business– Fierce Breakfast Sponsor Keynote; “The Road to 5G: Exploring the Business Models”

Kishen spoken about 5G as a new technology that requires a new business model.  Kishen answered the question “How will you the SP give your Enterprise customers what they need?”  Cisco has the solutions, experience, and leadership in both SP and Enterprise. Unified Domain Center is the way the SP will provide what Enterprise needs and wants.

Michael Beesley, Service Provider CTO– “Scaling the Internet of Intelligent Things”.

Michael shared with the audience about the fact that 5G is different – and so are expectations. Radio is important, but 5G is really driven by the software-defined network behind that radio.  IoT is growing exponentially and offers revenue opportunities, but you need a network that can naturally – organically – support requirements that may not even be defined as you build the network.

JL Valente, VP Cloud Platform and Solutions– “Rural Connectivity: Is the Business Model There?”

Connecting the under-connected has long been a challenge regardless of country. According to the Federal Communications Commission, 80 percent of the 24 million American households that do not have reliable, affordable high-speed internet are in rural areas.  Approximately 14 million rural Americans and 1.2 million Americans living on Tribal lands still lack mobile LTE broadband at speeds of 10 Mbps/3 Mbps.

JL, shared with the attendees how Cisco and partners have successfully addressed many of these challenges in the 5G Rural First project in the UK.  Deploying 5G service faster and for far lower costs than ever before possible.  This is made possible with the Cisco open software-defined architecture.

Jonathan Davidson, SVP/GM Service Provider Business– “5G: Power, Planet, Profit”

Jonathan and others addressed the question “What is the environmental impact of 5G and how can sustainability be profitable in both the short and long term?”.  Jonathan pointed out the new efficiencies being designed into 5G architectures.  He used an amusing analogy to describe the efficiency differential between 4G LTE and 5G networks – “The Hamster-Powered Mobile Internet”.  Jonathan observed that today it takes over 50,000 hamsters running in their wheels to power the mobile internet.  The efficiencies of the 5G network will reduce that demand down to only 5,000 hamsters. The point was made, and the humor well appreciated.

Ron Malenfant, Systems Architect– “Private Wireless Networks: Crisis or Opportunity? The Market Speaks”

Ron shared his deep expertise in the area of private networks and business to join his fellow panelists answering the questions of private networks in a 5G era.  Ron shared with the attendees how new functionalities like any-access, network slicing, edge compute and cloud capabilities can be used in private networks for enterprises.  He also shared how service providers can build new customer loyalty and revenue with Private Network as a Service (or as a channel).

Nancy Cam-Winget, Distinguished Engineer – Security Group– The Internet of Safe Things

IoT is growing exponentially and promises to deliver even more revenue opportunities in the 5G era. The big issue is that we are implementing billions of new devices – many running critical tasks – with minimal security.   Nancy shares her industry expertise with the attendees on how they can deploy secured IoT solutions.

… and so,

So concludes our summaries of an event that exceeded even our lofty expectations.  Looking forward to out-doing ourselves at next year’s MWC20-Americas, and in the meantime – See you all in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress in February 2020.

With the Cisco 5G architecture, your network is defined by the applications and services, not by the access technology.  This is what is meant by the “intent-based network”.  This is the platform for new applications that may not even yet exist.  Open APIs, flexible software-defined platform, and advance automation simplify that which was once was complex.  Cisco solutions, like Private Network as a Service, Managed Services Accelerator, and the Unified Domain Center help you to meet your customer’s unique requirements and create new revenue streams.  Cisco Customer Experience (CX) not only helps you plan and implement, but they work with you and your customers derive the greatest value from your investment.

And that is the point of it all – maximizing return and profitability from your 5G investment.  Building a software-defined network – secured and automated – along with revenue generating service solutions and enlisting Cisco CX to implement and maximize value may seem like a large investment, but really it is a very small percentage when compared to the overall 5G build.  The vast majority of the mobile operator 5G investment is in spectrum and radio.  That massive investment alone will not generate the necessary revenue.  But your relatively small investment in a Cisco network provides the platform that will give you the return on your overall 5G investment – including radio.  So, the smaller investment pays for the larger expense and more.

And that is why Cisco is your most important 5G partner.