Thread by @disruptivedean

Already bumped into @Gabeuk & @keithdyer at #NGMNICE22 …. Anyone else here that I know?

No #5G roaming for @VodafoneUK subs in France

#NGMNICE22 venue gets two bars of 4G signal, but at least the WiFi is decently fast at about 60Mbps & 7ms latency (even through a VPN)

Interesting focus on #6G “societal requirements & use cases”

Hope to see things like “multiple network owner types & models” & “needs to be indoor-primary”

… and not too much blather about sci-fi visions of a sensory/olfactory metaverse

… & no “flatrate data is bad” rhetoric

Honest talk about industry challenges (inc geopolitical & economic) by @ArashAshouriha of @deutschetelekom

#OpenRAN is a "huge journey" and "painful process"

Needs lots of efforts to commercialise. DT recognises 6 strands:

- O-RAN town deployed on a live network
- SMO & automation
- Skills (hugely needed)
- New operating model, eg inhouse SI?
- Foster ecosystem
- Vendor selection

Major pitch on green networks & #netzero

Scope 3 is tricky

“Some operators are more aggressive and aiming for 2035. But nobody knows how to do that”

Hmm. Unconvinced by “dynamic digital worlds” as key use-case for 6G

AI & sensing makes more sense

I thought Massive IoT was a 4G/5G thing & it’s still not really here (at least not with cellular)

“Ubiquitous access” as a key #6G vision, apparently

Let’s see how long before the word “indoors” is mentioned today…

Now @orange up at #ngmnice22

Good slide on industry moving from vertical silos to layers, with telcos outsourcing towers & leveraging (or becoming) platforms

Interesting (& wise) words from Orange speaker about on-demand services and APIs

"Whether we are the platform, or whether we are part of someone else's"

[picture on the slide shows an advert from Twilio]

References the CAMARA project - needs use-cases as well as tech.

Talks about the Pikeo experimental 5G SA Open RAN network they are using as a testbed at Orange

"Cloud-native functions are quite mature. Open RAN less so"

Identified some security aspects to focus on

"Telco cloud is a nightmare" - Leboucher is not mincing words!

Still got too many verticals for core, signalling etc

"It's a commodity. We won't differentiate on telco cloud. But we need it to work. And to be simple. This is a key challenge"

Sets out 4 challenges for NGMN on cloud-native & disaggregated networks

- limit fragmentation
- more automation
- appropriate security tools
- share best-practice on integration between operators eg in OpenRAN

Next up a panel on disaggregation moderated by @Gabeuk with speakers from @TELUS @bt_uk @IBM & @googlecloud

Listening to @GedeonIbrahim CTO of @TELUS - absolutely awesome presentation (and very funny video clip & anecdotes)

Talking about the realities of automation - what to automate first & overall philosophy of how the automated bits align with each other

Now @bt_uk Howard Watson

Usual big pitch on “converged” fixed + mobile network

Not clear exactly what is converged & how, beyond the fibre, IP & compute infra, although refs telco cloud (& lots of legacy bits)

Also mentions WiFi, small cells, edge & neutral host

Pitching NaaS but interestingly seems mostly focused on fibre / Ethernet at least initially

Really important slide about the realities of #openran in a brownfield network which still has old 3G / 2G to interwork with

Lots of multivendor integration & interop

Also mentions security

Now @IBM Andrew Coward at #NGMNICE22

Interesting comment that network automation is happening slower than compute automation

Edge slide is interesting. Sees most I4.0 stuff on-prem, with some gaming, video analytics & CDN at the network edge.

Final speaker in this session is from @googlecloud

Talks about 10 apps that Google has successfully globalised

(Oddly doesn’t list messaging & RCS. What an oversight. 🤣)

Very candid slide about challenges of original VNFs & now being seen for containers as well

This event sees like a serious reality-check on telco cloud. Automation mentioned by everyone so far

Next session is on disaggregation - led by @lightcounting Stephane Teral

More focus in session intro on network disag - with observations on cell site routers & Open RAN

Followed by @1und1 talking about its work with @RakutenSymphony

@1und1 is doing 24 edge data centres with CUs + 500+ local DCs with DUs (max distance 10km from radio)

That’s impressive - 3 millisecond latency in friendly user trial.

Launching FWA by end of 2022

Next up is @ngvoice talking about how smaller vendors & innovators can work with MNOs

(wonder if they'll mention how most telcos' procurement, payment and supplier-management systems are very bad at dealing with small companies. Onboarding, invoicing etc is usually a nightmare)

Cool slide on the resource needs of containerised / microservices network functions vs traditional monolithic platforms

Here, vIMS

“Procure differently” - spot on, @ngvoice

It amazes me that telcos talk so emphatically about platforms, APIs & developers, when they’re so badly set up for commercial relationships with small companies & individuals

More #openran candour from @deutschetelekom

Interesting slide on disagg - not just #openran - from @pldt @LiveSmart from Philippines

Lot more interest I’m seeing in transport & fibre domains

@Accenture talking about different integration / ecosystem models for #openran

Now @JuniperNetworks talking about CRAN, DRAN & how to treat cell site routers

Notes that many networks end up hybrids of site types, reflecting fibre available, real estate etc

Now @RohdeSchwarz talking about #openran testing & performance scoring

Looking forward to this 10-speaker session on #6G and panel moderated by @cmendler

Kicked off by a speaker from @OECD . Not convinced by the 1GB/second claim for autonomous vehicles…

Curious to see how long before we get before mentions of “indoors” or “network sharin

Amused by this slide.

All indoor uses, or on a form of transport

Some pragmatic comments here from OECD @WeberVere about link to fibre & WiFi

Not quite sure what “extreme low energy” means (it’s a @NTTDocomoNews slide), but some of the concepts I’ve seen for 6G are going to struggle with it - including the THz and mmWave mentioned in the next slide

Good to see refs to indoor & small-area repeaters for mmWave mentioned by DoCoMo, at least for 5G

Now up, a @VodafoneGroup futurist talking about 6G applications & use-cases vs 5G ones

Starts with usual caveats about forecasts being difficult & often wrong…

Curious to see how @NGMN_Alliance 6G use case categorisation differs from mine / Charlotte’s in recent 6G report

Some similarities

But misses core opportunities of better FWA and MBB

Lots of very generic things like healthcare (1000s of separate applications, most well suited to multiple network types)

I like this categorisation of disruptive technologies as often being *less* functionality but *more* convenient

- implies need for openness (APIs) and software

Good - VF speaker mentions lots of use-cases will be indoors

May be delivered over WiFi (or satellite).

“Not just a 3GPP connectivity layer”

Presentation from @Bell aligning 6G more with community & wider societal considerations

Good to see the words “feasible and deliverable” appear

Points out trade offs between “extreme this & that” vs “extreme low energy”

This is brilliant

Canadian speaker from @Bell was seated in 6G on his inbound flight

There’s a lot going on in these slides from @chinamobile

Good point about link/overlap with 5G Advanced

Also the x-disciplinary research models between different tech domains

China Mobile is the first speaker to stress desire for a unified global 6G standard

Notes there are 27 national initiatives currently

Interesting emphasis from @SKtelecom

“Everywhere” = both physical & meta locations

First mention of the “upper mid” band 7-24GHz from SKT

I suspect many in mobile industry underplaying this (and overplaying THz) to avoid muddying the (flawed) messaging on 6GHz

I’ve seen the word “quantum” crop up in 3 presentations so far

Mostly aimed at security implications - either quantum-safe crypto or QKD

Also: Korea aiming for 2026 “pre-6G trial”

This is cool - @orange + @Lenovo demo monitoring both hardware & software energy consumption

Here used for a 5G SA private network with an indoor small cell

Now @nokia with lessons / recommendations for #6G

Some are right, some are wrong IMO

The idea that ITU should have just one candidate for 6G is utterly monopolistic & risks a dangerous monoculture. Attempted 3GPP capture which needs robust pushback

“Need to think environment-first”

Mobile networks - 93% of energy are in operations

I agree that traffic and energy use should be decoupled

Big push by Nokia for a single global standard for 6G

I think that may be unrealistic

Better to acknowledge now that 6G *may* be fragmented & design for APIs to allow gateways and interworking

We can’t predict 8 years of geopolitics, so we need to have contingency plans

Now @Huawei talking about 5G to 6G migration

Notes patchiness & variation in 5G deployments & experiences

Some interesting stats on industrial vertical use of 5G in China here too

Good to see refs to sensing & positioning even for 5G advanced (Huawei calls it 5.5G)

Talking about 10Gbps downlink everywhere

(Mentions upper 6GHz band, unsurprisingly)

Sees 5G problematic for high speed uplink

Oddly Huawei doesn’t mention that localised uplink-centric networks can be easily created with private spectrum allocations

Enterprises can create custom up/down mix depending on local requirements

Much harder for MNOs to do

I’ve been calling #6G “AI native” for a while. Good to see it starting to stick

Mention of non-terrestrial / satellite is notable. Curious to see how Huawei will play in that market

An actual industrial user of networks is next! @TRUMPF_News is a midsize producer of machine tools for manufacturing

(I’ve seen them present at previous 5G events including at a @LS_telcom conference)

Hoping for more simplicity from 5G/6G rather than lots of different connectivity options

Last speaker @6gLife

Oh dear. Metaverse. Which is obviously going to be WiFi (or USB) primary, not 6G

I don’t think I’ve heard any references to private networks today. Given that @NGMN_Alliance is an MNO-member association I guess that’s unsurprising but I would have expected a bit more realism

By 2030 there will probably be 100K+ private network. MNOs will be a tiny minority

Love the ?? for #wifi7 in this chart

It’s here next year. By 2030 and 6G timeframe, it will be WiFi9+ I expect

This is the daftest slide today “in-network computing”

Apparently it’ll allow telcos to “kill” the “OTTs” in the 6G era

The speaker is the Deutsche Telekom Chair of Comms Networks at @tudresden_de btw

Asked the panel what they expect when 100K private networks (and their vendors) feed their requirements & expectations into 6G pathway

Not sure if they haven't thought about, or I phrased it badly, but got diverted to discussion about vertical groups like 5GACIA & 5GAA

Completely missed the *functional* aspects of more private networks than public networks

eg coordinating 1000's of separate networks per sq km, not 100000s of devices, or new ways of network-sharing with dynamic mix of uplink/downlink, or indoor-centric networks