To Tim Downs, Executive Producer of Connect(X), WIA’s Connecitvity Expo
This year’s annual Wireless Industry Association convention, the Connectivity Expo, is deliberately more, a lot more, than a confluence of tower owners and wireless infrastructure services and suppliers, according to Tim Downs, Executive Producer of the event.
The show that runs May 21-24, in Charlotte, NC has an expanded scope and “appeals to a broader set of industry segments – all of whom share one common characteristic in that they are part of, and instrumental to, the 21st century communications infrastructure that is changing the very nature of communications,” Downs said. “Today, and going forward it involves much more than towers and macro sites. Commercial property owners, neutral host network operators, municipal and local governments, enterprises – all are moving into a similar space in the coming age of IoT everywhere, 5G wireless and autonomous networks of flying things and driving things.”
Downs said the show’s keynote speakers personify this expanded focus with people like Satyen Yadav, the Global GM for IoT Ecosystem for Amazon Web Services and Charles Ergen, the Chairman and CEO of Dish, who will deliver the keynote speech.
NASCAR fans, and there are a few in Charlotte, will want to hear Steve Worling, who will share his organization’s unique challenges with coverage and connectivity, and their plans to enhance the NASCAR attendee experience with new solutions.
The tower industry audience will find practical and usable content in three areas at Connect (X).
- New Thinking and New Tools to Manage Dense Networks and Workflow Processes
“We all know that smaller sites and much denser networks are bringing new opportunity and challenges to our industry,” Downs said. “New tools, new thinking and new solutions – including automation, workflow management, artificial intelligence and big data platforms – all of these are having an impact on the macro site community.”
Featured speakers: John Patton of OneVizion, Giuseppi Incitti at Sitetracker, Chad Tuttle at B&T Group and more.
- In-building Wireless Infrastructure: Neutral Hosts, Private Networks and CBRS
“A transformation is underway in the way property owners invest, deploy and manage in-building infrastructure,” according to Downs. “The trend is moving away from carrier-owned infrastructure and towards independently owned digital infrastructure inside commercial properties, large venues and even more. Owners and managers are exploring a more active role in their digital infrastructure, and this poses new
opportunities for DAS and small cell and systems suppliers. It also spells new opportunities for neutral host network operators. This “Connected Property” will have a significant presence at Connectivity Expo.”
Featured speakers are from: JMA Wireless, Zinwave, Commscope, ZenFi Networks, ExteNet
- The Next Wave in Digital Co-location: Intelligent Edge Infrastructure
The convergence of data centers with towers is the focus of this section. “Another way of seeing the co-location opportunity is this: Tower owners’ tenants are communications providers; edge infrastructure tenants are computing tenants,” Downs said.
“The opportunity arises from the demand for high-reliability, high-bandwidth and low-latency wireless network connectivity. With virtually no lag and throughput comparable to fiber, new applications such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality and connected autonomous driving will radically changing the way we generate, gather, process and interpret all kinds of new data. The ‘move to the edge’ requires more than software. It requires a new ecosystem of businesses deploying capital, risk, real estate, labor and professional services for an entirely new category of tenants,” he said.
Featured speakers are from: EdgeMicro, VaporIO, Packet, as well as traditional cloud computing leaders Amazon, Cisco, NetFoundry, Nokia and more.
May 1, 2018
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