TIA Blog
TIA CTO Council to Focus on Enabling Internet of Things and Next-Gen Wireless Networks through NFV
The Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G. These technologies will open up a wealth of opportunities across the value chain of the information and communications technology (ICT) industry as they will be important to every vertical market – healthcare, education, entertainment, agriculture, retail, and more.
These technologies also pose a number of challenges for which our industry must provide solutions in order for consumers and businesses to reap the benefits.
One of those challenges is how the network will handle the pending deluge of IoT solutions and the adoption of 5G.
This week, TIA hosted its first Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Council meeting, a forum for industry thought leaders to discuss challenges and trends, and identify and prioritize current and emerging needs such as this.
Top executives from leading technology companies descended on Austin, Texas for the Council meeting, held in conjunction with the Dell World 2015 Technology Conference.
Participants included representatives from Affirmed Networks, Alcatel-Lucent, CenturyLink, Cisco Systems, Dell, Ericsson, Freescale Semiconductor, General Motors, Gray Beards Consulting, Huawei Technologies, Intel Corporation, Juniper Networks, Open TechWorks, and Verizon.
One thing all of these innovation leaders agreed upon is the virtualization of communications networks will be required to realize the benefits of IoT and 5G. Service providers are implementing software-defined networking (SDN), which allows a network to be reconfigured without physically altering connections and physical interfaces.
However, in order to run the next-generation of wireless networks that will enable IoT, service providers will need to move network functions to the cloud. This network function virtualization (NVF) will allow the infrastructure of a network to be built to ensure connectivity and appropriate amounts of processing and bandwidth to meet demands.
Future efforts of the TIA CTO Council will focus on encouraging, enabling and promoting the adoption of NFV. By creating a community for interaction and forward thinking, the Council will help to define the issues the communications industry needs to address in order to bolster and realize the full benefits of connectivity for consumers and businesses.
Franklin Flint is the Chief Technology Officer of the Telecommunications Industry Association.
Click below to view photos of the TIA CTO Council meeting held at the Dell World 2015 Technology Conference:
