neXt Curve attended Qualcomm’s premiere event which typically takes places in Maui, Hawaii. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, the event was virtual but we got the scoop on everything to get excited about the newest edition of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platform. The new chip set continues to integrate best-in class 5G technologies with powerful mobile compute enhancements that will provide Android smartphone OEMs a wide palette of feature differentiation to pursue in 2021.
Category: Industry
Huawei MBB Forum 2020: Key Takeaways
neXt Curve virtually attended the 11th annual Huawei Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF) 2020 which was held from November 12th to the 13th in Shanghai, China. The theme for this year’s event was “5G for Good and Innovate for New Value.” Now that we are approaching year two since the first commercial 5G deployments, Huawei is now focusing on accelerating operator value by making deployments easier and faster, and fostering new-breeds of applications that will enable digital transformation across industries. Even in these early days of 5G, Huawei is looking at what is coming next. Here is what neXt Curve found out.
Tech Insight: The Myths & Realities of URLLC
It has been almost two years since the first commercial deployment of 5G and we have seen operators around the world embark on the deployment of the next-gen mobile wireless network. In these early days of 5G, use cases such as smart factories are touted as proving grounds for 5G’s disruptive potential, but we will need URLLC. neXt Curve is joined by renowned telco industry analyst, Dean Bubley of Disruptive Analysis to discuss the state of URLLC. What is real and what is hype today?
Industry Insight: Democratizing the Digital Twin – The Moab Foundation
The Digital Twin is considered by some the next big thing since network slicing. Rob Tiffany, renowned IoT pioneer established the non-profit Moab Foundation to bring the bigness of digital twins to do good in the world. The charter of the foundation aims to bring the benefits and enablement of IoT to bear in furthering the UN’s 17 SDG (Sustainable Development Goals).
Industry Insight: The Intersection of Space & Tech
The space industry is undergoing a great shift with some winners, some losers and significant change in the landscape. While billionaire-funded entrants like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Amazon, Virgin Galactic are shaking things up with the incumbent space industry leaders, there are many other advances being made by smaller angel and venture-funded space startups with promising potential.
Industry Insight: When Apple Goes 5G, It Matters
“Hi, Speed”. There couldn’t have been a more glaring hint than the splash page for the special iPhone event held on October 13, 2020. As we all suspected, Apple unveiled the 5G iPhone. But it wasn’t just one phone. It was the entire iPhone 12 line up configured with what can only be the latest 5G modem and RF module. If anything, this line up is a shot in the arm for 5G that has suffered a lackluster start and growing doubt about its value to the average consumer. This is what operators around the globe have been waiting for, the 5G iPhone.
Tech Insight: Converged IT/CT Service Placement
With the advent of Release 16 of 3GPP’s 5G technical specification and the introduction of SA (Standalone) 5G NR, operators can now explore the benefits of E2E network slicing. It will be critical in enabling dynamic placement of network functions across mobile network edge. But 5G is also about MEC which will converge the pipe with compute.
Industry Insight: Rakuten Rolls Out 5G
Rakuten recently launched their long-waited and highly-anticipated 5G network service. Despite a Covid-19 induced delay, Rakuten has managed to put up a 5G network in a very short time. The jury is out as to whether they have succeeded but one thing is for certain, Rakuten has proven that an industry outsider can put up a compelling offering with the help of new cloud-based and open technologies.
Tech Insight: 5G Edge Computing
Arguably, edge computing is nothing new. Depending on your domain, you are familiar with the idea of edge computing. You might say you have been doing it forever. But what makes edge computing different in the era of 5G? What is the industry getting excited about? What are the novel aspects of edge computing that will make 5G transformative.
Tech Insight: RISC-V
In November of 2019, the RISC-V Foundation moved their base to Switzerland as the US government continued its increasingly aggressive protectionist policies impacting tech trade globally. Flash forward to today. The US Department of Commerce continues to press its campaign against China’s tech industry. RISC-V presents a possible neutral zone in what is a global semiconductor industry divided by geopolitics. Growing interesting in RISC-V have been further fueled by Nvidia’s recent announcement that it would be purchasing Arm for $40 billion. Are the stars aligning for RISC-V?