All these factors made us introduce the issue, The 10 Most Innovative Telecom Solution Providers 2018 to highlight the telecom solution providers who are taking the telecom sector to the next level with their Editor’s Note extraordinary offerings. On the cover of this issue, we have SureCall Contact Centers: All about Customer Happiness. SureCall offers multiple applications that benefit every industry.
4. Telecom Solutions
Providers: Driving
the World with
Innovations
ince last two decades, we have observed tremendous improvements in wireless technology. One of
Sthe main factors behind this drastic change is a huge innovation in the mobile phone technology
space, from brick phone to current foldable smartphones and wearables. Unlike before mobile
phone is not confined as a calling or messaging device, today it can be used for infinite purposes such as,
entertainment, gaming, financial transactions, controlling smart devices (IoT), and many more. These
features which are being used currently demands a high quality of wireless infrastructure for their smooth
functioning.
From 1G to 5G, advancement in wireless technology has totally changed the concept of communication.
Increased digitization and new trending technologies such as cloud computing, SAAS, VR, AR, IoT, AI,
and more are leading us towards being highly dependent on the wireless networks and telecom solutions.
For those, we needed the strong and efficient telecom infrastructure to be available.
Telecom infrastructure and telecom solutions both are interconnected, so telecom solution must be that
much efficient and innovative so that they can transform the wireless technology to the next level. There
are many solutions offered by telecom solution providers such as; Software Defined Networks (SDN),
Large cable solution, BPO solutions for call handling, Cloud solutions, IoT related solutions, and many
more. They are acting as a catalyst for the implementation and utilization of telecommunication
technology in the broader way. Telecom solutions are becoming more valuable with increased
advancements in the telecom space and they are becoming the unavoidable part of our digital life.
All these factors made us introduce the issue, The 10 Most Innovative Telecom Solution Providers 2018
to highlight the telecom solution providers who are taking the telecom sector to the next level with their
Editor’s Note
5. extraordinary offerings. On the cover of this issue, we have SureCall Contact Centers: All about
Customer Happiness. SureCall offers multiple applications that benefit every industry. No matter the
size or location of the organization, SureCall has a solution that can help companies to grow and
expand while keeping their overall costs to a minimum. Providing tailor-made services is SureCall’s
forte. They provide solutions from Virtual Reception, Order Entry, and Emergency Response
services, to customized offerings that fit exactly what their clients need. There is no box that you put
around the service offerings that are available, and bluesky thinking is a normal process at SureCall.
Desirée Bombenon is the CEO of SureCall. She is a sagacious leader and is named as one of
Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women for 2017. She was honored with the Enabler of Vision
Award by the Center for Leadership Development at the UN Assembly in 2017 for her work on
gender equality and female education. Desirée has been in the industry for nearly 30 years and shares
her experience and enthusiasm for the technology associated with BPOs with her team. Her business
model is tied directly with utilizing culture as a strategy for the organization. SureCall firmly puts
their employees and clients at the forefront of their efforts. Engaging both her team and the clients
while ensuring that the most important elements of SureCall’s stakeholder groups are taken care of.
SureCall’s leadership team is aware that their role is to enable client happiness and the success of the
SureCall agents who deal with their clients on the front line. Desirée believes that transparency and
collaboration and the shared accountability to resolve issues within the firm are a must.
With deep research, Insights Success Magazine has enlisted companies who are responsibly driving
the telecom space with their groundbreaking strategies and innovations. DX Solutions: Delivering
Innovation that Enhances Capability, ngena: A Rising Alliance of Connectivity, Shamrock
Consulting Group: The Single Resource for All Your Connectivity Needs, Sigfox: Connecting the
World through IoT Connectivity Services, and TinkerLink: Bridging the Gap between Employers
and Employees.
While going through our magazine, you must not miss out the masterly written articles by our in-
house editors such as The New Way Of Business- Mobility on Cloud and Yes, Internet of Things is
Reshaping the World from the Editor’s Pick. Ultra-Broadband Fixed Wireless Access with Point-to-
Multipoint at 28 GHz, How to innovate an industry: the telecommunication sector and the software-
defined network revolution, and Vendor metamorphosis from the View of some of the Successful
Leaders.
Hope this edition from us will create a mark on your mind.
Suhel Mashayak
6. SureCall
Contact Centers:
All About Customer
Happiness
08
C O V E R S T O R Y
The New Way
Of Business-
Mobility on Cloud
In Brief
Chalk Talk
ARTICLES
Ultra-Broadband Fixed
Wireless Access with
Point-to-Multipoint
at 28 GHz
Business Insider
How to innovate an industry:
the telecommunication sector
and the software defined
network revolution
Expert’s Viewpoint
Vendor
metamorphosis
Maestro’s Opinoin
16
42
26
C O N T E N T S
Yes, Internet of
Things is Reshaping
the World 22
32
7. DX Solutions:
Delivering Innovation
that Enhances
Capability
ngena:
A Rising
Alliance of
Connectivity
Shamrock
Consulting Group:
The Single Resource for
All Your Connectivity
Needs
Sigfox:
Connecting the
World through IoT
Connectivity Services
TinkerLink:
Bridging the Gap
between Employers
and Employees
20
24
30
36
40
12. Weare inspiredby
what’s to
comeandare
lookingforward to new
opportunities
‘‘ ‘‘
To remain profitable and meet the bench marks of
today’s competitive environment, every company
needs to run leaner operations and adjust quickly to
the changing market conditions. One key question that
often arises is: Can you improve the way you run your
business without losing the focus on increasing your market
share and customer base?
The answer is yes; when you take BPO into consideration.
One such industry notable who is leading the BPO world is
SureCall Contact Centers. The journey of SureCall is not
only interesting but also inspiring indeed. SureCall evolved
over 35 years from a startup telecommunications company
that mainly focused on wireless equipment and radio
products to a state of the art outsourced BPO today.
Operating 24.7.365 the company is always open for
business and has been honored with several awards and
recognitions over the years. SureCall is a leader in the call
center and outsourcing industry, however prides itself more
on the dynamic culture which it has created with over 100
employees across Canada, and partnering with clients all
over the world.
Extraordinary Offerings that make SureCall an
Achiever of Success
SureCall offers multiple applications that benefit every
industry. No matter the size or location of the organization,
SureCall has a solution that can help companies to grow
and expand while keeping their overall costs to a minimum.
Providing tailor made services is SureCall’s forte. They
provide solutions from Virtual Reception, Order Entry, and
Emergency Response services, to customized offerings that
fit exactly what their clients need. There is no box that you
put around the service offerings that are available, and blue-
sky thinking is a normal process at SureCall.
SureCall primarily deals with application verticals not just
industry verticals. The organization designs its services to
meet the requirements of each specific client, while
bringing their extensive experience to the design innovation
C o v e r S t o r y
13. Our Success comes
from our Customer’s
Success
“
“
process. During the discovery session, SureCall works with
its clients to find the best way to effectively improve the
client's own processes. Then provide quality resources to
manage the specific application, and an agent team skilled
to handle the program. Defining the needs of the client and
how to improve efficiencies, reveals in advance where the
clients pain points are, and how SureCall can help.
The Trailblazer of SureCall
Desirée Bombenon is the CEO of SureCall. Desiree is a
sagacious leader and is named as one of Canada’s Top 100
Most Powerful Women for 2017. She was honored with the
Enabler of Vision Award by the Center for Leadership
Development at the UN Assembly in 2017 for her work on
gender equality and female education. Desirée has been in
the industry for nearly 30 years and shares her experience
and enthusiasm for the technology associated with BPOs
with her team. Her business model is tied directly with
utilizing culture as a strategy for the organization. SureCall
firmly puts their employees and clients at the forefront of
their efforts. Engaging both her team and the clients while
ensuring that the most important elements of SureCall’s
stakeholder groups are taken care of. SureCall’s leadership
team is aware that their role is to enable client happiness
and the success of the SureCall agents who deal with their
clients on the front line. Desirée believes that transparency
and collaboration and the shared accountability to resolve
issues within the firm are a must. With a flat organization
where everyone is on a peer level and having a ‘no blame’
environment, issues are dealt with from a process view
point. This forms clarity around root causes and enables the
team to fix the problem without getting defensive. As a
service company the main concerns that arise are around
service level performance and quality of the work done.
With multiple platforms that measure and assist the team to
improve and succeed, SureCall is always working to a
higher level. Coaching and mentoring are the most utilized
methods within the organization along with ongoing
education and getting client feedback. With a ‘fix it now’
mentality, Desirée and her team feel they have a good
process for managing client expectations.
14. We are here to
design innovative
solutions that
give our customers
peace of mind
‘‘
‘‘Taking Good Work to a New Level
SureCall has established itself as a community partner with
charitable organizations as well as creating its own “Good
Call” program that contributes to projects that educate
females globally. The team at SureCall works hard each day
knowing that every call they take contributes to, and serves
a much bigger purpose.
A Leader’s Advice to Rising Stars
Being a renowned name in the call center solution
providers’ industry, SureCall advises the rising stars of this
sector to break through the walls and show the world
infinite capabilities of the telecom industry. “Don’t limit
your options with what you can offer, and be open to doing
things differently,” said Desirée Bombenon. She further
adds, “With certain types of operations often the path taken
is one that everyone has traveled. My recommendation is
try something new to differentiate yourself in the market,
and don’t be afraid of innovations that are coming down the
pipe, embrace them into your business.”
Going Beyond Boundaries while Creating New
Milestones
Like any other successful company, SureCall too faced
multiple challenges on its way to success. During the days
when the company started its journey, technology was
shifting and changing, hence, the company had to find
partners on whom it can rely on and build solid alliances.
Desirée further said, “The challenges are less difficult if you
can define exactly where the issues are and how to resolve
them. Utilizing lean six sigma processes were extremely
useful for our team to fix the core concerns and work
towards better systems.”
Customer Satisfaction equals to SureCall’s Success
“Our core values are specifically around the success of our
employees and our customer’s happiness. We express them
through the ongoing programs we have to improve the skill
level of our team, the culture we create in our work
environment and the ongoing coaching and mentoring for
employee success. We know if we work towards our team’s
success they in turn will focus on the best service for our
clients. Our customers are often given tours and hear
testimonials from our team on how we have developed the
type of culture that is ‘customer first’. They can see it and
feel it in everything we do,” asserts Desirée.
Looking Forward to a Bright Future
SureCall strives to continue developing an outstanding team
for their global expansion efforts over the next 3 to 5 years.
The organization feels that the future is something they can
all look forward to with even more exciting technology, and
interesting concepts for their design platforms.
15.
16. Address :
Country :City : State : Zip :
Global Subscription
Date :
Check should be drawn in favor of : INSIGHTS SUCCESS MEDIA TECH LLC
Never Miss an Issue
Yes, I would like to subscribe to Insights Success Magazine.
Name :
1 Year.......... $250.00(12 Issues) .... 6 Months ..... (06 Issues) ..... $130.00
3 Months ... (03 Issues) .... $70.00 1 Month ...... (01 Issue) ..... $25.00
Telephone :
Email :
Insights Success Media Tech LLC
555 Metro Place North, Suite 100,
Dublin, OH 43017, United States
Phone - (614)-602-1754,(302)-319-9947
Email: info@insightssuccess.com
For Subscription : www.insightssuccess.com
SUBSCRIBE
TODAY
CORPORATE OFFICE
17. Management BriefCompany Name
Aqua Comms
aquacomms.com
Aqua Comms was established to provide capacity networking
solutions to content providers, cloud based networks, data
centres, IT companies and the global media.
Nigel Bayliff
CEO
Cronos Telecom Europe
cronosgroup.net
Cronos Group's TinkerLink is the first social marketplace
where you can search, find and connect with trustworthy
experts recommended by people you already know.
Diana Daniels
CEO
DX Solutions
dx.com.au
DX Solutions is an ICT solutions provider offering innovative
end-to-end services covering project delivery, integration,
testing, engineering, and managed services.
Peter Yialas
MD
MYCOM OSI
mycom-osi.com
MYCOM OSI provides deep telecom expertise and solutions in areas
fundamental to network and service quality, the primary contributor to
customer experience, loyalty and churn. It is a leading independent provider of
Next Generation Assurance, Automation and Analytics solutions to the world’s
largest Communications Services Providers (CSPs).
Mounir Ladki
President
Network Solutions
Provider (NSP)
networksolutionsprovider.com
NSP provides cutting-edge solutions and services to businesses
in California, Ohio, Georgia, Washington, and Arizona. From
cloud computing to network security to mobility as a service.
Phillip Walker
CEO
ngena GmbH
ngena.net
ngena GmbH is an international alliance of
telecommunication companies who provides connectivity
solutions for global clients.
Marcus Hacke
Founder & MD
Shamrock
Consulting Group
shamrockconsulting.com
Shamrock Consulting Group is a full-service
telecommunication and IT consulting agency.
Paul Cooney
Founder
Sigfox
sigfox.com
Sigfox is a recognized global pioneer and leader in a sector
that is already disrupting business models and will
revolutionize the whole of society.
Ludovic Le Moan
CEO & co-founder
Christophe Fourtet
co-founder
SureCall Contact Centers
surecallcc.com
SureCall is a contact center that provides help desk, sales
support, and customer service support, along with many other
services to corporations and business professionals.
Desiree Bombenon
CEO
QROi
qroi.net
QROi offers a full range of end-to-end technical services and
technology solutions to mobile operators and all major telecom
vendors in Southeast Asia.
Helge Raitanen
Founder & Chairman
0
NNOVATIVE
TELECOM
THE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS 2018
MOST
18. Ultra-Broadband
Fixed Wireless Access with
Point-to-Multipoint at 28 GHz
Fixed wireless access (FWA) is a solution that has
been around for more than a decade as an alternative
to xDSL, fiber and other wired broadband access
technologies. Used to provide access to the underserved,
usually in sub-urban or rural areas, it is also utilized as a
complementary solution by WISPs or CLECs to provide
competitive services. FWA is more applicable to the
residential or small-business markets that constantly use
bandwidth hungry applications.
Challenges of FWA Networks
Ÿ Technology selection
Fixed line networking -with fiber, cable access or even
xDSL/vectoring technologies- provides high capacity and
reliability but at a significant CapEx. Moreover, typical
copper-based xDSL technologies cannot offer high
capacities. Modern wireless technologies are already
field-proven and operators invest in related solutions to
deliver residential broadband access services as
efficiently as possible.
Ÿ Fast rollout
Deployment time is also important in the fiercely-
competitive telecom market. As a result, operators have to
consider wireless technologies for such a solution, as they
have a significant advantage over fixed line networking in
terms of the time it takes to reach the end customer, and
also generate CapEx savings. Ease of installation and
commissioning is also critical for the OpEx of large
deployments.
Ÿ Scalability of CPE
The higher the number of Customer Premises Equipment
that can be served in a sectorized area, the faster the ROI.
Increase in demand should not obligate additional
spending on equipment infrastructure at the hub sites.
High sector capacity is also an important factor to
consider, combined with the spectrum efficiency of the
deployed system.
Ÿ Cost of infrastructure
The FWA market and especially the residential access
applications are price sensitive as far as the CPE is
concerned. Wireless ISPs that plan to deploy fixed
wireless broadband networks and offer attractive monthly
packages need to select equipment vendors that will
provide low CapEx solutions and generate profitable
investments.
High-capacity FWA does not have to wait for 5G
The current FWA sub-6GHz technologies offer maximum
throughputs in the order of tens of Mbps per user. Everyone
is waiting for the holy grail of 5G access and its fiber like
performance. The question is why does it take so long to
mature? In the past, mobile standards were designed to
improve on previous ones in one or two ways, such as voice
or mobile broadband. 5G, however, has a much broader
scope. From its conception, the creators of 5G wanted the
network to handle several different functions, including
enhanced mobile broadband, massive machine type
communications, also called IoT, and critical, ultrareliable
16 March 2018 |
19. About the company
Intracom Telecom is a global
telecommunication systems and
solutions vendor operating for over
40 years in the market. The
company has become the
benchmark in fixed wireless access
and it successfully innovates in the
5G/4G wireless front haul,
backhaul and small-cell SON
backhaul international arena.
and low-latency communications.
The demand for broadband services both
in the enterprise and the premium
residential user segments is constantly
growing.
Despite good fiber availability in large
cities, the deployment of microwave
access links (28/39 GHz) can be quicker
and cheaper in many cases. Analysts are
projecting double digit growth rates in
the FWA market in the forthcoming
years. This is seen by many WISPs and
CLECs as an opportunity to deploy high-
capacity FWA services today and not
wait for 5G to happen.
Advantages of Area-Licensed
Spectrum with FWA
Many operators already possess, or
consider acquiring, area-licensed
spectrum and would like to take
advantage both of their investment and
the extra assurance offered by licensed
spectrum with respect to interference, in
order to deploy FWA in these
frequencies.
Owning area-licensed spectrum (as
opposed to per-link licensed spectrum)
enables the use of PtMP systems and
offers the advantage of not requiring a
separate licensing procedure for the
planning and installation of each link,
which is a consideration if one has to
deploy, and potentially re-deploy,
multiple links within a short period of
time.
Licensed spectrum for the bandwidth-
rich, area-licensed 10.5/26/28 GHz
bands, is ideal for dense FWA
deployment in residential applications.
The benefit of using licensed spectrum is
the assurance of avoiding interference
from competing operator systems using
the same bands.
Pantelis Trakas
Senior Product Manager,
Wireless Network Systems, Intracom Telecom
Business Insider
| March 2018 17
20.
21.
22. DX
Solutions:
Delivering Innovation
that Enhances
Capability
In the recent past, traditional networking has been a trend and traditional networking vendors have dominated the
networking segment since many years. But now, with the advancement of technology more and more organizations
are embracing the growing networking hardware and software disaggregation paradigm. As a result, the telecom
industry is now under immense pressure to go with the trend while at the same time outshine others. One such company
which was able to hit the metal when it was hot is DX Solutions. It is a forerunner in the telecom industry which is
currently in the unique position of providing specialized telecom services to the Australian market, which covers IT
through the core network.
Meet the Dynamic Team of DX Solutions
DX Solutions was co-founded by Peter Yialas and Jason Peters in 2006. This dynamic duo met while working on a
software testing project at SingTel Optus. Peter had built up a team of professionals to integrate, test and deploy the first
program to drive the deregulation of the Telecommunication’s industry in Australia where Optus implemented their
DSLAM equipment in the Telstra exchanges and were the first to own and operate their own customer service which was
not just a sub-lease.
According to Peter, they teamed up after identifying a gap in the market where one can find a more effective and feasible
way to test multi-vendor system environments, and at the same time remain vendor agnostic. They recognized a market
requirement for niche professional services in software testing and set out to provide end-to-end business outcomes for
both customer and enterprise system integration.
Peter and Jason then went on a tech voyage to gain deeper industry experience in telecommunications sector, and to
become an inevitable part of the top “Telecom Transformation” in Australia. During this journey they met Mark
Greenwood at Telstra and Karl Wood at Optus. Now, all four are all equity partners in the business; Mark holds a
Director Title and Karl Wood as CTO, Mark brings in Professional Services while Karl brings in strong technology and
partnerships to DX Solutions. Matt Schulz heads up Telco for Dx Soltions.
Peter Yialas
MD
Mark Greenwood
Director Professional
Services
Jason Peters
MD
20 March 2018 |
23. Outshining the Competitors
Being different is DX Solutions’ forte,
as a result of which they all went on to
complete all Network upgrade projects
at Vodafone including the full 4G roll
out and another two Business IT
transformations at Optus. In Australia
DX Solutions is also the sole reason
for the release of Australian Federal
Government emergency warning
system and Prime Ministers cloud in
Canberra.
DX Solutions specializes in multi-
vendor integration with partners such
as Ericsson, Nokia Networks, Alcatel
Lucent, Huawei, CISCO and more.
Even though the company has
extended to aviation, banking and
finance, Telecommunications remains
the heartbeat of the company.
In 2016 DX Solution also became the
Platinum ANZ partner for Verizon
Global and are now specializing in all
levels of security for products and
services.
Awards and Accolades
DX Solutions has also celebrated many
achievements over the past years:
Ÿ BRW fast 100 company 2014 and
2015
Ÿ CEO Magazine top four finalist 2016
Ÿ APAC 25 top cyber company’s 2017
Ÿ Top 10 Telecom companies 2018
Marching towards a Bright Future
The business shows no signs of
slowing down, with plenty of future
plans in the works, including
expanding DX Solutions’ “Vantage”
methodology, which challenges the
basis of the SDLC by increasing
coverage and reducing errors and cost.
Also, this year DX Solutions will be
launching its newest product to market,
“Rubx is an integrated, connected and
secure cloud management platform.
Rubx aligns technology, processors
and people towards a customer-centric
cloud operating model, which is easy
to consume via a monthly pay as you
go charge,” says Peter. “This will
allow your business to focus on
customer products and enable them
compete with modern day, ‘born in the
cloud’ disruptors.” He adds that his
ultimate goal is for DX to become “not
only a systems integrator but a
solutions aggregator, the first in
Australia”. All this is enabled by their
ever performing team of people who
work tirelessly to make success a habit.
Mission: To provide our customers and
partners with strategic products and
services aligned to their business
outcomes.
Vision: To build a robust ict company
that is known for its market leading
management team, people and
products.
To enable our people to achieve the
highest possible level in their
professional lives, whilst committing to
have them operating in a safe working
environment.
To establish and commit growth and
longevity in all our initiatives,
stabilizing the company and enabling
our 2022 roadmap.
To increase our strategic partnership
and introduce market leading solutions
and services to our customers.
To lead with example and form a bond
with our team, customers and partners
alike.
We apply
local
knowledge,
but have a
global reach
‘‘
‘‘
0
NNOVATIVE
TELECOM
THE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS 2018
MOST
Karl Wood
CTO
w w w. d x . c o m . a u
| March 2018 21
24. Internet of Things is
Yes,
Reshaping the World
Data—an abstract can’t be felt, can’t be touched,
more likely to be understood.
A cryptic information flows omnidirectional in surrounding
in the form of wave signals, transferring the data at different
frequencies prevents the over-drawing. This data is secured
in the cloud—large storage servers which provide a better
protection to the information.
Internet of Things—the appliances used in daily life
interrelated with cloud computing in-order to make toil
easy. It’s been introduced while ago; its applications are
seen in household commodities, and now enterprises have
also started showing their keen interest in IOT’s. Certain
IOT’s specially programmed for the processes in the
enterprise; coordinating with such technologies will bring a
boon to the enterprises as a whole, with variations in
utilization the benefits also vary.
Outlook of IOT’s depending on their functioning
Twining the Product Digitally
Digital Twins—a mirror-like virtual representation of an
original product for proper analysis is it all about. This
program helps to generate a digitalized graphical image of
any object at an instantaneous time, whereas, the analysis
includes functioning, learning, and reasoning. Any
complicated object can be regenerated and studied for its
better improvement. For example, in automotive industries,
it’s quite hard to point out a mistake or a flaw in
complicated functioning objects. An engine design is pretty
much intricate, so is it’s functioning, a digital twin of the
engine helps to analyze the speed of the engine, compressor
ratio, oil pressure, heat emitted by engines and, etc. With
the help of DT, there’s the possibility of creating a
connected engine instead of assembling the parts of an
engine.
DT can make a change in physical assets by providing
options for creating, testing, building, monitoring, and
maintaining. Implementing such IOT will benefit in
accelerating the product development rate and will also
reduce the costs. Before any occurrences in failure
predictive maintenance is always the best option. Hence, in
order to prevent further calamities, it’s better to take
measures accordingly.
Following Up the Blocks; More Secure Way
Block chain is another way to transfer data without getting
altered by other factors, the cryptography is so at its depth
that making changes get tough. Block chains is a series of
blocks which will pass data from one to another. This
methodology is used for transaction process between two
parties, considering any enterprises sharing the monetary
assets digitally, and then through block chain, the
transaction will be more secure. Trust is important factor
required for the business, thus, this will build trust between
those two parties involved in the transfer. And, as block
22 March 2018 |
25. chain stores the data promptly in the blocks; the details of
transfer amount and related can be retrieved.
Earlier three parties were required in order to proceed for
the transfer, but here, the involvement of ‘middle party’ is
evoked, this reduces the time as well as efforts needed. As
the transactions are done on a peer-to-peer basis, there is a
reduction in contractual costs. And, reduction in cost is
always been beneficiary to the company. With the absence
of middle-man, the transaction process boosts up leaving
out the unnecessary time required.
Delivering Various Platform for Various Processes
This the age of digital disruption, in order to overcome such
issues, an enterprise needs to rethink on their business
agendas. There are certain IOT companies which provide
solutions with the digital transformation. A trend has been
followed up with innovation comes growth, considering
such methods a new platform has been developed to reduce
the launch timing of new digital services which includes
predictive maintenance and helps to monitor assets.
Some companies provide cloud-based IOT SaaS platform
for medium-sized businesses, and large companies for the
distribution and managing their IoT assets and services.
Enterprises will also be able to engineer the products by
gaining proper insights with advanced digital technologies;
this will help to maintain position in the market. There are
some platform providers which help the enterprises to
develop smart IOT’s, so that the maintenance required by
the enterprises work more efficiently and will definitely
increase the product quality and will increase transparency
in operations. Along with, as-a-services are also offered to
the enterprises for the repairing and product performance
related issues. Whereas, there are some IOT firms which
provide assistance by monitoring, utilizing assets and
tracking of vehicles. Installing such IOT will not only help
industries to remotely monitor and will have a total control
over the management.
Industries to Utilize Automated Vehicles
Time to go RC’s (remote controlled)
Many big companies have made electric-cars more
available at a commercial level too. Whereas, automated
vehicles have raised the level of non-liquid fuel cars;
nowadays, computerized controlled cars are seen in the
trend. Many companies have adapted them in order to
reduce labor; these cars receive data directly from the cloud
through certain commands supporting employees to
remotely manage vehicles. AV consist of advanced GPS
systems with high quality of cameras which helps the
vehicle to see up to 100m of the area without any
disturbance caused by nature, in hand to that, the data
acquired by the sensors helps to generate 3D optimized
view of surrounding of vehicles. This reduces the cost as
well as the time required for the transportation.
Now, Easy to track assets
A systematic implementation should be taken for the
management of assets. Talking about the management, the
most faced problems by the companies are the assets miss-
placement and miss-location. For preventing such issues,
certain measures could be taken by an implementation of
IOT; IoT such as tracking devices, this will monitor the
location of assets and help the companies to have an
outlook of their products.
Customizing the consumption with IoT
Smart Metering—another way to make building
maintenance easy, this allows a program to manage the
consumption rate of water, natural gases, and energy
entities. Installing such SM IOT will boost the
comprehension of building requirements; it will maintain
the level of needed supplies resulting in the reduction of
over-pay for the resources. Well, it is the beneficiary
method to focus on.
Coordinating IOT with CC
Cognitive Computing (CC) is a way to bring human
thoughts in computerized figures; it has self-learning
abilities which helps it to solve problems on its own. It’s
been a while in the use of CC in industries, but, with the
involvement in IOT has uplifted the technological
standards. CC acquires the data from IoT devices and works
accordingly, this vastly generated data are unstructured,
multi-modal, and, while maintaining the use of such large
detailed information some of the sensor data is thrown
away. As the productivity is limited not utilized data are
considered are left out which is also known as ‘dark’.
Hence, for certain products certain data is acquired.
Securing the Place in Market
Due to digital disruption, it has become mandatory for the
enterprises having a strong-hold understanding on
upcoming new innovation. Implementing IoTs will not only
help in the growth, but also be a tough competitor by
increasing productivity rate. Hopefully, the saturation in the
IOT is far more likely to be inevitable.
| March 2018 23
Chalk Talk
26. ngena:
A Rising Alliance of
Connectivity
In this captivating age of technological advancement and digital disruption, the telecom industry has experienced a vast
shift. There’s no denying the fact that with digital transformation the world of connectivity has also seen newer
avenues and promises of greater connectivity.
ngena GmbH is an alliance of leading international telecom companies headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. An end-to-
end service provider of Software-Defined Wide Area Networks (SD-WAN), ngena (Next Generation Enterprise Network
Alliance) offers services to enterprise customers on a global scale with help of its alliance partners. Originally founded by
Deutsche Telekom, Century Link, Reliance Jio and SK Telecom in early 2016, the alliance has achieved a tremendous
growth with major inclusions like A1, Altice with SFR and Portugal Telecom, Expereo, KPN, MTN, Neutrona, Starhub,
Telus, PCCW Global and VEON along with technology partners Cisco, Comarch and Equinix.
The Visionary Leader:
Marcus Hacke, the founder and Managing Director of ngena is a Doctorate in Physics, who holds an in-depth knowledge of
the telecom industry. The initial idea behind the alliance was devised by Marcus, which was initially implemented with a
small team of Deutsche Telekom and Cisco and now is pushed forward by ngena and a strong ecosystem of partners. One
of the many challenges he had to face during the initial stage of setting up the company was the rising demand of more
agility and flexibility in global enterprise networks.
Marcus’s dynamic vision solved the entrepreneurial challenges the organization had to face in its initial days. His amazing
leadership skills became the stepping stone for the success of ngena. The brilliant leader made the journey of the company
swifter and easier than ever by taking some conceptual measures like;
Ÿ Formation of a strong global alliance of leading telecommunication providers by means of a sharing economy model,
Ÿ Connecting their regional networks to one Software-Defined Wide Area Network,
Ÿ Use of end-to-end automated service orchestration to provide hybrid VPNs for enterprises and
Ÿ Invention of a central cloud portal supporting all business and operational processes.
Marcus Hacke
Founder & Managing Director
24 March 2018 |
27. Outstanding Contribution of ngena
to the Digitized Business:
Enterprises of this digital era need new
and advanced network connectivity to
cope with the increasing data flow.
The traditional Wide Area Networks
(WANs) are built using private
networks, which are very time-
consuming, and quite costly. If we
think of the worst, these traditional
WANs are not enough adaptable and
flexible to go with the global digital
business standard. To console these
requirements of global business, ngena
has used a very powerful and adaptable
approach known as Software-Defined
Networking (SDN). SDN uses a series
of data networking protocols, tools,
interfaces and controls to enable more
advanced, programmable and flexible
networking. All the systems in ngena
are developed by an agile “DevOps”
approach. This approach aims at
shortening development cycles,
increasing deployment frequency, and
building more dependable releases.
When deployed over a WAN, an SDN
becomes SD-WAN. SD-WANs can be
quickly and easily configured,
automated and managed using a
service provider’s centralized, usually
cloud-based and adaptable software
platforms. SD-WANs enable rapid
network provisioning, and agile
adaptability of network capabilities at
much lower cost than with traditional
network management approaches. With
SD-WANs, global network updates and
security management can be
automatically delivered, remotely
customized and reconfigured via the
cloud. ngena has developed and
implemented all needed IT tools and
workflows to ensure end-to-end
automation of service provisioning as
well as service assurance. With the
alliance approach, ngena becomes able
to deliver services in a more consistent
manner globally and locally at the
same time.
Winning Over the Obstacles:
If you do something really new or
create something that has never been
imagined before, you must be ready for
the complexity and challenges in the
path of achieving it.
Marcus, the founder of the company
was aware of the challenges and
barriers in the starting phase of the new
and unconventional venture.
The SDN technology, being such a
new endeavor with its innovative and
potential features, the initiators focused
on the huge opportunities ahead, rather
than the challenges. The company
believes in overcoming any challenges
in the way to deliver its services in a
better way.
“You’ll always have to believe that it
can be done in a smarter and faster
way to achieve more success. This is
what drives you.” says Marcus.
Distinguishing Factors of ngena:
The Frankfurt based company helps
enterprises with the benefits of
consistent data connectivity services,
integrating all the alliance partners’
networks into a global Software-
Defined Network. Using the state-of-
the-art cloud and virtualization
technologies from the strategic
technology partner Cisco-Viptela,
ngena provides end-to-end managed
SD-WANs to around 200 countries
worldwide.
The combination of the innovative
SDN technology with the strength of
the alliance’s operating model and
ecosystem not only provides alliance
members’ enterprise customers access
to secure, stable, scalable and easy-to-
use global corporate networks, but also
high-quality, local customer services.
The Way Ahead:
The visionary leader of ngena wants to
build a bright future for the company
by inventing and developing more
relevant and reliable solutions for the
global telecom industry. He wants to
achieve the goal by constantly
improving the systems by adopting the
latest wonders of the digital world,
making the services more attractive
and adaptable than they already are,
and adding new services to the ngena
platform and thus helping business
customers to cope with their
connectivity and communication
challenges.
Paving
the way
for a truly
globalized
economy
‘‘
‘‘
Karl Wood
CTO
| March 2018 25
0
NNOVATIVE
TELECOM
THE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS 2018
MOST
28. Prior to founding Cataleya,
Andreas was the Founder and
Group CEO of Epsilon Global
Communications, which includes
Epsilon service provider and
Cataleya technology businesses.
He is now continuing to
supporting the industry’s
evolution through his start-up and
investment facilitator (Incipio) and
his position as Chairman and
CEO of Cataleya and Member of
the board of Cirrus Core
Networks. His passion for
supporting startup businesses and
people who dare, is further
manifested in his active role as a
member of YET, an initiative
launched in collaboration with
the United Nations Sustainable
Business Network ESBN.
Andreas Hipp
CEO
Cataleya
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
26 March 2018 |
29. When things change in our super-connected
digital world, nowadays they tend to do so at a
quickening pace. Trend cycles have shortened
from years to months and turned from analogue to almost
digital waves. This is no different in the communications
sector.
The consumer-centric behaviour evolution, towards the
hyper-personalization and real-time control of the
communication experience, is having a massive impact on
service providers of all kinds, forcing them to compete
with uncommon business models of rival players in all
verticals. This is resulting in a massive disruption of the
sector, creating challenges all around.
Whilst operators are challenged to figure out how to
reinvent themselves, they are rarely helped by the vendors
of technology and systems who should naturally play a
central role in enabling them to provide the disruptive and
innovative services they need to offer.
This needs to change. To do so, vendors must re-think the
services they offer. But more importantly, they should re-
invent their role in the telecom ecosystem, while meeting
their customers’ needs using innovative and tailored
business models.
Be the ecosystem or become part of one
Today, vendors also need to learn to be part of an
ecosystem that is a solution rather than only offering a
component or part of it. For customers, the “Lego” style
approach is good when one has the time and detailed
knowledge required to select and combine the right pieces
to create something that looks like a plane and also flies.
But, not every customer has that capability and luxury of
time. Even the large ones are slimming down their
internal resources and concentrate on their core strength
and business - which is infrastructure, service and brand.
Vendors therefore need to move away from offering simple
switching equipment and create solutions. They should add
for example BSS or OSS capabilities to their basic offering.
They should also focus on offering other value added
services, such as big data analytics utilizing AI and machine
learning to provide full insight into traffic patterns and
behaviours. The objective is to expand the purpose by
creating an ecosystem or solution with, not only the
operator customer, but also the end-customer in mind. The
idea here is for vendors to become an integral part of their
customers’ offering and experience and to be seen as a
partner and not necessarily a pure box shifter.
Mirroring customers’ reality
The unpredictable market we now live in, in terms of
customer behaviour or adoption, does not allow vendors to
continue enjoying the predictable revenue streams they
have been used to over the past decades from their service
provider customers, who themselves live in uncertainty.
The problem comes from the fact that vendors’ current
capex revenue model does not match the consumption-
based spending habit of consumers or enterprises, who
might even expect basic features to be provided free of
charge, ultimately maybe paying for them by sacrificing
their privacy.
Vendors must evolve into service or business enablers who,
besides providing technology or software, also mirror the
commercial model used by their clients and take part in the
business risk that comes with it. That new breed of vendor
will therefore, by definition, be deeply involved in their
clients’ commercial success.
The commercial model for service enablement is all about
being able to match the cost plan (what we offer) to our
customers’ revenue plan (what they sell), which needs to be
matched to the spending habit or profile of their own
customers (how much they want to pay).
Maestro’s Opinoin
| March 2018 27
30. Redifine your own reality
Last year we at Cataleya embarked on our revolutionary journey, driven by our vision and imagination of how technology
needs to serve us today and tomorrow.
In an industry where transformation and disruption are the new mantras, communication service providers if they have not
done so yet, will have to go through a metamorphosis to stay relevant. We at Cataleya are here as an enabler and partner of
their own journey of change.
Our mission is to empower customers to become the next industry disruptors by enabling them to innovate, monetize and
simplify their business better and faster.
Advanced analytics, cloud based service creation, flexible business models and hyper-personalized service and support are our
contributions to their own revolution.
To change paradigms we had to redefine flexibility first, so we could revolutionise our approach to shaping the four most
relevant areas of real-time communication solutions and platforms in this new and brave world of constant change.
The first revolution is the way we allow the tailoring of our product and service features to really fit service provider
requirements and needs.
The second revolution is the way we allow our customers to consume technology. Either using simple purchase or
subscription models – our customers only buy or subscribe for what they actually use in the network. This in addition to
offering different deployment options: hardware based, software or virtualised.
The third revolution is the way we allow clients to empower their customers to service themselves via online portals for
features such as SIP trunk ordering and deployment, call recording and many more solutions to be launched in the near future.
The fourth revolution is about reversing who fears whom. The service provider the fraudster or the fraudster the service
provider? We offer built-in or standalone real-time Machine Learning based fraud detection and prevention tools that let our
customers catch the fraudsters before it hurts.
No risk no glory
Another important change required in the vendor space is the need for the deepening integration of technology or software
vendors into the product design and delivery process of operators.
Going forward, vendors need to act almost as if they were part of the customers’ organizations. This means more than being a
technology partner, it requires vendors to become an integral part of their customers’ projects and therefore their success. This
means that vendors also need to increasingly share the risk with their customers.
The era of shifting boxes and batches (software) and getting paid up front is about to end, and it will end swiftly. This
challenges and puts into question the way vendors are structured and organised and the business concepts and models they
believe in or are used to.
I am involved in two businesses that truly reflect that new future “vendor”, not only by the commercial model applied, such as
pay per use for example, but also by their organisational structure, where each and every member of the company is a co-
owner.
Only true entrepreneurship across the entire organisation allows it to understand what its clients go through and what their real
pain points and needs are. Only when all people involved have skin in the game do they strive to achieve what is required and
what customers desire.
That will be the only future for the “Technology Vendor” or no future.
Maestro’s Opinoin
28 March 2018 |
31.
32. Shamrock
Consulting Group:
The Single Resource for
All Your Connectivity
Needs
While the outside world may see telecom as a rapidly changing and evolving industry, Shamrock Consulting
Group can’t help but notice how slowly many elements of the industry are moving.
The extremely high barriers to entry have hindered new providers’ ability to come in and compete with the big players.
On the contrary, though, new technologies being driven by Software Defined Networks (SDN), Network Function
Virtualization (NFV) and Cloud Computing have allowed new niche players to enter the market and deliver Products-as-
a-Service (XaaS model), which has delivered a huge value to driving new innovation within the industry as a whole.
Customers are able to get better products and services for less money than they have ever been able to before, and
Shamrock is uniquely positioned within the market to capitalize on it.
Key Points About Shamrock
Founded by Paul Cooney in 2008, Shamrock Consulting Group is a full-service telecommunication and IT master
agency based in El Segundo, CA and serving clients across the globe. Shamrock facilitates solution procurement for
thousands of products related to telecommunications, data communications, data center and cloud, and they offer best-in
class network design and support.
As a veteran of the telecom industry who achieved great success as a Sales Manager at AT&T, Paul knew he would need
a team of highly capable and driven individuals to help achieve the success he envisioned for Shamrock. So, Paul brought
in Ben Ferguson, who is now Shamrock’s Executive Vice President. Ben quickly became the driving force behind
Shamrock’s industry-leading business practices and their continued push towards innovation.
Shamrock’s expert team develops a deep understanding of network strategy, inventory, current pricing, contract
Ben Ferguson
Executive Vice President
30 March 2018 |
33. expirations and people to deliver
customized solutions for any business.
As a vendor-neutral consultancy,
Shamrock acts as a firewall between
their clients and the providers. They
manage the entire lifecycle of every
deal, from the initial research, analytics
and pricing for RFPs, to installation
and renewal, regardless of provider.
Best of all, through the company’s
direct partnerships with over 250 major
and niche service providers, they
guarantee the best price point on any
product from any provider.
Best-In-Class Telecom & IT Services
Shamrock Consulting Group
specializes in all industry-standard
products related to
telecommunications, data
communications, data center and
cloud. But above and beyond that,
Shamrock has long been at the
forefront of ingenuity for building
customized new products in Software
Defined Networks, Network Function
Virtualization, Cloud Orchestration and
Cloud Cost Management.
Building a Culture of Success
As a top-rated consulting group for
medium and large enterprise clients,
Shamrock solves many of the most
challenging technology problems
companies face on a daily basis. For
the most complex issues, Shamrock
tends to favor a divide-and-conquer
approach. They divvy up their team of
experts to where one member handles
overall management, another addresses
engineering and technical aspects, and
one or more of their analysts takes care
of all financial matters.
They’ve built a culture where everyone
has the ability to run with their tasks
while holding both themselves and
others accountable. It works well
because at the end of the day,
Shamrock employees are not
competing against one another, like
many other agencies – instead they all
works towards a common goal. Taking
this approach gives Shamrock the
ability to allocate resources effectively
and attack every aspect of a particular
issue simultaneously, ultimately
providing their clients with faster and
more accurate solutions compared to
any of their competitors.
Guaranteed Best Pricing for Any
Product
Shamrock Consulting Group focuses
primarily on mid-to-large enterprises.
Their core approach is simple --
superior service, best-in-class
technology, and guaranteed best
pricing for any product or service from
any provider.
Quality is a Shamrock Cornerstone
A consulting group isn’t like other
companies that can grow with capital
and head count. A consulting group is
only as good as the ideas and strategies
that its team is able to produce, and as
such Shamrock has placed their focus
on building a team of quality
professionals capable of adapting to
any situation or circumstance.
The Winning Formula of Putting
Customers First
Shamrock operates on a fiduciary
model. As a completely neutral agency,
they put the interests of their customers
first; everything else falls into place in
the process. That’s why they are
consistently winning deals and beating
their competitors, many of whom
simply try to peddle whatever products
or services have the largest
commissions attached to them.
Shamrock Welcomes Future
Innovation
Shamrock Consulting Group will
continue to grow methodically and
keep its core principals intact. While
other companies get scared by market
disruption and innovation, they
welcome it with open arms.
Our guarantee
is to o er the
best reliability
and service for
the best price
‘‘
‘‘
| March 2018 31
0
NNOVATIVE
TELECOM
THE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS 2018
MOST
34. The NewThe NewThe New
Mobility onMobility on
CloudCloud
Mobility on
Cloud
Way Of Business-Way Of Business-Way Of Business-
32 March 2018 |
In Brief
35. he radical change in the innovative technology, is changing the basics of the enterprises function. The
Tway of the businesses today is very much affected by the convergence of enterprise mobility with Cloud
Computing, Big Data Analytics and Social Media. The mantra for a successful business today is to
observe and adopt the way employees, partners and customers connect and energetically engage in fulfilling
business objectives and attaining the enterprise goals in record time. This is the reason, that the enterprises of
today have to follow the current trends in the real time.
There is one more paradigm shift the IT industry is observing, and that is the entrance of Enterprise Mobility in the
business. With the use of it now critical business data, complex analytics and reports are getting available to the
decision makers and executives in no time. The vast acceptance of the Mobile Phones and Tablets burgeon the
businesses.
With anytime-anywhere access to the business data for swift decision making and improved customer service, is
only getting possible with the use of Enterprise Mobile Device Management (MDM). In this way Mobility on Cloud
ishelpingSME’s togetbenefitedby thetechnologicaladvances.
Approximately, 70% of the North American workforce is now mobile, cloud-based environments require a
transparent mobile policy management strategy.As is observed, more and more data of the companies, nowadays is
residing on mobile devices and is distributed on off-site servers, protecting that data is becoming a mission-critical
priority. That is the reason that security concerned enterprises are more concentrating on the three critical mobility
factorsastheyevaluateanddeploycloudcomputing.Thethreeimportantfactorsare:
Easy accessto cloud-based data and applicationsfromanywhereatany time
The availability of the flexibility of the mobile workforce is only possible with the enablement of easy access to the
cloud-based data and applications from anywhere at any time. The workers today have to travel from one place to
another switching between various public, private, wired and wireless networks in order to get access to the
corporate applications. Mobile workers have to manually select and connect to the best available network in the
given location because of this.This creates a confusion in between the workers what network to select, what policies
to apply and etc. just because of the connectivity process is left on the end-users. This whole process is the reason of
lessproductivityon thepartof themobileworkers.
UnnecessaryAccess Costs
Wi-Fi and 3G like technologies are getting used to access cloud-based data and applications by the mobile workers
today, from anywhere, on the road, from a hotel or a home office. This is becoming a reason of extra cost, when you
are supposed to gain from the cloud computing environment. Most of the time this cost becomes unnecessary, like
paying for LAN or Wi-Fi fees when a mobile worker is in an area covered by his paid 3G subscription, using 3G
when roaminginternationallyorusing 3G when afreeorlow-costWi-Fior LAN optionisavailable.
SecurityConcern
Today, many enterprises are investing on endpoint security solutions and corporateVPNs, data compromise is still a
big threat for enterprises because of a variety of threats that stem from network bridging, visits to malicious Web
sites, download of malicious software, and use of open and unencrypted networks. The process of connecting to
wired and wireless networks is a manual, user-driven process makes the risk high. Despite these high risks,
enterprisescanmaintainitselfagainsttheserisks withtheMobilePolicyManagement(MPM):
The critical mobility factors of cost control, security and end-user connectivity for cloud-based enterprises, comes
under a term, ‘Mobile Policy Management (MPM)’. MPM adds to the overall return on investment of cloud-based
initiativesthroughreducedcosts andimprovedsecurity.
MPM helpsenterprisesto:
| March 2018 33
In Brief
36. Pre-define network prioritization policies
MPM helps IT to pre-define network prioritization policies and assign specific mobile policies to a given network for
cloud and non-cloud data and application access. By automating network selection and mobile access policies, MPM
boosts the mobile workforce productivity. Additionally, MPM helps IT to pre-define network selection rules and
assign mobile policies to each type of network. MPM solution automatically selects the best available network as
defined by IT, connects the user and applies the relevant mobile policies, while the mobile workers roam around. This
gives the worker a remote access and connectivity transparent to end-users, saving their valuable time when accessing
cloudandnon-clouddataandapplications.
Enables to cost-optimizingnetwork selection
MPM enables an option of ‘cost-optimizing network selection’ to reduce the cost of mobile data usage by cost-
optimizing network selection. Leaving network selection up to the end-user can drive data costs far over budget and
create significant cost liabilities, for the enterprises. For an instantance, a mobile worker with an unlimited 3G
subscription should avoid connecting to, paying for and expensing hotel Wi-Fi when in an area covered by a 3G local
provider. For the enterprises benefit, MPM platform avoids unbudgeted data costs by helping IT to define and enforce
anetworkwhitelist,preventingusers fromaddingunsanctionedlaptopcommunicationsoptionstotheirmobilePcs.
Avoids common Data-SecurityThreats
The data security threats occur only because of the rogue access points or networks that are in place to lure mobile
workers onto them in order for hackers to gain access to corporate data like public Wi-Fi access points in airports
labeled “free Wi-Fi” or rogue Wi-Fi placed in proximity to corporate offices. Though there are security solutions
working for the same, but of no use. When a mobile worker is working and visiting various places an MPM platform
enablesITtodynamicallyautomateandenforcenetwork-specificsecuritypolicies.
Enterprises who are deploying cloud computing are influencing Mobile Policy Management to gain organization-
widevisibilityandcontrolovertheirmobileworkforce.
34 March 2018 |
In Brief
37.
38. Sigfox:
Connecting the World
through IoT
Connectivity Services
Soon, billions of devices worldwide will be connected to the Internet; their data will be stored in the cloud and will
participate in the digitalization of our environment. Having a global, simple, low-cost and low-power solution to
connect those devices is fundamental. This is the challenge that Sigfox is addressing by deploying a low bandwidth
dedicated network, already present in 45 countries.
Inception Story of Sigfox
Created in 2010 by Ludovic Le Moan and Christophe Fourtet the company is a recognized global pioneer and leader in a
sector that is already disrupting business models and will revolutionize the whole society. The ambition of Sigfox,
embedded in the slogan “Make Things Come Alive,” is to give a voice to the physical world around us and to allow these
billions of devices to transform our economy, society and the environment. Sigfox has 400 employees and has headquarters
in Toulouse, Paris, Boston, Dubai and Singapore.
Why Sigfox?
Thanks to a Global Network: Sigfox delivers the network and the protocols required to allow an object to share its data
from anywhere in the world.
A simple and low energy consuming technology: The simplicity of Sigfox’ technology means that it is possible to provide
the best possible user experience and lowest maintenance costs while allowing a device to consume very little energy and
last on the field for years.
Collecting data at the lowest cost: A module on Sigfox network can cost from as little as a few dollars to cents– at this cost,
it is possible to economically connect virtually anything. Sigfox’ services allow to collect data which was in the past
uncollectable and thus bring value to companies
.
Meet the Trailblazers of Sigfox
Ludovic Le Moan co-founded SIGFOX, the first and only company to provide global solutions to power the Internet of
Things (IoT). In order to support SIGFOX’s global expansion, he has raised a total $280 million round of financing from
Ludovic Le Moan
CEO & Co-founder
36 March 2018 |
39. strategic and financial investors in
Europe, the U.S. and Asia. Le Moan
has been involved in the machine-to-
machine space since 2000, when he co-
founded Anyware Technologies, which
enabled the connection, management
and monitoring of remote equipment
through a Web interface. After selling
Anyware Technologies to Wavecom in
2008, Le Moan co-founded Goojet, a
B2C services company that offered a
simple, personal experience of the
mobile web and allowed users to share
and exchange messages and content.
He served as COO of the company,
now repositioned as scoop.it, from
February 2008 to March 2011. Le
Moan is a serial entrepreneur who also
founded the “IoT Valley” an
association offering mentoring,
networking and other support for
startups in the field of the Internet of
Things. Apart from these
responsibilities, Le Moan is also
involved on a day to day basis in the
monitoring of Sigfox’ operations. He is
also leading the innovation teams by
bringing its vision of the future of the
Internet of Things and evangelizing
about how the IoT will be a game
changer not only for the economy but
also by transforming society and the
way we monitor our environment.
Sigfox’ co-founder Christophe
Fourtet, is an avid philanthropist. He
set up a Foundation
(https://sigfoxfoundation.org/) which
acts on urgent causes with three
priorities: health, living, and the
protection of the planet. The
Foundation uses the Sigfox technology
and connected sensors to solve major
problems, that were too difficult to
address before the Internet of Things
revolution.
Leaving no Stones Unturned
Sigfox was the first company to open
the era of “massive IoT”, that is to say,
the ability, at a very low cost, to collect
data from millions of sensors. Sigfox
had to go through two major barriers at
initial stage:
Advocate Sigfox’ complementarity
with existing technologies: Sigfox is
not a telecom company and had to
demonstrate that its technology is not
competing directly with existing
services but offering a complimentary
solution to existing problems met by
clients.
To build a brand-new ecosystem: From
developers to devices and chips
makers, academics, Sigfox had to build
a full ecosystem to support the
development of the massive IoT
Market. As an example, in the past 5
years, for 1 dollar of funds raised by
Sigfox, 1 dollar was raised in parallel
by its ecosystem and there are now
more than 400 companies in
partnership with Sigfox.
Future Prospects
Sigfox has an intense R&D activity
and is continuously improving the
quality of its services and preparing
new offers. Sigfox is at this time
working on the launch of its new
service allowing to connect disposable
objects with a new service offer, which
allows chips - costing less than 50
cents - to send Sigfox messages.
Sigfox is looking forward to launch
this revolutionary to the market before
summer.
Our vision:
Make things
come alive
‘‘‘‘Karl Wood
CTO
| March 2018 37
0
NNOVATIVE
TELECOM
THE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS 2018
MOST
40.
41.
42. TinkerLink:
Bridging the Gap
between Employers
and Employees
TinkerLink is the first social marketplace where you can search, find and connect with trustworthy experts
recommended by people you already know. In today’s economy, there are millions of people looking for a job!
Most jobs are based on trust and confidence between employers and employees. There are millions of people
looking for domestic help jobs like cleaners, drivers, gardener, and cooks: 7 million in America and 25 million in Latin
America.
When hiring cleaners, drivers, gardeners, and cooks, employers look for a guarantee of trustworthiness in their potential
employees, and complementarily, employees want to know that their employer is trustworthy.
With these ideas in mind, TinkerLink was born. It is the first social Marketplace app where you can search, find, and
connect with trustworthy tinkers who are recommended by people you already know.
The aim of the app is to help users build a trustworthy network through which they can contact experts or potential clients
with complete safety.
Independent workers, freelancers, small business owners, and entrepreneurs are just a few of the people who need a
network like the one TinkerLink provides. Anyone who is looking for a trustworthy person to perform a service or anyone
who wants to turn their hobbies into a source of income will find these solutions on TinkerLink’s app.
Out-of-the-box Solutions
TinkerLink use provide users the ability to search find and connect through a mobile application where people with total
confident and security can share their interest, type of jobs and searches, TinkerLink use industry standard and agile
methods in order to develop cutting-edge technology to allow users to discover people in their own network, and the
system algorithm to suggest what potential users might know each other based on preferences, geolocation, interest, and
people they might already known.
Prime Mover of TinkerLink
Diana Daniels, CEO of TinkerLink, is one of the most involved, motivated, hard-working, and energetic people around.
Diana Daniels
CEO
40 March 2018 |
43. For many years Diana leads some of
the largest telecom organizations
providing telecommunication services
and financial products directly to the
multicultural markets in the United
States. And in the major markets in
Latin America. With a profile like that,
there is no doubt that she has the
capability to deal with and overcome
any problem that might come up at
work. Her solid experience, in dealing
with the day to day user problems, her
superb knowledge of the product, user,
and the industry, and her personality
help her to deal with everyday issues.
Her analytical view and her
perfectionist side help her to improve
the product and any problem it may
encounter. Her constant desire to
improve, foster success, and provide a
quality product that will help people
find a job are key in the resolution of
conflicts.
Diana believes that hard work and
constant improvement through learning
and experience are two of the most
important steps in making a better
product. Listening to the customers is
also vital in product improvement.
Participating in world-class events
such as the MWC18, or the
Websummit, is a good way to get
feedback about how the product is
doing, and team TinkerLink was
fortunate to be able to learn from their
experience in such events, but as well,
about receiving feedback directly from
their more than 50k active users in the
Mexican market.
Vision and Core Values of
TinkerLink
The most important goal for
TinkerLink is helping people find a
job; this is priceless. Apart from that,
TinkerLink is looking to increase its
downloads and engagement and
expand the number of tinkers and
clients. TinkerLink also wants to
expand their market presence to the
US/Hispanic markets, continue to grow
in Mexico, and explore their options in
the Asian market.
“We highly encourage people to find a
good paying job and want to help
entrepreneurs. We have broken the
mold surrounding the traditional ways
of finding jobs. We are bringing word
of mouth to the online world. We help
people to create their own business
opportunities. If you are a tinker, why
not work on your own, at your own
pace, and become your own boss?”
asserts Diana.
Journey to Success
When Diana and her team thought of
the concept of TinkerLink, one of the
biggest issues they had was to find the
right talent, so they start reaching out
to people they used to work in the past
and getting referrals until today they
have a fantastic team that helped them
get there. The second big issue was to
release the product to the market,
people didn’t know about TinkerLink,
so they had something of an uphill
battle when it came to expressing the
concept of trust as the essence of their
brand. It was also a challenge to start
adding tinkers to the app and clients to
use it to find a tinker to do a specific
service. But with hard work, competent
workers and data analysis, these were
solved. This is how team TinkerLink
managed to grow the app.
Future Roadmap of TinkerLink
TinkerLink’s goal is to keep growing
and increasing client satisfaction by
focusing on the trust in the service and
the quality of the product. In order to
achieve this, they surround themselves
with quality motivated and competent
workers who help them to stay on top
of the latest industry trends and keep
learning and improving every day.
We highly
encourage people
to find a good
paying job and
want to help
entrepreneurs
‘‘
‘‘Karl Wood
CTO
| March 2018 41
0
NNOVATIVE
TELECOM
THE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS 2018
MOST
44. e telecommunication sector and the software
defined network revolution
How
industry:
to innovate
an
ultinational enterprise today
Mare facing a huge range of
challenges as digitization,
globalization and new IT solutions call
for innovative network solutions.
According to Gartner, around 80% of
employees and customers are served in
branch offices. And a survey done by
research company Populus shows that
even 41% of small and medium
companies say, they do business in
countries outside their own.
Enterprises thus need to interconnect
sites and workforces around the globe
with greater flexibility and agility than
ever before.
In addition, new cloud-based
applications are driving demand for
greater connectivity and higher
bandwidths with premium network
performance and security. According to
a survey done by Gartner, the
worldwide public cloud service market
grew by 18% in 2017. And market
researchers from Cisco see an increase
of global business IP traffic by 21%
until 2021. Thus, enterprises need new
data connectivity services to cope with
the increasing network requirements.
A sharing economy approach to
provide a “one-stop-shop”
experience for enterprises
Many global companies we talk to
have a growing international presence
or customer base, and they need a
secure approach to connect their
worldwide operations. Most of the time
they are relying on several service
providers to deliver the needed
services. But this procurement set-up
often makes e.g. the addition of new
sites or changes to an existing network
connection complicated and slow.
Instead of having to negotiate, obtain,
and manage disparate connectivity
from various providers, it would be
much better, if one trusted partner
could manage and operate the
complete data connectivity services as
a “one-stop shop” for all global
network needs of a company. And this
is exactly, why we have initiated an
alliance of leading service providers
and founded ngena.
ngena stands for »Next Generation
Enterprise Network Alliance« and is an
alliance of global telecommunications
providers that are joining forces in a
shared economy model to offer a
solution that can overcome the
customer challenges described above.
Founded in early 2016, ngena has seen
more than 17 strong international
partners around the globe joining the
alliance. Founded by Deutsche
Telekom, CenturyLink, Reliance Jio
and SK Telekom, the alliance has now
grown to include several new telecom
partners such as A1, Altice with SFR
and Portugal Telecom, Expereo, KPN,
MTN, Starhub,Neutrona, Telus,
PCCW Global and VEON plus
technology partners Cisco, Comarch
and Equinix.
Software-define networks – much
more than a hype
From a technology perspective, the
alliance provides a central cloud
platform that merges the local
networks of all alliance partners,
forming a single global Software
Defined Wide Area Network (SD-
WAN). The architecture is based on
sharing the local network assets using
cloud and virtualization technology to
provide hybrid VPN services with
additional service options (e.g. network
optimization services, security services
etc.). Thus, all local partners can
deliver performant and secure data
connectivity services to their end
customers on a global scale.
Enterprises benefit from this approach
in many ways: on the one hand they
get a global network service which is
secure, stable, scalable and easy to use;
on the other hand, they profit from the
local access and local care of their
regional telecommunication provider.
One of ngena’s technology partners is
US technology giant Cisco. Cisco has
been working with the alliance from
the start to design and build the service
delivery platform behind ngena. The
platform is powered by technologies
that feature high-performance cloud
infrastructure, layered orchestration for
end-to-end seamless automation,
service assurance, virtual network
42 March 2018 |
45. functions, and customer premise equipment portfolio. Combined with
Cisco’s newly acquired Viptela SD-WAN technology, this platform
enables ngena to offer enterprises cost-effective and reliable
business network services. The ngena solution is designed to
meet customer requirements for single sourcing of service
providers for global enterprise network services, faster
service roll-out at any location in the world, and
predictable end-to-end service level agreements.
What is also special about this model is that the Cisco
technology integrates with a third-party Business and
Operations System (B/OSS) developed by software
company Comarch. With the help of this cloud
platform, all alliance partners can configure and
manage the global networks of their customers
centrally. Thus, they can change network
configurations, add new accesses or make fast changes
to existing networks with a tip of a mouse click.
The transformation has just begun
The potential power of the ngena approach is really
impressive. It’s a transformative initiative that
combines an innovative business model, strong
industrial partnerships, a cloud-first, software-based
technology platform, and a high degree of process
automation. Together those attributes enable ngena
and its alliance partners to uniquely address the
needs of multinational enterprises and leapfrog the
classic competition.
Dr. Marcus Hacke, Founder & Managing Director
ngena Gmb
Marcus developed the idea and concept for ngena and is the
Managing Director of ngena since its foundation in February
2016. He has worked for T-Systems since 2004, holding a
number of managerial positions in Delivery, Sales and Product
Management. In these roles, his responsibilities included
global provisioning and operations of telecommunications
solutions as well as the development of a global
telecommunications portfolio.
Before joining T-Systems, Marcus
spent seven years as a business
consultant with McKinsey &
Company, focusing on the
IT and
telecommunications
industries. He holds a
doctorate in physics.
About e Author
Expert’s Viewpoint
| March 2018 43
