Jet lag is one of the perils of the cross-continental pilgrimage to Barcelona for Mobile World Congress. But Affirmed returned in high spirits after a successful conference capped by high-profile appearances in the media. If you didn’t catch all the great coverage form the show, here are a some of the highlights from Mobile World Congress 2019…
It’s not just about the core anymore
One of the key messages from MWC19 was the shift of infrastructure from the core to the edge as 5G deployments continue. As Hassan Ahmed explained to Light Reading’s Phil Harvey in the article Affirmed CEO wants to own the core… & more, Affirmed is expanding its horizon beyond the mobile core. “We do service automation, we do service assurance, we close the loop on the way the network works,” Ahmed shared. “We’re really a networking company.”
Affirmed “wins” MWC19, sort of
Writing for FierceTelecom, Scott Raynovich declared the big winners and losers of MWC19, with Affirmed clearly in the winner’s camp as a leader among the “flashy startups with edge compute infrastructure or applications.” Raynovich sees potential for this space to “flourish as the investment in infrastructure shifts to the edge and the cloud domain,” citing Affirmed’s recent infusion of $38 million in new capital as a particularly encouraging sign.
Collaboration is the killer app
In an interview with TelecomTV, Affirmed’s Amit Tiwari explained the importance of collaboration in building the 5G future, relating it to the Internet’s early mantra of “the network is the killer app.” As Tiwari notes, the best practices for 5G will emerge from the collaborative work that companies like Affirmed, Intel and RedHat are engaged in today. Tiwari was also joined by members of Intel and RedHat for an in-depth interview conducted by TelecomTV that looked at their collaborative efforts to date, including Affirmed’s vEPC solution and the joint Center of Excellence established with RedHat.
5G will be the fabric of connectivity around the world
5G will be very different than 4G, driving a new generation of innovation, from smart cities to better security. In his interview with WebPro News, Hassan Ahmed lays out how 5G will drive down costs and boost security for service providers. In a world where “everything is hackable,” Ahmed sees 5G network capabilities such as network slicing (which Affirmed already provides today for 4G networks) as critical in isolating and protecting 5G communications from increasingly advanced attacks.
True to the spirit of collaboration, Affirmed also scored great exposure through our partnerships. Electronic Engineering Journal did a nice writeup on Affirmed’s groundbreaking performance with Intel’s N3000 server. And Network Media Group hosted a video panel discussion focusing on Telefonica’s edge computing deployment that featured members of Telefonica, Affirmed and Intel.
Coming off the “high” of MWC19, expectations are equally high for 5G. Stay tuned for more developments from Affirmed and our partners by watching us in the news and reading our latest press releases.