Digital twins give us the unprecedented opportunity to explore alternative worlds or scenarios where things are similar to the real ones, but differ from them in subtle ways, so we can see how things look like if only we make a few changes. It is a fascinating way to explore the possible but also to avoid failures, assess the impact and benefits of network changes or new technologies, and compare different decisions before implementing one.

How does this work in practice, in real networks? I talked to Chris Murphy, Regional CTO for EMEA, VIAVI Solutions, who has been working on AI and telecom networks for a long time, to tell us how we can get digital twins for us. We talked about their potential, but more importantly, about how to get them to work in real networks, how to extract the most value from them, and how to avoid the challenges that they create. No slide-deck shine, I promise.

If you want to go deeper on digital twins, check the conversation I had with Sameh Yamani, also at VIAVI Solutions.

https://senzafili.com/network-apis-and-digital-twins-as-the-next-frontier-in-digital-innovation/

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In the past, we used to test networks, not user experience. What really matters today, however, is user experience, and that requires a different approach to testing. Network tests may fail to uncover problems with user experience.

I spoke with Irina Cotanis, an Independent Technical Consultant I have known for a long time, while she was at Infovista, about how user experience testing is evolving to cover both human and non-human users, as well as a wider range of applications and services that must coexist on the network and have diverse requirements. All this has to be done in networks that are more complex and dynamic. How can we meet the higher bar ahead of us with tight resources? How does AI and automation help?

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Everybody seems to think that AI will create a massive increase in traffic. The prediction sounds eerily similar to what we heard about 5G, before it got deployed. Sean Kinney, Editor in Chief at RCR Wireless News, and I beg to differ. We agree through most of the discussion, which is great because our view is definitely not in line with the industry consensus. Listen to the podcast if you want to hear something different.

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We usually look at the present or the future of technologies. In this podcast with Mansoor Hanif, Independent Executive Advisor, we took a look at the past. What were the challenges for network automation six years ago? What did we expect? In one of the first Sparring Partners on automation included in this report, I talked to Mansoor while he was at BT about zero-touch automation, AI and much more. He then moved to Ofcom and Neom, continuing to follow the progress of automation.

Here, we revisit the initial interview in light of the progress made and the expected outcomes. We were surprised to see that most of the challenges are still with us and that the predictions turned out to be accurate. But read the interview, listen to the podcast, and judge for yourself.

You can read the interview here:

https://senzafili.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SenzaFili_Automation.pdf

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Training data determines how good AI models are. As with any type of learning, you need good teachers and content. In telecoms, there is more data than we need, but not all is good or relevant. One way to get AI models trained on the right data is to share data across sources—operators, vendors and others.

I talked to Paul Patras, Co-founder and CEO at Net AI, and Professor of Mobile Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh, about how to share data in telecoms and how that improves the performance of AI models, for instance in increasing energy efficiency, and how ARIA is supporting innovation efforts that will facilitate removing data sharing barriers in the UK.

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Our identity, who we are, is increasingly becoming defined by our online self. For many of us, our LinkedIn presence has become the main or a major channel for professional social media. What happens if that disappears overnight? Literally during the night. You no longer have access to it, and someone else with a different gender, name and nationality takes over.

This is what happened to Frazer McKimm, Director at New Way Networks, who told us his story and how he managed to get himself back. I don’t want to spoil the story for you, but this is more of a thriller than other episodes.

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It seems fitting to have a podcast on ageism after a popular one with Simona Marinova on attracting young talent in telecoms.

Ageism is not only hard on the people affected by it, but also limits the ability of the industry to benefit from the experience of the senior workforce. At the same time, letting older people run the show may also slow down innovation and make telecoms less appealing to the younger generations.

I talked to Nirlay Kundu, Head of Technology Standards at IMDEA Networks. I have known Nirlay for a long time since he was at Verizon. He has a precious long-term perspective on ageism and talent in telecoms, spanning the US and Europe, working at an operator, and now mentoring and doing research with the youngest generation. How do we strike a good balance between attracting new talent and benefiting from wisdom and experience? What’s the best way to work together and help each other?

It was after the Sparring Partners with Markus Kümmerle, Chair of Marketing at CAMARA and Magenta API Exposure Tribe Leader, Deutsche Telekom, that I decided to write my report on APIs, and so we came full circle in getting an update on APIs and getting Markus' feedback on the report.

We started talking about how Wi-Fi and cellular APIs need to coexist and then went further into fixed APIs and non-telco APIs—those provided by Google, Apple, vendors, and those distributed by hyperscalers in their marketplaces.

Have a look at the report (it is free) for more information and to see the transcript of our initial conversation here:

https://senzafili.com/taking-telco-apis-to-the-market/

More on CAMARA

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Most of the talk today is on network APIs, but the universe of APIs is much bigger, and it is not only proprietary, non-telco, and Wi-Fi APIs. The TM Forum APIs have been around for a long time and have been widely adopted by service providers.

I talked with Andy Tiller, EVP Products and Services at TMF, about what the TMF APIs do, what different role and functionality they have compared to network APIs (the CAMARA and GSMA Open Gateway), how they help operators, and what spurred their adoption. We discussed APIs within the Open Digital Architecture (ODA) and the trend toward automation and AI in telecoms.

For more on telco APIs, read the “Taking telco APIs to the market” report that I just published.

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Telecoms has become a mature industry after decades of explosive growth. How do we manage innovation, the introduction of new technologies, and the growth expectations in this new environment?

I talked with Joel Brand, at AVP Product Management at Marvell, about how we can adjust to the new environment and what changes we need to make. Telecoms has been and still is an astounding success, even though we often complain about not meeting our expectations. We spanned many topics, including dumb pipes, utilities, replacement rates, power efficiency and sustainability, network capacity and efficiency, 5G, learning from other sectors, the Lego model, AI (and hype) and AI-RAN.

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More on Marvell at https://www.marvell.com/

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