Agenda

At a glance Full Agenda

Day One

March 24, 2020

  • 8:55 am
    Chairman’s Opening Remarks
    Jeremy Cowan,
    Editorial Director & Publisher, IoT Now & VanillaPlus
  • Future Networks: Vision & Business Case
  • 9:00 am
    Opening CXO Keynote PANEL: Networks of the Future: What have we achieved to date and defining the roadmap ahead
    Mark Newman,
    Chief Analyst, TM Forum & ConnectivityX
    Christoph Aeschlimann,
    CTIO, Swisscom
    Scott Petty,
    CTO, Vodafone UK
    Ibrahim Gedeon,
    CTO, TELUS
    • What is the future network we are trying to achieve and what does it look like?
    • 5G as a disruptor and the role of slicing and virtualisation: what are the implications for the network of the future?
    • Are automation and autonomy the cornerstones for the network of the future and the future telco?
    • Who are tomorrow’s customers and what are the requirements for the network of the future?
    • Moving from exploration to deployment – what is the roadmap for automation and AI?
    • Deployment success stories – what has worked to date and where are the major challenges and roadblocks?

    Moderator:

     

  • 9:45 am
    The Autonomous Network: Is the promise being fulfilled?
    Christian Maitre,
    Director Global Operations Transformation, Orange Group
    • What does autonomy mean for networks?
    • Defining the early use cases
    • Business transformation: Delivering agile operations and new revenue opportunities
    • Driving business automation with a customer centric, ecosystem orientated, and collaboration enabled approach
    • Network automation & operations transformation:
      • Driving and supporting customer facing service operations
      • Delivering a simplified architecture and enablement of on-demand production
    • Taking advantage of AI, big data, cloudification to provide fully automated, self-healing and self- optimizing capabilities
    • Introducing intelligence into the network to build a highly autonomous smart network on demand
  • 10:15 am
    Network Automation & AI: The key drivers – operational efficiency vs revenue growth
    • What are the key drivers for automation?
    • Validating the investment case: levels of investment and ROI
    • Short term gains vs long term operational efficiency – is there a clear case?
    • Capex vs opex debate: CSP need to cut opex but does the new technology (cloud based/SaaS) come with high operating costs?
    • Customer experience: quantifying the benefits
    • The role of 5G: Where are the real revenue opportunities and is the cost of doing business too high serving new markets?
  • 10:45 am
    Morning Refreshments and Networking
  • Unleashing the potential of 5G
  • 11:15 am
    Panel Discussion: Intelligent operations for new 5G ecosystems: A game changer?
    Anil Rao,
    Principal Analyst, Analysys Mason
    Abdu Mudesir,
    SVP Technology Architecture and Innovation, Deutsche Telekom
    Haithem Mohammed Alfaraj,
    SVP Technology and Operations, , STC
    Juan Manuel Caro,
    Director of Operations & Customer Experience, Telefonica
    Sachin Katti,
    Advisor, VMware,
    Professor, Stanford University,
    Co-Chair, O-RAN Alliance
    • How do you build intelligent operations for a 5G world?
    • Can the network and IT deliver on the promise?
    • Defining the pathway and timetable for an end-to-end migration path from legacy systems to modular, cloud-native IT components
    • Automation and end-to-end scalability to unleash the full potential of 5G
    • Ensuring flexible and efficient core networks to meet the demands and complexity of 5G
    • Boosting service agility, speed/time to market and cutting operating costs: how to embed the right capabilities and technologies in the 5G proposition

    Moderator:

  • 12:00 pm
    The 5G challenge: What new opportunities are there for telcos by deploying intelligent Networks?
    Matt Beal,
    Director, Technology Strategy and Architecture, Vodafone Group
    • How do telcos monetise 5G and where do they sit in the value chain: is connectivity enough?
    • Is there more to 5G than just the autonomous vehicle and more connections?
    • Understanding the business case for change – what new use cases are there for intelligent network and services – moving beyond the consumer to the enterprise
    • What is the priority and which industries are going to benefit first?
    • Creating a platform business to open up and address new markets
  • 12:30 pm
    The role of assurance cloud: Transforming into a digital service provider and deploying 5G
    Domenico Convertino,
    VP of Product Management, Communications and Media Solutions (CMS), HPE
    • Realising the service innovation with scalable, agile networks that are 5G ready
    • Enabling services: are operators able to compete with OTTs in the cloud services market?
    • Driving agility, on-demand service delivery, operational cost efficiency and speed of innovation fit for the 5G era
    • Moving to more service-oriented network operations in a 5G world: proactive and predictive
  • 1:00 pm
    Networking Lunch and Exhibition Visit
  • 2:00 pm

  • Track A: Operational Efficiency

    Track B: Revenue Opportunities

    Track A: Operational Efficiency

    • 1:55 pm
      Chairman’s Welcome
      Berge Ayvazian,
      Senior Analyst and Consultant, Wireless 20/20
    • 2:00 pm
      Leveraging ML and AI to optimize network operation and maintenance (O&M)
      Rajmund Zieliński,
      Intelligent Assurance & Analytics Product Manager, Comarch
      • How can AI improve network management?
      • Understanding why traditional O&M methods for fault location and root cause tracing are no longer sufficient
      • Examining the main challenges in network O&M
      • Using AI-based machine learning and deep learning capabilities to analyse massive amounts of data and predict and prevent faults
      • Using the right mix of machine learning and predictive analytics to maximize operational efficiency
    • 2:30 pm
      Panel Discussion: Embedding automation and autonomy in telco operations to achieve real opex savings – what is the roadmap?
      Berge Ayvazian,
      Senior Analyst and Consultant, Wireless 20/20
      David Sanderson,
      Tools, OSS & C-SON Manager, o2, Telefonica UK
      David Williams,
      Head of Solution Sales EMEA, Telstra
      • How much cost can be driven out of the business and where?
      • Incremental process vs big bang adoption: what is the right approach?
      • Delivering instant value to the business by focusing on the quick wins
      • Deploying automation projects at scale – what to do with legacy network equipment and platforms
      • How do telcos keep opex costs down and is the cloud-based technology really more cost efficient

      Moderator:

    • 3:15 pm
      Achieving closed loop service assurance through automation
      • Understanding how closed loop service assurance optimises real-time service delivery
      • Developing a framework for automated/policy enabled service assurance
      • Implementing the closed loop at multiple levels in the network to dramatically address threats as well as performance and quality issues in the network
      • Deploying closed loop service assurance through APIs, data analytics and intelligent remediation
    • 3:45 pm
      Afternoon Refreshments and Networking
    • 4:15 pm
      Panel Discussion: Zero Touch Operations – creating sustainable reductions in operational costs: what are the keys to success?
      David Boswarthick,
      Director of New Technologies & Acting Director Standards Development Center (SDC), ETSI
      Klaus Martiny,
      Senior Program Manager, Deutsche Telekom AG
      Domenico Convertino,
      VP of Product Management, Communications and Media Solutions (CMS), HPE
      Mostafa Essa,
      RAN AI and Data Analytics Distinguished Engineer, Vodafone Egypt,
      A Lead Member of the review POC Rapporteurs ENI (Experimental Network Intelligence) ISG team, ETSI,
      Chair FGML5G WG1 – Network 2030 SG1, ITU
      • The perfect scenario vs compromise: defining the roadmap for zero touch operations
      • Extending automation to cover the entire lifecycle of network operations: planning, delivering, onboarding, monitoring, updating and decommissioning of services
      • What role does AI play in the move to zero touch operations?
      • The agile operating system: creating the right mindset and organisational structures
      • Automating the service layer across hybrid networks to enable a smooth, zero-touch transition to cloud, 5G and IoT networks
      • The digital twins concept and the use of avatars: the future for predictive maintenance and dealing with roadblocks?

      Moderator:

    • 5:00 pm
      Case Study: Towards Predictive Network Operations with AI
      Vincent Kilchoer,
      VP of Product Management for IT, Network & Infrastructure, Swisscom
      • Real-time monitoring of the network – fault prediction, detection and resolution, integration with the datalake
      • Integrating the different elements and protocols
      • The data challenge: Establishing reliable, dependable data and doing it at scale
      • Creating the missing part of the puzzle with standardization
      • Automated service provisioning & utilising insights on network usage and traffic for better customer experience and generating new revenues
      • Glimpse into the near future: What if scenarios and solving problems in the future to improve customer experience

    Track B: Revenue Opportunities

    • 1:55 pm
      Chairman’s Welcome
      Don Alusha,
      Senior Analyst, ABI Research
    • 2:30 pm
      Exploring AI-enhanced SD-WAN as a managed service opportunity
      • Why SD-WAN enhanced by AI is a lucrative new service opportunity in the age of IoT and AI
      • Using machine learning and AI to strengthen and extend existing SD-WAN functionality and features
      • What types of new applications will be possible by combining an evolved SD-WAN with AI network management?
      • Finding the right partner for your SD-WAN technology
      • Creating a SD-WAN as a service bundle that provides customers with integrated security, faster connectivity, optimized bandwidth and a superior user experience on critical applications
    • 2:30 pm
      Panel Discussion: Network Automation and AI driving growth: opportunity or hype?
      Don Alusha,
      Senior Analyst, ABI Research
      Kirsty Bright,
      Head of Technology Strategy, Vodafone Group
      Jukka-Pekka Salmenkaita,
      Director of AI and Machine Learning, Elisa International Digital Services
      Karl Liriano,
      Head of Innovation, Strategy and Architecture, o2
      Rui Frazao,
      CTO & EVP, EMEA European Operations, B-Yond

      Facing intense competition from over-the-top content providers, and with ever-higher service expectations from customers, operators must find ways to provide new revenue-generating services that customers will purchase.

      • What is the real opportunity and how can CSPs take advantage?
      • What services beyond connectivity can network automation truly provide?
      • New business models, markets, service innovations – where is the real opportunity?
      • IoT and 5G opportunities in vertical markets: can a telco transform itself into a business that can serve these markets?
      • Implications for the network and transforming into a Digital Service Provider (DSP)

      Moderator:

    • 3:15 pm
      5G and Network slices to revolutionise Enterprise networks: Can we really launch and scale 5G without automation?
      Åsa Nielsen,
      Head of Network Service Management and Automation, Telia
      • Automated slice management to provide differentiated services: what is the key to monetisation?
      • Use cases in gaming, health & factories
      • Defining clear protocols through APIs: what is the realistic timetable?
      • Leveraging the 5G potential and achieve both increased efficiencies and revenues, through differentiation and faster time-to-market
      • What is the timetable for network slicing in the radio access network? How crucial is this to the network slicing business case?
    • 3:45 pm
      Afternoon Refreshments and Networking
    • 4:15 pm
      Panel Discussion: Edge solutions – the next phase of real growth for telcos?
      Dalia Adib,
      Principal Consultant & Practice Lead, Edge Computing, STL Partners,
      ,
      Oliver Cantor,
      Associate Director, Verizon Global Products, Verizon
      Volkmar Hammer,
      Head of Network Operations, Vodafone
      Andy Rowland,
      Head of Customer Innovation Energy, Resources & Manufacturing, BT
      Anand Gonuguntla,
      Vice President, Portfolio Solutions and Sales Engineering, Blue Planet – a division of Ciena
      • Anchoring operations on a common federated platform for telco edge solutions.
      • Running best of breed service solutions and connect any device on a common (cloud) architecture
      • The role of alliances, partnerships and an ecosystem that extends the utility of IT-designed solutions to the telecom domain.

      Moderator:

    • 5:00 pm
      Case Study: AI and Analytics to transform customer experience and monetise network data
      Sri Safitri,
      Project Director of Customer Experience Transformation , Telkom Indonesia
      • Telco transformation journey towards best in class customer experience
      • Leveraging AI and Analytics in the Triple Play (phone, internet, TV) business
      • How intelligent network data is creating new value for operators
      • Sharing insights from detailed network data with third parties

Day Two

March 25, 2020

  • 8:55 am
    Chairman’s Opening Remarks
    Mark Newman,
    Chief Analyst, TM Forum & ConnectivityX
  • Future Networks: Technology and Strategy
  • 9:00 am
    CxO Keynote Panel: The foundation of future networks: How do we accelerate the move to automation and autonomy?
    Mark Newman,
    Chief Analyst, TM Forum & ConnectivityX
    Neil McRae,
    Managing Director & Chief Architect, BT
    Kim Larsen,
    CTIO, T-Mobile Netherlands
    Brendan O’Reilly,
    Chief Technology Officer, Telefónica UK
    Dr. Santanu Bhattacharya,
    Chief Data Scientist, Airtel
    • Moving beyond technical experimentation to deployment
    • Defining the paths to acceleration: Timing, timing, timing – unlocking the key
    • CSPs, vendors, industry organisations – where are the bottlenecks?
    • How realistic is it to speed up deployment?
    • Should CSPs still be investing in legacy equipment?
    • People, culture, data and process: addressing the key issues
  • 9:45 am
    The intersection of edge computing, 5G and AI: the real growth opportunity?
    Anand Gonuguntla,
    Vice President, Portfolio Solutions and Sales Engineering, Blue Planet – a division of Ciena
    • Tackling latency: Will 5G and edge computing be the cornerstone for many IoT and AI applications and devices?
    • Enabling a sustainable, secure, data rich future: understanding the links between these technologies and how they can be mutually supportive
    • Models for success and early use cases
    • Creating the right culture and environment to integrate these new technologies into the telco DNA
  • 10:15 am
    Deploying AI-driven SON to automate 5G and virtualised networks
    • Why a cognitive SON is essential for 5G and virtualised networks
    • Understanding how AI and deep learning will maximise the SON’s performance, efficiency and flexibility
    • Examining how to integrate AI and deep learning algorithms into your current SON
  • 10:45 am
    Morning Refreshments and Networking
  • Automation and AI: Getting beyond the hype
  • 11:15 am
    Panel Discussion: Automated AI-Enabled Networks: A competitive edge – Does the first mover win?
    Ajay Malik,
    Technologist and Business Futurist, former Head of Architecture/Engineering Worldwide Corporate Network, Google
    Matteo Gatta,
    Technology Strategy & Innovation Director, Proximus
    Kirsi Valtari,
    Vice President of Business Development, Elisa Corporation
    Luca Pesando,
    Standards Coordinator Technology Division, Telecom Italia,
    Vice Chair, ETSI ENI ISG
    Hwa-Jung Han,
    Director of SDN Technology Architecture & Planning, Verizon
    • Applying AI to network operations: lessons learnt from early adopters
    • Translating the increased speed to insight into new innovative services
    • Differentiate and innovate to gain a competitive advantage by adopting automated AI in your networks
    • Ensuring future scalability by integrating AI technology into the network design process and operations
    • Achieving sustainable efficiency and growth: the keys to success

    Moderator:

  • 12:00 pm
    Decoding Customer-centric Operations: How some carriers are breaking away from the pack?
    Rui Frazao,
    CTO & EVP, EMEA European Operations, B-Yond
    • Why Current metrics of CX measurement are inadequate and drive sub-optimal decision-making
    • What are the new metrics to measure CX?
    • How some carriers are transforming their operations to be customer-centric enabled?
    • Role of AI to measure, maximize and predict customer experience and results that can be achieved
  • 12:30 pm
    BT Case Study: Accelerating Automation and AI to simplify the network and drive agility
    Tom Curry,
    Principal Network Architect, BT
    • The maturity framework: evaluating levels of maturity and establishing the architectural
      vision
    • What does an end to end architecture for an automated network look like?
    • Automation: what is working well?
    • Workflow Automation
    • Network Performance Management
    • Customer Experience Management
    • Business transformation and accelerating the adoption of automation and AI
    • Results to date and next steps
  • 1:00 pm
    Networking Lunch and Exhibition Visit
  • 2:00 pm

  • Track A: Ecosystem and new models of collaboration

    Track B: Service Orchestration and Customer Experience

    Track A: Ecosystem and new models of collaboration

    Track B: Service Orchestration and Customer Experience

    • 1:55 pm
      Chairman’s Welcome
      James Crawshaw,
      Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading
    • 2:00 pm
      Panel Discussion: How will orchestration work across all layers: transport, core, access?
      James Crawshaw,
      Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading
      Andy Reid,
      Chief Network Services Architect, BT
      Diego Lopez,
      ETSI NFV ISG, Head of Technology Exploration and Standards, Telefonica
      Joan Triay Marques,
      Principal Network Architect, Standards and Development, NTT DoCoMo
      • The evolution to true multi-vendor networks: the key driver for a new ops environment with automation?
      • Operationalising 5G slicing: defining the orchestration needs of the vRAN
      • Orchestrating virtualised core services (vIMS, vEPC): lessons learnt from the early adopters
      • Enabling the co-existence of physical and virtual services and ensure efficient cross domain service lifecycle management: how to deliver true value and new capabilities

      Moderator:

    • 2:45 pm
      Service Orchestration and assurance – evolution or revolution?
      • Network Domain Orchestration: breaking down the silos between SDN, NFV and OSS to an end to end service orchestration
      • Deployment models: Is open source the right approach?
      • Realising the service innovation with scalable, agile networks that meet and today’s customer demands:
      • Moving to a more service-oriented model of network operations
    • 3:15 pm
      AT&T & Colt inter-operator commercial automation use case: Lifecycle Service Orchestration
      Mirko Voltolini,
      Global Head of Network on Demand, Colt Technology Services,
      Board Member, MEF
      • Enabling automated ordering of Ethernet connections and achieving faster provisioning times and an enhanced provisioning process
      • Automating and provisioning services between separate software-defined networking (SDN) architectures
      • Driving cost-efficiency, flexibility and error-free interactions
      • Analysing the lessons learnt and the ROI to date
    • 3:45 pm
      Afternoon Refreshments and Networking
    • 4:15 pm
      Panel Discussion: Intelligent Customer Care: Turbo charge customer experience with AI: What are the keys to success?
      Mark Newman,
      Chief Analyst, TM Forum & ConnectivityX
      Sri Safitri,
      Project Director of Customer Experience Transformation , Telkom Indonesia
      Johannes Bjelland,
      Senior Data Scientist, Telenor Group Research,
      ,
      • Surprise and delight your customers with innovation across billing, device management and retention with AI capabilities
      • Augmenting analytics with AI to improve personalisation
      • Utilising AI, machine learning and data analytics to prevent revenue leakage and ensure customer experience
      • Future trends: What are the customer experience requirements and demands of the future and how can autonomy and AI meet them?

      Moderator:

    • 5:00 pm
      Optimising network performance and customer experience in converged 4G/5G networks with service assurance
      • Monitoring and assurance of the “cloud native” EPC and standalone 5G core
      • The evolving role of automation and AI to optimise network performance in hybrid networks: a new approach to service assurance?
      • Flexible and dynamic integration and co-existence to enable customer quality of experience and service: defining the success factors for converged 4G/5G networks