Reflecting on MWC 2013 through Axell’s eyes
Another year, another MWC – and this one was certainly one of our busiest yet. The event itself welcomed over 72,000 visitors with more than 1,700 exhibitors taking part.
We took an exhibition stand at the show, as well as appearing on the main conference programme alongside Google, the BBC, LOCOG and Telefónica. Axell Wireless’ CEO, Ian Brown, took part in a panel discussion around the rise of the global digital event and the profound effect mobile technology has had on the way we now consume high profile events, like the Olympics for example, and the infrastructure required to support this. We’re well placed to talk about this so it was great to be involved.
Interestingly we have heard that the Organising Committee for the forthcoming Olympic Games to be held in Brazil in 2016 – BOC – have been taking advice from LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games) following the success of London 2012. Many of the vendors and suppliers involved have been in talks with the Brazilian organisation about best practise and what made the Games the resounding success that they were. All eyes are now on Brazil to replicate it…
Back to MWC, and several key themes clearly emerged from what we saw and heard at the event. ‘Near Field Communications’ or NFC was a huge buzz-phrase, and the applications of that technology. Close-range transactions are the way of the future and the proliferation of this topic at MWC suggests we will continue to see a massive uplift in the ways in which this technology is utilised. Even the event itself made use of it, with Mobile Europe reporting that they successfully used their phone to buy lunch at the NFC-enabled payment terminals.
Mobile Europe continued by commenting that the GSMA had a very clear agenda when it came to NFC. However, in the same breath they were forced to admit that the technology isn’t quite there yet.
“To enable an interoperable ecosystem across mobile network operators and industry services takes time to get right. However great progress has been made and we are starting to see live launches and trials implemented across the globe”, Paul Crutchley, Market Development Director at GSMA, told Mobile Europe.
And once again, as you roamed the halls, the phrases ‘small cells’ and ‘WiFi offload’ could constantly be heard. At Axell, we used this year’s MWC to launch our new integrated WiFi and DAS solution. Although it’s a cliché, we believe in the ‘toolbox approach’ when it comes to in-building coverage, with different technologies being applicable in different scenarios. But why should an end user have to go to so many separate vendors for each of their coverage systems? Integrating these technologies means simplifying the installation and ongoing operation. And that’s got to be a good thing, surely?
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Laura Clifton Marketing Communications Manager, Axell Wireless Laura is a technology marketing specialist and has worked in a range of different industries and with a variety of tech products for over 10 years. |
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