IFS, the global enterprise technology company, has positioned the telecommunications sector as one of its main sources of future growth with the appointment of former Ericsson manager Markus Persson to lead its effort in a sector whose trends favor the company’s software, and in which Spain is a market to grow.
In an interview with Europa Press during Mobile World Congress 2023 in Barcelona, Persson highlighted the potential that Spain shows for IFS. IFS is already well positioned in the utilities sector, having signed large contracts with other European telco operators such as the Belgian Proximus.
Persson explained that one part of the IFS offering for the telecommunications industry is a workflow and asset management platform—the kind of tool that can increase its usefulness with key telecom trends, such as process outsourcing and infrastructures or the promotion of Open RAN.
“These current trends speak directly to IFS’s unique strengths because we can give telco firms the ability to keep track of their assets and their workers in the field,” he added.
The same strength applies to the Open RAN technology trend, which will increase the number of providers in the network. IFS’ enterprise asset management (EAM) software will allow greater visibility and control over which providers are in each tower or antenna.
In addition, rising energy prices and companies’ quests for greater efficiency, sparked by the war in Ukraine, also favor IFS solutions. Persson explained that one of the strengths of the IFS Cloud platform is the ability for companies to measure and reduce their CO2 emissions and energy consumption, generating greater efficiencies and profitability.
INNOVATION AND CLOUD
Persson highlighted the capacity of IFS to bring innovation to the world of telecommunications and mobile operators, many of whom he said were considered “traditionalists” when it came to managing their business in the past.
Despite this, he recognized that operators have come a long way to become more digital. He has predicted that the real disruption will come with the generalization of 5G Standalone, which de facto will mean that the networks reach the cloud.
Persson has also positively highlighted the Open Gateway project, a GSMA-led global telecommunications initiative that seeks to transform the communications networks into future-ready platforms that are interoperable, intuitive and programmable.
This project has created a series of standardized APIs to give developers the ability to create applications that use functions of the operators’ networks, and work in all the network, without the need for individual adaptation as the case was before.
Again, Persson explains how the telecom industry trends are reflected in the unique value that IFS delivers. Its IFS Cloud platform is built with the same type of open API and low-code philosophy so that companies such as telco operators and Communication Service Providers (CSPs) can use to accelerate innovation.
IFS Cloud also offers telcos embedded next-gen capabilities, including digital twins—a technology that Persson believes is highly cost-saving when used for predictive purposes, but that many companies cannot take full advantage of.
“Digital twins allow you to predict: What happens if this breaks a year early? What happens if it lasts another year? What happens if I need to increase my network because the traffic skyrockets?” These questions all need predictive answers as illustrated by Persson.
Likewise, he has also predicted that the uses of metaverse and extended reality will continue to grow, bringing a greater “mix” between the virtual and physical world, which will also increase the need for capacity in telecommunications networks.
Here is another way that open API platforms like IFS Cloud with its integrated project management, asset management and field service capabilities, can help telecom operators streamline their aggressive network rollouts.
To discover more telecom industry trends for 2023, stay tuned for Persson’s key takeaways from MWC Barcelona.
Discover how IFS Cloud is built with the same type of open API structure so that telco operators can accelerate innovation and streamline network rollouts, visit https://www.ifs.com/ifs-cloud/platform.
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