Marc Ganzi
Keeping in theme with the topic of 5G implementation at Wireless West in Los Angeles, the morning was kicked off with a focused and insightful look at that process from Digital Bridge co-founder and CEO Marc Ganzi.
Of particular emphasis in Ganzi’s presentation was the need for forward thinking in regard to the scale of the rollout required to meet the exponentially increasing need for data, not just in North America, but in rapidly expanding markets across the world.
“If you think of 5G as a baseball game, we are in the first inning. There is a lot of work to do, and it is time to buckle up and get busy.”
Ganzi also spoke to the ever-increasing importance of creating data-centers to support that growth, and how that creation must be implemented with eyes fixed firmly down the road.
“People are no longer conducting their lives in the same way they have for the last 20 years. For example, Weston, an upwardly-mobile and decently-sized suburb of Ft. Lauderdale will require 20 racks to accommodate the Amazon needs alone generated by the community,” Ganzi said.
That data requires tremendous power, and Ganzi spoke to the ever-increasing competition for the power coming off the grid in order to accommodate the data needs.
He also discussed the key elements of success in a bandwidth delivery business model: customer-centric offerings, ability to deliver all aspects of communication Infrastructure, creative 5G offerings to keep rent low for carriers via MiMo,C-RAN, & SDN, speed in entitlements, and accuracy in RF planning & network delivery.
Closing out Thursday’s general sessions was a panel entitled “The Race to Lead in #5G”, featuring Martha Ventura, VP of Engineering & Operations at T-Mobile; Manisha Patel, Director of RF Engineering and System Performance at Verizon; and Alicia Arroyo Lucas, Director of MobileNet Services. The panel was moderated by 3M Engineering Application Specialist Jeff Tostenrude.
Ventura said that T-Mobile was committed to spending the capital to make 5G a reality.
“We already have a very dense network, so we believe our infrastructure is an asset we can leverage…The 4G network is the foundation for 5G. Every dollar we spend and every step we take gets us a step closer to 5G. 5G is going to leverage the 4G network and 5G network simultaneously,” Ventura said.
Executive Director and E Factor President Kari Willis informed attendees that the conference will be heading to Arizona in 2019.