Schedule - Connectivity Expo

State of the OnGo Market

Speaker:

Dave Wright President CBRS Alliance

The Economics Driving OnGo

Speaker:

Joe Madden Principal Analyst Mobile Experts

OnGo Use Case: The Commercial Network Deployment

OnGo Use Case: The Wireless ISP Network Deployment

OnGo Use Case: Managed Services

OnGo Enterprise Use Case: Real Estate, Education and Healthcare

OnGo Industrial IoT Use Case

Closing Remarks and Update on CBRS Alliance Membership

Speaker:

Chris Stark Chair CBRS Alliance

Launch Party

Sponsors:

Partner Programs

Massive MIMO and Innovative RAN Solutions for Greater Capacity for 5G Networks

Massive multiple-input, multiple-output, (MIMO) groups together antennas at the transmitter and receiver, providing better throughput and better spectrum efficiency. This method’s ability to multiply the capacity of the antenna links has made it an essential element of wireless standards including 802.11n 802.11ac and LTE. Deploying a system with hundreds or thousands of antennas and terminals isn’t easy. What are the deployment scenarios for MIMO? What other considerations from suppliers, RAN vendors, and infrastructure partners are required?

Speakers:

Mark Price Leader in Testing Spirent
Jim Nevelle President & CEO Kathrein
Dennis McColl Wireless Engineer Verizon Wireless

How Blockchain Impacts Future Tower & Infrastructure Decisions

Blockchain creates an undisputable record of real-time ownership and as such may be a good solution in asset management and ownership – especially as it relates to towers, vertical industry assets and more. Blockchain enables companies to register their own products as they introduce much-required transparency in supply chains. What is the impact, if any, of blockchain on wireless sites, towers and 5G infrastructure?

Speaker:

Christopher Anderson President Bridgetap

The OnGo Business Case for Critical Infrastructure: Energy, Utilities, Transportation

Utilities and other critical communications industries must meet regulatory requirements for security, reliability, and safety. At the same time, they have a growing demand for capacity and coverage from their wireless communications systems. Experts evaluate ways in which private LTE networks provide a practical solution for providing coverage and capacity, while enabling increased automation of infrastructure systems.

Speakers:

Vijay Venkateswaran CEO Viventum
Warren Westrup Director of Business Development Sierra Wireless

Indoor Capacity: Building a Smarter Building from Inside Out

With the advent of 5G, venue owners must consider the entire digital infrastructure holistically. What kind of connectivity that needs to be made available and who the different users of it will be? Next, it is important to consider how the information obtained through these different channels flows into back office data to produce valuable intelligence.

Speakers:

Rich Berliner Publisher Connected Commercial Real Estate
Allen Dixon Director Channel Management Zinwave
Lisa Lombino Vice President, Engineering and Deployment American Tower

Recommendations on the FCC’s Wireless Resiliency Framework

FCC Chairman Pai formed a working group within the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) late last year to comprehensively re-evaluate the agency’s policy to improve the resiliency of communications infrastructure and develop best practices to restore networks and communications in conditions when an outage occurs. This roundtable discusses the challenges in network resiliency from a policy perspective, and reviews next generation technology that can spur fast response in emergencies and natural disasters.

Small Cell Designs, Deployments and Products to Support 5G Architecture

Finding suitable location for small cells, with appropriate power and backhaul, is far from easy. This is just as problematic as using tower and macro site processes and systems to deploy small cells, especially in dense urban environments, on municipal street assets. This panel will examine that latest developments and assess the success that the wireless infrastructure industry can utilize to deliver value to carriers and property owners in a new era of dense 5G networks.

Speakers:

Michael Clementi Valmont
Mike Alt VP Network Design and Engineering ExteNet Systems
Mike Kavanagh Chief Commercial Officer Crown Castle
Matt Douglas Director of Innovation American Tower
Neil Boyer AT&T Towers

Investments, Partnerships and M&A in a Converged Edge/Tower Architecture

The tower industry is expecting carrier activity to increase significantly in 2019 and beyond. Among the near-term catalysts are shared infrastructure in edge computing, fixed wireless, small cells and 5G. What does this mean for the infrastructure owners outside of the nationwide tower aggregators? What other day-to-day issues are facing today’s tower, small cell and development services companies? On this panel, tower owners, small cell players, services companies and the brokerage community will address the key issues affecting the business.

Speakers:

Pat Tant CEO Vogue Towers
Bob Paige Senior Vice President of Mergers & Acquisitions Vertical Bridge
Clayton Funk Managing Director MVP Capital
Patrice McAree VP, Innovation American Tower

The OnGo Business Case for Industrial IoT and Sensor Networks

The tools we are working with today to put sensors on networks were not designed to handle the diversity of devices growing from miniaturization of electronics, the scope of new capabilities and the massive volume of data-points generated from device interactions. This panel will feature a discussion on private LTE networks, the scope and on the scale that sensors, machines and other related physical real-world operations systems require.

Speakers:

Kyung Mun Analyst Mobile Experts
Andrew Scott SVP QuayChain
Ken Hosac Vice President Cradlepoint
David Fox Director Business Development American Tower

Deep Fiber: Impact and Value in Smart & Connected Buildings

Fiber is fuel for both LTE and future “5G” systems, and service providers are doing their best to increase their fiber footprints. Deloitte expects to see $130 billion-$150 billion in “deep fiber” investment in the U.S. over 5-7 years, due to a combination of broadband competition, ensuring 5G readiness, and expanding fiber into new areas. This session gets into the details of fiber projections, the opportunities it poses to tower owners and infrastructure stakeholders.

Speaker:

Pat Tant CEO Vogue Towers

Understanding the FCC’s 5G Wireless Infrastructure Orders

Last year, the FCC addressed regulatory barriers that impeded the investment and deployment of 5G infrastructure across the nation. This roundtable addresses the FCC’s actions in 2018 and provides a summary and update to the implementation of the Order.

Speaker:

T. Scott Thompson Partner Davis Wright Tremaine

Welcome Remarks and Keynote Speeches

General Session Panel

Exhibit Hall Open

Fiber: The New Mission Critical Asset in Wireless Infrastructure

Before 5G becomes a reality, the network infrastructure has to be in place to support the billions of devices and the trillions of megabits of data that will flood the network, requiring the use of fiber optics to minimize the time-to-market of massive small cell deployments—a major milestone for the roadmap to 5G. Optical fiber is the preferred medium for existing wireless backhaul networks, even in networks where this is not the case, the wireless backhaul eventually needs to connect into a fiber backhaul. Fiber will also be preferred for “fronthaul,” connecting the dense mesh of 5G small cells. “How many fibers are needed to support each cell?” And the answer depends primarily on what technology protocols will be employed.

Speakers:

Lisa Youngres President Fiber Broadband Association
Jim Young Chief Operating Officer Crown Castle
Jeff Lewis President and CEO VERTICOM

The Integrated Asset Chain: A New Model of Towers, Fiber & Data Centers

There’s no doubt that 5G will affect all parts of the network – from end users, to both man and machine (things) to data centers, and everything in between. With 5G able to support up to 1,000 higher data volumes, it is likely that consumers will download content more often and at greater quantities. That means time-sensitive content will continue to get processed in the data center and the data center must be close enough to the radio tower to meet service-level agreements. The tower owner and aggregator community is well-positioned to evolve to a new integrated asset (and value) chain that combines towers, fiber and data centers. This session discusses what it takes to make this move and the investment and risk involved.

Speakers:

Pat Tant CEO Vogue Towers
Corey E. Johnson Managing Director and Head of Mobile, Internet & Cloud Cordiant Capital

Enterprise Connectivity: Extending your LAN over LTE

The recent emergence of more readily available private spectrum and more advanced Evolved Packet Core technology is allowing enterprises to think about connectivity in an entirely new way. By placing the Evolved Packet Core behind enterprise firewalls, the IT department is now able to manage connectivity, segmentation of devices, security protocol and other 5G type applications over any 'evolution' of cellular tech - over private LTE or Tier 1 operators globally. No more APNs and multi-carrier management.

Speakers:

Ryley MacKenzie CEO Expecto Wireless
Joe Lefort Senior Architect Suncor
Jake Rosenberg Global Account Manager Vodafone
Stanley Chia Distinguished Engineer Vodafone

Neutral Host: Infrastructure, Ownership and Service Models

When we talk today about neutral host systems, I’m building a neutral network that allows many different people to connect onto. That’s what we try to do. If we can share fronthaul, backhaul, cabling, switches, that’s a win. We need an infrastructure for everyone. Who owns the in-building wireless infrastructure in the enterprise, property, venue or campus? Learn more about the growing role for third-party integrators and neutral hosts to empower the wireless commercial property and enterprise.

Speakers:

Rich Berliner Publisher Connected Commercial Real Estate
Scott Willis CEO Zinwave
Jim Jacobellis Vice President Geoverse
Greg Najjar Vice President ADRF

Wireless Policy with a New Majority: The View from Washington

2019 saw a Congressional change in leadership and policy direction in key House of Representatives committee positions that oversee telecommunications and technology issues. How will the Democrats’ new majority affect policy-setting and oversight? What are likely to be the highest priorities in terms of telecommunications policy and who are the Congressional leaders at the forefront of legislative activity?

All About Millimeter Wave Wireless in 5G Networks: Applications, Deployments, Solutions

Millimeter wave frequencies are key to the multi-gigabit per second data speeds and low latency expected from commercial 5G networks. Verizon and AT&T are both ramping up networks utilizing 28GHz and 39GHz bands. What are the complexities of marrying mmWave fixed wireless with 5G mobile? How are technology suppliers managing design considerations to address line-of-sight issues that hinder performance, such as rain and heavy foliage? What are the use cases that the early deployments are focused on, and how does environment factor into network deployment?

Speakers:

Sean Kinney Editor RCR Wireless
Jim Nevelle President & CEO Kathrein
Kyle Krug Vice President KwikBit

Automation: New Tools to Reduce Costs, Increase Profits in the Micro and Macro Network

Managing the complexity of the site is challenging when cells are smaller, sites are located closer, devices require different topologies, and more networks come on line. Information from location management, location intelligence, interconnection, asset management, process management and workflow management all require more automation and new tools, This allows all stakeholders in the site to manage large portfolios of complex and dynamic projects and assets. Learn more about the impact these tools have on your business.

Speakers:

Don Bishop Editor AGL Media Group
Rob Tymchyshyn Co-Founder FieldClix
Brett Chester Vice President SiteTracker
Andy Trench CEO VertSpec

Simplified Provisioning & Integration for Enterprise Deployments

LTE is much more complex than Wi-Fi, a technology that the enterprise is more familiar with. The integration and provisioning can be very daunting for the enterprise. How can vendors and integrators make it easy for the enterprise to deploy CBRS, which is based on LTE?

Speakers:

Monica Paolini Senza Fili Consulting
Paul Reddick VP Corporate Strategy & Development Crown Castle
Bob Ewald SVP Business Development Arterra Mobility

Best Practices in Monitoring & Management of In-Building Infrastructure

Both IoT and Mobile Edge Computing – often referred to as in-building services – will contribute to the return on investment of in-building wireless infrastructure. Understand how IoT and low-latency applications and services are bringing new infrastructure opportunities to property owners and enterprises.

Speakers:

John Foley Vice President Safer Buildings Coalition
Fakri Sadeh VP Network Technology Strategy and Development, North America Sigfox

Connectivity and Sustainability: Closing the Digital Exclusion Gap

Today, an estimated 55 million people in the U.S. lack access to a broadband connection. Many, but not all, of them live in rural areas where it is estimated to cost billions to bring broadband access to them. In addition, many low-income communities still lack internet access. For many cities, a digital divide is also a barrier to urban revitalization and any prospect for realizing a ‘smarter city’ vision. This industry panel offers addresses what Federal authorities can do to ensure that broadband access is universal, affordable, and addresses the nation’s digital divide.

Networking Events

4th Annual Music Movement Charity Concert Featuring Joe Nichols and Billy Dawson

Location: BB Kings Blues Club, Orlando, FL
Doors open at 7:00pm
Purchase tickets with your Connect (X) registration!

Partner Programs

Member Breakfast

Ensuring Quality of Experience for 5G Applications

Providing good quality of experience (QoE) for applications that require very low latency – such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) – in real-world, commercial deployments. As adoption and use continue to grow for the use cases that are supported by 4G – e.g., video streaming, conversational video, voice or gaming – 4G networks will be unable to offer a reliable QoE in high-traffic locations.

Speaker:

Subbu Varadaraian CEO Zyada Networks

Sustainable Networks: Opportunities in Disaster Response

Following the aftermath of Hurricane Michael, the FCC and industry have begun to develop best practices for coordinating new solutions to provide connectivity and bandwidth to communities following a disaster. In this session, tower owners, site acquisition firms and solutions providers discuss new solutions to speed restoration following a disaster, and new business opportunities to serve ad hoc network needs: public safety, disaster response and more. Hear from innovators and new solutions providers whose products and services may contribute to the solution.

Speakers:

Jim Fryer Editor Inside Towers
Keith Kaczmarek Vice President Virtual Network Communications
Joe Ryan Vice President and General Counsel Altaeros
Mike Hoganson COO Aero Solutions

Total Cost of Ownership Models in Fixed CBRS Applications

The choice of which fixed wireless technology to use for fixed connectivity depends on availability and requirements of various technologies, as well as on cost. Within each band, equipment costs vary substantially among vendors. While there may not be an average TCO for a point-to-multipoint deployment, it is possible to review TCO models for CBRS in different use cases, including enterprise and network extension.

Speakers:

Monica Paolini Senza Fili Consulting
Chris Daniels President Telrad

Interconnected Edge Cloud: The Next Wave of Edge Computing Needed to Support 5G

In order to unleash the true power of 5G, data must be processed, stored and analyzed closer to the end user. To accomplish this, organizations need to bring this power to the edge of the network. They need to leverage edge computing solutions as the brain behind 5G. The Edge journey is being conducted through the adoption of innovative solutions such as micro datacenters, open, interoperable, IoT-enabled system architectures and platforms. This session defines this shift from centralized, cloud-based systems to decentralized edge cloud. Is this the next wave of shared infrastructure spending and investment?

Speaker:

Alex Marcham Principal Analyst Network Architecture 2020

Keynote Speeches

General Session Panel

Exhibit Hall Open

Accelerating Small Cell Deployments with New Technologies and Processes

5G technology promises a lot, including billions of dollars in infrastructure deployment and millions of new jobs. Along with its promises, 5G comes with the need to deploy hundreds of thousands of small cells and other facilities in communities across the nation. Find out how carriers, site development firms, software enablers and new entrants are deploying UAVs, video, software applications and more. Learn how they plan to meet the challenge of a dramatically different cost and fee scenario for 5G.

Speakers:

Jim Poss CEO Modifi
Douglas Metzger City of Orlando
Justin Reid Vice President of Sales Vitruvi

Distributed Energy and Energy Storage: New Opportunities in Telecom Infrastructure

Fueled by the rapid growth of mobile technologies, the need for higher levels of data and increased reliability, the telecom industry is investing heavily in distributed generation and battery storage. Carriers are increasingly looking to DG and new ES solutions to reduce the cost of electricity at tower sites and to maintain operations in areas with unreliable power. With an increasing emphasis on reliability, DG and ES technologies are logical solutions to communications infrastructure in order to reduce the cost of power; to ensure the continuous operation of telecom networks, regardless of location or external factors, and also to meet the demand needed to supply regular power in areas with extended outages or crisis situations. This session examines innovative products in DES and opportunities for infrastructure owners to provide new services in distribute energy services.

Speakers:

Ray Ansari Founder & CEO HCI Energy
Jim Lockwood CEO Aero Solutions

Technology Migration Strategy to LTE in Broadband Networks

With access to licensed spectrum and next generation LTE technology, broadband carriers and competitive service providers have new opportunities that did not exist before. These opportunities include increased mobility, access to neutral host networks for enterprises, improved security, quality of service, and more. This session focuses on the business model and ROI for competitive communications carriers to offer fast and reliable licensed services to replace or augment their DSL and fixed wireless access networks.

Speakers:

Kyung Mun Analyst Mobile Experts
Jon Pederson Chief Technology Officer Midcontinent Communications (Midco)
Dr. Olufemi (Femi) Chief Solutions Architect for Mobile Networks Fujitsu Network Communication

Racing to the Edge: How Edge Computing is Enabling 5G

To meet the latency performance goals of 5G, key network elements need to be re-architected and moved. This means that the request and response have less far to travel and hence latency is reduced. Several things need to occur for this happen: principally moving to an edge computing architecture. And who ‘owns’ the edge equipment? Of course, as with most things in the wireless world, the answers to these questions vary according to who is being asked and their role within the industry.

Speaker:

Iain Gillot President iGR

Optimizing 5G Network Deployments with Automation, AI and Analytics

With automation, AI, machine learning and analytics, service providers will be able to optimize their 5G and legacy networks. They will do all of this while keeping the increased complexity of wireless networks under control.

Speaker:

Ran Fangio Vice President Black & Veatch

Site Monitoring at Scale: New Opportunities in Portfolio Management

What if you could determine the current state of everything in your asset portfolio. What problems would you solve? With the right tools and system, could you offer a managed service that makes it easy to collect and organize data from industrial equipment at scale? You can easily monitor equipment across your industrial facilities to identify waste, such as breakdown of equipment and processes, production inefficiencies, and defects in products. Getting performance metrics from industrial equipment is tough because data is often locked into proprietary on-premises data stores and typically requires specialized expertise to retrieve it and put it in a format that is useful for searching and analysis. You can use site monitor operations across facilities, quickly compute common industrial performance metrics, and build applications prevent costly equipment issues, and reduce production inefficiencies.

Network and Subscriber Management for Private OnGo Deployments

This session examines HNI (Home Network Identifier) on CBRS and its benefits for the overall industry. The session will include an explanation of Home Network Identifiers (HNI), its purpose, the benefits of shared HNI compared to non-shared HNI, and best practices to set up network identifiers in a shared HNI environment.

Speaker:

Gary Richenaker Principal Solutions Architect Iconectiv

Virtualization at the Edge: Automation and 5G Service Enablement

Virtualization, through software defined network (SDN) infrastructure to support bandwidth-heavy applications such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence is a key component of edge networks and 5G services. This session examines virtualization at the edge and how this layer of abstraction for virtualized network functions impacts the need to physically allocate hardware to vendors or consumers depending on data demand/usage.

Supplier Diversity Summit Meetings

Examine 5G NR Standards and their Impact on Infrastructure

5G traffic loads are high, multiple use cases may have different requirements and priority levels; these need coexistence. What are the implications for infrastructure partners as carriers manage the growing volume and diversity of traffic that must meet a wide set of requirements: high capacity for enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMMB), support for the high density of devices in massive machine-type communications (mMTC), and the low latency and jitter essential for ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC).

5G OSP design/build Infrastructure Assessment: Where are the Gaps?

What’s your high-level appraisal of the competitive market for network infrastructure design/build firms as operators move from LTE to 5G and enterprises increase investment in wireless networking? The market for network infrastructure firms is complex, in that mass deployments of fiber and wireless is giving way to strategic siting. Companies need to adapt to using a scalpel, rather than using a mallet. The opportunities are abundant for those companies making the pivot to address challenges presented by densification projects and getting coverage closer to the user.

Speaker:

Peter Fellegy Vice President Deep South Communications, LLC

Beyond CBRS Rules: Understanding GAA and PAL Licensed Access to 3.5 GHz Mid-band Spectrum

This panel provides a comprehensive understanding of the FCC’s CBRS 3.5 GHz service rules governing the anticipated licensed and unlicensed use of this spectrum, outline key aspects of the sharing regime. Understand how the PAL scheme works, and what the limitations are to a GAA users.

Speakers:

Vijay Venkateswaran CEO Viventum
K.C. Halm Partner Davis Wright Tremaine

From Data Centers to Sites to Storage: Opportunities to Partner at the Edge

The edge is no longer a fixed location. 5G and multi-access edge computing are opening to storage and compute capabilities closer and closer to end-users, giving rise to a new interesting class of problems. How do carriers and their partners harness the power of multiple edges and minimize the overhead they introduce? Is this an opportunity for the wireless infrastructure ecosystem? Examine scenarios on development, deployments, reliability and the importance of latency and redundancy.

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