I have been waiting all week to participate in the presentation on the environment and its economic implications (I was always in the other presentation theater when it was being given). Today, the last day of the congress, was my chance and I have to say it was a very positive experience.

It wasn’t only that the presenter and material was well prepared and delivered, but also the engaged reaction and participation by the customer in the discussion! I think the reason for my positive experience here must be due to an apparently huge gap between my perception prior to entering the room against what I actually saw and heard.

Seeing the customers come up with ideas and comment on very concrete proposals was extremely refreshing, we all need to look into this in more detail and come up with even more ideas.

The next station on my little tour was the mobile advertising section. By analyzing the consumers behaviour advertising can be pointed much more precisely and avoid coverage waste. By considering demographics, behaviour and context, the communication approach can be more pointed more accurately at the target audience. This technology is especially aimed for the mobile use. The behaviour is known, e.g. if somebody ordered a game, he might be interested in other games, too. Same also applies in the internet - now on mobile platforms as well.

So now I know what is is in my life that I have missed before now - what a night! Great company, great food, great music (The legends, Nokia House band), amazing atmosphere … I won’t rant on this but let the pictures speak for themselves…

Today I participated one of the guided tours on the booth. Our first station was mobile TV. To transmit TV content to mobile devices three different ways are shown. The DVB-H offers streaming content using appropriate mobile handhelds. Nokia Siemens Networks operates a full DVB-H infrastructure at the Barcelona exhibition, this is used by Nokia and Samsung to show the TV-capability of their handsets. And finally - there is only one DVB-H standard, which makes technology interchangeable throughout the world. Nokia Siemens Networks acts as an system integrator here.

Next to DVB-H, I watched a presentation of IP-TV and Unicast mobile TV, the other two ways for delivery of digital TV content. The strengh of the demonstration is the interactivity. The combination of Unicast and IP-TV leads to some interesting effects. Since the users interface is fairly similar (handheld and set top box), the user can program his set top box from his mobile device. Also it is possible to book a pay-per-view movie from the handheld, start watching it and continue the movie at home. Finally a nice way to fill out unused time travelling to work on the train. The latter solution also offers a two way exchange of content. Usually being defined as a receiver, the set top box or the handheld can also upload movie clips to a media sharing platform.

Another encounter - this time with an interactive marketing agency called Fjord. They have introduced a truly innovative element to the event, recruiting a chef who assembles small “dessert” dishes in the stand itself. These dishes (see below) are developed to demonstrate the brand of Fjord through the 5 senses - including the colour, taste and smell of creme anglaise and raspberries plus strange sugar that makes small explosions as you eat it. (sorry, my description doesn’t do justice to the experience - maybe someone from Fjord can help me here)

Nice how you bump into old friends at events like this.

Yesterday I had an interesting discussion with an old colleague who now works as EVP in a company called MCN - specialising in a mobile search platform that can be sold to operators. This is another piece of the puzzle for a contect-sensitive mobile web experience, where operators can provide a service that will take a search query from a mobile device (which could itself include contextual information) and then forward this to multiple search engines to return a fast, rich and relevant and set of search results. This solution allows network operators to provide a service to their customers that works across multiple search platform as well as maximising the value of advertising by allowing placement of targetted adverts with the search results.

Graham

Telecommunications manufacturing companies are usually known for their hardware, technology and products. However in Nokia Siemens Networks, the consulting group would be the first point of call in order to look into business issues. As an example the consulting team helps the operator to decide if mobile advertising is beneficial for them in order to grow revenues. Also, gaps in performance are identified, for example “how long does it take to fix a fault?”, as a result of which  measurements would be taken to improve the training of the customer fault management people so that they reduced the time needed per case from 7 hours to 40 minutes. At the booth’s solutions bar operators can get a short review of their situation in their home market and a quick analysis of their potentional for cost reduction. The consulting group within Nokia Siemens Networks would be the first contact address for mobile operators.

The Operation Support System (OSS) is being presented on the upper floor at the booth. It consists of three parts, element management, network management and service management. More than 60% of the operators spending go on maintanance, system integration and internal development. Usually different systems of different vendors work together. The OSS consists of a set of application and software systems which are needed to manage the network and services. Future developments will combine all technology platforms of the operators, this will happen later this year.

We were lucky to have several participants from Nokia Siemens Networks to participate in the 13th Annual GSMA Global Mobile Awards, hosted by international comedian Graham Norton.

One such lucky person was Mika Skarp, Head of Village Connection Product Management. I was able to track him down today to steal some photos and I also took the opportunity to invite him as a guest blogger…

“Well, firstly I have to say that the Awards dinner was a different atmosphere from the mainsteam event. About 200 people, all dressed to kill in tuxedos and gowns - mixing with the CEOs and presidents of the industry’s major companies - quite an event.”

I have never been to the Oscar awards but I imagine the atmosphere is similar, nominations, welcoming adresses, prizes and tears…

“The compere, Graham Norton, introduced a sense of basic reality into the event and was supportd by a host of stars including the legendary actor Robert Redford; actor, writer and producer Isabella Rossellini; Bollywood actress Sherlyn Chopra and ‘Black Eyed Peas’ front man will.i.am.”

For me, the other highlight of the night was the opportunity to share a table with Vodacom Tanzania with whom we have just announced the first Village Connection implementation in Africa.”

Most of the CO2-emmissions are created during the lifetime of network equipment. Production and disposal are also important to note, but in total with less impact on the environment. In the beginning of mobile era, power consumption and environment protection was not really a key issue. Nowadays most companies and legal entities have come to the conclusion that environmental concerns are indeed important. The telecommunication industry is putting a lot of effort to that subject. Important to note is that this can be only achieved if environmental protection meets a positive business case. If that would not be the case, these initiatives would fail. A GSM base station site formally consumed a lot of energy. The latest Nokia Siemens Networks technology allows a reduction of power consumption by more that the half to 800W. New technologies like WCDMA and LTE will consume even less power - 430W. This allows the operation using renewable and alternative engergy forms like solar power and wind in regions with insufficient and unstable power supply .

The new Nokia Siemens Networks Flexi BTS Family consumes less power and leaves a smaller footprint. Since it is physically smaller, it can be integrated in existing structures and leads to more deployment opportunities. Its light weight of around 23 kilograms and its size (like a carry on luggage) creates 80% less logistic costs. It can also be recycled to a degree of 95%. Smaller devices also lead to less usage of natural ressources in production.