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In just a week’s time, Barcelona’s population will swell by more than 100,000 people from around the world, thanks to its annual Mobile World Congress 2019 – one of the most important events in the telecoms industry calendar.

Each year, the event is given a theme, this year’s being ‘Intelligent Connectivity’. The organizers say the term describes, “the powerful combination of flexible, high-speed 5G networks, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and big data.”

This isn’t the first year that 5G is a prominent topic of discussion at the show, but it is the first time there’s a real, tangible sense of the impact the technology will have on business and society.

 

 

Cisco will have a strong presence at the show once again, including speaker sessions throughout the week from Chuck Robbins, Sumeet Arora, Shari Slate, Jochen Heidl, and Kishen Mangat; a host of offsite activities; and an expansive booth at #3E30 in Hall 3 Hybrid Hall (the same spot as last year) featuring coaching sessions, and presentations.

And, of course, there will be a great number of innovative digital solution demonstrations on show too.

Of particular interest will no doubt be the 5G infrastructure demos – covering everything from Cisco’s 5G architecture, to security solutions and 5G-ready transport solutions.

Three huge interactive screens (and a resin cow’s head) will display Cisco 5G in action, showing how the technology is being applied to autonomous vehicles; smart and connected city communities; and some of the UK’s rural and most remote areas on the 5G RuralFirst project, which is led by the UK co-innovation team.

 

 

This will be the second time this year that we’ve showcased our work to a global audience in Barcelona. Last month, we hosted the Cisco Innovation Network booth at Cisco Live! Barcelona, and took the opportunity to extend celebrations around the opening of our brand new co-innovation center too.

The fully renovated smart, zero-emissions building  is focused on urban innovations (including smart cities, urban mobility, and environmental transformation), as well as healthcare, and financial services transformation.

Just as with our other co-innovation centers located around the world, our new home in Barcelona will bring customers, industry partners, start-ups, entrepreneurs, application developers, government organizations, researchers, and universities together to take on some of the world’s most pressing issues – pursuing social good and driving business growth.

It’s in these co-innovation centers that so much of our work – such as the 5G RuralFirst project – comes to life.

If you’re coming to MWC, I invite you to not only visit us at the Cisco booth (#3E30 in Hall 3 Hybrid Hall) to learn more about 5G, but also book a tour of our nearby state-of-the-art, Barcelona Co-Innovation Center, where we can begin the journey of co-creating transformational solutions for you, business and society.

For now, though, all that’s left to say is, ¡hasta luego!

See you in Spain.


Cisco will be at MWC 2019 for the duration of the show. You’ll find us at #3E30 in Hall 3 Hybrid Hall, and onstage delivering addresses and contributing to panels throughout the week.

MACRO is Cisco’s innovation podcast that takes a closer look at the technologies changing the world – and changing it for the better. Subscribe to the series anywhere you get your podcasts.

 

 



Authors

Nick Chrissos

Global CTO for Commercial and Small Segments

World Wide Sales