Category: Events

It’s that time of year again. iBwave team members from all four corners of the world have packed up and headed to Barcelona for the busiest week in the mobile industry’s calendar. Throughout the next few days we’ll be posting daily blog entries with photos, video, and links to everything MWC. Keep checking back for updates and if you still can’t get enough, make sure to follow us on Twitter as we live tweet our show highlights.

Our MWC 2015 team (who are nearly all pictured below) consists of Bob Froger, Director Sales EMEA; Nathalie Robitaille, VP Marketing; Peter Thalmeir, Director Sales Engineering EMEA; Alfonso Dominguez, Sales Engineer Europe; Juan Felipe Gonzalez, Senior VP Global Sales; Scott Pereira, Director Sales Engineering Americas and Benoit Fleury, VP Products & Innovation.

Day 1 has been a whirlwind of meetings and demos! Did you ever want to meet people from five different continents in one day? If so, the iBwave booth at MWC is the place to be.

Our Wi-Fi and Collection innovations have been the stars of our demo stations so far. We are abiding by showcasing the fully modeled multi-technology access points from all key vendors, the fast and accurate network visualization and RF propagation analysis, the integrated Wi-Fi signal collection and display as well as the seamless integration with best-in-class RF collection tool vendors, which so far includes Anite, Ascom, Accuver, Falcon Kit and Solutelia. For more info, read our press release. 

But MWC is best seen from the trade show floor. Here are a few interesting spots we found today, including a little part of the hall’s in-building wireless network that we spotted nestled into the ceiling.

We wrapped up the day with a cocktail at the Small Cell Forum booth. Many interesting conversations ensued and we even spotted several operators mingling at the reception.

But that was just day 1… If you’re at the show, come visit us at stand 7C71. We may or may not be hosting a cocktail tomorrow afternoon. Okay, we are hosting a cocktail tomorrow afternoon.

Or, come see our presentation with SpiderCloud at the Small Cell Forum booth:

Practical Medium-Large Enterprise Deployment & Case Studies 
by: SpiderCloud (with guest speaker from iBwave) 
Tuesday at 1:30pm at the Small Cell Forum booth, 7F61

And if you’re not at the show, make sure to come back right here to our blog tomorrow for more updates.

2014 was once again a year marked with success for iBwave. After 14 seminars, including 2 in Mexico City and Lima, our team finished strong with a visit to Chile’s capital – and fifth largest city in South America: Santiago!

The spectacular backdrop of the Andes mountains

Held at the luxurious Grand Hyatt Hotel which was bustling with activities – Christine Lagarde, Managing Director and Chairman of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was indeed seen deeply engaged in preparations for the high-level conference that was co-organized by the IMF and the Ministry of Finance of Chile to address the “Challenges for Securing Growth and Shared Prosperity in Latin America” while a highly enthusiastic delegation was also busy celebrating Ziua Națională, Romania’s National Day – our event brought together key wireless players and leading operators and provided a unique opportunity to discuss the latest in-building trends and market drivers.

Our Santiago seminar attracted over 70 participants from TE, Entel, Merit, Alcatel-Lucent, Mer Telecom, Raytech, Wisecom, Huawei, Nokia, Telefonicaand ltelecom

As expected, our panel discussion generated great participation and excitement, particularly as it gravitated around the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and the Copa América 2015 that will be held in Chile in the summer of 2015.

Indeed, with millions of fans and visitors expected from all around the world, it is clear that the Games will bring tremendous opportunities and challenges for the incumbent mobile operators who will need to increase the capacity of their 4G LTE networks in order to deliver adequate broadband internet access inside the competition venues. This is all the more imperative that there are currently an estimated 341 million mobile phone users in Latin America alone and that this number is expected to grow to 374 millions by 2017.

Gerson Espina (Merit), Gonzalo Vergara Boza (Entel), Jose Rodriguez (Itelecom), Juan Munoz Clavel (Alcatel-Lucent) and Patricio Jara (Raytech) sharing their perspectives and ideas during the rapid fire discussion

Entel’s presentation also proved to be extremely instructive and dynamic as Marcelo Scapini Montecinos, Regional Head of Radio Engineering took some time to explain the different types of solutions deployed (Passive vs. active DAS vs. Main Remote) as well as the important variables that need to be taken into consideration when designing an indoor wireless network (namely the type of venues, users profile and KPI, technologies, frequencies as well as business models).

Finally, as our team was keen on making the most of the Mediterranean climate, 30 degree temperatures and paradisiac setting, we rounded off the day with a relaxing outdoor cocktail party, where wine and conversation flowed freely and where participants enjoyed small group discussions on the indoor DAS projects and deployments in the region.

Congratulations to Gonzalo Vergara Boza and Maria Cares Arias who both won a free seat for our upcoming iBwave Certification Program (ICP) and …

¡TODO LO MEJOR PARA 2015 Y FELIZ AŇO NUEVO!

iBwave might be celebrating its 10-year anniversary but it has nevertheless experienced a series of exciting firsts this year.

Earlier in March, it took the wireless market by storm when it introduced (as part of the Mobile World Congress that took place in Barcelona, Spain) iBwave Mobile Planner, the very first in-building app that simplifies the design and planning process for indoor Small Cell and Wi-Fi networks.

A mere few months later, it earned international industry recognition, winning its first “Small Cell Tool Design and Technology Innovation” award jointly with Vodafone (as part of the Small Cells Word Summit that took place in London, U.K).

More recently, it continued the momentum that has been generated across Europe and launched its very first European User Group in Munich, Germany! All this in the space of 9 months! Pretty impressive track record of success, wouldn’t you agree?

ABOUT TIMING AND LOCATION

When it comes to iBwave’s first European User Group, one might wonder about the importance of the right timing (why now?) and location (why Munich?).

Well, with the deployment of LTE increasing rapidly throughout Europe, we felt that the time was ripe for us to take the next step and play an active role in paving the way for a stronger and more united European wireless community.

We also knew from our daily interactions with our customers that there was a strong appetite from the leading industry players to learn, exchange knowledge, ideas and best practices as well as a real need to have a forum where they could voice their views and, together, help shape the future of the industry.

Speakers from Cisco, Orange, KPN, TE connectivity, Axell Wireless and subnet comparing the different stages of development of the in-building industry in the USA and Europe, and raising the debate between Small Cells and DAS

As for the location, the Bavarian capital made it the perfect location to have our first European User Group (our very own “In-Building Novemberfest”!)

Recognized for its world’s largest beer festival, the city boasts exceptional infrastructure, a high proportion of modern industries and has established itself as Germany’s undisputed technology leader. Geographically speaking, it is also located in Central Europe, making it easily reachable from Brussels, Budapest, London, Milan, Paris, Prague, Vienna and Zurich.

Munich is Europe’s Top Tech Hub

Not surprisingly then, our event attracted a diversified audience, with participants coming from all over Europe.

“It was very beneficial to meet other market participants and it gave me insight into the current trends and strategies. It’s really great that iBwave is so passionate and takes initiative to bring us folks together” Ingo Flömer, Axell Wireless.

EUROPEAN-CENTRIC CONTENT AND REAL-LIFE CASES

In addition to their desire for increased networking and collaboration, our attendees appreciated the opportunity to better understand the relevance and impact of our productsand gain first-hand experience of how they are being utilized in the real world.

Lars Jessen from Eltel Networks did a great job at illustrating the pre- iBwave issues that they experienced when their RF technicians had to rely on paper floor plan transcripts and compasses.

“All data and valuable information is now collected with one tool, faster and with less mistakes”

Our participants also commented on the quality and pertinence of:

• Cees Spierenburg’s (KPN) presentation on the wireless network at the Amsterdam Arena, which gave a realistic insight into the design and deployment complexities associated with large stadiums (see Behind the network at Amsterdam Arena video here).
• the real-time demo that showcased our seamless integration with leading collection tools (including Ascom TEMS Pocket) and demonstrated how it streamlines the RF collection process, reduces manual steps and leverages measurements in your designs.

To finish things off on a high note, we concluded the day with a truly Bavarian experience at the Augustiner-Keller restaurant where we all got the chance to relax and know each other a bit better over delicious Bavarian delicacies and local brewed beers!

We would like to thank all our participants for making this first event such a big success! We greatly appreciated the opportunity to meet with you face-to-face and hope that you all came away with a wealth of valuable knowledge and ideas.

Vielen Dank and looking forward to many more events like this one in the years to come!

Special congratulations to our winners: Martin Weckerle from Kathrein, Lars Jessen from Eltel Networks, Volken Hinze from Vodafone, Jorg Schwarz from TE connectivity, Oliver Schlesiger from Vodafone, Ingo Flomer from Axell Wireless, Gregg Albrecht from Wireless Telecom Group, Thomas Brautigam from Ericsson, , Rafael Lou Mardones from LS telcom, Thomas Riedl from Kathrein, Martin Scheffel from Vodafone, Pierre-Alexandre Bourguignat from LD Consultants, Lina Deambrogio from Teko Telecom, Vincent Fasquelle from Wireless Telecom Group and Miroslav Plecas from vip.