Opening the discussion, Leo McHugh, VP, instrumentation, aerospace and defence with Analog Devices, suggested that customer expectations were changing.
“In the past, our customers would have the skills in-house to put systems together; we just supplied the components. That has long gone. Today, they are taking a sub-system approach and we are supplying full system modules.
“Crucially, time is the key differentiator, especially as the pace of change accelerates. Customers are no longer concerned about what’s inside the box – it just needs to work and do what is required.”
Arun Ghosh, AT&T’s director of advanced wireless technologies, agreed, describing time as a ‘luxury’. But, from his perspective, he said he was benefitting from this trend.
“When it comes to 5G, the pressure on timing is significant. We have just two and half years to ramp up to 5G, compared to six years with 4G/LTE. People don’t want components, they want integrated systems and those systems are crucial to delivering 5G to that timetable.”
Another area of debate centred on data and how it was being generated and used.
According to Stan Schneider, CEO of Real Time Innovations