SMT007 Magazine

SMT-May2018

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28 SMT007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2018 Las Marias: What can you say about the future of 5G? Do you see it emerging this year? Nichols: Verizon and AT&T have both announced they will launch 5G fixed-wireless services at the end of 2018. KT just announced they plan to launch services in March of 2019, and many more expect to launch in late 2019 and early 2020. These are all aggressive plans, but we have already seen some remarkable trials and demonstrations. It is exciting to be in the middle of this and working with the lead- ing companies in this business to make these things happen. Las Marias: What other issues do you see that will need ironing out when it comes to 5G? Standards? Nichols: Standards evolve over time and the continuing addition of capability and stan- dardized test processes is something we can expect to see. We are involved with the wire- less bodies like 3GPP and CTIA as well as with digital standards bodies related to digital inter- faces and capabilities. Some of the technolo- gies we are helping with are over-the-air test- ing capabilities, radio-resource-management, and how best to validate the digital interface standards. Las Marias: Is there anything we haven't talked about that you think we should be talking about when it comes to 5G? Nichols: 5G impacts every part of the network. This means new radios, faster connections inside of the radios and in the networks, new network protocols, and a host of new applica- tions. The applications will expand into areas of the industry that are in some ways hard to predict. This means plenty of opportunity for all of us. I have stated for years that I am excited about this because it impacts almost every- thing Keysight does and that means opportuni- ties across the board. With our recent integra- tion of the Ixia company, we are in a position now to provide solutions across the entire workflow—from research to deployment, and from the physical layer up to the application layer and everything in between. This means new electronics demands and new software demands in many disciplines. The other facet of 5G is paying close atten- tion to the policies that enable and sometimes constrain our industry. We need to keep in mind the regulatory and sustainability frame- work in which we operate to ensure not only a robust communications system, but also one that connects the world in a secure way. Las Marias: What do think should our readers know about 5G in terms of the big picture? Nichols: It will not happen overnight. Like other new generations, the hype is always more than the reality. But it will happen, and it is our opportunity and privilege to be part of making it real. So, we start with the leaders and trailblazers in the industry to make them successful and then facilitate a broader rollout. It means innovation and looking at technology from a new perspec - tive. We will have some of the same tradi- tional processes and measurement and we will augment that with new capability that will make this vision real. Las Marias: Do you have any final comments? Nichols: I will reiterate—and I can speak for my entire company and our strategic partners— how excited I am about being part of this. Of course, this is a great business opportunity for all of us but being part of the communi- cations revolution is being part of something bigger. We are looking forward to accelerat- ing this innovation to connect and secure the world. Las Marias: Thank you very much, Roger. Nichols: Thank you. SMT007

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