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Mobile World Congress Videos

Light Reading's Show Site: Barcelona, Spain  |  February 27 - March 1

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MWC 2011 Photos: Ericsson Booth Tour

BARCELONA -- Mobile World Congress 2011 -- Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) is the global market leader in mobile network systems and the annual shindig in Barcelona is the world's biggest gathering for the mobile industry, so what would the Swedish giant be highlighting in its expansive Hall 6 setting?

Ericsson was one of seven vendors we visited this year with our photographer. We gave them all just 10 minutes to talk about, and show off, the three products they felt were the most important/cutting-edge/game-changing, etc.

With the tours at NEC Corp. (Tokyo: 6701) and Nokia Siemens Networks under our belts, we headed to Ericsson's Barcelona home to give its team 600 seconds of "show and tell" time. (See MWC 2011 Photos: NSN Booth Tour and MWC 2011 Photos: NEC Booth Tour.)

A year ago, Ericsson managed a B+ grade -- could it do better in 2011? (See MWC 2010 Photos: Ericsson Booth Tour and Booth Photo Tour Report Card.)

Check out the pictures below, with accompanying text, and find out how we (totally subjectively) graded Ericsson's overall effort by reading the final picture caption.

Click thumbnails for full-size image.

Figure 1: Making Networking Simple
As we approached Ericsson's Hall 6 home, we nearly got tangled up in the networking society...
Figure 2: The Digit Society
You have to hand it to the Swedish giant, they know the value of a good visual: Artists worked on a compelling mural at the entrance to Ericsson's lair.
Figure 3: The Host With a Ghost
As usual, Ericsson marketing supremo and trained speed-talker Peter Linder (right) was the guide, accompanied by Light Reading's pale-faced international editor. Worryingly, both are showing some familiarity with Masonic hand gestures.
Figure 4: I Want My M2M
At the time I actually wanted my M&Ms, but... The first key product Ericsson showed off was its newly announced Device Connection Platform, a hosted platform designed to provide service providers with a single place to manage their machine-to-machine (M2M) customer accounts. Ericsson is offering the platform under a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model and stressing the simplicity, low operational costs (essential for the management of lower-revenue connections) and customization capabilities (to suit various enterprise verticals) of the M2M brokerage. "It's bringing all the nitty-gritty together" in one place, noted Linder.
Figure 5: Heads Up for the HetNet
With the clock ticking, Ericsson's Linder decided it was time to look to the stars for the next product, which is part of Ericsson's HetNet strategy.
Figure 6: Hard Sell on the Small Cell
Up in the corner was the new antenna integrated radio (AIR), the first in a series of small cell products Ericsson is planning to launch. Light Reading reported on this development just before the Barcelona show, so you can check out the details here. Linder noted that this development is to "complement to the macro grid" and the first part of the vendor's HetNet strategy.
Figure 7: Smart Move at the Edge
The third product Ericsson showed off was the Smart Services Router, the latest development from the IP team that came aboard with the acquisition of Redback four years ago. Robert Haim applauded his technology team as he showed us the guts of the new box, which, he said, had all the functionality of a legacy routing platform in each blade. And in the coming years the blades will be populated with various applications to support fixed and mobile service providers, including (potentially) content delivery network (CDN) and caching capabilities from Ericsson's latest partner Akamai.
Figure 8: What Happens if I Stick My Finger in Here?
Ericsson's Robert Haim shows Light Reading how you can get a 100Gbit/s data flow through your hand and up your arm. ZZZZAAAPPPPP!
Figure 9: Where Does All the Data Get Stored?
With Ericsson's 10-minute tour over, we took a look around Hall 6 and discovered where all that subscriber data gets stashed away.
Figure 10: Our Favorite Museum
If you're going to have a museum, make it about something that everyone's interested in...
Figure 11: Coining It In
Ericsson was showing off the old ways of storing money (or still current way if you're a Light Reading Brit...)
Figure 12: The Only Safe Wallet in Barcelona
The modern-day piggy bank -- the mobile wallet. We presume this was one of the wallets that didn't get stolen during MWC.
Figure 13: NOC NOC -- Who's There?
With the tour over and our photographer happy with his lot, we considered Ericsson's overall performance while loitering outside its mini NOC (network operations center). The company had meticulously planned its tour and focused on three new developments relevant to mobile operators -- wide area data network upgrades, next-generation radio access technology and the management of new revenue-generating applications. The messages were clear and well delivered. This year Ericsson is awarded an A grade, our highest yet.

All photos by Siqui Sánchez/Getty Images. He can't be held responsible for the captions, though.

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading
The blogs and comments are the opinions only of the writers and do not reflect the views of Light Reading. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
Official Mobile World Congress Site: www.mobileworldcongress.com