Boingo's Mike Zeto: Building better networks from the inside out

LAS VEGAS – MWC23 – Boingo featured its new innovation center here this week, and Mike Zeto, the company's chief commercial officer, was on hand to give an overview of the company's facility and why it chose Las Vegas as a hub for testing new applications for neutral host 5G and Wi-Fi networks targeted at vertical industries.

Boingo, known for building networks for major venues worldwide, hopes its presence here can offer industries a way to test ideas and applications that rely on wireless connectivity so they can focus their investments on new technologies and see the value in the networks that support them.

The company is eager to use the space to "demonstrate not only the technologies, but the outcomes," Zeto said. He added that Boingo realizes that bringing together different types of connectivity for a business use case is still hard to do. Companies need help removing that complexity and visualizing how Wi-Fi, cellular and other technologies can all work together.

While the tendency for the telecom industry in the past may have been to sell solutions based on a single network technology, Zeto said most industries would benefit more from an "inside out" approach. "It's the use case that drives the outcome; the technology is just to enable it," he said.