Steve Saunders, the founder of Light Reading, is preparing to launch a new publication with Questex that's focused on cloud technologies in the telecom industry.

According to people familiar with the plan, the publication will be called "Silverlinings." It's scheduled to launch in January with a handful of editors including Elizabeth Miller-Coyne, previously the managing editor of SDxCentral, and former Protocol senior reporter Donna Goodison.

A Questex official declined to comment. Questex owns a number of telecom-focused publications including FierceWireless and FierceTelecom.

Saunders founded Light Reading in 2000, sold it in 2005, and then bought it back in 2014. In 2016 he sold Light Reading (again) to London-based research and events company Informa, and then left the publication in 2018.

"It will be a game-changer for the comms industry," Saunders recently wrote on LinkedIn of his new work with Questex. "Stay tuned for some big announcements, and see you at MWC!"

Figure 1: Not these clouds. The other ones...
(Source: Phil Harvey/Alamy Stock Photo)

MWC is the world's biggest telecom trade show, held every February in Barcelona, Spain. It has also emerged as a launching pad for various cloud-related efforts, following Danielle Royston's promotion of TelcoDR during 2021's MWC.

It's noteworthy that Saunders is focusing on the cloud with his latest publication. In recent years, telecom network operators and equipment vendors have been working to shift their operations from hardware-based products to software-based products. That shift has opened up the possibility of running those software-powered network functions in cloud environments.

As a result, hyperscale cloud computing providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft and Google Cloud have recently targeted the telecom industry as a new growth area. In general, the hyperscalers are working to encourage telecom network operators to run some – or all – of their core networking functions in the cloud. Already carriers like AT&T and Dish Network have signaled a shift in that direction.

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— Mike Dano, Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies, Light Reading | @mikeddano