For this vignette of a recent episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast, part of the 5G Factor series, analysts Ron Westfall and Shelly Kramer explore Nokia’s digital twin technology and its potential to significantly boost European communications service providers (CSPs) a significant revenue boost.
Their discussion covered:
- Why digital twin technology is gaining broader market acceptance and is directly applicable to 5G network design and builds.
- The role of Nokia’s digital twin solution for augmenting 5G network development in areas such as beamforming optimization and the selection of optimum bean sets in 3D recreated environments.
- The market impact of Nokia’s assertion that for a European CSP, using a digital twin, Nokia’s solution provides for 44% higher revenue than traditional methods.
Ron and Shelly see Nokia’s digital twin technology has holding great promise for European CSPs as well as CSPs in other regions and can advance not only the technical demands of 5G network development, such as optimized beamforming, but also financial objectives (i.e., bean counting).
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Transcript:
Shelly Kramer: So moving on, we’re going to talk about making 5G networks more efficient. And some news out in, really, this last week or so has been with an eye on 6G, what’s going on with Nokia and digital twins. And, as the 5G rollout gathers pace, there are a host of challenges that need addressing, and this is definitely one of them, right?
Ron Westfall: Oh, yeah, right on. I think there was an interesting blog that Nokia produced toward the end of summer, which is ongoing right now. The main takeaway is, they’re emphasizing their digital twin technology.
Shelly Kramer: Yeah.
Ron Westfall: And we’re hearing an awful lot about digital twin capabilities and other verticals such as manufacturing. For example, we covered NVIDIA Omniverse-
Shelly Kramer: Right.
Ron Westfall: Push, which generated a lot of publicity and it’s fundamentally making a digital replica of an existing network or facility, et cetera. It just depends on the use case again. And what is really, I think important here is that Nokia’s digital twin technology can help operators optimize their beamforming capabilities.
Shelly Kramer: Right.
Ron Westfall: Also, finding out what the optimum BEAM is per sector. And obviously, that’s going to be essential to achieve the small cell densities and other efficiencies that are going to be required to really make 5G more scalable and also support all these high bandwidth, low-latency applications, both on the consumer and the business side. And I think the key takeaway here is that Nokia is claiming that by using their digital twin technology in relation to traditional methods-
Shelly Kramer: Hold on, now, hold on. Let me set the stage here. We talked about beamforming. Now we’re going to talk about bean counting. And Ron’s going to deliver the money line here.
Ron Westfall: Well, I can’t deny you that wonderful segue. Yes, yes.
Shelly Kramer: Here you go.
Ron Westfall: And I think obviously, both are important. They go hand-in-hand.
Shelly Kramer: Sometimes, I just have to shut you down because you just talk and it’s great. And you’re super smart, but there’s your lead-in. Beamforming, bean count. Tell us what the bean-counting tidbit of fascinating information out of Nokia is?
Ron Westfall: Well, yes. I better hit this out of the park, and, well, I think this is what leaped out at me is that Nokia is claiming by using their digital twin technology in relation to traditional methods that European CSPs can generate 44% more revenue. And I was like, “Wow, that’s a dramatic number.” And I’m like-
Shelly Kramer: Let me think about that. Let me think about, do I want to do this? Not sure.
Ron Westfall: Well, yeah. I mean, if I’m a European operator, I’ve got nothing to lose. I will try the digital twin technology-
Shelly Kramer: Absolutely.
Ron Westfall: … put Nokia to the test.
Shelly Kramer: Absolutely.
Ron Westfall: Let’s put the beans or the money where your mouth is.
Shelly Kramer: Yeah, absolutely.
Ron Westfall: And this actually, I think is a valid test, if you will, of, yeah. Let’s make it work in the real world. So yeah, that I think is definitely something we have to keep an eye on and it’s not unique to a Nokia. It’s also, I think, integral to any supplier out there. And in terms of enhancing their 5G proposition.
Shelly Kramer: Right.
Ron Westfall: They really do need a digital twin story at this juncture. There’s just no way around it. And the more integral it is to their portfolio, the further they’ll go be a key differentiator-
Shelly Kramer: That’s true.
Ron Westfall: … in other ways that go beyond, “Okay, we can optimize Beamforming.” Well, so does everybody else, what else can you do type thing?
Shelly Kramer: Right, right.
Ron Westfall: So this is, yeah, this is a big, I think development.
Shelly Kramer: It is. It is a big development indeed.
Author Information
Ron is an experienced, customer-focused research expert and analyst, with over 20 years of experience in the digital and IT transformation markets, working with businesses to drive consistent revenue and sales growth.
He is a recognized authority at tracking the evolution of and identifying the key disruptive trends within the service enablement ecosystem, including a wide range of topics across software and services, infrastructure, 5G communications, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), analytics, security, cloud computing, revenue management, and regulatory issues.
Prior to his work with The Futurum Group, Ron worked with GlobalData Technology creating syndicated and custom research across a wide variety of technical fields. His work with Current Analysis focused on the broadband and service provider infrastructure markets.
Ron holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy from University of Nevada — Las Vegas and a Bachelor of Arts in political science/government from William and Mary.
