Symposium: Game-changing Next-Gen broadband technologies via fiber, Wi-Fi, 5G and satellite!

Brea organizes its yearly Symposium in collaboration with ie-net expert group Emerging Digital Technologies :

If one believes some of the advertisements about 5G, AI and the cloud, these technologies will revolutionize modern information technology.  Instantaneous high-volume communications will become ubiquitous despite obsolete notions like the finite propagation speed of electromagnetic waves. Therefore, we are very happy to welcome at this symposium three speakers who know enough about physics, modern telecommunications and business to give us a sound image of what we have and might have in a near future.

Speakers

Werner Coomans:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/werner-coomans-097b342/

BIO: Werner Coomans is Technology Strategy Advisor at Nokia, focusing on fixed networks, optics, and IP. Before that, he was a researcher and department head of the Fixed Networks research department at Nokia Bell Labs, which he joined in 2013 after obtaining a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering/photonics from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. His research at Bell Labs focused on solving system-design and signal-processing challenges in future copper and optical fixed networks technologies, including their standardization at organization like ITU-T and CableLabs. He was the recipient of the 2019 Edison Patent Award and is a Bell Labs DMTS.

ABSTRACT: In this talk, Werner will discuss the three dominant fixed networks technologies connecting households to the internet: DSL, cable, and fiber-to-the-home. He will shed some light on their evolution, some of the signal processing concepts and challenges underlying these technologies, and their future outlook.

Stephan Desmit

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephandesmit/

BIO:

Stephan Desmit is an independent consultant with 30+ years of experience, mainly active in the TMT sector (Technology, Media and Telecommunications).

After 17 years at RTT/Belgacom/Proximus, starting as a telecom engineer with the radio design of the first GSM network in Belgium and evolving to leadership functions within the Board of Directors, for the last 14 years he has been providing expert advice as well as general (interim) management services to his customers (amongst others Telenet, DPG Media, bpost, RBFA, Facilicom, VOO, Citymesh, NRB).

His focus of the last couple of years has been on strategic business development to get companies in Belgium enthused about 5G, and help them to strengthen their business thanks to the adoption of 5G technologies and related use cases.

ABSTRACT:

Firstly, Stephan will present an overview of the 5G B2B market worldwide, and then zoom in on the current state of 5G for B2B in Belgium.

Secondly, he will show that most of the current radio technologies (4G, 5G, WiFi6, LPWAN) will remain to be co-existing over the next 5-10 years, each having their place depending on the use case context.

And thirdly, he will explain that public and private radio networks will also not only co-exist, but be more and more deeply interconnected in order to further drive the adoption of broadband use cases by companies and their stakeholders.

Geert Nauwelaerts https://www.linkedin.com/in/geert-nauwelaerts-31a7481/

BIO:

Geert Nauwelaerts has been in the communications industry for 20 years. After postgraduate studies in communication technology, he and a colleague from the same education founded a company for the distribution of wireless communication devices called Blue Vision Telecom.  More than 15 years later, the company trades under the name 802 Networks and operates in the Benelux.  In his role as Business Development Manager, Geert is in daily contact with innovative manufacturers for whom the use of the latest technologies is of central importance.  Due to his knowledge of the radio technologies to be used and the available spectrum, he also advises several public and private institutions to make a correct comparison of the different connectivity options and translate this into a tender or price request. ABSTRACT: Geert's presentation will cover the different wireless technologies as they are used today in industry, government and police.  We will discuss the differences between fixed, wireless, nomadic and mobile applications.  We will time travel from the first professional wireless connections based on the WLAN standard 802.11b to the current Terragraph Gigabit connections.  We will go through the frequencies used and the corresponding licensing structure.  After the theoretical approach, we will look at some concrete cases and clarify why certain decisions were made.

Moderator:  Jacques Tiberghien

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jtiberghien/

Jacques Tiberghien taught various courses on telecommunications at the VUB, the ULB and occasionally some African universities, between 1980 and today. For some 10 years, he was one of the five people in charge of supervising the design, the implementation, and the deployment of the Astrid network for public safety and security. As emeritus he still contributes to some courses and guides PhD students through the mazes of the "Internet Of Things".

Accessibility:

For those coming by car: enter campus through entrance 8 and park under buildings K or X1/X2