Comms Connect Melbourne: 20–22 November

The future of communications will be on show at Australia’s premier communications event.

Next-generation communications technologies and systems will be at the forefront of the presentations and discussions at Comms Connect Melbourne (20–22 November). As well as the traditional topics you would expect to see at the conference, a range of other subjects will be put under the microscope… such as public safety mobile broadband (PSMB), the Internet of Things (IoT), FirstNet, the UK’s ESN, below-ground comms and many more.

Of great interest will be an update on Australia’s forthcoming PSMB solution, presented by Luke Brown from the Department of Home Affairs. Brown gave a well-received address at Comms Connect Sydney in June, and perhaps by November there will be more he can say about the status of the project. There’ll also be an update from the NSW Telco Authority on that state’s critical communications roadmap.

There will be a large contingent of leaders and experts from other countries, who will share their knowledge and insights into developments in critical communications: Mike Poth (CEO, First Responder Network Authority), Lieutenant Dan Gomez (LAPD), TJ Kennedy (Public Safety Network and formerly, FirstNet), Duncan Swan (Mason Advisory), David Lund (PSCE and BroadMap), Tero Pesonen (TCCA CCBG), Chris Goldsmith (New Zealand Emergency Services), Dr Yong Chang (Samsung Electronics) and Tony Gray (TCCA).

They will join a strong line-up of local leaders and professionals, whose presentations will cover a wide variety of technologies, methodologies and philosophies.

There’ll also be Comms Connect’s first ever country pavilion, featuring a large contingent of delegates from Finland. Businesses and organisations represented will include Bittium, Cloudstreet, Nokia, Business Finland, Dedicated Network Partners, Savox, Wirepas, Erillisverkot (State Security Network), Codea, Mentura Group, Roger-GPS, Bandercom, Beaconsim and Insta DefSec. Finland has an enviable reputation for producing cutting-edge technologies and far-sighted communications solutions, so this will be a great opportunity to quiz all of those delegates on their latest and greatest ideas.

The preconference workshops will be held on 20 November. New to this year’s line-up will be the LTE Connect workshop, which will feature hands-on demonstrations and plugtests — so make sure you bring along your LTE device. There’ll also be a professional development training workshop on multicoupling.

This year’s panel sessions will range widely, from the IoT to specific public safety IoT, and from PSMB to 3GPP developments (the latter to include an update from September’s 3GPP meetings on the Gold Coast and in Melbourne — see the separate article in this issue).

Don’t forget that the annual ARCIA Gala Industry Dinner and Industry Awards will be held on the evening of Wednesday, 21 November. The dinner is always a fantastic opportunity to celebrate what makes the radiocommunications industry great, and to mix with partners, clients, employees and colleagues. Book your tickets through ARCIA’s website (arcia.org.au).

Check out the conference program and exhibitor list online (melbourne.comms-connect.com.au) and watch for last-minute updates on the Critical Comms and Comms Connect websites — on the latter you’ll also find full details of the registration process for the conference, workshops and exhibition (including a free trade expo pass option).

This year’s Comms Connect Melbourne promises to be the best one yet. Make sure you’re there to participate!

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