Interview - Peter Clemons, Quixoticity

Ahead of Comms Connect 2014 taking place in Melbourne on 1-2 October, Peter Clemons, managing director of critical communications consultancy Quixoticity, spoke to us about managing change in the critical communications world.

Peter Clemons

CC: Peter, you’re on record as saying that you see big changes coming for the global critical communications industry. What exactly are you forecasting?

PC: I believe we’re on the verge of massive disruption to existing business models across societies and economies, which will undoubtedly affect our industry.

The switch to digital narrowband solutions took much longer than we might have expected a decade ago, but now we’re already seeing that customers in many verticals, such as transport, oil and gas, are already asking for faster, smarter applications that will be challenging, or perhaps even impossible, for current narrowband solutions such as TETRA, DMR, P25 and others to satisfy.

It’s no longer good enough for suppliers and integrators to ignore these requests and such applications will quickly become mission- and business-critical drivers of change within organisations.

CC: So that means broadband. If it took the industry a long time to switch to digital, how long will it take to introduce mission-critical broadband?

PC: There’s a well-known saying within technology sectors that the market tends to overestimate the impact of new technologies in the short term but underestimate their impact in the long term. Mission-critical or public safety mobile broadband is almost certain to continue this trend.

The general public are becoming more and more dependent on their smartphones and there is a general expectation among professional users that they should have access to similar technology at work. However, what is not widely understood is that professional users have different requirements to the general public: instant access, group calling, extended coverage, increased availability and security.

A number of governments, associations and businesses around the world are working hard to include these requirements in the latest releases of 3GPP LTE standards, but a global, common solution is probably at least five years away if we include mission-critical voice. This will not stop certain data-intensive vertical segments testing out existing public broadband solutions in the meantime.

CC: The public safety and other critical sectors say they need mobile broadband? But how much of that is hype and how much is reality?

PC: Wherever I go, I see massive change in working practices. We’re witnessing the most profound shift in global economic and social trends since the end of WWII. Old hierarchies are being challenged by a new generation with new ideas who are embracing new technologies and new business models to create value and deliver services.

Our industry is conservative by nature, and for good reasons as we cannot afford to make mistakes in mission-critical environments. However, if we do not find a way of incorporating mobile broadband into our technology mix, we could find ourselves left behind.

We need to find the right balance between existing highly resilient, efficient narrowband solutions and higher-speed, data-rich applications. The final goal must be unified communications optimised by user group.

CC: What is going to drive that change, and what obstacles exist?

PC: The combination of internet and mobile communications is creating a new kind of human being, a new relationship between the state and its citizens, a new global consciousness of our environment and the delicate relationship between energy - which is a limitation and must be conserved - and information, which is potentially infinite but needs to be managed and processed in real time.

Many of the older generation are waiting for the world to ‘return to normal’ after the crises we have suffered in recent years, but there will be no return to the previous world - we are moving into new times, unchartered waters, full of uncertainties and opportunities.

One big obstacle is the lack of prime spectrum, and this battle is being fought globally as we head towards next year’s World Radio Conference, about which I’ll have more to say in my presentation at Comms Connect Melbourne.

Another major obstacle is our lack of imagination and our reluctance to explore the new worlds which are being opened up.

CC: Is the critical communications sector in danger of disappearing, then?

PC: Certainly not. In fact, Quixoticity’s proposition is - and has been now for a number of years - that in a 4G/5G world, all communications become critical. The early 3GPP LTE releases were required to handle the explosion in mobile communications data traffic caused by Apple’s iPhone and iPad releases, the Android ecosystem and the incorporation of hundreds of millions of new subscribers around the world into the world of mobile internet.

To a certain extent, security was an afterthought in many public solutions and we are starting to see the consequences now as we move to the cloud. Our industry has a long tradition of providing robust, secure, resilient communications to the professional community. We have a lot to offer and teach the rest of the mobile communications community and we will be around for a long, long time to come.

But we will have to embrace change; in fact, if you have no long-term road map, then you are preparing to fail.

CC: Finally, you’ve been to many Comms Connect conferences over the years. What keeps bringing you back?

PC: I am really looking forward to meeting up with old friends again in Melbourne. This is my fifth time at Comms Connect and each time it keeps on growing and becoming more and more important for our community, as the Asia-Pacific is growing very quickly.

The organisers have brought together a strong panel of decision-makers and deep thinkers for our discussion on the future of critical communications. Quixoticity has set the industry ambitious goals for the next five years and beyond and is keen to work with as wide a range of players as possible to build on the incredible work being carried out daily to save lives, resources, time and money.

Peter Clemons will be presenting on Day 1 of Comms Connect Melbourne about the True Value of Critical Communications in the Information Age, and chairing a discussion on the Future of Critical Communications - Evolution or Revolution? with a distinguished panel of national and international thought leaders.