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| Cisco Systems Asia Pacific and Japan Vice President Chris Heckscher |
Cisco Systems Vice President Chris Heckscher said the firm is not only cooperating with Korea's top mobile carrier to boost network platform efficiency to save costs, but is also discussing a partnership in providing an IoT communication technology called "LoRa."
"We are providing more than 100 virtualized system services, which is the biggest number in the industry. As a part of it, we are working with seven global telecom companies including SK Telecom for what we call the Ultra Service Platform (USP), saving their total cost of ownership by 44 percent," Heckscher said during a press conference in Seoul. "Though it is early to disclose details, we are also discussing with SK Telecom on how to help the telecom company with LoRa technology."
Cisco revealed the USP during the Mobile World Congress 2016 in Barcelona in February. This service taps into software-defined networking to boost efficiency of data transmission, resulting in the reduction of cost.
The LoRa technology enables long-range data communication with low power consumption and less cost for modules, and thus has been considered as one of the key technologies for cost-efficient IoT services. Cisco has provided system packages that support the LoRa technology under partnership with Actility.
Cisco said French telecom company Orange has already adopted its network gateway system that uses the LoRa technology.
SK Telecom has said it will establish a nationwide network, dedicated for future IoT services, besides its long-term evolution networks, at a cost of 100 billion won.
During the media event, Heckscher stressed the importance of Korea as a key marketplace alongside Japan, China, India and Australia, as it has collaborated with not only SK Telecom but also KT, Uplus and Internet service providers such as Naver.
He also pointed out that the explosive increase in data traffic due to video services and machine-to-machine connectivity will force telecom companies to rebuild their network architectures based on software-defined virtualization technologies.
"Telecom companies here will not be able to accommodate the massive data traffic to come in the future with their existing network structures that they established in the past," he said. "Efficient rebuilding of network architecture will decide their success in three to five year time. But doing it alone without a reliable partner like us may not be easy for many telecom operators because the task requires not only technologies but also more diverse skill sets such as changes in corporate culture and new business approaches."
