Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2020 canceled – here’s what to do instead

(written with Dan Bloom)

What is the Mobile World Congress?

For years, the Mobile World Congress (MWC) has been the world’s largest exhibition for the mobile industry. In 2019, the annual communications industry event attracted over 109,000 visitors from 198 countries and territories.  Among the visitors to the Barcelona event were over 7,900 CEOs and 3,640 industry analysts and international media representatives.

In addition to the vast assortment of exhibitors, the event typically incorporates a thought-leadership conference featuring prominent executives representing global mobile operators, device manufacturers, technology providers, vendors, and content owners.

Sponsorships Available

Sponsorships Available

Sponsorships Available

Why was the Mobile World Congress Canceled?

Sadly, the Mobile World Congress was canceled because of the threat posed by the Coronavirus. In an announcement on the 12^th of February, GSMA CEO John Hoffman said, “The GSMA has cancelled MWC Barcelona 2020 because the global concern regarding the coronavirus outbreak, travel concern and other circumstances, make it impossible for the GSMA to hold the event.”

In the meantime, many in the industry predict that the cancellation of MWC will have a devastating economic impact. According to Adam Lashinsky at Fortune, “It will hurt Barcelona, the companies that sunk capital into their exhibitions, and the association that puts on the show.” Estimates put the damage at half a billion dollars in lost business for the city of Barcelona. That’s beyond the outlay and loss of potential business that affects the hundreds of companies who had planned to exhibit at the event.

Furthermore, with the roll-out of 5G and the long list of planned product launches, the cancellation of the show may have a dramatic impact on CSPs and the telecom industry in general.

How do we “pick up the pieces” and move on? When we heard about the cancellation announcement from John Hoffman we were very disappointed, but then we started to scramble to come up with something great in place of the MWC.

Where do we go from here?

This year, under the theme of “Limitless Intelligent Connectivity, the #MWC20 event was supposed to focus on 7 core topics: AI, connectivity in the 5G era, customer engagement, Industry X, media & entertainment, our planet, and security & privacy.

Just because the event was cancelled doesn’t mean that we can’t continue on in the same spirit, working to maintain and build on a well-connected global network with professionals from every sector of the mobile industry.

With or without MWC, we are continuing to pursue our mission to help network operators to increase revenue and customer satisfaction with cybersecurity services and enhanced quality of experience (QoE). We’re already helping communication service providers (CSPs) and network operators to bring more value to their customers with innovative network intelligence and cybersecurity solutions that can:

• Generate new revenues with network-based Security as a Service that achieves adoption rates of about 50%
• Assure optimal network performance and utilization through granular analytics and traffic management
• Enhance QoE while reducing costs with actionable intelligence

During the year, we’re planning to find other opportunities to showcase some of our most compelling solutions for the mobile industry.

For starters, we’re salvaging the time and effort that went into the Barcelona preparations and redirecting our efforts toward a virtual experience.

Introducing the Allot MVC (Mobile Virtual Conference)

As part of our campaign, we at Allot have created a virtual demo tour, which (we hope) will provide a comparable experience to what network operators and other CSPs would have seen at the Allot stand at MWC.

Just as we would have done at the MWC in Barcelona, our MVC will showcase demos of our advanced network intelligence solutions for CSPs, as well as Security as a Service solutions that telecom operators can offer to their consumer and small business customers.

Allot Smart

We plan to start our virtual demo tour with our Allot Smart solutions, which use NFV-compliant inline DPI technology to generate actionable intelligence that enables operators to optimize, innovate, and capitalize on every service opportunity.

Traffic Visibility and QoE

This set of solutions delivers granular visibility into network, application, user, and security data. By creating actionable network intelligence, useful for traffic shaping  and policy & procedure functions, they ensure optimal QoE, cost-effective utilization of network resources, and enforcement of data consumption policies.

NFV-based DDoS Protection

This solution delivers highly effective detection and mitigation of both inbound and outbound DDoS attacks and helps CSPs to ensure service availability and prevent wasted DDoS traffic. We also plan to show how our Allot DDoS Secure solution can be implemented in an NFV environment.

Allot Secure

Allot will showcase its network-based cybersecurity solutions that CSPs deliver to their mass market customers.

NetworkSecure

The world’s #1 network-based Security as a Service solution for consumer and small business customers, NetworkSecure from Allot already protects 23 million subscribers, and this number is growing.

By protecting subscribers from all types of cyber threats including viruses, malware, adware, ransomware, phishing attacks, and cryptojacking, as well as offering parental controls, Allot NetworkSecure gives operators a significant source of supplemental revenue with penetration rates up to 50%.

Network operators using this platform are able to differentiate their brand from the competition, drive more customer engagement, reduce churn, and increase their ARPU by 5% and more.

HomeSecure

I’ll be presenting this solution, which provides CSP consumer customers with cyber protection for all connected devices in their home networks. As with NetworkSecure, HomeSecure protection comes through the network, with no need for end users to install security software on multiple devices.

See you there!

So much is happening in our industry and the trends related to 5G, artificial intelligence, automation, network function virtualization, software-defined networking, intelligent connectivity, IoT, cybersecurity, and monetization strategies are very exciting.

Telecom trade shows, especially important ones like the Mobile World Congress, are great places to tap into the pulse of all the innovation that’s driving our industry, as well as to meet new people and renew old relationships. However, even if events are cancelled, it’s important for all of us, as innovators, to find creative ways to present our latest tech and product offerings and stay in touch.

We hope that you’re able to join us and that our plans to overcome the cancellation of MWC will inspire you to find creative solutions of your own. Working together, there are virtually no obstacles that we can’t overcome. We look forward to seeing you at the Allot Mobile Virtual Conference and to staying in touch with you throughout the year.