19th InfoCom World Conference
Fiber to the people: The Gigabit Era!
October 25, 2017 | Divani Caravel Hotel
Athens, October 26, 2017. With the participation of more than 3,500 conference participants , the 19th InfoCom World Conference ( www.infocomworld.gr ), which took place on Wednesday, October 25, 2017, in a central hotel in Athens, with the main title " Fiber to the People : The Gigabit Era !", concluded its proceedings.
The event was honored with the presence of the entire Telecommunications , Information Technology & Media market , while the Minister of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Information, Nikos Pappas , was also present .
The proceedings of the event were opened, addressing the conference podium, by the CEO of Hellas Sat, Christodoulos Protopapas, the General Manager of EEKT, George Stefanopoulos , and the General Manager of SEKEE, Yiannis Giannarakis.
The focus of the first section of the conference (Fiber has the power!), was the fact that after several years of plans on paper, postponements, promises and regressions, a real plan for the implementation of high-speed networks is now taking shape.
On the road to the "Gigabit Society", the Internet of Things and 5G, there is a need for New Generation networks, with high capacity, speed and reliability. The main components are VDSL, optical fibers, wireless networks and satellite coverage, with the main axes being the NGA Plan, Superfast Broadband and Rural Extension.
However, while the global telecommunications community has for many years adopted optical fibers as a means of disseminating information, Greece has finally entered this phase after several setbacks and optical fibers will soon reach the consumer's doorstep.
The second section (Digital Transformation: Need for disruption!) was dedicated to Digital Transformation. Everyday digital services are proving to be the “key” to digital awareness and the emergence of a new category of businesses, which are more flexible than their competitors and are therefore in a better position to create new innovative services, thus ensuring a comparative advantage not only in Greece but also on the international stage.
The Digital Transformation of organizations and businesses is now a necessity that no one can doubt, as we are close to entering the 4thIndustrial Revolution! The speakers and participants in the panel of the 2ndsection each presented their own solution to achieve this goal, which presents the additional difficulty of being… moving: the effort practically never stops, as the transformation evolves over time, and above all, it must, necessarily, be combined with the adoption of a new culture by executives and employees.
The participants in the third panel, entitled The New TV: Platforms and Content Evolution! The new landscape in the complex environment of television and the new behaviors and attitudes of viewers were outlined with research conclusions by Xenia Kourtoglou, Managing Partner of Focus Bari. Immediately afterwards, the panelists developed a fruitful dialogue, fully covering the topic of the present and the future of content to conclude that the viewer will only emerge as a winner from the new enriched experience that he can now enjoy from wherever he wants and whenever he wants. DigeaNikos Mastorakis referred to the prospects opened up for television content by the new DVB-T2 broadcasting technologies, while emphasizing the urgency for the country to define a "roadmap" for transitioning to the technology similar to that of other European countries.
The representatives of the telecommunications providers, Andreas Georgiadis, Pay TV Manager of Vodafone Hellas, and Vassilis Delikouras, Head of Pay TV of WIND Hellas, focused on the synergies of the platforms with the telecommunications providers for the transmission of premium content. Apostolos Triantafyllou, VP Sales CE Europe, Caucasus & Central Asia of Eutelsat, referred to the contribution of satellites in the transmission of pay TV content. Antonis Kyprianou, TV & Content Manager of Cablenet Communication Systems Ltd, summarized his company's comparative advantage for the Cyprus market. Finally, the head of Hella Sat, Christodoulos Protopapas, described the innovations introduced by the recently launched Hella Sat 3, the largest European satellite on the European continent.
The new phase that Telecommunications in and outside Greece are entering with 5G and the new, wired infrastructures that are now starting to occupy the market, was discussed by the participants in the final section of the conference. The section was opened by the Minister of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Information, Nikos Pappas, while very high-level speakers participated, such as the President of EETT, Dimitris Tsamakis, the Head of the Mobile and Voice Convergence of British Telecom, Fotis Karonis, Fadi Pharaon, VP Networks & Managed Services of Ericsson for Europe and Latin America and Kyriakos Sampatakakis, CEO of Accenture.
The conference, as usual, concluded its proceedings with the established panel discussion with the participation of the heads of the country's telecommunications providers. Messrs. Babis Mazarakis (OTE Group), Haris Boumidis (Vodafone Hellas), Nasos Zarkalis (WIND Hellas) and Yannis Koulias (Cyta), participated in a very constructive discussion, presenting and analyzing both their short-term and medium-term plans, for a market that is starting to become even more competitive.
As part of the 19th InfoCom World (Fiber to the people: The Gigabit Era), the InfoCom Awards were presented for the 19th consecutive year , with the aim of rewarding and highlighting pioneering companies, services, products and individuals in the market, who with their creativity and passion have contributed to the development of the market and the evolution of technology.
As every year, a series of parallel activities, thematic modules and specialized labs, with the participation of distinguished speakers, offering the best possible user experience to participants.
Finally, in the specially designed exhibition area, the more than 3,500 attendees who attended the conference had the opportunity to talk with the most renowned companies in the ICT and to learn about new products and services that will help them develop not only their daily lives, but also their business activities.
More and updated information regarding the report of the 19thInfoCom World (Fiber to the people: The Gigabit Era) can be found on the official site. At the following link, you can find rich photographic material (https://bit.ly/2i8i1Lz), while the files of the presentations from all the speeches have been posted online and are available here: https://bit.ly/2kFFYi5. Gradually, the videos from the Plenary presentations will be posted on the conference channel on YouTube, which you can find here: https://bit.ly/2y9cyyU.
