RFS Event Round-up: 2024 so far
MWC: Industry, Not Mobile First
Let’s start in February and our trip to MWC in Barcelona. The show is thriving once again post-pandemic with more than 100,000 descending on Fira Gran Via for the show.
“There has been a sharp shift in focus at the Barcelona show. It is no longer correct to think of MWC as just a mobile show. More and more exhibitors are concentrating on showing how they can serve a variety of vertical markets and tailoring their solutions and services to meet this need. Although, to an extent, this has always been the case, it feels very different in 2024.
Rather than the emphasis being on vertical customers to fit in with how mobile and technology providers want to operate, the opposite is true. Vendors at the show have adapted and designed solutions specifically to meet the needs of their customers operating in a variety of industries. This is also the case at RFS, we are working more closely than ever with our enterprise and industrial customers to design solutions that allow them to thrive as their own sectors become increasingly connected.”
Hannover Messe: Sustainability Connectivity for Industrial Applications
Just down the road from our Hannover office and factory, some of the RFS team took the opportunity to visit the largest industrial trade show in the world.
“The theme of the year was ‘Energizing a Sustainable Industry’ and this message certainly came through loud and clear on the ground. Conversations focused on two key themes: delivering the connectivity that is a critical aspect of current and future industrial applications and what is needed to do this in a sustainable way.
The challenge of marrying sustainability and digitalization is a familiar one at RFS, and it was interesting to speak to potential partners and customers about how they need organizations like RFS to address the topic and share what we, in turn, are focused on to serve this particular market challenge.”
CCW: The Best in Mission Critical Communications
A regular event on the RFS calendar, this year we headed out to the show in Dubai making it the ideal opportunity for our colleagues in Saudi Arabia and UAE to represent RFS on our stand at the show.
“CCW is always a key event for RFS as so many of our projects and deployments focus on delivering true mission critical capabilities for our customers, and often in the most challenging of environments. The tone for the show was set as his Highness Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoumfor opened the event, highlighting the vital role critical communications plays in the modern world.
The event was a great opportunity to speak to colleagues, customers, and partners across the world and reflect on the changing demands of critical communications systems and how we, as an industry, keep pace. All communication systems are important, but with critical communications, there is an extra responsibility to ensure that solutions maintain the highest standards and performance, even in the harshest environments. At RFS, we are proud to conform to the most stringent safety regulations across the world as we work to deploy mission-critical systems that perform in any eventuality.”
Broadcast Asia: Serving customers old and new
This year, RFS attended BroadcastAsia in Singapore, exhibiting at the German Pavilion, and it was a fantastic opportunity to meet with broadcast executives and hear directly about the big, up-and-coming trends.
“Traditionally, RFS’s space in the broadcast industry has been in the design and supply of air-dielectric cable – specifically our HELIFLEX solution which has been the industry leader for connecting transmitters to antennas for decades. While this is still the case, a shift in the wider broadcasting space means there is an additional way for RFS to support broadcasters and their connectivity needs.
As broadcast studio operations seek to run higher-capacity applications in broadcasting studios wirelessly, they need to look at different ways of achieving ultra-reliable high data throughput. We were excited to have several conversations on this topic at the show and look forward to serving the broadcast industry in new ways as the sector changes.”
CommunicAsia: The changing landscape in APAC
Alongside BroadcastAsia, the team enjoyed a very busy few days at its partner event, CommunicAsia in conversation about the trends impacting the telecommunication sector in the region.
“The show this year centered on disruption within the communications space and how the ecosystem in Asia will evolve over the next few years. There was a heavy presence of satellite companies discussing what the next few years of satellite communications look like and how to harness MEO (mid-earth orbit) constellations. Likewise, 5G thought leaders were keen to discuss the short and medium term of 5G rollouts and some of the challenges they face with this. The intersection between enterprise and telecommunications driven by 5G was clear to see, and there was a big focus on how 5G will be used in the region. It was a fantastic few days and a great opportunity to collaborate and discuss the direction of communication and how we at RFS can support its evolution.”
BOD symposium: Future Mission Critical in Germany
Our final event of H1 was BOD symposium in Fulda Germany. The event is the federal association for in-building communication in Germany and brings together specialist installers, manufacturers, planners, experts, service companies, and associate members from across the country to focus on achieving the best in secure communication for emergency services in all buildings.
“A key focus of this event was to look forward at how the upcoming broadband network for public authorities and organizations with security functions in Germany will change and the road to this becoming available in the early 2030s. However, while the event certainly looked into the long-term future, there was a considerable focus on the short and mid-term. It was great to hear case studies, including from the Berlin Fire Department on the current status of its metropolitan concept being deployed in the German capital. We saw presentations on fixed radio solutions being used in Austria and Korea, marking it as one of the very best events in the calendar to learn about how we can improve mission-critical communications.”
Upcoming shows
Although it is a little quieter over summer, we are already looking forward to the remaining events coming up in 2024. The RFS team will be heading out to events, including Innotrans Berlin in September and PMR Expo in Cologne this November.
We can’t wait to be out and about and speaking to customers, partners, and new faces later in 2024. Get in touch if you would like to arrange a meeting.
