What it Means to be Original in a Limitless Intelligent Connectivity World

“Originality consists of returning to the origin. Thus, originality means returning, through one’s resources, to the simplicity of the early solutions.” – Antoni Gaudí

It should suffice to say that we at Pareteum were very disappointed to learn of the cancellation of Mobile World Congress 2020. As we wrote at the time of GSMA’s announcement, we lament the lost opportunity to meet with our many connectivity compatriots and evangelize on behalf of our recently launched Pareteum Experience Cloud.

Nevertheless, we’d like to take a moment to meditate on what would have been the central theme of this year’s instalment of the mobile world’s largest exhibition: Limitless Intelligent Connectivity.

2020 and the decade to follow are shaping up to be quite exciting for the mobility landscape. The imminent and much ballyhooed rollout of 5G networks and Wi-Fi 6 promise great gains for industries like manufacturing, retail, healthcare, automotive, utilities, entertainment, and more. Moreover, these technologies will enable companies to work smarter, use finite resources more efficiently, and dramatically improve customer experience all around.

Furthermore, in the Internet of Things (IoT), the Big Four in tech – Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple – have all begun laying the groundwork for their presence in the sector, developing a variety of virtual assistants, home security systems, appliances, and more. The auto industry, too; with help from the FCC, which recently laid out a plan to reallocate 75 megahertz of the 5.9 GHz band for cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) communications.

Indeed, IoT is the epitome of the vision implicit in Limitless Intelligent Connectivity. A system of interrelated computing devices, machines, objects, animals, and people. Each of these constituent parts possessing their own unique identifiers (UIDs) and capable of transferring data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. IoT promises to be a versatile technology that offers a wide variety of use cases, including smart devices, smart appliances, smart metering, predictive maintenance applications, asset tracking, and more.

Nevertheless, despite the miracles promised by the arrival of 5G Networks, Wi-Fi 6, and sophisticated connected devices, these technologies create the potential for extraordinary folly on the part of businesses, entrepreneurs, and other organizations. Indeed, if you’ve been perusing our blog over the past few months, you’d know that we’re at least partially skeptical of the idea that “thinking big” must necessarily lead to big results.

So, in a nod to MWC’s hometown of Barcelona, allow us to offer a quote from the city’s favorite son, the architect Antoni Gaudí, as a word of caution for your pursuit of Limitless Intelligent Connectivity: “Originality consists of returning to the origin. Thus, originality means returning, through one’s resources, to the simplicity of the early solutions.”

To create something original – that is, something that stands out in a landscape teeming with confounding competition – it is important not to get caught up in the morass of what the latest technology can do. Instead, ask yourself, what do people want it to do?

Indeed, you can use a potato to power a lightbulb, but they’re far better roasted in oil and herbs. And a standard AC power socket will do just fine for the bulb.

Of course, we’re being a bit tongue-in-cheek, but the same principle applies to connectivity. The solutions that will lead us into a more connected future will be those that fulfill the real needs of real people, real groups, real businesses, cities, nations, and civilizations. Moreover, they will harness the capabilities of new resources – such as the 5G and Wi-Fi 6 infrastructures – to do so in the most efficient possible manner. That is, these solutions will not be to attach the lightbulb to the potato, but to the electrical socket.

This is our goal at Pareteum. The Pareteum Experience Cloud platform was designed to facilitate connectivity between enterprises and their employees, businesses and their customers, and cities and their citizens. In so doing, we believe we can empower the next generation of mobility solutions to achieve the dream of MWC20 – Limitless Intelligent Connectivity.