Skip to main content

Your submission was sent successfully! Close

Thank you for signing up for our newsletter!
In these regular emails you will find the latest updates from Canonical and upcoming events where you can meet our team.Close

Thank you for contacting us. A member of our team will be in touch shortly. Close

  1. Blog
  2. Article

Canonical
on 27 February 2017

Mobile World Congress 2017: day one recap


It’s the last week of February and that can only mean one thing, Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain.  This event, unlike other mega shows, has stood the test of time and has maintained its title as the premier telecom, device, and Internet of Things (IoT) conference in the world. For the past several years, MWC has positioned 5G front and centre for the future of the industry, 2017 is no exception.  We are quickly moving into an era where the industry has begun moving towards a more orchestrated ecosystem of ‘things’ – devices, machines, sensors, vehicles, wearables, etc.  This shift is forcing network service providers to build-out their networks to become more customer-focused and deploy services that will thrive in the ‘things’ ecosystem.  This shift is also creating immediate challenges for network providers due to the increased demand for bandwidth and connectivity.  At Canonical, we call it “Software-defined Everything”.

In the era of things, communications companies are working hard to keep pace with the transmission and storage of the massive amounts of personal information this new world brings.  At MWC 2017 there is an increased focus on what more organisations can do to protect against highly sophisticated cyber-attacks, fraud, and to improve privacy.  Machine learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and even cognitive ,computing solutions have extended their presence as a way to help companies begin tackling security problems by detecting anomalies and patterns that indicate attacks or fraud.  Moreover, AI is presenting new opportunities for communications companies to improve overall efficiencies, improve customer service, and drive revenue.

The telecommunications industry has been slow when responding to the competitive pressure put on them by public cloud. Platforms like OpenStack (Infrastructure as a Service), MAAS (Metal as a Service – server provisioning), and Juju (model driven operations) demonstrate Canonical’s promise to helping telecom service providers and enterprises to become more successful in the digital economy.  This year, Canonical is showcasing at our booth (3K31 – Hall P3, Level 0) innovation around process (Docker) and machine containers (LXD) on OpenStack with Kubernetes, Software Defined Networking (SDN), 5G, and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV)/Virtual Network Function (VNF), etc.

Visitors to the Ubuntu booth will have the ability to interact with and see live commercial deployments of several solutions including:

Augmented Reality

The DAQRI Smart Helmet, powered by an Ubuntu AR application, provides an augmented reality experience that can be used in industrial settings and brings to life all the data generated by the new world of Industrial Internet of Things. By overlaying data onto the display, thermal anomalies can be quickly identified and operators and technicians can deliver faster Mean Time to Repair (MTTR).

Software Defined Radios

In the beginning of 2016 it looked impossible that software defined radio would be viable. The collaboration between Lime Micro has changed that. The LimeSDR is the first software defined radio that can be programmed via open source apps, called snaps, that anybody can download from an app store. There are now thousands of developers who have or shortly will receive their LimeSDR. They will be able to create all types of protocols and share them among the community. LTE, LoRa, Bluetooth, ZigBee and many more. Even invent their own protocols.

Digital Signage

Screenly 2 digital signage solution builds on the vision of the original, making interactive digital signage easy to use and accessible to organisations of all sizes. Built on Ubuntu Core and Raspberry Pi 3, organizations can deploy 1080p HD video, web content, public message and point of sale materials.

In addition to our communications solutions, we are highlighting many innovative IoT, Consumer Premise Equipment (CPE), and other edge device solutions for smart homes, robots, drones, and wearables.  Ubuntu has become the de facto operating system and platform for developing IoT solutions that offer a converged experience across mobile devices, PCs, and tablets.

One of the coolest things about MWC 2017 is everything we’re demonstrating in our booth (3K31 – Hall P3, Level 0) is directly relevant to the pain points emphasised time and time again in every panel, tour, or breakout sessions that I attended. Many of the visitors to our booth were interested speaking to our booth experts about our leadership with containers and the Canonical Distribution of Kubernetes, success with deploying or hosting OpenStack, the power of Ubuntu with devices and IoT, and insights on improving overall IT operations efficiency via MAAS or Juju.

If you’re at MWC 2017 and you haven’t visited us yet, please come by! If you aren’t here, follow us on Twitter @ubuntu, @ubuntucloud for tweets all week long.

Related posts


Serdar Vural
27 February 2025

Experience Edge AI use cases with Canonical at Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2025

5G Article

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) are increasingly driving change in telecommunications. Increased adoption is building organizational confidence in the positive impact that AI can bring, which in turn is leading business leaders to push for AI/ML to expand into new use cases. As such, AI/ML will play a key role in brin ...


Serdar Vural
26 February 2025

5G without compromise: Building mission-critical private networks for Industry 4.0 with open source

5G Article

Enterprises across industry verticals are looking for new ways to increase the efficacy of their businesses. One way to do this is building an efficient pipeline of processes, employees, devices, and services that are all tightly integrated to get the best return on investment. However, this requires an efficient telecommunication system ...


Serdar Vural
25 February 2025

Cloud-native telecom infrastructure with Canonical Kubernetes at Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2025

5G Article

At this year’s Mobile World Congress, we’re excited to showcase the capability of Canonical Kubernetes LTS (long-term support), which brings up to 12 years of support  and security maintenance to Kubernetes.  Available via Ubuntu Pro, Canonical Kubernetes LTS will prove to be transformational for telco customers who require extremely long ...