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London, Jan. 29, 2020: The importance of Wi-Fi technology to IoT deployments was emphasised today with the announcement that this year’s IoT Solutions World Congress in Barcelona (Spain) would also host the 2020 European edition of the Wireless Global Congress – the world’s leading gathering of Wi-Fi experts. Both technology events will be jointly held from 27th to 29th October in the Gran Via venue, according to the partnership between the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) and Fira de Barcelona.
Organised by the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), a body focussed on promoting and enabling co-operation between service providers, enterprises, cities and technology providers to improve and advance the customer experience of Wi-Fi, the Wireless Global Congress (WGC) meets twice a year (in Europe and USA) and attracts some 1000 experts and decision-makers from the Wi-Fi industry across the world. But co-locating the WGC European event with the IOTSWC will see over 16,000 decision makers in one place looking into digital transformation.
“This will be a big year for the world of Wi-Fi,” said WBA CEO, Tiago Rodrigues, “and this partnership with the IoT Solutions World Congress will be a good platform to highlight the developments in Wi-Fi that can make a major contribution to digital transformation of economies and businesses”.
“During the year I expect to see a growth in roaming federations that will make the use of Wi-Fi easier and smoother for consumers, operators, cities and enterprises, as well as the release of Wi-Fi 6 and 6E making use of 6 GHz bandwidth to improve the speed of connections.”
The IOT Solutions World Congress (IOTSWC) is an event organised by Fira de Barcelona and the Industrial Internet Consortium. It focuses on demonstrating the real impact of IoT on the digitisation of industries, together with other disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and blockchain. In 2019, the IOTSWC brought together 350 exhibiting companies, more than 300 speakers and 16,000 professionals from over 120 countries.
Constantí Serrallonga, Fira de Barcelona’s Managing Director, said that moving the WGC European event to Barcelona confirmed the City’s importance and leadership in the wireless world and added to the attraction of the IOTSWC.
“We are very pleased to be co-organising this key global event in the Wi-Fi ecosystem which further enhances the position of Barcelona and Fira as a leading international venue for technological congresses. Connecting the Wireless Global Congress with the IOTSWC will increase the convening power of the two events specialising in disruptive technologies that are leading the transformation of industry, economy and society”.
In 2020 the WGC Barcelona agenda will cover topics such as the opportunities opening up with the next generation of Wi-Fi services ( Wi-Fi 6 and 6 GHz), intelligence gathering and data analysis, the Wi-Fi customer experience, synergies with the IoT ecosystem, the impact of Wi-Fi cybersecurity, identity management and the role of Wi-Fi in the future of the connected vehicle, in-flight, industry 4.0 and hospitality. Its sponsors include Boingo, Cisco, GlobalReach and Intel.
Meanwhile the IOTSWC 2020 will be showcasing the transformational power of digitisation with exponential technologies such as IOT, AI, 5G, quantum computing, robotics, blockchain and digital twin. It will provide real solutions and knowledge to guide the different industrial sectors through the implementation of these advances, ensuring welfare and sustainable growth.
Matthew MacPherson, CTO Wireless, Cisco, said: “For Cisco, the colocation of WGC and IOTSWC is a great fit. IOT Solutions World will provide Cisco an opportunity to engage with customers across a diverse set of verticals like manufacturing, construction and automotive. Cisco is working hard on the next generation of internet-based wireless technologies that better enable IOT onboarding, delay sensitive applications, and the huge growth of things for sensing, control, tracking and automation. As a board member of the WBA, Cisco believes that co-locating these events will create additional excellent business opportunities.”
Chris Bruce, Managing Director, GlobalReach Technology, said: “As a member of the board of Wireless Broadband Alliance and Managing Director of GlobalReach Technology, we see this partnership as an opportunity to reinforce the role that Wi-Fi has as the main driver for enterprises and cities to accelerate their digital agendas.”
About the Wireless Broadband Alliance
Founded in 2003, the vision of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) is to drive seamless, interoperable service experiences via Wi-Fi within the global wireless ecosystem. WBA’s mission is to enable collaboration between service providers, technology companies and organizations to achieve that vision. WBA undertakes programs and activities to address business and technical issues, as well as opportunities, for member companies.
WBA work areas include advocacy, industry guidelines, trials and certification. Its key programs include NextGen Wi-Fi, 5G, IoT, Testing & Interoperability and Roaming, with member-led Work Groups dedicated to resolving standards and technical issues to promote end-to-end services and accelerate business opportunities. WBA’s membership is comprised of major operators and leading technology companies, including Broadcom, BSNL, Orange, Facebook, Google, HPE Aruba, Huawei, Microsoft, NTT DOCOMO Ruckus, Shaw, SK Telecom and T-Mobile US.
The WBA Board includes AT&T, Boingo Wireless, BT, Cisco Systems, Comcast, Deutsche Telekom AG, GlobalReach Technology, Intel and KT Corporation. For a complete list of current WBA members,
About Fira Barcelona
Fira de Barcelona is one of the most important trade fair institutions in Europe and the Spanish market leader, especially in trade and industrial shows. It hosts around 150 trade shows, congresses and corporate events per year with 30,000 exhibitors, both direct and represented, and receives 2.5 million visitors from over 200 countries.
The institution has some 400,000 m² of exhibition floor space, one of the largest in Europe, spread over 2 venues: Montjuïc and Gran Via. Its annual economic contribution to the city of Barcelona and its surroundings is estimated at over 2,600 million Euros and also brings added social and public value.
Fira de Barcelona has established itself as a global events organiser with and international positioning twinned with the unmatchable Barcelona brand, a city with over a century of tradition in the organization of big events.
IoT Solutions World Congress is one of the main events in Fira de Barcelona’s calendar since 2015.