What is private wireless, how does it works, and how does it differ from other solutions? Is it ready to pave the way for an even more expansive 5G rollout?You’ve come to the right place for answers.On this episode of Nokia Today, host Tyler Kern was joined by Shawn Sparling, Head of Canada Enterprise Sales at Nokia, to explore all things private wireless, from what it is at a basic level and what it’s for all the way to how it can enable greater automation throughout facilities its long-term growth potential.“When we look at private wireless, it’s essentially having a reliable, secure, private 4G or 5G network that allows an enterprise to control the system, deliver the performance they want to, and keep their data controlled within their network with the security they want and the quality of service they want,” Sparling said. “It gives the enterprise a lot of flexibility to add any kind of device that they want to.”These networks are useful across many industries, including early adopters in mining and rail systems to today’s manufacturing, utilities and education organizations and beyond.“There really isn’t an industry where we haven’t seen it,” Sparling said.Private networks can help elevate organizations’ digital transformations by providing support for autonomous vehicles, robotics, and a wide ecosystem of solutions industries are using to meet the future head on.

The need for broadband in rural America didn’t originate in the pandemic, but it certainly put a spotlight on it. How have these carriers fared, and what’s the impact on their community?

Blair Levin and Edward Smith II discuss the Lewis Latimer Plan, the 2010 National Broadband Plan update.

Blair Levin and Edward Smith II discuss the Lewis Latimer Plan, the 2010 National Broadband Plan update.

In October, Nokia and Greener Acres Canada, Inc. announced a powerful partnership. E-waste refers to discarded devices, from smartphones to computers, tablets and gaming consoles, that traditionally have found their way into landfills. Now, with this partnership, the two companies will use the nearly 50,000 tons of this waste produced by the city of Ontario each year to sustainably create smarter cities.

Education is the Foundation of the Future with Nicki Palmer, Chief Product Development Officer, Verizon

Confidence Paves Career Paths with Sandy Motley, President of Fixed Networks, Nokia

As Nokia Today’s Women in Tech series marches on, hosts Tyler Kern and Marriane Strobel, Nokia Vice President of North America Customer Marketing and Communications, were joined by Andrea Austin, Vice President of Sales for Nokia Software for a discussion on a topic Austin has plenty of experience in – women in sales roles.A study cited in Forbes reports that women represent 39% of the workforce in sales roles, yet that percentage decreases as seniority increases. That means women aren’t penetrating the upper echelons of revenue organizations and sales roles.This isn’t for a lack of talent, passion or capability, Austin said.“I think one of the myths might be that women are risk-averse to the high-stakes jobs,” she said. “I personally think that’s nonsense. It’s not a skill set or a trait. There are certain attributes when you’re in these high-stakes jobs, and I think they’re somewhat genderless.”Those attributes include acquiring and cultivating customers, being able to fail and “fail forward” by learning from the scenario, and being comfortable in your skin and being able to “speak your truth.” Those are all attributes Austin knows don’t depend on gender.To be able to achieve that final trait of being comfortable in your skin, Austin said she has a variety of best practices and helpful tips. The first and most prominent, however, is that women “have the confidence [they’ve] earned.”“If you’re in that room, take a seat at the table. Don’t sit in the back,” she said. “Have the confidence to speak up, and, as I said before, speak that truth. You have an opinion. You’ve earned the right to be in that room.”Some changes are being implemented to help women take that seat at the table, though Austin said even a base-level awareness and intention to do better has helped propel women toward the positions they’ve earned.

Marianne Strobel talked to Amy Wheelus, vice president of architecture and strategic planning at AT&T, about her journey as a woman in the world of STEM, a field traditionally dominated by men. Amy began her post-high school education at a junior college, a path which she recommended to others to help with preparation for life at a university. “I think that Our community college systems, or junior college systems, are great facilitators and enablers for people to help, you know, whether you’re needing to fill a gap in your skillset, you’re needing to mature a little bit, or you just really don’t know what you want to go do, it gives you some more time to try to figure that out. It gives you time in a smaller environment to help you be more successful,” Amy said. While things may be changing for the better in some measure these days, Amy’s time in the STEM program at Georgia Tech found her immersed in a disproportionately male-leaning classroom. “…most of my classes were two-thirds men and a third women. The ratio at Georgia Tech was eight-to-one, and that’s greatly changed over time and I’m very happy at the progress we’re making in putting more women in and graduating more women in STEM fields, but it was very much a man’s world,” she said. Marianne asked Amy for any advice she could give to other young women currently on their own journeys in STEM education. “I think the number one thing that women especially need to remember is you can do what you put your mind to. Don’t look at a job and think ‘well I don’t know if I can do that.’ Or don’t look at a list of requirements for a job and, because there’s one on there maybe you don’t have the right skillset for, dismiss that as not a possibility,” Amy said. “We’ve heard it, we hear it, there’s research that proves it that women have a tendency to only go after jobs where they feel like they check every box on the page, and men don’t have that same tendency. I think that’s one of the areas where I would advocate that we need to be more like men. I don’t advocate that in a lot of space. I think we need to be women. We need to be women and showcase our uniqueness and our diversity and that will make all of us better. But in this particular area, you gotta be confident. You gotta go after those jobs that maybe stretch jobs. Because what’s the worst that will happen?”

On the debut of Women in Tech by Nokia, Joanne Moretti, Founder and CEO of JCurve Digital, joined host Tyler Kern to share her best tips for women already leading the way in technology or looking to further their careers and advance into key leadership positions.JCurve Digital delivers clients “Integrated Commercial Excellence” solutions, helping product and commercial leaders “create a high velocity, highly effective ‘commercial value chain’ that breaks down siloes between product managers, marketers and sales teams.”Moretti’s top five leadership tips for women in tech are:1. Create a Strategic Plan and Be a Leader Regardless of Your Title: Leadership isn’t determined solely by position or a title. Anyone can lead, and it comes from passion.2. Collaborate and Partner with Others: It’s time to stop “looking out for No. 1.” The partnerships and overall ecosystem of an organization can drive growth.3. We’re Moving from a Product to an Experience Economy: Consumers are now more focused on the service and experience surrounding products than simply the products, themselves. You need to adapt to that.4. Self-Reflection and Self-Awareness: It’s critical to step outside yourself and view your words and actions as a third party would to get an accurate picture of how successful you were in communicating, acting, etc.5. Build Your Personal Network: Your personal network is an asset and should be treated as such. It has the potential to help establish incredible opportunities and results.

What Is Open RAN, and Why Is It Important?

5G is an exciting technology that could change the way we do things as a country. Sen. Martha Blackburn of Tennessee is passionate about the new technology and making sure it’s accessible to all Americans, not just a privileged few who live in a certain area or can afford a certain device. “This is one of my favorite topics to talk about. How do we get technology into every corner in the country? How do we close the divide?,” Blackburn said. “5G, with all these super-fast data rates, it is going to enable our healthcare providers to do more with telemedicine. It is going to enable surgeons to do surgery remotely,” Blackburn continued, adding that autonomous vehicles are another area in which 5G’s rapid data speeds can have a tremendous influence. For that to happen, and for the U.S. to get the greatest benefit out of a technology like 5G, Blackburn hopes to see more public-private partnerships and more companies working together with the Department of Defense on Research and Development projects that could help both the military and civilians. “What we have to realize is that in the United States, we separate our military and our commerce departments, they aren’t one and the same. What we have to do is have our military partner up with these bright minds and innovators that are in the private sector space,” she said. Increased communication with the DoD also could have benefits for communications providers in other arenas, as well, the Senator noted. The DoD recently announced that 100 megahertz of mid-band spectrum is being made available for 5G, with more spectrum availability a priority.

The continued rollout of robust 5G networks across the United States comes with a major challenge – finding the labor force to make the critical buildout of those networks possible. However, SAC Wireless, a wholly owned, independently operated Nokia company, and Nokia have teamed up to help craft a solution.The companies have worked with Warriors4Wireless and the Learning Alliance to turn to the nation’s veterans, who already possess many skills that transfer to work in the wireless industry, empowering them to join the 5G labor force and be part of this exciting move into the future of wireless.On this episode of the Nokia Today podcast, host Tyler Kern was joined by SAC Wireless President Cari Shyiak to discuss exactly how the two companies are working to empower America’s heroes.“When you look at veterans, they have the right philosophy and the right mindset around following process, utilizing tools and being a part of an organization that has the same set of objectives,” Shyiak said. “There are lot of different facets that they can fit into.”In particular, veterans possess decisiveness, desire to improve, work ethic, discipline around safety and the ability to think critically in high-leverage situations, all of which make them ideal candidates for positions among this wireless workforce.To empower these veterans, SAC has formed an ERG for veterans launching this year. As a veteran-owned and direct resource group, it will allow veterans the opportunity to connect, support one another, and provide direction for this key initiative.This is simply the next step in SAC’s history of supporting veterans, as roles from project manager to civil foreman, network operations supervisors and more are open to veterans, and 30 to 40% of veterans hired by the company are promoted within SAC.Kern and Shyiak discussed at length why veterans are the perfect fit for the burgeoning 5G industry, SAC’s culture and model for career development, the current state of telecom and how it could shift heading into a 5G future, and more.

There is always a bit of hype surrounding the deployment of each new wireless generation. There certainly was with 3G and 4G. But did these upgrades deliver on expectations? Many people might say the results did not live up to the hype. So, what are we to expect with 5G, which is starting to unveil itself? Mike Murphy, CTO for Nokia Americas, thinks this time around, the hype may be worth it. For those wondering when 5G networks will arrive in their area, Murphy said rollouts in the US began as early as 2018, moved into 2019, and will continue in 2020. What’s different about 2020 is more devices are rolling out this year that support 5G. “This year, people expect the iPhone 12 to come out and support 5G, as well as some low-tier and mid-tier devices,” Murphy said. Throughout the next couple of years, as 5G coverage increases throughout the U.S. and beyond, people can anticipate increased speed, as well. Murphy believes the tipping point for 5G coverage taking over should arrive by 2024. What surprises and pleases Murphy about 5G is the speed in which it is deploying globally. “If you look at 4G, from the first launch by an operator to the last launch, the gap was 28 months. In 5G, it’s two months,” Murphy said. Due to the economic benefits in both job growth and capital expenditures, countries are in a race to deploy 5G. Beyond faster speeds, Murphy believes 5G has all the right technology components to realize exciting features such as robust apps. Will augmented, and virtual reality infiltrate the world of devices in the coming years? With the onset of 5G, it could very well happen.

Brian Hendricks, Vice President of Policy and Government Relations for Nokia, joined Marianne Strobel, Head of Customer Marketing and Communications, North America for Nokia to discuss the current state of U.S. 5G policy. Hendricks said the U.S. is making every effort to ensure the rapid deployment of 5G networks as the worldwide race to deploy 5G first continues.

Congressman Bill Johnson discusses how to improve the state of internet access in rural communities today.

How to Avoid Falling into Coronavirus-Related Cybersecurity Traps with Mary O’Neill & Kevin McNamee

Nokia Bell Labs is the world-renowned, Nobel Prize-winning industrial research arm of Nokia. Marianne Strobel, Head of North America Customer Marketing and Communications at Nokia, walked host Tyler Kern through Nokia Bell Labs’ 5G Certification Program. Throughout its 90-year history, Nokia Bell Labs has distinguished itself in the technology communications field through its multiple achievements and awards. In terms of innovation, Bell Labs invented the transistor, the laser, the solar cell, the Unix operating system and the cellular concept for mobile phones. So, what does Bell Labs have in store for 5G? Strobel pointed out that Bell Lab’s involvement with 5G technology research dates back 10 years.“The certification program Nokia’s developed is to help industry professionals realize the full business potential of end-to-end 5G networks,” Strobel said. “It’s the first of its kind, and this program is the only one out there that offers all professionals across the information and communication technology industry two levels of certification.” The two levels are an associate level and a professional-level certification. The associate-level certification, which is currently available, delivers essential knowledge covering everything from the basics of 5G networking to professional-level planning and development.Companies and service providers that go through this certification process will gain a better understanding and proficiency in the application of end-to-end 5G technologies.To learn more about the Bell Labs 5G certification program visit the Nokia Bell Labs End-to-End 5G Certification Program or the Nokia North America websites. 

Coming soon...the Nokia Today podcast.The landscape of North America’s networks is rapidly evolving. New technologies like 5G carry a lot of promise to redefine the way we do business, learn, and connect with one another. But we’re not there just yet. From the budget to build, software to secure, and spectrum to support all use cases regardless of locale, a lot needs to happen before everyone can tap its fullest potential. Tune into Nokia Today, where we discuss how policymakers, enterprises and industry leaders are working together to bring today’s network capabilities to scale for the future.