The team and I have been back in Vancouver for a couple of weeks now. With a bit of rest and time after the intensity of MWC22, a trade show with just over 60,000 physical attendees, I’d like to share some perspectives on MWC 2022 and its impact on Turnium.
First off, I wouldn’t be doing my job as CEO without a bit of promotion. At MWC, we ran some excellent brand advertising. We had Turnium ads running in a high-frequency rotation on large monitors throughout the Arrivals and Departures lounges in Barcelona’s airport. People I spoke with at the event commented on our signage, its presence, and the imagery. It was fantastic to see those ads and feel a sense of being “out there” in the public view. Here’s a photo.
The other thing that struck me about MWC22 was the mood. People were in great spirits and super energetic. Everyone I spoke with was happy to be out, glad to be growing their networks and businesses, and keen to look at new solutions and discuss opportunities and deals.
I felt this energy with our Canadian co-exhibitors in the Government of Canada booth. The federal government and all the provinces sent participants to MWC. In addition to the other booths where Turnium had a presence (more on that below), TechWest helped us with presence in the Canada booth and helped us with event passes – a significant benefit! I had several good talks with our fellow Canadian companies, mainly focusing on how we’re all working on expanding our presence overseas and how we might be able to work together.
As evidenced by the Canada booth and the team that staffed it and the Trade Commissioners that attended, and the other Canadian companies in the booth, it’s clear that the Government of Canada has resources and capabilities that can help every Canadian tech company grow. We’ve been happy to work with our partners at the Federal and Provincial levels.
MWC also gave us a chance to chat and spend time with several of our channel partners who made the trip to Barcelona. It was great to discuss how we can work together to grow mutual opportunities. My thanks to all who made the trip. The time together was valuable to our team and me, and I trust it was to you! It’s seldom that we’ve had the opportunity to meet partners in this way, much less introduce them to each other. Attending MWC or any trade show allows building these relationships and starting to cross-pollinate ideas.
As far as Turnium’s booth presence at MWC22 was concerned, we were in the IBM booth, the Red Hat booth, the Lanner booth, and the Canada/Tech West booth. In IBM’s booth, Logan and Nicky demonstrated how our Turnium SD-WAN solution integrates with IBM’s orchestration software and cloud infrastructure. IBM also ran a demo that included our software in Atos’ booth in another hall.
At the Red Hat booth, we had a presentation and collateral available through Red Hat’s on-demand partner marketing system.
With Lanner, our team worked side-by-side with the Lanner team to pitch attendees on the combined, integrated Lanner/Turnium solution and the benefits of Turnium SD-WAN. Our integrated solution with Lanner makes it easy to purchase and deploy reliable branch and site connectivity with wireless failover and supports multiple workloads. Here’s a photo of Arturo and Randy in the booth. Great job representing us guys!
A common theme across all these booths is that Network Automation, Automated Operations, OSS/BSS integration, and ML/AI are moving to center stage. Turnium’s ability to be part of an automated network, reduce manual operations, and integrate with existing OSS/BSS systems indicates that we’re in the right space and direction. Demonstrating how we integrate with IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation and how we help deliver cost-effective uCPE projects with Red Hat® OpenShift® positions us for growth as Edge Compute or Multi-Access Edge Compute, as some are calling it, expands.
I thank all the team members at IBM, Red Hat, Atos, Lanner, the Government of Canada, and TechWest, who helped us make all this happen. We are truly honored to have the support of every one of you who helped us on this journey!!!!
Oh, and before I forget, Sandeep was interviewed by TelecomTV about our business, how we fit into the ICT market, and our role in supporting the companies that are building the future of global communications. Content like this helps expose our brand on TelecomTV’s channel to more opportunities.
Finally, we were delighted to host a partner dinner on day 2 of the show at one of Barcelona’s historic restaurants, Los Caracoles. It’s fantastic to be in a place still owned and operated by the same family that founded the restaurant 187 years ago! That time frame doesn’t exist in Canada! The food was fantastic, and the restaurant itself was really cool, including a large number of Jamon Iberico hanging from the ceiling!
In closing, many people have asked whether it was worthwhile attending MWC22. I’d have to say, “definitely YES!!!!” The reasons are many – ranging from spending days of intense interaction with our team, channel partners, strategic partners, and prospective customers, to seeing how other brands and companies are selling and marketing is being done at this truly massive trade show, to interacting with Trade Commissioners and representatives of the Federal and Provincial Governments. These things open eyes and thinking about how to grow our business, take the next steps required to improve our market and brand presence, and expand our technology stack and solution to be even more compelling. The learning also helps us ensure that next year’s attendance is even more profitable!
In closing then, MWC22 was an excellent event for Turnium. We accomplished a lot, set ourselves up for our next steps, and learned a lot that will help us keep moving forward!