Hello from the BT/EE labs, we are right in the middle of the candy store!
It was 20 years ago when I (Alexandra Hussenot) put my foot for the 1st time in a telecommunication infrastructure lab. That was in Kista at Ericsson. I was one of the 15 new interns and they called us "Ericsson babies".
3G was going to be a big thing, and at the marketing department, we already had demos showing Augmented Reality that told the stories of objects, a connected fridge that made automatic milk orders when you were running low or a connected supermarket. I was tasked to transport 'Emil' - a €30.000 smartphone prototype with a wide glass colour screen, basically an iPhone 10 years before the iPhone... - to Mobile World Congress in Cannes.
I quickly realised the Telecommunication industry was going to change the world and so there was no turning back.
David Biggs who is heading up the mobile innovations team at BT technology was involved in the first UK MNO to launch 4G, 1 year ahead of competition, and now the first UK MNO to launch 5G.
The BT/EE team is at the bleeding edge of technology and doing a lot to push the boundaries. Their demos have been on the gadget show ( immersive ambulance) , BBC news (BT launch broadcast over 5G).
BT Sport launched the 1st live sport broadcast over 5G. You can see video with Matt Stagg, director of mobile strategy at BT sport explaining the concept of 'network slicing'.
I also like to be first!
From left to right: John Trunks BT infrastructure engineer BT, Alex Hussenot & Nate James from Immersionn
It's hard to express the excitement of standing right here, right now inside one of the actual network site of BT, testing my VR killer app (Immersionn) on their 5G network.
I feel I am back to my roots and I get to relive an amazing story once again, but it's even better!
It is my first time in a radio frequency testing cube (stay in that one when it's on and you come out fried!).
When I tried VR the first time I had the exact same sensation I had with mobile phones in 1999. I know Virtual Reality is going to change the world. It feels like limitless opportunities, specially when we can stream VR applications with just a light pair of VR glasses powered by 5G.