
Ronald Gruia1















John Donovan, Chief Strategy Officer & Group President, Technology & Operations @ATT now delivering his keynote talk http://www.via-cc.at...

Ronald Gruia
AT&T Labs heritage:
1972 – Automatic switching
1976 – S programming language
1983 – AMPS
1995 - Machine learning
2013 – ECOMP
2016 – Project AirGig
1972 – Automatic switching
1976 – S programming language
1983 – AMPS
1995 - Machine learning
2013 – ECOMP
2016 – Project AirGig

Ronald Gruia
To win as a technology company, AT&T strives to be:
- Data-powered
- Alliance-based
- Open-sourced
- Software-defined
- On-Demand
- Automated
- Mobile first
- Virtualized
- TV everywhere
- Highly secure
- Data-powered
- Alliance-based
- Open-sourced
- Software-defined
- On-Demand
- Automated
- Mobile first
- Virtualized
- TV everywhere
- Highly secure

Ronald Gruia
Our technologies built for a software-centric ecosystem: software-defined, data-powered, technology – highly secured and process efficient – this is the framework that we use

Ronald Gruia
Mobile network demands are changing:

Ronald Gruia
Growing demand: 7x growth in projected global exabytes per month (Cisco VNI)

Ronald Gruia
Shifting device mix: projected % of total global devices – smart phones going from 43% in 2015 to 53% in 2020

Ronald Gruia
Changes in consumer behavior are impacting data consumption:
20kb -> 350 kb -> 4MB -> 1GB / min #VR experience
20kb -> 350 kb -> 4MB -> 1GB / min #VR experience

Ronald Gruia
New demands require new approaches
Demands: growing demand, shifting device mix, emerging RT apps
Require: speed, capacity, coverage, low latency
Approaches: software, analytics and hyper automation; next-gen connectivity
Demands: growing demand, shifting device mix, emerging RT apps
Require: speed, capacity, coverage, low latency
Approaches: software, analytics and hyper automation; next-gen connectivity

Ronald Gruia
One example is the growing demand in connected cars: data consumption went up substantially, from 20 kb / km - 1GB / km

Ronald Gruia
Project AirGig: Low-cost, multi-gigabit speeds

Ronald Gruia
Require no direct electrical connection to the power line, can run over a variety of spectrum types, delivers ultra-fast wireless connection to homes, businesses and devices

Ronald Gruia
delivers last-mile access without new FTTH, regenerates mmWave signals through plastic antennas and devices, flexible enough to be configured with small cells or DAS

Ronald Gruia
Reskilling under a new social contract: from participation to people movement

Ronald Gruia
We are in the middle of the skill pivot
45% of technology & operations employees have pivoted
50% reskilled employees are as likely to be hired or promoted
1,250+ reskilled employees hired or promoted in 2016
45% of technology & operations employees have pivoted
50% reskilled employees are as likely to be hired or promoted
1,250+ reskilled employees hired or promoted in 2016

Ronald Gruia
As part of the re-skilling exercise we are ooperating with Georgia Tech and also creating nano degrees

Ronald Gruia
AirGig – do not need power, does not need to be copper – it’s just the guide for the waveform – it is powered at 60Hz - think of it as electromagnetics over the power grid