The TalkTalk Business Carrier & SI team and I always relish the opportunity to attend this annual event. It’s one of our favourite places to soak up insights and engaging content with colleagues and customers from around the globe. Plus, the opportunity to cross the pond and visit an incredible destination is always welcome.
The TalkTalk Business team and I were full of excitement as we boarded the plane to Atlanta, unsure of exactly what to expect from the next three days. The sense of excitement we felt echoed the nature of the telco industry, the unknown lying ahead of us - fast paced and always moving forward! The real question was, could ITW in Atlanta top ITW in Chicago?
What struck me when we entered both the Hyatt Regency and the Marriott Marquis was the sheer scale of both venues and therefore the volume of attendees who had travelled from all over the world to attend. This year the number was in excess of seven thousand attendees, which is quite phenomenal for a telecommunications conference. This demonstrates how passionate this industry is, with a hunger to share knowledge and learn from one another, especially at such a transformational time with the full-fibre rollout on the horizon.
The value of thought leadership
The content was engaging and provided food for thought. There was a topic for everyone, from high-level thought leadership pieces about global connectivity, IoT and international subsea demand, to more practical sessions designed to improve your bottom line. Plus, more technical sessions focused on high-performance computing and network expansion. Events like ITW are critical for our industry, which is one of the most dynamic in the world. By drawing on the expertise and best practice from a variety of perspectives from the market, we can learn from one another, grow stronger together and deliver excellent value for our customers.
Creating global relationships
ITW is a great event to share our vision with all our carrier partners, giving the team a great opportunity to meet with both existing customers and offering them a chance to network for new prospects who are not UK-based. With over 3,000 points of presence (PoPs) in the UK (providing Ethernet, EFM, FTTC and ADSL services), TalkTalk Business is the go-to provider for carriers from all corners of the globe for their UK connectivity requirements. We work with both worldwide carriers who have large multinational network footprints, supporting them with their local access connectivity and traditional Layer 2 services, as well as several Internet access aggregators providing them easy to consume direct internet access. It was fantastic to catch up with our partners who operate across these models and understand their strategies and diverse approaches to the ever-changing world of telecommunications and end customer demands. It was also really exciting to meet new partners and establish new relationships with carriers looking to partner with TalkTalk Business and use our services for the UK fabric of their global SD-WAN or cloud technology solutions.
TalkTalk Business are preparing for a fibre future, by leveraging brand new fibre technologies at scale in order to meet rising customer demand. ITW gave us the opportunity to speak to a variety of people from global companies and try to understand how other markets have implemented the move to fibre. This provided the team and I with valuable insight into what went well, what could be improved and how we can support our customers during this transformational time and complex migration.
We thoroughly enjoyed our experience at ITW 2019, and we can’t wait to see what the next year brings. Roll on ITW 2020!
