In the ever-evolving landscape of telecommunications, where connectivity is king and innovation reigns, Thomas Hoeschele the Co-founder and Managing Director at CampusGenius stands at the forefront, spearheading a transformative venture that empowers businesses with the next generation of network technology. CampusGenius is a pioneering telecommunications company that brings the power of private 5G networks to businesses across the globe.
Imagine a world where businesses can easily deploy and maintain their private 5G networks, unlocking unparalleled connectivity, efficiency and potential. CampusGenius makes this vision a reality through its ingenious creation, the GeniusCore.
With Thomas at the helm, CampusGenius is revolutionizing the way businesses approach their network infrastructure. His expertise, vision and leadership have positioned the company as a true trailblazer in the telecommunications industry.
Let’s discover how, businesses are empowered through CampusGenius to embrace the potential of 5G, enabling them to unlock new possibilities, drive innovation and thrive in the fast-paced digital era!
Please introduce yourself and provide a brief overview of your role in the dynamic business arena.
Welcome to CampusGenius, I am Thomas Hoeschele, CEO and Co-founder of the young innovative enterprise. I studied business management and electrical engineering and graduated from the Technical University in Dresden.
After working 6 years in consulting, I returned to the university and started research on private 5G communication in industrial environments and lead a team of 10 researchers in this field. We achieved great research results and cooperated with large global enterprises on this topic.
Out of our understanding of the private 5G network market, opportunities and our own innovative potential, we founded CampusGenius. A unique company focusing on building, operating and integrating industrial 5G networks with our own 5G-Core tailored to the needs of our customers.
What do you believe are the most significant advancements and developments in the field of 5G and 6G in the coming years?
While seeing into the future always is difficult, we still have a strong connection to our research partners as well as the demand from customer sites. With this insight into technology, we estimate the following important developments and trends:
- Semantic networks: Semantic fully integrated and automated networks will be one of the most important trends for public and private cellular technology alike. AI and API jointly work together forming the network to immediately fulfill customer requirements while minimizing usage of the operators’ resources. The 5G-Core will play a major role in this development as it is the bridge between hardware and software in the networks.
- The O-RAN Alliance released its first specifications and new vendors join the rigid hardware and software telco market shaking established structures. While promises of this new development sound amazing: more flexibility, faster updates, easier network operation, less vendor lock-in; first tests and roll-outs call for a more cautious approach as major issues need to be adressed. The energy consumption of available solutions is far beyond an acceptable range. Also features like reliability, interoperability and performance have not been fulfilled, leaving many early admirers disappointed.
- The third topic that will improve overall cellular networks is the widespread adoption of private 5G networks by industrial players. This will open up new technical developments like deterministic communication via TSN, improved localization methods and important future use cases, all of these topics CampusGenius is already tackling today
How do you envision 5G and 6G technologies transforming various industries and sectors in the near future?
5G was made for businesses from manufacturing and agriculture to construction and healthcare. The implementation of the new releases 16 and 17 of the 3GPP will enable all operators and industries alike to use new use cases.
Machine-to-machine communication will increase and with 5G RedCap (Reduced Capabilities) devices lowering equipment cost the adoption rates will increase dramatically. We will see widespread use of augmented and virtual reality, even more coverage and connectivity in up to now limited areas.
However, also the integration with interplanetary services like Starlink will bring new advantages like enabling automated or remote-controlled agriculture in rural areas, where no MNO can economically set up a network. With 6G similar applications will become part of our day to day lives.
What are some of the key challenges and obstacles that need to be overcome for the successful deployment and adoption of emerging telecommunication networks?
There are three main challenges the industry has to solve in order to realize its vision and further improve our lives and possibilities.
- Access to technology in terms of availability and price. If we want widespread adoption and implementation limiting factors like huge regulatory costs for frequency availability will set limitations in the distribution of the technology. Also, cheap modems and chipsets for massive sensor networks are demanded by many industrial OEMs to produce new applications, to be utilized by businesses and consumers alike. CampusGenius is tackling this major topic by offering a low-cost entry solution for businesses as well as providing cloud access to its software for easy deployment.
- Energy efficiency is an important topic. In order to preserve our planet and reduce carbon emissions as much as necessary, hardware and software have to be coupled tightly and developed to perform most efficiently; thus, reducing the energy consumption of every cellular system. Whether a smart AI can aid this process is something a lot of researchers and engineers wrap their heads around.
- New technology will only spread if there is a business case behind it. The development and adoption of new business models is a key challenge for large enterprises and start-ups alike. Strong integration with applications vendors is required as the cellular is only an enabler that will be needed by the applications. In the end, these applications are a convincing argument for the customer to pay the price for the new technology.
As a leader in this field, what strategies have you employed to drive innovation and stay ahead in the rapidly evolving landscape of 5G and 6G?
In an ever faster-changing world, particularly in a vital and disruptive market, it is hard to keep track of all trends and developments. A sincere screening of emerging companies helps to understand where some areas are heading. Exchanging information with business partners in your network is essential.
However, typically most things seen in the business world have their origin in academia. Therefore, CampusGenius maintains close ties to a research institution in the telecommunication field and understands upcoming topics and the opportunities and requirements arising out of those.
Also, this provides an excellent understanding of the general state of technological development as well as a possible time horizon for technologies to move to the market and be available for early adopters.
How do you ensure that your organization remains at the forefront of technological advancements and maintains a competitive edge?
In this world, you cannot do everything on your own. In today’s environment, only good teams are successful. Staying at the forefront of technological progress requires a good ‘team’ of partners, collaborating constantly together on improving technology, integrating new developments and communicating opportunities. We work very closely on a variety of topics with our research partners, keeping our technology ahead and retaining the competitive edge.
However, improving the product by adding new and better features is only one part of the story. At the same time, we listen to our customers, their feedback on technology as well as their issues. They provide us with valuable input and drive us to constantly improve our existing products and services.
In your opinion, what are the key ethical considerations and responsibilities that leaders and organizations should keep in mind when working with emerging technologies?
As leaders of enterprises, our ethical responsibility is mainly towards two groups. First our employees. We inspire, motivate, educate and push them, at the same time they are a driving force providing feedback and helping us realize our vision. We need to provide them with a motivating environment where they can thrive and bring their skills and talents to blossom. The second group we have a responsibility towards are our customers. Looking into the industry, I see two points being of major importance: Keeping promises and building cybersecure systems. In the last few years, marketing promised various new features and options through emerging technologies, customers craved it only to realize important and necessary parts still missing. The disappointment made in these days will slow the market in the years to come. Also, we have to keep in mind, that our networks transport some of the most sensitive data, be it private or business data. We need to build systems, secure by architecture and difficult to breach in order to sustain customer trust and remain our customer’s first choice for a reliable wireless technology.
Looking ahead, what are your predictions for the future of 5G and 6G? How do you see these technologies shaping our lives and society in the coming years?
While 5G is mainly for businesses, private or MNO, it will start to shape the world we produce, we move and measure things. 6G will move these new features to the end consumer realizing a huge commercial potential. Particularly immersive technology will literally open up new interactive worlds for gaming, research and exploration.
What advice would you give to aspiring leaders who are interested in making a significant impact in the field of 5G and 6G?
Talk to customers and understand their problems, then find solutions to help them.
