< PreviousIf the US presidential race is close, hacking will become the centre of attention and cybersecurity forensics will be required to prove, or disprove, whether or not a threat actor truly succeeded in altering the election. This will also play out in congres- sional races and other down-ticket offices, potentially undermining leadership for our next slate of elected representatives. We will all be waiting breathlessly long after the final vote has been tallied to learn if the vote integrity, and security, has really been upheld. THE NEXT FIVE YEARS 1. The end of end-user passwords There is a push by major operating system and software application vendors to re- move the dependency on passwords for end users. Authentication techniques—from biometrics to keyboard pattern recogni- tion—have proven reliable enough to make this a reality. In the next five years, expect to see these techniques go mainstream and gain corporate acceptance. The average non-IT end user will no longer require a password for routine computing. However, expect credentials and passwords for privi- leged accounts and legacy systems to stick with us for at least 10 more years. 2. The rise of next-gen processors Microprocessors based on x86 and x64 Within the next five years, expect facial recognition technology to mature and be available in our daily lives. This technol- ogy will also provide the basis for many password-less authentication techniques as discussed above. However, using facial recognition tech- nologies as a means of authentication or authorisation presents vexatious cyberrisk and data privacy concerns that will need to be addressed before it is widely used around the world. This includes how to securely store and process facial biometrics, how images are linked to individuals, and most important- ly, how to reconcile identity conflicts when identical twins or family members can be used to spoof this technology. 4. Cloud Security and Landscape I know we bludgeon the cloud angle to death, but the ever-popular cloud-based architecture and modelling will continue to grow. The cloud market continues its massive expansion with more demands for availability, scalability, and security. Over the next five years, cloud offerings will dou- ble, even triple, what they are today. Inevitably, we will witness an uptick in cloud-based threat vectors and the need for stronger security baked into cloud offer- ings. Cybercriminals will continue to invest strong focus and resources on leveraging cloud-based threat vectors since the envi- ronment is still fluid and evolving, which increases success in finding security gaps and targeting data at scale. We foresee demand for technologies that secure cloud-based assets, cloud-based identities, cloud-based keys, and all other aspects of cloud continuing to ramp up over the next five years. Cybersecurity predictions are more than just a fun exercise. The more CISOs and other IT staff understand the security implications of evolving technologies, the better prepared they are to make the right investments for their business. Its the difference between being proactive versus reactive, and having a security approach that enables new technologies and busi- ness opportunities, versus one that clamps down on them. technology are beginning to show their age. While we can expect them to persist for the next 20 years, ARM-based computers and tablets are on the rise. A next-generation Windows and MacOS is rumoured to already be running on ARM. These processors herald a tidal shift in terms of security, power, and even performance. In the next five years, expect the shift from legacy CPU architectures to ARM. The benefits of security protection strategies, as in ChromeOS, will become more mainstream as they operate on these next-gen processors. We will require new security solutions to protect against the unique characteristics inherent of these new devices as threat actors learn to lever- age them. 3. Facial recognition-based transactions Overseas, there was a recent demonstra- tion of a vending machine authorising a transaction strictly based on facial recogni- tion technology. In addition, major airlines in the United States have been experiment- ing with facial recognition to authorise boarding passes versus paper, photo ID, and even passports. While this technology is still relatively immature, it shows sub- stantial promise. It also has the potential to introduce new extraordinary security risks and data privacy concerns. January 2020 will usher in the end of life of Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. With millions of devices still running these operating systems, a myriad of vulnerabilities will continue to exist unless they are patched. IMAGE credit: Photo by ev on Unsplash 30www.commsmea.com SECURITY PREDICTIONS CommsMEA December 2019Wi-Fi 6 and the emergence of 5G Jacob Chacko regional business head – Middle East, Saudi & South Africa (MESA) at HPE ARUBA looks at connecting everything, and how Wi-Fi fits into the puzzle T he major trend in the market is connecting ‘things’ in enterprise, industrial, and consumer settings, and deriving useful context and analyt- ics from these things. This trend will drive the next phase of industry growth. The underlying technologies that enable this trend include 5G, Wi-Fi (especially 802.11ax, also known as Wi-Fi 6), edge computing, AI-based analytics, and new security frameworks. Customers will combine these elements to best serve specific use cases. No one approach or technology fits all requirements. WI-FI 6 - THE NEWEST STANDARD Worldwide spending on the Internet of Things (IoT) is forecasted to reach $745 billion in 2019, an increase of 15.4 per cent over 2018, according to IDC. As the Middle East pushes for greater IoT adoption and with more connected de- vices, organisations are increasingly fac- ing the experience of crowded or overlap- ping coverage networks. A lot has changed in recent years. The growth and diversity of clients, as well as the types of applications and traffic being generated, has meant that wireless stand- ards needed to evolve in order to keep pace. Latency sensitive voice and video traffic are sharing airspace with IoT devices that are sending small data packets, which will slow down wireless networks. In order to solve this problem, network providers need to provide a more efficient way to handle this growing and diverse amount of traffic as well as bandwidth needs. The latest Wi-Fi 6 standard (802.11ax) will not only deliver higher speeds, but will also enable new business services and use cases, including: • IT/IoT convergence and smart building deployments • Real-time application support for en- terprise-grade video collaboration and augmented or virtual reality • Secure Wi-Fi within the enterprise and open networks As organisations look to driving business benefits from their digital Jacob Chacko regional business head – Middle East, Saudi & South Africa. . 32www.commsmea.com SPECIAL REPORT WI-FI CommsMEA December 2019transformation, users today are more reli- ant on their connected and smart devices than ever before. IT can no longer opti- mise networks by just focusing on higher performing devices. The new enhanced Wi-Fi standards of- fer better connectivity for newer devices while continuing to support older equip- ment. More importantly, it is designed to bring exceptional digital experiences for its users. EMERGENCE OF 5G? The initial mass deployment of 5G net- works and introduction of 5G-enabled de- vices is approaching. User expectations for ever-more so- phisticated mobile capabilities continue to make its speed and ability to connect many more devices simultaneously seem- ingly attractive to many consumers. On a carrier-level, there have been a number of 5G developments over the past year. In the US, for example, Verizon and AT&T became the first carriers to roll out preliminary versions of 5G in late 2018 – however, they are limited-capability, consumer-oriented solutions rather than full-fledged 5G enterprise networks. Meanwhile in Europe, the recent debate about imposing restrictions on some ven- dors has led to renewed criticism of Eu- rope’s laggard 5G status. Operators are monitoring the progress of 5G as they consider their needs to keep up with connectivity demands and use cases. The development of AR/VR, Ultra HD video quality and growth of IoT de- notes an explosion of user numbers and data traffic. That means expanding network capac- ity and coverage is appealing to business owners wanting to keep on top of growing technology demands. The promises of faster speeds, lower la- tency, and greater capacity means 5G will support data-intensive and time-sensitive applications – meaning maximising profi- ciency for businesses. However, as a major technology up- grade, it’s estimated to cost $200 billion a year in research and capital spending for it to be fully utilised. At the same time, majority of these devices do not contain cellular modems, they would need to be upgraded or outfitted with external don- gles. Though carriers and their network equipment providers propose 5G DAS and small cell systems as an alternative to Wi- Fi, we doubt many enterprise customers will be willing to pay this additional cost and replace most of their equipment, for an unclear benefit. Wi-Fi already has the capability to scale according to demands. All mobile devices support Wi-Fi, so this makes it a more op- timum choice over the next few years. In many instances, Wi-Fi will remain the de- facto standard for organisations, and will likely coexist with 5G in years to come. Wi-Fi and cellular (5G) are both evolv- ing to better serve end users, and both markets will grow to serve the macro trend of connecting and analsing devices. Wi-Fi will continue to prove its value as a reliable, secure, and cost-effective wire- less access technology for most enterprise applications, as it does today. And we believe the Wi-Fi market will expand with 5G, as carriers begin to use Wi-Fi as an economical in-building radio technology. 5G will serve applications that require mobility and macro range, and for certain industrial use-cases where the corporate customer prefers the physical network segmentation. The growth and diversity of clients, as well as the types of applications and traffic being generated, has meant that wireless standards needed to evolve in order to keep pace.” Jacob Chacko, regional business head – Middle East, Saudi & South Africa. widespread adoption of 5G may come later due to existing network infrastructure. It will cost a lot and take a long time to un- earth existing infrastructure to make way for new ones. The reason carriers and their suppli- ers are so excited about 5G is because they view it as an enabler to enter new markets and create new revenue streams. These in- clude consumer connectivity (using FWA) and device-centric use cases, such as in- dustrial IoT applications. They also will use 5G to target enter- prise connectivity. These new revenue streams would be timely, as carriers are trying to offset strong business head- winds, such as declining revenue per user in their core cellular businesses, a dwin- dling landline user base, and increasing competition from non-traditional service providers, such as Amazon and Google. These trends have resulted in rising corporate debt loads and poor stock per- formance. The carriers need to act. COEXISTENCE OF WI-FI 6 AND 5G 5G and Wi-Fi 6 represent different ap- proaches to wireless connectivity. Wi-Fi is designed into 5G so you can have Wi-Fi as one of the access methods. The key to Wi-Fi 6 is that it allows con- trol of device-specific access to the air, which in turn means it can be made to be- have like the cellular ecosystem. Wi-Fi 6 and 5G are complementary and will even- tually come together. Wi-Fi and cellular (5G) are both evolv- ing to better serve end users, and both markets will grow to serve the macro trend of connecting and analysing devices. 5G is still in its infancy and has a long way to go before it matures. The cost to implement 5G-based access in the enterprise doesn’t stop with the cost of the network itself. Cellular service requires all laptops, printers, AppleTVs, and other connected devices to contain 5G-compatible cellular modems. These modems cost tens of dol- lars per device wholesale, and typically more than $100 to an end user. Every device also needs to be includ- ed in a service contract. Since the vast 33www.commsmea.com WI-FI SPECIAL REPORT CommsMEA December 2019THE FUTURE OF TELECOMS: KEEPING UP WITH THE PACE OF INNOVATION Hesham Elsherif, principal system engineer, A10 Networks and Ronen Shpirer, senior solution marketing manager, EMEA at Fortinet give their view on what the telecoms future will look like Telcos are modernising to reduce operational costs and increase overall efficiency to increase margins and agility, and due to competition and competitive barriers. Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash T he pace of innovation is accelerat- ing, and telcos are facing extreme challenges in modernising their networks. Hesham Elsherif, principal system engineer, at A10 Networks likens the process to mobile operators keeping a race car speeding along the race track while simultaneously changing out the motor, replacing most of the track, and keeping the car from crashing - an impossible sounding task, which must be approached carefully and takes time. “Luckily, mobile operators have done this before with prior generations of mo- bile networks and have gotten pretty good at network replacement/buildout. For 5G, however, the stakes are higher, the pace faster and with more competition,” said Elsherif. The challenges to innovation are three- fold: Maintaining network performance in light of multi-generations of technology (3G/4G/5G) that exist in most networks; Creating new network capabilities to support evolving use cases and revenue opportunities for example, providing lower latency and connection rates for critical apps and IoT; Automating network opera- tions to reduce costs and simplify opera- tions; and securing the network against a myriad of new threats. However, the reasons for telcos mod- ernising their networks are essential to maintain market share. Ronen Shpirer, senior solution marketing manager, EMEA at Fortinet noted that telcos are creating new services and enabling new use-cases that meet business customers’ needs and create new and profitable revenue streams. They are also modernising to reduce opera- tional costs and increase overall efficiency to increase margins and agility, and due to competition and competitive barriers. “These, in some cases, require the adoption of new technologies, implemen- tation of new architectures and think- ing differently from what one is used to. All these are not easy to implement and execute: it requires taking risks, making some significant investments with no clear and guaranteed returns, acquiring the ap- propriate human resources and know-how and, sometimes, changing the organisa- tion’s culture and way of doing business,” he said. ACCELERATING INNOVATION: Updating and modernising networks has a cost, and that cost is significant. Retail prices to consumers are largely kept in check by high competition from other telcos/MNOs and new types of mobile service providers and, to some extent, by regulation. “Overall, I would expect prices to drop. However, as with any new technology 34www.commsmea.com FUTURE TELCOS CommsMEA December 2019there will be new services and specifically designed applications, hence there will be other opportunities for operators to gener- ate additional revenue,” said Elsherif. According to Shpirer, there has to be a distinction made between the consumer segment and the different business seg- ments. Consumers represent the mass and are sensible to price variations. This seg- ment will be willing to pay more for more service – but in a very limited way. “The business segment is more depend- ent on digital tools and services provided by telcos and spending on value add servic- es, capabilities, use cases and applications provided by telcos is a growing business for telco and one which will be the main resource of revenue to finance the telco modernisation costs,” he noted. The move to the telco cloud and network function virtualisation helps minimise investment in proprietary hardware and systems and provides more flexibility in deployment. Individual purchase deci- sions, such as for security gateways and network firewalls, should provide consist- ent functionality, regardless of form factor used. This will help minimise disruption and keep costs down as operators change from physical to virtual environments, ac- cording to Elsherif. BRIDGING THE DIGITAL GAP The digital gap between the developed and developing world is widening, and telecoms operators in developing countries need to keep pace with 5G, and its associated technologies, while also keeping legacy networks active for their customers that still have 2G handsets. This will be decided operator by operator and country by coun- try and will depend on many factors. 3GPP have suggested multiple gradual migration paths from 4G to 5G that accommodate for some of these cases, according to Shpirer. However, for some operators, the choice is more difficult. “Operators are really forced to shut down older technologies as maintaining them is cost prohibitive and it is an inef- ficient use of the spectrum that is needed for 5G. Developing countries may actually have an opportunity to leapfrog into 5G Future-proofing CAN TELCOS FUTURE-PROOF THEIR NETWORKS? It is very difficult to ‘future-proof’ anything, but there are some directions that seem to be reasonable, according to Ronen Shpirer, Senior Solution Marketing Manager, EMEA at Fortinet: • Automation should be used when possible and when thinking about evolving/ transforming/modernising their networks, telcos should make sure that differ- ent levels of automation are, if possible, inherent to this effort or can be added. Automation is important as it allows to deal with a growing technological complexity and shortage of skills and human resources. It improves the telco’s overall agility and time to market for services. • Open API-based solutions/architectures should be preferred as it should allow for better evolution and integration with additional/new technologies. • The use of AI/ML should be investigated and considered as it may prove itself valuable in many aspects: the behaviour of the services/network, granular service customisation, actionable insight into service/network evolution, etc. Source: Ronen Shpirer, Senior Solution Marketing Manager, EMEA at Fortinet Ronen Shpirer, senior solution marketing manager, EMEA at Fortinet Hesham Elsherif, principal system engineer, A10 Networks. – bypassing all the legacy 3G/4G networks that most developed country-operators must maintain. Since 5G supports so many new types of connected devices, and many manufacturers, it may actually be an op- portunity to narrow the digital gap through 5G devices that are simpler and less costly, but perform critical functions needed,” explained Elsherif. The telecoms future is going to be a challenging one for many mobile network operators however, for many in the devel- oping world it could be less of a challenge than their developed nation counterparts. Without the behemoth legacy architecture that developed nations possess, developing nations have long had an advantage in the connected world. 35www.commsmea.com FUTURE TELCOS CommsMEA December 2019THE CHANGING ROLE OF TELECOMS Wasim Azhar, VP of customer success at Openet and experts from Neural Technologies answer your questions on what the telecoms giant of the future will look like 36www.commsmea.comCommsMEA December 2019 CHANGING ROLE TELCOSTechnology trends that are changing the world: • Big data: With the advent of everything being connected, there is an infinite amount of data. This data needs to be sorted, sifted and analysed to produce actionable information. Telecoms need to ensure they are using all of the data they collect to improve their business and services. • The rise of AI: fraud detection, customer service chatbots, and so much more are changing the way we interact. • IoT: The internet of things is driving the hyper-connected world. The intro- duction of Google Home and Amazon Alexa were just the beginning of this technological revolution. • 5G: This needs no introduction, 5G is the technology that will enable this ver- sion of the technology revolution. communications [URLLC] poised as the key to the enterprise coffer. And they’re not wrong. The need for reliable connec- tivity will become increasingly important for many enterprises; take car manufac- turers, for example; the success of their connected car offering will rely on being able to guarantee low-latency, high-speed connectivity. Operators hold the key to reaching this URLLC nirvana,” said Openet’s Azhar. The expected introduction of network slicing will create vast dedicated per- formance-guaranteed virtual networks which operators can offer exclusively to enterprises. This will completely change how operators monetise their services, as they’ll be able to guarantee SLA-grade connectivity, and monetise each service on a per-slice basis. This move towards the enterprise will see more companies partnering with telecoms and vendors to ultimately deliver on 5G promise. “Just last week, gaming company Ni- antic published a job advertisement for a ‘global head of Mobile Network Operators’ demonstrating the shift in direction for companies not typically involved in the telecoms space,” said Azhar. It is important that operators continue to identify how they can stay in control of the content, rather than being a ‘dumb’ 5 G is here, it is revolutionary, and it is changing the way the world works. The recent rise of 5G is creating and defining the hyper- connected modern economy. Telecoms op- erators have a key role to play in enabling this hyper-connected world by revolution- ising their offerings and content to satisfy their customer’s escalating technological demands. Our society is increasingly be- coming more and more reliant on telecoms operators to deliver strong real-time con- nectivity performance. Experts at Neural Technologies agree that new ways of living in an increasingly connected environment is creating new monetisation opportunities for telecoms based on new network use cases. These will ultimately surpass companies’ 4G use cases which, while similar, cannot support the more virtualised WAN networks with the same potential to by-pass their core networks. Therefore, this identification of new revenue streams will become a necessity in this new age of 5G networks in order to meet user demands as they grow. “On the face of it, 2019 has been a year of 5G progress. Countries like South Korea, the US and Switzerland have created a global leadership position, signing up 5G subscribers on to 5G tariffs via 5G devices. Consumers have been the obvious priority, with enhanced mobile broadband [eMBB] the use case. But, operators understand that 5G revenue potential won’t come from consumer services alone,” noted Wasim Azhar, VP of customer success at Openet. NEW REVENUE STREAMS: Telecoms operators are rising to the chal- lenge, and are redefining themselves in their move to different verticals to diversi- fy business offerings through partnerships and acquisitions, according to Neural Technologies experts. Recently, tradition- al Cable TV MSO Comcast announced it would be moving into the mobile services and operating industries as an MVNO using Verizon’s network. This is a win-win for both Comcast (Xfinity) and Verizon as they can now obtain a broader reach. “Operators are eyeing up the enterprise, with ultra-reliable, ultra-low latency Telecoms operators are having to diversify their technological offerings to maintain customer share in the face of 5G. Photo by Rubén Bagüés on Unsplash 37www.commsmea.com CHANGING ROLE TELCOS CommsMEA December 2019market and that spur on the uptake and adoption of new services,” said Azhar. The world is seeing traditional Network Operations Groups being absorbed into the IT organisation as data – in its entirety - becomes wholly IP-based. For example, PureCloud frenzy is now settling down into a hybrid approach, with Edge Process- ing being implemented where it makes sense to address real-time requirements, according to Neural Technologies experts. Meanwhile, Open Source promises a utopia of perfect components that work efficiently with one another and the ‘Buy versus Build’ pendulum has now swung towards internal development. Service providers need to continue to gain knowledge across a myriad of domains in order to remain current and address specific use cases; they will need to rely on the expertise of vendors that support these applications and verticals. Relative to this, it can be observed that advancements in AI and ML are of further interest within the industry, but the po- tential gain on ROIs are only just starting to be realised. to embracing DevOps, micro-services and Open APIs. These new approaches and ways of working will give operators the agility and flexibility to offer new con- textually rich content to subscribers, on demand, in real time, and in response to rapidly changing subscriber and industry trends. 5G will bring new services to the table—VR, low-latency gaming, ultra-HD video—but operators will only be able to offer and monetise these services with the right tools in place to speed up time to Operators are eyeing up the enterprise, with ultra-reliable, ultra-low latency communications [URLLC] poised as the key to the enterprise coffer. And they’re not wrong. The need for reliable connectivity will become increasingly important for many enterprises; take car manufacturers, for example; the success of their connected car offering will rely on being able to guarantee low- latency, high-speed connectivity. Operators hold the key to reaching this URLLC nirvana.” Wasim Azhar, VP of customer success at Openet. pipe, according to Neural Technologies. To diversify, operators need to deliver the personalised content as opposed to simply transporting the same services. It would also benefit to capitalise on recurring revenue from the vast range of devices that will be attached to the industry’s progres- sion through IoT and Edge Computing, amongst others. THE FUTURE: 5G has the potential to deliver richer content and more engaging services than ever before. Content and services that subscribers want and can get excited by. Instead of just transporting data and services, telecoms operators are monetis- ing the services that flow through their network infrastructure. In the future the sector will see companies partnering to address specific verticals and generate different offerings. For example, a recent announcement by TELUS – a Canadian Operator – revealed that they acquired the home security company ADT. Such col- laborations are important in the develop- ment of the industry to meet the ever- expanding needs of the market, according to Neural Technologies. “5G represents radical change in how content and services are created and of- fered. Operators embrace new technology and new architecture to capitalise on all new 5G opportunities, free from the limi- tations of legacy systems. The operator of the future, in 2020 and beyond, will there- fore need to switch gears when it comes 5G is revolutionary and will change our world into a hyper-connected society. 38www.commsmea.com CHANGING ROLE TELCOS CommsMEA December 2019TTHHE TRUSTED SOURCE FOR TECHHNNOOLOGY NEWWS AANNDD ANALYSIS FOR CIOOSS, IITT MANAGERSS AANND CYRBERSECURITY PROFESSIONALSSS AAAACCCCRRRROOOOSSSSSSS TTTTTHHHHEEEE MMMMIIIDDDDDDDDLLLLLEEEE EASSTT NNNEEETWORKMMMIIIDDDDDDDDLLLLEEEEEEAST.COMNext >