The recently concluded LEAP 25 in Riyadh has again proven to be a success, with $25 billion in announced investments and partnerships. The event has also solidified Saudi Arabia’s bold ambitions to become a hub for emerging technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), communications and infrastructure.
Consequently, global players such as Ericsson is looking at ways to capitalize on the booming tech scene in Saudi Arabia and the wider region. “Yeah, it’s a great opportunity at LEAP [for Ericsson] to actually demonstrate [our capabilities], but also have that conversation together with our clients and customers,” says Lucky La Riccia, vice president and head of Cloud Software and Services at Ericsson Middle East and Africa.
“If you start with an intelligent network, essentially what we’re trying to do is build the flexibility, the scale, and the programmability of the network in order to take advantage of 5G, 5G standalone. And creating what we call differentiated connectivity, and that allows then for different experiences and different qualities of service for different consumer or enterprise groups,” he adds.
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A history anchored in innovation
Founded in 1876, Ericsson is widely known for its innovative approach to communications by designing hardware, software, and services to enable the full value of connectivity.
As one of the global leaders in the field, Ericsson has set its sights on the future, and how emerging technologies are creating a world where communications will be faster, clearer, and more interactive.
“That’s the flexibility that the networks of the future are really going to bring. Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) experiences powered by 5G are transforming industries, whether it’s healthcare, energy, entertainment,” La Riccia explains.
“I really love one case at our stand that we’re presenting right now, and that’s our robot, our robot actually detects with sensors, but also can close the loop, can take action on a potential fire that sits in a situation. And it’s doing that not only by understanding its surroundings, but it’s also using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), to be able to make decisions in different circumstances. And that’s what we talk about, making the intelligent network aware and also able to take action.”
Arabia’s emergence as a tech hub
Saudi Arabia, with its diversification plans laying out the foundation for a knowledge and tech-powered economy, is a magnet for leading players such as Ericsson. How is the company’s technology supporting Saudi Arabia’s sustainability goals in relation to its Vision 2030 and its digital transformation goals?
“I think Ericsson’s synonymous with being able to innovate in different circumstances and really what the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is embarking upon is truly impressive. Two things really come to my mind. The first is the energy saving that comes around with the new portfolio of radios. We take into account a lot of the requirements that come from the Saudi market and our R&D is built upon that, and that’s a great green initiative, but it’s also a great user experience that it should have in that sense.
“The second one is really spurring the digital economy. Whether we talk about financial payments or fintech, which we’re embarked on here in Saudi Arabia, or whether we’re creating new revenue streams and possibilities with differentiated connectivity for either enterprise, or enhanced mobile broadband. This digitized economy is all about securing that. It’s low touch, but it’s also a high user experience. So creating the flexibility in the network, the capability in the network, and it’s all at the heart of, you know, growing the consumer and enterprise experience,” La Riccia adds.
Asked about his thoughts on the trends shaping the ICT landscape in the Middle East Africa region, he says: “It’s an exciting period coming up, I must say. But, if I start with the intelligence part, we have great networks at 5G. We talk about 5G advanced or even moving to 6G.
“It’s the flexibility and the intelligence that’s coming. So that’ll be a huge trend. And what do I mean by that? The introduction of artificial intelligence and machine learning across all of the product portfolios. As an example, with cognitive software. It means that the network can gain insights, but also take action in particular scenarios.”
“If I talk about operating a network, our operations engine talks about using machine learning, but also large language models to be able to interrogate the network and work out in an automated fashion what to do and how to do it. And the user just controls and presses the execute button in that sense,” he adds.
Cloud computing, which refers to the delivery of computing services such as storage, processing power, databases, networking, software, and analytics over the internet, instead of relying on local servers or personal devices. This allows individuals and businesses to access and use technology resources on-demand without needing to own or maintain the physical hardware which, in most cases, costs more.
How is this technology playing a key role in modern operations?
“The cloud and the core are starting to become key to the innovation piece. The cloud means that you’ll distribute far more computing and far more processing around the different parts of the network. It gives you flexibility in different use cases. But also what we’re going to see is that core network is going to expose via APIs the characteristics that will help you open up the network to developer communities, different applications,” La Riccia explains.
“Take advantage in different scenarios of what I want to do, whether I want to take advantage of a network slice that gives a different quality of service to an enterprise or a different user group, or whether I want to provide on demand quality of service increase to a particular user group. Gamer, cloud gamers sitting there and saying, ‘well, I want to pay a little bit extra to have a better service,’” he adds.
On the research and development side, Ericsson spent more than $100 billion in R&D over the last three decades. How does La Riccia anticipate the upcoming trends in the industry?
“So, all of these trends are wrapped up into the great software that’s being developed by our R&D engineers together with the requirements of our customers. It’s going to be a super excited, very coming full,” he concludes.
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