Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/961476
NETWORK / 18 / APRIL 2018 T he sheer demands of industry, consum- ers and a creaking energy infrastruc- ture will place more pressure on telco networks in the coming years than at any time in recent decades. For example, rising popula - tions are going to drive demand for water by 20 per cent globally by the middle of the century. This will need a smarter telco system to distribute efficiently and monitor consumption. Meanwhile the current capac - ity of the electricity generation and supply network to meet the needs of electrically-powered vehicles, IoT devices and smart cities is questionable. Several things need to change, including the patterns of demand by users, across energy, communications and utility networks. Southern Water has been ad - dressing the problem of a rising population and demand with a mature campaign. The utility has been able to cut daily water usage to 131 litres/head per day by universal metering but if it is to reach its target of 100 litres/ head per day then it needs a smart telecoms network, to manage demand, supply, wastage and leaks, to minimise damaging spikes in flows, demand and usage. Southern is just one such business. Add in electricity, gas, transport, online consumer traffic and we must ask: is the UK's digital infra - SMART TELECOMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES The communications challenge While it is claimed that the UK has one of the most advanced digital infrastructures in the world, it is in danger of lagging in the development of 5G and the smart networks that will rely on next generation communications. Will Stirling reports. structure up to it? Is it as good as we like to think it is? "No. We're a disaster," said Nigel Nawacki, energy/utility/ communication technology sales for EMEA at Nokia. "The regulators across energy, rail and the utilities really need to get a grip on this. We have been sleepwalking as a society for too long. If we're going to make the UK more of a digital country, to foster more digital enablement, the time to do it is now." Network slicing The utility companies seem to be very much aware of the need to upgrade their operations by transforming their communica - tions infrastructure. Not only utilities but cities are concerned about maintaining supplies es- sential to their very existence as viable entities. "We are certainly facing a challenge and the way we are dealing with it is accelerat - ing the deployment of fibre," said Jean-François Fava-Verde, innovation lead – digital with Innovate UK. Fava-Verde was previously head of telecoms at Orange. "Fibre is key to ensur - ing the telcos can carry the amount of traffic we know is coming. Video traffic is already breaking the ceiling and causing headaches to providers." Consumer traffic is very impor- tant to network operations; they provide the financial certainty on which future networks can be established. The problem is that high consumer usage is get -