Technology September 2022 www.bookshq.net

Sep 2022 | technologymagazine.com

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The Technology Team

SENIOR EDITOR CREATIVE TEAM DIGITAL VIDEO PRODUCERS MEDIA SALES DIRECTOR

ALEX TUCK OSCAR HATHAWAY MARTA EUGENIO JASON WESTGATE
SOPHIE-ANN PINNELL ERNEST DE NEVE JAMES WHITE
EDITOR THOMAS EASTERFORD
HECTOR PENROSE DREW HARDMAN MANAGING DIRECTOR
CATHERINE GRAY SAM HUBBARD
MIMI GUNN PROJECT DIRECTORS LEWIS VAUGHAN
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR JUSTIN SMITH
KRIS PALMER CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER
SCOTT BIRCH REBEKAH BIRLESON MIKE SADR
JORDAN WOOD BEN MALTBY STACY NORMAN
PRODUCTION DIRECTORS
DANILO CARDOSO TOM VENTURO CEO
GEORGIA ALLEN CALLUM HOOD RYAN HALL
DANIELA KIANICKOVÁ GLEN WHITE
VIDEO PRODUCTION MANAGER MARKETING MANAGER
PRODUCTION MANAGERS
KIERAN WAITE DAISY SLATER
PHILLINE VICENTE
JANE ARNETA
ELLA CHADNEY

www.bookshq.net

FOREWORD

“Consumer priorities Shifting priorities
are undoubtedly demand businesses
shift gear
changing, and, if the
tech industry wants Digital sustainability is finally high on
the business agenda, after years of tech
to reflect this shift, being used to drive profit and efficiency
it needs to utilise improvements; the question now is how
to maintain industry competitiveness.
technology for good
and put its executives companies all over the world have committed
to various sustainability initiatives in recent
at the forefront of years. Sadly, though, as reported by Oracle,
this strategy. ” 94% of people lack the belief that society
has made enough progress when it comes to
TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE sustainability and social issues.
IS PUBLISHED BY
43% of businesses share faith in their power to enact
more meaningful changes when it comes to both
sustainability and social factors and, as such, think
that now is the time for them to take decisive action
– especially if they want to not only support the fight
against climate change while also remaining competitive.

Consumer priorities are undoubtedly changing, and,
if the tech industry wants to reflect this shift, it needs
to utilise technology for good and put its executives at
the forefront of this strategy.

In this issue, we look into this very topic, showcasing
the importance of digital sustainability while learning
how key players in the industry are leading the way with
climate conscious and tech-driven policies.

CATHERINE GRAY

[email protected]

© 2022 | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED www.bookshq.net

technologymagazine.com 5

CONTENTS

Our Regular
Upfront Section:

14 Big Picture
16 The Brief
18 Timeline:
The history of
graphics cards
20 Trailblazer:
Dima Gazda
24 Five Minutes With:
Vivek Daga

70 Oracle Red Bull
Oracle Red Bull Racing deliver
an unrivalled fan experience

30 82

Vodafone Ziggo Bukalapak

A driving force of the www.booksThheqf.untueretfor
Dutch digitisation cybersecurity is resilience

98 124

Network Security Tech & Service Providers

The benefits of Techno-nationalism
vendor consolidation & data sovereignty

132

Belron International

Securing Belron’s future with
a robust cyber defence suite

106 148

Burns & McDonnell AI & ML

Managing risk and buildingwww.booksKehepqin.gneeyets on the road:
cyber resilience the role of computer vision

In Association with:

Meet who runs
the world.

TOP 100

Women in

TECHNOLOGY

NEW ISSUE
OUT NOW

Read now

www.bookshq.net

A BizClik Media Group Brand Creating Digital Communities

156

Digital Health Care Wales

Digital transformation at
digital health and care wales

170 182

Global PayEX DISH Network

Optimising working capitawl ww.booksTahkinqg.onveerthe US’ Wireless
via AR and AP automation
Market with Open-RAN Tech

202 228

Servier Pharmaceuticals Jellyfish

Improving the lives of patients How Jellyfish is meeting
M&A challenges with J+

214 240
Tech Mahindra
Providence St. JosewphwHwea.lbthooksDhriqvin.ng feortward 5G innovation
Modernising & Innovating Healthcare
with Tech Mahindra

294

Green Bay Area
Public Schools

Breaking barriers to technology,
improving education

254

OSN

Back to TV-style viewing?
The future of media broadcasting

268

DC Blox

Supercharging southeast states
with critical infrastructure

280 306

2U Sciences Po

Transforming and securingwww.booksDihgitqis.inngepetdagogy with
education through tech openness & excellence

7 - 8 SEPT 2022

STREAMED & IN PERSON

BUSINESS DESIGN CENTRE, LONDON

SHAPING THE BUSINESS
OF SUSTAINABILITY
AND ESG

3,000+

Participants

2

Days

3

Zones

60+

Speakers

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Join us at SUSTAINABILITY
LIVE LONDON

Showcase your values, products From keynote addresses to lively roundtables,
and services to your partners and fireside discussions to topical presentations,
customers at SUSTAINABILITY Q&A sessions to 1-2-1 networking,
LIVE LONDON 2022. the 2-day hybrid show is an essential deep
dive into issues impacting the future of each
Brought to you by BizClik Media Group industry today.
SUSTAINABILITY LIVE LONDON, the
hybrid event held between 7th-8th Global giants and innovative startups will all
September is broadcast live to the world find the perfect platform with direct access
and incorporates three zone areas of to an engaged and active audience. You can’t
Sustainability LIVE, B-Corp LIVE plus afford to miss this opportunity.
March8 LIVE in to one event.
See you on:
With a comprehensive content programme
featuring senior industry leaders and expert 7 - 8 September 2022

analysts, this is an opportunity to put
yourself and your brand in front
of key industry decision makers.

www.bookshq.netGet tickets
Sponsor opportunities

technologymagazine.com 13

BIG PICTURE

www.bookshq.net

14 September 2022

Progress in
immersive AR

With major developments in new
augmented reality (AR) technology, we will
soon be able to interact with the 3D digital
world via head-mounted devices (HMD).
Ericsson’s EPHAS team have merged AR, 5G
and geo-tracking technologies to create a
new, democratised platform for immersive

www.bookAsR shtoqryt.enllineg etxperiences.

technologymagazine.com 15

THE BRIEF

“BT recently launched Realising the benefits of
a new Charter for its IoT implementation
Enterprise customers
to provide them with a 83% 94%
springboard for growth”
of organisations have of retailers agree that the
Jonathan Cole improved their benefits of implementing IoT
Director, efficiency by introducing
BT Defence IoT technology. outweigh the risk.

How Google Cloud technology played
READ MORE a part in the Women’s EURO Final
The Football Association partnered
“AI and machine with Google Cloud to help England’s
learning technologies Lionesses use technology to prepare
are going to be critical for the EURO final
for cybersecurity in
the future. The noise is
just tremendous”

Anthony Foust
Global Chief Information
Security Officer,
Belron


READ MORE

“It’s going to be
something that slowly
remoulds the entire
educational environment
through technology and
AI in the EdTech space”

Andreas Andreu
Chief Information Security Officer,

2U


READ MORE www.bookshq.net

16 September 2022

 BYD W
After being written off by EV I
giant Tesla, BYD dethroned N
them as the world’s top N
seller of electric cars earlier E
this year. BYD has little R
brand recognition outside S
China, despite selling some
641,000 vehicles in the first SEP22
half of 2022.
L
 APPLE O
S
AlphaFold Apple reported higher- E
announces new than-expected profit and R
sales, with demand for S

understanding of iPhones holding steady.
protein universe Sales and profit for the
structure quarter were US$83bn and
US$1.20 a share, according
to Apple, surpassing Wall

Street expectations.

One year after making its Protein Structure

Database (AlphaFold DB) freely available  META

to the world, AlphaFold has released its Meta, Facebook’s parent

predictions for the shape of all proteins company, has reported a

known to science. loss of US$2.8bn on Reality

In partnership with EMBL’s European Labs, its metaverse project.

Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), AlphaFold The metaverse arm has

expects its database to grow from 1mn to over now missed on profits for

200mn structures as research continues. the second quarter in a row.

This advancement in artificial intelligence

(AI) will transform scientific knowledge on a  ALPHABET

global level. As researchers continue using Alphabet reported weaker-

the AlphaFold DB to gain fresh insights into than-expected earnings

proteins, our knowledge of bacteria, plant and and revenue for the

animal structures will increase – as will our second quarter. Revenue

understanding of how to overcome important growth in the quarter

global issues, such as sustainability and disease. slowed to 13%, a drop

Already, more than 500,000 researchers from 62% a year earlier,

have made use of the AlphaFold DB to begin when the company was

tackling global issues. From plastic pollution to benefitting from a rise

antibiotic resistance, protecting honey bees to in consumer spending

looking deeper into the origins of life itself, the amid the post-pandemic

www.bookshq.netpossibilities of AlphaFold DB’s uses are endless.
reopening of society.

technologymagazine.com 17

TIMELINE

THE HISTORY
OF GRAPHICS
CARDS

1977

Today, we take realistic Home game consoles emerge
images and cinematic According to the National Museum of
settings in gaming for Play, Atari should be credited as the
granted, but not long ago, first company to make home-gameplay
the dramatic progression popular. However, Atari 2600’s graphics
of video game graphics were simplistic and without texture,
seemed a world away. Since making home consoles less attractive than
the 1970s, video games have arcade games for the emerging gaming
developed considerably generation. Game-makers recognised that
in response to increasing graphics needed major improvement.
demands for more lifelike
gaming experiences.
Ongoing developments
rely on gaming companies
continuing to invest in
disruptive technologies.

1958

First video game manufactured
William Higinbotham’s Tennis for Two is considered

the first video game made for entertainment. On
display at an annual laboratory exhibition in Long
Island, the 2D game was immediately popular with

visitors. It wasn’t until the 1970s, however, that
the concept was adopted to inspire iconic arcade

games like Pong.

www.bookshq.net

18 September 2022

1983 2022

Nintendo creates Mario Record-breaking gains
By connecting sprites to Following the release of NVIDIA’s long-
form a Mario character with awaited ETX 30 series graphics cards in 2020,
8-bit graphics, Nintendo a recent Jon Peddie Research report stated
the market has increased massively in the
transformed home- past year. With higher consumer demand than
gameplay. Over the next ever before, huge tech companies like Intel
decade, Nintendo used have entered the competition to produce
16-bit, 32-bit and 64-bit
developments – and a new next-gen graphics cards.
technique called Mode 7
– to craft more realistic
3D objects for the rising
interest in more graphically
accurate platform games.

1999

First GPU released worldwide
NVIDIA (still a leading graphics card
manufacturer) released the GeForce 256
GPU (graphics processing unit) shortly before
the turn of the century. Since, NVIDIA has
rivalled titans ATI and AMD in its mission to
produce the most impressive graphics card
for consumers, from tech companies to car
manufacturers to gamers themselves.

www.bookshq.net

technologymagazine.com 19

TRAILBLAZER

Dima Gazda

Esper Bionics: has five different sizes, while being
prosthetic natural in shape and moving in a
similar fashion to an arm.

“We believe that the prosthetics
industry will become a birthplace of

pioneers technologies that will give people
extra abilities, eliminate diseases,
and help billions of humans live

CEO of Esper Bionics, Dima Gazda, longer and more fulfilling lives in a
explains how his company is set to diverse world. That’s why, currently,
transform people’s lives with his we are focusing our efforts on this
industry. We have started with

pioneering prosthetic technology developing robotic limb prostheses

and controllers for people who have

W ith a focus on lost their hands,” comments Gazda.
mechatronics, artificial “At Esper, we are giving people
intelligence (AI) and
back their self-confidence,

IoT, Esper Bionics is a pioneering functionality, hope, and

company in the engineering space. opportunities,” he adds.

Leading this team of pioneers is Esper believes that human

Founder and CEO Dima Gazda, who capacity and abilities are

explains how involved he is in many underestimated. The company aims

aspects of the company while it’s in to unleash these abilities by building

its early stages. technologies that can eliminate

“However, thanks to our great diseases, give humans extra abilities,

team, I can dedicate a lot of my and, ultimately, fulfil and prolong

time to strategy and planning, only the lives of billions of people around

engaging in the hardest tasks when the globe.

it comes to execution,” he says. This mission is founded on the

Esper Bionics is an augmentation knowledge that the prosthetics

start-up, currently developing industry is well and truly in need of

robotic limb prostheses and Weight of a major upgrade, as Gazda explains:
controllers for people who have prosthetic “The majority of prostheses that
lost their hands. The prosthetic has amputees use today are purely
moveable fingers, is 3x faster in hand cosmetic with no functionality

370g

www.bookshq.netcontrol, is light and safe, and also
whatsoever. Even those more

20 September 2022

“At Esper, we are giving
people back their self-

confidence, functionality,
hope, and opportunities”

www.bookshq.net

technologymagazine.com 21

TRAILBLAZER

advanced versions that allow the

performance of the simplest tasks

are very limited in their abilities.”

“We at Esper have created the hand

prosthesis Esper Hand that not only

allows amputees to perform most

everyday tasks — from cutting an apple

to applying makeup — but can be

customised to the individual needs of

the user, predict the user’s behaviour

and move intuitively. The more you

use it, the better at understanding

your intentions it gets. That’s a big step

forward,” he enthuses.

Gazda believes that his company

is truly unique as it is the “only

company focused on the ‘brain’ of

the prosthesis, its improvement

over time, and its development

alongside users. Imagine if your

hand could upgrade over time to

match your personality, tastes,

wardrobe, skillset, and career.”

The Esper Hand is much more

functional, with up to 3x faster

control than other hand prostheses

available on the market.

“It is also beautifully designed after

a human hand. In June 2022, the hand

won the Best of the Best Award 2022

in Product Design from Red Dot, one

of the biggest design competitions in

the world,” notes Gazda. vendors to enhance their devices

Currently, Esper Bionics is and cooperate with the developers

focused primarily on the US hand of electronic implants.

prostheses market, and its goal is to The company has three debut

make Esper Hand the most popular products: The Esper Hand, a bionic

hand prosthesis in the US. Once it self-learning hand prosthesis; Esper

has achieved this goal, the company Control, a non-invasive wearable

plans to expand into the EU and brain-computer interface; and Esper

several other markets, develop Platform, a cloud-based software

prostheses for other parts of the solution to individualise the control

www.bookshq.netarm, partner with other prostheses
of wearables.

22 September 2022

“In June 2022, the hand
won the Best of the Best
Award 2022 in Product

Design from Red Dot”

www.bookshq.net

technologymagazine.com 23

FIVE MINUTES WITH...

VIVEK DELIVERING
DAGA TRANSFORMATION IN
NETWORK SERVICES
MANAGING DIRECTOR, AND BEYOND
UK & IRELAND, NTT LTD
Vivek Daga leads NTT Ltd.’s UK &
Ireland business. In this role, he is
accountable for business strategy
design and implementation, client
relationships, the partner ecosystem,
talent management, sales, marketing,
delivery and operations. His focus is on
driving outcomes that matter to NTT’s
clients, colleagues, and partners.

Q. WHAT IS NTTS’S POINT OF
DIFFERENCE AS A BUSINESS?

» It is a rare occurrence when

the combined expertise of
50,000 people and over
30 companies are brought
together to form a US$10bn
global enterprise and business
of the future.
85% of the Fortune Global 500
and 79% of the Fortune Global
100 companies are our clients.
We are rated as the Leader in
Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for
Network Services.
NTT Ltd. helps clients accelerate and
deliver digital transformation – as well
as modern customer and employee
experiences – through its secure-
by-design assets, IP, platforms and
services that enable modernisation,

“ WE ARE RATED AS THE
LEADER IN GARTNER’S
MAGIC QUADRANT FOR
NETWORK SERVICES.”

www.bookshq.net

24 September 2022

“I ’D LIKE TO THINK THAT I’VE MANAGED Q. WHAT TECHNOLOGY ARE
TO REINVENT MYSELF OVER THE COURSE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD
OF MY CAREER BY EMBRACING CHANGE, TO USING MORE OF?
TAKING ON NEW CHALLENGES AND BEING
A LIFELONG STUDENT.” » I am intrigued by the application

of AR/VR/mixed reality technologies

and their potential across both

digitalisation and innovation. consumer and enterprise domains.

Our purpose is to enable and I have tried different headsets over

accelerate the connected future for time, from cardboard to Oculus

businesses, communities, and the variants. I plan to track the evolution

planet. Sustainable development of this technology, the experiences it

is central to NTT’s purpose of creates and the problems it solves.

enabling the connected future. NTT

Ltd. therefore supports the UN’s Q. WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR

Sustainable Development Goals and CAREER HIGHLIGHT PRIOR

is proud to be the Business Avenger TO YOUR CURRENT ROLE?
for Goal #11, which is ‘Sustainable
» Rather than call out a single

Cities and Communities’. highlight, I’d like to think that I’ve

Additionally, NTT Ltd. is part of managed to reinvent myself over the

the global NTT family, which is a course of my career by embracing

US$112bn corporation, with 320,000 change, taking on new challenges and

www.bookshq.netpeople around the world.
being a lifelong student.

technologymMagazine.com 25

FIVE MINUTES WITH...

Q. WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR conditions that enable success for
HIGHLIGHT IN YOUR others. My focus is on creating an
CURRENT ROLE? environment in which individuals
and teams can collaborate and
» Firstly, I must say it’s been brilliant thrive, create tangible impact and
find fulfilment in what they do.
coming into an environment where
people are super committed and Q. WHAT EXCITING PLANS DO
hard-working, as well as caring and YOU HAVE COMING UP AS AN
full of humour. A highlight in the ORGANISATION?
current role has been the opportunity
to shape and drive the transformation » It is a super exciting time to lead a
of the NTT Ltd. UK & Ireland business
in the past year, building a more agile platform, IP and asset rich business
and ‘match-fit’ business. through which to drive the acceleration
of our clients’ digital transformation
Q. WHAT IS YOUR LEADERSHIP and modernisation imperatives.
STYLE? We recently announced that NTT
DATA and NTT Ltd. will combine their
» My personal and leadership IT Services organisations outside

approach is to have a razor-
sharp focus on building strategic
relevance and advocacy with clients,
colleagues, and partners.
Trust and relevance are key parts
of any equation of success, and
advocacy is gained by delivering
outcomes. That, of course, is easier
said than done and needs strong
and sustained internal alignment
and collaboration across all parts of
the organisation. That shapes how I
think of my role, how I strive to lead
and how I encourage others to lead.
In my view, leadership at its core is
not about the leader. It’s about how
effective the leader is in creating

“ IT’S BEEN BRILLIANT
COMING INTO AN
ENVIRONMENT WHERE
PEOPLE ARE SUPER
COMMITTED AND
HARD-WORKING”

www.bookshq.net

26 September 2022

Blockchain Book | The Bytes Behind Blocks:
An Architect’s Guide to Blockchain

Japan into a new operating company.
NTT DATA is combining its system
integration capabilities, in vertical
industry expertise, digital consulting,
application development, and
managed services capabilities with
NTT Ltd.'s 'Edge to Cloud' service
operation capabilities, mainly in the
field of data centres, networks and
managed services – combining the
power to create with the power to
connect. By developing this central
service portfolio, one that supports
digital transformation, NTT is able to
respond to our clients’ increasingly
complex and diverse needs on a

www.bookshqglo.bnaleletvel.

technologymagazine.com 27

A BizClik Brand www.bookshq.net

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30 September 2022

VodafoneZiggo

A DRIVING
FORCE OF

THE DUTCH
DIGITISATION

WRITTEN BY:
ALEX TUCK

PRODUCED BY:
STUART IRVING

www.bookshq.net

technologymagazine.com 31

VodafoneZiggo

Leo-Geert van den Berg reveals how
innovation, partnership and customer
service has made the Dutch telco the
most reliable fixed network in the country

F or such a technologically advanced
telco, the mission of VodafoneZiggo
reads rather poignantly and
humanely in its message:
‘In the end, life is all about feeling
connected. With each other, with loved
ones, friends and family. With the things
that matter to them. So they can fully
enjoy everything the world has to offer.
And people, companies and society can
progress. Enjoyment and progress with
every connection.’
The Dutch telco’s master connector is
their Director of Fixed Network, Leo-Geert
van den Berg. A harmonising team builder,
with a long history of realising strategy
and leading change and transformation,
van den Berg has 20 years' experience in
various technical managerial roles, but
predominantly in telecom organisations. A
team builder, committed people manager
and communicatively strong according to
the opinions of employers and colleagues,
van den Berg has spent his career in
various technical managerial roles, but
predominantly in telecom organisations.
For the last 21 years, he has been working at
Liberty Global (LGI), of which the last seven
years at VodafoneZiggo.
Previously CTO at Ziggo in 2016, after the
merger between Vodafone and Ziggo in
2017, he has since been responsible for the
Fixed networks in VodafoneZiggo, including
www.bookshq.netHFC, Access, IP/Core Networks, Backbone,

32 September 2022

www.bookshq.net Example of
an image caption

technologymagazine.com 33

www.bookshq.net

Ciena drives reliable, scalable networks with Vodafone Ziggo

Jürgen Hatheier, CTO for EMEA and APAC at Ciena, talks about its work with
Vodafone Ziggo and the reliability and scalability of network connectivity

Connectivity has become a basic human critical next-generation connectivity to its
need, particularly when, in the current expansive customer base which include
employment landscape, businesses hospitals, government agencies and
are offering more work-from-home enterprises,” says Hatheier.
opportunities. Connectivity will also soon
be embedded into more facts of life, such Ciena addressed the need for security
as electric vehicles (EVs) and infrastructure.
The coronavirus pandemic was an
As the coronavirus pandemic became the opportunity for Vodafone Ziggo and Ciena
main influence in the work-from-home to develop solutions to meet the security
mentality and demand for higher network requirements of remote workers. Ciena
speeds for all of our digital services, it brought its optical technologies to the
exacerbated the need for a strong and table to ensure Vodafone Ziggo operates
reliable network to manage multiple with high-speed connectivity to provide
compute-intensive tasks throughout homes. its customers with a reliable, scalable,
and secure network.
Maturing networks to meet demand
“When Vodafone Ziggo talks about
As expectations run higher, networks reliability, quality and speed of the network,
are having to keep up – which means they it’s underpinned by our design principles of
must adapt to address surging demands. reliability, scalability, and security,” Hatheier
As highlighted by Jürgen Hatheier, CTO says. “Ciena’s WaveLogic technology allows
for EMEA and APAC at Ciena, COVID-19 operators to increase their fibre capacity
was a catalyst for the need for scalable while also decreasing their energy use.
and programmable networks. But, this Each successive WaveLogic generation
was only a catalyst for change. Way before uses approximately 50% less energy on
the pandemic, telecommunications was a power per bit basis, while doubling data
growing in applications. throughput over a single wavelength.”

“As a key enabler of innovations that

drive network connectivity, Ciena was

relentlessly focused on ensuring that

www.bookshq.netVodafone Ziggo could continue to deliver
Find out more

VodafoneZiggo

A driving force of the Dutch digitisation

“ WE HAVE A LOT OF Video Services, Voice Services, Internet
ENTERTAINMENT ON Services and Data Centres.
OFFER AND MANY
Earlier this year, the organisation won the
umlaut ‘Best fixed network score’ from the
Accenture-backed benchmarking awards.

HAPPY CUSTOMERS Umlaut is an independent German group
ON BOARD. BUT that carries out mobile benchmarks, and this
year was the debut for the category of ‘fixed

THE ENGINE ROOM networks’.
IS NEEDED FOR During COVID’s peak, the organisation saw

capacity grow approximately 33% per year.

EVERYTHING TO The telco needed to make sure that they are
RUN PERFECTLY” one step ahead of what the customers need,
proactively building out the capacity so that
customers could access services, at the

LEO-GEERT VAN DEN BERG fastest speeds, at all times.
DIRECTOR FIXED NETWORK, “It was a constant evaluation and
VodafoneZiggo
expansion of our network capacity, making

sure we're ready for the next level. We

continued to monitor the network’s quality

and because we had the processes in place,

we could continue during COVID as well,”

www.booksasidhvaqn d.enneBetrg.

36 September 2022

LEO-GEERT VAN DEN BERG

TITLE: DIRECTOR FIXED NETWORK
INDUSTRY: TELCO
LOCATION: THE NETHERLANDS

Leo-Geert has over twenty years
experience in various technical
managerial roles, predominantly within
telecom. He joined Liberty Global in
2001 where he held several technical
management positions, the last few years
as Vice-President in the Technology
team. Leo-Geert moved to Ziggo in
2014 and became CTO in 2016. After
the merger of Vodafone and Ziggo Leo-
Geert has been responsible for the Fixed
networks in VodafoneZiggo.
Prior to telecom, Leo-Geert worked
for Philips, TNO and IBM and during
the six years at IBM took several
management positions at Ahold and
PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
Leo-Geert has a degree in Language
& Speech Technology from the
University of Utrecht and a Master’s
degree from Sheffield University.

Financial

Revenue (2021) +2%

€ 4,1 billion

2% Increase compared to 2020

EBITDA (2021) +2%

€ 1,91 billion

2% Increase compared to 2020

www.bookshq.net

TATA
DIAMO
(PROO

www.bookshq.net

ELXSI
OND AD

F OUT)

www.bookshq.net

New customers

Mobile postpaid (Q2 2022)

+49,300

Internet (Q2 2022)

-1,900

www.bookshq.net

40 September 2022

VodafoneZiggo

“W E'VE BEEN INVESTING
A LOT OF EFFORT
AND RESOURCES
ON MAKING OUR
NETWORKS, PRODUCTS
AND SERVICES BETTER
FOR OUR CUSTOMERS”

LEO-GEERT VAN DEN BERG
DIRECTOR FIXED NETWORK,
VodafoneZiggo

Transforming the organisation to a more
digital business, such as customers being
able to do services online, has been a critical
part of the telco’s journey.Choosing new
products or services with a click of a button
“instead of having to fill in 20 forms and
waiting for a week.”

The likes of Tata Elxsi has been one of the
partners that VodafoneZiggo works with to
transform into a digital business by creating
and integrating software defined networks:
“SDN and network automation is one of the
big priorities for us,” he added.

Quality and stability
Van den Berg has a major role within the
Fixed Networks team in keeping the systems
up and running at all times, no matter what.

Away from the high street VodafoneZiggo
shop fronts, the lights of the Ziggo Dome
music venue in Amsterdam and the Smart
WiFi-powered devices in the homes and
hands of customers, above all else is the
reliability of the networks themselves.

Van den Berg uses the analogy of a
cruise ship: “We have a lot of entertainment
on offer and many happy customers on

www.bookshq.netboard. But the engine room is needed for

technologymagazine.com 41

© 2022 Plume Design, Inc. All rights reserved. Today’s smart
homes struggle with

yesterday’s WiFi

With the explosion of devices, data demands, and security risks,
today’s smart homes need Adapt™. Part of our HomePass™ suite of Smart Home Services,

Adapt is a cloud-coordinated system that offers the first and only self-optimizing,
whole-home WiFi technology.

Learn more

www.bookshq.net

Plume: powering smart source technologies—that enhances and
homes with VodafoneZiggo personalises users’ home WiFi experiences.

Plume’s SaaS Experience Platform that The recent launch, and high
powers VodafoneZiggo’s SmartWifi service value, of adaptive WiFi
has been instrumental in meeting (and
exceeding) customer expectations, says Together with Plume, VodafoneZiggo
Director of Fixed Technology Leo-Geert launched its SmartWiFi service last year.
Van Den Berg “We saw the importance for our customers.
We saw what adaptive WiFi does for the
As the rise of 5G makes waves across the customers and how it helps to get in-home
industry, home technologies are more connectivity to the level it needs to be and
advanced than ever before. So, it’s hardly at the quality that they expect from us…
surprising that in-home connectivity is one And that’s what the customers value the
of VodafoneZiggo’s key focus areas. In most.” Using sophisticated AI technology,
fact, around half of its call centre enquiries Plume’s award-winning platform develops
concern some aspect of in-home connectivity. a comprehensive understanding of the
unique needs of each and every home
“It shows that, for our customers, in- network, adapting and optimising daily to
home connectivity is key: always-on with ensure that WiFi services are delivered to
the right speeds, everywhere in your their full potential.
house – that’s what the customers value
the most,” comments Leo-Geert Van Den “For us to make it work in the background
Berg, the Director of Fixed Technology at for the customer, and to have it seamlessly
VodafoneZiggo. working and running with the right network
automation, with the right artificial
This priority has fuelled the recent intelligence, with the right data – that’s
partnership between VodafoneZiggo and what adaptive WiFi does for us. And that’s
Plume, a specialist smart home experience what Plume brings for us. It gets services to
management company. work and makes the infrastructure invisible
for the customer.”
Working with Plume enables VodafoneZiggo
to offer an adaptive solution—powered Learn more
by a highly scalable SaaS Experience
Platform that leverages cloud, AI and open-

www.bookshq.net

“ WE ARE ON A Converged customers
JOURNEY FROM
REACTIVE TO (who have both Ziggo and Vodafone products)
PROACTIVE,
AND FROM Households (Q2 2022)
PREVENTIVE TO
AUTONOMOUS” 1.5 million

SIM's (Q2 2022)

2.5 million

LEO-GEERT VAN DEN BERG
DIRECTOR FIXED NETWORK,
VodafoneZiggo

everything to run perfectly. The passengers
never visit the engine room and don’t even
notice there is one until their services are
not working. So from a fixed-technology
department point of view, the more
invisible we are, the better our services are
working and the happier our customers are.
That's what keeps us motivated and keeps
us going.”

“What we do really matters”
And for millions of customers around
the country, it’s hard to understate the
importance of connectivity. During the
height of the COVID crisis, people were
working and studying from home and
using a lot more internet, which meant a
dependence on internet connectivity.

“COVID was an important test for the
networks. The majority of people were
suddenly not in the office, but working
or studying from home. When Monday
morning came around at 10 o'clock, we
would see a massive peak in the network
traffic when usually, that is a very quiet
time of the day. I am proud that we
were able to provide consistently good
performance with zero congestion, even

in those peak moments.” www.bookshq.net

44 September 2022

VodafoneZiggo

$1.82bn
In April 2017,
American hosting company
GoDaddy acquired
123 Reg from the parent
company, HEG.

#1

123 Reg is is the UK's top
domain registrar.

$1.82bn

American hosting company
GoDaddy acquired

123 Reg from the parent
company, HEG.

www.bookshq.net

technologymagazine.com 45

VodafoneZiggo has partnered
with TCS to accelerate their
‘Go Digital’ strategy

From implementing a Digital Marketing Solution
to building Fixed Network Fibre, TCS has played a
pivotal role in VodafoneZiggo’s digital transformation.

Discover more

www.bookshq.net

TCS: Providing technologies to solve customer problems

Sairam Mannar, Client Director for the telecom business unit at TCS,
explains the success of its partnership with VodafoneZiggo

A renowned global company, Tata Consultancy “KPI management is very important for you to

Services (TCS) is – as its name suggests – a know the overall health of the programme. One

consulting and business solutions organisation, area where it made a big difference to Ziggo is in

which also provides information technology. the area of construction partner management,

On a mission to help customers achieve their where we have reduced the overall construction
business objectives, the company’s initial partner spend by 1%. In fibre programmes, the
relationship with Vodafone began in 2007 and spend for construction partners is immense; it
was then extended in 2018 with VodafoneZiggo. runs into millions of euros. We have deployed a
TCS framework called TwinX which is a tool that
Working together, TCS takes success stories does proactive journey management using the
from the different markets of Vodafone to see digital twin concept to reduce order fallouts,
if that solves a particular business problem reduce bottlenecks and thereby improve cycle
with VodafoneZiggo. It brings together the time, first time right and cost.
experiences it has built up with tier one telcos
globally into any specific problem areas of Looking to the future, TCS would like to continue
VodafoneZiggo. to bring the right amount of innovation and the
right technologies into solving customer problems
“The first engagement we have done with them to help Vodafone Ziggo grow their business.
is in the area of digital marketing. It has been
an immensely successful programme – so much “But the focus will be on growing in the
so, that it is now also being deployed in other network services area where TCS has built a
markets of Vodafone,” said Sairam Mannar, lot of capabilities and experience with many
Client Director for the telecom business unit at Tier-1 Telcos in Europe. This means services in
TCS and also a Client Partner for VodafoneZiggo the area of 1. Cognitive network operations, 2.
from TCS. Network Testing 3. NFV cloudification, 4. SDWAN
industrial deployment, 5. 4G/5G services and 6.
Mannar explained how the companies worked open RAN.” concluded Mannar.”
together in the area of fixed fibre build,

launching the programme in 2020. Digitising the

whole process, including key functions such as
budget management and KPIs, it is completely

www.bookshq.netbased on a scaled agile concept.
Get in touch

VodafoneZiggo

UMLAUT

With a score of 947 out of 1000
points and an overall rating of
"very good", Ziggo was the overall winner
in the umlaut benchmark for 2022.

Hakan Ekmen, CEO Telecommunication VodafoneZiggo’s networks were tested

at umlaut: "Congratulations to from a capacity, stability and quality point of

VodafoneZiggo for winning the 2022 view. These are three major elements that

DID YOU KNOW... umlaut connect Fixed-Line Broadband are key to the network: “We made the right

Benchmark in the Netherlands! Our choices in the years’ previous to focus on

assessment shows great efforts in these areas, and we need to continue on this

enhancing the fixed-line network route for the years to come.”

expansion to offer customers reliability, Especially during that first COVID period,

high data rates and low latencies. Dutch the responsibility of all the Dutch telcos

customers can be quite pleased with to keep our society connected became

the user experience of their fixed-line very visible. It was then that VodafoneZiggo

connections." had to prove that the networks were up

www.bookshq.netand running constantly, at the right quality

48 September 2022

level, with minimal outages and sufficient products and services better for our customers.

capacity for internet, both on the upstream To be awarded this year with the best fixed

and the downstream. network award was a great recognition for the

“Those are the key KPIs that we closely team. We were proud of it and we are very

monitor daily and that we report on internally happy to see that all the hard work is paying off.”

to all the teams. In doing that, we can make

sure that we build at the right spots in the Smart WiFi and in-home connectivity

Netherlands, with the right amount of capacity In-home connectivity is one of the business's

to provide the services that customers need,” key focus areas. Almost half of the calls

said van den Berg. received by the call centres have to do

Reflecting on the umlaut award, he said: with some aspect of in-home connectivity,

“We've been investing a lot of effort and money following similar patterns with other telcos in

www.bookshq.netand we worked hard on making our networks,
the Netherlands and in the rest of Europe.

technologymagazine.com 49

Powering
next-generation
connectivity
for VodafoneZiggo

www.bookshq.net