WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.500 Welcome to episode 237 of the G2 on 5G. It's 00:00:03.500 --> 00:00:06.080 the latest Insight Scoop on everything 5G. We 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:08.259 cover six topics in about 20 minutes, and it's 00:00:08.259 --> 00:00:09.560 brought to you by More Insights and Strategy. 00:00:10.199 --> 00:00:12.039 I'm Will Townsend, and joining me again this 00:00:12.039 --> 00:00:14.939 week is fellow analyst Anshul Saag. Let's get 00:00:14.939 --> 00:00:17.699 started with my first topic. But before we do, 00:00:17.859 --> 00:00:22.559 let's talk some baseball, my friend. So, my Astros. 00:00:23.230 --> 00:00:25.809 we jordan is obviously injured but we swept the 00:00:25.809 --> 00:00:27.989 rangers so i'm pretty excited about that and 00:00:27.989 --> 00:00:30.050 i've been keeping tabs on your padres how are 00:00:30.050 --> 00:00:32.229 they doing they're okay i think they'll make 00:00:32.229 --> 00:00:35.969 the playoffs pretty sure they will yeah but they're 00:00:35.969 --> 00:00:38.130 not looking playoff caliber let's put it that 00:00:38.130 --> 00:00:41.689 way I gotcha. Hey, listen, we had a slow start 00:00:41.689 --> 00:00:43.729 to our season last year and we picked it up at 00:00:43.729 --> 00:00:45.490 the end, but didn't follow through at the end 00:00:45.490 --> 00:00:48.310 of the day. But baseball's fun, man. I plan to 00:00:48.310 --> 00:00:51.049 watch some. I'm going to be in London next week. 00:00:51.149 --> 00:00:52.909 So it might be hard to watch it. Probably just 00:00:52.909 --> 00:00:55.969 probably a lot of soccer and whatever else going 00:00:55.969 --> 00:00:58.049 on there. But without further ado, let me jump 00:00:58.049 --> 00:01:00.770 in. So I caught an article on Light Reading and 00:01:00.770 --> 00:01:04.370 we've talked about Maveneer and I'm not intending 00:01:04.370 --> 00:01:06.549 to bash them. But what I want to do is provide 00:01:06.549 --> 00:01:11.200 an update. And this article highlights what the 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:14.280 Maveneer CEO believes could revitalize the company 00:01:14.280 --> 00:01:17.459 and surprise its agentic AI. And everyone's talking 00:01:17.459 --> 00:01:21.379 about agentic AI and the opportunity for driving 00:01:21.379 --> 00:01:24.000 full -scale automation and that sort of thing. 00:01:24.680 --> 00:01:26.819 Maveneer, one of the things they had to do within 00:01:26.819 --> 00:01:30.420 their debt restructuring was to get out of selling 00:01:30.420 --> 00:01:32.780 radios. That was not a great move on their part. 00:01:32.980 --> 00:01:35.719 There was a huge write -down, but they are doubling 00:01:35.719 --> 00:01:38.930 down. And they're doubling down on agentic AI. 00:01:39.109 --> 00:01:41.510 And I found it interesting in the article that 00:01:41.510 --> 00:01:45.189 Coley, the CEO, spoke to the fact that he believes 00:01:45.189 --> 00:01:50.750 that agentic AI can replace OSS. And that, for 00:01:50.750 --> 00:01:52.950 viewers and listeners that aren't familiar with 00:01:52.950 --> 00:01:56.810 what OSS is, that is the orchestration set of 00:01:56.810 --> 00:02:00.129 solutions that bring the magic to mobility services. 00:02:00.510 --> 00:02:03.329 Now, I think that's quite a bit of a stretch. 00:02:03.870 --> 00:02:06.650 I also think that a lot of other companies are 00:02:06.650 --> 00:02:08.849 making claims around agentic AI and what it's 00:02:08.849 --> 00:02:11.949 going to do to reimagine what they're doing. 00:02:12.110 --> 00:02:14.449 But Maveneer, they're very focused. They're a 00:02:14.449 --> 00:02:17.490 software company. They're delivering software 00:02:17.490 --> 00:02:20.870 solutions that facilitate disaggregated infrastructure 00:02:20.870 --> 00:02:23.610 deployments and management. I don't know, man. 00:02:23.710 --> 00:02:25.289 I want to get your take on this. Do you think 00:02:25.289 --> 00:02:27.729 it's a stretch that agentic AI could completely 00:02:27.729 --> 00:02:33.330 replace traditional OSS? I think it's a buzzword. 00:02:33.770 --> 00:02:36.729 that everybody wants to use. I would need to 00:02:36.729 --> 00:02:39.889 see more details on how they would consider it 00:02:39.889 --> 00:02:42.990 to be agentic. I didn't see the details on that, 00:02:43.129 --> 00:02:46.189 but I do think when you consider that there's 00:02:46.189 --> 00:02:48.810 a lot of automation occurring, there could be 00:02:48.810 --> 00:02:52.689 some agentic aspects to that. But I feel like 00:02:52.689 --> 00:02:55.449 it would mostly be in the operational side and 00:02:55.449 --> 00:02:59.430 trying to draw whatever automation is already 00:02:59.430 --> 00:03:01.750 running in the network and do it in a more intelligent 00:03:01.750 --> 00:03:04.699 fashion. But I think Agentic might be a stretch. 00:03:05.259 --> 00:03:07.960 I think it is too. And there wasn't a lot of 00:03:07.960 --> 00:03:11.400 sort of detail behind all of this. And it's no 00:03:11.400 --> 00:03:14.020 surprise. Nokia has been very focused on its 00:03:14.020 --> 00:03:16.259 autonomous networks platform. And we've talked 00:03:16.259 --> 00:03:21.039 about that on prior podcasts as well. And Agentic's 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:24.020 a part of it, but it's not the whole ball of 00:03:24.020 --> 00:03:26.860 wax. And time will tell. My New Year's resolution, 00:03:27.159 --> 00:03:28.740 almost three quarters of the way through the 00:03:28.740 --> 00:03:30.939 year, is I'm done getting on the bandwagon and 00:03:30.939 --> 00:03:33.460 poking my veneer. I actually did get invited 00:03:33.460 --> 00:03:35.780 to their analyst event in Dallas. Unfortunately, 00:03:36.020 --> 00:03:39.300 I've got a travel conflict, but I'm hoping to 00:03:39.300 --> 00:03:40.759 re -engage with the company, spend a little bit 00:03:40.759 --> 00:03:42.939 more time with them and possibly on a future 00:03:42.939 --> 00:03:44.939 podcast, come back with some additional insights 00:03:44.939 --> 00:03:48.319 if I have a chance to speak with its CEO or any 00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:51.039 other executives there. But let's go to your 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:54.400 first topic. And this is pretty darn big news. 00:03:54.580 --> 00:03:57.199 So news dropped today about Intel and NVIDIA 00:03:57.199 --> 00:04:00.750 both partnering together. And you want to talk 00:04:00.750 --> 00:04:03.750 about what that could possibly mean for 5G. Yes, 00:04:03.770 --> 00:04:07.009 it's a huge announcement. I've been covering 00:04:07.009 --> 00:04:09.870 both Intel and NVIDIA for the last 20 years almost, 00:04:10.150 --> 00:04:14.009 if not longer. And the truth is that there have 00:04:14.009 --> 00:04:16.170 been a lot of, first of all, they are competitors. 00:04:16.370 --> 00:04:17.970 They have been competitors for quite some time. 00:04:18.110 --> 00:04:20.069 But Intel is definitely in a more vulnerable 00:04:20.069 --> 00:04:23.750 place. But also, I also think a big part of this 00:04:23.750 --> 00:04:26.310 is also that NVIDIA doesn't want Intel to go 00:04:26.310 --> 00:04:31.290 away. If you think about it, AMD can really focus 00:04:31.290 --> 00:04:34.470 its sights on NVIDIA if Intel's no longer there. 00:04:34.689 --> 00:04:37.790 So competitively speaking, it's in NVIDIA's best 00:04:37.790 --> 00:04:39.589 interest to have Intel be competitive with AMD, 00:04:39.750 --> 00:04:42.069 who's competitive with NVIDIA. That's just like 00:04:42.069 --> 00:04:44.029 a fundamental there. There have actually been 00:04:44.029 --> 00:04:47.370 extensive lawsuits and settlements between Intel 00:04:47.370 --> 00:04:50.529 and NVIDIA that go way, way back. Like Intel's 00:04:50.529 --> 00:04:53.509 GPU division, when they first made their... made 00:04:53.509 --> 00:04:56.649 first major effort in gpus and failed one of 00:04:56.649 --> 00:04:58.310 the reasons they failed was because they couldn't 00:04:58.310 --> 00:05:00.829 license nvidia ip and there was the whole thing 00:05:00.829 --> 00:05:05.089 there and it's crazy but clearly they've buried 00:05:05.089 --> 00:05:07.730 the hatchet and now nvidia's investing five billion 00:05:07.730 --> 00:05:11.209 dollars in intel the stock's already up like 00:05:11.209 --> 00:05:14.860 25 today as a result of that yeah It was up 33 00:05:14.860 --> 00:05:19.199 % or out before opening. And yeah, I woke up 00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:20.579 this morning very early because I had to catch 00:05:20.579 --> 00:05:22.319 a flight because my flight to San Diego was canceled 00:05:22.319 --> 00:05:24.100 last night after I was coming back from Meta. 00:05:24.279 --> 00:05:26.879 I was awake, aware. Of course, our principal 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:29.860 analyst, Pat, was like way ahead of it and have 00:05:29.860 --> 00:05:33.129 some lot of similar thoughts. i've been bombarded 00:05:33.129 --> 00:05:34.910 with requests of everybody because it's really 00:05:34.910 --> 00:05:37.089 such a big deal because when you think about 00:05:37.089 --> 00:05:40.829 what that means is now intel cpus can directly 00:05:40.829 --> 00:05:45.990 connect to nvidia gpus through mv link and that 00:05:45.990 --> 00:05:49.889 could actually empower even more powerful 5g 00:05:49.889 --> 00:05:54.689 and 6g radio and ai at the edge because the truth 00:05:54.689 --> 00:05:57.379 is nvidia makes their own cpus because They want 00:05:57.379 --> 00:06:00.060 to be independent, but they are ARM CPUs, and 00:06:00.060 --> 00:06:02.439 so they're not as necessarily compatible with 00:06:02.439 --> 00:06:04.339 a lot of the legacy software that's built on 00:06:04.339 --> 00:06:07.339 x86. Now, NVIDIA can give their customers choices 00:06:07.339 --> 00:06:11.379 of x86 or ARM directly connected to NVLink and 00:06:11.379 --> 00:06:14.740 not using PCIe, which is a slower interface in 00:06:14.740 --> 00:06:17.300 a lot of ways. But NVLink is proprietary, or 00:06:17.300 --> 00:06:19.259 was, because now they've been licensing it to 00:06:19.259 --> 00:06:22.120 so many different CPU vendors, some ARM. some 00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:24.779 not and now that kind of leaves amd the odd man 00:06:24.779 --> 00:06:27.860 out because qualcomm and intel now have a vlink 00:06:27.860 --> 00:06:30.379 but amd does not there's very interesting like 00:06:30.379 --> 00:06:33.180 competitive dynamics happening here and this 00:06:33.180 --> 00:06:37.060 also brings nvidia closer to intel who is a foundry 00:06:37.060 --> 00:06:39.519 but they were very careful about saying that 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:41.959 has nothing to do with intel foundry and that 00:06:41.959 --> 00:06:46.110 invidious night suddenly Correct. And I feel 00:06:46.110 --> 00:06:47.930 like that's the one missing piece that would 00:06:47.930 --> 00:06:50.189 have made everybody lose their minds. But I think 00:06:50.189 --> 00:06:52.529 that's still a possibility. It might not be with 00:06:52.529 --> 00:06:55.509 18A, it might happen with 14A, but it's very 00:06:55.509 --> 00:06:57.889 interesting to see where things are right now 00:06:57.889 --> 00:07:00.769 and how this could affect 5G because I think 00:07:00.769 --> 00:07:02.790 realistically it's more of a 6G play because 00:07:02.790 --> 00:07:05.550 likely these things won't really... hash out 00:07:05.550 --> 00:07:07.509 for a couple more years. And by then, we'll be 00:07:07.509 --> 00:07:10.329 looking more at 6G, especially with NVIDIA's 00:07:10.329 --> 00:07:12.430 aerial platform. I think that's what will happen 00:07:12.430 --> 00:07:14.949 right now, based on what we know. They did a 00:07:14.949 --> 00:07:18.110 really fun little Q &A earlier today, which I 00:07:18.110 --> 00:07:20.949 also listened to, and it clarified a lot of misconceptions, 00:07:21.410 --> 00:07:23.490 including the Foundry stuff. But they also did 00:07:23.490 --> 00:07:25.589 announce some client product things as well. 00:07:25.709 --> 00:07:27.410 That will be interesting because they're going 00:07:27.410 --> 00:07:31.199 to pair Intel CPUs and NVIDIA GPU chiplets. which 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:33.740 gives NVIDIA a bigger opportunity to address 00:07:33.740 --> 00:07:36.699 a broader part of the market. And we'll see what 00:07:36.699 --> 00:07:39.480 happens. But what it means is NVIDIA GPUs on 00:07:39.480 --> 00:07:42.420 x86 on the same SoC as opposed to NVIDIA's current 00:07:42.420 --> 00:07:44.740 platform, which is ARM -based. That's not really 00:07:44.740 --> 00:07:46.480 as much of a 5G play, but I'm explaining it so 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:48.720 people who are interested can understand. Yeah, 00:07:48.740 --> 00:07:51.699 and I think there is a path towards, obviously, 00:07:51.819 --> 00:07:55.300 Intel sold its mobile modem business to Apple, 00:07:55.360 --> 00:07:59.040 something that we've been on for years. What 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:01.759 I thought is really interesting is like the sort 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:03.560 of the co -development that they're going to 00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:07.040 pursue with the chiplet stuff. Why I think that's 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:11.439 interesting is that when you look at AI and you 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:13.560 look at training and inference, certainly training 00:08:13.560 --> 00:08:17.339 that requires the horsepower of GPU technology. 00:08:17.339 --> 00:08:19.800 It's typically done in the cloud with large language 00:08:19.800 --> 00:08:23.139 models that are foundational. What's really interesting 00:08:23.139 --> 00:08:27.379 with x86 is that Xeon can actually perform. a 00:08:27.379 --> 00:08:29.920 lot of inferencing function and where that really 00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:33.019 becomes important is for edge ai right and so 00:08:33.019 --> 00:08:35.200 i think it's going to be really interesting to 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:38.379 watch how this all unfolds to see what happens 00:08:38.379 --> 00:08:40.820 with you know this chip chiplet you know sort 00:08:40.820 --> 00:08:42.879 of co -development because i think you could 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:46.399 really take the whole notion of edge ai and inferencing 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:49.389 to the next level would you agree with that Yeah, 00:08:49.429 --> 00:08:51.509 I would say you make a really good point because 00:08:51.509 --> 00:08:53.330 I didn't really think about that until now that 00:08:53.330 --> 00:08:57.149 you could easily start having NVIDIA GPUs in 00:08:57.149 --> 00:09:01.210 Intel's already existing edge platforms. Although 00:09:01.210 --> 00:09:03.710 the fate of that business is still a little bit 00:09:03.710 --> 00:09:06.429 unclear, but it might get a boost if it's running 00:09:06.429 --> 00:09:10.850 on NVIDIA GPUs. Because ultimately, I think Intel 00:09:10.850 --> 00:09:14.429 would be happier to ship a platform with or without 00:09:14.429 --> 00:09:16.980 an NVIDIA chip. as long as it ships. I think 00:09:16.980 --> 00:09:20.399 they're definitely in a more delicate place. 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:22.080 And as a result of that, I think they're open 00:09:22.080 --> 00:09:24.639 to all kinds of ideas, including this one. Yeah, 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:27.600 no, I think it's great. Intel needed a win, and 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:31.500 this is a big win. And certainly the US federal 00:09:31.500 --> 00:09:34.399 government's investment in Intel, 10%, is helpful 00:09:34.399 --> 00:09:37.259 as well. And I don't want to say that Intel is 00:09:37.259 --> 00:09:39.909 too big to fail, but... What I really like about 00:09:39.909 --> 00:09:41.870 Intel and NVIDIA coming together, these are two 00:09:41.870 --> 00:09:45.389 very traditionally strong, certainly NVIDIA has 00:09:45.389 --> 00:09:48.830 been on a tear. Intel has a long history of success. 00:09:49.190 --> 00:09:52.809 And this brings two very important strategic 00:09:52.809 --> 00:09:55.850 American semiconductor companies together. And 00:09:55.850 --> 00:09:58.330 I think that's a good thing from my perspective, 00:09:58.409 --> 00:10:01.169 but it'll be fun to watch for sure. But hey, 00:10:01.230 --> 00:10:03.409 let's go to my second topic. And I want to talk 00:10:03.409 --> 00:10:06.409 about voiceover new radio. And I had no idea. 00:10:07.129 --> 00:10:10.330 who Mass Orange was. And I'm assuming it's a 00:10:10.330 --> 00:10:15.149 regional section or division of Orange. So Mass 00:10:15.149 --> 00:10:17.909 Orange, they're actually the largest mobile network 00:10:17.909 --> 00:10:22.870 solution provider by subscriber in Spain. And 00:10:22.870 --> 00:10:25.950 they have now officially commercially launched 00:10:25.950 --> 00:10:30.799 their 5G voiceover in our service. And what they're 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:34.879 stating is that it's available in all of the 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:38.620 major cities, Madrid, Barcelona, and a few others, 00:10:38.860 --> 00:10:41.019 Santier, and a few others that I can't pronounce, 00:10:41.120 --> 00:10:43.799 even though I took Spanish in high school and 00:10:43.799 --> 00:10:46.320 college. But we've talked about Moner in the 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:49.120 past and its advantages compared to legacy voice 00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:51.679 services. It can support high definition audio 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:55.279 using HD voice and codecs, lower latency for 00:10:55.279 --> 00:10:59.629 faster call setup. an uninterrupted multitasking 00:10:59.629 --> 00:11:02.149 with simultaneous data use and improved capacity 00:11:02.149 --> 00:11:04.870 to handle more connections in dense environments. 00:11:05.129 --> 00:11:07.549 I think this is interesting. Will it have a huge 00:11:07.549 --> 00:11:10.549 impact in Spain versus other parts of the world? 00:11:10.610 --> 00:11:12.789 Time will tell. But what do you think about this? 00:11:13.009 --> 00:11:16.649 It's a pretty big deal. My understanding is that 00:11:16.649 --> 00:11:20.409 OS Orange is a kind of like a joint venture between 00:11:20.409 --> 00:11:23.830 Orange and Moss Mobile. And when I did the research 00:11:23.830 --> 00:11:26.700 on this, I didn't realize it's like a bunch of 00:11:26.700 --> 00:11:29.039 different brands. So it's, and I've used a couple 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:30.340 of these. You'll be familiar with these names. 00:11:30.759 --> 00:11:34.700 Orange, Yoigo, Jazztel, Masmovil, Pepephone, 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:39.340 Simio, Leica Mobile, Labara, Yamaya, Escucatel, 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:43.100 and Telecable. They have a lot of brands. It's 00:11:43.100 --> 00:11:46.600 like a 50 -50 JV, probably like a merger of assets 00:11:46.600 --> 00:11:49.840 in Spain. So that's why they're so big. But yeah, 00:11:49.899 --> 00:11:55.220 I think when you see Foner really being deployed, 00:11:55.220 --> 00:11:58.919 it's going to massively improve, first of all, 00:11:58.940 --> 00:12:01.980 bandwidth utilization, but also voice quality. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:05.940 There are some people like my mom who still talk 00:12:05.940 --> 00:12:10.919 on the phone. Still talk on the phone. But the 00:12:10.919 --> 00:12:13.419 truth is she's on the phone all the time and 00:12:13.419 --> 00:12:16.360 I couldn't get her to switch because she was 00:12:16.360 --> 00:12:17.860 always complaining about phone calls and then 00:12:17.860 --> 00:12:19.200 she switched to T -Mobile because she traveled 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:21.659 a lot. I just think that we're in a place where 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:24.740 It's necessary to make the switch, especially 00:12:24.740 --> 00:12:27.340 since most users' devices are capable. It's a 00:12:27.340 --> 00:12:29.419 no brainer at this point. And I'm actually a 00:12:29.419 --> 00:12:31.200 little surprised it took this long, but they 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:36.139 are fairly large. They have 37 million broadband 00:12:36.139 --> 00:12:40.340 and mobile lines. So it's not a small by any 00:12:40.340 --> 00:12:42.940 means. And that's a lot of users to service, 00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:46.159 but they're a very big company and I'd love to 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:49.879 see more companies do it. Yeah, same on my side. 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:52.259 And yeah, like I said, they weren't on my radar 00:12:52.259 --> 00:12:54.799 screen. You know, what's interesting too, I did 00:12:54.799 --> 00:12:57.259 a little bit of further research and they also 00:12:57.259 --> 00:12:59.919 claim to have deployed the country's first 5G 00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:03.139 advanced network in Seville, where my youngest 00:13:03.139 --> 00:13:06.200 daughter did a study abroad with Texas Tech University. 00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:09.480 So it seems like they're a very progressive operator 00:13:09.480 --> 00:13:12.679 and you need standalone to do all of this stuff. 00:13:12.820 --> 00:13:14.299 I think it's good stuff. It could be a model 00:13:14.299 --> 00:13:17.750 for... other parts of Europe to follow. But with 00:13:17.750 --> 00:13:20.830 that, I know you want to talk about Meta and 00:13:20.830 --> 00:13:23.330 they've released, I mean, sort of AI smart glasses. 00:13:23.409 --> 00:13:25.009 You and I were talking about this a few weeks 00:13:25.009 --> 00:13:26.830 ago. It's like you said, hey, there's something 00:13:26.830 --> 00:13:29.470 new coming, but I can't talk about it. I'm under 00:13:29.470 --> 00:13:31.990 double secret, top secret NDA, that sort of thing. 00:13:32.049 --> 00:13:35.629 But you were also at an event, weren't you, for 00:13:35.629 --> 00:13:38.350 Meta? Yes. So they had their event yesterday. 00:13:38.870 --> 00:13:41.480 I was there. I can talk about all the things 00:13:41.480 --> 00:13:43.720 that I've seen and done. They basically announced 00:13:43.720 --> 00:13:46.679 a whole new line of smart glasses, which none 00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:49.340 of those have 5G connectivity, but they are going 00:13:49.340 --> 00:13:53.240 to connect to your phone and leverage AI on your 00:13:53.240 --> 00:13:58.820 device over 5G to put AI on your face. I stupidly 00:13:58.820 --> 00:14:01.419 left my glasses and my backpack, which is in 00:14:01.419 --> 00:14:03.539 another room, so I can't use it as a showcase 00:14:03.539 --> 00:14:07.830 for anything other than my own stupidity. Don't 00:14:07.830 --> 00:14:09.710 be so hard on yourself, buddy. Don't be so hard. 00:14:09.769 --> 00:14:12.250 They announced second generation Meta Ray -Bans. 00:14:12.490 --> 00:14:14.429 So those double the battery life and improve 00:14:14.429 --> 00:14:17.629 the image quality by double to 3K video. They 00:14:17.629 --> 00:14:19.610 also introduced these called, they're called 00:14:19.610 --> 00:14:22.710 Meta Oakley Vanguard, which are the wraparound 00:14:22.710 --> 00:14:25.990 glasses. And I kid you not, you will not be able 00:14:25.990 --> 00:14:27.950 to tell that they look different from regular 00:14:27.950 --> 00:14:30.809 Oakleys. They just are fully integrated. And 00:14:30.809 --> 00:14:33.490 everybody I know who's into sports of any kind 00:14:33.490 --> 00:14:36.460 are all about it. Like everybody's saying. for 00:14:36.460 --> 00:14:39.299 cycling they will automatically adjust the volume 00:14:39.299 --> 00:14:42.820 based on your speed oh man i'm buying a pair 00:14:42.820 --> 00:14:45.159 because i'm i ride bikes i own and they connect 00:14:45.159 --> 00:14:49.370 to your garmin and your strava and You can like 00:14:49.370 --> 00:14:51.710 track all your rides and upload your rides and 00:14:51.710 --> 00:14:54.090 photos and videos of your rides. And you can 00:14:54.090 --> 00:14:57.710 do 120 frame slow motion video. It does hyperlapse. 00:14:57.750 --> 00:15:00.029 You can record your rides. It has nine hour battery 00:15:00.029 --> 00:15:01.549 life. So you can just record the whole ride. 00:15:01.809 --> 00:15:04.789 Like it's that kind of stuff. They do everything 00:15:04.789 --> 00:15:06.769 people want to see. Imagine people are going 00:15:06.769 --> 00:15:09.090 to wear these for skiing, for snowboarding, for 00:15:09.090 --> 00:15:11.730 surfing. All these different kinds of things. 00:15:11.789 --> 00:15:13.110 We're going to get so much content and people 00:15:13.110 --> 00:15:14.970 are going to love it. And it's so much louder 00:15:14.970 --> 00:15:17.210 than every other pair of Meta Ray bands that 00:15:17.210 --> 00:15:19.889 like it's six decibels louder. So like literally 00:15:19.889 --> 00:15:22.029 you can be surfing and still hear the music. 00:15:22.129 --> 00:15:25.250 You can take calls from the slopes and do a phone 00:15:25.250 --> 00:15:28.909 call while you're skiing. There's so many possibilities. 00:15:29.370 --> 00:15:31.929 I want them to put them on some baseball players 00:15:31.929 --> 00:15:33.529 so they can wear them like out in the outfield 00:15:33.529 --> 00:15:35.789 and like catch a ball. I'm really excited about 00:15:35.789 --> 00:15:39.129 that. They just released a video today with all 00:15:39.129 --> 00:15:40.970 of the athletes that they've already signed. 00:15:41.049 --> 00:15:43.070 I'm trying to think of who they have. But it's 00:15:43.070 --> 00:15:44.970 like all of the, some of the best athletes in 00:15:44.970 --> 00:15:47.250 the world that they've already signed to use 00:15:47.250 --> 00:15:48.789 these glasses and people are like, oh my God, 00:15:48.830 --> 00:15:51.370 I need a pair. They're 500 bucks starting price, 00:15:51.570 --> 00:15:53.649 which isn't crazy when you consider Oakleys are 00:15:53.649 --> 00:15:55.549 already pretty expensive. And these ones have 00:15:55.549 --> 00:15:57.830 quite a bit of functionality as well. And they 00:15:57.830 --> 00:15:59.769 still have meta AI on top of all that. So you 00:15:59.769 --> 00:16:02.830 can like voice text family, you can ask it questions. 00:16:03.740 --> 00:16:06.620 But what's lacking is a display, which is what 00:16:06.620 --> 00:16:09.259 the new version of the metabray bands with the 00:16:09.259 --> 00:16:11.139 display are doing. So you're going to have one 00:16:11.139 --> 00:16:13.139 display and one eye. It's a color display. And 00:16:13.139 --> 00:16:15.320 you can actually, it comes with a wristband. 00:16:15.379 --> 00:16:17.580 You can wear to control it. One of the cool motions 00:16:17.580 --> 00:16:19.679 that they're working on is the ability to turn 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:21.759 volume by just turning your fingers like this, 00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:26.940 like a dial. Oh, my BMW X6, I can do that. Right. 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:30.080 But then you can also type on the surface of 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:34.120 the table. or you can manipulate things on in 00:16:34.120 --> 00:16:36.940 that screen including navigation it can also 00:16:36.940 --> 00:16:38.759 give you like real -time translation while people 00:16:38.759 --> 00:16:41.639 are talking to you and even give you captions 00:16:41.639 --> 00:16:43.159 like if you're in a really loud place you can 00:16:43.159 --> 00:16:44.960 just caption what they're saying in case you 00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:47.539 can't hear it And there's even some amplification 00:16:47.539 --> 00:16:49.759 features for listening to people. There's just 00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:52.379 so many cool AI enhanced capabilities that are 00:16:52.379 --> 00:16:55.139 coming with this display feature or this display 00:16:55.139 --> 00:16:57.600 model. And then they're also launching a bunch 00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:00.039 of other stuff as well, including some added 00:17:00.039 --> 00:17:02.480 software capabilities and developer access to 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:04.640 these classes. And they're also refreshing a 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:06.799 bunch of colors and designs. But those are the 00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:09.619 three big ones, which is the MetaRay bands upgrade 00:17:09.619 --> 00:17:12.710 and then the Oakley. vanguards and then the ones 00:17:12.710 --> 00:17:14.430 with the display so those are the big three announcements 00:17:14.430 --> 00:17:16.650 that they made they made some other smaller vr 00:17:16.650 --> 00:17:18.329 announcements like their own they have their 00:17:18.329 --> 00:17:20.930 own engine now that will actually be powering 00:17:20.930 --> 00:17:24.130 all the ar and vr stuff because ar and vr are 00:17:24.130 --> 00:17:26.809 very similar in a lot of ways but we didn't we're 00:17:26.809 --> 00:17:29.410 not going to get full of ar quite yet that's 00:17:29.410 --> 00:17:31.450 still further down the road but these metabray 00:17:31.450 --> 00:17:33.289 bands with the display in them it's like a halfway 00:17:33.289 --> 00:17:35.700 step and It's really cool. I've got to try it 00:17:35.700 --> 00:17:38.240 out. And the battery life on those are even better 00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:40.319 than it is on all the other glasses. They're 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:41.920 really focusing on battery life because that 00:17:41.920 --> 00:17:43.240 was one of the biggest complaints of the last 00:17:43.240 --> 00:17:46.279 generation. Yeah. Are these available for sale 00:17:46.279 --> 00:17:49.140 yet, buddy, or not? Yes. So you can pre -order 00:17:49.140 --> 00:17:51.599 all of them. I believe the ones with the display 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:54.180 you have to go into a store to order and try 00:17:54.180 --> 00:17:56.119 out and get measured and stuff because they want 00:17:56.119 --> 00:17:57.380 to make sure you have a good experience. But 00:17:57.380 --> 00:17:59.799 the Vanguard's already up for pre -order on the 00:17:59.799 --> 00:18:02.390 Oakley website. Those are $4 .99. They ship October 00:18:02.390 --> 00:18:05.309 21st. And then the new Meadow Ray -Bans, I think 00:18:05.309 --> 00:18:08.390 those are available for pre -order now, and I 00:18:08.390 --> 00:18:11.190 think ship at the end of the month. Cool. Yeah, 00:18:11.250 --> 00:18:13.750 I didn't tell you that when I was in Alaska with 00:18:13.750 --> 00:18:16.289 my wife last month, I did take my Meadow Ray 00:18:16.289 --> 00:18:19.990 -Bans, and it was fun going on hikes and being 00:18:19.990 --> 00:18:22.569 able to look down and ask Meadow, what am I looking 00:18:22.569 --> 00:18:24.529 at? It's like, you're looking at a trout. You're 00:18:24.529 --> 00:18:26.849 looking at a salmon. So I've been having a lot 00:18:26.849 --> 00:18:29.400 of fun with them. I still haven't taken them 00:18:29.400 --> 00:18:33.240 yet to a UT Longhorn home game, but I plan to 00:18:33.240 --> 00:18:35.720 do that as well. But I'm super excited about 00:18:35.720 --> 00:18:39.240 the Oakleys and that I ride bikes. Everybody 00:18:39.240 --> 00:18:42.559 I know that rides bikes is just, I need it now. 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:45.059 I know. I'm going to put my order in probably. 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:49.759 I put my order in last week for my AirPod Pro 00:18:49.759 --> 00:18:53.480 3 with the Transat. My iPhone, I think, arrived 00:18:53.480 --> 00:18:59.059 today. So I got an iPhone Air. Oh, cool. Okay. 00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:03.220 So did you pay for that one yourself? The Air 00:19:03.220 --> 00:19:05.940 was given to me by Apple, but the Pro is mine. 00:19:06.519 --> 00:19:09.079 Gotcha. Cool, man. I can't wait to check it out 00:19:09.079 --> 00:19:11.819 next time. Yeah, the Air looks really cool. So 00:19:11.819 --> 00:19:13.460 I can't wait to check it out next time. Yeah, 00:19:13.500 --> 00:19:16.480 another me not getting something and being able 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:19.500 to show it off as a prop for our podcast. There 00:19:19.500 --> 00:19:22.170 you go, man. Let's just say. I've had a very 00:19:22.170 --> 00:19:25.210 rough last 48 hours, so it's a miracle I'm even 00:19:25.210 --> 00:19:27.849 stringing sentences together. Oh, good, man. 00:19:28.130 --> 00:19:30.869 Was it just travel hell or what? I don't know 00:19:30.869 --> 00:19:32.170 if you heard, there was a crash at San Diego 00:19:32.170 --> 00:19:35.029 Airport last night. No. That's why I didn't make 00:19:35.029 --> 00:19:37.430 it home last night. Oh, you said you didn't make 00:19:37.430 --> 00:19:41.150 it home, yeah. So I had to fly at 6 .30 this 00:19:41.150 --> 00:19:43.490 morning to get here as soon as possible. I had 00:19:43.490 --> 00:19:46.269 to cancel an interview, but then the whole Intel 00:19:46.269 --> 00:19:49.130 and video thing happened, so it's been a whirlwind. 00:19:49.769 --> 00:19:52.710 Yeah. Crazy. Yeah, it's just the joy of business 00:19:52.710 --> 00:19:55.910 travel, right? Hopefully, I won't have the same 00:19:55.910 --> 00:19:58.829 experience when I fly to London on Saturday for 00:19:58.829 --> 00:20:00.990 Connected Britain. I'm going to do a couple of 00:20:00.990 --> 00:20:04.450 panels in London next week and work remotely 00:20:04.450 --> 00:20:06.349 from London. So I'm looking forward to that. 00:20:06.589 --> 00:20:08.730 But hey, let me hit my third and final topic. 00:20:08.769 --> 00:20:10.829 And I want to talk about NATO and how they're 00:20:10.829 --> 00:20:12.750 leaning into 5G for military communications. 00:20:13.130 --> 00:20:16.730 But I think we've talked about 5G applications 00:20:16.730 --> 00:20:20.579 that are military. But I thought this was interesting. 00:20:20.700 --> 00:20:23.740 This is part of an effort called the Multinational 00:20:23.740 --> 00:20:27.859 5G, which is MN5G initiative. But it's a dual, 00:20:27.900 --> 00:20:30.980 they call it a dual paradigm use where they're 00:20:30.980 --> 00:20:33.220 taking civilian technologies and adapting them 00:20:33.220 --> 00:20:35.660 for defense purposes and applications and that 00:20:35.660 --> 00:20:38.720 sort of thing. And a proof of concept launched 00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:43.869 last year. And today, just Spain, Italy, and 00:20:43.869 --> 00:20:47.210 Turkey are participating in the official program, 00:20:47.349 --> 00:20:49.789 but they do expect others to participate over 00:20:49.789 --> 00:20:53.289 time. I think it's interesting when you look 00:20:53.289 --> 00:20:56.470 at especially conflict that continues to go on 00:20:56.470 --> 00:21:00.410 between Ukraine and Russia and how 5G is being 00:21:00.410 --> 00:21:04.269 leveraged for drone surveillance and for military 00:21:04.269 --> 00:21:06.490 comms and that sort of thing. And I've also, 00:21:06.569 --> 00:21:09.660 I'll be spending time again. in Latvia, later 00:21:09.660 --> 00:21:12.900 this year in Riga, and Latvia Mobile Telephone, 00:21:12.900 --> 00:21:16.680 LMT, they have a whole division that is focused 00:21:16.680 --> 00:21:19.960 on just developing services for the military 00:21:19.960 --> 00:21:22.579 that leverage their network infrastructure. And 00:21:22.579 --> 00:21:24.660 they're doing a lot with drones as well and that 00:21:24.660 --> 00:21:27.519 sort of thing. But I found it interesting that 00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:32.160 it's this whole blend of civilian and military. 00:21:32.420 --> 00:21:34.859 And I think some of the comms that result from 00:21:34.859 --> 00:21:38.079 this Could also have civilian applications as 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:40.500 well. If you think about for critical infrastructure, 00:21:40.779 --> 00:21:43.180 right? For safeguarding utility grids and that 00:21:43.180 --> 00:21:45.099 sort of thing. But what do you think about all 00:21:45.099 --> 00:21:49.440 that? I actually think it's very interesting. 00:21:49.579 --> 00:21:52.559 I wanted to bring up the whole Latvia and all 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:55.559 the Baltic countries and their current unease 00:21:55.559 --> 00:21:58.920 with their neighbor. And the first thing I thought 00:21:58.920 --> 00:22:02.740 of was every single mobile network operator is 00:22:02.740 --> 00:22:07.200 going to be leveraged by. their military as drone 00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:09.339 sensing like we already talked about drone sensing 00:22:09.339 --> 00:22:13.680 so we did and when Ukraine uh has been fighting 00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:15.859 this war with Russia with drones they've been 00:22:15.859 --> 00:22:19.119 using Russia's 5G networks for that and the Russians 00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:22.180 recently flew drones into Poland and Poland didn't 00:22:22.180 --> 00:22:24.339 really have anything any infrastructure in place 00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:27.440 to fight to ward off these drones or to fight 00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:30.779 them effectively they had to scramble some jets 00:22:30.779 --> 00:22:33.420 which is ridiculous yeah so now the ukrainians 00:22:33.420 --> 00:22:35.640 are training them on drones but yeah i just think 00:22:35.640 --> 00:22:38.599 drones are going to be a big part of warfare 00:22:38.599 --> 00:22:41.599 now and i think 5g networks are going to become 00:22:41.599 --> 00:22:44.940 a big component of how those drones are detected 00:22:44.940 --> 00:22:48.039 and hunted down and shot down yeah no i totally 00:22:48.039 --> 00:22:51.019 agree Let's hit your final topic for this week. 00:22:51.160 --> 00:22:54.099 And we talked about Echo Star and we've been 00:22:54.099 --> 00:22:56.059 talking about Echo Star for quite some time now, 00:22:56.140 --> 00:22:59.880 but you recently came across something online 00:22:59.880 --> 00:23:06.099 where they're lamenting their huge spectrum sell 00:23:06.099 --> 00:23:09.500 -off. What's that all about? There was an event 00:23:09.500 --> 00:23:13.240 called World Space Business Week, which happened 00:23:13.240 --> 00:23:17.319 in Paris. And the CEO of Echo Star and chairman, 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:20.519 Charlie Ergen, talked about that they're going 00:23:20.519 --> 00:23:23.259 to be an asset -light growth company, which means 00:23:23.259 --> 00:23:25.140 they don't really have very many assets left 00:23:25.140 --> 00:23:28.660 because they've auctioned most of them off to 00:23:28.660 --> 00:23:31.160 the tune of, what is it? Billions. $40 billion. 00:23:31.900 --> 00:23:34.279 They do have a lot of cash now. And he said that 00:23:34.279 --> 00:23:36.900 it was a forced pivot that they had to make by 00:23:36.900 --> 00:23:39.660 disposing of their spectrum. They had not planned 00:23:39.660 --> 00:23:42.799 on selling it at the time, but over time they 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:45.150 could. that they could have had a more value 00:23:45.150 --> 00:23:47.529 -enhancing infrastructure for them, much more 00:23:47.529 --> 00:23:49.529 than we managed to get today. That sounds like 00:23:49.529 --> 00:23:52.130 they're lamenting the current situation. I will 00:23:52.130 --> 00:23:55.250 say those who are invested in the Echo Star are 00:23:55.250 --> 00:23:58.490 not upset because I believe their stock is at 00:23:58.490 --> 00:24:00.950 its highest it's ever been. The shareholders 00:24:00.950 --> 00:24:07.269 are happy, and so are AT &T and SpaceX. The stock 00:24:07.269 --> 00:24:09.910 has dropped off from its high, but it's still 00:24:09.910 --> 00:24:12.059 the highest it's ever been. And yeah, I just 00:24:12.059 --> 00:24:13.920 think that I feel for them to a certain degree. 00:24:14.019 --> 00:24:18.299 But also, the truth is, Charlie's always had 00:24:18.299 --> 00:24:20.720 this reputation of being a spectrum squatter. 00:24:20.759 --> 00:24:23.900 I think that the FCC ran with that and forced 00:24:23.900 --> 00:24:26.539 their hand. Do I think that should have happened 00:24:26.539 --> 00:24:29.400 the way it went down? No. But it did happen much 00:24:29.400 --> 00:24:31.259 more quickly than if they had been forced to 00:24:31.259 --> 00:24:32.680 give up their spectrum and a new auction had 00:24:32.680 --> 00:24:34.440 occurred. I do think there should have been an 00:24:34.440 --> 00:24:36.119 auction because everybody should have had a chance 00:24:36.119 --> 00:24:40.039 to buy that spectrum. And I do think... at &t 00:24:40.039 --> 00:24:42.720 and spacex likely got that spectrum at a deal 00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:46.000 relative to if there was a an auction but the 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:48.359 truth is that echo star shareholders did get 00:24:48.359 --> 00:24:51.460 a premium on what the spectrum was paid for i 00:24:51.460 --> 00:24:53.059 think they doubled their money in both of them 00:24:53.059 --> 00:24:56.579 yeah yeah yeah it's really unfortunate it doesn't 00:24:56.579 --> 00:24:59.640 feel right to me but i do think it will accelerate 00:24:59.640 --> 00:25:01.519 the pace of innovation because spectrum has become 00:25:01.519 --> 00:25:05.759 more available more quickly. And I think AT &T 00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:07.720 having more spectrum will make them more competitive 00:25:07.720 --> 00:25:09.640 with Verizon and Timo, which is ultimately a 00:25:09.640 --> 00:25:12.579 good thing. Yeah, I agree. I read this article 00:25:12.579 --> 00:25:17.119 as well and it got me thinking like when Charlie 00:25:17.119 --> 00:25:20.400 talks about they're going to be an asset light, 00:25:20.660 --> 00:25:23.700 whatever enterprise, what does that mean? Does 00:25:23.700 --> 00:25:25.519 that mean they're going to become like a soft 00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:28.640 bank vision fund? Like what's your interpretation 00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:31.440 of that? That's them saying they're going to 00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:33.240 be an MVNO without saying that they're going 00:25:33.240 --> 00:25:37.740 to be an MVNO. But I'll also say the CEO specifically 00:25:37.740 --> 00:25:43.519 said, this was a forced situation for us. We 00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:45.900 actually have no way forward but to make the 00:25:45.900 --> 00:25:48.500 most of what we have, which we believe would 00:25:48.500 --> 00:25:50.599 have been far more value enhancing in the long 00:25:50.599 --> 00:25:53.339 term. But in the short term, we had to liquidate 00:25:53.339 --> 00:25:55.519 some of our spectrum to meet the needs of the 00:25:55.519 --> 00:25:59.039 nation and the FCC. Whoa, boy, that was a... 00:25:59.160 --> 00:26:02.640 very state department like response, wasn't it? 00:26:02.700 --> 00:26:04.720 But that's the quote. That's the quote that kind 00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:07.079 of got me to pull into this article and want 00:26:07.079 --> 00:26:09.880 to say something because they just, they didn't 00:26:09.880 --> 00:26:12.079 really feel like that. They were given a fair 00:26:12.079 --> 00:26:14.079 chance, even though I think they were to a certain 00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:17.000 degree. And yeah, they just, they really, this, 00:26:17.099 --> 00:26:19.720 I wanted to use the word lament. And I am going 00:26:19.720 --> 00:26:21.319 to use the word lament because they really seem 00:26:21.319 --> 00:26:24.480 to be lamenting this forced pivot. And I'm glad 00:26:24.480 --> 00:26:26.579 they said something because I felt like I was 00:26:26.579 --> 00:26:29.220 just inferring a lot. But when there's direct 00:26:29.220 --> 00:26:30.640 quotes like this, I feel a lot better saying 00:26:30.640 --> 00:26:33.299 that they were forced. There you go, buddy. Hey, 00:26:33.400 --> 00:26:35.359 my friend, it's been another great podcast. Why 00:26:35.359 --> 00:26:37.839 don't you take this home? Absolutely. We hope 00:26:37.839 --> 00:26:39.440 our viewers and listeners found this week's topics 00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:40.900 interesting. If anyone out there would like to 00:26:40.900 --> 00:26:43.220 provide insights on a future podcast for a future 00:26:43.220 --> 00:26:45.539 Fraudgy topic, please reach out to us on social 00:26:45.539 --> 00:26:47.940 media. Will is at Will & Teletech, and I'm at 00:26:47.940 --> 00:26:50.099 Akshal Saad. We hope you have a great weekend, 00:26:50.099 --> 00:26:51.519 and please tune in again next week.