CAPGEMINI
DIGITAL REPORT 2020
At the forefront of industry 4.0 innovation
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
At the forefront of industry 4.0 innovation WRITTEN BY
GEORGIA WILSON PRODUCED BY
STUART IRVING 02
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Sandeep Nag, Director of 5G at Capgemini, discusses technological trends, 5G innovation and the impact of COVID-19 on the industry
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t the forefront of innovation, Capgemini, founded in 1967, harnesses innovation to help clients address opportunities as
cloud, digital and platforms evolve. 04
Within the industry, Sandeep Nag, Director of 5G at Capgemini, has seen from a connectivity point of view a massive evolution for the technology. “In order to cope with the massive increase in connected devices, you need to have access to a wide area of coverage. The evolution of 4G networks into 5G networks and beyond has allowed for better connectivity and increased the efficiency of connected devices. Another trend I have seen within the industry is the use of open computer ecosystems with big enterprises no longer wanting to depend on the hardware OEMs. They want it to be more open, and then of course there’s artificial intelligence (AI), as well as an increased use of algorithms, API, social media and blockchain technology to make a more secure and resilient strategy for data privacy.
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“ From the top down Capgemini has a proactive approach to evolving trends and customer demands to harness industry 4.0 technologies the best way for its customers, as opposed to trying to make the technology fit” — Sandeep Nag, Director of 5G, Capgemini
When it comes to Capgemini’s own innovation strategy, Sandeep details that the company has specialised team domains, whether it’s automation, connectivity or cloud. “Capgemini has a very well defined structure of individuals working on specific domains with end-to-end expertise. Capgemini’s strategy is to not only have a technological knowhow, but to have a deep understanding of the industry so that it can address the exact requirement of that particular industry. From the
06 PA RT N ERSHI PS When it comes to Capgemini’s Over the years Capgemini has formed strategic partnerships, Sandeep Nag, many longlasting strategic Director of 5G at Capgemini details partnerships with the likes of Sooktha. that these alliances “enable more “These partnerships are mutually scope for solutions and service beneficial in the sense that either offerings leveraging open source and party acts as prime or co-prime for a standards communities. These business opportunity. This allows partnerships enable onboarding new early access to each other’s customers irrespective of domains. innovations thereby enabling faster The latest innovations and emergence GTM and early access to business of new business models require a opportunities. Long term relationships f lexible and modular approach both in through these partnerships enhance terms of technology and strategy, market share through enhancements hence these partnerships enable such in capabilities with more avenues of on-the go initiatives.” business opportunities.”
Capgemini Invent: Technology is in the air CLICK TO WATCH
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07 top down Capgemini has a proactive
and for assembly lines. With machine
approach to evolving trends and cus-
learning we have been utilising the
tomer demands to harness industry
technology for behavioral analysis
4.0 technologies the best way for its
trends and recommendations. This
customers, as opposed to trying to
is something we have been doing for
make the technology fit.�
many years and with that our IoT part-
Currently within the organisation,
nerships have evolved. In addition we
Capgemini is harnessing six key
also have our cloud practices which
technologies: AI, machine learning,
are not only with Microsoft Azure and
internet of things (IoT), cloud, Big
AWS, but also in house where the cus-
Data and 5G. Within its operations,
tomers want to have their captive cloud
“Capgemini has been harnessing
facilities. So we leverage those cloud
AI for its customer partnerships for
capabilities in terms of certified engi-
employee safety, anomaly detection
neers and certified professionals in our
in manufacturing and supply chains,
various domain expertise on the cloud. w w w.c a pge m in i. com
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“ We must not neglect the security aspect. We’d like to see these innovative technologies evolve seamlessly, but they must maintain security” — Sandeep Nag, Director of 5G, Capgemini
“When it comes to Big Data, we are harnessing this technology to capture many handles globally, providing large volumes of different types of data - unstructured, semistructured, sequential or any kind of big data.” With the evolution of data the industry has experienced storage challenges, resulting in the Big Data practice at Capgemini evolving to cope with this capability. In terms of 5G at Capgemini - with the various acquisitions and recent onboarding
of experts within 5G - the practice has been taken very seriously, with the company in full force to establish an ecosystem of various initiatives and expertise within the 5G space. Although it is still within the pilot stage, Sandeep sees the sector emerging and evolving significantly towards the end of the year. Contemplating future innovations, Sandeep would like to see more evolution relating to the dis-aggregation of edge hardware, resulting in further innovation relating to open hardware ecosystems. He also anticipates the evolution of the software ecosystem, harnessing more open source technologies, however he does highlight the importance of maintaining security alongside this. “We must not neglect the security aspect. We’d like to see these innovative technologies evolve seamlessly, but they must maintain security.”
THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ‘The new normal’ - the defining phrase of the current climate due to
E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E :
Sandeep Nag Title: Director 5G Industry: Information technology Location: Mumbai, India Technically accomplished software , systems and platform architect with more than 21 years across telecom , ISV and product organizations. Certified Enterprise Architect with flair in open source technologies leveraging open architectures in emerging technologies of 5G, IoT,AR/ VR/ER, AI and Machine learning. Active contributor in open telecom services eco-system for private enterprise networks communities and user groups. Among the early stage innovators in mobile payment with patent in secured mobile payment technology.Believer of frugal innovation that enable fast adoption into day to day life.
COVID-19 - is a topic Sandeep has considered deeply. “The new normal w w w.c a pge m in i. com
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Wireless Access Solutions We are cellular wireless access specialists and offer software solutions for 4G LTE, NB IoT, and 5G NR Open RAN deployments
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Founded in late 2010, Sooktha has been working in the cellular wireless space for nearly a decade. With extensive global experience and expertise in the cellular wireless space, Sooktha has worked with leading test and measurement equipment vendors, semiconductor companies, OEMs, and telecom service providers licensing technology and providing system components. After licensing its LTE base station software for the development of
Spirent Communications Inc’s network emulator, Sooktha partnered with NXP semiconductor to demonstrate their virtual RAN (vAccess) hardware and software platforms across the globe. In 2016, Sooktha successfully completed lab trials of both their Enterprise and Residential femto base stations with one of the leading greenfield telecom service providers in India. Subsequently, Sooktha expanded its portfolio to offer
a software-defined end-to-end NB-IoT solution, which is used for research in India and as ultra-lightweight test beds in the labs of North American service providers. Sooktha extended its LTE small cell solutions to pico and macro base station solutions for rural and railways deployments of Global OEMs. Today the company is developing and deploying 5G solutions for the Stand Alone (SA) mode of deployment by leveraging its experience in LTE in the process. In addition Sooktha is focused on creating a software suite for 5G NR, which can be combined with different hardware modules to cater to a broad portfolio of 5G use cases. The software is deployed in a distributed mode by installing the Centralized Unit (CU) software in a virtualized environment and Distributed Unit (DU) software on purpose-built hardware modules. This architecture leveraging the Open RAN standard and ecosystem allows Sooktha to work with Capgemini to enable them to cater
to a wide variety of use cases. Sooktha works in close collaboration with Capgemini to translate real world use cases into the right combination of its software suites on the right platforms. The move from proprietary closed hardware systems, to open software centric wireless access solutions creates an opportunity for Sooktha and Capgemini to give them unprecedented levels of f lexibility. Partnering with a large global player like Capgemini also helps Sooktha to address large business opportunities by leveraging the company’s massive scale and global presence, while remaining a focused niche player. Capgemini also provides Sooktha access to a larger ecosystem of global suppliers to put together innovative solutions. Sooktha also has a geographical advantage in its partnership with Capgemini since it is headquartered in Bangalore and Capgemini has a significant presence in Bangalore and in locations in close proximity to Bangalore.
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“ In terms of 5G at Capgemini, the practice has been taken very seriously, with the company in full force to establish an ecosystem of various initiatives and expertise within the 5G space” — Sandeep Nag, Director of 5G, Capgemini 12
is no longer going to be people-topeople contact in a physical form. Instead, there is going to be an increased reliance on communications technology, which requires resilient connectivity, and which will play a major role within future operations for organisations. The current trends due to the impact of COVID-19 is agility, being able to adapt to changing behaviours and circumstances and coordinated remote working. “ Current challenges within the industry have seen worldwide supply chains either stop, or reduce significantly. “Whether it’s sourcing, production or distribution, new challenges have arisen relating to not only maintaining a flow of materials and goods but maintaining employee safety at all times while carrying out operations. To maintain a sustainable business through this we are driving the initiative to adopt a patient approach with clear communication between all stakeholders: suppliers, workers and customers. At Capgemini our HR practice has a strong infrastructure globally. They understand the safety of the w w w.c a pge m in i. com
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employee in this situation which is the primary importance. So right from social distancing through to cleanliness,hygiene and ensuring that each and every employee is protected, there are various HR driven initiatives to provide expert guidance and advice.”
1967
Year founded
HQ Paris France
When it comes to the technological capability of Capgemini to effectively implement a remote workforce, Sandeep details that “as far as connectivity is concerned, all employees 14
were ensured that they had access to the necessary tools and work facilities to efficiently work from home. You
“ The evolution of 4G networks into 5G networks and beyond has allowed for better connectivity and increased the efficiency of connected devices” — Sandeep Nag, Director of 5G, Capgemini
can imagine, being a huge company, this was no small task to provide the connectivity and technology to those who need it, but we seamlessly achieved it,” an achievement of which Sandeep is proud. During the crisis, Sandeep details that he has seen an increased use of the likes of Skype, Microsoft Teams and WebEx for conferencing capabilities as well as Google Hangouts and Zoom. “Another trend emerging is connectivity through a certified VPN.”
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When it comes to the future as
a long time. I also believe that a new
the world enters into a ‘new normal’
way of working will start to emerge,
for business operations. Sandeep
with people being required to do mul-
details that “the first steps will be
tiple roles. As we emerge out of the
to maintain social distancing rules,
lockdowns facilities need to become
and I believe that, while employees
more resilient and robust which is
will start to head back to work, I do
driven by connectivity.”
not think the entire workforce will be present. Maybe towards the end of the year but not yet. Instead the workforce will be asked to report to the office via a remote login. I believe working from home will continue for w w w.c a pge m in i. com
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