On Tuesday, August 11th and Wednesday, August 12th, PS Lightwave CEO, Rhonda Cook, participated in the 6th Annual Communications Infrastructure Summit, hosted by Cowen. While held virtually this year, as opposed to the originally scheduled Boulder, Colorado, she enjoyed the diverse schedule of keynote discussions, fireside chats, and one-on-one discussions. In addition to listening and learning about current trends in fiber optics, cloud adoptions, and evolving data centers, Rhonda had the pleasure of participating as a panel contributor.
Wednesday morning, Rhonda joined Cowen moderator, Eddie Rubin, along with the CEOs of Alsaska Communications, Ritter Communications, Segra, and Telesystem to discuss the ‘Evolution of Bandwidth Infrastructure Networks’. After a brief introduction, panelists discussed sector growth, regional dynamics/demand drivers, evolution of products and services, and how/where the next wave of M&A will take shape.
In general, the panel addressed questions regarding current trends,
strategies, and predictions. Early on in the panel, the topic focused on the pandemic’s impact on the drive of demand and business impacts. Discussions on how demands for wireless backhaul/fronthaul, enterprise/SMB customers, and larger Internet/data center connectivity has changed from two years ago, or even last year.
In light of recent acquisitions by not only PS Lightwave, but FirstLight Fiber and Segra, the concept of interest in “fiber-based providers moving into the data center space.” The panel, including Rhonda, discussed their expectations on interest by other fiber companies, in the logic behind such deals and what the shift means for future partnerships.
Later, the panel shared their definitions of 5G and timeline predictions. Technical needs such as infrastructure building and network densification outside of tier 1 metros and urban areas were pondered. Rhonda and
Tim Blitz, Segra CEO, also shared their thoughts on cases where 5G will initially be utilized.
Wrapping up the session was a round robin discussion on consolidation and its impact on driving infrastructure providers and future opportunities. Looking back at 2020 and ahead into 2021 Rhonda and the panel shared their thoughts on what’s next.
