Dallas SWE had our October Professional Development meeting at Ericsson Technology Center in Plano. The evening was hosted by Cara Hale, Senior Requiter, Talent Acquisition. Two groups visited the Technology Innovation Lab and experienced the future of a connected world. First Ron Smith connected the visitors to mobile phone data capability history from 1G (1979) to 2G (1991) to 3G (2001) to the current 4G (2009) network, then finally providing a glimpse of what will be available through Ericsson’s innovations on the upcoming 5G network. From a text message to a photograph sent to watching a Netflix movie, he provided insight into what network responsiveness enables. In the first demo Sham Hamee provided an example of a virtual reality viewing device so that everyone in the room could be transported to a room. As the person wearing the device viewed the remote location, everyone at the Plano location were able to see the remote location on the TV screens. Then, Suhel Patel showed an example of traffic sensors capturing data in 4 cities so that both the real time connection to traffic patterns, signal events, and paths could be optimized. Finally, Ron described a flow-through water quality monitoring system that could be positioned at remote sites to provide real-time information on water speed and contaminants. Multiple sensors could be placed along a single waterway to help pinpoint potential problems. By programming the system to go to sleep between data collection and transmission cycles, two AA batteries can last for 10 years. A future where energy, cell phone coverage, and other ancillary services are enabled through real-time sensor networks is very exciting!
After all attendees experienced the Technology Center, we went to the meeting room to work on our personal branding with Cara Hale. We were able to distinguish between creating a 2 minute elevator speech and a phrase or graphic that reflected our values and where we could impact. The successful evening led to much discussion among attendees.
