Fujitsu's Latest Technology Supporting Mobile Networks: MWC Barcelona 2024 Exhibition Report

Hello, this is the Fujitsu Public Relations note editorial department.
From Monday, February 26th to Thursday, February 29th, the world's largest mobile communications event, "MWC Barcelona 2024," was held in Barcelona, Spain.
Fujitsu exhibited at this annual big event, which saw approximately 2,400 global telecommunications operators, device manufacturers, and IT companies exhibiting, and over 100,000 visitors from more than 200 countries and regions, following our participation last year and the year before.
Did you know that Fujitsu's roots date back to 1935 when it was founded as a telecommunications equipment manufacturer? For approximately 90 years leading up to the present, we have been continuously engaged in technological development, supporting global communications infrastructure.
What did Fujitsu highlight at this event where companies from around the world showcase their cutting-edge network technologies? Fujitsu PR members Andrew Kane and Ryutaro Matsunae covered the event on-site!

※We have also provided a video from the venue at the end of the article, so please take a look.

As in previous years, the MWC venue, which attracts the attention of mobile network industry professionals from around the world, was the "Fira Gran Via" convention center located on the outskirts of Barcelona. This massive facility, with its organic design utilizing continuous curves that somehow resonate with the works of Spanish architect Gaudí—who created the Sagrada Família, Park Güell, and Casa Milà—was designed by Japanese architect Toyo Ito. The venue, boasting a massive exhibition area of 200,000 square meters, more than double that of Tokyo Big Sight, features booths lined up by global telecommunications carriers, software vendors, equipment and device manufacturers, and startups. Discussions predicting industry trends and the future are taking place in various languages all over the venue. Not only companies, but also government officials, media, and analysts from various countries are busy gathering information and conducting interviews.

Although the scale of visitors had been on a downward trend for the past few years due to the impact of COVID-19, this year saw approximately 100,000 visitors throughout the event (as announced by the organizer, GSMA), and the vitality of yesteryear has returned to Barcelona.
Fujitsu exhibited again this year, following last year, at this event where the future direction of the communications world is presented.

One of the major themes throughout the Fujitsu booth was the "utilization of AI technology," including recent generative AI. Even in the field of mobile communications, which we don't usually pay much attention to, various initiatives using AI have become a major trend across the entire industry.

The newly announced 5G-compatible radio unit (RU) from Fujitsu achieves a significant reduction in power consumption compared to conventional products by using AI to optimize operations according to the communication volume of users in the covered area. Furthermore, while it was previously necessary to prepare antennas for each frequency used for communication, Fujitsu's new radio unit can accommodate multiple frequency bands within a single housing, which can contribute significantly to reducing installation costs and the speed of base station deployment.

Solutions utilizing AI/ML technology were also newly announced this time. In network operations, when software errors or equipment failures are detected, it is necessary to identify the cause from a vast amount of error codes and event logs, which has been a significant burden for telecommunications operators and equipment vendors. Additionally, there was the challenge that even if the cause of an error was in one location, that error could trigger subsequent errors in a chain reaction, making it difficult to identify the root cause. By applying our company's solution that utilizes AI/ML technology to this, the AI instantly decodes the event log data and presents elements that could be the cause of the error. After that, it supports the resolution of the failure by repeating chat-style interactions using generative AI. Although it is still in the verification stage, it is said that it has become possible to shorten recovery work that previously took several hours to about 15 minutes.

At the booth, there was also an exhibition of offerings for "Fujitsu Uvance," a business model that supports the realization of Sustainability Transformation (SX) and the resolution of social issues. In the "ESG Management Platform," which uses AI to realize the analysis, simulation, and recommendations necessary for corporate management decisions, a demo was conducted on predicting simulations of corporate business and the resulting carbon dioxide emissions through interactive exchanges using generative AI, which attracted the interest of visitors.

Editor's Note

I have been involved in PR activities for the media at MWC twice in the past, but this was my first time handling it on-site in Barcelona. Although I had heard rumors, the prosperity and enthusiasm were beyond my imagination.
Lined up across the venue as far as the eye can see are numerous global leaders in the mobile and IT industries from various countries. I felt firsthand how the direction of technology for the future is being indicated through discussions, speeches, and presentations by key industry figures held everywhere. I would like to deliver Fujitsu's initiatives as a company supporting global network infrastructure to the world and demonstrate a solid presence in the global market where strong competitors abound.

👇We are introducing the Fujitsu booth in a video