On the 3rd and 4th of June IQGeo hosted our first of three 2024 IQGeo Meetup events close to our company HQ in Cambridge, UK. It was our biggest ever European event with over 120 customers and partners from across the region. This year we had a fantastic agenda with keynote industry speakers, customers that shared their experiences, and the IQGeo team providing product updates and demonstrating our latest software capabilities.
Keynotes with vision
This years’ event was dedicated to the fiber broadband industry, and we were particularly pleased to have keynote sessions from, Richard Thorpe – Chief Delivery Officer at CityFibre, and Vincent Garnier – Director General of the FTTH Council Europe, in addition to our own CEO, Richard Petti.
IQGeo CEO keynote
CityFibre is one of the fastest growing and innovative broadband players in the UK market and Richard Thorpe shared their ambitious plans and how CityFibre’s guiding principles focused on operational efficiency has been instrumental in their ongoing success. Having the right people with the right skills, technology, and processes has enabled rapid market share growth and positioned them for even greater scale up in the future. A truly inspirational and insightful perspective on the very competitive fiber industry.
CityFibre keynote
The role and influence of the FTTH Council Europe in fiber deployment cannot be understated. They have been a driving force for fiber technology and an advocate for its members. The Council’s research is second to none and Vincent Garnier shared data that modeled the current level of fiber penetration and offered potential projections for the future.
With nearly 70% of homes passed by fibre across Europe, tremendous progress has been made, but there remains a big gap in fiber broadband adoption at only 30%. The cost of deploying the remaining 30% of fiber networks will increase as these harder to reach locations are targeted and many operators are beginning to shift focus from fiber rollout to connecting homes and business in order to realize the full revenue potential of their network investments. The job of delivering connectivity across Europe is far from over and those operators that are swift and smart in their use of technology will have a competitive edge.
FTTH Council Europe keynote
The CEO of IQGeo, Richard Petti, shared his own unique perspective on the pivotal role that fiber broadband technology plays in delivering todays critical services and tomorrows possibilities to communities and businesses around the world. Digital connectivity has become a fundamental human right and is a cornerstone for social cohesion and evolution. “Building Better Networks” is IQGeo’s mission and we are making major investments in software innovation in partnership with our customers. Whether delivering broadband services to under served rural communities or transforming electric grids with renewable energy, our goal is to deliver digital equity and a greener energy future.
Operators and partners that deliver
One of the highlights of our Meetup events is always the presentations from our customers and partners and this year was no exception. We had a great mix of large and small operators that share their technology strategies across different stages of the network lifecycle.
Deutsche Telekom case study
We kicked things off with Henning Wulf and Daniel Puzicha from Deutsche Telekom’s FTTH Factory who are working to pass more than 10 million homes in Germany with fiber by the end of 2024. The DT team are using IQGeo Comsof Fiber automated fiber planning and design software to plan new rollouts in combination with the highly innovative use of mobile environmental technology that is identifying and capturing streetscape conditions that feed into their HLD and LLD workflows.
Watch our webinar to learn how IQGeo's partnership with Deutsche Telekom helped to accelerate their ambitious FTTH rollout across Germany.
Connect Fibre case study
Connect Fibre is an altnet rural fiber operator working across the UK. David Roberts-Lock provided an excellent overview of how Connect Fibre is using Network Manager Telecom as a foundation for the lifecycle management of their fiber network. David and his team have been extremely creative in their integration of strategic software applications including tools such as Monday for project management, Deepomatic for field data capture, and EXFO for maintenance and repair.
CGI case study
CGI is an IQGeo partner from The Netherlands focused on the utility industry and Henk Cornelissen shared how they are using IQGeo’s field mobility software at two different Dutch utilities. Having invested in an IQGeo Centre of Excellence they are using our mobile software in inspection and survey applications with gas, electric, and water network infrastructure to capture and improve network data quality and meet safety and regulatory obligations. CGI shares IQGeo’s vision to deliver greener and safer utility services.
Ulf Theobald and Jakob Kwiatkowski from Deutsche Glasfaser (DGF) were our final guest speakers explaining the Plan – Build – Operate strategy that they have developed rooted in IQGeo’s Network Manager Telecom software. With more than 2 million homes passed in rural areas across Germany, DGF is integrating mobile mapping data and other information sources into their lifecycle software strategy to deploy fiber quickly and efficiently, providing the business with rapid return on its valuable network investment.
Deutsche Glasfaser case study
Check out our recent webinar - Streamlining the planning and operations fiber lifecycle with Deutsche Glasfaser - to learn more about their Plan - Build - Operate strategy in detail.
Technology that drives success
Interspersed throughout the day the IQGeo Product Management and Customer Success teams shared updates on product developments providing a general overview of released and planned enhancements and demonstrating a few of the most compelling new capabilities. Working their way through the fiber network lifecycle, they provided updates for the design, build, and operate stages explaining how operators can take advantage of the latest software features in a way that is fully integrated across each operational area.
NetPMD Design & Integration partner pod
During breaks throughout the day delegates were invited to visit sponsor pods from Smallworld, EXFO, Deepomatic, and NetPMD, as well as two IQGeo pods. This allowed our guests to explore more detailed topics with our ecosystem partners and speak with IQGeo experts about their specific technology questions. The atmosphere was charged and energetic during the conference and we were also about to meet in a more relaxed setting at the Monday evening Welcome Reception and at the Tuesday evening BBQ (despite some rainy weather). Plenty of networking time was provide to form new, and reenforce existing, industry contacts that are so important to personal and professional development.
IQGeo demo pod
Looking to the future
We took a few minutes at the end of Tuesday to recognize three European operators for their outstanding project delivery with IQGeo’s Customer and Partner Innovation Awards. This years’ winners were Deutsche Glasfaser and Deutsche Telekom from Germany and FiberGrid from Greece. You can read the full press release about the amazing achievements of these three worthy winners.
The 2024 IQGeo EMEA Meetup provided a great mix of industry insights, technology updates, and professional networking and it reinforced the strategic role that IQGeo’s software plays in the success of fiber operators across Europe. It was wonderful to see how we share common challenges and opportunities and we are learning from each other in our mission to deliver digital equity to communities around the world through the construction and operation of fiber networks. We all face big challenges and the Meetup provided an important reminder of the admirable work that is being done and what we can all achieve when working together to “Build Better Networks” for the future.
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