Ericsson Technology Review, Issue 2/2017

As ericsson’s new CTO, I am excited to take over the role of publisher of Ericsson Technology Review and continue the excellent work of my predecessors since the first article was published 93 years ago. I want to take this opportunity to welcome both new and longstanding readers in joining us to gain more technology insights from Ericsson’s Research and Development units.

Rapid digitalization, mobilization and continuous technology evolution are all having profound effects on the ongoing development of network platforms, which are a cornerstone of the emerging digital economy. Within, beneath and between these megatrends are a variety of technology trends that we must understand and leverage as we continuously move forward in our work to create top-notch next generation solutions. This year’s technology trends article outlines what I consider to be the ‘five to watch’ in our industry in the years ahead, namely: an adaptable technology base, *the dawn of true machine intelligence, end-to-end security and identity for IoT, an extended-distributed IoT platform, and overlaying reality with knowledge.

Two of the other articles in this issue are closely related to the tech trends article. The first explores how machine intelligence can be used to enhance human decision making ability in the form of decision support systems (DSSs) that automate the management of IoT-based systems. The second touches upon the topic of end-toend security, looking at how the particular challenges of security compliance in the cloud can be overcome as effectively and cost-efficiently as possible.

This issue also contains three other interesting articles that shed light on important topics such as the evolution of LTE to fit the 5G future; an overview of the latest developments in microwave backhaul; and how DevOps can be used to satisfy demands for faster turnaround in feature development.

Erik Ekudden
Group CTO and Head of Technology and Architecture