Interview
Pushing ahead
with MCX
Miquel Teixidor, CEO of Genaker – a Spanish company specialising
in mission-critical broadband – speaks to Sam Fenwick about its
take-up and deployment
26
www.criticalcomms.com October 2019
What do you consider to be the main barriers
holding back the full-scale deployment of
mission-critical broadband?
In most countries, there is still a lack of spectrum, which is
the fundamental resource for mission-critical broadband. A
large part of the market is also unaware of the availability
and benefits of these new technologies, in part due to
mixed messages from the legacy PMR vendors that confuse
customers by telling them the technology is not yet mature.
Genaker has been developing such solutions since
2003, although it has only really been in recent years, with
the advent of LTE and the development of standardised
MCPTT/MCX solutions, that the underlying networks have
become robust enough to offer mission-critical broadband.
You’ve been visiting a large number of companies
in the critical communications sector all around
the world. What are you seeking to accomplish?
Earlier this year, we decided to expand our activities
internationally, by focusing on a relatively small number
of European and global markets. We are entering into a
dialogue with as many companies and people as possible
with knowledge and experience of mission-critical broadband
solutions, to educate customers and also enter into
partnerships to provide compelling, end-to-end solutions.
When speaking with end-users we try to explain that the
technology is available, the benefits it can bring to them and
convince them to not be afraid to take the plunge. The results
have been very positive. The most daring companies (early
adopters) have made the leap and, as of today, most of the
companies we’ve visited are ready to shift to mission-critical
broadband solutions, and each company is looking for its best
moment, depending on its needs and possibilities.
What are the main considerations when deploying
mobile broadband in a critical communications
setting? How do you achieve the same reliability
that a user would expect from a PMR system?
Each project is unique with diverse requirements in terms of
spectrum, coverage, capacity, services, integration with other
solutions, etc, so the first stage is to listen to the customer
and understand what they are trying to achieve and how
broadband services will help their operations. Genaker also
works very closely with the customer together with network,
device and accessories suppliers, system integrators, and
continually keeps up to date with the latest developments
in standards, technology and markets to make sure the final
solution fits long-term requirements, parameters and targets.
This requires a lot of work and a strong relationship with all our
customers based on trust and co-operation.
Can you tell us a bit about your current work
and priorities?
While continuing to support our existing clients, many of whom
have been using our services since 2012, our most important
priority is the delivery of a few very demanding and critically
important projects that we have been working on for some time
now, all of which are on track to go live by the end of 2019.
To make sure we remain up to date and deliver the best
possible solutions, we currently have two major strands of
business development. On the one hand, we continue to
develop technology, applications and services, closely following
the evolution of standards such as 3GPP. On the other hand, we
continue working to establish alliances with partners in different
domains, while searching for committed and enthusiastic
commercial partners to develop this business together with us.
Why and how was Genaker formed and what gap in
the market was it created to address?
Genaker was founded 16 years ago in Barcelona by former
Nokia Global R&D Centre managers and engineers. By
2003 we had already developed technology based on group
communications, presence, location and audio and video
streaming, when Nokia decided to close the Centre down, so
a few adventurers decided to bring to market our “mobile”
knowledge and technological experience.
The most daring companies (early
adopters) have made the leap and,
as of today, most of the companies we’ve
visited are ready to shift to missioncritical
broadband solutions
/www.criticalcomms.com