On May 12, ATIS’ Next G Alliance announced the launch of its technical work program and the formation of the key working groups that the consortium says will fulfill its mission to drive North American leadership for implementing 6G technology.
Per a press release, leadership is being announced for the National 6G Roadmap, Green G, Technology and Spectrum working groups, with additional working groups to be launched in coming weeks.
The National 6G Roadmap Working Group acts as a coordination point across all other working groups. It is chaired by Amitava Ghosh, fellow and head of the Radio Interface Group at Nokia.
“The primary goal of the National 6G Roadmap Working Group is to drive communications technology innovation through developing and maintaining a North American 6G vision, lifecycle roadmap and timeframe,” Ghosh noted. “Nokia is a founding member of the Next G Alliance, and as chair of the National 6G Roadmap WG, I look forward to collaborating with our industry partners on this vital initiative.”
As stated by Next G Alliance, "Taking a holistic view of the 6G marketplace and the broader environment, the National 6G Roadmap will establish the North American vision for 6G and beyond. Geared toward the eventual commercialization of 6G, it will address the full lifecycle of research, standardization, development, manufacturing and market readiness with a built-in focus on the sustainability and the societal drivers that will shape future wireless technologies." Vice chairs of this group are lead solution architect at AT&T Marc Grant, and senior director of Research and Innovation for 6G Projects at InterDigital, Doug Castor.
Recognizing that reducing energy consumption and fostering sustainability is ever growing in importance, the Green G Working Group is for its part identifying how to minimize the environmental impact of future generations of wireless technology, according to ATIS. This group is chaired by distinguished technologist with HPE, Marie-Paule Odini. Vice chairs are director of 5G Policy and External Engagements at Microsoft, Micaela Giuhat and Cognitive Edge Research Scientist, Advanced Technologies Team, Service Provider & Cloud at VMware, Colleen Josephson.
“HPE is committed to minimizing our industry’s environmental footprint with circular economy initiatives and is driving innovation in sustainable solutions that will reduce telecom environmental impact, contributing to North American leadership in 6G,” commented HPE's Odini.
According to a press release, Working Groups have also been established in the following areas to address critical aspects of the Next G journey. Leadership is being announced for the following groups as it becomes available.
- Technology – Defining the specific technologies needed to fulfill the vision set forth in the National 6G Roadmap. The chair of the Technology Working Group is Senior Director, Technology in Wireless Research & Development at Qualcomm Eddy (Hwan-Joon) Kwon.
- Applications – Identifying the leading vertical applications that will leverage network infrastructure in the Next G environment.
- Spectrum – Exploring new paradigms for spectrum access, management and sharing. This work will also look at opportunities for global spectrum harmonization, technology coexistence and greater spectrum efficiency. The chair of the Spectrum Working Group is Head of 5G/xG Engagement at MITRE Andrew Thiessen.
- Societal/Economic Drivers – Identifying and characterizing the social and economic drivers that are central to the 6G vision — and how they will drive change and progress and impact the 6G marketplace globally.
“With the launch of the technical work program, the Next G Alliance takes an important step in fulfilling its mission,” said ATIS President and CEO Susan Miller. “Aligning industry and academia around a holistic 6G vision for the next decade will be central to North American leadership and success domestically and across the global 6G marketplace.”
The Next G Alliance unites 50 of the leading information and communications technology (ICT) companies in a shared commitment to advance the evolution of 5G, chart the future of 6G technology and put North America at the forefront of wireless technology leadership for the next decade and beyond. The membership spans infrastructure, semiconductors and device vendors; operators; hyperscalers; research organizations and others. To join in this work, contact ATIS Membership Director Rich Moran. Learn more at: https://nextgalliance.org/.
As a leading technology and solutions development organization, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) brings together the top global ICT companies to advance the industry’s business priorities. ATIS’ 150 member companies are currently working to address 6G, 5G, robocall mitigation, IoT, smart cities, artificial intelligence-enabled networks, distributed ledger/blockchain technology, cybersecurity, emergency services, quality of service, billing support, operations, and more. ATIS is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and is the North American Organizational Partner for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a founding Partner of the oneM2M global initiative, a member of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), as well as a member of the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL). For more information, visit www.atis.org.
