0:03

Hey, everyone, Welcome to The Restless

0:05

Ones. I'm Jonathan Strickland. As

0:07

always, my focus is on exploring

0:09

the intersection of technology and business

0:12

by having conversations with the most forward

0:14

thinking leaders. Throughout my career,

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I've covered everything from massive

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parallel processing to advanced

0:21

robotics, but what truly inspires

0:24

me are the stories of innovation and

0:26

transformation. We've

0:30

arrived at the end of another season

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of The Restless Ones. I thought it

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would be a good idea to look back on

0:37

some of the guests and conversations we've had

0:40

this year with some truly

0:42

interesting leaders and to reflect

0:44

on some common threads throughout

0:46

these discussions, and clearly

0:49

a pivotal connection is well

0:52

connectivity itself. We cover

0:54

that topic a lot on this show,

0:56

not just because of our partner T Mobile

0:59

for Business, but because I really do believe

1:01

connectivity is one of the foundational

1:03

pillars for modern technology,

1:05

along with processing, power and

1:08

data storage. You need to leverage all three

1:10

to use technology effectively and efficiently,

1:13

and with the proliferation of cloud services,

1:15

the Internet of Things, and now an explosion

1:18

of artificial intelligence implementations,

1:21

connectivity plays a critical role

1:23

in operations, but not everyone

1:26

is using it the same way, and that's what

1:28

I found really interesting. For

1:31

example, in our conversation with

1:33

Sonya Kasner, the CEO and founder

1:35

of Panoai, we learned

1:37

how her company is making strategic use

1:39

of cell tower locations in remote areas

1:42

by installing cameras to monitor

1:44

for wildfires. By collating

1:46

the camera and communication systems with

1:48

the cell tower, Panoai can take advantage

1:51

of both the connectivity provided by the tower

1:53

and the vantage point. Then

1:56

Panoai software analyzes the incoming

1:58

images gathered from these towns and

2:00

flags any that may indicate a fire

2:03

so that a human can review the imagery and

2:05

take a look at a live feed from that camera.

2:08

In crisis situations, information is

2:10

critical and can save lives and help responders

2:12

mitigate fires early on. But

2:15

that's just a high level view. Sonia

2:17

explained that on a technical level, a

2:19

lot of pieces have to be in place to

2:22

make this work.

2:25

Behind the scenes, the whole system is incredibly

2:27

complicated. So it

2:29

starts with a piece of equipment that we

2:31

design a manufacturer called a pano station.

2:34

This includes about forty components,

2:37

including two high definition security

2:39

cameras. These are off the shelf, top

2:41

of the line, six megapixel security

2:43

cameras designed for ruggedized environments,

2:46

and about forty other components. We assemble

2:48

them in our factory in San Francisco. The

2:51

systems also include an edge computer

2:54

which has logic on how we control the cameras.

2:56

We also include networking equipment

2:58

so we can send the data up to the cloud over cellular

3:01

broadband connectivity. We have power

3:04

management. Sometimes we need to include a backup

3:06

battery. Sometimes we need to include solar panels.

3:09

Every site is a little bit different, so it's

3:11

a configured order supply chain,

3:13

which is not for the faint of heart. And we

3:15

mount these systems typically on existing

3:18

structures like cell towers, water

3:20

tanks, government communications towers,

3:23

sometimes even private homes or chairlifts

3:25

at a ski resort. We get really creative on

3:27

where to put these and we've

3:30

actually found five G to be a really great

3:32

technology for us.

3:35

Then there was our conversation with Mike Onondrash

3:38

of Avontour Sciences. Avonteur

3:40

is a biotechnology research and development

3:42

company. Avonteur produces materials

3:44

needed for high end scientific and medical

3:47

applications. The company also carries

3:49

out bleeding edge lab work to create

3:51

the building blocks that other companies use

3:53

when they produce pharmaceuticals like vaccines.

3:56

Wireless connectivity gives a Vontour freedom

3:59

to adapt to new situations, which

4:01

the company had to do during the outbreak of COVID

4:03

nineteen, and with high speed, low latency

4:05

connections of Ontour, researchers are

4:08

able to share work quickly to get results

4:10

faster.

4:13

I think the largest opportunity

4:16

when we think about our customer is the lab.

4:18

I think the evolution of

4:20

how quickly can we take advantage of the data

4:22

coming from equipment in the lab into

4:25

laboratory information management systems LIMB systems

4:28

to do correlation analysis? How can you

4:30

accelerate trials data? How

4:33

can you do compound analysis.

4:36

We produce very high specification products

4:39

to very narrow tolerances, so

4:41

how can we do that quicker? How can you identify

4:44

which of the raw materials are commodity

4:46

and which have direct influence to the

4:48

specification of the output. So

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I look at what connectivity can do for

4:53

that and the ability in real time to

4:56

make those adjustments

4:58

that will have direct impact.

5:00

And then I think, secondly, it's your footprint.

5:03

I think you know having five

5:05

G and these non teathered

5:07

technologies allow you to think pretty

5:10

dynamically about what's the right

5:12

footprint for this capability, whether

5:14

it's an office footprint, a lab footprint,

5:16

DC expansion, a pop up

5:18

facility with a customer. If suddenly

5:21

you know, I'm call it byon bring my own

5:23

network, i just slap a five

5:25

G spot up, or I'm putting five G in every

5:27

single one of my devices laptops

5:30

or mobile devices globally and it's inherently

5:32

part of my extended network.

5:36

We also met with sunder Sebastian

5:38

Agora, CEO of Cleven. Agur's

5:40

company is working on what has traditionally been

5:43

a challenging and time consuming issue

5:45

for delivery companies, getting a payload

5:48

down that last mile of delivery.

5:50

The company has developed autonomous robot

5:53

carriers that can store and deliver packages

5:55

for customers. Recently, Cleven

5:57

completed a one year trial with da

6:00

HL Express Estonia, demonstrating

6:02

that the autonomous vehicles can reduce the

6:04

workload of delivery companies by automating

6:07

the last mile component. The vehicles

6:09

maintain connections with Clevin, allowing for real

6:11

time monitoring and fleet management and even

6:14

operations, all made possible

6:16

by powerful and fast wireless

6:18

connectivity.

6:21

Connectivity is crucial for

6:23

our services. We definitely

6:26

need a wide network coverage,

6:28

especially in the US. We've been

6:30

really lucky to have a partnership now in place

6:33

with T Mobile, and this partnership

6:36

enables us to expand rapidly

6:38

in the States. So the big question always

6:41

is to we have the necessary latency

6:43

to offer our services in a safe way,

6:46

and the results so far

6:48

are great. Our latency today is

6:50

around one hundred milliseconds, which

6:53

is actually faster than any

6:55

person who takes decisions in the

6:57

real car. So I would

6:59

say that our solution is actually as

7:02

safe or even safer than any

7:04

normal person driving on the roads. And

7:07

by establishing those connectivity partnerships,

7:10

we are partnering with the best in class

7:12

wireless providers and they are

7:14

crucial to enable us to scale our mission

7:17

to deliver the most reliable, safe,

7:19

efficient autonomous delivery platform.

7:30

And we had a couple of great conversations with leaders

7:33

in retail who talked about connectivities

7:35

part in creating a true omni channel

7:37

experience for customers. It's amazing

7:39

how quickly we've become used to interacting with retail

7:42

on our own terms. We might

7:44

start a transaction in one context, such

7:46

as on a smartphone and complete

7:48

it in person at a retail location. The

7:51

experience, if done right, is

7:53

seamless. It can actually convince you

7:56

that it's all pretty simple, but

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it takes a lot of work with interconnected systems

8:00

to provide that kind of service. So

8:03

Monte Gobolet of Lows explain

8:05

to us how connectivity powers this experience

8:07

both for staff and customers

8:09

by making sure those connections

8:11

are as close to them as is possible.

8:16

We have really created a

8:18

mini are a micro data center in

8:20

each of these stores, so that way

8:23

we are closest to the customer wherever the

8:25

customer is. So if you are online,

8:27

you're connecting to the cloud. If

8:29

you walk into the store, you're connecting to a server

8:31

which is in the store itself. And

8:34

then if you are sitting at one

8:36

of our store support centers, which is like a headquarter,

8:39

and you're let's say a merchandising analyst,

8:42

you're connecting to our data center. So we are trying

8:44

to connect you to the closest

8:46

location, and then everything

8:48

you mentioned comes into picture in a big way. For

8:51

example, if you're in a store and you are an associate

8:53

or a customer, you're connected to the WI FI, you're

8:55

connected to the server which is very close, and

8:58

what we are doing is with our caching st strategy

9:00

and APIs, we are making sure that the data

9:02

is staged closest

9:04

to where you are.

9:07

And then Rob Mills of Tractor Supply

9:09

Company told us about how connectivity

9:12

has created incredible business opportunities

9:14

in the form of those powerful omni channel

9:17

experiences in places you might not

9:19

expect, like rural communities.

9:24

When you think about tractor Supply mission

9:26

and to really focusing on that to end

9:28

customer experience from an omni channel

9:31

perspective, the advances

9:33

and wireless and broadback technologies

9:35

has been a huge enabler for us. And

9:37

what this has done, It's opened up customer

9:40

access to our digital channels, especially

9:42

in rural America. It's allowed us

9:44

the ability to move data much more

9:46

efficiently between our stores, our

9:49

cloud, our data centers to

9:52

be able to make more of those real time

9:54

insights and decisions. I

9:56

think back five years ago, it is far more

9:59

difficult to move data through

10:01

these connections, and when we

10:03

think about where we're at today, it is very robust,

10:05

especially when you think about images, video,

10:08

deep product content, and

10:10

even customer data. To really drive a

10:12

level of personalization when you're in

10:14

this store. The advancement

10:17

of connectivity, especially in rural

10:19

America, has been significant

10:21

over the past couple of years.

10:27

Time and again, our guests talked about

10:29

how high speed connectivity plays a crucial

10:32

role in achieving business results in

10:34

line with the company's mission, and we know

10:37

this will become an even larger piece of the puzzle

10:39

as we find new ways to leverage maturing

10:41

technologies like the Internet of Things

10:43

and bleeding edge technologies like the new

10:46

implementations of artificial intelligence.

10:48

We've seen leaders like our guests push

10:50

companies to adopt a nimble approach,

10:53

and that's made possible through high speed,

10:55

low latency data communication systems.

10:57

I'm excited to see what develops over the next

11:00

few years. Already, we've seen incredible

11:02

transformation across multiple industries,

11:04

sometimes by necessity, but always

11:07

made possible by the incredible leaders

11:09

who are not content to maintain

11:11

a status quo. They're far too

11:14

restless for that. Thanks

11:19

again for joining us on this season of the

11:21

Restless Ones. We look forward to bringing

11:23

you more great conversations with incredible leaders

11:26

very soon. Until then, I'm

11:28

Jonathan Strickland,