Rich wireless services—ranging from VR/AR media offerings to connected cars and industrial IoT devices—will become a reality sooner than anticipated throughout Europe, thanks to the efforts of Telefónica and Xilinx. The multi-national telecoms carrier has brought together Xilinx and a number of leading hardware and software companies in its quest to disrupt the market and accelerate the development of open radio-access network (O-RAN) technologies in its 4G and 5G wireless networks.

Following on the heels of XDF San Jose and Beijing, this week’s XDF Frankfurt, which took place Monday, got off to an eventful start. A German rail workers’ strike happened to coincide with the event so it proved extra challenging for those traveling. But for the attendees who made it, they were treated to a keynote by Xilinx CTO Ivo Bolsens with special on-stage appearances by marquee companies - Germany-based Daimler (see “Daimler joins Xilinx at XDF Frankfurt to Disclose its new AI Interior Technology”) and Sweden-based Ericsson.