Page 22 - DECT Today - October 2015

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DECT Today interview:
Daniel Hartnett,
business development
director, DECT Forum
DECT TODAY INTERVIEW:
What attracted you about the job?
DH: I'm a big fan of DECT which I think is now moving in the right direction. As examples, I mean what has been happening since 2009 with CAT-iq and ULE, and the security working group, and the way the Forum has increased its activity in the US and Japan. DECT is coming of age.
We've also seen the integration of CAT-iq and DECT in home gateways, which is a huge step in the right direction. This means carriers find DECT valuable as a way to add value by offering it as a service, it makes them more competitive in terms of quality and functionality. Also valuable is the way that DECT is leveraging its strength in voice to migrate to VoIP, which dovetails with the home gateway – and HD Voice dovetailing with the mobile community's strategy.
All this has made people in the industry sit up and take notice, ensuring that DECT is not just a cool European technology – though it is – but it's also gained traction in the rest of the world. It's effectively reinvented itself.
What experience do you bring to the post?
DH: For those who don't know me, I have a past in DECT. From mid-2000 onwards, I took on the challenge of the role of product marketing manager of Lantiq (which was then Infineon). We went into VoIP devices, which morphed into producing DECT over IP. The devices we sold in this market via the likes of Panasonic and Deutsche Telekom gave me
insight into how the market works, the barriers to entry and the challenges.
So I was given the task of a parallel role to head up the chairmanship of the CAT-iq working group within the DECT Forum. This period from 2009-12 also marked the arrival of CAT-iq. My task was to oversee the certification of CAT-iq 2.0. Since then, carriers and the industry alike have really bought into this technology. Since 2012 I have worked on the manufacturer/system side at Siedle bringing added perspective to the new role.
As you say, all this has been a challenge. What are your new challenges now?
DH: To find ways to improve the visibility and awareness of DECT within its chosen markets. That means improving the message that's being transmitted. There are lots of ways of doing that and the first is understanding what you want to achieve. Improvements we could make within the organisation include improving networking, the structure of the organisation, the writing of standards, implementing them, and helping the manufacturers who have to do interoperability testing before standardising.
So my role is making a lot of that happen – that's not hands-on spec writing but making sure the various elements of the chain work together for a smooth and timely certification,
recognising the importance of time to market by producing an easier standardisation process.
What goals have you set for yourself?
DH: The most obvious is to increase and improve awareness of the whole value chain. That means doing a good job of teaching that market or set of people, and spending more time addressing the needs of the end customer. That means listening not just to the heavyweights in the industry but listening to what the market is saying, and helping manufacturers who can turn those inputs into features, and so make better products.
Awareness is about how we use the media. We could do lots outside the DECT world other than just via DECT Today [surely that's enough? Ed] such as via social media using a sharpened message.
My goals are around certification, helping to build a standard that goes towards CAT-iq 3.0 and SUOTA, helping to build the manufacturer base, making DECT more attractive, looking at how certification is done in other industry segments, improving co- operation with partners in order to develop the types of standards that will result in top quality products.
What are the metrics by which you will measure your success?
DH: I'd look at a number of things. What is the level of members we're attracting? How many
applications are we bringing to market?
In a bid to get to help put a face to the DECT Forum, DECT Today editor Manek Dubash spoke to Daniel Hartnett, the organisation's new business development director, to find out what makes him tick and what he plans to do in his new job.
DECT Today - The Success Story Continues · www.dect.org
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