A confab hosted by the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) in Hawaii that wrapped up earlier this month emphasized global problem solving and improving quality of life, according to the organization.

More than 2,000 communications professionals converged at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu from Nov. 30 to Dec. 4 to explore what the group said was the “next wave of Internet, broadband, multimedia and humanitarian services.”

Citing data indicating that 30 percent of the world’s economy is tied to the Internet and that between 20-25 percent of the global population has access to its services, the IEEE called attention to quotes from several presenters and keynoters that touched upon the role of technology in promoting growth and the product transfer of information, including the following:

“Today’s technologies must empower socially-responsible and simple-to-use learning tools in order to achieve sustainable futures.” Matt Bross, Global CTO, Huawei Technologies

“Telecommunications is no longer about just the wires and devices, but the cumulative value of the things that the network delivers for customers. It is about making tremendous amounts of data accessible and easy to use for billions of end users.” David Belanger, chief scientist and VP, AT&T Labs

“Everyone with access to the Internet now has the opportunity to be both a content provider and problem solver. Among the many challenges now confronting us is the ability to comfortably access all the rich data that is so horribly organized across so many different sources.” Joe Burton, VP and CTO, Unified Communications, Cisco.

Webcast live from the Honolulu venue were sessions that focused on IPv6, CEO strategies, Asia-Pacific perspectives, telecom futures, evolution to 4G wireless, location-based services, wireless access for vehicular environments, humanitarian challenges and women in communications engineering.

-Jonathan Tombes

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