Alan Fagan: Good morning everybody. My name is Alan Fagan. I'm the vice president of sales for the Americas for EPS Global. We specialize in open networking solutions, working with top software providers and hardware manufacturers to put together solutions for our customers. We're headquartered in Dublin and have 28 global locations. 

Sanjay Kumar: Hi everyone. My name is Sanjay Kumar. I'm the VP for product management and marketing at Arcus. We provide a programmable network operating system that runs on various hardware to enable use cases from the edge to multi-cloud environments. Happy to be here. 

Edgard Saad: Thanks, Kelly. Good morning everyone. I'm Edgard Saad, handling business development at Edgecore Networks, based in Germany. Edgecore is a pioneer in Open Networking solutions, offering disaggregated solutions from access to the core and specialized solutions for data centers and AI. 

Lloyd Mphahlele: Yeah, thank you, Kelly. It's a pleasure to be here. I'm Lloyd Mphahlele, the general manager responsible for transport and OSS tools at MTN Group. We provide various services across Africa and the Middle East, including mobile money, with over 280 million subscribers. Happy to be here. 

Edgard Saad: Yes, thank you, Kelly. It's a crucial topic. Some feedback from our customers highlights concerns about dealing with multiple players in the ecosystem and the complexity of deploying disaggregated solutions. We've collaborated with IP Infusion, Arcus, and our value-added distributor to provide a unified experience and turnkey solution for our customers. 

Sanjay Kumar: Thanks, Kelly. Disaggregation is ready for prime time, offering innovation and flexibility while lowering TCO. The challenges involve delivering a frictionless experience and coordinating different elements. We've shepherded the entire process from POC to deployment, offering a single point of contact for support. 

Alan Fagan: Edgard and Sanjay covered perceived challenges well. We at EPS mitigate these by helping customers identify appropriate solutions and providing pre-configured options. Open networking's multi-vendor aspect becomes an advantage, offering benefits over traditional vendors. 

Lloyd Mphahlele: Thanks, Kelly. Initially, we were apprehensive about disaggregation, but we saw value in fixing competitive issues. The key challenges were mindset change, procurement, integration with existing technology, and evaluating TCO. We've made progress in addressing these. 

Alan Fagan: Yes, case studies like those of Unity Fiber, Metalink, and VTS highlight benefits such as significant cost and energy savings, speed of deployment, and successful use in diverse environments. It shows the technology is mature, with global deployment examples. 

Sanjay Kumar: We've deployed disaggregation at scale with entities like Softbank Mobile and NPCI in India. Key learnings include process maturity, interoperability, and providing a single support contact. The diversity of supply and tight coordination are also crucial. 

Lloyd Mphahlele: Yes, our journey included lab tests and commercial trials across three African markets, proving interoperability and integration. We've addressed procurement issues to facilitate scalable deployment of disaggregated solutions. 

Edgard Saad: Support management was a primary challenge. Customers were concerned about vendor accountability. We've established clear procedures and MOUs to provide a smooth, unified support experience, pleasing our customers including MTN. 

Alan Fagan: Yes, hardware shortages are mitigated by multi-ODM qualified options. EPS carries stock, allowing us to respond quickly to demands. We manage end-of-life notices to help customers plan effectively. 

Lloyd Mphahlele: Key is ensuring procurement and commercial models are adapted for disaggregation. Our approach allows for economies of scale while providing necessary flexibility and sourcing capabilities. 

Sanjay Kumar: Maturity of processes is essential, aided by the collective mindset and efforts of innovators like MTN. The ecosystem developed through collaborations encourages operators to confidently deploy disaggregation at scale. 

Edgard Saad: Disaggregation is real, not just theoretical. Edgecore continues evolving our technology, ready to serve customers through our established partnerships. I invite attendees to engage with us for solutions.