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An interview with Antonis Georgiou

Antonis Georgiou

Antonis Georgiou, Managing Director of ACTA Ltd.

Q: Mr. Georgiou, as the founder of ACTA, a test and measurements for telecommunications and IT technology company, I’d like to take you back to when you started the company in 2002.  What were your products and services then, and what are they now?

A: If I look at what we were selling 20 years ago, a lot of these technologies are now redundant.

ACTA, in recent years, has deployed a zero-touch provisioning (TR-069) CPE management solution, for remote management and monitoring, with security improvement and threat mitigation via fast and massive CPE upgrades & configuration, in three Greek Telecom Operators. This application is critical to Service Providers since the number of user routers is in the millions and manual configuration and management would be impossible.

An Electromagnetic (EMF) radiation monitoring and analysis system, a distributed system – for which ACTA was a significant member of the development team – has been developed and is operational. All variety types of NARDA STS stations/probes are supported. It provides scientific evidence on the exposure of the public, thus, promoting a healthier environment, with continuous and reliable monitoring of the compliance of the reference EMF limits of safe exposure of the public to high-frequency electromagnetic fields. The solution is currently deployed at the Greek EMF Regulator Authority, as well as in other three (The Romanian EMF Authority, EMF Authority of Paraguay, as well as in Tonga, Africa) around the Globe. We are also looking into future developments for B5G networks.

Q: What would you say what your main commitments are at ACTA?

A: I’d say providing our customers with the capability of monitoring their telecom network, with carrier grade solutions. The solutions are future proof. And furthermore, looking into 5G, B5G, 6G technologies and preparing for testing and measurement solutions for the latest and upcoming technologies. We support our customers throughout the products lifecycle and offer services for training and operational support, so that they feel confident and secure.

Q: What are the major challenges facing the technology and telecommunications industry today and how do you keep up with the rapid advancements?

A: On the Telecom networks field, the technology is now changing at a much faster pace, than 20 years ago: 3G, 4G, 5G (6G is already on the initial technology design phase). This makes it more difficult for all the market players (Manufacturers, Integrators, Operators) to “absorb” the new technology: manufacturing, deploying, and operating efficiently the networks. The complexity of the technology protocols has been dramatically increased.

On the fixed line network part, we are now in the middle of the FTTH access network deployment curve, replacing the copper access network, that is historically the very first part of the network, deployed in the field. This means a large shift with high investments for all the counterparts but also an opportunity to adopt new approaches on deploying and operating the network: automated processes (on network installation, service provisioning fault troubleshooting), and rather monitoring than testing after a fault.

Now, because of these, we need to work closer with our customers and better understand their requirements, to be able to provide real value to them.

Q: ACTA is actively involved in Research and Development. In fact, we will be collaborating closely as part of the Horizon Europe CUSTODES project which will be starting in October 2023. This project focuses on cybersecurity certification playing a crucial role in increasing the security of ICT products and services. What do you think are the challenges facing cybersecurity, and how can these be addressed?

A: The amount of equipment that will be involved in telecom technologies, the implementation of a variety of such networks and the amount of data produced, creates the need for enterprise level measurements, of cybersecurity effecting parameters, and educated understanding of the results.

Q: What would your advice be to businesses to thrive and stay competitive?

A: I would definitely say that well trained personnel are needed, who need to be provided with opportunities to be involved in new technology experiences.

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