ARCIA’s Lunchtime Learning series’ successful kick off!
The first session of the ARCIA Lunchtime Learning series—An overview of the state of the wireless industry in Australia—was well attended, with close to 100 attendees for the duration (around 130 had registered for the event)!
Title: An overview of the state of the wireless industry in Australia
Presenter: Hamish Duff
Session 1 recap
Hamish Duff, ARCIA President, gave an excellent overview of the industry, and what he sees as the future for the radio communications sector. Hamish mentioned the effect that COVID-19 has had on our industry; while the events sector is struggling to survive, it would seem that other sectors actually found that radio communications is essential, and so business increased. Although not seen by many in the general public, it again shows that communications are an essential part of our modern world.
Trending towards LTE and wireless broadband
Hamish outlined the trend towards LTE and wireless broadband becoming evident in our industry, with PTTOC now part of the product offering in conjunction with traditional radio systems. There is no doubt that in all segments of the wireless communications market, that data is a growing factor in the users requirements, and with digital radio systems this becomes another feature. The growth in wireless broadband options means that manufacturers are developing products that can meet the needs of both conventional LMR and LTE, often within the same device. When considered in conjunction with digital transmission modes and trunked radio options, the product range is extensive. When you then add in the ability of smaller Australian organisations to develop product and accessory options to complement existing products, it means a strong future for local industries.
A significant benefit of this strong market development is that there is an ongoing demand for skilled personnel, especially those with expertise in areas such as IP networking, fibre optics, and RF technologies. Together with the development of private LTE markets in several industry sectors, the future shows a strong growth and an ongoing need for training. As part of this, ARCIA started this lower-level industry education program with general knowledge training for our industry. We are also developing an online Professional Development Training option to give our industry personnel the opportunity to up-skill to meet demand. In summary, Hamish outlined that the future for experienced personnel is very bright, and as an industry we need to help develop training and support facilities.
Thank you to our promotional partners
Hamish finished up by thanking the ARCIA promotional partners, whose funds help to make training possible, and then responded to some questions raised by the attendees before Andrew Wyborn (as moderator) closed the session, and thanked Hamish for the presentation.
Session 2: registration opens soon
The next Lunchtime Learning session will be on Wednesday 27th October 2021 – An introduction to the Two-way radio industry (Part 1) >>.
Registration opens soon, so keep an eye out for more information.
If you have questions from the first session or would like to offer suggestions, please email us at [email protected]
Enjoy this ARCIA initiative, and please remember to thank ARCIA’s Promotional Partners who help to fund the Association, and enable us to deliver fantastic opportunities such as this.
All Lunchtime Learning sessions are added to the events page on the ARCIA website. We hope that you can join us on our Lunchtime Learning journey!