Self-described public cloud evangelist Danielle Royston (pictured) claimed MWC Barcelona 2021 will be the catalyst to accelerate the service in telecoms, as she explained her consultancy TelcoDR’s decision to take over Ericsson’s floorspace at the show.

In a press briefing, Royston outlined plans to create a “cloud city” in the 6,000 square-metre space, inviting a host of telecoms software and cloud players to share it.

Royston explained Ericsson’s decision to drop out from the physical element of the show presented “an enormous marketing opportunity to create awareness” and she had to jump on it, while adding a huge part of her consultancy was designed to push public cloud into the telecoms space.

Controversially, Royston suggested Ericsson had withdrawn because “it had nothing new to say” and was basing its decision on “three month old” data about Covid-19 (coronavirus).

She continued to state TelcoDR’s was focused on talking to operators about how hugely transformative public cloud could be for their business, while also revealing a plan to acquire a telecoms software company, with the hopes of raising at least $1 billion.

Public cloud future
Royston said MWC Barcelona 2021 was an opportunity to educate operators on public cloud, as well as help deals get made, something the event is famous for.

She admitted the company spent “millions of dollars” to secure Ericsson’s space, but argued the RoI was equally enormous, and offered a chance for event attendees to see “the public cloud future”, instead of the “legacy of the past”.

The spending does not stop there, as she invited “like-minded companies” to share the mammoth area and present alongside her, pledging to build stands and space for them for free.

Royston said there are plans to dedicate a big portion of the space to a “visionary area” and provide education on how to use cloud across a range of functions from network core to edge, and from the back office to subscribers’ devices.

She also wants her presence at MWC Barcelona 2021 to ensure the media is able create the right messaging for the public cloud segment, insisting it was important to learn the difference between “public cloud and fake cloud”, and clear up all the “uncertainty put out there by the legacy vendors”.

Virtual robots
As part of the ambitious plans, Royston said the company was exploring the use of virtual telepresence robots for those unable to attend the show in-person, enabling them to walk through the booth and participate in the demos.

Royston acknowledged there would be many that did not attend MWC Barcelona 2021 for personal and corporate reasons, but she is still aiming to get around 10,000 visitors over the four days, the same numbers Ericsson generated.

While the event was “one of the first shows to cancel” in 2020, Royston is “optimistic it will be one of the first” staged in 2021.