February 2017 | Business View Magazine

72 73 “As you look at migrating off of your legacy networks onto the new software-defined net- works, companies have a significant asset base that they have to figure out what to do with,” says Schultz. “They use a significant amount of power; they use a lot of real estate. And they’re not getting the return that they need from those assets. So, a company like KGP has the ability to help customers migrate off of their legacy assets onto the next gen networks. And that’s a skill set that’s going to be in very high demand over the next five years as the soft- ware-defined networks roll out. Also, we are in the process of building the next gen optical networks for carriers to be able to support the tremendous increase in bandwidth require- ments over the next five to ten years.” “True Telco SDN is in its infancy,” he contin- ues. “We’ve got start-ups that are popping up; companies that nobody’s ever heard of. They’re forming niches, developing niche applications. More than likely, as those applications get utilized, those companies will get bought by larger ag- gregators.Think back to Cisco in the ‘90s.Anytime somebody came up with a faster box, Cisco went and bought them and then enabled that technol- ogy into their products.We’re going to see the same thing in the software-defined side. “Over the next two years, we’re going to spend a lot of time building the core of the KGP Companies software-defined network. After that, we will spend years enhancing and pushing the edge of the network. Traditionally, the edge would be a remote hub out in front of a subdivision that would be serving that subdivision. In the new world, that edge piece could be in an end-cus- tomer’s residence; it could be at a business; it could be at a gas station down the street; it will be at the bottom of a cell tower. So, we’re going to see an intelligent network built out, closer and closer to the people who are using the data, and the connectivity will be there, as well as applications and content.” “Certainly, we could see more software de- fined, cloud-type assets moving out to the edge,” Glass adds. With a 40-year legacy and a diverse customer base, KGP Companies brings a powerful value proposition focused on delivering advanced sup- ply chain and distribution, solutions-based project management, network engineering, installation, and software integration services. KGP Companies is poised and equipped to ride that leading edge of telecommunications connectivity to wherever it may lead in the years to come.