Sundeep Bhandari

I am the Strategy Manager (Digital) for the UK’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL). NPL, owned by the UK government’s Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), is a world-leading National Measurement Institute, responsible for measurement strategy and delivery in the UK. Measurements and standards are key to effective digital infrastructure; my work focuses on shaping the evolution of physical measurement into the ‘cyber-physical’ world, embedding measurement into processes using digital and data sciences to deliver confidence in the intelligent and effective use of data. The largest component of my work relates to digital infrastructure, developing and guiding the future communications initiatives at NPL, working alongside industry partners and multiple stakeholders across the ICT sector. The work, (alongside government, industry and academia) identifies that future networks (of which 5G plays a big part) will be key to economic productivity and will be integral in catalysing true digital transformation and adoption across sectors and society. Developing future networks that will underpin new technologies and business models is far from straightforward. Emerging technologies such as Network Function Virtualisation (NFV), Software Defined Networks (SDN) and quantum communications, for example, will affect how networks are designed, as is an increasingly competitive industry landscape where the boundary between traditional telecoms and IT is fast disappearing. There is a growing need to ensure that the telecommunications infrastructure of the future supports the demands of services, are resilient and secure, and that the traceable measurement underpinning for future converged, interoperable and automated networks is developed and in place to realise the benefits of digital transformation across sectors and society. I am a member of the ITU’s Focus Groups on Network 2030 as well as FG Autonomous Networks that shape pre-standards definitions and requirements, a member of multple ETSI 5G & Non IP Networks related groups and, a member of the newly formed IEEE CommSoc group to look at similar.