C.P. Manoharan,Director, Business Development, APAC South, Spirent Communications
A telecommunications engineer by training, C.P. Manoharan has held senior product and technical roles in a number of organisations and worked with major telecom operators during his professional career spanning over 25 years.
In his current role as director of business development, APAC South, at Spirent Communications, he focuses on the delivery of solutions to meet the customer and market timelines, while driving sustainable and profitable growth. Manoharan’s responsibilities also include building and growing business in the Indian, SEA and ANZ markets, managing sales, delivery and partner alliances as well as nurturing future leaders. “I believe in developing leaders within the team and encouraging new ideas and suggestions to solve business problems and technical challenges,” he says.
Manoharan sees telco cloud and open radio access network (O-RAN) gaining momentum in the coming years. “The 5G core has emerged as the single hottest destination for operators worldwide. Where there is core, there is cloud. Combined, core and cloud now represent more than one third of our 5G work,” he adds. Besides, Manoharan asserts that automation is finding broad adoption as network equipment vendors, service providers, multi service operators (MSOs) and enterprises are all focused on improving agility and operational efficiency.
While Manoharan has had many memorable moments during his career, he specifically remembers an assignment where a large telecom operator needed to validate performance across its in-house 5G core network functions, while supporting LTE 4G and IP multimedia subsystem interfaces. With Spirent’s portfolio of solutions that delivered test from the edge of the RAN to the core of the network, Manoharan and his team were able to leverage and demonstrate their depth of experience and advanced testing solutions portfolio.
Manoharan believes that with open network components, the industry is moving away from vendor lock-in, which is opening up tremendous opportunities to focus on start-ups and enterprises at the same time. “As a team, we are working closely with NEM/ OEMs and telecom operators to build an end-to-end solutions validation and assurance framework to ensure shorter time-to-market and seamless deployments. Our aim is to help 5G stakeholders see as much of the path ahead as possible,” he says.
Manoharan holds an MCA degree from Madurai Kamaraj University. He likes to engage in outdoor activities like cycling. His family comprises his wife and son. When not working, he likes to spend time with the family and his pet dog.
