A monthly gathering to discuss and share on general ICT topics

SK Telecom’s ‘T Developer Forum,’ the only place in Korea where developers gather every month to communicate and share ideas, has reached its 50th anniversary.

SK Telecom announced that it held the '50th T Developer Forum' on the theme of '5G' at its headquarters in Euljiro, attended by over 500 domestic and international developers.

The 'T Developer Forum' began in July 2012 with 30 domestic developers gathering under the theme of 'developing differentiated software and applications based on smartphones.' Since then, the forum has expanded its topics to cover the entire ICT sector leading the Fourth Industrial Revolution, including IoT, Big Data, Cloud, and AI, and the number of attendees has increased tenfold to an average of 300.

In particular, SK Telecom held the 'T Developer Forum' every month, judging that regular discussions and the sharing of the latest trends among developers serve as the foundation for innovation. Over the past six years, the 'T Developer Forum' has grown into a venue for ICT discussion, with a cumulative total of approximately 10,000 participants from over 6,000 companies and around 300 speakers from domestic and international IT firms and academia.

Famous speakers from academia and the ICT industry also attended the T Developer Forum as speakers. Prominent figures such as robotics expert Professor Dennis Hong of UCLA, neuroscientist Professor Kim Dae-sik of KAIST, Eitan Marder Eppstein, who led the AR project at Google, and Bryan Tan of Facebook visited Korea to give lectures. In 2015, prior to selling the VIVE product in Korea, HTC exhibited the product at the 'T Developer Forum' to gauge the reactions of developers.

Euljiro Test Network Serves as a Frontline for 5G Commercialization… Various 5G Convergence Services Unveiled

At the 'T Developer Forum,' SK Telecom unveiled the research results of the 5G test network built around Euljiro and showcased various convergence services that will arrive in the 5G era.

Last August, SK Telecom established a large-scale 5G test network spanning approximately 29,000 pyeong (96,500 m²) centered around T Tower and encompassing Cheonggyecheon. Euljiro, with its dense concentration of high-rise buildings, is an optimal location for research on 5G commercialization within the city center. SK Telecom installed base stations for the 28 GHz and 3.5 GHz candidate 5G frequency bands in the Euljiro area. While testing 5G technology in actual communication environments, the company also demonstrated the world's first 5G and LTE interoperability service.

Developers attending the T Developer Forum boarded a 5G experience bus traveling along the Euljiro test network and experienced a 5G-based VR service that uses eight screens simultaneously. SK Telecom has equipped its 5G experience bus with an integrated device that simultaneously supports the LTE frequency band 2.6GHz and the 5G frequency bands 3.5GHz and 28GHz.
In addition, SK Telecom exhibited the grand prize winner of the '5G Service Contest' it hosted. Luxeed Labs demonstrated a 'VR Content-based Emotion Analysis' service that analyzes user emotions based on brainwaves and eye movements generated while using VR content. Reality Reflection showcased 'AI Avatar' technology that expresses situation-appropriate facial expressions and mouth movements in real time by linking with a conversational AI engine.

In addition, SK Telecom demonstrated a new repeater developed in collaboration with a domestic telecommunications equipment manufacturer, an AR/VR platform called 'T Real Studio', and a 360 VR live streaming service, introducing developers to convergence services that will flourish in the 5G era.


Meanwhile, manufacturers playing a key role in building the 5G ecosystem also participated as speakers at the forum, adding significance to the 50th 'T Developer Forum'. Google gave a presentation on the topic of 'AR·VR', while Samsung Electronics presented on the 'Current Status of 5G System Technology Development'.

Park Jin-hyo, Head of Network Technology at SK Telecom, stated, “SK Telecom has been striving to revitalize the related ecosystem by hosting the T Developer Forum for the past six years and sharing the latest ICT technologies and trends,” adding, “Going forward, we will continue to take the lead in building an ecosystem where we can grow together by sharing SK Telecom’s top-tier domestic ICT capabilities with developers both at home and abroad.”