Buzz
5G is the revolutionary fifth-generation wireless technology, recently introduced as the new standard for broadband cellular networks. It is designed to create a unique network that connects everything and everyone, from people to devices, machines, and even everyday objects.
The 5G wireless technology promises to deliver extremely low latency, faster peak data speeds reaching multiple gigabits per second, enhanced reliability, expanded network capacity, greater availability, and a more consistent user experience. These advancements will unlock new possibilities and transform various industries by providing improved performance and efficiency.
In 2019, several mobile carriers started rolling out 5G services globally, marking the beginning of the transition from the widely adopted 4G networks. In addition to improving cellular networks, 5G will also bring significant benefits to the following ten technologies.
10. Internet of Things (IoT)
The Internet of Things (IoT) is rapidly evolving, and 5G is set to accelerate its growth and deployment. Thanks to the network's improvements in latency and bandwidth, 5G will unlock a wide array of IoT possibilities, particularly in sectors like agriculture and mobile connectivity. Furthermore, 5G could enable groundbreaking use cases, such as connected vehicles that rely on ultra-fast, low-latency technology.
Research from IDC predicts that by 2025, IoT devices will account for more than half of the world's data. To handle this immense flow of data, 5G's wireless capabilities—offering 1000 times the capacity of 4G—will be essential.
9. Smart Communities
Smart cities continue to be a prominent trend in the IoT space, especially as urban centers worldwide implement sensors in both public and private spaces. These sensors collect data to optimize the management of resources, assets, and services.
5G is the key technology that smart cities and connected communities need. While 4G networks have served their purpose, they fall short in areas such as power consumption, the ability to handle simultaneous connections, and the cost per bit. In contrast, 5G is expected to address these limitations, driving innovations in smart city applications and enhancing urban management through the data it collects.
8. 5G and Network Security
As 5G deployments continue to grow, ensuring robust security becomes even more crucial. Carriers such as T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon are reinforcing their next-gen networks with additional encryption and enhanced protections at the network's edge.
Unlike previous generations, 5G will rely heavily on a software-driven infrastructure, making the task of securing it a unique challenge. The applications that will operate over the 5G network, including smart city solutions and IoT devices, will require additional layers of security to protect both the new devices and the connections.
7. Edge Computing
The link between edge computing and 5G lies in reduced latency. 5G promises to drive innovation at the network's edge, enabling new use cases, enhanced data collection, and faster processing, all while providing businesses and organizations with a powerful new connectivity option.
By integrating edge computing with 5G, organizations can deploy devices such as smart cameras and sensors to capture more data, driving the growth of compute-intensive use cases at the network's edge. This creates expanding opportunities for solution providers in data collection at the edge.
According to IDC's projections, the global edge computing market is expected to reach around $250 billion by 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 12.5% over the next four years. Moreover, 5G technology is anticipated to play a key role in accelerating this market growth.
6. The Cloudification Trend
Cloudification refers to a technology that empowers network operators to offer new and improved services while meeting market demands with the flexibility and scalability of cloud computing. Essentially, network cloudification extends cloud platforms, virtualization capabilities, and technologies throughout a communications network to enhance flexibility, agility, and scalability.
To accommodate the growing network traffic from numerous connected nodes and the upcoming surge of compute-heavy 5G technologies and applications, networks must undergo transformation. They must provide reduced latency, faster speeds, and greater capacity. Cloudification is well-suited to support 5G’s 10x lower latency, 100x faster speeds, and 1,000x greater capacity, laying the foundation for significant improvements in business efficiencies, customer experiences, and new products and services.
5. Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence, also called AI, is a broad set of computer sciences designed to mimic human-like abilities such as logic and learning. AI is a continuously evolving field. It uses several techniques like reinforcement learning and deep learning to progress toward generalized intelligence. You may already tell that AI holds the potential to collect business insights from formerly indecipherable data to promote operations and raise the bottom line.
Two-thirds of the world’s current data didn’t exist half a decade ago, and predictions reveal that the datasphere will grow over 5X by 2025, per IDC. 5G networks will make available the scalable bandwidth and remote computing power needed to collect and process the rising volumes of data that will promote AI’s proliferation, thus distributing intelligence everywhere.
4. Broadband ISP and services landscape
Another prominent industry that the 5G NR technologies will redefine is commercial and residential broadband internet services. Especially in under-served areas with difficulties with last-mile connectivity and legacy cable/fiber internet operators, 5G technologies bring hope. 5G will enable multi-gigabit internet services and wireless gigabit in your home or office, without the requirement of WiFi, or in-collaboration with WiFi-6, and always-connected.
One of my favorite emerging technological advancements is 5G’s fixed wireless access. This new form of wireless connection will spark intense competition between ISPs and carriers, offering high-speed connections for cloud computing, services with significantly lower latency, gaming, and more. Services like Google Stadia and Microsoft xCloud will thrive once 5G fixed wireless access becomes a reality.
3. Energy
A report from Erion and Arthur D Consulting projects the 5G market to reach an astounding $1.23 trillion by 2026. Of this market, 20%—the largest share—will come from the energy sector, which faces both significant challenges and immense opportunities. 5G will address many of these energy sector challenges with innovative services and applications.
As energy grids around the world become smarter, 5G will play a pivotal role by enabling machine-type communications (MTC) to monitor and protect these grids. With the rapid rise of smart meters, each with its own communication requirements, only high-capacity, high-bandwidth infrastructure like 5G can support these needs.
The energy sector will continue to grow as electric vehicles become mainstream. For instance, Volvo made headlines in 2019 by announcing the end of combustion-engine-only car production, transitioning entirely to electric vehicles. Expect to see more electric vehicle charging stations appearing in your local community soon.
Customers will enjoy real-time information on energy usage at work and home and make efficiency adjustments using that information. This allows utilities better balance the available energy resources.
2. Manufacturing and Industrial Automation
5G is about to enable machine-to-machine communications on a larger scale, allowing for a reduction in possible human error and increased automated processes. In fact, manufacturing and industrial automation with the use of 5G is already a reality. Ericsson had already published their implementation of 5G to accelerate the four stages of their manufacturing process, which are design, deployment, operations, and maintenance.
1. Transportation industry
Transportation technology worldwide is continually improving, and innovations could help increase speed and reduce accidents. Countries like South Africa with a high rate of road accidents will benefit from using 5G technology. Furthermore, 5G in transportation will be beneficial in many ways as it will allow for real-time data collection and analysis via car sensors. The next step in advancement is the introduction of self-driving cars, an incredibly transformational innovation within the public transport sector. Self-driving cars are part of the IoT, which means that they’ll be especially powerful with this new network.
