What is 5G and what does it mean for business?
5G is the latest mobile network which is currently being deployed worldwide, stimulating many interesting discussions about the technology and its use cases. This article will provide an overview of 5G, it’s key features, some key enablers and what makes 5G so revolutionary. As a company driving innovation and high-quality projects, Reply engages with 5G over several areas, these include: providing efficient solutions for network slicing, disruptive Edge Cloud solutions and specific 5G security solutions based on Blockchain.
5G technology, in combination with other technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), IoT, 3D printing and more will change the way consumers live and interact today, in industries as well as societies. It has promised an increase in wealth creation opportunities due to its ability to provide wider network coverage, reliable network connections and faster data transfer. In contrast to mobile network technologies so far, 5G does not only focus on connecting people, 5G is designed for connecting everyone and everything. Moreover, the long-term perspective is overwhelming, over the next few years it will provide faster network connection through Extreme Mobile Broadband (xMBB) services.
From today, the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices is expected to grow by 145% to 75 billion devices until 2025. 5G will enable this growth along with the amount of data generated by it - introducing an era of Massive IoT. It will set the stage for new business opportunities to be built on data and connectivity thereby causing positive disruption in many industries.
Besides the improvements to the existing features of mobile networks, 5G will be especially ground-breaking in terms of mission critical control usage scenarios. These scenarios require a stable connection with an extremely low latency - such as remote control for critical infrastructure, drones, robots and Automated-Guided Vehicles (AGV).
Enabling new applications, use cases, services and business models, a completely new industry will arise changing the way we live in private and business life.
Most of us are familiar with the magic triangle in project management – quality in projects is constrained by time, cost and scope. In mobile networks, you can also find such a magic triangle:
The 5G magic triangle is composed by 3 key components:
Bandwidth: Extreme Mobile Broadband (xMBB).
Latency: Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication (uRLLC).
Number of connections: Massive Machine-Type Communication (mMTC).
All use cases that are currently in discussion and even those we are still not aware of can be classified in the magic triangle.