As the demand for connected devices grows, telecommunication companies are spending billions and billions of dollars on revolutionary solutions. This isn’t about simply making more devices or phones; there’s a lot more to it than that.
What these companies are actually investing in is making 5G ubiquitous. The goal is to increase the connection capacity of more devices, which is the entire concept behind the Internet of Things, and create a more connected world.
Where We Are Right Now
Imagine that you are at a sporting event where there are 60,000 people in a stadium, all watching the same football game. It's difficult to imagine in 2020, but you get the idea. If you tried connecting your device to make a voice call or use data, chances are you wouldn’t be able to get a connection, or if you did, it would be really slow. That's because of the density of people who are trying to use the bandwidth within that stadium all at the same time.
The Benefits Of 5G
5G is much faster than 4G, but the trick is not in the speed, but in its ability to have more capacity due to its higher-frequency bandwidth. These capacities will allow cars, appliances, and all the equipment in manufacturing plants and facilities to communicate and collect data electronically.
However, speed is not the best part of 5G. The real game-changer is the capacity, density and cost-effectiveness of capturing thousands of signals, instead of dozens, at any given point in time in a variety of environments.
5G In A Manufacturing Environment
In a large manufacturing environment, there may be 100,000 or more touch points: electronic devices such as machinery, robots, lighting systems and HVAC equipment that communicate back to an enterprise asset management system. That density of communication would be very difficult to accommodate without 5G.
Let’s say that there's a bearing that is worth $12 in an Amazon warehouse. Five years ago, you would have never dreamed about monitoring the condition of that bearing. Given the volume that Amazon wants to push in a day, the failure of that bearing would be a fairly expensive problem, as would putting a monitor to check on that bearing. The ability to do that cost-effectively just wasn't there before, but 5G enables companies to be more efficient and connected at any given point in time.
Latency
As we have become more and more wireless in our communication, one of the challenges has been getting connectivity to remote places. Imagine the cost of running fiber or copper to a farm in the middle of Nebraska.
If you look at the energy business, wind farms and solar farms are commonly located in remote places where connectivity is typically very limited. 5G does give the wireless capability to look at a thousand wind turbines. It has the capacity to connect wirelessly to every one of those turbines and collect data electronically. Additionally, AI and machine learning change the dynamics of how the received data is interpreted, which makes things more reliable and available.
If you have to keep track of these solar farms or wind turbines, you don't have to go from Washington to Dallas. With 5G, you can go to 1,500 places in between and have information on every one of those touch points, which eliminates latency.
As an example, 20 years ago in the enterprise asset management sector, half a second of latency or a quarter of a second of latency would be enough interruption of a signal to white screen or blue screen an application. Telecommunication systems were still in their infancy and there was always trouble with latency, which affected the reliability of the product.
Today, latency is measured in milliseconds. Five to 10 milliseconds of latency is considered really quick, one of the best response times in the world. When you get 5G, you also get edge computing and the AI that can deal with it at that speed, and the latency can then get down into the 1 millisecond range.
5G In The Future
Over the next few decades, I believe there will be hundreds of thousands of 5G-connected, “autopilot” automobiles moving down the highway, all at the same time. These automobiles will communicate with one another, regardless of their brand or model.
With 5G, every automobile on that highway will be relay information seamlessly at much faster speeds. There will be fewer accidents on the roads because of this interconnectivity. We already witness that Teslas have fewer accidents than other automobiles because of their superior technology: Tesla vehicles on autopilot are nine times less likely to result in an accident than the national average.
The capacity that 5G provides to cellular companies will allow much more interaction with machines, smart devices and any type of asset that has an IP address.
Enterprise asset management solutions will also grow tremendously as a result of 5G. As such, businesses need to prepare for this onset with the following tips:
1. Ensure IT project systems are compatible with and can transition to 5G as it becomes available.
2. Establish a good relationship with your company’s telecom provider to plan accordingly, and be prepared to switch to 5G when it becomes available in your area.
3. Increase protection and maintain security defenses to keep up with network expansion.
4. Take the right precautions to ensure this will not affect your customer experience.
5. Revisit your privacy policy and adjust it as needed to avoid any issues with the 5G migration and customer experience.
The Future
Given the rapid evolution of technology, it is important to recognize that what you need to be able to do is different today than what you needed to be able to do yesterday. With 5G, connectivity will allow businesses to operate more efficiently and improve the capabilities of technologically connected businesses across sectors.
When we take a deeper look, the benefits go far beyond just speed.
Sourced from Forbes - contributed by Steve Richmond