This year is set to see several emerging trends involving 5G, Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN), and other networking and telecommunications technologies.
To gain an understanding as to the crest of the technological wave, Digital Journal caught up with EdgeQ CEO Vinay Ravuri.
5G and the World: Control of the 5G Digital Silk Road
According to Ravuri: “5G will become an essential utility and assumed “natural resource” of infrastructure. Supplying the digital “pipeline” and harnessing data currency will become a focal point of national security and privacy concerns. This will compel new players and new entrants to supply 5G infrastructure. Hyperscale cloud providers will expand their cloud services to include 5G connectivity.”
These changes will be led by key industry players. Ravuri states: “New OEMs/ODMs will launch 5G small cells for private enterprise environments. The race for 5G will in effect be a race for internet access and digital intelligence. Between system providers and network providers, 5G will stimulate discussions about wireless governance, security, and policies.
China (specifically Huawei) will remain an influential supplier of world’s 5G infrastructure. Many countries looking to leapfrog into 5G deployments but desiring vendor trust and openness will explore Open-RAN solutions as a healthy counter-balance to proprietary, closed solutions, such as that of Huawei.”
5G Expands into Non-Telco Environments
With 5G, growth can also be expected into new sectors. Ravuri sees this as: “Where 2G/3G/4G offered evolutionary enhancements to cellular communications, 5G offers new capabilities and properties that will ignite imaginative possibilities for new end markets that extend beyond traditional telco environments.”
The state sector will also be of importance, according to Ravuri: “Governments and national defense companies will look to develop and deploy fully custom, private 5G networks. Cable and internet providers will launch fixed wireless small cells, where the need for cooper cable wires is obsoleted in favor of 5G wireless connectivity. Smart factories, warehouses, and seaports will capitalize on robotic automation with private 5G networks enabled by Artificial Intelligence. Enterprises will look to collapse WiFi and private 5G networks into one unified network where mission critical and non-mission critical devices can be simultaneously supported.”
Ravuri summarizes the trend as: “The tsunami of new connected devices”, and this “will dwarf smartphones and test the pluralities of 5G. Massive customization at scale will be necessary to support the varying performance, power, and price points.”
Cloudification of 5G
The cloud will play a central role in 5G adoption, given the complexity and voluminous quantities of data. A Ravuri says: “As the billions of people and trillion of devices get connected, compute must migrate closer to the data source (versus the current operating model of data moving to the compute). The whole notion of edge computing will evolve around intelligent connectivity (5G) + intelligent compute (AI).”
As with any such innovation, there will be winners and losers. Ravuri explains: “Those who would profit from this mega-trend will be players who can service this new industry model. Traditional telco operators will need to respond on how they can monetize beyond providing infrastructure. Be watchful of new disruptive players – Hyperscale Cloud Providers such as Amazon Web Services, who recently announced private 5G networks. They will be transforming the industry towards a cloud-driven, app driven 5G network model.”
Of this cohort, Ravuri identifies: “Hyperscalers in particular are uniquely positioned to capitalize on this new paradigm by supplying enterprises with a local edge cloud — complete with cloud services, hardware resources, and virtualized 5G network.”
