You know 5G "is a thing" now that the phrase pops up so much in the consumer media. But much of the characterization is like our understanding of fourth industrial revolution: a high level complex of many changes beyond the narrow understanding of the term.
Among the reasons 5G sometimes is hard to understand is that it has become a verbal shorthand for several relatively independent changes in the computing, applications, infrastructure, private and public networks areas. The changes are linked and often dependent upon each other.
At one level, 5G is the next generation mobile platform.
At another level it is a part of a complex of changes including edge computing, internet of things, commercialized millimeter wave spectrum, access methods and business model changes.
When observers or supporters talk about the advantages of 5G, they sometimes actually are referring to the advantages of edge computing or internet of things. If one looks at the specifications for 5G, one sees quickly that it is application-focused in a few key ways.
The network is optimized to support devices with extremely long battery life, a characteristic of many internet of things use cases. The network is far more dense, supporting orders of magnitude more devices per local area, again an anticipation that many more devices (not phones) are going to be connected.
The ultra-low latency design means some new use cases requiring such performance will be supported in the network for the first time. But ultra-low latency also implies local computing, within a device, on the premises or very close to it. The 5G network latency only helps so much if intensive data operations must be performed at remote cloud data centers.
Ultra-low latency applications sometimes will require both edge computing and 5G. Connected vehicles might require extensive new vision and sensing systems; robust edge computing and ultra-low-latency communications.
Edge computing might involve devices, local area networks, enterprise mainframes, off-premises but local computing and cloud computing as well, with a mix of wide area network connections.
Nor are all the use cases necessarily built on 5G access. Sometimes the local connections will use Wi-Fi or some other short-range wireless technology. Local access can be by optical fiber, cable modem, fixed wireless, mobile network, satellite, low power wireless networks, TV white spaces or other platforms.
New ways of using spectrum (sharing, aggregating), license modes (unlicensed, shared, licensed) and commercial use of previously-uneconomic spectrum (millimeter wave) also are part of the broader changes colloquially called “5G.”
And while 5G will enable some new consumer apps, it might be most distinctive for enabling new enterprise use cases.
So welcome to the somewhat-confusing world of 5G, where much of what is talked about is not just 5G, or sometimes not 5G, but something else.
In other words, 5G as a popular concept is more than the next generation mobile network. It often includes edge computing, internet of things, applied artificial intelligence; different or new roles in the infrastructure ecosystem; commercialization of previously-unusable spectrum; new ways to access and use spectrum and new business models.
Just remember that not everything that happens is 5G, even if that seems to be the easy catch phrase to describe a whole bunch of changes.
The fourth industrial revolution, of which 5G is, by design is a high-level concept describing a range of technology changes that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.
Such a characterization calls the First Industrial Revolution the time when water and steam were applied. The Second revolution used used electric power. The Third used electronics and information technology.
The fourth industrial revolution is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres, some say.
Such a characterization calls the First Industrial Revolution the time when water and steam were applied. The Second revolution used used electric power. The Third used electronics and information technology.
The main point is that we are moving beyond "information technology" and "mobility" and even the "internet" to some new phase where artificial intelligence, sensors and augmented reality play key roles underpinning the economic system and life.
The analogy is that 5G is used in a broad sense (5G mobile, IoT, applied AI, edge computing, virtualized networks, millimeter wave spectrum, new ways of using spectrum, new use cases and business models) as well. Many who speak of the 5G "revolution" actually refer to one of the other linked changes, more than 5G the access platform.
It is big, complicated, hard to quantify.
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