RedCap offers superior peak data rates, wider coverage, and lower latency compared to 4G LTE and especially 3G, which is still prevalent in many parts of the world. It is also designed to accommodate constrained devices with a simpler radio design and lower power requirements. According to Ericsson research, RedCap (compared to 5G) could reduce the cost of IoT devices by 65%.
Another benefit of RedCap is that it helps unify connectivity at the edge and beyond. “Today, there are too many ways to connect,” says Jason Leigh, research manager, 5G and mobility research at IDC. “WiFi, LPWAN, Bluetooth, LTE, 5G, etc. What is the right connectivity option and when?”
Many devices work fine on 4G or 3G but aren’t robust enough to bear the added cost of full 5G support. With 3G already gone in the U.S., vendors are hoping RedCap will change that and pull lagging devices down the line. “RedCap will help unify connectivity so that eventually we can all be on the doorstep into a 5G world,” Lee says.
The first to take the initiative will have the advantage
5G edge data center connectivity is already underway in Japan. IIJ (Internet Initiative Japan), the first ISP in the country, deployed edge data centers to help deliver end-to-end 5G services. IIJ struggled to deliver end-to-end 5G services because relying on centralized data centers creates coverage gaps. End-to-end 5G requires infrastructure to be deployed close to the 5G antennas, but many antenna sites are in remote or constrained locations such as rooftops, making them impractical for full-scale data centers.
This means traffic needs to be moved back to a central data center or infrastructure needs to be deployed at the edge in smaller footprint data center packages. IIJ has started building a hybrid 5G-MEC (Mobile Edge Computing) network based on hardware from Australian edge data center provider Zella DC. Now, 5G-MEC provides the connectivity and infrastructure to enable applications that require low latency and reliable communications, including use cases such as telemedicine, smart factories, and even AgTech.
In Australia, global fintech company Afterpay was expanding so rapidly that it needed to expand its data centre infrastructure to keep up with the pace. The company offers a buy now, pay later payments platform that uses a proprietary decision engine to determine the creditworthiness of retail customers in near real time. As the business expanded, Afterpay worked with Digital Realty to deploy edge computing services to support approximately 450 employees around the world with the low-latency, highly available connectivity needed to process more than 2 billion transactions per year.
