As carriers expand fifth-generation cellular networks (5G), much of the conversation will revolve around the benefits to consumer mobile phone users. However, some hurdles and inconsistent performance in the rollout of 5G have left consumers doubting whether his 5G will live up to the hype.
In fact, business customers could see real gains in the short term, starting with fixed wireless 5G (an affordable and more accessible alternative to point-to-point broadband) and eventually moving to mobile 5G.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the features and benefits of 5G for your business.
1. Speed and Bandwidth
The most discussed 5G features are increased speed and bandwidth. 5G speeds will reach 20 Gbps, and the cellular technology offers a 10x to 100x improvement over the previous cellular generation, 4G LTE. Mobile phones are now a potential technology for use cases such as branch office automation, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR). This is because WAN connections finally have enough bandwidth to support these applications.
2. Low latency
5G’s low latency (just 1ms) is also a key advantage when using WAN. A customer uses his MPLS or leased line primarily for low latency for mission-critical applications. 5G’s low latency brings further flexibility, allowing businesses to abandon part of their branch offices’ MPLS infrastructure in favor of cheaper and more flexible 5G connectivity to their branches and other facilities. There is a possibility that This is especially true in retail stores, shared infrastructure, or remote environments.
3. Density
5G density allows up to 100 times more connected devices within the same physical area where 4G LTE operates, connecting up to 1 million devices within 1 square kilometer while maintaining 99.999% availability. This density creates business advantages for the mobile worker and his connected IoT devices. Operators are leveraging this density to drive future mobile market growth. Mobile commerce is growing faster than brick-and-mortar retail stores and computer-based e-commerce. More customers than ever are using mobile technology to shop online, increasing market density and increasing the total addressable market.
4. Reduce power consumption
An estimated 90% reduction in device power consumption means small power savings at the smartphone level. But from an infrastructure perspective, the power savings can be significant, especially for his IoT devices. The combination of IoT devices and cellular 5G communications improves the ratio of power consumption to traffic volume.
5. Security
Mobile and IoT devices often reside at the edge of corporate networks, so security is always a concern. 5G security is built on the same principles as 4G, but with key security enhancements in the authentication server and security anchor functions. These security features separate the networks to which subscribers connect and their home networks. As a result, this separation makes it more difficult for malicious attackers to spoof authentication messages within the core network.
However, the large amount of traffic carried on 5G networks also brings new security challenges. Tracking large amounts of data can put a strain on security and network management systems. Additionally, the introduction of multi-tenancy in 4G networks raises both security and regulatory compliance issues.
6. Scope of application
By design, 5G wireless expands coverage through several different mechanisms, including the use of mid-band spectrum, network densification, and the introduction of massive multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) technology.
Mid-band spectrum balances coverage and bandwidth, provides improved service, and offers a better cost model for more data usage. Network densification is driven by the reduced propagation quality of the high-frequency spectrum that 5G uses, requiring more cells in a given space. Making the network more dense requires more base stations, small cells and macrocell base stations.
Massive MIMO expands the coverage and network capacity of 5G networks. This technology facilitates the deployment of vast numbers of antennas to transmit and receive signals, increasing both capacity and coverage.
7. Network slicing
Network slicing applies the constructs of software-defined networking and network function virtualization to divide a network into virtual slices. This promises several important opportunities for both carriers and their customers.
Currently, network slicing is not widely deployed. However, as 5G networks expand, network slicing is expected to become a popular way to monetize the technology and provide customized services to customers.
Each network slice can be tailored to meet the specific requirements of an application or user group to best support your networking, security, and performance needs. Network slicing allows carriers to quickly introduce services and new features and adapt to changing market dynamics.
Network slicing opens new revenue opportunities by providing more valuable and customized services. These may include industry-specific services such as manufacturing, healthcare, and finance. Network slicing can also be used for horizontal applications such as AR and VR.
8. Enabling future technology
One of the most attractive benefits of 5G is its potential to support innovative new technologies and business use cases. 5G is already being used to provide high-speed internet services to businesses and consumers via fixed wireless access.
The healthcare industry is interested in using edge computing and 5G in conjunction with a host of applications, including remote patient monitoring, remote surgery, telemedicine, and IoT medical devices. With edge computing, 5G can be used for industrial automation to enhance communication with robots, drones, and IoT sensors.
Several different industries are using 5G for industrial automation applications, including oil and gas, manufacturing, utilities, and construction. Automotive and logistics companies are leveraging 5G and edge computing to build new self-driving vehicle applications.
Despite these impressive 5G features and benefits for businesses, there are some drawbacks to the wireless technology. But overall, as 5G becomes more widespread, the true business benefits of 5G technology will become apparent.
John Fruehe is an independent enterprise technology analyst with over 25 years of experience. He focuses on product marketing and enterprise. He specializes in networking and data center markets.
Amy Larsen DeCarlo has covered the IT industry for more than 30 years as a journalist, editor, and analyst. As a Principal Analyst at GlobalData, she is responsible for managed security and cloud services.
