Four Things to Know About 5G

Most of us in the tech sector are drawn to the 'speed and feeds' –-the technical specs that reveal what is better than the last dot release.

15:48 07 December 2017

We want faster processors, more solid state memory capacity and networks with lower latency. Yet, there are often Herculean jumps forward in technology that does more than just add a bit more capacity or speed. 

 

That’s the case with 5G wireless. It’s important for IT leaders to know about, especially for planning and strategy purposes, but it’s also easy to miss the facts about 5G wireless;

 

1. It’s more than a speed boost 

 

You may have already seen that 5G will be 10-100x faster than 4G. That could mean real-world speeds of about 4Gbps or more. (There’s a reason it’s called “fibre without the fibre.”) 

 

Most of the speed increases are due to how the carriers will be adding more wireless channels, using millimeter wave technology (which means the signal has to travel shorter distances), installing small cells that dramatically increase the coverage map, and pumping up the wired backhaul locations. 

 

IT leaders should view 5G as more than a speed increase. In fact, it is mostly related to making sure the networks can handle a massive increase in the number of devices. The Internet of Things will usher in a new age of connected devices, everything from the security system at the office to the radio in your car already connect. By 2020, the number of added devices will take a dramatic jump as objects that were never on the network – say, clothing, sporting goods equipment, bridges, and even your body – come online. 

 

2. There will be brand new architectures 

 

The speed boosts, low latency, and backwards compatibility with existing networks will provide a good framework for new architectures we have not seen previously, says Akshay Sharma, a research director for carrier infrastructure at Gartner. 

 

 “5G wireless will add new architectures like Cloud RAN (radio access network) where localized nano-data centers will occur supporting server-based networking functions like Industrial IoT gateways, video caching and transcoding at the edge for UltraHD video, and newer mesh-like topologies supported with more distributed HetNets (heterogeneous networks),  5G will lead to a dramatic increase in cell sites (which due to the higher frequency a lot of them will have significantly shorter range) and demand for backhaul,” he says  “At this time, we don't know yet what technology will be used to transmit the data over the air. One camp says we need a new technology another says we are fine with what we have.” 

 

3. The trials are already underway 

 

Many companies have announced trials in the 5G wireless space, including Alcatel Lucent, Ericsson, Fujitsu, NEC, Nokia and Samsung. 

 

Google recently acquired Alpental to help with millimeter wave access for more precise location tracking. Microsoft has started a TV White Spaces trial, which taps into the unlicensed spectrum not used by TV broadcasters. And, Facebook has created the Open Compute Initiative as part of Internet.org to build wireless networks for developing countries and provide access. 

 

4. Wi-Fi won’t be going any anytime soon 

 

The common notion is that Wi-Fi technology will not be as important over the next few years as 5G becomes available. That’s a mistake, because both networks will continue to co-exist, and Wi-Fi technology will also evolve rapidly. The main impetus for 5G is not related to the corporate use of Wi-Fi in a building but to the escalating number of devices that will connect over the next three to four years. 

 

“5G is important as we are beginning to outgrow the current network design top to bottom,” says Sharma. “We need faster speeds and more devices on the network than we expected 10 years ago and we need to solve with a new approach rather than duct tape and spit. It will help businesses to connect more wireless devices with faster speeds and lower latencies.”