How 5G is set to transform the way businesses connect [Q&A]
The rollout of 5G will speed up mobile communications and also enable more computing tasks to be carried out at the edge.
For businesses it presents the opportunity for a greater understanding of customer patterns and infrastructure needs. We spoke to Chris Gehlen, CEO and co-founder of SaaS/NaaS cloud platform Neutroon, to learn more.
BN: Why is 5G so much better than 4G?
CG: I think 5G is superior to 4G in that it has higher bandwidth, ultra-low latency and support for a massive number of devices from a single radio. This is what we typically hear from our mobile phone provider when they are trying to sell us 5G plans. And this is the truth. But, for me, the most revolutionary aspect of 5G is that for the first time in history, we have an extremely programmable wireless network. This means, software becomes the king, and this in turn makes possibilities endless. With the help of AI it is possible today to customize the network for every user and enable all kinds of advanced applications with a guaranteed customer experience. This is also known as 5G-slicing. If you want to pay for a superior experience for your AR/VR game, you can be assigned a specific slice of the network in a matter of seconds.
BN: What are the key benefits that 5G offers to business?
CG: I typically classify the benefits as being in three different buckets. The first one relates to reliability. Either through a 5G-slice, by a fully dedicated private 5G network, or via 5G over satellite, enterprises will be able to have ubiquitous and reliable cellular connectivity for the 1st time in history. This will be particularly relevant for IoT devices operating in critical operational environments. Imagine a robot moving around an airport's tarmac. These are devices that simply can't lose connectivity in today's world. The second bucket is cybersecurity. Cellular connectivity adds an encrypted authentication method to allow devices to connect into a network. These are the traditional SIMs we all know, that are also becoming digital now with the advent of eSIMs. Having the enterprise control over their own SIMs/eSIMs and over the networks being used, will be a major advantage over other technologies like Wi-Fi or LoRa. And the third bucket is coverage. This is mostly a differentiator to Wi-Fi, because with just one 5G radio it is possible to cover the same area as compared to around seven Wi-Fi access points. And this difference can be even higher in outdoor scenarios. What I want to stress here is that it's really not only about speed, latency or number of devices. 5G is so much more than that.
BN: Which sectors do you think 5G will have the greatest impact on?
CG: I believe the greatest impact of 5G will be in logistics. Warehouses face many connectivity issues indoor and outdoor and there is an increasing pressure to keep improving operational efficiency across the entire value chain. With more automation, traceability systems, connected workers, and cameras everywhere, connectivity has become even more critical. These environments are mostly using Wi-Fi today, and this technology is not delivering what's needed by the end customers. For larger facilities, with outdoor yards, the business case and ROI becomes even more attractive. Ports, for example, are heavily investing in 5G and there are many success stories out there.
In the future, I believe there will be a major impact on manufacturing. Wireless has historically had a hard time to penetrate the industrial manufacturing world because of their reliance on ethernet cable and some very specific communication protocols. This is changing because the industry realized they need reliable wireless to implement more autonomous mobile robots and sensors in order to fully realize the promise of Industry 4.0. It's already happening, and most new factories are implementing MPNs these days. It's going to become a new standard, no doubt about it.
BN: What are some of the big challenges to deploying 5G and how can they be addressed?
CG: The main challenges today are cost, complexity, and perceived customer value. In terms of cost, 5G is definitely more expensive than Wi-Fi, and that shocks most enterprise customers. But the good thing is that there are already vendors in the marketplace offering more affordable solutions to the traditional incumbents like Nokia and Ericsson and with an equal performance. Some players are also offering NaaS (Network-as-a-Service) models to transform all capex and opex, bringing upfront investments to zero. This is especially appealing to SMEs.
Complexity is, in my opinion, another factor. 5G requires new skills in IT customers to be able to deal with this new technology, which is objectively more complex to deploy and manage than Wi-Fi. To solve this, there are startups like Neutroon working tirelessly in bringing 5G closer to enterprise IT users with easy-to-use cloud interfaces and APIs. And the last challenge is what I call perceived customer value. It's quite tricky to economically assess the impact of more reliable connectivity. That's why enterprises are looking for additional futuristic use cases enabled by 5G to justify their 5G investments due to the higher upfront costs. The way to address this issue is for enterprises to define soon their 5G strategy partners which can be MNOs, system integrators or 5G vendors. This partner should bring 5G-enabled applications to extract the value of the network and generate a higher and faster ROI.
BN: Are there security advantages to switching to 5G?
CG: Absolutely. First, and as I explained before, 5G is by default a more secure wireless technology compared to Wi-Fi. There are fundamental differences like, for example, the fact that the network needs to previously know which users (or SIMs) can be accepted into the network. And in Wi-Fi, anyone with a user and pass can request to join. It's much easier to hack, as passwords are typically created by humans and not encrypted. With Wi-Fi, it's true that specific devices can be blocked to access the network, but someone willing to do damage can simply move to another one. For a user to be authenticated into a 5G network it needs to have a valid physical or digital SIM, which is like an encrypted token. SIMs can be stolen, yes, but additional security measures can be easily implemented on top to avoid these types of attacks. And these measures are also easier to implement because the network is, as I said before, extremely programmable. Cybersecurity is of utmost importance to companies navigating digital transformation. Exposure increases exponentially with more digitization and, I think 5G is a great solution to secure devices, which today can be an easy door to critical enterprise systems.
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