THE 5G KEY
DIGITAL STRATEGY
THE 5G KEY
“ 5G is set to be a disruptive technology , bringing tremendously higher bandwidth capability to cellular networks ,” says Kettler . “ Products will arrive that will have a 1GB per second or 10GB per second capability – already there are trials with speeds of up to 20GB per second . It will also be introducing incredible response times of up to one millisecond . These capabilities are what devices need to take their own capabilities to the next level .”
The number of devices that can connect to the 5G network will also increase exponentially . Today , only a few mobile devices can connect to a given tower at a certain point in time , but with 5G thousands can potentially connect simultaneously . When looked at alongside the developments in IoT and intelligence and data , could 5G be the historic moment when evolution takes its next step ?
“ The cloud will grow tremendously because of the volume of data , and alongside this will emerge the notion of edged computing – taking computing from a centralised cloud location and building a small data centre that will be co-located with a cell tower geographically closer to where the data is being generated ,” adds Kettler . “ Why ? Because you ’ ve architected with 5G for this low latency interaction and you don ’ t want to lose the benefits by having to travel to a centralised cloud location .”
The overall bandwidth and data volumes that are set to be generated by 5G class devices will rapidly overtake the backhaul , especially if there ’ s no localised compute . As a result , the cloud will grow considerably just to cope with the needs of society and devices will adapt alongside demand .
Reiterating Flex ’ s philosophy of building “ everything for everybody ,” Kettler concludes : “ It is an exciting time for us to be involved with all these different technologies and see them all come together .”
It is a bold world Kettler envisions , full of potential , problems and risks . Flex sits on the front lines of connectivity invention and even innovation as it works with organisations to catch hold of the elusive concepts of IoT and intelligence .
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