5G is the most awaited technology of 2021 in India. With Jio, Airtel, Vi working towards it, companies across the board are preparing for it. Reliance Jio has confirmed that its 5G Core network and 5G radio have a network bandwidth of 1 Gbps. With such speeds, data consumption is bound to increase dramatically and transform the way we do our daily talks at work and in our personal lives.
The Change 5G Will Bring
“In 2021, we’ll see near-term benefits in mobile, especially with the deployment of 5G networks this year — which will accelerate globally. The fast speeds and low latencies will enable people to truly multitask with their phones as the hub. Further ahead in the next few years, we’ll see 5G enable new and improved telemedicine, tele-learning, and virtual entertainment. Already, the pandemic has forced us to embrace these, but it’s clear that the optimal infrastructure isn’t there. As 5G becomes a reality and the cultural shift toward social distancing lingers, we could see it enabling 4K/8K high-resolution video for telemedicine, personalized AI-based teachers in virtual classrooms, and lag-free Zoom meetings.
In 2021 and beyond, 5G might power inventive contactless experiences in retail and hospitality, and interactive sporting and entertainment experiences.” says Anand Ramamoorthy, MD, Micron Technology
Geographic Information System Mapping
HERE Technologies which works in the area of geospatial engineering and innovation and has clients such as Volvo cars, BMW, Audi, Daimler apart from public sector clients is launching new products and solutions in anticipation of 5G. For its telecommunications clients it will have Geodata Model, Hyper-precise Positioning, Automotive solution and Livesense SDKs and Dynamic Map Update at the Edge. While the Geodata Model will accelerate the planning and deployment of 5G wireless networks at 40% reduced operational expenses; Hyper-precise Positioning will allow companies to locate whatever they need to (devices, personnel, goods, vehicles, customers) quickly and efficiently.
“5G will fundamentally change everything we know about technology. It will reshape how we conduct businesses and our way of living. From HERE perspective, this means exciting opportunities as we are likely to see an uptick in demand by customers for connected technologies and software across key business focus areas: auto, transport & logistics, e-commerce, public sector & governance,” says Damandeep Kochhar, Senior Vice President & MD, HERE Technologies
Esri India, which since its inception in 1996 in India has played a key role in promoting the use of GIS in India, sees it as a primary tool for supporting network planning, micro-site planning, Tower management, Fiber connectivity and Obstruction analysis – which are all key for the 5G rollout. Its key application would span across, planning and engineering, network operations and maintenance, sales and marketing and customer service.
Sectoral Impact
“In India, apart from the business from telecommunication companies, we expect 5G to benefit many other sectors which in turn will attract higher investments. Some of these are Smart Cities, Safe and Resilient Communities, Transportation, Utilities, Agriculture, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Education, Water Resources, Disaster Management etc.
To give some examples – Large number of IoT devices installed in Smart Cities will be able to send real time information about water supply, sanitation, waste management, street lighting, traffic, crime and accidents etc. to the GIS based control center. The location information will be processed in real-time and AI systems will analyze it and trigger actions. In Agriculture, 5G could enable the adoption of autonomous vehicles, drones and real time data collection for better management of crops and livestock,” says Agendra Kumar, President, Esri India
Standardized Processes
According to to Red Hat, 5G rollout will have requirements to scale, real-time data streaming, hybrid compute models, deployment flexibility and modular network design and to achieve that it will be imperative to adopt cloud native development, edge computing and application lifecycle management and this will require a common platform, management layer and standardized processes from core to edge.
“Red Hat’s vision for the next 5G Platform has been around the same aspects that our Open Hybrid Cloud vision is based on. 5G rollout will have requirements to scale, real-time data streaming, hybrid compute models, deployment flexibility and modular network design and to achieve that it will be imperative to adopt cloud native development, edge computing and application lifecycle management and this will require a common platform, management layer and standardized processes from core to edge. Red Hat OpenShift is our 5G platform, a consistent and common infrastructure across the compute, storage and network footprint with automated provisioning, management and orchestration to simplify operations” says Marshal Correia, Vice President and General Manager, India, South Asia at Red Hat
Increasing Capacity
Hitachi Systems Micro Clinic, a leading system integrator, will rethink its data centre design. It will create higher-performance IoT infrastructures within the organization. The company plans to increase their data centre capacity by incorporating mixed computing architectures such as enhanced storage, backup, and recovery options. The focus will be on performance while maintaining full IT capacity for customers.
IT Infrastructure
“The launch of 5G will bring agility for end users which will further drive growth in network connectivity and IT infra support. The need for Cloud migration will become a priority for Enterprises to cater to the sudden spike in demand. At the same time, 5G poses an elevated security threat partly because there are more vectors through which adversaries now can attack. The technology will enable IoT which will lead to rise in the number of devices and thus exposure of more nodes to threat,” says Anuj Gupta, CEO, Hitachi Systems Micro Clinic.
Industry players are expecting the 5G launch to happen by the second half of 2021 and are well prepared for all the changes it will bring.
