How 5G Rollout May Benefit Businesses More than Consumers

The escalation to a new caliber of wireless network is expected to push more organizations to advance their digital transformation strategies as IBM and other technology providers work to drive the surge. During the recent IBM Think Digital online conference, details emerged of solutions and ecosystems in development intended to boost the deployment of AI, internet of things, and analytics workloads at the edge.

Rob High, vice president and CTO for IBM Edge Computing, says IBM is focusing on the core 5G network and backbone, including telcos, orchestrating virtual network functions, and network modernization. The other side of the coin, he says, is around enterprise compute being applied in edge computing scenarios that is accelerated by 5G. “That is the edge-side of 5G, with respect to how enterprises get value by lowering latencies and getting better control of bandwidth growth,” he says.

IBM announced new edge resources and edge-enabled apps as well as the IBM Edge Ecosystem, where independent software vendors can offer services to enterprises, and the IBM Telco Network Cloud Ecosystem, which brings together varied providers to drive the deployment of network cloud platforms. Companies within those ecosystems include Cisco, Dell Technologies, Intel, Juniper Networks, NVIDIA, and Samsung.

High says 5G’s promises include lower latencies, improved bandwidth density, and network slicing. That could mean a 50% improvement in latency over 4G technology, he says, though the separation between a device and the cloud also needs to be accounted for. “The only way you can overcome the laws of physics in the distance between the device and the cloud is by moving the work closer to the endpoint,” High says.

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