FINAL WORD
The five
business
imperatives
of 5G
Business leaders must operate with business
imperatives in mind and one of these should be
taking a structured and considered approach
to 5G. James Bristow, SVP EMEA, Cradlepoint,
discusses the benefits of 5G adoption and how
it can serve to minimise disruption caused to
operations during such uncertain times.
The current crisis has undoubtedly had a huge economic
impact on the business world. From the disrupted delivery of
microchips from China to a lack of copper component exports
from Congo, the global pandemic has led to concerns that the UK
will lack the supplies necessary to build the infrastructure required
to make 5G a reality in the near future. That news, however, does
not run in line with the evident demand from European enterprises.
According to a recent GlobalData report, reliable connectivity is now
considered ‘a critical commodity’.
During this period of unanticipated strain on the global economy, the
speed and bandwidth, ultra-low latency, and network management
paradigms of 5G would go some way to minimise disruption for
enterprises. However, the level of change involved means there are
a few considerations that must be accounted for first. Critically,
ensuring a graceful pathway from existing LTE networks to 5G
requires the following five business imperatives to be kept in mind.
1. Harness the power of the full connectivity spectrum
Because the 5G rollout is occurring in stages, 4G LTE, Gigabit-Class
LTE, and 5G will all be used simultaneously for some time still. While
network operators seek to monetise their 5G investment as quickly
as possible, enterprises must therefore ensure they can manage
multiple technologies across different sites.
From 4G LTE, to Gigabit-Class LTE, to 5G, it is critical that businesses
harness the value of the full range of cellular technologies available
and transition tens of thousands of sites gracefully between
generations as technology becomes available in individual locations.
For example, an organisation may have: (1) Thousands of existing
sites running 4G LTE because Gigabit-Class LTE and 5G are currently
unavailable in their locations; (2) Thousands of other locations that
have just upgraded to Gigabit-Class LTE to supplement bandwidth;
and (3) A few sites that have already deployed 5G and are entirely
wireless. With such a multi-faceted collection of contributing threads,
74 INTELLIGENTCIO
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