The coming wave of 5G network deployments will be a major boon for Internet of Things in the connected world, even before individuals begin to harness the power of the networks.
“5G is not just ultra high speed, but it offers the advantage of massive number of connections in the world of IoT. Its usage will be largely public, before it impacts individuals,” said Toshimitsu Shimizu, Senior Vice-President, Telecom Carrier Business Unit, NEC Corporation of Japan.
Focus area
The public usage will be in the areas of urban security, where it is data intensive. However, Qualcomm, among others, are already working on the chips and designs of 5G handsets, and new mobile phones will come in some time, he said.
Speaking on the sidelines of an NEC Expo hosted in Tokyo last week, Shimizu said while the global standards for 5G networks will be announced in 2019, some operators such as Verizon, Korea Telecom, China Telecom and NTT DoCoMo might transition to the network. In fact, 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea may see 5G networks in operation.
According to him, the network also offers new features such as low latency and massive connections. The prime difference between 4G and 5G is where the former is for communications for people, the latter is communications for connected things in addition to connecting people.
Providing a practical insight into the power of 5G he said, a practical user transfer speed in 4G is about 10 mbps and this would be anywhere between 100 Mbps and go up to 1 Gbps for 5G, which assures that one can download a two-hour movie in 3 seconds.
The transformation that can be achieved by the deployment of this network is mazing as it will be a future beyond imagination. This will enable the promotion of social transformation, impacting user lifestyles and work. It will influence the operation by advancing the automation of business management, networks and IT operations, and also network transformation, which will help build ultra high speed secure networks for various applications.
In the social sphere, it will help in remote diagnosis in healthcare, automation of farm management, shopping malls and hospitality, advanced traffic assistance and in smart city advanced security and surveillance projects.
The best feature is the company’s capability to bring about hybrid orchestration, which bridges the gap between virtualor legacy networks, and services or applications. These can be smart homes, smart meters, connected cars or healthcare.
To enable telecom carriers provide networks that are capable of catering to the requirements of broad range of services in the 5G era, the company is working to ensure co-existence of new networks with existing networks, Shimizu said.
(The writer was in Tokyo at the invitation of NEC invitation)