How can enterprises fully leverage the potential of private 5G networks?

It may take some time for 5G to become the most adopted technology for enterprises in the upcoming decade, but 5G networks will definitely change the disconnected world by laying the foundation for a truly connected experience. In today's era, more than ever, people need easy access to data anytime, anywhere. This not only applies to personal life, but with remote work and enterprise employees spread all over the place, seamless and uninterrupted 5G connectivity has become the need of the hour.

To achieve this level of continuous workflow, many businesses are moving technologically toward machine learning, big data, cloud, IoT, artificial intelligence, and the potential of this can only be realized through 5G technology. The demand for this high-quality, ubiquitous connectivity is reaching a peak.

Private 5G networks are the undisputed answer to this peak demand and will be a game changer for industries such as healthcare, utilities, logistics, retail, public transportation, manufacturing, retail, etc. By enabling employees to easily access the tools they need while on the go or working from home or on-site, 5G networks will be truly transformative both operationally and strategically.

Thanks to 5G technology, things that can only be imagined or seen in science fiction movies, such as self-driving cars, robotic surgery, drone delivery and smart factories, will become a reality. Without data, businesses will stagnate, and these technological advances will change the way data is collated, analyzed and used in the future. From operational activities to employee empowerment, to service delivery, to completely changing customer interactions, to data analysis and insights to make beneficial and sustainable decisions, dedicated 5G will help make it all happen.

What are the overall benefits of dedicated 5G?

First, let's understand how private 5G networks differ from public 5G. Private 5G networks provide enterprises with enhanced personalization and full control over their connections, along with the usual benefits of 5G, such as low latency, greater coverage, and higher bandwidth. This enables business leaders to run a unified network policy across the enterprise.

Like Wi-Fi, private 5G networks require small local cell towers to provide internet access points. This is ideal for large manufacturing units, logistics warehouses and other private institutions, which can install their own 5G networks to provide 5G connectivity locally.

Private 5G networks offer tight security because they don't need to connect to the larger telecom network. This makes private 5G very lucrative for businesses that require a high degree of security, such as power plants and military manufacturing.

Private 5G networks are highly customizable and built to the exact specifications that a business requires. When people choose public 5G, they can only choose from the options provided by the telecom company, and then manage and analyze the data internally.

Enterprises can only benefit from enhanced connectivity, such as the move from 4G to 5G. But there are many aspects to better connectivity, such as increased responsiveness and the ease of adding additional devices and sensors. With private 5G networks, reliability, security, end-to-end control and customization add a temporary dimension.

Private 5G networks are proving to be more cost-effective, faster to install, easier to set up, and offer greater reliability and security as businesses don’t need expensive cabling and manpower to install it.

Remote employees stay connected across multiple sites through a range of software-defined solutions, IoT and enterprise mobile applications, which generate large amounts of data every day. With private 5G networks, enterprises can securely collect, store, analyze and deliver actionable insights for sustainable growth in the future. Private 5G not only provides device accessibility and security, but also provides the power and performance required for these resource-intensive IoT and big data projects.

Global LTE/5G dedicated infrastructure equipment revenue is expected to increase from US$945 million to US$5.7 billion in 2024 within five years.

How can enterprises leverage private 5G networks to realize their true potential?

Private 5G networks can help businesses realize the full potential of predictive analytics, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual reality, and other software-driven technologies.

Private 5G networks will enable emerging promising technologies to realize their full potential through the speed and low latency provided by 5G.

For example, manufacturing will operate through smart factories, powered by everything from ubiquitous IoT sensors to mobile robots, upending the manufacturing model used since the days of Henry Ford and rendering it redundant.

Instead of moving parts on conveyor belts, smart factories will have intelligent robots doing all the work throughout the manufacturing plant. At the same time, clusters of IoT endpoints will generate a large amount of data, thereby improving productivity, inventory tracking, safety and sustainability. This transformation is not limited to this industry, but will also be witnessed in retail, medical, logistics and other industries.

Private 5G networks will revolutionize business

Every time bandwidth and speed increase, innovation reaches new heights. Before the launch of 2G, people could not imagine carrying an email device in their pocket. With the launch of 4G, people saw the emergence of a wireless generation.

Use cases for private 5G in various industries

In an extremely complex network like a hospital or military facility, where 4 million objects can be connected per square mile, once latency is reduced, shortcomings and deficiencies can be addressed very quickly.

Dedicated 5G Networks in the Healthcare Industry

Healthcare is probably the fastest growing industry that requires dedicated networks, especially after COVID-19 put more pressure on countries’ existing medical infrastructure. The unprecedented spread of COVID-19 has led to a sudden demand for intensive care beds, and countries around the world are trying to cope by modernizing facilities and building new infrastructure. This unforeseen increase in demand has further created a need for enhanced connectivity to create new healthcare facilities as well as maintain existing ones, leading to hospitals deploying dedicated networks.

The potential to advance healthcare by collecting vast amounts of data and using it in conjunction with AI is immeasurable. Medical trends and irregularities that might otherwise go unnoticed could be brought to light and lead to significant improvements in patient care.

Private 5G Networks in Smart Facilities

Private 5G networks drive digital transformation by providing better mobile connectivity, thereby facilitating the smartening of facilities, and make sense to deploy in stadiums, airports and office buildings. Switching to private 5G networks will improve individual lives, but will have knock-on effects, from upgraded connectivity to better indoor networks to fast, secure deployment of advanced IT solutions. Upgrading to private 5G networks will go a step further, enabling these smart facilities to move to low-latency and bandwidth-intensive services, such as real-time analytics and high-definition video streaming.

Dedicated 5G network for logistics

The logistics industry is another sector that has great potential after switching to dedicated 5G networks. As e-commerce penetration continues to increase, all logistics checkpoints from first-mile pickup to last-mile delivery and then reverse pickup need to be tracked and analyzed.

Supply chain elements such as warehouses, ports, and distribution centers often have a constant flow of goods that need to be tracked and connected through multiple enterprise mobile devices. For many years, the industry has focused on automating multiple logistics functions using remote workforce equipment and robots that require high connectivity. Therefore, if companies such as logistics are seeking advanced digital transformation, the benefits of 5G are unparalleled and imperative.

Dedicated 5G Network for Manufacturing

Manufacturing plants have a variety of wired and wireless infrastructure. Private 5G networks can play a vital role in improving the concentration and performance of automation technologies such as robots and autonomous vehicles in factories. Currently, the potential of robots is limited due to poor Wi-Fi and connectivity, which restricts their movement and causes lags in real-time data transmission. Deploying private 5G networks will increase agility and production capabilities, reduce response times, and store sensitive data internally.

Private 5G networks will lay the foundation for businesses to track consumer behavior, customize marketing programs, provide better services and deliveries, achieve operational efficiencies, empower employees through seamless connected devices and accessibility, and ultimately provide predictive analytics and better decision-making for businesses to achieve a sustainable and profitable future.

Private 5G can eliminate many of the loopholes and shortcomings that prevent businesses from realizing their full potential. Low latency, security, and high speed are some of the benefits that 5G brings to businesses, but there are many more unknown and unimaginable benefits with the help of private 5G networks.

FAQ

What is 5G NR?

5G generally refers to the fifth generation of wireless technology. NR, often referred to as New Radio, is a standard developed by the 3GPP group (Release 15 was the first version introduced in 2018) that outlines the technology needed to take advantage of the newly available millimeter wave frequencies. The two frequency bands that 5GNR operates in are Frequency Range 1, the Sub6GHz band (410MHz to 7125MHz) and Frequency Range 2, millimeter wave (24.25 to 52.6GHz). Compared to 4G LTE, 5GNR offers better spectrum utilization, faster data rates, hardware efficiency, and improved signal processing.

From a deployment perspective, we have non-standalone mode (NSA), dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS), and standalone mode (SA). The initial deployment of 5GNR is based on the NSA standard, which means that the existing 4G LTE network will operate on the control plane, while 5GNR will introduce the user plane. This particular standard was introduced by 3GPP considering the industry's push for faster 5G service launches while leveraging existing 4G LTE infrastructure. On the other hand, operators are also implementing dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) to speed up deployment cycles, reduce costs, and improve spectrum utilization. In this standard, 5GNR and 4G LTE share the same spectrum and reuse it over time based on user demand. Finally, we have standalone mode (SA), which moves towards a complete 5G-based network where both signaling and information transmission are driven by 5G cells.

In the future, 5G will enable new services, connect new industries and devices, enable new experiences, and provide mission-critical services, enhanced mobile broadband, etc.

• Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) applications: high device connectivity, high mobile data rates, and mobile AR and VR applications
• Ultra-reliable, low-latency communication (uRLLC) applications: autonomous vehicles, drones, data monitoring, smart manufacturing.
• Massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC) applications: healthcare, Industry 4.0, logistics, environmental monitoring, smart agriculture, smart grid

What is WiFi?

In short, WiFi is a technology that uses radio waves to create a wireless network through which devices such as mobile phones, computers, printers, etc. connect to the Internet. A wireless router is needed to establish a WiFi hotspot that people nearby can use to access Internet services.

To be more technical, WiFi works by enabling wireless local area networks, or WLANs, which allow devices connected to it to exchange signals with the internet through a router. These signals are in the 2.4GHz or 5GHz bandwidth. These frequencies are much higher than those transmitted by radios, cell phones, and televisions because WiFi signals need to carry a lot of data. The network standard is a variation of 802.11, of which there are several 802.11a, 802.11b, 801.11G, etc.