If 4G construction is "building roads", 5G is actually "building cities"...

"Now that I'm using 5G, I don't think it's much faster than 4G?" Many people may feel this way.

In fact, the significance of 5G is far more than the increase in transmission speed, nor is it designed specifically for consumer Internet. Industry experts say that if the construction of 4G is "building roads", 5G is actually "building cities"; if 4G changes life, 5G will change society.

01 5G can achieve goals that were far from being achieved in the 4G era

As we all know, the development of 4G has promoted the advent of the mobile Internet era, brought great convenience to people, and promoted the development of related industries represented by e-commerce, real-time interaction, video live broadcast, etc. It can be said that 4G is designed for mobile Internet access, and people are becoming more and more dependent on mobile phones.

5G has more features - high speed, low latency, high reliability and large connection.

First of all, it is fast. The access delay of 5G is only 1 millisecond, while that of 4G is about 20 milliseconds and that of 3G is 100-150 milliseconds. With the support of 5G's high reliability and low latency, scenarios such as autonomous driving and remote medical surgery can be realized.

Second, 5G is designed for the Internet of Everything, including people, people and things, and things and things. For example, in the industrial field, a blast furnace alone may have more than 2,000 sensors, which requires the collection, analysis, and processing of massive amounts of data, and places extremely high demands on security and reliability. The realization of these scenarios is unimaginable in the 4G era.

This means that 5G can achieve goals that were far from being accomplished in the 4G era, truly realize the deep integration of informatization and industrialization, assist in the transformation and upgrading of many industries, and change the entire social development.

"In more than a year since 5G was commercialized in my country, nearly 700,000 5G base stations have been built, and the number of terminal connections has exceeded 180 million, covering all cities at the prefecture level and above in the country. High-quality 5G networks with advanced technology, efficient operation, and resource intensiveness are being built at an accelerated pace." At the "5G+Industrial Internet Conference" held recently, Xiao Yaqing, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, introduced.

02 Empowering thousands of industries to transform

Precisely because 5G applications are aimed at manufacturing industries and fields, the industrial Internet has gradually become the main arena for Internet development.

"The Industrial Internet is an important cornerstone of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and an important support for achieving high-quality development of the digital economy." Xu Xiaolan, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and director of the China Industrial Internet Research Institute, pointed out that the deep integration of new-generation information technology and industrial scenarios is the driving force for my country's industrial chain to move from "low- and medium-end" to "medium- and high-end".

"5G, industrial Internet, and AI will support the development of the digital economy as a three-legged tripod." In the view of Wu Hequan, member of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, China's new era takes the promotion of high-quality development as its theme. As a means to achieve industrial digitalization, networking, and intelligent development, my country has gradually developed from "5G+Industrial Internet" to "5G*Industrial Internet", that is, from connection to integration, exerting a multiplier effect and stimulating more new business innovations.

From machine vision inspection, precise remote control, on-site assisted assembly to intelligent cargo logistics, unmanned patrol security... the integration of 5G and the industrial Internet has produced a series of application results.

"Currently, there are more than 1,100 construction projects across the country. Leading companies are increasingly motivated to promote the integrated innovation of 5G and the industrial Internet. The scope of application is constantly extending to the core links of production and manufacturing, covering increasingly wide industries and fields," said Xiao Yaqing.

According to a report released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the scale of the industrial Internet industry increased by 47.3% year-on-year in 2019, and its contribution to economic growth increased from 6.7% in 2018 to 9.9%. The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology predicts that my country's industrial Internet market will grow steadily at an average annual compound growth rate of 14.4% in the next three years; by 2022, the scale of China's industrial Internet market will exceed 900 billion yuan.

03 The development of the industrial Internet still requires long-term efforts

5G+Industrial Internet is unleashing tremendous power, but experts also point out that unlike the rapid popularization of consumer Internet in the 4G era, the integration of 5G and Industrial Internet faces many challenges.

Wu Hequan explained that the main application areas of consumer Internet are computers and mobile phones, with a high degree of standardization; but the industrial Internet is aimed at thousands of industries and enterprises, with countless terminal types, almost all of which are personalized, making it difficult to form a unified standard.

The consumer Internet can increase its popularity through traffic and subsidy promotion; but the industrial Internet mainly relies on independent investment by enterprises, and it cannot be used by simply buying a terminal and software, but requires transformation in combination with the enterprise itself; the industrial Internet involves all aspects of production, but so far, no company can cover all aspects.

Therefore, the Industrial Internet is not a natural extension of the Consumer Internet, and the related business model cannot be replicated.

Shi Wei, former director of the Industry Department of the Economic System and Management Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that currently more than 90% of enterprises in my country's manufacturing industry are small and medium-sized enterprises. Most of these companies' existing equipment does not have the ability of intelligent and digital collection. The financial and cost pressures of upgrading and transformation are very high, and enterprises cannot bear it.

Xu Xiaolan also pointed out that due to barriers between industries, the current application and promotion of the industrial Internet is difficult to form a cross-industry, replicable and scalable solution.

In addition, network security is also facing new challenges. In the field of industrial Internet, once a cyber attack occurs, it will extend from the digital space to the physical space, causing very serious consequences. In recent years, there have been continuous attacks on corporate network systems, resulting in industrial production line shutdowns, revenue losses, and corporate stock market value declines. Therefore, in the era of industrial Internet, how to establish a complete network security collaborative defense system has become a new issue.

04 Continuously explore and develop new usage scenarios

"The characteristics of 5G itself still need further development." Wu Hequan believes that with the continuous enhancement of 5G's performance, it is necessary to continuously explore and develop new usage scenarios.

Zhou Ji, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, pointed out that the current application of industrial Internet and 5G is only in the stage of digitalization and networking, and the bigger blue ocean is in smart manufacturing and digital China. "More advanced technology upgrades are still to come, such as the application of the new generation of 5G + industrial Internet integration, which will achieve the upgrade of processing quality, optimization of processing technology, intelligent scheduling and management of production, and build a truly smart factory."

Wang Hongtian, executive president of Inspur Group, also said that at present, the application scenarios of 5G+Industrial Internet are not clear enough. He suggested that all regions and departments sort out the application scenarios based on regional economic characteristics and advantages, and help enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to go to the cloud platform through the construction of public service platforms.

From the policy field, Han Xia, chief engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, pointed out that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will focus on four aspects of work in the next step: first, strengthen the construction of new infrastructure; second, improve the level of industry supply and cultivate a characteristic ecology of 5G+Industrial Internet; third, cultivate innovative applications and encourage capable regions to take the lead in trial; fourth, enhance security assurance capabilities, continuously improve the security system, mechanism, and means for 5G+Industrial Internet, and build a national, regional, and enterprise-level protection system.