5G: ready, steady, go
Jerome Sandrini
SVP, Global Head of 5G & AI Solutions, Atos
5G: ready, steady, go
The real-time enterprise is here. The use of the Internet of Things (IoT) across industry sectors continues to expand rapidly. Public and private 5G networks deliver specialized enterprise services that are enabled by IoT monitoring, big data, artificial intelligence (AI), and edge computing.
With regulators around the world working to allocate spectrum and create the necessary licensing frameworks, private mobile networks are no longer just the preserve of governments and the military. 5G enables different deployment models, from fully dedicated private networks on-premise at the enterprise to fully as-a-service offerings through 5G network slicing capability. These can be tailored to the applications requirements of specific markets (communication, entertainment, manufacturing, automotive, healthcare, and so on).
New cloud paradigm
5G will disrupt the cloud market as we know it today, transforming the cloud computing paradigm. With the convergence of 5G and edge, the cloud will move closer to the edge of the network in order to transfer, store and process the large volumes of data generated by IoT devices with reduced latency.
Multi-access Edge Compute (MEC) provides this compute power – in effect, compute and storage capabilities are built into the network, like a mini cloud pod infrastructure running at the 5G cell site. This helps to accelerate companies’ progress with decarbonization; energy-efficient edge devices, which, of course, don’t require the transmission of huge volumes of data back and forth, have a significantly lower carbon footprint. What is needed is an end-to-end cloud-to-edge continuum to manage these workloads in this new world.
End-to-end orchestration
All this creates exciting opportunities and challenges for new and strong partnerships between telecoms providers, their hardware and infrastructure partners, their enterprise customers, and system integrators who build customer-tailored end-to-end solutions from all the ingredients. Enterprises benefit significantly from expertise in service orchestration, from network to business case, delivery and exploitation of data, and AI analytics.
Atos has been active in this space, harnessing the combination of our specialized hardware designed for AI workloads at the edge (BullSequanaEdge) with 5G-ready business solutions such as our Computer Vision Platform, which utilizes AI for advanced detection and intelligent video analytics. Atos also has the network expertise to integrate these edge computing technologies with (private and public) 5G and thereby make MEC a reality.
Outcome-led possibilities
We have seen first-hand how crucial it is for enterprises to find partners who can bring rich experience in their particular industry. For example, a 5G customer in the healthcare sector has completely different concerns to an amusement park operator. We use our knowledge of each environment and develop value-driven use cases, as well as the technological, network, and systems integration know-how to deliver an end-to-end solution and service. Taking a scalable approach, which is business-outcomes-based, is key. Our decarbonization credentials are also important, with carbon-neutral services now a significant contributor to net zero targets.
The ability to deploy complex business processes at the edge creates potential that could be limitless once you start thinking about what business problems you most want to solve.
It’s (real) time to work together to build a real-time enterprise.
