Illustrated by Dorathe Victor
Five worthy reads is a regular column on five noteworthy items we’ve discovered while researching trending and timeless topics. This week, we explore how Private 5G is impacting organizations worldwide.
Digital transformation (DX) integrates digital technology into different areas of an organization to help change the way it operates and deliver value to its customers. Organizations that offer a higher value to their customers gain a competitive advantage over others in the marketplace.
DX is a never-ending process which makes organizations look for ways to improve efficiency and productivity through technologies that can merge the physical and digital landscapes. Organizations are already using 4G and Wi-Fi network technologies as a bridge to connect devices, processes, and models to enable this convergence. However, organizations now need a more secure and reliable network technology to move faster on the road to DX processes.
Meanwhile, organizations have already been using private or non-public networks in the 4G network era. Private networks are used by organizations to receive their own controlled network customized to meet their needs. Private networks offer more privacy and security to the people that belong to a particular user group. The introduction of 5G network technology in the market delivers a cellular technology capable of providing full mobility, reliability, quality, and strong security which is similar to a wired grade network. When 5G networks are customized to meet the specific needs of an organization, this introduces a new network technology called Private 5G.
With Private 5G networks, organizations are now able to cover a wider range of devices. It allows organizations to capitalize better on edge computing and enables them to progress through the digital transformation process. It also creates tremendous opportunities by delivering faster insights and actions, and better data control with continuous operations which, in turn, reduces costs.
Most Private 5G use cases apply to the manufacturing sector, where DX is implemented through smart manufacturing. Private 5G also plays a major role in maintenance and operations of industries. It is essential for AR predictive maintenance, where industries can predict the condition of machines without actually stopping the operations, thereby reducing downtime.
The newly released 3GPP standard, a mobile broadband standard for 5G networks, is more suitable to address the business-critical communication requirements of the industrial world. The performance level of Private 5G lays a foundation for an ever-evolving DX journey towards improved business outcomes.
Here are five interesting reads that explain how Private 5G can help organizations reach their DX goals faster:
1. Private 5G as a service is now a thing
With the increasing demand for machine to machine communication, Private 5G will create transformative use cases in different sectors if combined with edge computing. One of its main advantages is that it supports network slicing to handle different traffic separately, but at the same time, avoids interference between channels. Network slicing also helps automate advance networking functionality, like QoS, so it can operate even more like a full-fledged network. This makes this network technology more reliable and secure for organizations.
2. Private 5G : The Cornerstone of Industrial Digital Transformation
The Private 5G network is a digital enablement infrastructure that can be used to combine an advanced communication technology like 5G with trending technologies in IT. Some of the leading IT technologies include cloud native applications and operation automations, AI and ML, making Private 5G an excellent cornerstone to achieve DX objectives quickly and efficiently.
3. Private 5G Networks Are On The Rise, Fueling The Industry 4.0 Drive
Introducing Private 5G networks in industries can provide a lot of benefits to the manufacturer that needs smart manufacturing, also known as Industry 4.0. Private 5G, when combined with IoT, will increase the capabilities of implementing transformation within the factory. Private 5G can transmit data 100 times faster than 4G. For these and other reasons, Private 5G networks are increasingly being embraced in the industrial world.
4. Non-Public 5G Networks Will Be A Critical Building Block Of Your Enterprise Network Strategy
With the introduction of Private 5G networks, organizations will actually turn into mobile operators within their limited geographic areas. Once implemented, organizations can deploy Private 5G as a part of their IoT implementation. The main benefit of having Private 5G networks is that it offers protection against industrial espionage, thereby preventing the leak of business trade secrets and allowing organizations to achieve faster DX.
5. How can Businesses use Private 5G networks to their full potential?
Whenever there is an increase in bandwidth and speed, we can expect innovation to reach new heights. Private 5G networks help organizations leverage their maximum potential in terms of predictive analysis, virtual reality, and other software-driven technologies. Private 5G networks also help organizations unleash the full potential of emerging and promising technologies using the high speed and low latency features of 5G network.
DX can be pivotal for organizations and all the above mentioned considerations are just a few examples of the what is the potential impact of implementing Private 5G. Beyond 5G’s high speed wireless connectivity, as we enter this new era, global organizations should look for ways to harness emerging technologies that can bring positive business outcomes. Implementing a Private 5G network into organizations will facilitate the fourth industrial revolution that opens up a world of possibilities, and most importantly, ensures the continued success of organizations in this fast-moving digital era.
