Mobile connectivity will soon become frictionless and omnipresent, according to Cisco
According to Bob Everson, global director of mobility and 5G at Cisco, the debate about whether 5G is truly here will come to a close in 2020, and we will “actually experience what it can do in many markets.”
He backed up this assertion by explaining, “2020 will see significant 5G deployments across low, mid, and high bands; and many more devices released. The latest GSA statistics show 183 5G devices have been announced, with 42 currently available – that number will ramp up in 2020 as new 5G chipsets become available, allowing for broader and richer capabilities.”
The combination of spectrum for 5G and the larger availability of compatible devices will set the stage for more rapid 5G adoption, he said.
Further, enterprise users across various industries will begin to leverage 5G in 2020 in new use cases. “Mobile[enterprise] users [will leverage] it for things like enhanced real-time collaboration plus WAN connectivity for branch offices and will rapidly expand beyond that,” Everson said. “The broader availability will allow for development and testing of numerous use cases in verticals like healthcare, transportation and manufacturing.
He added that the first of these use cases will be operationalized in the latter half of next year.
While Everson expects strong 5G adoption across many verticals, he does believe that adoption will be faster in healthcare. “Consistent, low-latency connections will allow richer medical services to extend beyond the walls of hospitals – to homes and remote locations. In emergency situations, transportation from home to hospital may not even be necessary due to enhanced communication between paramedics and hospital personnel. They will be able to connect with doctors from around the world over a reliable and fast connection in seconds, to provide on-the-spot care.”
Put simply, Everson sees 2020 as the year that mobile connectivity becomes frictionless and omnipresent, and the next five years is likely to see entirely new business models develop as this new era of connectivity becomes a catalyst for major improvements in productivity and widespread innovation
“The combination of 5G and Wi-Fi 6 will provide fast, low-latency connections anywhere a user is with no need for manual network selection or authentication,” he elaborated.
