FEATURE: 5G
“These challenges go straight to
the heart of the communication
service provider business. As
operators harness virtualisation
technologies to drive down their
cost of operations and drive up their
quality of services, they will cease to
be the providers of connectivity and
become the providers of monetised,
digital experiences,” reflects
VMware’s Piazza.
Building the user experience
Aji Ed, Head of Technology,
Middle East and Africa
at Nokia.
defined rather than hardware-
defined terms,” points out
VMware’s Piazza.
Such domain
knowledge is
still necessary
but it needs to
be expressed
in software-
defined rather
than hardware-
defined terms.
This is the primary reason that is
driving change in skillsets within
the teams of communication
service providers. They are moving
to a structure composed of an
IT organisation supported by a
networking organisation to run the
core telecommunication services.
The high-level services knowledge
of the networking professionals
is still required but networking
professionals are becoming familiar
with using capacity that is delivered
to them from the virtualised, cloud
hosted and commoditised platform.
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INTELLIGENTCIO
To date, mega-outdoor attractions,
like concerts, festivals, sporting
events, have created dilemmas
for all communications service
providers. The sheer volume of
mobile devices competing for the
communication service providers’
bandwidth, means it is not
uncommon for texts, photos, social
media updates to get delayed, only
being uploaded after the event is
over or from other locations. After
the next digital switch over, 5G
networks will hit the extraordinary
speeds of 10,000Mbps, surpassing
the 1,000 Mbps limits that 4G has.
Network function virtualisation
is expected to help improve this
operational agility.
“One of the main drivers of 5G
adoption in the Middle East is the
anticipated mega-events Expo
2020 Dubai and the 2022 FIFA
World Cup Qatar. 5G networks
ensure that connectivity never
drops when there is large scale user
access especially during mega-
events. Middle East communication
service providers are also looking
at 5G networks for innovations
such as virtual reality country tours
in national pavilions, augmented
reality instant replays in stadiums,
and holographic football matches
simulcast worldwide,” explains
VMware’s Auda.
“Network function virtualisation is
perceived as the missing piece of
the puzzle helping communication
service providers to achieve exactly
that, moving a network function,
from a proprietary box that has
typically been locked, into a
software defined cloud,” states
VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger. 5G
with network function virtualisation
delivers networks that optimise
themselves for the service they are
delivering, increasing the amount
of traffic they can manage without
increasing the cost.
With 5G enabled, the user
experience at such mega events is
expected to change forever. This
will include connected athletes
and information about athletes
in real-time, smart stadiums and
immersive experiences, watching
instant-replays off a mobile device or
changing the location for watching a
game, all this while inside the event.
5G is expected to bring down the
cost of real-time virtual reality and
immersive experiences. High speed
data transfer at economical costs
will allow video streaming through
untethered 360-degree cameras with
unprecedented user experience.
How will 5G networks roll out across
such mega-events, opportunities,
and use cases? Says Nokia’s Ed “5G
will be built first in islands, using
hyper-local capacity that meets the
needs of specific use cases, without
even needing mobility. Coverage
aspect comes next to allow hyper-
mobility within extended islands.”
Just a decade ago, viewers used
to consume the Olympic Games
in front of a TV. Now, people want
to see live events on their mobile
devices anytime they want. During
the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio,
audiences both at the games and
at home used mobile devices as a
second screen to watch, connect
with others and find results. Many
even used a mobile device as a first
screen to stream Olympic Games
content. These innovations in
mobile technology will make Tokyo
2020 the most digital Summer
Olympic Games ever. Experts
anticipate demand from connected
users to rise, not only for mobile
content but also for the speed at
which viewers can access it. ¡
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