With 5G already rolled out across most of the emirates, the UAE is leading the way in the deployment of the fifth-generation telecom technology, which heavily impacts industries that rely on real-time responding, said an industry executive.
“The UAE is the first country worldwide to actually have a Ministry of Artificial Intelligence which shows that the country is really looking at the rewards of reaping this state of the art technology,” said Chris Cooper, general manager, Lenovo DCG Middle East and Africa.
While some mobile users downplay the significance of 5G, believing it will only lead to being able to watch a video faster on their phones, the technology was not designed with individual users in mind, but rather industries and businesses that will benefit from its speed and security, he explained.
“If you go back to the era of 3G, which was in the 1990s, it was a technology that was looking for a marketplace but no one really knew what to do with it and how to exploit it,” said Cooper.
“This time around with 5G, it is actually the market that is demanding this technology because of this huge proliferation of big data, new data and devices, and a lot of focus on Artificial Intelligence that needs to happen in real-time at the edge [edge computing a distributed computing paradigm that brings computation and data storage closer to the location where it is needed],” he continued.
The main benefits of 5G are its speed, which allows industries to make decisions in real time, and its security, explained Cooper.
“A 5G network is a lot more secure than Wi-Fi, so it is a lot safer than having someone hack in and disrupt the workplace environment,” said Cooper.
“It’s great in that it allows you to deliver a lot more data in a faster way and in that it takes away those current challenges around latency and bandwidth,” he added.
By the year 2025, 75 percent of enterprise generated data will be processed outside of traditional data centres, meaning on the edge, which will necessitate costly infrastructure investments by Internet Service Providers (ISPs), explained.
Chris Cooper, general manager, Lenovo DCG Middle East and Africa.
“We are working with ISPs locally to build new business models and revenue streams so they can reap the rewards and pay back the cost of the infrastructure they are putting out there,” said Cooper.
5G is something that will be eventually utilised by every industry but will be deployed at a different rate depending on each industry’s use-cases, explained Cooper.
Industries that are in need of 5G are those that are reliant on real-time responses, such as emergency services or mobility providers, said Cooper.
“It’s a great opportunity for businesses in particular and the sooner that people understand the art of the possible with 5G, the sooner they will be able to reap the benefits and remain competitive in their industry,” he said.
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