It’s happening. After a decade of hype, enterprise 5G adoption is finally a reality. According to the latest report from the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), at least 370 companies worldwide are investing in “private mobile networks based on LTE or 5G,” up from 311 in the GSA’s previous study. Although 5G stats weren’t separated from LTE numbers in that group of data, GSA did provide these specific figures: 44 per cent of polled companies have already deployed 5G for a private mobile network or plan to do so. GSA says the number of organizations doing the same with LTE has fallen ..read more

Like so many things during this pandemic, the 5G experience promised to spectators at the Tokyo Summer Olympics has sadly not panned out. Ticketholders attending golf and swimming were supposed to have access to giant 5G screens, rentable mobile devices and even AR goggles to view those three events in all their 5G glory. Alas, a surge of COVID cases in Tokyo forced organizers to ban spectators from all competitive events during the Games. While 5G itself has been bathed in hype of almost Olympic proportions, the privacy and security risks of the technology have received less attention. Alth ..read more

Thanks to the mad rush to enable work-from-home over the past year, UCaaS is on its way up. Interest in unified-communications-as-a-service surged by 86 per cent at the start of the pandemic, according to one survey of 500 U.S. enterprise organizations. Research firm Metrigy estimates that about 47 per cent of businesses globally are using UCaaS solutions right now — the highest level since 2016. And Metrigy predicts that figure could hit 70 per cent in the next two years. Lest we forget about 5G, it’s also making inroads across North America (finally). In a recent online presentation, analy ..read more

One of the biggest takeaways from the Canadian Telecom Summit is that customer behaviours have changed significantly because of the pandemic — and there’s no going back. We’re seeing huge increases in virtual interactions, including collaboration and video conferencing, as well as on-demand video — and this digital disruption is expected to continue post-pandemic. While some workers will return to the office, we’ll also see a shift from WFH to WFA (work from anywhere). This is pushing digital disruption, everything from re-engineering networks to public cloud adoption, resilient suppy c ..read more

This was supposed to be the year of 5G. But, like almost everything else in our lives, it was overshadowed by a global pandemic. COVID-19 slowed the adoption of 5G as the world hit pause in mid-March. But work continues on the fifth-generation mobile wireless standard, and earlier this summer we finally saw the release of new specifications (which had been delayed at the start of the pandemic). Investment is expected to rebound in 2021, according to Gartner, driven by a shift from 4G/LTE to 5G. While overall spending on wireless will dip this year (due to the aforementioned pandemic), the re ..read more

While it’s hard not to be distracted by COVID-19 these days, networking technologies remain an essential part of doing business—and network pros are looking ahead to trends that will shape (and future-proof) our world in the years to come. Indeed, many of these tools have become even more critical as businesses support remote work forces and supply chains. Consider the impact of 5G at this point in time: “5G’s lightning-fast speeds, near-instantaneous communications, and increased connection density makes it primed for remote interactions, which has become top of mind for many organizations ..read more

It’s the Year of the Rat—but is it also the Year of the SD-WAN? Maybe you’re already thinking about making the switch to software-defined wide-area networking. But analysts are saying this is the year the technology will truly take off—in part, thanks to other key technologies like 5G and multi-cloud. “Just a few years ago, discussions about how SD-WAN technology could transform the enterprise edge into a more flexible cloud model brought quizzical stares. Now, everybody and their cousin in the networking market are putting together an SD-WAN strategy,” says Scott Raynovich, founder and ..read more

While humanoid robots that can do box jumps and back flips get more attention than enterprise networking tech—after all, if you’re not in the IT business, you have no clue what SD-WAN is—2020 is poised to be the year when trends become reality. One of those much-hyped trends is 5G. But it’s more likely to be used by consumers than enterprises in the coming year. So what does that mean for your enterprise network? Wi-Fi 6 vs 5G “In 2020, Wi-Fi 6 will enter the enterprise, through the employee door and through enterprise access point refreshes. 5G will also appear, although in 2020, it will ..read more

Looking at my bingo card of 5G predictions for 2020, I didn’t think ‘driverless bus’ would come up before ‘smartphone service,’ but sometimes technology trends are funny that way. What kind of year will 2020 be for 5G tech? In South Korea, you might be able to chat on your 5G phone while riding on a driverless 5G bus before the end of next year. In North America, meanwhile, many people are still waiting for the proverbial 5G bus to leave the station, so to speak. Will widespread 5G service finally be rolled out in North America during 2020? That’s just one question we’re pondering in ..read more

It’s summer, it’s hot outside, and you’re probably thinking about your plans for the weekend — not the disruptive potential of 5G. But it’s a good time to start pondering its possibilities, so you can make a case for network upgrades when the time comes. KPMG estimates 5G will unlock US$4.3 trillion in value across the globe. And these “won’t just be incremental changes,” according to its recently released report. Next-gen networks will “unleash” and “supercharge” technologies like artificial intelligence, smart machines and sensors in the IoT. Sound like a bit of hyperbole? It’s not ..read more