Findings and Highlights from the Futuriom 5G Catalyst Report
- Top 5G Edge Services – The most promising applications and use cases for 5G Edge Cloud service providers include wireless broadband, streaming media, cloud gaming, connected vehicles, smart anything (Smart X), immersive experiences (VR/AR), Multi-access Edge Compute (MEC) as-a-service, and private wireless networks.
- Cloud Ecosystems – Public cloud providers have stepped up their partnerships with CSPs and technology platform vendors.
- Cloud Players for the Edge – Cloud service providers still have the strategic edge and leverage in providing cloud services ranging from Industrial IoT (IIoT) to cloud gaming. In order to gain market share, service providers (CSPs) need to focus their monetization strategies with a balance of the right cloud provider partnerships to avoid “dump pipe” strategies.
- Architecture Catalysts – 5G will serve as a catalyst to accelerate network architectures built on technologies such as virtualization and microservices.
Key Catalyst: Top Use Cases for 5G Edge Cloud
Many existing edge compute applications can be supported with 4G/LTE connectivity. A wide range of new use cases, however, will require 5G in order to maximize connection density, boost bandwidth, minimize latency, or guarantee quality of service via network slicing.
In addition, the extension of 5G will go hand-and-hand with new edge compute technologies, designed to speed up and optimize compute-intensive applications. The concept of edge compute is straightforward: Locate compute and storage at the edge of the network, close to the physical location where data is collected, enabling that data to be processed and analyzed locally rather than in a central datacenter or in the cloud. This architecture minimizes the latency associated with decision-making in real-time applications, reduces connectivity costs by sending only the information that matters to the cloud, improves security by keeping sensitive data close to its source, and enables autonomous operation if connectivity is lost or intermittent.
The top use cases of 5G edge cloud computing include the following:
- Streaming Media Applications (Video, Audio, and Images)
- Cloud Gaming Services
- Connected Vehicles and Autonomous Vehicles
- Smart Retail
- Industrial IoT (IIoT) and Smart Factories
- Smart Cities or Smart Anything (Smart X)
- Public Safety
- Enterprise Private Mobile Networks
Empowering Next Gen Applications
DriveNets collaboration with the Open Grid Alliance (OGA) aims to rearchitect the Internet with adaptive Edge Cloud grid topologies, empowering next generation applications.
In their research, Futuriom outlined a wide range of applications and use cases that can leverage Edge Cloud high bandwidth, low latency and high connection density in order to deliver user experiences that were either unachievable or not cost-effective using 4G/LTE.
As 5G deployments become more widespread, you can expect to see new levels of collaboration and opportunity in the Edge Cloud, which according to Futuriom, has the potential to be as large, if not larger, than the public cloud.