Month: October 2023

OK, I’ve come around on the notion of private 5G.

Last year, I blogged about private 5G and explained how you’d know you were a prospect for the technology as an alternative to WiFi or public cellular services. My focus was on the same community of workers that most tech empowerment has focused on, meaning the white-collar or “carpet” types. Since the first of the year, I’ve had a chance to chat with 31 companies who are using or deploying private wireless technology, and I’ve also chatted with some of their integrators and suppliers. None of the enterprises were using private 5G in the hallowed (carpeted) halls of an office. Instead, their targeted jobs were outside in the dirt—sometimes literally—or on some factory or warehouse floor.

My new insight isn’t a broad license to tout private 5G to the skies, or to rush out to grab your share. It turns out that of the roughly 1,200 private wireless buyers I can identify, almost all are in just six verticals. They are agriculture, energy, healthcare, industrial and manufacturing, transportation, and warehousing.

The applications in these verticals vary, but one common thread is that they’re far more about sensors than they are about smartphones. Another common thread is that they’re more often driven by integrators than by vendors, and those two points are critical for companies considering or promoting private 5G. Finally, all these companies considered Wi-Fi (including Wi-Fi 6) and cellular services, and rejected both of them.

When is 5G better fit than Wi-Fi

IoT, meaning sensors and controllers, may or may not meet the mobility requirement I set in that past blog, but they do have something that’s almost equivalent, which is distributability. In all but one of the verticals, you’re likely to find a large physical space populated by a bunch of devices. The devices may measure or detect things, control things, and in short are fundamental to the operation of the facility. There may be dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of them, and they have to operate out in the open, in all sorts of weather, with minimal care.

Distributability is the reason the value proposition for these verticals is broader than the one that drives office-worker empowerment. Generally, business technology is justified by productivity gains, and so it focuses on jobs with the highest unit value of labor. We see that in all our private 5G verticals, especially in energy and healthcare, but we also see opportunities to target masses of lower-labor-value workers. In an agricultural irrigation system that involves 10,000 valves and a larger number of sensors, 5G can save the time it would take a laborer to check and change each one, and that adds up to a big savings providing that costs can be managed.

Those remote devices, unlike smartphones, aren’t in the possession of people who can keep them charged up, and you can’t have people running around to change batteries. Thus, power consumption is really important. Wi-Fi is a power hog compared to 5G, and that alone can be a big problem for remote sensors and controllers. There’s also a range problem in most missions; Wi-Fi isn’t good for much more than a couple hundred feet, and in most of the applications these companies reported, there was no point from which all their devices could be reached using Wi-Fi. One user told me that they needed a mile range.

Why not public 5G, you might wonder? Well, think of a thousand little devices, each with their own cellular data plan. Forget a car, the operators would send an airplane for you if you had that kind of deal on the table, but nobody is going to spend that much on an IoT application. Private 5G could save (forgive the mixed metaphor) a boatload of cash, and in many cases a single private tower or two will cover a major facility.

The needs of applications lead to 5G

How did the 31 companies I spoke to get into private 5G? All of them said that they knew the capability existed, but that they were launched on their private 5G initiative by an integrator who was looking at a facility-control challenge for the buyer. In other words, their consideration really started at the application level, and private 5G was suggested as the best communications tool for the job. I’m told by private 5G product/service sources that this is the most common way to start a private 5G project, though some (usually large) buyers do go directly to a 5G resource.

Who actually provides the elements of the private 5G network? Again, the majority of buyers I talked with said that their integrator was their contact for the 5G components and tools needed. Only one of the 31 said that they provided input to the integrator on the approach they preferred; the rest did what the integrator suggested. Interestingly, the integrators involved said that while they had a preferred supplier, they were open to other suppliers if prospective buyers had strong views. In most cases (roughly 60%) the integrator suggested a vendor who provided all the technology, and for the rest, the integrator recommended a radio strategy and a 5G software and hosting strategy. Public-cloud provider private-5G resources were used by only six of the 31, but all of the buyers who used the public cloud in their 5G deployment did use the special private-5G features offered.

Integrators are key in choosing private 5G.

The private 5G providers I talked with recognized the importance of integrators and developers in promoting the applications behind private 5G deployment. They all said that APIs were “very important”, industry-specific knowledge and contacts were “critical”, and referral programs and certification/qualification were “very important”. The integrators all listed a good developer/integrator program and effective lead generation and channel conflict management as their top requirements, closely followed by name recognition of the 5G provider.

As useful as the views of private 5G adopters were, they didn’t answer all the questions in the space. One question was the business case, and just what that meant. All 31 of these private 5G adopters said the decision to use private 5G was “a given” because of cost, but that didn’t mean the project itself was easily justified. In fact, nine companies who had considered private 5G and not adopted it said that their problem wasn’t with private 5G but with project benefits overall. Said one company, “We had 1,900 devices to connect, and there was never a question that private 5G would be the best way to connect them. The question was whether having those devices connected and having an application to use them would pay back. We’re still not sure.”

Another question was whether greater acceptance of private 5G would stimulate other firms to consider it, and the answer is another of those annoying “Yes, buts…”. Integrators said that a win for them in a given industry always generated other prospects in the same industry, but none mentioned that success in one vertical generated opportunities in others. That may be because integrators tend to focus on one vertical, and a horizontal market for elements of private 5G, one that crosses industries, is yet to develop. That, in turn, is because office automation is the most compelling cross-industry function, and 5G has little value so far in that area.

Here’s how 5G use might expand.

But there could be. So far, private 5G is justified by some highly credible, vertical-focused, applications. That first private 5G application is the hardest to justify because its benefits have to cover the high cost of initial deployment and overcome executive uncertainty about becoming their own 5G provider. In theory, every other mission should be easier. That to me means that somehow those vertical-focused integrators have to step back and find other valuable private 5G applications, and not just to maximize their own 5G benefits. A second mission for a private 5G network already deployed and justified should be the lowest apple of all, and if that second mission were targeting “carpet” workers, it could be spread by referral beyond those six verticals. Maybe adding it to a marginal business case for non-carpet workers in other verticals would tip the scales and justify private 5G in those other markets.

However it’s done, to be really successful private 5G needs to escape the vertical application that first justified it and if possible the six current verticals.  Ever hear of a one-trick pony?  Nothing positive is ever said about one, so everyone with an interest in private 5G needs to ponder that analogy.

Click here to read the full article from NETWORKWORLD.

5G connectivity is being used in a wide range of products, but one thing they have in common is that they tend to be very high-powered devices. Up until now, there has been little emphasis on low-power devices, such as small edge/IoT devices or consumer products.

Qualcomm is addressing that with Snapdragon X35 5G Modem-RF, a 5G New Radio (NR) processor designed to serve the low-power and low-bandwidth markets.

The company claims it is the first NR-Light processor based on the 2020 3GPP Release 17 spec that was written to support low-power 5G IoT devices over any of the broadcast frequencies allocated to 5G. At the same time, it is compatible with legacy LTE (4G). The spec is also known as “reduced capacity” or RedCap.

“Our new integrated modem-RF system is optimized for power consumption and performance so modems can do more with less,” wrote Gautam Sheoran, vice president of product management at Qualcomm in a blog post announcing the processor.

The chip was intended to bridge the complexity gap between high-speed mobile broadband devices and extremely low-bandwidth IOT devices. Snapdragon X35 also has a reduced footprint meant to fit more readily into smaller IoT devices such as surveillance cameras, industrial sensors, wearables, and consumer devices.

Customer sampling of Snapdragon X35 is expected to begin in the first half of 2023. The first commercial mobile devices are expected to be launched by the first half of 2024.

Click here to read the full article from NETWORKWORLD.

 

Private 5G is technology that can be used in local area networks. Not to be confused with the public 5G connectivity offered by telephone companies, private 5G is used in corporate campuses, office buildings, factories and warehouses, event venues, and airports, either instead of or in addition to Wi-Fi.

According to an unpublished survey from research firm Forrester, 44% of corporate telecommunications  decision-makers plan to create private 5G networks. Industries with significant private 5G plans include water and waste, high-tech manufacturing, and retail and wholesale. Other areas where private 5G might crop up include stadiums and construction sites, says Forrester analyst Andre Kindness. “They’re prime for 5G technologies.”

The technology is very new, and few enterprises have the expertise to deploy it themselves, so most companies that want to use private 5G are turning to service providers to help set up the networks. Providers include telcos, private wireless network vendors, original equipment manufacturers, systems integrators, and major cloud players.

Enterprises will have to decide what kind of provider makes the most sense given the scale and complexity of their environments. There are pros and cons to each private 5G approach, and service levels can vary dramatically.

Telcos lead with 5G skills, spectrum licenses

An uptick in provider interest is one factor that’s driving private 5G adoption. A growing number of wireless carriers are beginning to offer private 5G network services to enterprise customers. The Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia recently rolled out 5G using Comcast Business to help set up the stadium network, for example.

The major global wireless carriers, such as AT&T, Comcast, Orange, Telefonica and Verizon, have several advantages when it comes to private 5G networks.

First, they have the in-house expertise on how 5G works and access to all the needed hardware. Second, they have the scale and international reach to support the biggest multinational enterprises, with all the necessary local partners and expertise. Finally, they own the spectrum.

Enterprises can use shared Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum or unlicensed spectrum such as 5G New Radio Unlicensed (NR-U), but there are times when those aren’t appropriate or are too difficult to deploy.

Verizon was the largest buyer of CBRS 5G spectrum in the U.S. in 2020, buying nearly $2 billion dollars’ worth of spectrum rights, followed by Dish Network with just under $1 billion, Charter with $464 million, and Comcast with $458 million.

Private vendors offer turnkey 5G managed services

Another option is vendors that are specifically focused on rolling out 5G networks, such as CTS, Boingo, Kajeet, and WWT. These companies can provide network design and installation, as well as ongoing security and operations monitoring and management.

“Private wireless providers offer an end-to-end, turnkey managed service and run the private network behind the enterprise firewall,” says Brian Watkins, executive vice president for sales and business strategy at Betacom, a wireless-infrastructure company that recently added 5G-as-a-service to its suite of offerings. “The enterprise maintains control and ownership of their data, and they have unlimited data usage”

When buying 5G from a carrier, enterprises might incur ongoing data costs. Plus, they might still have to buy hardware, software, and services they need from other vendors, complexities that could be deal breakers, according to Betacom CEO Johan Bjorklund. (MxD set up a private 5G network at its manufacturing innovation facility in Chicago with help from Betacom.)

“The average enterprise doesn’t have the scale to do this,” he says. “They’d have to add a lot of headcount or do training. What they want at the end of the day is a functional network that solves the business problems.”

Hardware vendors and service providers team up

According to IDC analyst Rohit Mehra, the most common 5G deployment strategy starts with traditional networking suppliers including Cisco, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Huawei, Nokia, Samsung, and ZTE.

“Nokia, Ericsson, and Samsung have a major play, globally,” Mehra says. “With Huawei and ZTE, much of their success is limited to greater China.” IDC hasn’t published 5G market-share numbers yet because the industry is still in its infancy, he says.

In order to acquire licensed spectrum, enterprises would need to look for a package where a telco has some role in the shared offering. For example, Nokia has a partnership with AT&T.

Multinational organizations could select a vendor with a global presence or at least a presence in the countries the company is interested in, Mehra says, and let the vendor dictate the in-country partnerships.

Networking vendors are also starting to offer other pieces of the 5G puzzle.

Vendors such as Ericsson and Nokia offer hardware and some of the software required to run private 5G networks in an attempt to become one-stop solutions providers, says Jagadeesh Dantuluri, general manager for private and dedicated networks at Keysight Technologies, which provides hardware and software for private 5G solution providers.

“They do not want the end customers to look aside for any other vendors,” he says.

System integrators bring customization options

System integrators like Accenture, Capgemini, and IBM are also helping enterprises deploy 5G networks.

For example, Accenture recently partnered with Google Cloud and Australian telecom Telstra to build a private 5G network at Marvel Stadium, an arena owned by the Australian Football League.

Working with integrators can offer large customers more customization options, says Chris Christou, senior vice president and expert on cloud and mobility at Booz Allen Hamilton.

“And there’s more of the opportunity to work directly with equipment manufacturers and chipset manufacturers for specialized features you want in the network,” Christou says. “There’s more tailoring to your specific use case.”

However, many system integrators lean more towards the consulting side, rather than deploying physical infrastructure, says Arun Santhanam, Capgemini’s vice president for telco.

System integrators often work directly with equipment vendors and partner with carriers when 5G spectrum is required, and there are advantages to working with a system integrator instead of a 5G vendor, he says.

Carriers are good at building large, scalable networks, but they may not have the process expertise. “It’s very hard for a 5G provider to think about the business functions,” Santhanam says. “How do you go from running process A to process B? And if you don’t think about change management, the whole thing falls apart.”

Systems integrators are also good at interoperability, he says. “You might want multiple things and want to start connecting,” Santhanam says. “How do I get them all talking to each other?”

Achieving such interoperability is a challenge today, he says, though eventually the industry will get through this growth pain. “People will start working on interoperable standards to make that happen,” he says.

Cloud providers pitch rapid deployment

Major cloud providers, including Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, offer support for private 5G networks.

“Hyperscalers are integrating private-network offerings in their edge offerings to increase the touch points with the end customers,” says Keysight’s Dantuluri.

The big cloud providers basically offer private 5G in a box, says Dan Hays, principal and head of the US corporate strategy practice at PwC.

The boxes are technically known as 5G small cells, and they’re also referred to as 5G hotspots, 5G endpoints, 5G base stations, or 5G radios. They are specified and designed by the cloud providers and manufactured by large contract electronics manufacturers.

“It’s a small piece of equipment that any business can just take out and plug in, and immediately you have a private network available,” Hays says.

AWS, for example, previewed its AWS Private 5G managed service last year. Customers would specify where they wanted to build a mobile network and specify its capacity, and AWS would deliver and maintain the small-cell radio units, servers, 5G-core and RAN software, and SIM cards, according to AWS.

The earliest versions of these devices typically use unlicensed 3.5 GHz CBRS spectrum. That makes deployment easier, because the band is open to everyone, but it also might have to be shared with other users.

The downside is that the current versions of small cells don’t always scale well, Hays says, “but they give you the basics of connectivity.”

Startups eye private 5G opportunities

Along with the tech stalwarts, there’s a new wave of technology startups focusing specifically on deploying private 5G. They include Celona, Inseego, Cradlepoint, and Sierra Wireless, says IDC’s Mehra.

The rise of startups will be driven by the increasing commoditization of the core infrastructure, says Jason Shepherd, vice president of ecosystem at Zededa, a Santa Clara, California-based edge-computing vendor.

Plus, the range of private 5G networks is constrained to single customers, so telcos might be unnecessary to provide network connectivity, Shepherd says. “We will see an increasing number of non-telco players, including startups, offering new networking services,” he says.

There is an opportunity for service-provider startups to differentiate themselves, he says. For example, they can combine vertical domain expertise, networking knowledge, physical infrastructure, and system integration to meet specific end-user needs.

“This will be particularly important for applications in verticals such as manufacturing, energy and mining that need to take into account the needs of both the operational technology and IT organizations,” he says.

DIY requires RF engineering know-how, procurement expertise

For some enterprises, it’s compelling to procure their own private 5G spectrum and build out their own network.

Forrester’s Kindness says he has a client in Bakersfield, California, that’s pumping oil. In a case like that, it might make sense for a company to forgo using a cellular carrier and build its own 5G network because, “Verizon or ATT might not want to build towers out there,” he says.

The downside, Kindness says, is that it’s hard to find professionals who understand 5G networking. “The cellular carriers probably own most of the skill pool out there,” he says.

According to PwC’s Hays, companies looking to build their own private 5G networks will need to assemble the hardware, connect it to a 5G cellular core network, set up the backhaul connectivity, and may also need to partner with a spectrum-access system for CBRS spectrum.

The hardware requirements will depend on the shape and size of the installation, he says, but will typically require antennas, small cells, base station equipment, and core network equipment.

“This can sometimes be purchased off the shelf,” Hays says. “But more often than not in larger installations, it requires RF engineering skills to identify the right components before they can be procured from network equipment OEMs.”

Once the hardware is in place, the 5G networks themselves are software-driven, he says. That can include virtualization platforms as well as core networking functions, which are usually purchased with the help of system integrators or engineering providers.

Smaller deployments might take advantage of turnkey private 5G solutions, Hays says, “but larger installations in major buildings, venues, and campuses will require significant system engineering and integration expertise.” The private 5G networks are essentially smaller versions of commercial telecom systems, he says.

“Additionally, companies will need to have capabilities to engineer, install, monitor, and maintain the network,” Hays says. That’s beyond the typical capabilities of corporate IT departments. However, training on private 5G is becoming more widely available through OEMs, professional organizations, and conferences, he says.

Click here to read the full article from NETWORKWORLD.