Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Sharma: 5G as the platform for innovation, disruption

In our 2017 paper, “Mobile Network as a Platform: Planning for the 5G World,” we explored the role of LTE in the disruption that took place over the last decade. 5G promises to create an even bigger platform for ingenuity and transformation. In our 2017 paper, “Mobile Network as a Platform: Planning for the 5G World,” we explored the role of LTE in the disruption that took place over the last decade. 5G promises to create an even bigger platform for ingenuity and transformation. LTE was successful because of what I call the “Synchronous S-Curve” effect that occurred as result of contemporaneous evolution of the smartphones and the centralized cloud. In our recent paper, “Connected Intelligence 2030: Quantifying the Disruption for the Next Decade,” we set the stage for what’s to come in the coming decade. For the wireless industry, the growth of 4G LTE along with smartphones and cloud clearly were transformative as they collectively shaped the global technology ecosystem and the economy at large. Our Connected Intelligence thesis states that we are in a unique technological evolutionary cycle wherein many seismic trends are occurring at the same time. As has been proven over time, the magic of serendipity happens at the edges, at the intersections of domains and industries. In our six-part series on 5G platform and innovation this year, I have been discussing some of my observations and suggestions on how the wireless ecosystem can come together to address an unprecedented set of opportunities that will come before us in the next decade: In this last column, I will attempt to round up the observations and the roadmap for the coming decade. At our recently concluded senior executive summit, Mobile Future Forward, we completed an end-to-end world’s first live surgery demo (you can read about it here and watch the actual demo here.) Last year, we opened the conference with our favorite robot, Pepper (another industry first.) The purpose of these demos is to illustrate the potential roadmap for the industry and what’s to come. Clearly a lot of work needs to be done before such experiences will become mainstream, but there is no doubt that there is a tremendous amount of research and product work going on to make these innovations possible. 5G is one of the key building blocks in these experiences. Of course, 5G is not needed in every possible scenario, but 5G will be a critical fabric necessary for building many of the new applications and services that are not possible today. However, before these products and experiences can become a reality, a number of pieces need to fall in place: Ten years ago, writing for our first Mobile Future Forward book, in an essay titled, 15 trends that matter, I wrote that the next 10 years will create more progress than the last 100. Given how the various puzzle pieces of Connected Intelligence are coming together, I can say with confidence that this will be true for the coming 10 as well. As we wrap up the last few days of this decade, one must take pause and marvel at all the progress we have made over the last 10 years. Then, we must try to understand the ecosystem forces that are likely to shape industries and nations and the role 5G might play in the intersections of domains and industries. It is going to be one heck of a ride. Tighten your seat belts. Chetan Sharma is CEO of Chetan Sharma Consulting, an 18-year young management consulting firm and is an advisor to CXOs and boards of companies in the wireless industry. Over his 25 years in the industry, he has worked with operators on all five continents and has the rare distinction of advising management teams for each of the top 9 global mobile operators. Chetan has written 15 books on various wireless topics and his research work has helped shape many strategic decisions and dialogue in the industry. He is curator of industry’s premier brainstorming summit Mobile Future Forward. More information at www.chetansharma.com. You can follow his musings at @chetansharma "Industry Voices" are opinion columns written by outside contributors--often industry experts or analysts--who are invited to the conversation by Fierce staff. They do not represent the opinions of Fierce.  

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