Enterprise 5G: the future is now

By Faheem Tabassum

With the Australian Federal Government's Australian 5G Innovation Initiative, the gates are open for Australian companies to prepare their business strategies around enterprise 5G.

It is an exciting opportunity for enterprises to access funding to build and test early enterprise 5G implementations, which are the necessary precursors to larger opportunities in the near future.

This is important because 5G solutions, in a number of vertical markets and industries, will take time - and according to IHS Markit will have the potential to support an estimated US$13.2 trillion of economic output by 2035.

Enterprises can now work with their telco partners, and potentially with new technology partners, to test, learn and plan for the future.

Strategy and technology: planning and delivering now, to plan and deliver in the future

The focus in the government program reflects three technology features of enterprise 5G that underpin use cases being developed around the world.

These are enhanced mobile broadband, massive machine-machine communications, and ultra-reliable, low-latency communications. Applications include mining, agriculture, construction, smart factories, construction, logistics, retail and healthcare.

These technologies are important, but it’s their application to businesses, and the way they are deployed to improve customer experiences, to create new services, products and value, that should be the primary focus of enterprises.

What will drive the adoption of 5G will be business strategies anchored in growth and opportunities. Telcos around the world are working with partners, customers and governments to build prototype 5G implementations in their different markets.

An example is the Singtel Group, which Optus is part of, which has been working with the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) to develop a use case at Singapore’s Pasir Panjang Terminal. Although this is a specific vertical market sector - maritime and logistics - this use case demonstrates how enterprise 5G translates across all vertical markets.

Robotics in the context of the PSA trial means the remote handling of containers, and their movement and management in docks, and between wharves and ships. In other industries, it will mean manufacturing operations untethered from fixed networks, or mining operations in remote locations.

Robotics means different thing to different enterprises and industries – from moving containers, to manufacturing, to remote mining operations. Enterprise 5G will accelerate the adoption of robotics.

Autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs), as another example at PSA, mean remotely operated cranes in a port. In a warehouse or a factory, it will mean the movement of goods across stacking systems, the alignment of raw material at the point of manufacture, or the ability to reprogram vehicle movements to accommodate short production runs.

Other 'horizontal' applications that will become possible in meaningful commercial ways include AR and VR, which continue to break away from their gaming and entertainment heritage.

Enterprise 5G: from business case to implementation

As use cases continue to grow through real applications, enterprises need to map these to their own business operations, to explore where 5G might fit.

With the ability to consider funded minimum viable products (MVPs) around enterprise 5G, Australian companies can now legitimately start exploring how 5G will change their business, and plan their responses.

They can bring their business expertise alongside the expertise of their telco partner in implementation, connectivity infrastructure, and technology. Together, enterprises and telcos can consider solutions anchored to each enterprise's business strategy.

I suggest that it can happen in three phases:

Phase 1: Engage formally with your telco partner around how early 5G can deliver, consider the options around 5G implementation, then partner to design and scope MVPs, as well as the build.  

Phase 2: Apply for government grants, to test early implementations that can lead to scale once results are known. Building a prototype for a subset of such an implementation, under the Australian 5G Initiative, will allow companies to test and revise based on results and experience.

Phase 3: Explore further what's been learned, with the intent to move ahead to full commercialisation, with the confidence that the MVP has defined and demonstrated a viable solution, offering line-of-sight to a full solution and implementation at scale.

Consider this scenario: an organisation seeks to invest in large physical infrastructure. This could be a new factory, a new office block, a mine, or an airport, as examples.

As it plans its design and investment budgets, the enterprise needs to consider connectivity - and I've talked previously about various options such as in-building 5G, or public or private clouds as alternatives to Wi-Fi or fixed-line infrastructure.

Decisions need to be considered now for infrastructure that might not be completed until two or three years into the future. Turbocharged with government grants, those decisions can now be considered, and the lag that exists between investment today and scale in the future no longer represents as big a risk as it once did.

This is a huge opportunity for enterprise and solution providers - manufacturers of products and services, integrators, creators of added value of services, disruptors seeking to break into new markets, and market leaders seeking to protect and defend their businesses.

With the support of programs such as the Australian Federal Government's Australian 5G Innovation Initiative, it's time for enterprises to consider, plan and start executing on their 5G plans.

For more information on how Optus is looking at Enterprise 5G or to contact us, visit optus.com.au/enterprise/5G.