Is Private 5G on your Roadmap?

We all have been hearing about 5G for some time and its benefits over LTE / Wi-Fi. 5G offers higher reliability, high speed, low latency, making it most suitable for industrial IOT scenarios. The excitement over private 5G is understandable, but this is not something new as private LTE networks have been in existence for some time, mostly offered by operators. With 5G, enterprises now have access to unlicensed spectrum (ex. CBRS), allowing them to build a private high-speed network with more bandwidth than the 4G / LTE offered operators. So, it does not surprise us when we see increased interest in private 5G networks from Ford Motors, BMW, BASF, Corning, etc. Off late, the German industrial companies have taken the lead and applied in dozens for licenses to operate their own 5G networks.

It is not just the manufacturing companies; the spike in interest for private 5G networks is across the industry. To work efficiently, industrial IoT, smart cities, campus networks, modern healthcare, smart manufacturing, intelligent facilities, logistics, and several others need to automate and make sense of their surroundings through robots, intelligent sensors, etc., A low latency network like 5G allows them to remain interconnected and communicate with other devices, enabling them for real-time decisions. While there is a broad consensus on the need and benefits of private networks, the dilemma organizations often face working with traditional operators who know how to design, build, monitor & manage the network vs building their own private 5G network along with a handful of chosen partners (Across OEM's, SW providers etc.).

Thanks to the softwarization of networks, cloud, and IoT, we have seen the emergence of new players who have built capabilities in designing, building, and operating private networks. Traditionally, the hardware and software needed to connect the cell sites and run 5G networks come from Huawei, Erickson, Nokia, etc. These proprietary and purpose-built hardware do not offer any decoupling with the software. In Feb 2019, Facebook open sourced Magma, a software platform that helps operators deploy mobile networks quickly and easily, offering software-centric mobile packet core and tools to automate the network management and deployment. Since then, many companies like FreedomFI provide their version of the open-source Magma to the customers, which can be run-on general-purpose hardware. With the software that can run-on general-purpose hardware and spectrum available (outside the control of network operators), enterprises can build their private high-speed network at a significantly lower cost. With private 5G networks, the organization owns the wireless spectrum for the network, network base stations, and other infrastructure. This provides them full control over the network while strengthening cybersecurity, isolating users from the operator's network, and several other benefits.

5g is impacting the present and only going to accelerate its adoption within the organizations. Some may think that this implementation will leave a hole in the enterprise pocket, but that not the case. By some estimates, the private 5G networks can reduce the infrastructure TCO by up to 75%. One such example is where the automated process of crane lifting a container from a remote center gave 70% savings in labor cost at the shipping port.

While the benefits of the private 5G networks are unprecedented, there are some questions organizations have in their mind - 1) Given the ongoing softwarization of networks, has technology matured for them to realize ROI on private 5G networks 2) What's the best way to put private 5G networks on implementation roadmap (engage with traditional operator's vs. with the new age partners or any other model).

Let me know your thoughts or if you would like a discussion to demystify this further.

Acknowledgments

1.      German Industrial Firms Plan to Build Private 5G Networks (Link Here)

2.      Private 5G Networks Are Bringing Bandwidth Where Carriers Aren't (Link Here)