The modern digital landscape is synonymous with ubiquitous connectivity, in large part due to the success and rapid integration of 5G technology. 5G has revolutionized industries, transformed economies, and enhanced our everyday lives by providing faster speeds, lower latency, and greater network capacity.
Spurred by the pandemic, 5G subscriptions on 5G-enabled devices grew by 70 million in the first quarter of 2021 according to the 2021 Ericsson Mobility Report. However, this trend has increased exponentially, with around 600 million new subscriptions added globally during 2023. By 2029, it is estimated that 5G technology will have a global penetration of 5.3 billion subscriptions.
In addition to the consumer side, 5G technology is gaining traction in the enterprise sector through private 5G networks. However, for organizations aiming to take advantage of private 5G’s host of benefits, deploying and maintaining a robust private 5G infrastructure comes with challenges that many IT teams are unprepared to combat reliably.
Understanding the Importance of 5G Technology in a Connected Future
Advanced Networks such as 5G technology have come a long way since its inception. It offers significantly faster and more efficient connectivity compared to previous generations. Although the rollout of private 5G networks is still in its early stages, adoption is growing across various industries and cities worldwide, and governmental initiatives are already prepared to promote integration, bringing 5G connectivity to increasingly rural environments.
Implementing private 5G networks will revolutionize various industries, including healthcare, transportation, and manufacturing. The increased speed and capacity of 5G networks will significantly impact productivity, efficiency, and communication methods. Additionally, by enabling faster data transfer, low latency, and enhanced connectivity, 5G is paving the way for advanced technologies such as autonomous vehicles, smart cities, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices to contribute toward business growth.
Implementing and managing a private 5G network poses considerable technical challenges for the IT organization, complicating efforts to optimize the return on investment by focusing only on connecting the devices. Enterprises want to deploy business-critical applications on private 5G networks and want the application performance SLA on hybrid network environments to increase ROI. These applications demand certain service level expectations (response time, speed, security, etc.) to ensure compliance, safety, and functionality.
Enterprises want to embed network and data capabilities into their applications to ensure they can get the expected network performance. However, there is one challenge. With private 5G and hybrid network (combination of 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Cloud) deployments, the developers will have to learn the API specifications of the underlying 5G vendor the enterprises choose, and these specifications are filled with telecom lingo and complex.
Amidst this complexity, there’s a clear call for a more straightforward approach, as developers are caught between two unappealing options. Enduring delayed launches with minimal return is untenable. It leads enterprises to contemplate retraining their developers to navigate the complexities of building 5G network applications despite the associated time and financial costs.
Overcoming Challenges in 5G Deployment and Infrastructure
At Shabodi, we recognize that effective network utilization is critical for business success. Our Network-Aware Application Enablement Platform (NetAware) empowers developers to create and deploy high-performing network-aware applications seamlessly, maximizing advanced network ROI. By harnessing simple Network APIs across multi-vendor 5G systems, multi-access technologies (Wi-Fi, Segment Routing, Satellite), and operators, Shabodi NetAware programmable network platform cultivates a synergistic ecosystem that minimizes complexity and allows application developers to focus on developing applications. To find out more about how our NetAware programmable network platform system can benefit you, contact us here.
