Road to 5G

Vast potential, but better security needed

- Kimm Yeo

5G is fast — faster than 4G, which is faster than 3G, which was, of course, faster than 2G. 5G is anywhere from 10 to 100 times faster than a typical 4G connection, depending on whether you’re citing theory or practical reality.

But speed is not its only selling point. Promotions for the next-generation 5G cellular technology also note that it has 1,000 times the capacity of 4G and delivers 10 times less latency. Latency is another type of ‘faster’; as in, you can do more things in real-time.

Still, those are not the only reasons to be excited about 5G. Kimm Yeo, Synopsys senior product marketing manager for the fuzzing tool Defensics said that the general public tends to perceive 5G as “just another mobile broadband speed enhancement,” though it is much more.

IMPLICATIONS — AND IMPACTS — OF 5G

Yeo said the implications of 5G for consumers, businesses, and nations go well beyond speed; it “will have a significant impact on convenience, privacy, safety, and security.”

Indeed, the potential is staggering. Yeo said one forecast is that from 2020 to 2026, 5G will grow from US$5.54 billion to US$668 billion. In other words, the 5G industry will have a 122% annual growth rate.

“We are talking emerging use cases beyond imagination,” Yeo said. She noted that at the commercial and industrial level, 5G offers a new way to monitor the performance of critical operations that require highspeed, ultra-reliable, low- to zero-latency performance.

Examples of those include critical surgery, smart surveillance, and utility management, massive machine-to-machine communications such as vehicle-to-vehicle, smart cities, and smart traffic.