Unparalleled speeds with greater security, reliability and mobile productivity with 5G MEC

As Singapore strives to be a digital capital for the world, a continuous flow of data will be delivered over 5G networks at an increasing volume and velocity.

The 5G networks being progressively rolled out today support ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) and massive machine-type communications (mMTC), and work together with enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) to satisfy the requirements of new wireless networks.

With these facilities in place, networks can support massive IoT and mission-critical applications in manufacturing, military deployments, healthcare, emergency responses and more.

These three capabilities resolve issues such as bandwidth, latency and density that have limited 4G/LTE capabilities, enabling for more effective deployments of autonomous vehicles, automated manufacturing, smart nation infrastructure, streaming 4K/8K video and augmented reality.

The recent introduction of 5G Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) technology will be another important piece of the puzzle for many businesses and government agencies looking to run real-time data processing and analysis for automation, prediction, and control.

As its name implies, 5G MEC is a set of computing equipment that is situated on the "edge" of a 5G network. Here, it can process and analyse in real-time, and store large amounts of data that comes in from the field, be it a live video from a drone or sightings from an autonomous robot on patrol.

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Since the data does not need to be sent back to a cloud server or a data centre that is further away, it is more secure and allows for faster reaction time for human operators, who, too, are at the "edge" of a 5G network. Operations can continue even if the network is down, to reduce disruptions.

In the manufacturing industry, high-resolution video cameras and advanced detection sensors can send the footage to the MEC for real-time analysis. Here, the artificial intelligence (AI) tools available can help identify process errors and defects while the product is being built.

This means a manufacturer can make changes on the fly, improving quality, increasing yield, adding more precision for a breakthrough in the production process and reducing downtime.

In the construction industry, wearables and 4K cameras with artificial intelligence (AI) or machine-learning (ML) tools installed at the MEC will be able to analyse quickly and accurately, and send alerts for immediate response when a fall or aggressive or unusual action is detected.

Ease of deployment

The truth is that neither edge computing nor the increasingly distributed nature of infocomm networks is new. As more data is generated by end devices, from smartphones to smart sensors in a factory or a seaport, the flow of traffic will become less centralised.

By 2022, as a result of digital business projects, 75 per cent of enterprise-generated data will be created and processed outside the traditional centralised data centre, or cloud, up from less than just 10 per cent in 2018, according to research firm Gartner.

What this means for businesses is that they have to place a lot more of their focus on the edge of the network as they roll out their digitalisation efforts.

What 5G MEC brings to the table is a tight integration of connectivity, computing power, and applications to provide near real-time interactions with end users and devices.

Perhaps more importantly, it also supports standard computer units and software toolkits that are offered by public cloud providers and are familiar to many developers of, say, artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics.

This means the software that businesses have developed to visually analyse crowd density from video footage, for example, can be easily moved from the cloud to 5G MEC, closer to where data is created by people, places and things.

The same applies for AI toolkits that cloud providers offer on their public cloud platforms.

These development tools can be brought over to 5G MEC seamlessly so that businesses can develop their new applications on a familiar platform without worrying about the infrastructure or building everything from the ground up.

In essence, 5G MEC enables businesses to quickly get up to speed with the applications they wish to deploy, focusing on the business outcomes instead of spending time and effort on installing new infrastructure.

Cloud and network fusion at the edge

Today, hybrid multi-cloud is the architecture for most enterprises whereby workloads may be centralised or run on a combination of internal and third-party clouds or at the edge.

The 5G MEC platform can be placed at the customers' premises to keep business-critical data local. The control of data and insights within an enterprises' four walls enables enterprises to maintain the right level of control, latency, security and privacy. Processing data from the source enables operational efficiencies via automation.

Top reasons why enterprises are seeking to move business-critical applications to the edge today include improved operational agility, improved visibility into asset performance, improved application performance, lower network bandwidth costs, improved customer experiences and security.

This means continuous operations by enabling systems to run autonomously, even when disconnected, to reduce disruption and lower costs.

What enterprises need is a partner that is platform-agnostic and supports hybrid cloud, enables customers to run workloads on the infrastructure that makes sense for their business, and most importantly is able to navigate the complexities of connectivity options in an ever complex and crowded space.

Besides 5G MEC, predictable and reliable connectivity is important to enable new hybrid multi-cloud business models. StarHub can deliver these capabilities, providing enterprises with optimised wireless coverage, local breakout of data for business applications and extended cloud workload management to establish a dynamic, highly secured, on-demand network platform.

With StarHub's all-in-one 5G solutions and managed services, enterprises do not have to worry about support, deployment and onboarding. Instead, they can concentrate on their most important work, be it developing the greatest edge computing apps or setting up the best AI for their analytics.

StarHub is also working with industry-trusted solution providers to curate an ecosystem with 5G-ready applications such as video analytics, facial recognition, Internet of Things (IoT), drones, robotics, work safety and health applications and immersive user experiences.

This way, businesses that are looking to streamline and automate operations, deliver rich customer experiences, and improve the way businesses perform, can create and roll out their digital applications and services quickly.

To let government and corporate enterprise customers experience in-person how 5G MEC can power a new wave of 5G applications, StarHub has set up a 5G Digital Experience showcase.

At the showcase, customers can see first-hand the capabilities of the new technology and how it can be put into action in real use cases.

Ultimately, actual use cases are what matters most. Making real progress and transforming one's business with demonstrable results are promises that 5G is set to deliver to first movers in this space.