Edge Computing And Private 5G Are Breaking The Barrier To Cloud Adoption In Mission-Critical Sectors

Edge Computing And Private 5G Are Breaking The Barrier To Cloud Adoption In Mission-Critical Sectors

In August 2021, Verizon announced the launch of Verizon 5G Edge with Microsoft Azure Stack Edge, a platform that delivers a private 5G on-premise edge computing service. By combining cloud solutions with edge computing and 5G, enterprise applications can operate with lower latency, enabling quicker responses. It also offers a higher data bandwidth, which can support data-intensive usage scenarios and generate richer insights through the cloud. Moreover, on-site analytics enable users, such as manufacturing plant managers, to maximize asset uptime and make smarter real-time decisions. Verizon’s solution will also enable firms to employ more advanced technology solutions, such as virtual reality and machine learning, to enhance business processes.

Although adoption of IoT and other cloud-based building technology solutions is on the rise, certain industries, such as airports, healthcare, manufacturing and government sites of critical infrastructure, have typically lagged. This reflects their need for reliable rapid responses to incidents such as equipment faults or safety issues, and often higher data loads. Vendors have pinpointed the opportunity to accommodate previously underserved sectors by leveraging 5G and edge computing together with cloud and IoT capabilities. For example, Siemens announced a collaboration with IBM in February 2021, using the Red Hat OpenShift hybrid cloud platform to complement its industrial IoT software platform, MindSphere. Verizon partnered with Nokia in April 2021 to deploy a private 5G network at the Port of Southampton in the UK, which is helping to support new IoT, real-time analytics and machine learning deployments.

The establishment of these partnerships is indicative of two trends within facilities and real estate management. Firstly, the pandemic has significantly increased buyer appetite for cloud-based technologies that support real-time decision-making, remote monitoring and business resiliency, even amongst the most risk-averse IT teams in mission-critical sectors. Secondly, interest in private 5G networks is rapidly rising. A third of real estate executives in our 2021 survey of 285 firms cited private 5G networks as an innovation they were planning on using in the next few years. Over the next three years, Verdantix expects both 5G private networks and edge computing deployments to increase, as firms across different sectors seek advanced solutions to improve their operations.

To learn more about edge computing and 5G, please read Verdantix Six Best Practices To Strengthen Your Building IoT Analytics Programme.