MWC LA 2019 Lays out the Road Ahead for 5G

MWC LA 2019 Lays out the Road Ahead for 5G

August 2019 – The MWC LA Conference is once again bringing the latest technology and information on 5G, connected cars and everything wireless to the US.  The MWC LA conference is the North Amercian centered show of the industry leading cellular  MWC Barcelona conference in February. 

The Conference in LA shows off the new technologies for the ever ongoing advanced in cell phone and the associated wireless connectivity.  While the big title may be 5G, it also means connected cars, new experiences for entertainment and gaming, and security for all these connections..

For Entertainment, the long awaited higher performance for mobile games is on the way.  This will allow the cell phone and table platforms to have similar gaming graphics as console games offered just a short while back.  It also means that PC and console games can enjoy new wireless controllers and connectivity bringing a new gaming experience.

The 5G technology is also supposed to be the last piece of the puzzle to allow Virtual Reality to become the mainstream viewing environment for all gaming and content.  It has been hypothesized by several VR makers that while their sales targets have been behind for over a decade, with 5G deployment their sales will beat all expectations and replace TVs and cell phones as the primary screens in peoples lives.  This are pretty big shoes for 5G to fill.

The conference will also cover entertainment content which is about streaming media in a cellular and wireless environment.  These discussions pertain not only to being able to enjoy your favorite movie and live sports with a better quality of experience, but  also for being able to participate in high quality video conferences and intranet based video message delivery.

The conference has keynotes from many leaders including FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, Executives from Verizon, Intel, US Cellular, Ericsson, Nokia and Open Table.

The 3 day event is returning to the LA Convention Center October 22-24, 2019.

New Decade of Consumer Technology

New Decade of Consumer Technology

The first decade of the 21st century was known for introducing smartphones to the masses, as well as introducing the first smart TV. Ten years later starting in 2010, the world became socially connected thanks to companies such as Facebook, Twitter and Netflix.  We are now rapidly approaching a new period of consumer technology called the Data Age.

This “Data Age” comes to life under the shadow of the tremendous flow of data security and privacy concerns becoming the number one issue across the entire globe. Different countries are dealing with these complex issues with different solutions and with The European Union for example, implemented strict rules and regulations, last year, called GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). China, on other hand, has no government organized privacy and security regulations.

Both companies and individuals are at risk.  “With computing processing power increasing dramatically, even passwords that are 14 to 20 characters long will be readily crackable and largely ineffective for protecting high-value, high-risk assets and transactions by 2020”- warns Forrester, an American market research company that provides advice on existing and potential impact of technology to its clients and the public.

As risky as this  as can be, the world must stay connected because only this connectivity allows us to live in smart cities, in intelligent houses, drive connected cars and very soon be driven by autonomous vehicles.

This next generation of data connectivity will require wireless technology from 5G that can connect devices with the next generation fast speeds. Those in the race to bring the technology to marketplace and get a foot int the door for the business that goes with it include China Telecom, KDDI in Japan, SK telecom in South Korea, through Verizon and AT&T in the USA, Shaw and Rogers in Canada, to Ericsson all over Europe:  Vodafone and BT in United Kingdom, Deutsche Telecom in Germany, Orange in France and Telefonica in Spain. As 5G becomes a crucial component of technology development, the entire world needs to adapt to it.

In the last few years, home security cameras, thermostats, and connected lighting equipment have become more common in homes and sales continue to increase. Just imagine how the IoT (Internet of Things) environment is going to explode with the rollout of 5G.

For example, for smart home development into existing homes, consumers usually don’t buy all those devices from the same platforms or at the same time. This brings the challenge of how the consumer can connect all these different products, brands and platforms together as well as the devices that haven’t even been invented yet. The idea of a practical smart home is like bringing together different instruments to create a symphony orchestra that need to play in unison.   Following connectivity, the Smart Home’s Next Trend will be Interoperability and Intelligence.

It is difficult to imagine the smart home without some type of digital assistance activated by voice and equipped with Artificial Intelligence. Three truths about voice/AI assistant are: 1.) Digital assistance is going into everything: devices, appliances and cars 2.) Support for digital assistance has become table stakes: services, brands, commerce 3.) Voice is quickly becoming the “go-to” interface – it allows you to keep doing what you are doing as well as have the digital assistant do something that normally requires your hands.

For example, Amazon Alexa has nearly 60,000 skills and 20,000+ compatible devices. The way how we interact with digital assistance shown the study done by Consumer Technology Association (CTA) in August 2018. US online adult study shows how people make a use of Amazon Alexa(in%):  Ask questions – 63, Check the weather – 58, Listen to music/radio/podcasts – 50, Set a timer or alarm – 45, Call someone – 32, Check the news/sports – 30, Send a message to someone – 25, Search for recipes/cooking information – 23, Check personal calendar – 22.

We also beginning to understand the limits of automation. AI intelligence and automation are really transform the way we access data, we use data. AI is helping us to understand the data.   The first generation of voice control required people to learn “command words” and “special phrases”.  With AI in the system, it can now understand conversation and what actions to do next.  For example, without AI and data analysis you would say “Alexa, turn up the thermostat by 2 degrees” now you can say “Alexa, I am cold”.  The system will recognize who “I” is and the context for the word “cold” based on what location you were talking from and the system can respond “would you like me to turn up the thermostat by 2 degrees”.

This direction of connectivity, interoperability, high speed data and analytics as well as “personalized models” is what is driving the next generation of Smart Home.  The “personalized models” are the core of the privacy concerns.  It means the computer has to both know that it is you, and more importantly know everything about you – what you eat, where you shop, what temperature you like the house, what shows you watch and what music you listen to, who you visit and talk to, what your schedule is, what your interests are,   To be able to be helpful, the computer has to know how to help.  By knowing how to help you be more comfortable, it means that all of that data has to be stored someplace, and hopefully used only for your benefit.  Governments, companies, and technology are all working together, finally, to try and insure the next decade is a beneficial Data Age to make your life better.

CES 2018 – 5G and AI stimulate the world of new technologies

CES 2018 – 5G and AI stimulate the world of new technologies

CES 2018 will be remembered for its lights going out at the Las Vegas Convention Center filled with thousands of televisions and electronics. Those who were in the building found their ways to the exits using the lights from their cell phones. Within minutes, the blackout forced the convention center to be closed for over two hours. Although this unfortunate incident made international headlines, this year’s CES was still an exciting and stimulating event for the global tech community.

CES is a platform that allows an interaction with a new generation of technology! This year, over 170,000 attendees from 150 countries, 3,900 exhibitors presented their products and services, 7,000 journalists and bloggers all came to Las Vegas to report to a broad audience that the convention center wasn’t quite able to accommodate.

Steve Koenig, analyst and director of CTA (Consumer Technology Association) at the press meeting which took place two days before an official door opens, announced the main trends in the global tech world. His focus was on 5G and AI as the ingredient technologies for 2018 and beyond. 5G was the theme of my article in the last edition of Property Journal. It is important in the era that has a flood of automated data.

By 2020, the average internet user is going to create around 1,5 GB of traffic per day, but a smart hospital will produce 3,000 GB and an autonomous vehicle 4,000 GB per day. Today every big city has 4G and everyone who watches content on a mobile device is familiar with the buffering wheel icon which means that the operating system needs more time for downloading content. But for the consumer it means lost time for waiting. When 5G will be implemented that will no longer be the case.

How fast is 5G? Let’s use an example. How long would it take to download the two-hour-long “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie? In 3G (2001) it took 26 hours, in 4G (2009) only 6 minutes, in 5G (2020) it will be 3.6 seconds! There is no doubt that 5G is going to revolutionize everything including telecommunication, automotive, healthcare, social media, real-time GPS, mobile payments, video streaming (4K and 8K) and access to the Internet at the fingertips anywhere, anytime.

The second ingredient that will stimulate global technology is AI. Before, the abbreviation AI meant “Artificial Intelligence”, but some industry experts believe that the term is too closely linked to popular culture and has negative connotations. That is why AI is now described as “Augmented Intelligence”; to help people understand that AI simply improves upon products and services, and does not replace humans. Unfortunately, they both have the same acronym – AI.

IBM that heavily invested in Artificial Intelligence system called Watson suggested to use the term “Intelligence Augmentation” – IA. Quick note:  it is not about Sherlock Holmes’s assistant, Watson, but Thomas Watson, the charismatic CEO of IBM during the years, 1914-1956.

Many companies invest in AI because they believe that Augmented Intelligence is the key to learn what humans like and dislike, perfectly suggesting the products to match their tastes. Just recently Google joined the race for more customers by using AI. For the first time, Google had a standalone booth in the middle of the convention center at the CES. Outside the convention center, they had many signs and banners on the streets of Las Vegas that was read – “Hey, Google”. 

 

 

First 5G deployment in San Francisco

First 5G deployment in San Francisco

November – San Francisco Bay area is going to be primary area for the first phase of deployment of 5G for mobile devices. It is going to be one of the smart city where information and communication, including mobile connectivity are going to improve quality of urban life – from professional to private. From social networking, to real-time GPS navigation and maps, mobile payments, video streaming and access to the Internet at the fingertips anywhere, anytime. 

A lot of trials and testing are going on right now. 5G wireless communications needs new transmission equipment in the network to be sure that every IoT device out there is connected to the right network and can deliver significant performance increase. For enjoying media content, we now use a second screen and often a third screen. In this connected world we are talking not just about the million additional devices but billion of them.

What need to be bring to the table is mobile operating system because people are consuming videos and media on the mobile devices more and more. There are also different requirements for various situations: if you using it for surgical operation in healthcare or if you remotely driving a car or if you are just sending a message to the network. 

What does 5G technology mean for us? When you push some content and you see on the screen that little “loading or buffering wheel”, the icon that shows you that time is elapsing – that is 4G. With 5G all those things are going to go away. No waiting time for download. Things are going to happen instantly. Today 65% of content consumption traffic on tablets is video traffic. Slightly lower, around 42% is on the smartphones. Deployment of 5G will allowed that performance on the devices will be much faster and it will be instant.

5G plays significant role for connected cars, airplane traffic or smart factories.  It is important in the era that has a flood of automated data. By 2020 average internet user is going to create around 1,5 GB of traffic per day but smart hospital will produce 3,000 GB and autonomous vehicle 4,000 GB per. Airplane data will even use 10 times more than a driverless car – 40,000 GB per day. The top of the list ranked smart factory with 1,000,000 GB daily.

For the initial testing, why choose San Francisco?  Being located as part of the extended Silicon Valley, it is a foundation for Internet of Things (IoT). This means all applications are easily going to find it and will are going to find route here – explained an executive from Ericsson at the Mobile World Congress Americas in September. Ericsson is building a pipe that will supply all the devices. By 2022 the company predicts that there will be 500 million IoT devices ready for 5G. In addition to the network, there is going to be new applications development for IoT on the top of 5G.

Initial roll out of 5G is going to happen probably early 2019 and 2020 but the momentum for expansion to other cities will be later on. Things are going to be perform faster, the quality of experience for mobile devices is going to be significantly better and low latency.

5G Americas advocates 5G & LTE at CTIA

5G Americas advocates 5G & LTE at CTIA

September, CTIA – Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas, told us in 1:1 interview during the CTIA conference that the focus on 5G is good because we need to be looking at the future and the things we need to do to stay connected. This includes providing more mobile broadband, more massive LTE, less latency and finally reliable communication. For the foundation of mobile broadband, 4G and 5G will be integrated together as well the incorporation, with a big role, of LTE Advance and LTE Advanced Pro. But there is some economic reality behind the adoption of the technology in that, if you are an operator, and you want to deploy 5G, you have to have a business case to spend hundreds of millions or billions to pay it back.

5G Americas advocate for more innovations and investments from the private sector to look at the best interests of the end customers. The customer can be consumer, enterprise or verticals inside IOT.

5G Americas is the voice of 5G and LTE for all the Americas.  They work by supporting the ecosystem of mobile operators and vendors, working with government agencies, regulatory and standards bodies, as well as other global wireless organizations to promote the 5G & LTE technologies. They work in three (3) different areas:

First – Technical recommendations and facilitations. They don’t typically create standards but they are part of the process of education on the direction of the technology that they want. They also contribute their white papers with the associations around the world and governments around the world with focus on Americas region.

Second – They work on regulatory policy, that as Pearson admitted – become more and more important because of what 5G is going to be doing.  5G is getting to the other verticals and other areas such as: education, transportation and health care. He believes that 5G ecosystem should include and will include a regulatory aspect as it enters market already subject to regulatory control.

Third – Education.  They provide outreach with all wireless headquarters including industry media, industry analysts and a lot of influencers and government processes.