Industrial enterprise executives tell Capgemini they see 5G as a platform for digital transformation, and also suggest edge computing and network slicing are key for those use cases. Network slicing offers guaranteed quality of service through the core network, in the access network and on the premises.
Edge computing fully integrated with the low-latency and QoS-guaranteed network is the other key capability most are waiting for.
Fully 75 percent of industrial executives polled by Capgemini believe that 5G is going to be a key enabler for their digital transformation efforts in the next five years. In fact, 5G is ranked higher than artificial intelligence or advanced data analytics as a driver of digital transformation, behind only cloud computing.
On the other hand, the specific features enterprise users and customers might want might not be available for a few years. Network slicing is a feature in that category, as it promises guaranteed quality of service, to the device level.
Multi-access edge computing is the other obvious capability, which would allow local processing that matches the ultra-low latency of the core and access networks.
About 66 percent of respondents want to implement 5G within two years, but it might take three years for 5G suppliers to have all the network features in place.
Also, perhaps 33 percent of respondents would consider private 5G networks of their own, and up to half of the largest enterprises, Capgemini notes.
