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5G Dominates Mobile World Congress 2019

Phone in the dark

5G wireless network technologies will dominate Mobile World Congress 2019, which starts February 25 in Barcelona, Spain.

On the one hand, ChannelE2E is stating the obvious. On the other hand, you may not understand just how massive the 5G mobile wireless network push will be at the annual conference.

What Are 5G Wireless Networks?

Let's start with a basic definition: 5G describes next-generation mobile networks beyond 4G LTE mobile networks, SDXcentral notes. May experts say 5G will feature network speeds that are blazingly fast at 20 G/bps or higher and have a latency that is mere milliseconds, the media site adds.

The result: 5G will have the capacity to extend beyond traditional smartphone applications to support all types of machine-to-machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) connections -- spanning cars, city infrastructure, public safety applications and more, SDXcentral concludes.

5G Wireless and Health Risks: A few readers have asked us to blog about the potential health risks, if any, involving 5G wireless deployments. We'll report on that in the days ahead in a separate article.

5G Wireless Network News at Mobile World Congress 2019

ChannelE2E's inbox is already flooded with vendor news. Keep checking this blog for updates. The sampling so far:

18. 5G Rollout Plans: Here's a progress report, according to Oracle research.

17. Multiple Sprint Updates: The wireless giant made these moves:

16. Partnership - Orange & NTT: The two companies have inked a strategic Research and Development (R&D) framework agreement up to 2022 to share research findings in several key domains including 5G, network transformation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), cybersecurity, cloud services, smart cities, sports, tourism and culture, IoT Business News reports.

15. Cisco and KT: Cisco is transitioning KT's network architecture to better manage upcoming 5G traffic with advanced routing and automation software, intelligent analytics and machine learning, the companies say.

14. Cisco and Google: Cisco is working with Google Station to provide communities worldwide with sustainable public WiFi that is easily highly secure, accessible, fast, and reliable.

13. Cisco and Verizon:  Verizon's Virtual Network Services will support 5G devices on Cisco's software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) platform, making it easier to manage network traffic and application performance across a wide area network on both public and private networks, the two companies assert.

12. Cisco and Softbank: Cisco is working with SoftBank on the world's first Segment Routing IPv6 (SRv6) deployment, the two companies say.

11. Cisco, Airtel & India 5G Network: Cisco is partnering with Airtel to build India's largest 5G-ready, IP-based fully automated network, the two companies say.

10. Cisco and Sprint - 5G Network Deployments: Sprint plans to deploy new Cisco Systems routing technology to support Sprint's growing backhaul network traffic as it  prepares to launch mobile 5G service in nine cities in the first half of 2019, the companies say. Sprint is relying on the Cisco Network Convergence System 540 router series, which is capable of tripling backhaul network capacity and delivering 100G connectivity into the core transport network, the companies add.

9. Intel & Service Providers: Intel announced the Intel FPGA Programmable Acceleration Card N3000 (Intel FPGA PAC N3000), designed for service providers to enable 5G next-generation core and virtualized radio access network solutions. The Intel FPGA PAC N3000 accelerates many virtualized workloads, ranging from 5G radio access networks to core network applications, the chip giant says.

8. Market Forecast: Business and technology executives globally underestimate the disruptive potential of 5G technology that will result from increased network speeds and capacity, according to an Accenture study.

7. Broadcom  Goes End-to-End: Broadcom has completed a 5G switching portfolio, designed to enable the deployment of end-to-end networks that consolidate all radio and fixed-line traffic onto a standard, Ethernet-based infrastructure, the company says. The six devices that make up this portfolio – Monterey, Quartz, Qumran2a, Jericho2, Jericho2c and Ramon – are designed for switches with capacities greater than 100 Tbps and support new Ethernet-based 5G New Radios (NR) and base stations, the company adds.

6. AT&T 5G Innovator Program: Designed to bolster creation of new 5G customer experiences, initial program members include Cisco, Ericsson, Intel, Magic Leap, Microsoft, Nokia and WarnerMedia.

5. AT&T and VMware: AT&T's 5G rollout will leverage VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud. Customers will gain "new levels of network control," the duo says. Watch for the technology companies to discuss how SD-WANs combined with a high-speed, low-latency 5G networks will pave the way for new application types.

4. Cisco Systems: The networking giant released its Visual Networking Index report for 2019 ahead of the conference. Among the takeaways: 5G networks will power as many as 9 percent of mobile data connections across North America by 2022, Cisco said, compared with 4 percent in Asia, The Washington Post notes.

3. The Huawei Debate: Which countries are embracing Huawei -- and which are banning the China-based technology provider from 5G network deployments? Here's the latest list.

2. President Trump Weighs In: He's urging U.S. companies to move faster on 5G -- especially amid competition from Asia-based companies. But why stop at 5G? Ever heard of... 6G?

1. Verizon: The company's 5G network will reach 30 cities this year, CEO Hans Vestberg told investors ahead of the conference.

More: Got 5G wireless network news to share from Mobile World Congress? Email me the details: [email protected]. We'll update this article throughout the conference.

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.