It’s no secret that the adoption of the Internet is infiltrating throughout the World’s population, in fact according to research from DataReportal there were 5.1 billion mobile internet users and 4.3 billion internet users in January 2019. The time spent online is an even more staggering statistic showing that on average the world’s internet users spend 6 hours and 42 minutes each day online which equates to 100 days online a year per user.
The 5G switch is due to be flicked on the 30th May in the UK with the first cities to receive 5G coverage under BT owned EE being London, Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh with full distribution anticipated by 2022.
Could this see the days of buffering and disconnected video chats soon becoming a pain from the past? 5G is expected to be more powerful than 4G using higher frequencies and offering more speed and higher bandwidth. It could even see the end of Wi-Fi, particularly in public spaces, as it will have the strength to even stream your favourite show on Netflix and allow you to get a seamless connection in a festival crowd.
5G will undoubtedly bring a plethora of benefits and especially see more Internet of Things (IoT) devices taking advantage of the latest technology. The development of driverless cars will be able to use the increased bandwidth to safely navigate to your local supermarket and locate a vacant space and with the integration of Augmented Reality (AR) it could even be used to superimpose your SatNav onto your windscreen to ensure that you end up at your correct destination.
There is no doubt that 5G will make a positive impact on technological advancements, but how will it impact data centres?
Much of the data that will be created and shared across 5th generation mobile networks will reside within the Cloud resulting in data centres becoming even more important than ever, which will impact two key elements;
Firstly, there is a crucial need for data centres to offer low latency. The fundamental point of 5G is to be able to provide seamless and fast connectivity therefore data centres will need to be located close to the end users. This offers an opportunity for companies to embrace edge technology through the integration of prefabricated on-premise data centres as well as seeking out colocation services as an alternative option.
Secondly, given the paramount importance of delivering consistency of reliable data in real-time Tier 3 and Tier 4 data centres will need to ensure that they provide businesses as close to 100% redundancy as possible, downtime simply will not be acceptable.
In summary, the requirement for a reliable, quality and agile data centre infrastructure will be in high demand to cope with the next generation in mobile networks – 5G technology. Workspace Technology offers the latest in edge computing delivering expertly engineered pre-fabricated data centres across the UK to provide mission critical infrastructure.