Private 5G offers many benefits for industries that require low latency, high reliability, and large bandwidth, such as manufacturing, healthcare, and transportation. However, despite the potential, its industry adoption has been slower than expected, mainly limited to early adopters in the industrial and academic innovation sectors. In this blog post, we will discuss some of the reasons for this slow adoption and how they can be overcome.
The Challenge
One of the main reasons for the slow adoption of private or dedicated 5G networks is the lack of trust in 5G as a new technology. Many enterprises need more evidence of its reliability, especially when it involves sensitive data or critical operations, specifically in an industrial setting. The value of installing or upgrading networks to 5G seems to be mostly appreciated, but still, enterprises are falling back on proven network types for critical use cases.
Another reason for the slow adoption of private 5G networks is the lack of industrial devices that support 5G connectivity. Although 5G-enabled smartphones and tablets are becoming more common, many industrial devices, such as sensors, cameras, robots, and AMRs, are still using legacy technologies. This limits the use cases and applications that can benefit from private 5G networks.
A third reason for the slow adoption of private 5G networks is the lack of understanding regarding the benefits of 5G versus the capacities of existing technologies, such as Wi-Fi 6 or LTE. Many enterprises may not see the need to switch to private 5G networks if they are satisfied with their current wireless solutions or do not have demanding requirements. However, many enterprises do not have the tools or experience to understand which network type would best suit their current or future needs. Are Wi-Fi handover issues a challenge for the model of AGV planned? Is 5G needed to support new ML vision systems with onboard computing?
Private 5G networks have great potential to transform industries and enable new levels of productivity, efficiency, and innovation. However, their adoption in the industry has been slow due to various challenges, such as lack of trust, lack of devices, and lack of understanding. To overcome these challenges, enterprises need to be educated on the opportunities and Industry 4.0 use cases that can be unlocked by not only 5G technology but hybrid deployments of 5G, Wi-Fi and other network technology.
The Solution
Often the critical element driving network planning is the accurate projection of the enterprise’s future use cases and their impact on the network. It requires a full understanding of both capabilities of the various network options and demand-side data throughput patterns.
The Zinkworks Networked Device Simulator (NDS) is built to address this challenge. It enables CSPs and connectivity resellers to rapidly, simply, and cheaply model single or multi-network deployments, such as Private 5G and Wi-Fi 6, and showcase their performance and suitability for a client’s current or proposed industrial use cases.
By combining data on both network capabilities and use case demands in a single 3D simulation, Sales Teams can easily drag and drop network infrastructure and networked equipment to visually demonstrate the impact of robots, vision systems, time-sensitive manufacturing systems, safety-critical applications, etc., in a virtual replication of a client’s facility.
Through using a bespoke, relatable, and accurate visual model of an enterprise’s network needs, trust can be established that the proposed network solution is the right fit for their needs.
If you would like to learn more about Zinkworks Networked Device Simulator send us a request on our contact page and our team will get back to you: www.zinkworks.com/contact/
Written by James McNamara.
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