5G, the latest technology standard for mobile networks, is creating a variety of benefits for businesses. To leverage those benefits to the fullest extent, however, many businesses will require help from MSPs.
So, if you haven’t yet thought about new service offerings you can develop related to 5G, now is the time. To provide guidance, let’s walk through five ways that MSPs can take advantage of 5G technology.
What is 5G?
5G is the newest networking standard for broadband devices. As the term implies, it represents the fifth generation of broadband cellular networking technology, which dates back to the 1970s.
It’s important to understand that 5G isn’t a specific tool or service. Nor is it something you can simply “turn on.” Instead, it’s a standard for defining how devices should communicate via cellular networks.
Why are Businesses Adopting 5G?
When properly implemented, 5G promises a range of benefits for businesses. The most important include:
- Faster data transmission speeds, which means devices can send data over the network more quickly.
- Lower latency, meaning smaller delays between when a device sends information and when another device receives it.
- Higher network capacity, allowing more data to be exchanged over the network at once. By extension, more devices can use the network at once without overwhelming it.
These advantages make 5G networking especially valuable for businesses that want to deploy devices across a wide area and connect them together using cellular networking technology – as they might if they are pursuing use cases such as autonomous vehicles or conducting surgical operations across wide distances. Both scenarios are examples of situations where high network reliability and transfer speeds are critical. Even just a momentary blip or a small amount of data loss could be fatal when you’re dealing with self-driving cars or operations that take place over the network.
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The 5G Opportunities for MSPs
Although 5G technology is promising, many businesses have yet to take full advantage of it. As of 2021, 5G adoption rates in most parts of the world lingered in the single digits, despite a lot of hype about the potential of 5G.
While slow 5G adoption may be disappointing to proponents of the technology, it creates an opportunity for MSPs, who can help organizations overcome the barriers that have stopped them from implementing 5G to date. Specifically, MSPs can offer services such as the following.
Network Assessment
Some businesses may be reluctant to invest in 5G technology because they’re not sure whether they really need it. They may not require the level of network performance that 5G offers.
MSPs can help companies determine whether 5G is worth it by performing network assessments for clients. By identifying the devices businesses use and the network performance that the businesses require, MSPs can make accurate ROI estimates for companies considering 5G adoption.
Further reading Network Audit Guide
Network Design
Because 5G is a new type of networking technology, it will require some organizations to redesign their network architectures. Here again, MSPs can be of service by helping customers determine which changes they should make to their networks to take full advantage of 5G.
Further reading Guide to Network Design
Mobile Device Management
Because 5G networks can accommodate more devices, 5G is likely to result in even more mobile devices within business settings. For MSPs, this creates an opportunity to double-down on Mobile Device Management (MDM) services that they offer to clients.
Migration to Mobile Computing
By making it possible to achieve very high levels of network performance across wide areas, 5G will allow some businesses to migrate more workloads to distributed or edge infrastructures. Applications or devices that previously had to run on a local network due to the performance limitations of wide area networks can more feasibly operate over long distances using 5G.
This means that more businesses may require migration services for moving workloads from conventional environments to mobile devices. MSPs who specialize in migration can help.
Data Backup for Distributed Devices
By a similar token, 5G is likely to spawn greater demand for data backup services that rely on cellular networks to move data across large distances. Whereas in the past, it may not have been practical to perform remote data backups for devices that depended on cellular connections, 5G changed this by enabling much higher rates of data transfer.
For MSPs in the managed backup and recovery service, 5G could open new opportunities for bringing network-based backup to infrastructures that could not previously support it.
Conclusion
Although the future of 5G technology is still playing out, it’s already clear that 5G has much to offer—not just to businesses that need faster, better mobile networking, but also to the MSPs who can help businesses unlock 5G’s full potential.
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