Businesses are intrigued by the convergence of 5G wireless networking and edge computing to fuel their enterprise applications. And while the market for such capabilities remains nascent, IT leaders should prepare for the arrival of these technologies, which are maturing rapidly thanks to telco operators and cloud software makers, experts say.

5G comprises next-generation wireless internet standards and technologies capable of running up to 20 times faster with 120 times less latency than 4G. Edge computing, which often connects to but is not a replacement for cloud computing, also reduces lag time by processing compute and storage on or close to endpoints deployed outside the data center, shortening the roundtrip that data needs to travel to help apps respond more rapidly to queries.

Together, 5G and edge could fuel a greater number of wireless devices in an internet of things (IoT) network and provide considerable processing horsepower for applications requiring real-time access to data, such as analytics, machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), self-driving cars and robotics, according to Deloitte, which projects the market for edge products will top $12 billion in 2021

Verizon

The COVID-19 pandemic is also spurring rapid development of 5G and multi-access edge computing (MEC) deployments as businesses look to differentiate in speed of service and low latency, says Thierry Sender, director of IoT and real-time enterprise product strategy at Verizon, who credits SaaS providers with “recognizing where the puck is going” by ensuring tight integration of network and compute to support next-generation apps.