SAP executives discuss the data demands operators will face in bringing 5G to market
Enhanced mobile broadband will allow mobile users to more quickly consume more data, while massive support for the internet of things and ultra reliable low latency communications will similarly push a massive surge in the amount of cellular data consumed. As 5G is deployed and matures to support these three primary use cases, how can operators adequately scale and automate data handling and governance in a way that creates value for them and their customers?
Frank Wilde, senior director of SAP’s Platform and Data Management Center of Excellence, discussed these issues in an interview with RCR Wireless News. “With 5G on the cusp, the data demands are going to be enormous. Data management and data governance is very much going to be a centerpiece and a strategic pillar of how a Verizon, an AT&T or a T-Mobile go to market.”
He said 5G-related technologies like network slicing and reduced latency will foster new business models and new ways for operators to monetize data. “We’re in a position to help the carriers and help telcos think about being much more nimble and much more flexible in terms of coming up with new business models.”
Looking out over the next five to eight years, Wilde said, “You’re going to see an increased pull through of new services and even the interaction paradigm changing. The end user, whether this is a consumer or a staff employee..is going to be able to define and leverage those data pools to create their own services. I could see carriers coming up with similar-type strategies where I enable a very light touch access to data. 5G gives you the bandwidth and the data to pull from whether it’s a third party app developer or someone within the carrier.”
Wilde’s colleague Carl Kehres, director of digital transformation, said the software giant regularly works collaboratively with telecom service providers and enterprise/industrial end users to understand all the stakeholders needs; he called out smart manufacturing and in-vehicle connectivity as areas of interest.
“We’re not just facilitating a dialogue,” he said. “We’re also learning and adapting our direction as we learn. If you’re running a process in the cloud but maybe it’s possible to run it more local out in the neck and/or on-premise, maybe there’s a need to have a microservice that operates independently closer to the machine. That’s an architectural decision that we’re looking at as we have these conversations. That’s one of the interesting things we’ll look at over the next three years.”
