Andrea Caldini is vice president of product engineering and development, global network and technology, at Verizon, and has been instrumental in the company’s pursuit of private networks such as its deployments with KPMG in support of healthcare and life sciences, with the Port of Virginia, for smart industry, for the National Football League for field-side communications and for back of house operations at the Miami Grand Prix event. RCR Wireless News spoke with Caldini on her observations on trends in private networks, where Verizon is seeing demand and for which capabilities, and more.
This interview has been edited for clarity and condensed.
Verizon has been steadily announcing private network deployments, from the National Football League to a healthcare and science-focused deployment with KPMG. What do you see as the big-picture trends in private network deployments?
Overall, what we’re seeing as we look at private networks, is that we’re starting with big ideas of “what do you want to do” but in the beginning, starting small. So you have an idea of the outcomes you want to have, and you start with a first use case.
If we look at ports, for them, the first use case was really this coverage that they needed because they were trying to support a port with Wi-Fi, which just does not work. They started off with: We need coverage, wireless makes sense to us, but we want it to be private, because we want just our devices on it and we don’t want those devices to be able to go outside of the port and be used. … So that’s where they start, but what are the other things that they can do? So now they’re looking at autonomous vehicles.
In the venue area, they are looking at point-of-sale and and back-of-the-house and being able to have that coverage for what they need. Autonomous stores are huge. But it’s multiple use cases, using the same network.
When we look hospitals, the use cases are quite different. It’s security, it’s around patients, but also learning—and there are some challenges that we have to work with as far as what’s allowed by the laws that govern healthcare. Training is really where you see the XR use cases, where they need super high bandwidth and low latency, because you don’t want to feel nauseous when you’ve got [XR goggles on], and using our MEC with the content stored locally, so you’re not carrying a backpack around. Training is a really big area if you think about learning and schools, or if you’re just trying to train on big expensive equipment; we see it in the military as well. In manufacturing, they are using a lot of computer vision, so you can see what’s happening on the line and be able to react quickly so that you’re not shutting down anything. These are areas where wireless is so much easier than trying to wire something in, and the speed and the latency that you have in millimeter-wave really makes a difference.
What do you see in terms of demand for 4G versus 5G at this point in private networks?
We started off with LTE, because that’s what we had and that’s what was available. As we’ve moved more toward 5G, we have an environment that’s both—so 4G and 5G. And the differentiator that Verizon really has is our spectrum. We have this massive spectrum holding, so we don’t have to do everything on CBRS—although a lot of deployments are on CBRS and they’re in a 4G mode. CBRS is great, but it’s not guaranteed; so if you’re going to build and spend this kind of money, you really want to make sure that you have spectrum where you know what you’re going to get every day. Devices are somethings that we’re working on, and we’re starting to see the ecosystem come toward on the 5G side—the devices have come so much faster in 5G than we’ve seen in any other generational transition. So it’s really around the use case, and what that use case needs. Those low-latency, high speeds, you’re going have to have something in 5G. If it’s a sensor or a smaller IoT type of solution, that definitely works on a 4G network. It really does depend, but we are seeing the shift moving toward 5G.
Let’s talk some more about spectrum arrangements in private networks. When I see a private network announcement from Verizon, should I assume there is a spectrum lease?
It’s a mix. In some cases, it is CBRS—and it depends, again, on the use case. But with a lot of deployments, it’s really [considering] what’s next? We have done a number of deployments that are on Verizon’s spectrum, where there are the devices that only work in the private network; but then they might want to have devices that for all their users to be able to use the [macro] network as well. Devices can be anchored to the macro network but they’re using the radios from the private network. So we have a mix of both.
You mentioned coverage as a private network use case, in the case of ports for example. What features or capabilities are being sought in private networks and do you see demand for the full capabilities of 5G?
It’s a mix. The first part of the use case at ports was to be able to cover this large space. But as we look at some of the other ones, it really is to be able to provide this experience that you cannot do over Wi-Fi. The low latency is super important if you think about factories—if something doesn’t happen fast enough, then you’re causing a problem. So there is the latency aspect of it as well as the throughput. If you’re doing computer vision, you need to have cameras, you need to have a certain amount of throughput. And you don’t want to compete against the Wi-Fi that is there, that has all these other users on it. We are absolutely seeing the need for high speeds and low latency. As you look at use cases for private networks, mobility is key, and then low latency and high speeds, and other things that you can get with a millimeter-wave network or C-Band.
Look for Part 2 of this Q&A with Caldini, coming tomorrow.
