ASET Technology Alberta Summer 2019 - 8

MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

This issue, I wanted to share an article regarding new technologies
and how they are shaping today's communication. This highlights how
organizations like ASET need to remain at the forefront amidst the
technology boom, and adopt best practices in our everyday lives.

Barry Cavanaugh
5G Saves the World
New technology emerges as an answer
to present-day communication headaches
By BF Nagy

Paul had agreed to meet his girlfriend at a restaurant they
liked, but it was a long drive, and he decided to free solo El
Capitan on the way. He wasn't really a mountain climber and
fell to his death within five minutes, then switched to hang
gliding, from a tall hotel in Dubai called Burj Khalifa. "Hang
gliding I've actually done in real life," he said to himself.
"Possibly." After that he went back to the Bali hot springs
massage again, but it was a mistake. No matter how much
he upgraded, sensual human interaction just didn't work in
the car. As usual, the VR system had been overhyped.
If you've tried virtual reality, Paul's story might seem familiar.
You're not yet really able to get any experience you want, anywhere you want, at any quality level you want. People in Hollywood movies or VR ads seem completely satisfied, but its a
selling job, a fake. Still every once in a while technology catches
up and actually delivers on its overhyped promises, right?
5G wireless internet has been sold as the answer to all our
problems. It has been variously described as making self
driving vehicles completely safe, filling companies with
friendly, efficient robots, making computerized eyeglasses
work without a phone in your pocket, making you more
beautiful, or successful, or persuading your in-laws to like
you. Okay, maybe not the last three.

The 5G legend
2G added voicemail and texting to basic modern mobile
phones. 3G gave us global mobile access to the internet and
email. 4G made video streaming possible. Now 5G is coming
soon to an affluent neighbourhood near you, and it's hard to
sort the likely viable, killer apps from the hyperbole.

8 | SUMMER 2019 | TECHNOLOGY ALBERTA

"Its main strengths will be speed, greater capacity and reduced latency," says Steve Koernig, senior director of market research.
"It will operate across three different frequency bands,
including 'millimetre wave' and will require substantially
more infrastructure. More computing will be done at 'the
edge' or device level, returning us to a distributed computing environment."
"Every application on a mobile device will have real time
access to almost limitless storage and processing power,"
says Justin Blanchard of ServerMania Inc. in Entrepreneur
Magazine.
"Some data will be crunched at the fog level and the cloud
will be for intense processing," says Koernig. In other words,
all our instantaneous quantum capability dreams could potentially come true.
Internet connectivity will soon be largely wireless and because 90 per cent of people will own one, 5G may appear to
be all about mobile devices and a tsunami of video streaming
all around us, virtual reality, and wearable innovations.

Non-consumer applications
But experts think 5G could also have a significant impact on
the proliferation of machine to-machine communications,
robotics, delivery, smart buildings and cities, energy management, health services and personal transportation.
Many of these areas are already advancing with help from
4G, but 5G may help overcome present-day obstacles, such
as the management of massive amounts of data and the
business cases for systems that could include sensors to
measure, well, everything. Koernig writes that 5G enabled
robotics and artificial intelligence are key parts of the 'fourth
industrial revolution,' which could be as transformational as
water, electricity and computers each were in their time.

ASET Technology Alberta Summer 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASET Technology Alberta Summer 2019