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What does the future of data networking look like in 2022? If the past two years are any indicators, we are entering a challenging year where supply chain issues, the impact of unforeseen variants, and a recovering global economy will set the stage.

Next year will be about continuing to build resiliency and cloud native computing to the edge. Increased demands from emerging applications from industrial IoT to virtual and augmented reality, autonomous vehicles and even the metaverse mean that we will see increasing innovative technologies with high bandwidth and low latency requirements that will impose on network buildouts. Were now a few years into the 5G era, and there is still a long road to travel before we can fully realize the benefits of 5G. Here are some predictions:

#1: Convergence of fixed and mobile for 'seamless services'

The intersections between the fixed network and 5G mobile networks will be a key component in the success of 5G deployment in 2022 and beyond. These are the interfaces between the 5G core, the wireline and wireless access networks, hybrid access nodes, and gateways.

3GPP is the 5G standardization buddy, working jointly with Broadband Forum to ensure that 5G packet core works for not only 3GPP access but also non-3GPP access such as Wi-Fi 6, fiber and so on. This means that a single 5G packet core infrastructure will be capable of sustaining all the main access technologies in the marketplace. Thus Wi-Fi 6 and 5G could be combined into a single radio network pillar for some larger venues, creating a more seamless experience, allowing Wi-Fi and mobile devices to connect to a single radio network based on 5G technology. The possibilities here are exciting.

Work towards 3GGP standardization, Release 18, will also begin in mid-2022. The fourth standard for 5G, dubbed "5G Advanced, " includes major enhancements in artificial intelligence and extended reality enabling highly intelligent network solutions to support a wider variety of use cases and more intelligence into wireless networks. These enhancements will provide the foundation for 5G manufacturing and industrial IoT applications.

#2: Cloud computing meets edge computing

We will continue to see the emergence of new applications hungry for ultra-reliable low latency communications applications from the connected car to interactive gaming, industrial robotics to the metaverse and more.

All these applications require latency below ten milliseconds. The public cloud is currently only capable of sustaining latency radically higher than ten milliseconds. The need for lower latency will ignite more enthusiasm towards Edge computing, bringing compute power closer to the devices that consume data and services. As a result, edge computing will continue to be a growing phenomenon next year, seeing more expansion to the edge.

#3: Need for more distributed cloud

The moment you combine large centralized public cloud with smaller edge data centers leads to the need for the distributed cloud. Distributed cloud is a public cloud computing service that lets you run public cloud infrastructure in multiple locations and manage everything from a single control plane.

Distributed cloud is the foundation of edge computing, viewed as creating a slice like a virtual data center that can span across multiple physical geographically distributed data centers, which allows service providers to deploy applications consistently regardless of where the physical application resides. This concept plays a key role in providing high availability services as we move forward.

#4: Migration towards 5G cloud native applications

The bulk of new applications will all be cloud native. It will be based on a DevOps environment, integrate continuous development, and be built using microservices over containers rather than traditional virtual machines or bare metal servers. 5G cloud native infrastructure is a key component and entirely necessary to reduce the overall costs of these services and applications.

#5: Rise of 5G private infrastructure

We will see growth in the deployment of private 5G networks next year in manufacturing facilities, airports, stadiums and 5G private networks at corporate headquarters. These will be deployed either over licensed or unlicensed spectrum and are fundamental for the success of 5G. More than 90% of data consumed by devices or users while indoors could be from a private 5G network; thus, it is imperative to ensure that with 5G, we get good coverage.

The 5G Core is the heart of a 5G mobile network. In 2022 momentum for standalone 5G rollouts will continue, but there is still a long road to go. A recent survey of mobile operators by Heavy Reading in October 2021 revealed that 49% of operators plan to deploy 5G SA within a year and that a further 39% plan to deploy 5G SA within one or two years.

Standalone 5G is ten times faster, supports 10,000 times more network traffic and can handle 100 times more devices than 4G networks while enabling one-fiftieth the latency with zero perceived downtime for near-real-time responsiveness. It can also support massive numbers of devices, faster and more agile creation of services and network slices, and improved SLA management support within those slices.

With specialized machine-to-machine communication protocols and many emerging applications, massive IoT is waiting for 5G infrastructure to deploy. The pandemic and the challenges to the supply chain and delays in 5G spectrum auction may have set us back 12 to 18 months, but the overall size of the opportunity has not changed. Instead, we see a shift in time. Like our best-laid plans, we must reset our expectations and continue the course. As we have seen in previous generations of mobile, our vision for the future of data networking beyond the cloud must be long-term and sustainable.

Original post:
Beyond the Cloud: Five Incoming Trends for 2022 Featured - The Fast Mode