5G services promise to offer emerging new services at significantly faster speeds, expanded capacity and stronger coverage to accommodate the more than 27 billion connected devices expected on service provider networks by 2021.
At Mobile World Congress this week, many technology vendors are focused on the spectrum advantages, radio equipment and architecture to support 5G services. Like all vendors exhibiting this week, Cisco is jostling to position themselves at the front of the 5G charge.
Cisco’s role in the 5G market is focused on three things:
Services: Planning for new 5G-enabled services Cisco can help deliver
Infrastructure: Mapping the right 5G infrastructure to their needs
Automation: Helping to make the mass network scaling for 5G simpler to manage, operate and secure
Cisco offers its customers a cloud-to-client approach for 5G networking, resulting from its investments and commitment to developing cloud applications and services, to help customers unify multi-vendor solutions into a single, standards-based architecture.
More than 20 global service provider and mobile operator customers worldwide are advancing their 5G action plans with Cisco including Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and many others.
“STC is working closely with Cisco as a key technology partner to drive innovation for the future of Saudi Arabia communications,” said Eng. Nasser Al Nasser, chief operations officer, STC. “We are aligned with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 for a digital society that fosters growth in Saudi Arabia’s economy. Our plans to advance our communications infrastructure with programmability and automation will support a host of new services enabled by 5G spanning education, enterprise, health, IoT, recreation and tourism.”
“4G was about buying connectivity, and 5G is about buying experiences,” said Yvette Kanouff, senior vice president, general manager, Service Provider Business, Cisco. “5G creates a new environment for service creation, giving operators what they need to deliver next-level entertainment experiences. Only Cisco has the services, infrastructure and automation portfolio to support our global customers with their 5G initiatives.”