In its short history, private networks have been a force multiplier in the digital transformation of the enterprise with remarkable growth in applications like robotics and video applications. The journey does not stop there, and the emerging future promises accelerated innovation and growth.
Converged networks, network-as-a-service, network slicing, policy management for unified networks, time-sensitive networking, and sub-networks for individual classes of applications such as IoT are among the buzzwords describing the expected advances in the near future. The first phase of private networking, typically with 4G, lays the groundwork for greater recourse to innovation with software in a 5G scaffolding.
The first half of 2022 has seen a lot of changes in the Private 5G Networks market, from collaborations to acquisitions to new technologies and fascinating use cases. The report on State of the Private 5G Networks H1 2022 gives detailed insights.
Focus on business goals
The accent of future private network deployments will be on the commercial and business goals of the enterprise. Much lower latencies below 5 milliseconds, higher reliability, and throughputs above one terabyte will set the stage for advanced applications such as emergency management with mission-critical push-to-talk phone devices, big data analytics, IoT, and Mobile Edge Computing.
The initial phase of private network adoption was by relatively skilled companies in manufacturing and large venues or those who could collaborate with experts in system integration or neutral hosts. For expanded adoption, network-as-a-service is an on-demand method that will relieve users of the burden of coping with technological complexity. Retail stores, industry, and educational institutions are expected to embrace this model.
Importance of hybrid networks
Hybrid connectivity will become common with edge computing as networks are disaggregated and components deployed based on performance requirements. For example, the user-plane-function could be deployed on-premises in a private network, while other functions, such as storage, could be off-premises in a private or public cloud. As networks perform functions end-to-end, for applications such as supply chain management, public clouds working with managed service providers will gain currency.
The overlapping of networks will extend to enterprise LANs, especially for applications such as the Internet of Things. They will feed the data into larger private networks with solutions such as analytics. To make such networks work, additional skills such as security management across all types of networks will be needed.
Policy management
The mix of technologies in the larger private network grows as related technologies advance in capabilities. For indoor IoT networks, Wi-Fi6 and 5G private networks are close substitutes. On the other hand, 5G private networks have a longer reach and are better options for logistics and port applications.
The interweaving of networks throws up issues of their optimal utilization. Traffic can be rerouted in the event of congestion. Furthermore, for applications like analytics, some data parsing can happen in real-time on-premises, while other data flows will benefit from aggregation from multiple sources and their analysis for evaluation of longer-term issues such as capacity planning.
Conclusions
Enterprise users of private networks overwhelmed by the technological complexity of private networks now need to make choices from a wider variety of options. The next generation of hybrid private networks expands the array of solutions that will be possible. They will also contribute simplicity to consuming network slices. However, they will present a complex environment for business decision-making for selecting the paths to success.
