Author
Ruckus Networks
Categories
Technology
The Ruckus Room recently caught up with Ruckus CTO Mehmet Yavuz and Ruckus VP Greg Beach on the sidelines of a very busy MWC 2019 to discuss 5G and the IoT.
As Yavuz tells The Ruckus Room, 5G is an extremely hot topic at the conference in Barcelona. While enhanced mobile broadband is certainly something to look forward to, says Yavuz, the deployment of 5G also brings its own set of very real challenges, particularly since 80% of mobile data is consumed indoors.
“The traditional cellular deployment model has big macros outside with outdoor antennas. This is a really good model for wide-area outdoor coverage. However, 5G uses the spectrum band – at the higher end of the spectrum at 3.5 gigahertz or even higher,” he explains.
“[This makes it] difficult for the signal to penetrate indoors. So, you really need an indoor solution [such as CBRS private LTE] to help solve these indoor data demands. The indoor solution also needs to be scalable, low-cost and easy to deploy.”
Another important aspect of 5G, says Yavuz, is its expected ability to support mission-critical applications.
“You hear about ultra-reliable low latency or millisecond latency and these are targeted at high-end applications,” he elaborates. “It may be a venue [with a need to support] AR/VR, or it may be a factory [supporting] automation. [These applications] all require edge compute capabilities because you don't have the luxury of using traditional mobile core networks. ”
Yavuz also touched on the IoT, noting that there are a plethora of available technologies on the market today.
“We bring all these [disparate] technologies together under one umbrella with our Ruckus IoT suite,” he says. “For the IT department or the operational department, this means there is only one network to manage. For us, what is really important is simplicity, performance and the complete solution.”
Overall, notes Yavuz, the picture for 2019 and beyond looks quite exciting.
“We have all these great technologies coming together with our partners. We're bringing all these great applications for many of these use cases that require this connectivity fabric,” he adds. “It may be 4G, 5G, Wi-Fi, IoT, Bluetooth®Low Energy or ZigBee. We bring all these things together for our customers in the best way.”
Ruckus VP Greg Beach expressed similar sentiments about 5G and the IoT.
“If you're listening to the mobile industry, you’d think 5G is the only game in town. [However], the reality is that there are a lot of technologies and radio protocols for different use cases,” he tells the Ruckus Room.
“Wi-Fi is the predominant technology for enterprise use cases. [Yes], there are IoT technologies such as Bluetooth® Low Energy and ZigBee that are good [at] what they do. Then, of course, there is 5G, so down the road, there'll be many different technologies and many paths, not just 5G, but the 5G era.”
To highlight his point about various technologies in the era of 5G, Beach explains that he monitors his son’s blood sugar level with an app because he has Type 1 diabetes.
“Now I'm on a different continent than him. He's sleeping right now and [yet I can still see that] his blood sugar is 172. This is possible through the IoT and the convergence of what was once a different device that has become an app within the iPhone,” says Beach. “Well, that same type of convergence is happening in the enterprise space with IoT. Ruckus is converging ZigBee and Bluetooth®Low Energy protocols, sensors, Wi-Fi and other possible PHY interfaces– into a single wireless access point (AP) on one network. That's going to change the world in terms of use cases that can run over the network – just the way this [diabetes monitoring app] is changing my life.”
