- 5G has the potential to become a major booster to businesses.
- But finding the right infrastructure provider to support your organization can be tricky.
- 5G experts recommended first looking at the longevity and reliability of a provider’s offerings.
- This article is part of “5G Playbook,” a series exploring one of our time’s most important tech innovations.
With many potential benefits for organizations, including lower latency levels and faster speeds, many organizations are starting to consider adopting 5G, the latest mobile-broadband technology.
Proportionally, several service providers have set up to meet that demand, offering a panoply of 5G opportunities that all tout themselves as world-changing. But how can you separate the wheat from the chaff and pick the right infrastructure provider for you?
Some 5G experts Insider spoke with said that there are a few things to consider.
“As the telecom industry accelerates towards network softwarization and cloud-native trends, it is important to select the vendor whose products not only meet the security requirements defined by the 3GPP,” the industry standards body, “but also comply with modern and up-to-date industry standards, such as the NIST Secure Software Development Framework 800-218,” Fabio Giust, a security product manager at Athonet, a private mobile-networking company, said.
NIST SSDF continuously updates to address the risks associated with software vulnerabilities, operating systems, and web servers, which is what makes it the best fit for the software transformation of the telecoms industry, Giust said.
Choosing a dependable and knowledgeable provider is key
Beyond cybersecurity basics, there are other considerations to bear in mind.
“First and foremost, when selecting your 5G infrastructure provider, evaluate the longevity and reliability of their solutions,” Vance Tran, a cofounder of the tech-advisory website Pointer Clicker, said. “Having worked with various tech systems, I can’t stress enough the importance of a dependable infrastructure.”
Other factors will depend on the size of your business. “For enterprise-centric private 5G deployments, it is essential to choose a provider that has considered the nuances of the enterprise world,” Parm Sandhu, the vice president of enterprise 5G products and services at NTT Ltd, said.
“For example, enterprise CIOs want to leverage existing security processes and associated tools that are already in place and employees already use,” Sandhu said. “That means the private 5G must be an extension of the existing LAN.” Some business leaders may think there’s a potential to shortcut that issue by downscaling a public carrier’s service to your business needs, but Sandhu advised against that because public carriers don’t build their services with one specific enterprise in mind.
“5G technology can be complex and have many moving parts,” Sandhu said. “A truly enterprise-centric vendor will remove the complexity for the customer and make the experience as seamless and familiar, or as much like their existing WiFi network with the added benefits of private 5G, as possible.”
Getting a tailored provider that can ensure it meets your specific business needs is something Alan Jones, the marketing manager at D-Link UK and Ireland, also advised.
“Before delving into the selection process, it’s vital to comprehend your specific requirements,” he told Insider. “This includes assessing the current infrastructure, pinpointing gaps, and setting clear objectives for the 5G transition. Not all 5G providers are made equal. Carry out thorough research, read reviews, and shortlist those that align with your needs.”
The experts said that only when you’ve found a company that fits the bill in all those ways should you commit your budget to it. It could make the difference between being able to capitalize on 5G’s potential and struggling to succeed in harnessing its opportunities.
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