78 INNOVATION & TECH TODAY|SUMMER 2019
connected life
reallydirectlybenefitsthecitizen.Infrastructure
for5Gissomethingthatismassive.Itisa big
tasktobeabletoensurethattheU.S.staysinthe
leadin5G.Verizonisthefirstin5Gandwe
wanttokeepthatmomentummoving.That
requiresustoreallyhavedeeprelationshipswith
ourcityleaderssothatwenotonlyputinthat
infrastructurefortheconnectivity,butwecan
seethatbenefitgoingstraighttothecitizen.
EdwinHorton,ChiefScientist,Fybr
We’regoingthroughcitiesthesedayslooking
atreplacingstreetlightswithLEDlights,and
thewholeinfrastructureofthecitychanges.
Ultimately,these5Gmicrocellswillbesmall
enough,butthey’renothereyet.Youknow,
that’sjustanotheroneofthoseroadblocks.Of
course,satellitestakeawaythatpartofit.But,
boy,isit expensive.I justcan’timagine.I mean,
ElonMuskwithSpaceX.TheyownStarlink.I
thinkthey’vegottheapprovalsofarfor12,000
satellites.I can’tevenimaginewhatthatcosts.
Youknow,there’sa lothappening,andit’sall
wonderfultechnology,noquestionaboutit. But
youknowthere’salwaysthebalancefor
companieslikeus,thatyousortofwanttouse
thelatestavailabletechnologythatyoucan
afford,butalso that it suits your needs.
Security
LaniIngram,Vice President, Smart Cities
at Verizon
Howdowealsodealwiththeriskofgoing
intosomethingnew?We’vegottobeableto
thinkaboutprivacyconcerns,datasecurity.
There’sa lotofreallyimportantthingsthathave
tobefocusedoninordertobeabletoreallyroll
someofthesesolutionsoutatscale.Theseare
someofthechallengesthatweworkonwith
otherindustryleaders,aswellaswithcity
leaders,allthetimesothatwecouldactuallyget
theseindustriesmovingand scaled the way that
weknowtheycanbe.
EdwinHorton,ChiefScientist,Fybr
Securityisa bigpartofsmartcitydeployment.
Let’ssaythatyouhave100,000streetlights,you
don’twantsomehackerturningthemonandoff
attheirwhim.Obviously,youhavetohavea
separatecontrolsothecopscandoit.Butwe
keepcomingbacktosecurityandreliability.I
thinkthatif youdon’thavethatinthemarketing
deployment,you’re out of luck. You might as
wellhangit up.
Futureof 5 G
BobGlatz,ChiefExecutiveOfficer,Fybr
I honestlydon’tthinkinthenextfiveyears
5Gisgoingtomakea wholelotofdifferenceto
us.Ifwe’reina particularareaandwehavea
problemwithonecellcarrier,wecanswitchto
anothercellcarrier. So we can always optimize
thatway.
The speed at which we get data back, it does
matterin[somethinglike]parking.Butour
abilitytogetananswerbacktosomebodyona
parkingeventis onlya fewseconds.WhenI just
pulledintothelota fewminutesago,beforemy
carwassettled,it hadchanged.So,it’sreally,really
fast.If you’regoingtothinkabouteverythingelse
wedo,if you’regoingtopullgasleakinformation,
whetheryougetthatinformationinonesecond
oryougetinthreeanda halfseconds, it really
doesn’tmatterthatmuch.
LaniIngram,Vice President, Smart Cities
atVerizon
5Ghassucha strongroleinsmartcities
becausethere’ssomuchofthesensoring
capabilitiesthatisgoingtobeleveragedinour
day-to-daylivestoimprovethingslikesafetyof
ourcommunities,ourmobilityaspects,aswell
asotherthingsaroundsustainability and
environmentalactivities.
There’sjusta lotofengagementbetweenour
environmentandthetechnologythatreally
needssomeofthatextrapushwiththe
connectivity.5Ggivesusa tremendousamount
oflatencyandbandwidththatisneededtobe
abletoespeciallyworkonsomeofthose
solutionsthatrequirea lotofdatatobe
processedincrediblyfast.Sowethinkabout
thingslikeautonomousvehiclesorothervideo
basedsolutions.5Gsolutionsarereally
importanttobeableto move those capabilities
to the forefront.■
“Let’ssaythatyou
have100,000
streetlights,you
don’twantsome
hackerturning
themonandoff
attheirwhim.”
Edwin Horton,Fybr
Photo: iStockphoto.com/MF3d
Getting Some Perspective on 5G