Innovation & Tech Today – May 2019

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