"5G is not just another G. It is not '4G plus one.' It's the foundation for the new real-time economy," said Alexander Brock, senior vice president of technology strategy, innovation, and partnerships, at Rogers Communications, and he is right as 5G came to transform businesses worldwide.

The fifth generation of wireless technology will help businesses build their wireless networks into core operations, transcending communications. Wireless is becoming the linchpin for handling supply chain management, enabling emerging technologies that will automate or significantly speed processes with applications such as wearable technology, secure and instant data transfer, and much more. Businesses of all types can reap the benefits of 5G, so let us explore its full potentials.

5G Benefits

Conducting business in a fast-paced world means that the transition to a digital world where everything is "smart" is inevitable. Service providers are taking the technology and its applications seriously, connecting their devices, machines, and systems to 5G to accelerate that process. Businesses' demand for low latency and fast speeds from the new wireless generation increases as they start to discover their benefits.

Additionally, 5G can improve communication between people enabling them to interact with the growing ecosystem of connected machines around them. It is a catalyst for significant long-term changes in the way people communicate and do business. It is also worth mentioning that 5G wireless enhances and improves workflows by efficiently managing and collecting data from various connected devices.

5G & Data Centers

For decades, data centers have been considered the nexus of the network. They were, and they are the heart and muscle of IT for enterprises, telco carriers, cable operators, and service providers. The emergence of the cloud also depicts the central importance of a modern, cutting-edge technology data center.

5G support is crucial in a data center level and creates the need for new investments in this sector. What does that mean? Let's put it simply, data centers deliver low-cost, high-volume compute and storage, becoming a part of a larger distributed ecosystem. But with 5G, data centers will provide even faster and more reliable interconnection solutions. And businesses can reap more benefits when there are more than one Internet Exchanges within the premises of their data center partners. In the neutral world-class data center of Lamda Hellix in Athens, there are points of presence of both Internet Exchanges available in the country, GR-IX and SEECIX powered by DE-CIX. SEECIX was launched by Lamda Hellix in cooperation with DE-CIX and is the new Interconnection Hub acting as a gateway between South East Europe, Africa, and Asia, providing access to hundreds of networks and numerous interconnection services, including private, secured access to cloud providers.

It all boils down to the fact that the adoption of 5G will be enterprise led and that brings with it a change to the way data centers operate. What we expect to see? In a nutshell the following:

- Enhanced mobility and speed

- Bigger number of permissible connections

- Even less latency

- Greater capacity and flexibility

- Enhanced reliability and security

5G in Greece

Greek companies’ leaders across industries recognize the strategic importance of 5G in the country. And as the survey of Ernst & Young Greece - conducted on behalf of Digital Governance Ministry – revealed that 5G technology in Greece can lead to investments of 1.2-1.5 billion euros on infrastructure networks and 2.7-5.0 billion euros in investments in the development of applications for specific sectors based on 5G, until 2030. All these predictions make it clear that the business sector is entering a new area in Greece. So, the development of 5G networks will reshape the way we live and work, leading to new business models resulting from advanced digital technologies (AI, IoT, Mobile Edge Computing, drones & robotics). We have to be ready for new innovative sector solutions in the Greek economy. Digital civil services, digital health services, smart cities, and smart mobility are closer than ever.

It’s the time for businesses to embrace the digital transformation so that they can remain modern and able to compete in the fast changing technology world where interconnection will be the cornerstone of growth and data centers will be the pillars of digital economy.

Do you think your business is ready to transform? Trust the experts and contact us to learn how!