Delivering Next-Gen Innovations Depends On 3 Key Enablers
By Kailash Narayanan, Keysight Technologies
Our future lives will consist of pervasive technology that relies on mobile connectivity, such as 5G and 6G, to deliver personalized experiences and a plethora of use cases for vertical industries. Auxiliary technologies such as AI, quantum computing and blockchain will enable us to seamlessly and securely interact with our technology dense surroundings.
A complex web of technologies will reshape businesses, industries, and our lives. A new landscape will emerge where inter-disciplinary insights will lay the foundation for a safer, more sustainable and connected world. As we enter this new era, that will bring about a new way of living for people around the world, we see three key pillars of success:
The Need To Establish Trust To Support Complex Business Models And Use Cases
The first pillar of success focuses on the idea that any exchange of products and services requires a foundation of trust. This exchange will grow more complex as business models encompass multiple technologies and stakeholders from a diverse set of industries. These highly complex business models will be set up to deliver use cases that take full advantage of the latest commercially available technologies and products. In this arena of elevated complexity, we expect to see the need for new solutions that help establish the prerequisite trust between entities such as corporations, government organizations, and consumers. These enablers of trust will form the foundation of new business models and use cases and will ensure sustainable commercial viability.
Key enablers of trust include those that deliver security, privacy and reliability. The industry is at an exciting crossroad where innovative technologies and related solutions will converge to establish the trust these complex business models and use cases need. Measurement, test and optimization solutions deliver insights as well as continuous visibility from the device to the edge of the radio access network (RAN) to the core of the network and at each connection entry point. These solutions create the kind of robustness that products, services, and business models need in use cases that rely on a combination of technologies found in 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), satellite communications and high-speed digital, as well as automotive, optics and robotics.
The Need For Freedom Of Thought To Make Innovative Leaps In Technology And Applications
The second pillar of success hinges on the understanding that a culture that promotes diversity has a greater chance of bringing unique and complementary perspectives to bear. Such a culture also encourages creative minds to roam free, leading to ground-breaking research and innovative leaps, generating new business models and new applications.
To harness such innovation within an organization, or ecosystem of discrete entities that leverage shared insights and technologies, it’s important to use common platforms and holistic solutions. When a connected ecosystem of individuals or organizations uses integrated solutions that generate end-to-end visibility, new insights are generated, creating an environment for innovative leaps to occur.
5G networks are increasingly more heterogeneous in nature, leveraging a mixture of technologies, modes of operation (non-stand-alone and stand-alone) and frequency bands ranging from sub-6GHz to mmWave. Many of these heterogenous networks rely on technology features such as dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) using 4G, non-terrestrial networks using satellite communications and non-cellular technologies, such as Wi-Fi, to cost-effectively and reliably deliver ubiquitous wireless connectivity. Common platforms and end-to-end solutions make it easier for stakeholders that develop, deploy and use such heterogeneous networks, to gain insights and visibility across a wider set of parameters and multiple interconnected systems. Stakeholders who adopt a culture that promotes freedom of thought have a greater chance of leveraging these insights to make innovative leaps that guarantee superior end user quality of service for any specific 5G application, as well as underpin new technology and applications that drive growth and improve our lives.
The Need For Transparency To Establish Successful Partnership Constellations
The third pillar of success revolves around the idea that transparency is a key component in establishing successful partnership constellations formed between corporations, government, academia, standards organizations, and consortia. Transparency in product performance, commercial agreements, and commitments creates trust between parties involved in any type of collaboration, instilling confidence and leading to increased investments.
One way to create transparency in 5G networks, devices, and services is to use test solutions that deliver highly accurate measurements, thereby guaranteeing the integrity of expected outcomes. By adopting solutions that reduce uncertainties, stakeholders, including product designers and mobile operators, can create reliable offerings that meet the expectations of its users. The types of test solutions that verify the integrity of any commitment made within the framework of collaboration or as part of a trade agreement, create a solid foundation for transparency to exist across the industry.
The Engine That Powers Innovators To Spark The Next Innovation For Humankind
These three key pillars of success – trust, transparency, and freedom of thought – help drive the next generation of mobile connectivity, 6G, which will create a framework of ubiquitous wireless intelligence that will serve humanity for decades. Our future will be powered by innovations that rely on our collective creativity to generate new technology and use cases in multiple domains that will converge at an exhilarating pace. These pillars of success lay a foundation that can power huge opportunities for consumers and the industry, as well as deliver vast improvements in global health, transportation, and logistics.
About The Author
Kailash Narayanan is Vice President and General Manager at Keysight Technologies. He is an experienced executive in the electronics test and measurement industry. He leads the wireless device business and is responsible for product and solution development, marketing, and delivery to the wireless devices ecosystem. His focus areas are 5G and IoT and his business intends to transform the way electronics measurement companies enable 5G and approach the IoT business and market needs. Kailash started his career as an engineer in 1996 in a start-up company in the San Francisco Bay Area developing sales force automation solutions. He then joined Hewlett-Packard, moving into the electronic test and measurement industry. He has been part of a wide range of businesses and technologies spanning wireline backhaul, base stations, electronic components, wireless handsets, and fiber optics. Kailash received his MS in EECS from the University of Illinois, Chicago and an MBA from Walden University.