Joe McKendrick

5G and edge computing used together are already delivering business capabilities in use cases across a broad range of industries.

The AI Infrastructure Alliance is developing a canonical stack for artificial intelligence and machine learning, bringing together a number of vendors, communities, and other organizations.

The two leading areas of edge investment are in infrastructure operations and digital services. 5G networks underpin these promising developments.

Manufacturers recognize that their supply chains, which market volatility tested hard in 2020 and the first half of 2021, must be improved.

The 5G-enabled factory will have the capacity to maintain connections for far more sensors than either wired or previous wireless facilities.

Digital twins are already in use across a number of sectors, including construction, energy, healthcare, automotive, and aerospace.

Manufacturers will turn to smart factories and offices, allowing critical functions to be monitored remotely or, at a minimum, by fewer people.

Computing architectures need to mix and match data, workloads, and their environments along the center-to-edge spectrum.

Automation may allow manufacturers to enable remote work and lights-out factories, saving the highest value tasks for onsite production employees.

Industry 4.0 requires collaborating across value chains and supply chains, as well as with manufacturers and operational technology companies.

5G networks deliver the versatility and flexibility to support millions of IoT devices and sensors in a way that 4G or LTE couldn’t.

The Open Grid Alliance, a new industry initiative, seeks to bring the resources of grid to bear on edge computing networks.