We're On The Cusp Of 5G, And Various Companies Are Working To Get The World To Adopt It

At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, 5G was clearly being given pride of place by smartphone manufacturers. But in order for these devices to be of any use, we need the infrastructure first. And that's where other major tech players come in.

Companies like Intel, Qualcomm, Ericsson and others have been working behind the scenes to develop 5G related technology, whether it's ways to deploy the new network standard or new ways to apply it.

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Intel, for one, has been working on something it calls 'Snow Ridge'. This is a 5G wireless base station using the company's 10nm system-on-chip (SoC) technology that enables edge computing. Basically, it's a device that can bring computing capability to data generation points like IoT devices, by allowing them 5G connectivity to reach cloud computing servers..

"As the cloud fuels the network to transform and computing at the edge drives innovation, the opportunity for 5G becomes limitless," says Sandra Rivera, Intel's VP of Network Platforms. "Intel is delivering new products and innovation to propel the adoption of 5G and empower our customers and partners to grow their businesses."

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The company has also been working on a new cloud architecture in the Xeon Cascade Lake processor line, allowing telecom providers to optimize their data centers, and core and edge environments to meet growing needs for data gathering, storage, and computing.

Lastly, Intel has also been developing 5G modems, in order to push the technology towards the masses. In collaboration with Skyworks, they've optimised the 5G radio frequency solutions for their XMM 8160 5G modem. These also have backward support for 2G and 3G, and can be used in IoT devices, smartphones, wearables, and even smart cars.

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Ericsson, for its part, has been working on 5G development with Intel, to incorporate it into their network infrastructure. Now, it says that any service provider with their Radio System can upgrade to 5G with a simple remote software installation. They've even done a lot of tests for 5G so far, including in 2018 livestreaming the US Open in 4K.

Qualcomm has also been working on new chips capable of supporting the 5G nanometer wave standard. For one thing, their latest Snapdragon 855 processor has the X50 modem, which supports 5G capability. This is going to be in almost every 5G smartphone this year, and is already in the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, the LG V50 ThinQ, and the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G, among others.

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Based on tests by various companies, 5G allows you 10x faster download speeds and latency reduced by 20x. Additionally, 5G will significantly boost video streaming, allowing us to (when the content is available) stream even 4K and videos. Basically, everything from your browsing, to your Netflix, to your smart devices are going to get faster