Is 5G the future of enterprise networking?

As the rollout of 5G moves forward and enterprises start to rollout private 5G networks for production systems, does it make sense to use 5G as the main wireless networking enterprise communication?

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were slowly moving towards a work from anywhere world. This was mainly driven by business travel, temporary workspaces and gig economy workers. In the post COVID-19 world, there is strong market information that we will see a hybrid work environment become mainstream, see article written by David Roe. This means that large number of employees will continue to work outside the office. Solutions will be needed for seamless and secure connectivity.

WiFi has some major shortcomings especially in work from home situation. These include security, speed, reliability and range. While major improvements will made when moving to WiFi 6, getting those improvements across the enterprise and home and other venues will take many years. In contrast, 5G rollouts are moving very quickly and enterprises are making investments in private 5G for production systems already. Driving 5G as the main wireless networking communications for PC’s, tablets and other enterprise devices solves many of these concerns especially security, reliability and range. It will also allow users to have the same communication technology at home, on the road or in the office. It appears that the market is moving in that direction as Polaris research recently valued the 5G market in 2020 at $1.32B with a CAGR of 57.2% through 2027. Open Signal also recently identified that 5G is faster than WiFi in seven countries already. 

Where do you think the future of wireless networking for IT systems is going?

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