MWC 2019: Top 6 tech trends for telco businesses to watch this year

No doubt many of you also attended the recent MWC show in Barcelona – generally regarded as the world’s biggest annual event for the communications industry. 5G was the big story of the week, along with all the technologies that will underpin it. Based on my previous experience and observations from the show, I’d like to share my top six key technology trends that will be important for Communication Service Providers (CoSPs) to look out for in 2019. 

1. Edge computing

Edge computing will be essential for the future of 5G. Handling compute at local base stations or central offices, closer to the end user, will reduce network congestion and lower latency, allowing for new use cases, such as smart cameras for surveillance in smart cities. New hardware, software and orchestration architecture for the edge will be required, which is where the Intel® Rack Scale Design (RSD) concept comes in. This software-defined infrastructure will help to deliver more dynamic services in a 5G environment. Edge computing will rely heavily on virtualisation, which brings us onto the next key trend.

2. vRAN

Virtualized Radio Access Networks, or vRAN, will also be vital to the future of 5G. Transforming hardware-based base stations to something more flexible will enable CoSPs to take a more dynamic approach to RAN. This will allow them to streamline the network by making adjustments based on traffic.

3. FGPAs

Another key technology to watch is FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays). Nobody was talking about these just a few years ago, but now this is a huge talking point and one that I get a lot of questions about. FPGAs are essential for the future of 5G networks because of their versatility. The re-programmable chips can be adapted to meet new standards or changes in the network, helping to accelerate performance. Whether they’re used for vRAN, AI or NFV components, FPGAs will be an indispensable technology in the near future.

4. Cloud gaming

Cloud gaming is another area that is gaining momentum, whether that’s using 5G to reduce latency at the edge for VR gaming, or simply using a traditional fixed fibre network. Online gaming is gradually moving to a streaming model, just as music, TV, and film have done. While services like Spotify and Netflix use telecom networks to deliver their services, the networks don’t directly make money from this content. But in cloud gaming, companies like PlayGiga use standard off-the-shelf components, including Intel GPUs present in our Intel® Xeon® E3 family of products that enables operators to deliver OTT-like services to customers. What’s more, the market for streaming gaming will get a huge boost from the arrival of 5G.

5. Cognitive computing

And, with CoSPs constantly working to improve the way they interact with their customers, cognitive computing will also be a key trend. Things like facial recognition, accelerated by our Movidius chip, and Natural Language Processing (NLP) running on all Intel X86 CPUs and FPGAs will evolve quickly in the coming months. All these technologies are key to Know Your Customer (KYC) and also to help provide a better service to consumers. Artificial Intelligence (AI) will increasingly be used by CoSPs to optimise networks and reduce costs.

6. Blockchain

Blockchain is another technology that is set to have a significant impact in the coming months. The technology has lots of potential for CoSPs, including data management, improving process efficiency and the enabling of 5G, along with secure device communications. And at Intel, with our Software Guard Extensions (Intel® SGX) technology, we’re providing a more secure Blockchain platform to run these new workloads.

While full 5G deployments won’t arrive until 2020, telco businesses should be considering all of these technologies right now if they want to avoid being left behind.