5G refers to a wide range of technologies and standards that fundamentally involve the ability to transmit higher volumes of data through radio frequency waves. Some of these technologies run at the ‘telco edge’, often referred to as Multi-Access or Mobile Edge Computing (MEC). As a result, 5G will likely drive the continued explosion in applications and systems that both generate and process ever-increasing volumes of data.
But 5G will not eliminate the need to process data at the far edge, closest to the machines, systems, and sensors that generate it. This is due to factors like cost, speed of data transfer (latency), data security, privacy, or trying to operate in challenging environments where reliably connecting to even the telco edge is not always easy or even possible.
Ultimately, computing at the far edge (with a platform like Pratexo) and 5G technologies must be integrated to ensure complete edge-to-cloud solutions that are reliable, secure, and highly performant.