INTERVIEW Gary Marks - Opengear
“The roll-out of 5G will entail some major changes needing to be made to technological infrastructures”
Gary Marks, CEO, Opengear
5G – Addressing the Challenges
Whilst 5G is today still in its infancy in terms of live implementations but the technology has great potential,
Gary Marks, CEO at global computer network technology company Opengear, picks out two sectors that could
have huge potential to build upon the opportunities the new connectivity standard could bring
Comms Business Magazine
(CBM): 5G provides more
bandwidth and considerably
lower levels of latency than
previous cellular technologies.
Why is it you see retail and
financial services being the
two key sectors to benefit?
Gary Marks (GM): For nancial
services, we see claims that 5G
will oer providers a primary
network connectivity option
in the future. 5G could be the
basis for remote teller services
via video, direct to the customer
or new AI-based services, that
aggregate real-time behavioural
data to create personalised
nancial recommendations.
In retail, the biggest
benets will be the ability
to use technologies such as
augmented and virtual reality,
digital signage and video and
pattern recognition to oer a
more personalised customer
experience. e extra bandwidth
and lower latency that 5G
delivers will make this possible.
CBM: What other sectors
do you foresee 5G having a
greater impact?
GM: ere are very few
industries today that will not
see benets from the ongoing
emergence and roll-out
of 5G. In manufacturing,
5G will drive increased
automation and the success
of the advanced Industry 4.0
model. In healthcare, it will
make consultations by video
a more viable proposition,
as well as supporting greater
use of wearable devices
and telemetrics. Lastly, in
the automotive sector 5G
will support the ongoing
development of autonomous
driving and connected cars.
CBM: What changes do
you see being made to the
network to specifically
facilitate these opportunities
for 5G?
GM: e roll-out of 5G will
entail some major changes
needing to be made to
technological infrastructures.
5G will be a strong enabler in
the expansion of the Internet of
ings (IoT), given the speed
and versatility it will bring to
networks. As IoT grows and
expands, it is precipitating the
move of compute locations
increasingly to the edge and the
desire to process and prioritise
data closer to the collection
point.
In line with this, the advent
of 5G is forcing carriers to make
major investments in their edge
infrastructure (central oces,
cell towers) to be able to handle
the additional data trac
it will generate. Traditional
telecoms equipment cannot
cope with the data volumes, so
carriers are borrowing from IT
Gary Marks, CEO at global computer network technology company Opengear
and redesigning edge “telco”
infrastructure using the same
data centre technologies we
have already seen implemented
by internet service providers and
businesses more generally.
CBM: Edge location compute
will bring its own challenges
won’t they?
GM: Yes, users expect the same
level of uptime and response
from their network, regardless
of where that compute is
located. But the reality of edge
locations is that the type of
system redundancy and stang
that is typical at data centres
is not feasible at each location.
Reliable, always-on access
to the network devices, via a
technology known as out-ofband
(OOB) management,
can be a critical component
of that network resilience. As
levels of automation continue
to increase, enterprises will also
have to extend the reach of their
management and monitoring
tools.
CBM: So what is the outlook for
solving these challenges?
GM: Well, fortunately, we are
seeing technology emerging today
that can anticipate the current and
future network needs of 5G. e
latest smart out-of-band (OOB)
technology provides engineers at
the Network Operations Centre
(NOC) with the ability to reach
devices located at the edge. It is
then possible to ensure access
and visibility remotely during
critical failures while smart OOB
technology provides advanced
troubleshooting to remediate
issues that may arise at the
network’s edge.
5G and its deployment
in a business context brings
with it a complex blend of
opportunity and challenge. e
accelerated drive towards edge
computing associated with it
will bring challenges, especially
around network resilience and
redundancy and organisations
will need to address these and in
doing so, smart OOB technology
oers a positive route forward.
44 | Comms Business Magazine | January 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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