5G is the next generation of mobile broadband service, and it will bring an exponential leap in capability, much more than in previous generations. Ultra-reliable and extreme real-time communications will help to support the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) down to wearable devices and a massive distribution of sensor networks that will impact the efficiency of our everyday lives.

Currently, the first 5G services are available to about 12% of the mobile broadband users in the US. Within 3 years, 5G coverage availability is expected to be at 25% or greater. 100% coverage availability is expected within four to five years.

The success of 5G will require caching and storing massive amounts of data to support applications and other functions that run on these devices. The advent of smart homes, smart industry and smart cities will require moving a large portion of the computing power down from the cloud to the device level, or closer to the device level.

Edge computing and near-edge computing will be the architecture that is required to support the new mobile broadband ecosystem. Street-level IoT devices and connections, along with micro data centers will fuel the throughput and capacity that is required to enable the middle layer low latency fiber and wireless connections between the core systems that remain in the centralized cloud, and the edge level computing being performed via devices within industry, homes and cities.

5G and Edge computing infrastructure will bring with it many advancements, but also many challenges. Protection of user data and privacy will be paramount. The end user and business consumers will demand increasing capability, capacity, storage and uncompromised security.

While 5G and Edge computing may not dramatically affect your day-to-day consumer functions and business operations today, it most certainly will within a few years to come.

Businesses should be prepared to assess their existing critical functions, data flows, dependencies, and technologies with a view towards the ever-evolving use cases for how users and consumers will interface with your organization, and how your internal BC/DR plans will need to be proactively managed and transformed to meet the needs of the new 5G/Edge computing universe.

Is your Business Impact Analysis (BIA) up-to-date? Does your latest threat assessment include technology and data security hazards? Is your data center and cloud services infrastructure and Disaster Recovery Plan ready to handle the challenges of 5G and Edge computing?

For more information about how to better prepare your organization with effective BC/DR Planning tools, or to schedule a tabletop exercise with our Certified Business Continuity Professionals, please contact us via: