How 5G Communications Supercharges Enterprise Gains from IoT and Sensor Networks

As “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) said in Top Gun, “I feel the need — the need for speed!”. Today, smart factories are adopting 5G Private Networks. One of the biggest benefits it to fulfill firms that mimic “Maverick” — with today’s IoT sensor networks, firms can wait 20 milliseconds or more to see results from data analysis. 5G gives firms immediate — 1 millisecond — access to key variables. I will discuss how “knowledge synthesis” serves as a tool to understand the economics of IoT and how network effects within firms and between firms are likely to be supercharged once 5G is added to IoT. Once firms combine these two factors, 5G communications and IoT, they drive firms to extend IoT far more widely. At Scania, the Finnish truck and mining vehicle manufacturer, only 1000 of 10,000 mining vehicles are currently connected to wireless networks. This is changing quickly. One motivation is Scania’s hope to become a provider of connected vehicle services, where customers will subscribe to analytical reports that will help them improve preventive maintenance, optimize the coordination among groups of vehicles, and identify new services that they can sell to customers. In terms of new services, this would be an extension of Scania’s value chain beyond direct sales of vehicles. Moving in this direction would change Scania’s business model to a product-as-a-service model very much like Rolls-Royce, Michelin and FANUC. This presentation will examine why linking 5G and IoT will make Tom Cruise a ‘happy hot gun’. It will also explore how other firms like Mercedes, Ford, Daimler Trucks, Scheider Electronic, and BMW are beginning to link IoT and 5G. I hope to include a short video of Maverick to start the talk.