U.S. operator Verizon has brought its 5G Ultra Wideband service to Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), in Newport News, Virginia. HII is the largest military shipbuilding company in the U.S. The company said that 5G will enable it to be better equipped to meet network connectivity demands and that it will use the system to test new ways in which its engineers can use augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) to support everything from architectural design to employee training.
The company will also see how 5G could increase manufacturing efficiencies with automation, advanced robotics, 3D holographic design and real-time analytics, as well as the use of IoT sensors for better decision-making in near-real time.
The shipbuilding company recently started using tablets and smartphones for work at its premises, leading to increased bandwidth needs, network reliability and security.
As the major mobile operators roll out 5G across developed countries, the high-speed network technology remains, for the moment, essentially a niche product that is accessible on a piecemeal basis, in certain localities. At the present time, 5G has not yet taken over from 4G/LTE as a fully realized standard. Controversies remain, too. For example, there is the question of whether governments will allow operators in their countries to use the products of Chinese technology developer Huawei to develop 5G systems, opposition on this point being due to concerns about security risks.
However, 5G can shine right now in specialized, focused applications such as that being offered by Verizon’s to Newport News Shipbuilding. The capabilities of 5G enable the functioning of applications that go beyond the normal purview of mobile telecommunications—AR and VR, holographic design, real-time analytics, robotics, and the like. While these systems may not have been designed by Verizon, the operator’s 5G Ultra Wideband will provide the signal they need. With Verizon’s participation, the shipbuilder will have an open field in which to test and improve cutting-edge solutions.
Partnerships with large enterprises such as this one represent an excellent opportunity for mobile operators. They can have a guaranteed, built-in subscriber base, as well as a way to demonstrate the potential of 5G, which in the future will be utilized by a wider range of users. Going beyond traditional services such as voice and consumer-level mobile data is in any case an important priority for MNOs today, and special 5G collaborations with industrial enterprises allow operators to do just this.
Ultimately, operators should aim to develop or co-develop 5G-dependent functionalities so that they can brand them and own them, thus maximizing their advantage in terms of revenue and intellectual property.
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