The implications of 5G for the technology landscape in Hong Kong
2020 is a year of changes, especially from a technology perspective. The lockdowns around the world have created the world’s largest remote work experiment. According to a recent research by recruitment and HR services provider Randstad Hong Kong, 89% of employees in Hong Kong have experienced flexible working arrangements, like work-from-home, in response to the pandemic. Companies are expanding their investment in technologies, such as virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), web conferencing, and network security to accelerate their digital transformation plans as the world comes to terms with employees working remotely and supporting customers virtually.
Given the obvious shift in demand for online applications and the acceleration of digital transformation, a number of service providers in Hong Kong launched 5G services, the fifth generation of broadband cellular technology, earlier this year. Every technological change in history is led by a big innovation, the implications of 5G change our means of communications and enable the new technologies and use cases with a ten times performance boost of the Internet. This opens up a whole realm of possibilities for applications, such as AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality). The Hong Kong SAR Government encourages businesses to deploy 5G technology to foster innovation and smart city applications, and various mobile phone giants also start featuring their product by including support for 5G cellular networks.
This will also result in a disruption in how the software will be built. Software development takes a quantum leap, and enterprises transit their architectures from mainframe to client-server and then to cloud. Software developers are building applications, such as cloud computing, containers, and microservices, faster than ever. This velocity is set to accelerate as hardware development kicks into a new gear, and we may take GPUs as one of the examples. Traditional hardware, like central processing unit (CPU) architectures, is no longer applicable, and industries moved forward to graphics processing units (GPUs) to cope with more performance demanding applications.
Beyond spurring development in software and hardware, 5G accelerates innovation in a host of use cases, such as Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous vehicles, drones, industrial automation, and healthcare. According to a study commissioned by Qualcomm, IHS Markit, by 2035, 5G technology will enable more than $13.2 trillion of global economic output. For example, IoT, where billions of physical devices around the world are connected to the Internet, will see another round of exponential growth as connecting these devices to 5G becomes a lot easier, and autonomous vehicles’ sensors will transmit information more reliably to cars and grid through the robust network. The implications create a snowball effect to the economy and industry.
With the advanced systems and technologies, the Big Data world is going to inject volumes of data that the human mind will not be able to fathom. IDC predicts that the world’s data will grow to 175 zettabytes in 2025, which IT infrastructure and Chief Information Officers (CIOs) need to take a fresh look at their strategies to cooperate with this tremendous change. Keeping legacy silos of data that are not readily accessible is like bringing a knife to a gunfight. A modern data experience, whereby data is easily accessible, commutable, and delivered where it is needed instantly, is only possible without technical silos.
Every cloud has its silver lining. Although the world struggles to overcome the pandemic, it is the time to innovate and unleash opportunities. 5G service in Hong Kong will definitely become an enabler of even greater innovation across all aspects of our lives.
-- Contact us at [email protected]
-
Integration of GIS and BIM can drive development of smart city Dr. Winnie Tang
The China Association for Geospatial Industry and Sciences (“the CAGIS”) released the Top Ten Highlights of China's Geographic Information Industry in 2023, which provides much inspiration. The
-
Equip young people for the future Dr. Winnie Tang
In late February, the inaugural flight of an air taxi from Shenzhen Shekou Cruise Homeport to Zhuhai Jiuzhou Port took only 20 minutes with an estimated one-way ticket price of 200 to 300 yuan per
-
Are we raising a generation of leaders, or of followers? Brian YS Wong
The essence of education is defined not by the facts it imparts, but the potential knowledge it inspires students to individually pursue on their own. Put it this way – the ideal form of education
-
The urgent need for reforms to sex education in Hong Kong Sharon Chau
Nearly one in every four university students (23%) in Hong Kong has been sexually harassed, according to a 2019 report published by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC). A 2019 study found that
-
STEAM should be linked to real life Dr. Winnie Tang
In the 2017 Policy Address, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education was proposed as one of the eight major directions to promote I&T development. Since then, funding has
-
第五屆台北當代藝術博覽會 5月回歸南港展覽館
-
Integration of GIS and BIM can drive development of smart city
-
香港霹靂舞運動員:團隊並肩同行 走上國際舞台
-
THE FUTURE ROCKS打造K11 MUSEA快閃店
-
Russia’s nightmare – loss of Far East
-
街頭演唱者:BUSKING歷練場 成就登台大將之風
-
心流藝術家:旋環登上舞台才能真正被看見
-
My Brief Remarks – at the HKS China Conference
-
尚品~即食花膠靚湯
-
The perils of self-censorship