Experiencing 200GB per second speed at your disposal is going to be nothing short of a boon for organizations depending on reliable and fast internet, and of course, for everyone else who enjoys the internet. It is becoming a boon for cloud providers such as AWS and Azure; both of the cloud providers assembled the arsenal to start the 5G war.

If you take a pause at this moment and think about how many products and services we use in our daily lives that too several times, the number will be staggering. What’s more interesting is that almost every service relies on cloud computing. The foundation for cloud computing goes back to the 1960s, but cloud that we know today started to take shape in the mid-2000s.

Cloud is necessary to make 5G a reality

If you start your day with streaming music on YouTube Music or Spotify, begin your office routine by opening emails on Gmail or complete daily office work using several applications, cloud is there and almost everywhere. It’s difficult to imagine a world without the cloud, in fact, it has become more mainstream, efficient, and robust over the past few years.

Cloud might have been a driving force for the technology world from the early 2000s till now, but 5G is poised to be the next powerful technology force through the 2020s and also beyond.

5G is making its impact

For those who are unaware, 5G is the recent advancement in mobile telecommunications standard that provides an unmatched speed performance and 100X faster than existing 4G LTE networks. To give you an idea of how fast 5G is, here you go. 4G LTE can offer a maximum speed of around 100MB per second, on the other hand, 5G can serve you a speed of whopping 200GB per second. That’s insane, we agree.

For initial rollout stages, 5G is exclusively using cloud services to communicate connected devices at a faster rate. As the 5G network grows, it will become more stable, ultimately enhancing the overall speed.

Cloud is the playground for 5G war

It’s not hidden that cloud providers are eager to take advantage of this opportunity of merging Cloud and 5G technology. This is igniting the 5G war between the biggest two cloud service providers. The regular press releases for partnerships between cloud and companies providing 5G services are the perfect example. AWS and Azure are not stepping back from innovating and developing services dedicated to 5G.

Microsoft Azure and AT&T

Microsoft announced a partnership with AT&T on 26th Nov. 2019 to ramp up innovation in the early days of 5G. The partnership will aim to enable new 5G, cloud, and edge computing solutions to drive enterprise capabilities for companies around the world.
AT&T has proved itself to be a leader in 5G with the world’s first 5G millimeter wave browsing session on a commercial 5G device and advanced commercial installations in healthcare, manufacturing, and entertainment.

MEC, NEC, and Azure bringing compute everywhere

Multi-access Edge Compute (MEC) provides capabilities to enable a low-latency connected Azure platform in your location. On the other hand, Network Edge Compute (NEC) provides a similar platform in a network carrier’s central office and as you know, Azure promises to offer a vast array of services on this low-latency network.

AWS and Verizon

AWS CEO Andy Jassy and Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg came together on the stage during AWS re:Invent 2019’s keynote session on Day 2 of the conference. Verizon is bringing cloud computing closer to its 5G network edge by partnering with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Suggested Read: Amazon and Verizon shook hands to Push 5G in Cloud computing expansion

Verizon has already established its name in the 5G industry. Verizon’s 5G network is present in 18 markets globally and expanding to hit 30 markets by the end of this year. As per the reports, Verizon’s 5G network is able to provide a throughput speed of 2GB per second on average.

AWS Wavelength for single-digit millisecond latency

5G is synonymous with speed, and AWS has announced AWS Wavelength to meet the requirements to achieve that speed. AWS Wavelength brings AWS services to the edge of the 5G network.

Suggested Read: Andy Jassy announced AWS Wavelength to support 5G network

Developers can build applications that deliver single-digit millisecond latencies to mobile devices and end-users. AWS has partnered with various telecom leaders around the globe, such as Verizon, Vodafone Business, KDDI, and SK Telecom, to get an early advantage in the 5G industry.

Cloud Giants’ 5G war is for good

AWS and Azure competing to offer services to make 5G reality is a good scenario that everybody would hope it never ends. All these efforts by cloud service providers bring a new wave of innovation ready to unleash the power of 5G.

“Far away, still very close“, suits cloud and 5G convergence perfectly. When two technologies complement each other, it raises various questions. Is 5G relying too much on cloud computing? Beyond the rollout stages, will 5G kill cloud? Can 5G meet the expectations, as set in the preview services, when it goes global? Questions lead to answers which always brings new ideas to the table. No matter what, cloud and 5G has begun the new era of computing.