Search5G is coming; there’s no doubt about it. There’s plenty of hype surrounding this new cellular network technology.
The two metrics that are used to describe the benefits of 5G are:
In theory 5G can be 100 times faster than 4G with throughput up to 10 Gbit per second. On average, 30 ms of latency occurs on a 4G connection. On 5G this should be sub-millisecond.
And those happen to be terms you can associate with Varnish too. So how does Varnish fit into this story?
Higher throughput and lower latency will create expectations that are hard to meet: although your 5G service may support throughput in the hundreds of megabits with a sub-millisecond latency, this doesn’t mean that the content you’re requesting will be received at the same pace.
The network route between the 5G antenna and the server that contains the requested resources might not yield that kind of throughput and latency. But that’s why CDNs were invented in the first place.
A centralized CDN with a number of PoPs will yield better results, but it will be nowhere near the theoretical numbers that are thrown around.
In a 5G context, the only solution for better performance is to move the edge even closer to the user. This concept is part of 5G and is called multi-access edge computing (MEC).
Instead of relying on a centralized cloud for computing and storage, 5G operators will run workloads in 5G edge locations. These are decentralized cloud environments that are as close as possible to the 5G antennas.
Only by putting the content even closer to the user than in a traditional CDN architecture can we truly improve the quality of experience for the user.
The cloudification of mobile technology, powered by open radio access network (RAN) standards, will lower the barriers to entry for developers and content providers and will lead to more 5G integrations.
The MEC is a way for ISPs to build out a CDN deep in their network. This offloads their core network and provides ultra-low latency for clients in that area.
The obvious use case that comes to mind is video: video is prone to latency, and delivering high-quality video requires plenty of bandwidth.
5G will push OTT video streaming to the next level:
5G could also revolutionize gaming and accelerate the shift to gaming in the cloud. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) applications could also be pushed to the cloud thanks to multi-access edge computing.
The use cases are not limited to public mobile networks. Companies can build private 5G networks, thanks to the open RAN standards and use those networks for industrial automation in their factories and plants.
Healthcare innovations powered by ultra-low latency robotic surgery could greatly benefit from 5G.
And as 5G promises to be 100 times faster than traditional mobile networks, this could also mean that traditional broadband subscriptions could be replaced with mobile subscriptions without jeopardizing the quality of experience.
With all those innovations on the horizon, Varnish is in an excellent position to add value to companies who want to build out a MEC.
Varnish Edge Cloud is the name of the our 5G solution, which is of course based on Varnish Enterprise. As 5G continues to evolve, so will Varnish Edge Cloud, to meet the evolving requirements for those building out MECs. The virtualized nature of these setups will only further democratize mobile networking.
Here are some key capabilities that Varnish Edge Cloud, the 5G-branded version of Varnish Enterprise, currently has: