Getting up to speed with Cisco's 5G architecture
If you’ve ever been around a computer or any everyday IT system, you’re probably no stranger to Cisco. Founded in 1984 in San Francisco, it is the worldwide leader in technology that powers the internet. What that means is that everything from reimagining your applications, securing your data, transforming your infrastructure and empowering your teams for a global and inclusive future warrants a varying degree of involvement by a solutions provider like Cisco. Cisco is a market leader in advanced technology solutions for Enterprise, Service Providers and Cloud, helping their customers and partners to achieve their intended business outcomes. As Verizon builds its 5G network, Cisco continues to act as a trusted partner.
There are many benefits of 5G. With innovation and investments across silicon, optics, software, and systems, Cisco is evolving how service provider networks are built to maximize operational agility and help enable a competitive advantage to future proof network and cloud infrastructure. Speaking on the extent of implementation, Bob Everson, Cisco’s Senior Director of 5G Architecture says “5G is not a singular technology. For us, it's really important that we take a systems approach on the components that deliver a 5G system, but then also look at the whole ecosystem of the applications and the users, and how all that ties together.”
Cisco’s relationship with Verizon goes back nearly two decades, and to date is one of Cisco’s strongest partners globally from a go-to-market standpoint as well as from a network standpoint. Cisco and Verizon collaborated on 4G and LTE services and now are working together as Verizon builds out their 5G network services.
Being a pioneer in 5G technology and applications, Cisco focuses on maximising the use of technology to improve business operations for its customers in order to deliver tangible results. Cisco inspires new possibilities by reimagining applications, securing data, transforming infrastructure, and empowering teams for a global and inclusive future.
Everson states that although 5G is the future with its endless possibilities, it also makes systems vulnerable to a degree of threat. For a number of clients, 5G is not simply an additional layer of technology that brings about high speed, low latency and reduced risk. Instead, it is an integrated system that needs to sit inside the existing operation, and so one of Cisco’s key tasks becomes developing a holistic approach in understanding these operations and providing solutions that predict and prevent any threat.
Speaking in conclusion on the application of 5G across different operations, Everson adds that organizations will see an increasing overlap in environments between enterprise and direct consumers, so having a protected connection and an infrastructure built to last will and should be any organization’s top objective. As organisations look to the future of work and move to a more hybrid work model, service providers must ensure that their customers are well-connected wherever they are with multiple levels of security and have a seamless environment to operate within.
