January/February 2019 I������5
From the President, Jeff Beavers, RCDD, OSP, CFHP
I FEEL THE NEED...
THE NEED FOR SPEED
2019 marks the return of a couple of classics: ������������������,
the sequel to the 1986 action drama ��������������, and the
legendary 2004 Motorola Razr, this time as a folding
display “smartphone.”
To launch the New Year with a bang, the timing of the
release of ������������������ coincides with the Closing Keynote
of the 2019 BICSI Winter Conference with speaker Admiral
Mike “Wizard” McCabe who was one of the original
TOPGUN instructors.
Naval aviators and naval flight officers selected for TOPGUN
learn fighter and strike tactics and techniques for air combat
with the “most demanding air combat syllabus found
anywhere in the world.”1 Because of this distinction, “top gun”
has become a familiar term in the vernacular to mean “the
best of the best.” As Executive Officer of TOPGUN while the
original movie was filmed, Admiral McCabe became a major
advisor for the movie’s direction and production.
Whether it is an FA-18A-F aircraft flying on a mission or the
Motorola Razr V4 combating its foldable smartphone rivals,
speed is of the essence.
2019 will be another year of explosive technological growth
driven by an insatiable broadband appetite and the demand
for better customer experiences, faster responses, and
endlessly increasing requirements for speed, low-latency
and ubiquitous connectivity.
This year it is anticipated that internet usage is finally going to
surpass TV viewing worldwide. It is estimated that nearly
one-quarter of the access to media across the globe will be
from mobile devices.2
5G, the fifth generation of wireless technology, will accelerate
this change among mobile services and technologies used for
commercial and residential broadband, as well as fixed
wireless. Verizon claims that “users will know it as one of the
fastest, most robust technologies the world has ever seen. That
means quicker downloads, a more powerful network and a
massive impact on how we live, work and play.”3 In 5G trials,
download speeds were achieved roughly 30-50 times faster
than what is possible with 4G. It is purported that feature-length
Ultra-HD movies can be downloaded in seconds.
Autonomous cars, smart communities, IoT, edge computing,
and network slicing will all rely on 5G. Faster data transmission
could simplify connected device management, which means
5G could lead to significant growth in the IoT, as the latency in
current cellular networks limits many IoT applications.
2019 will continue to challenge the term “wireless.” Wireless
implies no wires or free from wires. However, it is estimated
that over a million miles of optical fiber is required to deliver
the next generation of wireless service in the U.S. alone.
Exponential growth in technology, the constant change in
how we communicate and are able to communicate,
coupled with that insatiable broadband appetite, present
challenges for service providers and designers.
There is a race to get optical fiber in the ground or in the air in
an environment that is very fluid. Fiber is being deployed while
needs are being defined and/or made known.
Density of wireless coverage, fiber strands needed for
traditional services, the increase of mobile users, and the
potentially multi-millions of connections for IP and IoT enabled
devices and sensors that will make autonomous vehicles, smart
buildings and cities a low-latency and mass-deployed reality
are driving the needed fiber count exponentially.
Initial 5G planning requires small cells 200-1,000 feet apart with
several strands required per location. Furthermore, 5G could
require 60 small cells to cover one square mile. Currently,
orders are being placed for cable with 1,728 optical fiber
strands, while manufacturers are offering cables with twice
that amount at 3,456 strands!
Wireless relies on wire and lots of it. A more appropriate term
might be “less-wire.”
At BICSI, we are proud of our members who are “Top Guns”
in the advancement of wireless and the many other
technologies that will reshape ICT in 2019 and beyond.
Be safe; someone is counting on you.
REFERENCES:
1 https://www.public.navy.mil/AIRFOR/nawdc/Pages/About.aspx
2 Molla, Rani, Next year, people will spend more time online than they will
watching TV. That’s a first. Recode, Jun 8, 2018, Vox Media, Inc., https://
www.recode.net/2018/6/8/17441288/internet-time-spent-tv-zenith-datamedia
3 https://www.verizon.com/about/our-company/5g/what-5g
/About.aspx
/what-5g
