{"id":18479,"date":"2019-03-18T20:40:10","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T20:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/futurenetworks\/?post_type=digest&p=18479"},"modified":"2019-10-28T11:14:42","modified_gmt":"2019-10-28T11:14:42","slug":"cloud-xr-to-bring-new-commercial-avenues-to-mobile-industry-through-5g","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/digest\/cloud-xr-to-bring-new-commercial-avenues-to-mobile-industry-through-5g\/","title":{"rendered":"Cloud XR to Bring New Commercial Avenues to Mobile Industry through 5G"},"content":{"rendered":"

Among the biggest opportunities of the 5G era is XR, or extended reality \u2013 the spectrum of technologies incorporating virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and simulated reality. VR, in particular, has felt like the \u2018technology of tomorrow\u2019 for some time, but mainstream commercial adoption has been hampered by high entry barriers for consumers. These barriers will be overcome by a combination of 5G networks and a \u201cCloud X\u201d network architecture that brings together smart devices, a broad network pipe and Cloud applications.<\/p>\n

Users wishing to experience the full range of VR\u2019s immersive possibilities have required expensive hardware, such as high-end gaming computers and a head-mounted display.\u00a0 The global installed base of consumer VR headsets reached 31 million at the end of last year, and, as things stand, is forecast to reach around 68 million by the end of 2022.\u00a0 This may appear healthy growth, but sales are plainly not at the level of mass market adoption.<\/p>\n

This is, however, poised to change through the combination of 5G mobile networks and the Cloud. 5G brings its extraordinary capacity for speed and consistency; its wholly unprecedented data transfer speeds and ultra-low latency. XR use cases, in particular, VR, do not allow for lag \u2013 if there is sluggish graphical performance during use, the illusion is quickly broken and the immersive experience lost.<\/p>\n

5G ensures this fluidity, and then the Cloud takes on the burden of processing and storage. The Cloud takes devices which previously would have required enormous computing power of their own \u2013 if they were to perform at the level required for demanding applications like XR \u2013 and makes them conduits to its own vast processing and storage capacity.\u00a0 In short, it reduces the cost of the device, while making it an access point for far greater Cloud-based capabilities.<\/p>\n

This means advanced computer use without the need for a tower unit, cutting edge gaming without the need for a console, and XR without the need for a rendering machine.\u00a0 For deployment of these uses cases to scale, however, the focus cannot be on technological feasibility \u2013 the time in the lab has been well spent, but the technology is now available, and the industry must now step up efforts in exploring commercial routes to market.<\/p>\n

This meeting of cutting edge technologies, and the business models to be built behind them, was the subject of the 5G Cloud XR Summit<\/a>, a flagship event for the GSMA\u2019s Future Networks programme at Mobile World Congress this year.\u00a0 Sponsored by Huawei, the Summit convened experts from leading operators and their partners to assess the business possibilities from Cloud XR deployment. While there is work yet to be done, the consensus in the room was that the potential here for monetisation is genuinely extraordinary.<\/p>\n

Huawei\u2019s Cloud X service, for instance, opens a market of $410 billion to mobile network operators, by supporting them to explore new business models in the 5G era, and extend their commercial horizons into Cloud infrastructure and content aggregation. Work is under way for instance on the commercialisation of Cloud PCs, which users requiring exceptional computing power can rent for just one day, but which permanently retain that user\u2019s settings and preferences.<\/p>\n

Use of this kind allows savings not only on outlay for hardware, but in power consumption \u2013 as the computing is mostly taking place remotely \u2013 making it far more economical for the average consumer, and bringing these capabilities fully into the mass market. As Huawei\u2019s President of Strategy Department Will Zhang put it, \u201cthis is a whole new way of personal computing.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are, Mr Zhang explained, broadly three commercial routes to making good on the promise of Cloud X.\u00a0 At the basic level, operators can build a Cloud X platform, based on 5G connectivity, which guarantees a level of service for its customers. They can then build Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service business models on top of the Cloud X infrastructure, to offer content providers a plug-and-play business model for connectivity. Operators can then build their own immersive content services on Cloud X, to directly tap into the new markets offered by these new capabilities.<\/p>\n

While VR gaming understandably captures the imagination of many, there are applications of Cloud XR far beyond the recreational. As China Mobile\u2019s Chief Scientist for Wireless Technologies Chih-Lin I pointed out, while there is heavy interest in and uptake of VR gaming, \u201cthe key element of success for 5G is in its use cases\u201d \u2013 as a natural partner of 5G, and a major way in which it will yield returns on investment, Cloud XR must offer more than just diversion or it risks looking faddish. Thankfully, that diversity of application is already there, and a great deal more is being done to add further value.<\/p>\n

Microsoft\u2019s Nancy Li demonstrated through an intriguing presentation that there are applications for instance in areas as various as manufacturing and healthcare, where high-risk processes can be practiced virtually ahead of the real thing. \u201cWe\u2019re using mixed reality to launch the new wave of digital transformation. This next generation is direct, two-handed manipulation \u2013 you don\u2019t need to learn how to use it,\u201d Nancy told delegates; \u201cbut our Cloud services really depend on the new 5G networks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deutsche Telekom\u2019s Martin Liboska brought the session\u2019s attention to ways in which users will be able to interact with materials, ideas and each other in new ways through a convergence of existing borders between the real and the digital: \u201cwe are at the dawn of another major revolution of how people consume, create and share content \u2013 and its operators and their core assets who can overcome the barriers. 5G is laying the basis for intelligent connectivity.\u201d<\/p>\n

If all this sounds a bit like sci-fi, it shouldn\u2019t \u2013 because ordinary people will soon no longer need to afford the technology that powers these use cases. \u201cWe\u2019ll be bringing devices to people who have never used them before,\u201d explained Ms Li; \u201cwe want to work with operators because, if we can render all the processing in the Cloud, we can make things like headsets much smaller \u2013 that\u2019s definitely the direction we\u2019re going in.\u201d In fact, Huawei is already working on light and comfortable XR glasses, which it looks like will, very possibly, become in time the new form factor.<\/p>\n

To turn all this budding potential into business realities, though \u2013 and to not just offer but bring<\/em> these use cases to a mass market \u2013 the mobile industry and its partners must now deliver meaningful collaboration.\u00a0 XR services are new to operators \u2013 the value chain is very different to traditional services such as voice, messaging and connectivity \u2013 and that naturally means no player is yet established. Cooperation is therefore to the benefit of all.<\/p>\n

In particular, work is needed on a common service reference architecture, a common service platform and a common set of APIs. When these goals have been met, businesses offering XR services will be able to reach 100% of their customers independently of which network they subscribe to; and when XR arrives at that level of user-friendliness, the entire industry stands to enjoy considerable rewards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Among the biggest opportunities of the 5G era is XR, or extended reality \u2013 the spectrum of technologies incorporating virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and simulated reality. VR, in particular, has felt like the \u2018technology of tomorrow\u2019 for some time, but mainstream commercial adoption has been hampered by high entry barriers for consumers. These […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":18484,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6894,9714,60],"tags":[],"algolia_discover_type":[15357],"class_list":["post-18479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5g-digest","category-digest","category-latest-news","algolia_discover_type-article"],"yoast_head":"\nCloud XR to Bring New Commercial Avenues to Mobile Industry through 5G - Networks<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/digest\/cloud-xr-to-bring-new-commercial-avenues-to-mobile-industry-through-5g\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cloud XR to Bring New Commercial Avenues to Mobile Industry through 5G\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Among the biggest opportunities of the 5G era is XR, or extended reality \u2013 the spectrum of technologies incorporating virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and simulated reality. 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