5G: The Solution to Last Mile Redundancy?
The talks for 5G has been around for a while now. A powerful 5G is a game-changer for enterprises. Though everyone has been eagerly anticipating for this to come, enterprises have done their homework and are ready to adapt to a digital transformation that is promising to change the face of netw
Short answer: 5G helps with last-mile redundancy because it is a wireless link, so it does not share the physical faults of a wired carrier line and can be switched on without waiting months for fibre. Paired with SD-WAN at the branch, a 5G link can back up or run alongside wired links, with traffic steered to whichever link is healthy.
5G has been talked about for years, and it has now launched in India. For enterprises it is an important new option, and many are ready to make it part of their digital transformation. With the advent of 5G, the positive impacts and performance improvements are being seen firsthand. With a promise for robust and consistent connectivity, combined with better service, which in turn will be translated to a holistic experience, marking it just the beginning of what 5G has to offer.
Last-mile has been a constant challenge that has vexed all enterprises for decades now. Common problems and limitations like lack of transparency, inadequate routing plans along with delays and limited data transfer are issues still haunting organizations. To improve overall site availability, network managers would pair an MPLS connection to a backup internet connection. Another attempt of link bonding was also aggregated. Though earlier, many such attempts have been made to get around these limitations and solve these problems, there has been little to no success. SD-WAN too made a mark in getting around solving the last-mile problem, by getting access to greater bandwidth and reliability and balancing traffic across multiple last miles, the susceptibility of the potential outage is still present and hasn’t completely eradicated the problem at hand.
Can 5G solve the last-mile problem?
Telecom operators present 5G as an answer to last-mile challenges. It is still new for enterprises to rely heavily on it, but 5G holds real promise for networking.
The claim is that 5G can remove last-mile barriers and ease provisioning and deployment issues. Where 5G coverage is available, a site can get the capacity it needs without waiting months for a fibre installation, and a cut or disrupted wired last mile becomes less of a worry.
Being a wireless technology, 5G is not exposed to the same physical outages between the carrier network and the customer premises as a wired link. Used with SD-WAN edge appliances at the branch, it can reduce the need to aggregate multiple internet connections for more capacity, and it offers high data rates for IoT devices. Nexapp’s Instaroute Enterprise X Series, for example, includes 5G models such as the IRX100-5G.
With the growing demand and consumption of information in video format, be it video conferencing, live streams or virtual meetups, there is a huge increase in data storage and businesses operating from multiple locations, 5G helps address these surges. As well as, removing the last-mile bottleneck without the need for stepping down on capacity when data is reaching the end-user.
To conclude, businesses in pursuit of a super fast and always available network – which is vital for most enterprises, last mile has always been one of the biggest challenges. 5G is an important access technology, and paired with a wired link and SD-WAN, it can make last-mile outages far less disruptive.
Related: 5G wireless SD-WAN, Instaroute 5G and 4G routers and replacing MPLS with SD-WAN.
Frequently asked questions
What is last-mile redundancy?
Last-mile redundancy means having a second, independent connection from the carrier to the site, so the site stays online when the main link is cut or degraded.
Can 5G be used as a backup to a wired link?
Yes. Because 5G is wireless, it is not exposed to the same physical outages as a wired line between the carrier and the premises, which makes it a useful second link where coverage is good.
How does SD-WAN use 5G for failover?
SD-WAN monitors every link and moves traffic to the healthy one. Nexapp's SD-WAN Enterprise controller uses SLA tiers with sub-second failover across wired, 4G and 5G links.
What if 5G is not available at a site?
Dual 4G LTE is a proven option. Nexapp moved 2,500 ATM sites from VSAT to dual-LTE with day-1 zero-touch provisioning.
To find out more about 5G for business sites, see 5G wireless SD-WAN from Nexapp.
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