The edge takes centre stage (again)

At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the edge was one of the most prominent topics and the same can be said in Denver at Light Reading’s Big 5G Event.

The edge itself is a relatively easy concept to understand, but in reality, the deployment and evolution are much more complicated facets. It is usually the case that the biggest potential or most promising developments are the most difficult to achieve, but it does seem there is resistance continued resistance to change.

“I don’t think we are doing 5G right, we are too obsessed by being faster,” said Telus CTO Ibrahim Gedeon.

This is a message which is becoming increasingly frequent, and while the frequency is encouraging, an some point the walk is going to have to follow the talk. At this event, Telus, Equinix, AT&T, T-Mobile US and Verizon have all preached the benefits of moving beyond a ‘bigger, faster, meaner’ business model which is focused on speeds, but soon enough some might assume these are simply statements to appease the masses.

In terms of the future of the telco world, those telcos who maintain the status quo, focusing on speeds, will march down the path of commoditisation. Those who challenge themselves, taking on the incredibly difficult challenge of evolving the business, will find additional value and redefine themselves as a ‘Digital Service Provider’. And the edge is a very important component of that.

“Does 5G need edge, yes,” said Jim Poole, VP of Ecosystem Business Development at Equinix. “But does edge need 5G, no.”

This is a tricky position and a conundrum often faced in the telco and technology world. For some, the path forward does often look like a solution in search of a problem. It might not sound like the most attractive path, especially when there is the simplistic and more instantly gratifying pursuit of increased speeds.

It all depends on what the telco actually wants. As Mitch Wagner of Light Reading pointed out, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the utility business model, these are companies which do make money and are often much safer bets, but this is not what the majority of telcos want in the future.

The answer is relatively plain if utilitisation is to be avoided; add more value to the ecosystem. This is where the likes of Google, Amazon and Microsoft have been successful. They have embraced the idea of a solution looking for a problem, demonstrated the value in disrupting the status quo and proved to the world new is better. For the telcos, this means embracing the unknown.

The edge is that unknown for the moment. Yes, the edge exists in the 4G world, but there is much more value in the 5G era. It is a case of putting the cart before the horse, but as it was pointed out today, creating a proposition which is defined by the edge offers a new dynamic, encourages the imaginations of a new type of developer and creates new services. Telcos can be fundamental in delivering the foundations of these new businesses, products and services, but they need to disrupt themselves and create a new organization.

This again is a statement which is not new. This week and countless other conferences have seen executives preach the promise of evolution, but sooner or later the telcos are going to have to replace talking with walking.

The time of rhetoric is coming to an end, we need to see progress in these transformation initiatives.