Original Article by Zixi’s Eric Bolton – Link
Zixi has been hard at work optimizing our platform in light of a developing 5G world. With over 14 years of pioneering delivery over IP networks, Zixi is uniquely positioned to combat the challenges of 5G delivery, allowing customers to take advantage of 5G networks when and where possible while also ensuring quality and reliability. Like all IP networks, 5G requires protection against challenges like jitter, congestion and security.
Why is 5G such a major change and improvement over traditional networks?
The speed and low latency capabilities of 5G are what make it so special, particularly for video delivery. While actual performance depends on many factors, 5G is expected to be anywhere from 10-100x faster than 4G. This means faster download and upload speeds, less choppiness and the highest quality video available even while away from WIFI, larger video content & streaming capabilities, exponentially higher connectivity speeds between devices and ultimately higher customer satisfaction – amongst other improvements. However, this significant increase in processing power comes with a need for full-scale infrastructure redevelopment to handle these speeds, along with updating the technology that will receive 5G signals.
The statistics on 5G are staggering. 5G will drive $1.3 trillion in new revenues in M&E by 2028; and as early as 2025, 57% of global wireless media revenues will be the direct result of the increased bandwidth capacity 5G networks provide and the devices that run on them. As the network buildout continues, so will that ratio of revenues pivot more towards the 5G part of the spectrum. According to IDC, while there were approximately 10,000,000 5G connections in 2019, this number is expected to increase to 1,010,000,000 (1.01 billion) by 2023. That’s over 200% growth per year! In 2020 alone, $4.3 billion is expected to be spent on building 5G infrastructure globally. According to GSA: “By mid-August 2021 461 operators in 137 countries/territories were investing in 5G, including trials, acquisition of licenses, planning, network deployment and launches” (Link).
Obviously we are in the midst of a massive, worldwide technological transition.
Zixi and 5G – The Modern Solution for Software and Content Providers
In addition to 15+ years of the highest quality video delivery available and an experienced global network of customers and providers, Zixi’s capacity for 5G functionality is in large part due to seamless bonding of IP networks. The SDVP can bond cellular networks together to provide a seamless alternative to 5G transport whenever necessary. If 5G is not available, Zixi bonds 4G LTE and 5G availability together allowing the sharing of bandwidth between two signals as well as providing a failsafe in the case of failure of one or the other. Additional bonding back up can be provided using the public Internet, allowing SDVP users to enable contribution or distribution from nearly any location with 99.999% reliability.
In addition, the Zixi protocol is congestion and network aware and seamlessly adjusts to varying network conditions and employs patented, dynamic Forward Error Correction techniques for error-free video transport over 5G. Zixi’s unique ability to adapt the video quality to the available bandwidth thanks to network-aware, adaptive bitrate technology makes it easy to maintain stream continuity for the optimal Quality of Experience.
Integrating Zixi into your infrastructure is a reliable way to prepare for a 5G future.
View our recent virtual session at Streaming Media East Connect titled “5G—Game-Changer or Meh?”
