Biggest Challenge of 5G will be the Transition

As the 5G fever picks up, we spoke to Donna Majcen, VP, Global Marketing, Keysight Technologies, on a range of issues. Her message was clear. 5G is a transformational technology, and if communications has to be the backbone for businesses, governments and consumers, 5G is the answer. Globally, organisations are gearing up to ride the 5G wave

- Ibrahim Ahmad

What is your assessment about 5G? There are some countries and some operators who are saying that they will be having commercial launches, not very far away from now?

You know, 4G is still being put out, being developed and implemented, but people are already jumping to the next generation. As there is a financial impact, people have the right to say: I want to get my money’s worth, or, I want to get the best value out of the investments I’ve made in 4G, before I leap on to 5G. There’s an element of the market that’s saying that. But, the majority of the market is really starting to say, okay, how do we make this 5G leap? We know that the need for data is overwhelming the system.

How is the global picture looking like?

The data demand is just becoming a reality so much faster than we even anticipated. Globally, we see a lot of drive, in the USA, Korea, China, and in Tokyo, Japan, etc. We’re seeing major investments and lots of organizations saying their objective is to be there be in front and be first. People are putting these stakes in the ground, and say, I must be first. The Tokyo Olympics 2020, where we will have the first, real 5G network rolled out, is ready to go.

How is Keysight positioning itself for the 5G wave?

Keysight is one of the companies that is right at the beginning of the cycle. When investments were supposed to being made in 5G, we understood how important it is for the test aspects, and how would you test it? How are you going to validate? How are you going to make sure about the development work?