ZTE sees physical and digital worlds conjoined in 5G future

SHENZHEN, CHINA: ZTE Corporation ("ZTE") today unveiled the company's vision of the future 5G landscape, in which super-broadband wireless connectivity give consumers and organizations instantaneous on-demand access to real-time applications and information covering large swaths of everyday life and work, bringing together the physical and digital worlds.

According to ZTE's White Paper, "5G - Driving the Convergence of the Physical and Digital Worlds," 5G will enable seamless interactions between people, as well as human-machine connectivity, creating a new digital ecosystem in which any connected person or machine could be the originator, and consumer of information, driving accelerated growth in network traffic.

To cope with the demands of 5G users, networks will acquire greater intelligence, user-friendliness and versatility, combining the best characteristics of cellular and wireless local networks.

"5G will be a key catalyst in driving the convergence of networks, services and devices, opening up new possibilities for users and organizations," said Dr. Zhao Xianming, ZTE EVP, CTO. "To deliver the best user experience for future 5G services, the telecommunications industry needs to collaborate with other industry verticals in order to develop an in-depth understanding of how 5G can serve the needs of different sectors of the economy."

In the age of 5G, the physical world will be closely approximated by the corresponding digital sphere, engaging and interlocking with each other through rapid transfers of information. The digital mapping of the physical world will be achieved as the characteristics and functionality of different industry verticals such as retail, medicine, education, entertainment, transportation and finance are more deeply integrated into 5G networks.

"As a leading global provider of telecommunications and enterprise solutions, ZTE will continue to play an active role to shape the development of 5G technology," Dr. Zhao said.

Research on 5G will be focused on user experience, rather than simply increasing network capacity. A far broader range of interconnected information services and applications will be supported by 5G, as networks develop new capabilities to serve greater societal and business needs, in addition to those of individual consumers.

To deliver optimum user experience, 5G researchers need to develop new user-centric service provisioning models that are informed by usage and service patterns.