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Part of a ZDNET Special Feature: 5G: What it means for IoT
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Survey: 5G won't impact many IoT projects anytime soon

TechRepublic Premium survey finds 5G availability is accelerating IoT projects for only 44% of respondents.

Special Feature

5G is here, and it's ready to transform the enterprise. The next generation of mobile technology is poised to have a major impact on Internet of Things (IoT) initiatives. Or is it?

Those were just a few of the questions ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic Premium asked when it surveyed 159 professionals in January about how 5G accessibility is accelerating IoT projects.

Despite promises of higher bandwidth, low latency, and ultra-reliability, more than half (56%) of the survey respondents said that 5G availability is not accelerating IoT projects in their organizations. Here are some reasons why: since 4G worked well enough, companies have not planned any 5G IoT initiatives; there was a lack in faster deployment resources; and companies were still in early planning stages. One respondent said it was "too early to buy a 5G kit when the investment in 4G has not yet recovered its initial costs."

SEE: Research: How 5G will transform business (TechRepublic Premium)  

That left 44% of respondents citing that 5G availability is, in fact, accelerating their company's IoT projects. How? The majority (74%) said 5G provided faster access, 68% mentioned more bandwidth, and 63% listed better reliability. (Survey respondents were able to select more than one option.) 

At 61%, remotely monitoring assets in the field was the most popular IoT project that companies plan to undertake as a result of 5G availability. Almost half (49%) of companies plan to use 5G to control machines remotely, while 44% plan to use location awareness and indoor mapping for machine learning and tracking high-value assets. Of respondents saying that 5G will accelerate their projects, 40% plan to leverage smart office or industrial technology such as geofencing or energy optimization, while 34% of respondents intend to either harness 5G's availability for supply chain tracking or to create digital twin models. 

The infographic below contains selected details from the research. To read more findings, plus analysis, download the full report: Research: How 5G will transform business (available for TechRepublic Premium subscribers).

5g-infographic-01242020-2.jpg

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