This year seems to be an important year in terms of technology and connectivity now we can clearly see the gigantic advance of both 5g technology, virtual reality and artificial intelligence, but in the face of this advance we should ask ourselves if the current scenario is ready for these technologies, so today we are going to see 4 challenges for connectivity in 2022.

Recently, virtual reality and artificial intelligence have been setting the agenda in technology, and it seems that they are revolutionizing several aspects of our daily lives, especially in businesses and factories, as they help to automate several processes. However, if you want to implement this technology for your business, check if it is ready with this list of challenges for connectivity.

 

1. Low latency

Latency is the time it takes to transmit a packet within the network and is a key factor in establishing fast Internet connections, for example it influences the time it takes for a web page to load.

2022 will be a pivotal year for the merging of the physical and digital worlds, as it is expected that this year will continue to become more naturally intertwined. The combination of virtual reality and mixed reality is just one of the uses of Metaverse technology and is expected to be a technology that will be massively adopted in the coming months, both by individual users and by businesses

However, the demand for virtual reality may contrast with the reality of internet services, as running into low latency will not be an occasional occurrence, plus they will also find that not all the country will have 5G technology, which is the ideal network to support the requirements of virtual reality.

Since 2018 it has been noted that for the development of a virtual reality environment, a minimum browsing speed of 200 megabytes per second is required. Currently, the technology that can meet this need is fiber optics, as it can reach the necessary speed and also provides greater signal stability and audio and video transmission in real time, improving latency. The problem is that there is still no fiber optic network throughout the country.

 

2. Edge computing

Edge computing is one of the solutions for connectivity issues that may arise with virtual reality. It is about putting the data source close to the data source, this way users get a faster and more reliable service and so companies can take advantage of the flexibility of hybrid storage, i.e. a physical storage in combination with a cloud storage. In short, with coaching, companies can use and distribute a set of resources in numerous locations to maximize speed.

Examples of the advantages of this technology are modern factories or companies that are connected to the internet of things. For example, factories connected to smart device sensors have a constant flow of thousands of data that are regularly used to prevent breakdowns and optimize daily operations. Imagine a plant with 2000 devices connected to the Internet, can generate about 2200 terabytes of data per month, imagine what it means to process that kind of data and also the speed with which it must be done to avoid failures or problems in the production chain, in these cases it is more profitable to process such data near the equipment, with an edge computing instead of transmitting them to the cloud, ie to a remote server because those seconds of latency can be crucial.

As you can imagine it is a solution to speed issues for companies that need immediate data processing almost in real time, however the challenge is that this technology is just starting and requires a considerable purchase and distribution of infrastructure that is often not so easy to acquire, especially for a small company.

In order to use this technology, network operations must be redesigned, so there will also be a significant learning curve.

 

3. Interconnection with networks and hubs

This is a challenge that has to be solved mainly by factories, or companies that are using the Internet of Things (IIoT). It seems that the use of smart devices in the process of designing, manufacturing and maintaining products will continue to grow this year. However, this poses new challenges that current technology cannot solve satisfactorily.  Every day it will be easier and easier to see smart devices, connected sensors and Internet-enabled machines. Wearable devices and smart glasses can help monitor work more productively and less intrusively.

There are several problems that can arise for the optimal functioning of smart devices, one of them is latency, which we have already mentioned, but there are other problems that can limit the use and productivity of smart devices, we refer to the interconnection with networks and hubs.

The hub is a device whose only function is to interconnect the computers of a local network, it works in a very simple way. The moment a device of the local network sends data, the hub transmits it instantly to the rest of the connected devices.

While interconnection networks are the connection of bridges and switches in a single path, which allows the transmission of information in a local network.

At the end of the day, in many factories new smart devices and wadgets have to link to hubs and networks that are more than 25 years old, which will lower their performance.

 

4.  Inclusive connectivity

The pandemic caused by Covid-19 forced, since March 2022, to review and reevaluate connectivity in the country, since working at home and online education became necessary activities, it was from here that we realized the existence of the digital divide that exists in the country.

According to INEGI data, there are 84.1 million Internet users in Mexico, that is, 72% of the population over 6 years old. Of these Internet users, 96% connect through a smartphone and 33.7% do so only through a computer, we could say that this is due to the fact that a mobile device is more economically accessible than a desktop computer.

Although it seems that the level of connectivity in the country is high and a large majority of the population has access to the Internet, this interpretation changes if we compare the data for rural areas and cities.

In rural areas the percentages are very far from resembling the national average, since only 50% of the population living far from the city has access to Internet, of course this gap is not new, but it seems that the actions to close it are still insufficient.

The solution to this challenge is, of course, in the technological development itself, but the solution also depends on the design of public policies that allow and even promote projects to bring Internet connection to the most remote areas.

However, Gerardo Soria, president of IDET, points out that unfortunately the State’s policies for granting radio electric spectrum bids “have been subject to constant ups and downs, causing uncertainty among investors in the sector”.

In addition, another challenge to achieve digital inclusiveness is how variable local regulations can be. If we take into account that in Mexico there are 32 states and 2,400 municipalities and that each of these states has legislation that is not always the same, this variability makes it even more difficult to build a telecommunications infrastructure.

So in short, despite the advances with artificial intelligence and the establishment of the 5G network, these will not be available to a large part of the population in Mexico, for whom Internet access is almost impossible.

 

Everything seems to indicate that technological advances for 2022 can be summarized in three ways, 5G, virtual reality and artificial intelligence, however we must remember that these advances besides bringing important advantages also pose challenges, especially in terms of infrastructure because sometimes it is not advancing at the same speed, so identifying these challenges helps us to understand what we have to change in our company to maximize the benefits of new technological proposals. Tell us, do you see another challenge for connectivity in 2022?