Subex Blog

In the early days of any transformative technology, there’s often an interesting mix of hype, anticipation and confusion.  At risk of exposing my long tenure in telecom, I’ll ask if anyone else recalls ISDN?  In a 1994 article in the Los Angeles Times, the author presciently said that ISDN “is the first thing that’s going to come along that begins to give people a taste of what the future will be like.”  For those of us on the inside (I was at MCI at the time), ISDN stood for “I Still Don’t Know”!

Fast forward to 2019 and what’s different is not only the technical advances themselves, but the pace of disruptive change.  And yes, there is still confusion.  If you have an AT&T phone in the US, and have noticed a 5G E symbol, you know what I’m talking about.  But hey, this is not a post about confusion (that would be too easy for me).  I’d like to focus on 5G disruptions, but not the disruptions that you have likely heard about.

The “disruptions” that come to mind for many industry observers when it comes to 5G are faster speeds, significantly lower latencies, a dense communications matrix for IOT, mmBand spectrum, etc.  Sure, there will be many headline benefits from 5G.  What I find more intriguing about 5G is its role as a catalyst for change reaching far beyond the radio network.  Let’s briefly explore some of these.

Andy Jacobs

Portfolio Head – Network Analytics
Andy has 20+ years of experience in engineering management, business operations and IT, primarily with Tier 1 operators including Level 3, MCI and GTE. His responsibilities included leading IT development teams that built mission-critical network management, provisioning and inventory systems with thousands of users. Prior to joining Subex, Andy was a Senior Manager overseeing a Data Governance organization at a major Internet Services provider. Andy graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in Electrical Engineering and Economics (Wharton). He holds an MBA from the University of Colorado.