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94 SMT007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2021 world to a re-imagined CES 2021 and intro- duced the keynote speaker, Verizon Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg, commenting that since the 2019 event—when the theme of Vest- berg's address had been to describe the power and potential of 5G—the 2020 year of crisis had accelerated innovation and triggered a leap- frog of 5-7 years in the digital revolution. "e 5G future is here–we knew it was com- ing, but it was closer than we realised," Vest- berg said. He took the virtual stage to deliver a faultless performance, presenting the already- current realities of ultra-wideband 5G technol- ogy and some examples of its scope as a world- changing enabler: "...so much more than a just another technology innovation; it's an inno- vation platform that makes other innovations possible, a platform for us to build the future we want." He reviewed what he had termed the "cur- rencies" of 5G: throughput, service deploy- ment, mobility, connected devices, energy efficiency, data volume, latency and reliabil- ity. He summarised the differences with its 4G predecessor: unparalleled upload and down- load speeds with ultra-low lag, the capacity for more than a million connected devices per square kilometre, and the capability to sup- port mobility up to 500 kilometres per hour, together with faster and more respon- sive service deployment. He demonstrated the benefits of 5G connectivity for the enhancement of spectator engagement in live sports, particularly where COVID-19 regula- tions prevented physical attendance. Vestberg demonstrated examples of advanced interactive and immersive experiences using multi-camera live action supplemented by augmented reality by discussing future possibilities in a video interaction with NFL Com- missioner Roger Goodell and standing on a very realistic virtual football field to speak to Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Deion Sanders. 5G enabled a new era of immersive learning, with Vestberg discussing alternative ways of looking at education in a live video conversa- tion with Lonnie G. Bunch III, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, bringing education to life beyond the classroom and demonstrating the use of virtual reality to transport the com- mand module of Apollo 11 into the living room. Similarly, he visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in augmented reality. His colleague, Rose Stuckey Kirk, described the scope of 5G-enabled learning laboratories and their benefits in under-resourced schools. e emergence of edge computing, done at or near the source of the data rather than being transmitted to a data centre, overcame the intrinsic problems of the traditional cloud such as high latency and the lack of security and was driving demand for 5G as the key enabler. 5G provided a platform for the simultaneous con- nection of massive numbers of sensors and actuators, offering smart cities and intelligent transportation systems a means of achieving full integration. "It just gets better," Vestberg said with unre- served enthusiasm of ultra-wideband 5G tech- nology that was conspicuous as he took us on a journey through applications that included robotics, avionics, drone delivery of pack- Hans Vestberg