GSMA Launches Edge Cloud Initiative for Operators

The GSMA has created a new forum aimed at accelerating the development of 5G-based virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) applications. Alex Sinclair, CTO of the GSMA, said that mobile operators will play a key role in the development of AR and VR but that collaboration is necessary or the market will become fragmented. “The establishment of this forum will overcome this hurdle and ensure we can scale compelling solutions faster,” he said in a statement. The new forum encourages knowledge sharing between members. And it is focused on resolving some technical challenges such as looking at ultra-low latency codec compression, graphics processing unit (GPU) rendering in the cloud, and other virtualization technologies. The goal is to develop a reference architecture that will make it easier to deploy AR and VR and to make AR/VR applications. The forum noted that AR/VR headsets require a lot of storage and processing power, similar to a gaming device. But it also makes these devices more expensive for consumers. The idea is to move a lot of that processing power and storage to the edge cloud, making the devices less expensive to produce. This scenario fits well with 5G because 5G’s new capabilities make an edge cloud possible.