Fifth-generation (5G) wireless systems, the optimist says, will revolutionize our lives just as 3G/4G systems did. While most people are still waiting to connect to the 4G network, major telecom companies have already begun the race for the next generation of mobile communications. 5G is expected to bring autonomous vehicles, virtual reality, and the Internet of Things to life, making science fiction a reality.

There are many barriers to innovation in wireless communications. Inadequate documentation; uncooperative chipset manufacturers; a wide variety of hardware and software specifications; a steep learning curve during the experimentation phase; and difficulties in prototyping are among the main problems hindering development.

5TONIC, the Madrid-based 5G co-creation lab, along with some of its member companies, is playing a vital role in three high-level, EU-funded 5G development projects. These three projects are designed to contribute to the innovation and testing of 5G vertical market applications and services within the end-to-end communications environment that is a key feature of 5TONIC's facilities.

Still in the testing phase in most countries, the 5G network, with frequencies of 28 GHz, 37 GHz, and 39 GHz, provides connectivity not only between mobile devices, such as cell phones, but also with various cloud services that, at a new level, would now be interconnected. Many discuss the 5G network in relation to the Internet of Things, talking about future applications; however, little is said about the steps needed to achieve 5G. More important than a distant future is how businesses are organizing themselves to reach it.

Indra and the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) have given a new boost to the construction of highly innovative solutions to improve the management of Smart Cities with the creation of a cyber-physical systems laboratory.

Many talk about 5G, but few have described what it takes to create a healthy 5G market, including network deployment, service development, business models, and customer demand.

A consortium of twenty companies and organizations in the telecommunications sector has announced the successful completion of the European research project 5G-Crosshaul, coordinated by the Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M). After three years of work, they have defined what is now the de facto concept of an integrated 5G transport network, a crucial step towards the implementation of the future 5G communications system.

The Voyager 2 spacecraft has traveled an almost unimaginable 17 billion kilometers from Earth and continues to send signals back to the ground station. This is possible thanks to maser technology, which works on principles similar to lasers and is capable of amplifying weak microwave signals with virtually no noise.

Network function virtualization and software-defined networks, two of the most revolutionary technologies in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, are protagonists, along with cloud computing, in new scientific research that seeks to achieve dynamic and high-performance processing of traffic in 5G networks.

NI has announced plans to collaborate with Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. on the development of 5G test UEs for 5G New Radio (NR). The first public event of this collaboration showcased Samsung's 28 GHz base station communicating with an NI test UE at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018 in Barcelona.

Uni-fi Roaming Solutions has announced the results of the first global research project on eSIM in the context of international roaming. The survey, conducted among mobile network operators worldwide, provides insights into current strategic views and an estimated timeline for the deployment of eSIM services.

Technologies for collecting and using data to optimize service delivery will be at the heart of the service industry in 2018. IoT, combined with digital twins, AI-powered organizations, and users servicing their own assets, will be the key trends in this sector, according to Mark Brewer, Global Industry Director for Service Management at IFS.

Most industries and companies have used cloud services long enough to realize the need for a hybrid approach with tighter control over some applications and "edge" computing for more challenging environments.

Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. has announced the development of WAN acceleration technology that can deliver transfer speeds of up to 40 Gbps for migrating large volumes of data between clouds, using servers equipped with FPGAs.

The next-generation data center will seamlessly integrate centralized facilities with smarter, more critical edge applications. These 4th generation data centers are emerging and will become the model for computer networks in the 2020s.

The technology center will develop the control and security systems for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), the world's most advanced telescope, which will become operational in Chile in 2020.

The University of A Coruña (UDC) and Grupo Telecon have signed an agreement establishing the Handytronic Chair in Bioinformatics for Health Sciences. The agreement was signed by Julio Abalde, Rector of the UDC, and Jacobo Penide, CEO of Grupo Telecon.

Nokia is playing a leading role in the Broadband Forum's effort to drive innovation in fixed access networks by spearheading the new BAA (Broadband Access Abstraction) project.

5G networks will become mainstream by 2020, but Europe will lag behind Asia and the United States. The company's latest market report forecasts 5G capacity in South Korea by 2022, with only 7% in Europe.

The digitization and technological innovation plan that IFEMA will undertake in the short and medium term, for which innovation possibilities are already being identified, will be boosted thanks to the alliance it has reached with 5TONIC, an entity founded by TELEFÓNICA and IMDEA Networks Institute, of which ERICSSON is also a member.