| This month, the Mobile World Congress is again sounding out the newest technological frontiers. From the question of how we will live and work with artificial intelligence (AI) to the opportunities of 6G, Barcelona is redefining the rules of the game for the digital society and economy. A game that, in terms of the digital economy, is worth around 23% of the host country’s gross domestic product, as a recent study by the Spanish digital association Adigital shows.
Digital and Internet-based applications are the basis of future value creation. There is no doubt about that, anywhere in the world. Two facts are equally certain: First, data-intensive AI applications, collaborative business models, and the immersive Internet will secure the prosperity of tomorrow. Second, today’s infrastructure is not sufficient for the applications of the future because the speed at which data will soon have to be exchanged will make one particular metric the new currency of every digital economy: latency.
Every millisecond counts
Latency is the time that elapses during a data transfer. And wherever milliseconds matter, this makes latency a critical factor. In concrete terms: those who travel in autonomous vehicles, for example, entrust themselves to onboard computers that have to decide within a fraction of a heartbeat where obstacles, people, or free lanes are located. The same goes when AI is supposed to ensure that people and machines work together safely in factories, or when human senses encounter immersive worlds, such as in the metaverse.
Ivo Ivanov is the Chief Executive Officer at DE-CIX and Chairperson of the Executive Board of DE-CIX Group AG
Feeling, seeing, and hearing – our brain needs 20 milliseconds to process haptic impressions. In 13 milliseconds, the central nervous system decides what our eyes show us, and in less than 1 millisecond, it is clear what our ears are perceiving. For latency, our perception is incorruptible. So incorruptible that it will be the judge of the success or failure of the metaverse. Why is this the case? We only fully engage with immersive applications when we experience them in a way that feels natural. If the image and audio are not synchronised, it is not simply annoying – it is unacceptable.
Less latency, more prosperity
On the Internet of the future, more and more devices must be able to transfer more and more data faster and faster. Short latency times are therefore necessary to ensure that self-driving cars are safe on the road, that robots and engineers in factories can work together without any problems, and that at least one in four Euros in Spain continues to come from the digital economy.
What do we need for the next generation of the Internet? Whether fibre optic, mobile, or satellite networks, if we want to exchange more data packets faster on the current infrastructure, then we need to pick up the pace. It is about wide-scale collaboration that places the focus on customers and applications. And not just between the network and the user, but also between different networks themselves. For example, we can do this by moving large data lines and high-performance computers closer to the places where life and work depend on intelligent applications. The goal is a dense, globally distributed, and interconnected infrastructure. An infrastructure with a future, because it can be networked on a neutral and open basis via interconnection services. This creates a robust mesh network that can provide computing and storage resources with the agility that society and the economy require- from the cloud to the server room in a factory to the tiny edge unit in the on-board computer of a smart car.
Less latency for more prosperity- A look at the markets in which we are present with our ecosystem shows how these two concepts are connected. In Dubai, for example, latency was reduced from 200 to 3 milliseconds between 2012 and 2022. A plus in speed that inspires regional entrepreneurship: In the same period, the number of on-site data centres tripled, and the number of networks increased eightfold. The same can be seen on the Iberian Peninsula: While there were 20 data centres in the Madrid metropolitan region in 2016, there are already over 30 today; 15 more are planned. A recent study, which we conducted together with Digital Realty and the market researchers from IDG and which we will shortly present in Spain, confirms this: Wherever networks interconnect, data centres are established – and this creates jobs, strengthens the economy, and secures prosperity. Every Euro invested by the Spanish data centre industry contributes 7 Euros to the gross domestic product, according to the experts at IDG.
Collaboratively creating the conditions for progress
One thing is certain: Given that digitalisation affects every company, it will only be successful if we as an industry solve challenges collaboratively – whether as a partner, a supplier, or an Internet service provider. Only if we create the technological prerequisites today will we be equipped for the coming years of digital progress. And only then will the immersive Internet be a sensory and economic success. The potential for this prediction can be found in: An analysis by the German statistics institute Statista predicts that the metaverse will generate sales of EUR 468 billion in 2030.
