INTERVIEW: Industry expert Allen Salmasi (pictured) argued emerging 5G use cases including smart cities and buildings won’t be possible without the ability to process the vast amount of data these will generate at the edge of networks.

Speaking during the recent MWC19 event in Shanghai, the CEO of specialist company Veea Systems noted there is a “broad consensus” around the need for edge computing and processing to enable smart services, industrial IoT and other applications “that ultimately connect to the cloud or data centres through a 5G connection”.

Such solutions can lower demand for bandwidth being generated by equipment including “sensors, by streaming cameras and…all of the machine-to-machine types of communications that are taking off really rapidly”, he explained.

Veea Systems is already meeting this need with a range of wireless intelligent edge servers which Salmasi said can be used in 4G as well as 5G networks. While almost a third of the company’s business today is in China, the executive said it is also active in Asia Pacific, highlighting South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam as key markets.

It also has a presence in the UK, “large projects in France” and has ambitions to expand into North and South America, he explained.

During the interview, Salmasi also discussed the importance of being on the ground at MWC19, along with Veea Systems’ heritage and big-name backers.

Click here to watch the full interview.