“The key characteristics of the fourth industrial revolution are going to be mobile internet connectivity, sensors, artificial intelligence as well as machine learning. These are the key characteristics that are going to revolutionize the entire industry,” Cisco ASEAN managing director and services provider Dharmesh Malhotra said during a webinar themed 5G and the future of tech in Indonesia hosted by The Jakarta Post.

“That is going to be generating a significant amount of data as we move forward, and we're all going to actually analyze that data and take the benefit of data in our human lives.

“So it is important that we have the technology that can actually analyze and serve this amount of data. Now, that can only happen with 5G, specifically with some of the key features that show significantly lower latency, higher speed and security,” he said.

Cisco, the worldwide technology leader that has been making the internet work since 1984, is supporting the speeding  up of 5G networks in Indonesia through the establishment of a 5G lab in the country specifically for the purpose of 5G technology research and showcase.

The 5G labs are a part of the  cooperation with the Cisco Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) initiatives in Indonesia agreed during a meeting between President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, Cisco’s president for ASEAN, Naveen Menon, and Cisco Indonesia managing director Marina Kacaribu on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on ASEAN in Hanoi in 2018.

Cisco's CDA team partners with national and state governments worldwide to accelerate their national digitization agendas and deliver beneficial services to their citizens faster and more effectively.

Indonesia, the largest economy in Southeast Asia, is the first country in the region to be a part of the program.

The program focuses on five key areas: digital government, digital industry, digital state-owned enterprises, cybersecurity and digital inclusion.

Technology has played a key role in boosting socioeconomic growth in Indonesia, making it one of the fastest-growing economies in the region.

The growth in Indonesia’s digital economy will be driven in large part by making public services more efficient, building local innovation capabilities and digitizing the country’s small and medium businesses.

Another  project tied to the CDA initiative with the Information, Communication & Technology Ministry sees Cisco provide IT training for 3,000 students and 3,000 teachers, with the intention of impacting up to 9 million people in information technology. These initiatives are aligned with the government’s agenda to develop digital talent.

To help address the COVID-19 situation, Cisco also provides collaboration technology (100 Webex end points) to 25 COVID-19 assigned hospitals, with the hope that medical workers can minimize direct interaction with the infected patients and minimize the risk of contracting the virus when helping patients by leveraging technology to communicate and collaborate through Cisco Webex.

All these initiatives are part of Cisco’s more than two-decade long commitment to help Indonesia accelerate its 5G transformation.

“The 5G opportunity is immense and we will all get the benefit of it and it is going to come in the next few years. We saw significant changes when it happened from 3G to 4G. How fast it went and now it’s the time to get to the next revolution which is going to be 5G, not only for consumers but also for the industry,” Dharmesh said.

He pointed out the key transformation shifts for 5G to be enabled properly, which included flattening the network, data center transformation, uberisation and security.

“As we say, 5G is going to play a massive role not only on the consumer side but the potential is much bigger for enterprises. So the service provider and operator networks of today will get into the enterprises and with so many network devices, ubiquitous security has to be architected at every stage, instead of being built on top of it” he said.

The 5G transfornation also necessitates cooperation in the ecosystem.

“That can only happen if we bring this whole ecosystem together and that’s what Cisco at the moment is also trying to achieve.

“We have set up innovation incentives and one of those centers is in Indonesia, which will enable or accelerate the country’s digitalization process .

“Holistically we will need co-innovation showcases to continue to build the ecosystem and co-create to ensure that 5G and Indonesia’s economy grow in unison.”

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