The GSMA predicts that edge computing and IoT (internet of things) technology will drive more 5G opportunities, with 12% of carriers already offering private wireless products and services. More should do so as IoT deployments grow this year, according to the body.
Huawei has identified products around four health use cases, namely Connected Hospital Infrastructure, Pathology Scanning, Connected Health Service, and Optical Medical Imaging.
Health, a key public sector for Huawei
Healthcare is one of Huawei’s key areas of business in the public sector, which is the largest segment of the provider’s professional side. It currently serves more than 2,800 hospitals and medical research institutes worldwide.
The Chinese telecom equipment maker’s digital imaging products, for example, encompass network, storage and videoconferencing to process images faster, secure the data lifecycle and reconstruct images in 3D and high 4K definition. They aim to improve the efficiency of diagnosis and treatment, especially since 70% of the data used in hospital diagnosis and clinical treatment are images.
Huawei also uses 5G, IoT and Wi-Fi technologies to provide a wireless IoT network system for hospital departments. Huawei touts the offering as a way for hospitals to reduce network deployment and maintenance costs, as well as improve patient experience with features such as intravenous fluid monitoring and staff tracking.
Ransomware detection systems
The technology provider also integrates its OceanStor Pacific distributed storage systems and lossless compression technology to process pathology data. Advertised as reducing storage space by 30%, this product allows viewing of more than 1,000 sections “in seconds”. It also supports remote pathology analysis. It can improve analysis efficiency by 70%, said Koh Hong Eng, global head of Huawei’s utility science industry.
The vendor’s storage systems have ransomware detection capabilities, he adds, and can prevent data downloads if the firmware detects a ransomware signature. Local storage snapshots are also used to enable rapid data recovery, and isolation measures (air-gap) allow data to be isolated in a secure area, so that services can be restored.
He points out that these security features are essential, as the healthcare sector is a prime target for ransomware attacks.
Backing up regularly is essential
Data backups are also essential, Samuel Wai, systems manager at the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, insisted at the press conference. Asked how he responded to concerns about the industry’s widening attack surface amid growing adoption of IoT technologies and the use of online data, he highlighted the ability to restore data in case of data breach. For this, it is essential to make regular data backups, he advises.
He adds that Hong Kong is also looking to boost IoT initiatives, for example to facilitate home healthcare, and assess how IoT data could be safely transferred into a hospital database.
This adds complexity, he says, as storage vendors are currently adopting different data standards. Hong Kong is currently seeking to establish a data standard for the healthcare industry to unify all messaging formats, it adds.
Security is key when traditional and digital domains converge
Cybersecurity risks will inevitably increase as traditional industries go through digital transformation and OT (operational technology) systems converge with IT systems, warns Yue Kun, Huawei’s technical director for the transport sector. This further underscores the need for organizations in these industries to ensure that their IT infrastructure and systems have a solid security foundation, he believes.
Asked if CII (critical information infrastructure) sectors should leverage private 5G networks to strengthen their security posture, he replied that robust technologies can be deployed on both public and private 5G networks.
Network slicing, for example, could be implemented to secure public 5G networks. It would therefore be difficult to say that one is safer than the other, he notes.
Huawei wants to extend its offers to the maritime sector
Besides healthcare, Huawei also aims to expand its offerings to another CII sector: the maritime sector. In January, the Chinese supplier signed an agreement with the Tianjin Port Group to build a digital twin of the port, with the aim of introducing more automation. The collaboration would encompass the construction of new automated terminals as well as the upgrading of traditional terminals.
Noting that ports play an important role in shipping, Yue Kun said, “Building more efficient ports is becoming an increasingly pressing requirement for the global supply chain. The Terminal of Section C of Tianjin Port has now been running stably for more than a year. This proves that 5G and L4 autonomous driving have already been successfully adopted by industries in China, and are creating real business and social value. »
The Section C terminal, which began full-scale commercial operations in October 2021, has container cranes that operate automatically and robots that roam the area. Remote-controlled dock cranes lift loaded containers from freighters and place them on robots for ground transportation. Last year, the port’s container throughput reached more than 21 million TEUs, placing it among the top 10 ports in the world, according to Huawei.
The supplier now hopes to expand its reach to ports outside of China.
Source: ZDNet.com