Verizon is closing out 2020 with a sprint. The operator, in the span of a few days last week, expanded its low-band 5G network to reach a potential population of 230 million people, said its millimeter-wave (mmWave) 5G network is now live in parts of 61 U.S. cities, revealed an on-premises private 4G LTE service for enterprises, expanded a partnership with SAP, inked a multi-year deal with Walgreens Boot Alliance, and launched an IoT Managed Services platform.

It still plans to reach an additional two cities with its mobile edge computing (MEC) network, ending the year with availability in 10 cities, and today announced a deal with Deloitte to collaborate on 5G MEC services for manufacturing and retail businesses.

Enterprise requirements and opportunities exemplify the importance of 5G and why Verizon is assembling so many partnerships in that realm, Nicki Palmer, chief product development officer at Verizon, told SDxCentral in a phone interview.

Verizon is also working with Microsoft Azure on private 5G MEC, Amazon Web Services (AWS) on consumer-oriented 5G MEC, IBM on IoT, Samsung and Corning on in-building 5G radios, Apple, major sporting leagues, and other organizations — all in an effort to explore and develop new use cases for 5G.

“We have an approach that looks at the technology as a general-purpose technology for massive digital transformation, especially in the enterprise,” Palmer explained.

The collection of capabilities that make up 5G — single-digit millisecond latency, the use of mmWave spectrum, multi-gigabit speeds, massive IoT, and enhanced features made possible by software and the cloud — “can and will transform virtually every industry out there,” she said. That’s why Verizon’s approach is to “open the kimono, go big, work with people across the board, work with partners, industry leaders like Microsoft, AWS,” and others. 

“There’s whole industries that are going to be transformed by this technology, which is why we are building it right, building it broad, building it with the capabilities that we know are going to make a difference,” Palmer said. “When you look at the 5G tech specs, we’re just touching the surface, we’re just really scratching the surface.”

The latest agreement with Deloitte, for example, is part of Verizon’s vision for a broader ecosystem of players in 5G and MEC, because Fortune 100 companies are interested in the technology and looking to operators and enterprise stalwarts to help understand how 5G and MEC can assist or otherwise accelerate digital transformation initiatives, Palmer said. 

Verizon remains confident in its 5G strategy, an effort Palmer describes as leaning into the biggest challenges — mmWave and MEC — first, “because those are the two transformative pieces of the equation.”

Throughout the global pandemic, Palmer said her team deployed products on time and met all of the objectives it set out to hit at the beginning of the year. “Now, does that mean everything went according to plan? Of course not,” she said. 

Some 5G locations proved to be more challenging from a deployment standpoint and Verizon had to adjust. But other places also became easier with less traffic, the absence of typical rush hours, and other factors that can impact infrastructure construction timelines, Palmer explained.

Next year will be more of the same for Verizon and advancements in other areas: continued 5G deployments with dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) as a focus for broad low-band coverage, mmWave deployments in dense urban areas, and the commercialization of its 5G standalone core. Palmer also expects more 5G applications to start hitting the market in 2021.

Verizon and its employees, not unlike any other company or professional, faced tremendous challenges — both professional and personal this year. Palmer is still working through and overcoming these tests like the rest of us.

“One of the things that I realized early on is that I really missed the connection to the environment, the work environment with my colleagues, with my teams,” she said. Video conferencing software helped to fill that void, but it’s clear that Palmer like billions of people around the world are missing in-person human interaction. 

“In a weird way, I think the new ways of working are being highlighted to us,” Palmer said, adding that many employees are finding new ways to be more productive, but not all. It’s a mix, she said. 

Informal walk-and-talk meetings is one change that Palmer has especially enjoyed during the last 10 months. “I spend an hour every day of my time with two of my front-line employees. I do two half an hour walk-and-talks every single day and that gives me the ability to connect one-on-one with the front line, and they’ve been fantastic. People say they love them, but I’m the one who gets all the benefit,” she said. 

“There’s no agenda, we can talk about the weather, we can talk about your dog, we can talk about your career, we can talk about what you do, you could pitch me an idea,” Palmer said. “We have this sort of loose way of connecting.”

During these calls, some employees tell her they’re three times more productive now because they’re not distracted or dealing with the stresses of commuting into an office. “Other people say ‘I’m really struggling, I miss the office, my home setup is not conducive, I’ve got five kids running around,” she said. 

“It’s given me a better insight to my organization and how they’re feeling, and dealing with everything, and it’s been extremely valuable to me.”