Chip giant Nvidia this week threw its considerable weight behind a telecom initiative that is set to cause untold chaos, I can’t wait to sign off on: 6G.

Nvidia’s push was through a technology and financial deal with established telecom equipment vendor Nokia. The technology aspect is through Nvidia’s new Aerial RAN Computer Pro (ARC-Pro) accelerated computing platform that is claimed to be 6G native and targeted at operators shifting from the currently established 5G-Advanced specification to the not-yet-established-because-it-does-not-exist-and-won't-for-several-years 6G specification.

I guess it’s also notable that the financial terms of the deal, which has Nvidia investing $1 billion into Nokia for a near-3% stake in the vendor. I am going under the assumption that this investment amount is coming from Nvidia CEO Jenson Huang’s petty cash drawer or something he dug up, having an assistant rummage through the cashmere-covered couch on his space station pod.

Nvidia tiptoed around the whole no 6G specification exists, so how can you call something 6G question by positioning the new platform as being a base for a 6G-centric future featuring drones, cars, robots, and extended-reality wearables. Nvidia’s SVP of telecom, Ronnie Vasishta, furthered that nebulous future by calling AI a “critical factor” in the formation of new 5G and 6G standards during an Nvidia press briefing.

I am going to guess that the AI as a “critical factor” part is both in terms of actual technology evolution and also the need for everything new announced nowadays to include an AI connection or otherwise not be considered relevant.

Now, Nvidia is a big name in the chip game, and anytime Huang struts on stage – which seems to be all the time, everywhere – the technology herds start wagging their tails. This is even more pronounced for the telecom industry, which, despite a seemingly blessed existence of near-worldwide adoption, seemingly can’t get out of its own operational way.

Telecom operators and vendors have for years invested untold trillions of dollars into their networks and services, only to constantly be unable to produce an enviable return on those investments.

However, this time they have found a new path, and it’s 6G. This technology evolution is set to straighten out all past ills and pave a smooth path toward operational enlightenment. No pressure.

The only small hurdle is that there is not yet a 6G technology standard as deemed by our 3GPP overlords that are in charge of such important matters. Some might question their suitability for such a task considering they are still using a telecom technology term in their name that was coined as part of its formation last century, but they are the nerds that have been put in charge of such an important task.

Now, in case you have missed it or are not hip to telecom’s tedious technology history, the industry is just past the halfway point of a decade, which means we’re in luck and it’s time to fire up the “next G” machine. The innovation monster must be fed, and feed it the industry will.

However, establishing technology standards that everyone can agree on takes time and eventually leads to results no one is happy with. How much time? Well, 3GPP is working toward having a 6G standard ratified sometime early in the next decade. Next decade!?!

Did you read the part about the telecom industry’s ineptitude?

Nvidia obviously knows this and is acting appropriately: throw money at the problem and let those that can catch that money figure it out. Or at least hope that “Wayback Machine” does indeed run out of money.

Verizon set the stage

Nvidia’s 6G tact follows a somewhat different but no less bold one set forth by Verizon, which recently launched the awesomely named 6G Innovation Forum. Everything about that name is awesome! Who doesn’t like 6G, innovation, or a forum? And putting all three of those together? Brilliant!

This aptly named group consists of a handful of partners – Ericsson, Samsung, Nokia, Meta, and Qualcomm – self-tasked with the heady goal of establishing “an open, diversified, and resilient 6G ecosystem and develop foundational 6G technologies while ensuring global alignment."

The best part of this effort is that they’re only letting a few select people into this elite club, which is always the best way to drive technological change. You know what more people bring to a club? More ideas, opinions, and other friends you would never invite into your club. Who wants to deal with that?

Verizon CTO Yago Tenorio said it best when he told SDxCentral: “I know it sounds a lot, self-centered and selfish, but if the purpose is to be first, we may have to go it alone.”

Verizon made a similar move 10 years ago that resulted in the carrier being one of the first to launch a quasi-5G network service. Sure, the carrier eventually replaced all of that equipment a short time later with new gear that was standards-compliant, but what’s that saying about eggs and omelets?

Tenorio was ready for that obvious question of history with an even more obvious answer: this time it will be different.

“This time around, we want to design a 6G system with a set of use cases in mind, so that it comes to solve some problems, pressing problems, and enable some things that you cannot do today,” Tenorio said.

That’s all well-and-good, Mr. Tenorio, and maybe indeed it will be different this time around, but I did not hear you say the magic word.

“Every system has been designed with downlink in mind, with radios that could be like nine-to-one or eight-to-two, or downlink dominated everything and uplink was a minority,” Tenorio said, noting current 5G network standards favoring more spectrum assets tied to the downlink channel in support of video streaming services. “Well, that may change. AI may change that.”

All I heard was “AI” and if I know anything, it’s that AI means flying cars, butler robots, and a cold beer.

More importantly, I did not hear about some standards body that as previously mentioned thinks it’s still the 1990s. Go watch “Friends” 3GPP!

5G for now … why!?!

In the meantime, operators and vendors have professed their interest in continuing to invest in the current 5G standard despite the marketing foolishness of such a move. Why invest in something that even my mom knows something about when they should be investing in something that no one can really explain but has a bigger number?

Don’t get me wrong, I love 5G. It’s been fun seeing my on-device network speed testing app spin nearly off the chart with numbers that just a short time ago needed the highest tier of fiber connectivity to achieve.

It’s even more fun when I can run these tests uninterrupted by my device mid-test deciding that it would rather be on a different technology band (thanks 3GPP!), but I think it only does that to remind me of just how much better that 5G connection is.

But, beyond those really cool speeds, what has 5G really done for us? Where’s the real innovation, the flying cars, the robot butler, the always cold beer we were promised?

Exactly. 5G is a failure and we have all the things that we don’t have to prove it.

It’s time for 6G to save us, so thank you Nvidia for not letting something small like a lack of technology standards stand in your way of making our lives better through bigger numbers.