Forget the console. 5G-fast gaming on mobile devices is about to hit the mainstream. Verizon Communications Inc. and Amazon Web Services Inc. have joined forces to create what they say is a world’s first: 5G edge cloud computing.

Currently live for residents of the Windy City but expected to expand across the U.S. in 2020, the service combines Verizon’s 5G network with the ultra-low latency of Amazon’s Wavelength compute and storage. This means the ability to deliver single-digit-millisecond latencies to mobile devices is no longer a dream. Edge delivery of applications over 5G is happening right now.

“It’s live, and it’s working,” said Steve Szabo (pictured), head of global products and solutions, IoT and 5G edge, at Verizon Communications Inc. “Folks are literally leveraging GPU/CPU-intensive graphic and gaming streaming content. And they’re using a Bluetooth controller, and they’re doing it on a Verizon 5G device.”

Szabo spoke with Lisa Martin and John Furrier, co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas. They discussed the announcement of 5G cloud edge computing. (* Disclosure below.)

A new way to think about resource allocation

The service works by integrating AWS’ cloud capabilities with Verizon’s 5G radio access.

“Customers will have access to everything that they were using from an AWS perspective,” Szabo said. “But then also be able to leverage Verizon’s network capability.”

This opens the door for developers to make ultra-low latency applications for gaming, streaming, augmented and virtual reality, and machine learning at the edge.

“[It gives] developers and businesses alike the opportunity to … leverage the bandwidth, the latency type use cases, and really transform the way that folks are thinking about leveraging the network,” Szabo said.

One high-profile use case was being demoed at this week’s re:Invent conference by video game publisher Bethesda Softworks LLC. “Bethesda is actually gaming with it, leveraging AWS Wavelength … [and] they couldn’t do it without the edge, right? They would not have the real-time gaming capabilities to actually work without it,” Szabo said.

Jassy brings AWS to the edge

The announcement at re:Invent was foreshadowed by Amazon Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy in an exclusive interview with John Furrier, host of theCUBE.

“We will introduce some additional capabilities that are really aimed to try and address what we see as some of the big challenges in having that much more data, scale more than ever before,” Jassy said. “Companies are going to want to eliminate network hops and find a way to have the compute and the storage much more local to the 5G network edge,” he added.

This is the whole thesis of Amazon’s shift, according to Furrier. “They’re bringing Amazon to the edge,” he said.

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of AWS re:Invent. (* Disclosure: Amazon Web Services Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither AWS nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE