The coronavirus has slowed a number of global markets, but the sensor industry is not one of them. Sensors control lights and temperature in homes and hotels, are installed in a wide range of industrial applications, can now be found in most automobiles, and are even carried around by the 3.5 billion people who own smartphones.

The global sensor market is still projected to reach $227 billion by 2025, and it has become a significant factor for not only driving digital transformation, but also shaping the strategies of major technology firms as the pace of change accelerates.

“In my mind, digital transformation is catching up with where the world is going,” said Jeff Clarke (pictured), chief operating officer and vice chairman of Dell Technologies Inc. “If you look at the cost of a sensor and how those sensors are now being placed in everything, and all of the data that’s being collected as a result, that’s certainly the forefront of what’s happening. And every business has to deal with it.”

Clarke spoke with Dave Vellante, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during the Dell Technologies World Digital Experience event. They discussed the evolving role of 5G and how it will influence Dell’s strategic approach in providing multicloud solutions. (* Disclosure below.)

Impact of 5G

A key technology that will drive the direction of the enterprise will be deployment of the new 5G wireless standard. Dell and VMware Inc. recently joined with Microsoft as participants in the 5G Open Innovation Lab, a global community of enterprises, governments and developers to provide engineering and tech resources.

“I think 5G is the next data fabric for the data era,” Clarke said. “What we have is the first opportunity to bring a cloud environment to the telco space that hasn’t happened before. The opportunity is large for us; it’s one of the single biggest opportunities that we see for Dell and VMware, and we’re going to pursue it together.”

That pursuit will be key for both companies, because it plays directly into a long-term multicloud/hybrid cloud strategy.

“We see the world of edge, cloud and 5G, those three circles, intersecting to a high degree,” Clarke explained. “Those cloud things can’t be separate; they have to be a set of systems. In fact, it has to become an integrated system. We’re certainly into the ballgame here of helping customers orchestrate a multicloud/hybrid cloud environment.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Dell Technologies World Digital Experience event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Dell Technologies World. Neither Dell Technologies, the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE