The march toward a wireless world took another big step this week.

Cisco is partnering with Verizon in its aggressive roadmap for fifth-generation, or 5G, wireless technology.

By working closely with Cisco and other technology leaders, Verizon aims to launch 5G field technology trials next year. Last month, the companies kicked-off the first-ever Verizon 5G Technology Forum, co-hosted by Cisco, and have established working teams to ensure an aggressive pace of innovation.

By nearly all accounts, 5G technology should be introduced in the U.S. sometime after 2020, but Verizon is accelerating the expected rate of innovation, and Cisco is very pleased to help drive this new wave of development.

According to the latest annual update of the Cisco? Visual Networking Index? (VNI) Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast for 2014 to 2019, issued in February, Global mobile data traffic will increase nearly tenfold between 2014 and 2019, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 57 percent during the period, reaching 24.3 exabytes per month by 2019.

Robust wireless networks will be critical in facilitating this growth, which is being driven by the ongoing adoption of more powerful mobile devices and machine-to-machine (M2M) connections. We believe 5G will be instrumental in helping the industry develop a new economic model for offering new services for the next wave of digitization that is just around the corner.

New 5G network environments, or "sandboxes," are being created in Verizon's Waltham, Mass., and San Francisco Innovation Centers. Just like in the early days of the development of 4G LTE technology, collaborating in a shared environment will foster compelling applications faster. (Pictured right is the Connected Athlete demonstration, which was featured in Verizon Innovation Center West when it re-opened in San Francisco in late 2013.)

"5G is no longer a dream of the distant future," said Roger Gurnani, executive vice president and chief information and technology architect for Verizon. "We feel a tremendous sense of urgency to push forward on 5G and mobilize the ecosystem by collaborating with industry leaders and developers to usher in a new generation of innovation."