From inside the industry, it seems almost unfathomable that someone hasn’t heard the term 5G. We talk about it constantly, somehow niggling its way into every discussion – spectrum and tests, densification and CapEx, fixed and wireless. Telecom’s obsession with 5G has grown to the point where even the carriers themselves are criticizing each other for jumping the gun. But it seems that all the hype may not be expanding as far beyond our bubble as we think.

New data from ABI Research indicates a whopping 62 percent of enterprise companies had no familiarity with 5G. And just over a third (37 percent) said they’re just starting to even look into the technology.

But 5G isn’t the only up and coming technology companies were in the dark about. A whopping 93 percent of companies had no awareness of blockchain, only 7 percent had already or were planning to adopt autonomous vehicle solutions, and just 22 percent of companies were exploring indoor location solutions – a key component in IoT solutions for vertical markets like retail.

So what exactly are enterprises focused on?

“The survey clearly shows that we are currently in the phase of adding connectivity to physical first products,” Stuart Carlaw, chief research officer at ABI Research, observed. “The top three most significant technology segments identified by respondents all centered on connecting physical first products to digital domains. These were wired (Ethernet, PoE), short-range wireless (Bluetooth, WiFi), and cellular technologies (4G/4.5G, LTE-M, NB-IoT, LPWA).”

To close the gap between industry and enterprise awareness will require “significant education and awareness activities,” Carlaw said.

ABI Research said its data is based on a first quarter survey of 455 U.S.-based companies in nine vertical markets spanning retail, healthcare, transportation, logistics, automotive, manufacturing, utilities, consumer packaged goods, and government.