Ericsson powers multi-campus network with 5G Distributed Innovation Network

Ericsson continues its foray into investments in 5G research and development. Its customers and partners now have access to its latest tech, a 5G edge computing environment, and will be able to run no-risk, real-world experiences as they work directly with the teams that enabled them, simplifying implementation. 

Ericsson’s proprietary 5G Distributed Innovation Network added another live 5G network, now powering its North Texas campuses. The company hopes the new multi-campus network will demonstrate how an end-to-end 5G ecosystem functions in an enterprise environment. Ericsson also hopes it will showcase how edge computing can enable new services and applications, and can provide a platform for both partnership and innovation.

SEE: Future of 5G: Projections, rollouts, use cases, and more (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

The 5G Distributed Innovation Network offers a collaborative environment for operators, application developers, hyperscalers, and hardware manufacturers developing solutions for 5G.

The campuses include Plano Ericsson Village, Ericsson’s 38-acre North American headquarters near Legacy Park, as well as its research facility located nine miles away, Ericsson’s Richardson Labs. Ericsson will use Dell Technologies hardware at the Ericsson Village to present what an Ericsson press release described as “a realistic hardware configuration for the edge network.”

Operators can provide new services and generate revenue streams from 5G and essential edge computing. Ericsson hopes new virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and gaming applications for enterprise and Internet of Things (IoT) services will provide users with an improved experience on a lightweight device. 

In the press release Head of digital services for Ericsson North America Tomas Ageskog credited the company’s “decades” in the communications technology industry, and Ericsson’s focus on innovation as enabling the company to predict customers’ challenges. Ageskog added that the end-to-end network has the potential to provide a platform for trial and development “to demonstrate what end-users face in deploying 5G in an enterprise environment across devices, access, transport, and core.”

An SD-WAN connection to the public cloud supports both 5G Core Stand-Alone (SA) and integrated Non-standalone (NSA) radio access network (RAN), as do radio and mobile transport for full application cloud-to-device connectivity, management, and orchestration.

SEE: 5G: What it means for IoT (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

A future potential issue in the industry, an Ericsson press release noted, is network slicing, a critical aspect in building and managing a network. Network slicing enables operators to move beyond offering customers simple connectivity, such as value-added digital services. Ericsson’s new network shows “management and orchestration and automation of end-to-end network slicing using 5G Core SA, RAN, Transport, assurance, and SD-WAN,” the press release said.

Various partners have presented demos and use cases, which Ericsson described as running the gamut from network slicing to a drone launch, featuring video, IoT, and AR “application over 5G mmWave with mid-band LTE anchor,” as well as running a smart boat over Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) around the lake at the Plano Ericsson Village.

This summer, TechRepublic wrote about Ericsson’s release of a software update to allow existing Ericsson hardware manufactured since 2015 to transition to standalone 5G New Radio (NR). 5G deployments were hampered because 4G LTE had to be used as an under layer (non-standalone, or NSA 5G), but with the new standalone 5G NR, there was no more need for an LTE backbone. The article predicted increased speed as a result.

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