Nokia has announced the launch of its first commercial 5G standalone (5G SA) network which aims to provide enterprise clients with high-performance private wireless networking solutions.
The announcement from the Finnish tech giant also addressed the demand for local 5G spectrum availability in countries such as Germany, Japan as well as the UK, which last week banned Huawei from its 5G infrastructure and is seeking a replacement to manufacture low-cost equipment.
Nokia is said to be one of the providers being considered by the UK government, alongside Sweden's Ericsson and Japan’s Fujitsu and NEC.
Nokia’s standalone 5G network solutions will provide enterprise customers with the choice of deploying Nokia Digital Automation Cloud, which the company describes as “a compact, plug-and-play system with automation enablers”, as well as the option to customise their network using the Nokia Modular Private Wireless.
The standalone 5G private wireless network will be deployed at Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology’s test mine in Tampere, Finland.
Nokia Enterprise president Raghav Sahgal said that the introduction of standalone 5G solutions will “set a new standard” for Nokia’s “enterprise customers (...), no matter their entry point or connectivity requirements”.
“Private wireless connectivity is central to our customers realizing their long-term digital transformation goals. By delivering 5G SA [standalone], we’re paving the way to accelerate digitalization in the most demanding of use cases such as automotive manufacturing, where cloud, robotics and autonomous machine operations create mission-critical demands for reliable low latency and high data rate,” he said.
Nokia also recently announced 5G private wireless deployments for companies including Lufthansa Technik and Toyota Production Engineering.
Earlier this month, Vodafone revealed plans to launch a standalone 5G network for Coventry University, as part of a new virtual reality (VR) learning option for student nurses and allied health professionals.
Meanwhile, BT also announced that it is working with the Worcestershire 5G Testbed (W5G) to deliver the UK’s first live 5G factory installation.
BT’s Enterprise business CEO Gerry McQuade said that by “working with W5G and Worcester Bosch”, the company is “creating a smart factory where machines can learn and adapt to changes on the factory floor as they happen, and make instant, autonomous decisions to optimise the production line."
The installation has been switched on at the Worcestershire 5G Testbed, with local engineering company Worcester Bosch working with BT and W5G to explore ways of boosting productivity through robotics, IoT, big data analytics and augmented reality.
