Everybody in the tech space with an interest in 5G – which is pretty much everybody in the tech space – is now turning their attention to this next-generation cellular technology.
But building the networks and endpoints that will deliver on the super fast, ultra-low latency promise of 5G is no easy task. That’s why important companies like Intel and Nokia (News - Alert) are coming together to test and develop various aspects of 5G.
The companies this week announced plans to open joint 5G labs in Espoo, Finland, and Murray Hill, N.J.
“Nokia and Intel (News - Alert) have a long history of creating essential development environments for new technologies,” said Frank Weyerich, head of mobile networks products at Nokia. “5G has the potential to create an unprecedented breadth of commercial opportunities for new and even as-yet unidentified players, and our joint 5G Solutions Lab will provide them with an invaluable resource to develop and incubate new possibilities.”
Intel will contribute its Intel 5G Mobile Trial Platform, mmWave research, NB-IoT technology, massive MIMO knowledge, small cell solutions, network slicing capabilities, software-defined virtual RAN offering, Multi-Access Edge Computing solutions, and cloud expertise. Nokia will bring its cloud, mobile transport, and radio access solutions and experience, as well as its massive MIMO research. (Nokia has published a white paper suggesting that radio spectrum is a scarce resource and saying that employing mmWave frequency spectrum can help meet market needs. Using mmWave spectrum in the 30 to 100GHz range, the paper says, can deliver much more bandwidth than the current sub 6GHz spectrum. It is more suitable for small cell deployments, Nokia says. And, the company adds, it can be deployed in urban micro, suburban micro, and indoor hotspots.)
In addition to working on 5G, the labs will leverage LTE (News - Alert), 4.5G, 4.5G Pro, and 4.9G technologies. Nokia has been pushing the message that, while 5G is important, various iterations of 4G mean that technology still has a long life ahead of it.
Edited by
Alicia Young
