umlaut launches ‘5G campus lab’, an open RAN private network to speed development of connectivity solutions
Aachen, Germany. 30 June 2022 – umlaut, part of Accenture, has opened a private 5G standalone, Open RAN network in Aachen, Germany. The “5G Campus Lab” enables companies across industries to design, test and implement ultra-high-speed and low-latency connectivity solutions faster without having to invest in building their own network.
Powerful wireless connectivity is becoming increasingly important as companies are heading towards a total enterprise reinvention, which will transform every part of their business through technology, data and artificial intelligence. Some examples of this transformation include connected vehicles and bringing robotics and cloud-based automation solutions to factories, which will generate massive amounts of data and put enormous pressure on data networks.
The 5G campus lab offers the following capabilities and services:
- Companies can validate their existing 5G use cases to identify and resolve issues up-front, such as ensuring that different end-devices and sensors work smoothly together. They can go hand-on without having to set up their own private 5G networks, which are costly to build and usually require obtaining a license from network authorities.
- Companies can experiment with umlaut’s use cases. These include but aren’t limited to the following areas: smart manufacturing, including process automation and predictive maintenance; telemedicine with a digitised rescue chain; software-defined vehicles; and real-time augmented reality for digital twins.
- With its holistic engineering and industry expertise, umlaut helps companies develop and deploy new individual 5G use cases, which leverag technologies, apply security-by-design, and support energy efficiency.
- umlaut supports clients looking to build their own private network with its deep understanding of the challenges behind the integration and interoperability of network devices and technologies such as Open RAN.
The 5G Campus Lab covers indoor and outdoor areas and provides 100 MHz of C-Band spectrum. As a 5G standalone network, it doesn’t require LTE technology for signaling and information transfer. It is supported by Open RAN, an emerging technology using open interfaces that allow for the communication of software and hardware components from different vendors, enabling innovative wireless solutions at low costs.
Hakan Ekmen, CEO Telecommunication at umlaut, says, “5G is a key enabler of smart connected products and manufacturing. Our 5G Campus Lab is the ideal testing ground for companies wanting to capitalise on latest wireless connectivity technologies, cloud-based Open RAN virtualised infrastructure, and massive Multi-Input, Multi-Output (MIMO) antennas.”
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