Nokia and Hitachi Kokusai Electric are working together on local 5G and private wireless LTE solutions for industrial and government customers. Spectrum for local 5G will be released in Japan at the end of 2019 for enterprise use.
As part of the collaboration, the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud platform with its secure, reliable and low-latency connectivity will be used for applications including video analytics, AI, machine learning and IoT, as well as drones, group communication, and AR/VR.
It will also enable autonomous transport vehicles, such as trucks, trains, forklifts and straddle carriers, to increase productivity at factories, utilities, airports and ports.
“Industrial grade private wireless networks will be very important for our industry customers, helping them to become more efficient, automating dangerous operations, and improving worker safety,” said Kaichiro Sakuma, representative director, president and CEO of Hitachi Kokusai Electric. “Our collaboration with Nokia is helping to speed the delivery of these innovative capabilities to the Japanese market.”
The Japanese government is releasing 5G spectrum designated for individual companies and local governments (known in Japan as local 5G) at the end of 2019. This will enable enterprises, regional authorities and other organisations in Japan to deploy the next-generation of industrial-strength wireless connectivity based on LTE and 5G technologies to create local private, reliable networks.
Nokia and Hitachi Kokusai Electric will collaborate to provide an eco-system of solutions to support the deployment of new digital automation services.
Hitachi Kokusai Electric will share its expertise as a leader in driving the adoption of private LTE networks for industry use and disaster prevention in Japan. Nokia will lend its private LTE/4.9G and 5G wireless connectivity solutions, which have established a global marketplace footprint across energy, transportation, public sector, manufacturing and logistics.
“Partnerships such as this help us to better serve the increasing needs of local 5G and digitalisation technology in Japan. Collaborating with partners with in-depth knowledge and expertise across industry segments is critical to the widespread adoption of digital automation and private wireless solutions in industrial settings,” said John Harrington, head of Nokia Japan.
Nokia has deployed over 1,000 mission-critical networks with leading customers in the transport, energy, large enterprise, manufacturing, webscale and public sector segments around the globe. Leading enterprises across industries are leveraging our decades of experience building some of the biggest and most advanced IP, optical, and wireless networks on the planet. The Nokia Bell Labs Future X for industries architecture provides a framework for enterprises to accelerate their digitalisation and automation journey to Industry 4.0.
Nokia has also pioneered the private wireless space with many verticals, and now has over 80 large enterprise customers deploying it around the world.
