NEC to build 5G innovation lab for NSW Telco Authority

Electronics corporation NEC has been selected by the NSW Telco Authority to build the initial phase of a state-of-the-art 5G innovation lab as part of a new strategic partnership.

The innovation lab will provide an environment where the NSW Telco Authority and public safety agencies can explore new technologies, prove interoperability and push the boundaries of mobile technology in the context of public safety mobile broadband (PSMB) applications. The lab will run on Amazon Web Services (AWS) to provide an immersive 5G test bed experience in the cloud, enabling simple and fast application building, rapid deployment, scalability, resilience and life cycle automation.

“NEC is honoured to be a strategic partner to the NSW Telco Authority to help build practical and effective PSMB use cases and prove the value of a cloud native 5G core network combined with an Open Radio Access Network (RAN),” said Naohisa Matsuda, General Manager of NEC’s 5G Strategy and Business.

“The potential of these technologies is infinite. As we move towards a more 5G-centric era, we look forward to leveraging this partnership to address Australia’s digital divide and help drive cutting-edge 5G innovation.

“This first phase of the 5G innovation lab helps the NSW Telco Authority to test the latest cloud native core technology alongside Open RAN, explore cloud deployment options (to align with the NSW Government’s ‘public cloud first’ policy), build PSMB use cases and provide emergency service organisations (ESOs) with the mobile broadband capacity to facilitate easier communication and better situational awareness.”

NEC will deliver a turnkey end-to-end solution to design, supply, install and commission its cloud-native, fully containerised, 5G core on public cloud, in conjunction with a local distributed User Plane Function (UPF). The company will provide 5G Open RAN virtualised centralised and distributed (CU/DU) units, Open Radio Units (O-RUs) and customer-premises equipment (CPE) to leverage applications for the NSW Telco Authority.

NEC has been a long-term strategic partner to the NSW Telco Authority, providing wireless backhaul solutions for the NSW Public Safety Network (PSN) program via the ITS2573 NSW Government procurement panel.

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