Airspan Networks, Coalition Deploy Enterprise Private 5G Pilot in France

SHARE THIS ARTICLE

Airspan Networks is part of a coalition that has announced the launch of a private 5G enterprise connectivity pilot. The incubation project, according to the company, is one of the first to test end-to-end private 5G in real estate using disaggregated architecture, according to Colt Technology Services, a multinational telecommunications company.

The consortium will provide private 5G networks to the PB5 La Défense building in Paris, enabling the exploration of varied use cases for the co-working space environment managed by imagin’Office. This field lab ecosystem will test 5G use cases, including creating immersive experiences for the future workplace for a variety of industries.

The pilot will help enterprises understand the benefits of 5G for business verticals such as real estate, construction, retail and healthcare. Airspan will provide the radio units, 5G modems and software and parts of its end-to-end Open RAN solutions portfolio. Athonet will provide its Griffone 5G-SA mobile core. And ADVA will provide the underlying infrastructure components, including hosting of virtual functions. The project, which is coordinated by Colt, includes: Athonet, an Italian equipment supplier; Accedian, a performance analytics company; and Tibco Telecoms, a digital services company.

The benefits of 5G use cases in the PB5 Building in La Défense will include high-density connectivity for a heightened employee working experience and increased productivity; simplified and accelerated private network deployment; complete network management for service providers, including design, deployment and monitoring; and reliable high-performance  to meet service level agreements.

Airspan CEO Eric Stonestrom said the private network space is “exploding,” addressing the company’s third quarter earnings call. In recent years, Airspan has provided the RAN equipment for Gogo’s air-to-ground business, as well as connected car applications for McLaren’s F1 racing team and NASCAR partner SportsMedia Technology. 

“Regarding private networks, we generally sell here through enterprise partners,”  Stronestrom said. “The customer demand here is large from some of the most prominent companies in the world and this segment didn’t exist prior to the latest technologies.”

During the third quarter, Airspan Networks announced plans to collaborate on the launch of a 5G-enabled Open RAN testbed across the IBM Watson IoT Center in Munich, Germany and IBM’s Global Industry Solution Center in Nice, France, to showcase long-distance control over 5G-enabled edge computing. And in October, the company completed 5G and Open RAN interoperability tests of the Citizens Broadband Radio Service spectrum band using a mobile test device powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon® X60 5G Modem-RF System. 

Stonestrom described the use cases in the private 5G segment as “endless,” including the internet of things, factory and warehouse floors, stadiums, corporate and university campuses, air-to-ground communications, and connected cars. 

“One private network build-out we are particularly excited about is with air-to-ground communications provider Gogo,” he said. “We supplied the radio hardware and software for what we believe will be the largest private network in the world so far covering the entire United States. Stay tuned for more progress on that partnership.”

By J. Sharpe Smith Inside Towers Technology Editor

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.