Telecommunications companies Spark and Ericsson together with an American software company Red Hat, announced the successful completion of a 5G Standalone (5G SA) trial in New Zealand.
According to Spark in a release, the 5G Standalone trial was underpinned by Ericsson’s cloud-native 5G core running on Red Hat OpenShift, integrated with Spark’s 5G Fixed Wireless Access Network (FWA) to test enhanced wireless broadband.
In contrast to previous wireless technologies, the trial, according to Spark, shows how 5G Standalone technology can achieve the low latency, high bandwidth, and dependability needed for high-performance use cases like real-time video analytics.
The trial is a part of Spark’s continuous efforts to prepare for the large-scale rollout of a 5G Standalone network in the future.
According to Nilay Rathod, technology tribe lead at Spark, this proof-of-concept demonstration by Red Hat and Ericsson shows the potential that 5G standalone technology gives to their Spark network, opening the door to capacity and low latency to help advance Internet of Things developments like linked cars, smart cities, and industrial IoT.
“Trialing the solutions offered by Ericsson and Red Hat is an important step for us to identify the optimal combination of vendors and solutions to deliver the benefits we want to achieve, as we work to bring relevant use cases specific to New Zealand’s local requirements.” said Rathod.
Meanwhile, for Emilio Romeo, head of Ericsson, Australia and New Zealand, the technology portfolio offered by Ericsson to support 5G Standalone offers communications service providers, their partners, and customers a path toward 5G maturity and future preparedness.
“This trial with Spark and Red Hat clearly demonstrates the range of capabilities and use cases made possible by a network underpinned by Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core technology including ultra-low latency and access to higher data rates for applications such as cloud gaming, immersive video and real-time robotics control,” said Romeo.
