After a year filled with setbacks and negative news due to the COVID-19 outbreak that affected the world, both the manufacturing and retail sectors can celebrate new horizons and positive prospects. The telecommunications experts at Verizon are teaming up with folks at Deloitte to provide innovative business solutions through 5G and mobile edge computing (MEC).
By combining forces, the goal will be to bring together the best of each companies’ capabilities to create these innovative solutions and increase the function of enterprises throughout both sectors. Deloitte will be bringing its expertise as engineering masters to the table while Verizon will provide its 5G Edge MEC platform, mobile and private wireless networks, and SD-WAN capabilities. Together, they will begin by launching a smart factory in Richardson, TX, at Verizon’s Customer Technology Center. The factory will be able to find and predict defects while a product is still in production on the assembly line using sensor-based detection and MEC. When detected, plant engineers and managers will be alerted as they occur.
This will help the companies reduce resources that are normally allocated to manual quality inspection, reduce waste, improve productivity, and create a more efficient plant overall. Verizon’s SD-WAN and VNS Application Edge will combine software-defined controls and application lifecycle management. Tami Erwin, the CEO of Verizon Business, released a statement saying that “By bringing together Verizon’s 5G and MEC prowess with Deloitte’s deep industry expertise and track record in system integration with large enterprises on smart factories, we plan to deliver cutting-edge solutions that will close the gap between digital business operations and legacy manufacturing environments and unlock the value of the end-to-end digital enterprise. This collaboration is part of Verizon’s broader strategy to align with enterprises, startups, universities, and government to explore how 5G and MEC can disrupt and transform nearly every industry.”
Verizon’s approach to MEC is two-fold with the company looking to produce revenue streams from both private MEC and public MEC. Working with Amazon, Verizon had a goal of unleashing at least 10 by the end of 2020, and on the private side of things, MEC will be used in areas that can contain their information within their sites (ex. factories and retail stores). The future of these efforts will be interesting developments as we continue to watch 5G grow into more aspects of our lives and the lives of the companies around us. With the potential of enhancing functions such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and increased artificial intelligence (AI), the MEC and 5G applications we see today should multiply their functions for manufacturing, retail, and beyond in the not so distant future.
Source: Fierce Wireless