To investigate the use of the technology for public safety mobile broadband (PSMB) applications, the NSW Telco Authority has hired NEC to construct a cloud-backed 5G lab.
According to a statement from NEC, the lab will be powered by AWS “to enable an immersive 5G testbed experience in the cloud, enabling simple and fast application building, rapid deployment, scalability, resilience, and lifecycle automation.”
The setting will allow the NSW Telco Authority and NSW public safety organisations to experiment with cutting-edge technology and demonstrate interoperability.
To showcase applications to the NSW Telco Authority, the lab will feature NEC’s centralised and distributed virtualized 5G Open RAN unit, open radio units, and customer premises equipment.
A complete turnkey solution, including design, procurement, installation, and commissioning, will be provided.
NEC will “help establish practical and effective PSMB use cases and prove the advantages of a cloud native 5G core network integrated with an open radio access network (RAN),” according to Naohisa Matsuda, general manager of NEC’s 5G strategy and business.
There are planned additional, more specific phases of the construction.
NEC has a long history of serving the Authority as a provider. Under the ITS2573 NSW procurement panel, it provides wireless backhaul services for the public safety network.
The business was one of many mentioned in April to assist the Authority in evaluating various mobile tower sharing options.