Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson has partnered with Three Ireland and Glanbia Ireland for the nation’s first 5G campus network, the company announced on Wednesday
The new 5G network aims to enhance coverage in facilities, trial virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), provide radio coverage via the firm’s Radio Dot System, and test future solutions at additional plants.
Ericsson’s technologies will facilitate operations at Glanbia’s Ballyragget, County Kilkenny-based dairy processing plant — the first of its kind in a live manufacturing facility in the country.
John Griffin, Chief Executive of Ericsson Ireland, said:
“5G offers the biggest ever potential platform for innovation and this exciting strategic partnership between Three Ireland, Ericsson and Glanbia will unlock the real value of Industry 4.0 for Ireland’s manufacturing sector”
He added 5G could provide foundations for Ireland to “revolutionise critical industries”, leading to “future innovation and economic growth.”
VR Networks for Industry and Defence
The developments come amid a major partnership between Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies, with the latter launching a global partnership with dozens of top tech firms to build 5G technologies and develop an official ecosystem complete with shared access to resources, materials, and industry contacts.
The partnership comes amid Qualcomm’s push for mmWave telecoms systems aimed at facilitating the “convergence of the physical, digital, and virtual worlds”, as well as designing new devices to enhance virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) infrastructure globally.
Qualcomm made the announcement at the Mobile World Congress 2021 in Barcelona in June, where it unveiled a ‘boundless extended reality (XR)’ infrastructure programme to boost end-to-end communication systems for enterprise-level and gaming VR users.
Cole Engineering Services (CESI) also received $31.3 million in June to build prototype VR/AR networks at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) in Washington.
The experimental network aims to showcase the capabilities of immersive technologies in upcoming missions based on the US Department of Defense’s 5G Strategy Implementation Plan.
