Under the terms of the agreement, both firms will establish a lab in Hangzhou
Nokia and China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile carrier in terms of subscribers, have signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to investigate the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to optimize future networks and enable the delivery of new edge cloud and 5G services.
Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will jointly establish a laboratory in Hangzhou, China to develop the demo system to verify technology use cases using Nokia’s 5G Future X architecture. The deal also stipulates that China Mobile will lead the research in terms of scenario selection, requirements confirmation, open API standardization and solution definition.
Under the MoU, Nokia and China Mobile will work together to research the application of AI and machine learning to ensure any changes in demand are predicted and network resources are automatically allocated to meet all service demands with consistent high quality and reliability, the two firms said.
At the new laboratory in Hangzhou, Nokia and China Mobile will foster an open Radio Access Network and 5G ecosystem working with third parties to leverage AI and machine learning and optimize networks for the delivery of services such as cloud virtual reality gaming. The companies’ research will use the Nokia AirScale Cloud RAN, AirFrame OpenRack, open edge server and ReefShark chipsets, as well as Nokia’s AI middleware to access embedded intelligence. Nokia and China Mobile will also conduct technology field trials and demonstrations.
“China Mobile has been paying attention to the application of artificial intelligence for a long time, and making effort to build an open and collaborative 5G+AI ecosystem,” said Yuhong Huang, deputy general manager of China Mobile Research Institute (CMRI). “With the signing of this MoU, we are pleased to initiate the collaboration on the research of big data and machine learning technologies applying to 5G RAN network,” he added.
“The work we are doing with China Mobile is a prime example of how we can help our customers unlock the potential within their 5G networks using open interfaces and toolkits,” said Marc Rouanne, president of Mobile Networks at Nokia. “The use of AI and machine learning will enable myriad new services opportunities and we are pleased to leverage the capabilities of our 5G Future X architecture to support China Mobile’ AI research to optimize future networks and the delivery of many innovative new services.”
Earlier this year, Nokia and China Mobile signed an agreement under which the two companies will jointly investigate how the Chinese operator can extend its service offerings for vertical markets using the capabilities of 5G technology.
The joint research, which was announced during the 2018 Mobile World Congress, will focus on how industries could benefit from the growth of smart cities, smart transportation and intelligent video analytics, Nokia said.
The Finnish vendor also highlighted that the deployment of 5G will allow China Mobile to leverage network slicing to support new services and businesses simultaneously with different service level requirements. Under the agreement, which extends Nokia and China Mobile’s existing 5G collaboration, the companies will jointly research and trial use-cases leveraging Nokia 5G Future X network architecture as well as NB-IoT and multi-access edge computing (MEC). The research, which will take place at China Mobile’s 5G joint innovation lab, will aim to better understand how industries can be integrated into the smart city ecosystem to take advantage of the massive new connectivity of people and things.
