The Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance (NGMN) and the 5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation (5G-ACIA) are looking to drive cooperation between operators and industries to capitalize on opportunities with industrial 5G.
The pair have announced an agreement to “jointly shape and promote” industrial 5G applications. They will develop a “technological foundation”, they said, for new business models to bring industrial-grade 5G to industry – and go beyond the consumer-oriented “mobile broadband applications of 5G”.
Their work will bring the operator community and the industrial set together around massive machine-type communications (mMTC) and ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC), as specified in the releases 16 and 17, scheduled for 2020 and 2021, of the 5G NR standard, as prescribed by the 3GPP, the mobile industry standards group.
Peter Meissner, chief executive of the NGMN Alliance, said: “This agreement is the foundation for extended progress and development of 5G for industrial applications. NGMN has already done substantial work in several of its projects, [such as] URLLC for vertical industries. The work of NGMN and 5G-ACIA enhances the mutual understanding of how 5G can better support the industry and we are looking forward to the close co-operation of these two major alliances to bring about significant progress.”
Andreas Mueller, chairman of 5G-ACIA, and a director at Bosch, said: “Only with a joint effort involving all relevant stakeholders, will it be possible to unlock the huge potential that 5G may bring to the manufacturing industry. The agreement sets the ground for a deeper exchange between 5G-ACIA and NGMN and for joint activities around the globe. Industrial 5G will soon become reality.”
NGMN, founded by mobile network operators in 2006, has worked on 5G developments since 2015, putting focus on collaboration between operators, vendors, universities, and other industry organisations.
The 5G-ACIA, founded as a working group within ZVEI (Zentralverband Elektrotechnik und Elektronik Industrie), Germany’s Central Association of Electrical Engineering and Electronics Industry, seeks to unite industry around 5G as a platform for Industry 4.0, bringing together parties from the OT and IT industries.
