Verizon has opened a new 5G Lab and production studio in London to support its international business and media customers, the U.S. carrier said in a release.
This new opening represents the company’s first 5G-enabled facility outside the United States.
The lab, which is now open for business, is located at Verizon’s Mid City Place office in central London, and offers a live Verizon 5G-enabled environment where organizations can develop and test 5G applications and experiences.
Verizon’s 5G Labs are designed to allow start-ups, academics, companies and organizations work with Verizon in the new facility to explore the potential of 5G network technology and co-create new applications and hardware.
Organizations visiting the lab can see existing 5G use cases and experiences in action, and can also work with the Verizon team to develop 5G-enabled applications, the carrier said.
Potential use cases include exploring how autonomous vehicles, smart communities, virtual healthcare, smart manufacturing, the industrial Internet of Things, immersive education, augmented and virtual reality and responsive gaming can be enhanced with 5G’s speeds, massive bandwidth and low latency, Verizon said.
“Verizon has proven expertise in delivering 5G in the U.S.,” said Tami Erwin, group CEO for Verizon Business. “One of the best ways of unleashing the true possibilities of 5G is getting it into the hands of innovators and visionaries. Our London facility enables our international customers to benefit from this expertise as they look to deploy 5G-enabled applications and experiences.”
The London Lab showcases a selection of 5G-enabled use cases across a number of different verticals, including advertising and entertainment, education, manufacturing, medical, retail, utilities and venues, according to Verizon. These include a mobile command center, an augmented shopping experience and smart retail shelving and an intelligent asset management.
In addition, Verizon plans to open a 5G-enabled production studio in London in April 2020 to complement the 5G Lab facility. The studio will offer a space where Verizon Media’s owned and operated brands, as well as its partners and customers, can produce premium quality, 3D content including virtual and augmented reality experiences using state-of-the-art facilities like volumetric capture, motion capture and AR broadcast. It is also 5G-enabled, providing an incubator space for innovative creative companies to test and learn about how they can build content in the future that benefits from its capabilities to transmit massive amounts of data almost instantaneously.
Verizon already operates 5G Labs in the United States in New York, Washington D.C., Cambridge (MA), San Jose, and Los Angeles. The company also opened a 5G First Responder Lab within its Washington D.C. facility, and a 5G sports training facility within its Los Angeles facility.
