IBM is collaborating with Verizon to expand the capabilities at its Industry Solution Lab in Coppell, TX to include a testbed environment for developing and testing innovative, 5G-enabled use cases for Industry 4.0 applications.
Enterprise customers at the lab will be able to develop and test how Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband, which is being deployed in select cities across the US, can be combined with hybrid cloud, edge, and AI technologies to deliver a new class of intelligent applications and next gen use cases like robotics, guided vehicles, manufacturing process automation, visual quality inspection, data analytics and more.
This lab demonstrates the power of optimizing solutions for a new era of hybrid cloud that leverages the growing relationship between ‘connectivity + compute’ to create new value. The lab will provide hands-on experience for enterprises as they seek ways to leverage the new 5G capabilities – reduced latency, increased bandwidth, network slicing and edge – by trialing new use cases and highly automated deployment and management approaches.
To power these trial use cases, Verizon has installed 5G Ultra Wideband and its Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) platform to enable customers to experience the value of high speed, reliability, and ultra-low latency. The approach includes the seamless integration of IBM’s hybrid cloud and AI technologies, which run on Red Hat OpenShift. Taken together, customers will have access to an environment that is designed to deliver a level of performance that enables truly innovative solutions and use cases to accelerate their transformation to Industry 4.0.
The testbed provides a pre-commercial, standalone 5G and MEC environment and, importantly, technical resources and expertise needed to test and optimize products. Customers can co-create business-specific use cases and jointly work with IBM Global Business Services and our ecosystem partners to leverage these technologies in addressing current business challenges and bringing new solutions and services to market.
