Ericsson brings to life innovative solutions in 5G

Ericsson hosted the Taste of Barcelona India Roadshow 2017 in Gurgaon today Comprising of over 25 state-of-the-art technology use cases, Ericsson sought to showcase its innovative solutions towards industry’s digital frontier, with 5G clearly being the big focus at the exhibition.

Talking at the event, Paolo Colella, Head of Region India, Ericsson, said: "5G will enable new applications and use cases that benefit people, business and society. It will transform all industries, and our customers here in India too are gearing for the future by evolving their current 4G networks.” At the Taste of Barcelona India Roadshow, the Company is showcasing various opportunities that 5G technology brings to the table - from IoT and Massive MIMO, to industrial solutions and consumer applications.

Key Highlights:

‘The Digital Frontier’ experience zone at Taste of Barcelona India Roadshow 2017, had three main sections – 5G, Networks and IT & Cloud where visitors experienced ground breaking use cases. Some of the popular demos this year included:

On the road to 5G: An interactive demonstration on why we need 5G, what we can expect from it and how 5G networks will meet the demands for the Networked Society.

5G for Industries: Demonstrated how 4G LTE & 5G NR standards combined with 3GPP technologies can deliver shorter latencies, high reliability, and high capacity for industrial applications.

NFV Infrastructure: Highlighted how an open and programmable infrastructure supports emerging services with high performance and reliability.

Cellular for Massive IoT: Showcased how Ericsson is leading new standardization, technology development and commercialization in the growing market for connected devices.

Ericsson Neurometric Analysis: A unique neuroscience application that demonstrated app experience thresholds for their users that mobile operators must maintain.

Ericsson experts and customers engaged in conversations and demonstrations around 5G; platforms and services for IT, Cloud, Networks, connected solutions for industries and the Internet of Things at the Roadshow.

A new report from Ericsson suggests that 5G enabled digitization revenues in India will be US $25.9 billion by 2026. The Indian operators can generate additional revenues of US$ 13 Billion or half off the stated potential if they take up roles beyond being Connectivity and infrastructure providers to become service enablers and service creators.

The largest opportunity will be seen in sectors like manufacturing, energy and utilities followed by public safety and health sectors. Some of the 5G use cases that could be implemented using the unique features of 5G technology include industrial control and automation, autonomous driving, safety and traffic efficiency services, hospital applications and medical data management amongst others.

Operator revenues from traditional services are likely to grow from US$37bn to US $ 63bn in India by the Year 2026 due to population growth, increased penetration and high GDP growth. 5G and 4G will be instrumental for the same. However, 5G enabled industry revenue potential for operators can potentially add some incremental 20% (or US$13bn) on top of the US$63bn.

Paolo Colella, Head of Region India, Ericsson said, “As 5G becomes increasingly integral to industrial businesses and digitalization, we see a clear growth in the opportunity for new 5G-enabled revenues. To capture this value, investments in networks, business development, go-to-market models and organizational adaptation is required.”

Paolo further added, “We have recently introduced our 5G platform to support the beginning of a huge change in network capabilities, allowing our customers to offer more advanced use cases and new business models to their customers. Ericsson has also announced 5G plug-ins – software-driven innovations that bring essential 5G technology concepts to today’s cellular networks.”

Ericsson today also announced the launch of several 5G ready Radio Solutions for the Indian market.

AIR 6468:

AIR 6468 is a new radio in the family of Ericsson Antenna Integrated Radio (AIR). This new Radio is a 64T/64R active antenna system that supports LTE and the 5G NR standard in evolution towards 5G. It is capable of supporting beamforming for both LTE and 5G. It supports the 5G plug-ins Massive MIMO and Multi-user MIMO and works with today’s Ericsson Radio System Baseband.

Massive MIMO concept represents next phase in increasing hotspot capacity and significantly increases the number of transmission points, which increases network capacity and delivers faster data throughput through Beam Steering. Beam Steering utilizes a highly focused beam which delivers a stronger radio signal with a higher data throughput while using less energy.

Baseband 5216:

Part of the Ericsson Radio System, it provides the baseband processing resources. Baseband 5216 brings together LTE FDD & TDD, WCDMA and GSM onto the same hardware and software architecture, providing operators with unparalleled flexibility and scalability. This baseband is future ready with capability to support 5G and 5G Plug-ins like Massive MIMO enabling smoother network evolution towards 5G.

It provides the baseband processing resources for the encoding and decoding of the uplink and downlink radio signals, the radio control processing, the radio network synchronization, the IP interface and the O&M interface for the Ericsson Radio System.

Mini-Link 6352:

MINI-LINK 6352 is an all outdoor and zero footprint microwave node which speeds up and facilitates roll out with no need for a site building. It upgrades transport technology to meet the needs of 5G with capability to support up to 10 Gbps of throughput.

It has an embedded L2 switch, enabling full aggregation and switching between all traffic ports, that makes it ideal for multiple combinations of mobile backhaul solutions.

“We are talking to the Indian operators to pilot our 5G ready solutions in today’s 4G networks so that we can have a seamless and cost efficient migration to 5G,” stated  Nitin Bansal, Head of Network Products, Ericsson India.

Ericsson has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) to jointly roll out a ‘5G for India’ program. Ericsson will set up a Center of Excellence with a 5G test bed and incubation center at IIT Delhi and use this facility to drive the development of the country’s 5G ecosystem. This program has been conceptualized to fast-track realization of Digital India initiatives and aid application development for Indian start-ups and industries.

The first series of tests under this program are due to begin in the second half of 2017 and will place India on par with other developed countries in terms of 5G network and application deployment. The program will focus on delivering research, innovation and industrial pilots that use next-generation 5G networks as an enabler. It will help initiate cross-industry research collaborations focused on the integration of ICT in industry processes, as well as products and services.