MWC Las Vegas 2023: 5 Big NTT, Verizon Announcements

Edge, IoT, Open RAN and 5G were the hot topics for service providers, startups, and telecom equipment makers at Mobile World Congress Las Vegas 2023.

Mobile World Congress Las Vegas 2023 kicked off this week in Las Vegas as service providers, IT vendors and startups descended on the city with new offerings and telecom-focused updates that are harnessing some of the most cutting-edge and exciting technologies and concepts, such as Open Radio Access Network (ORAN), edge computing, IoT and 5G.

While some companies, such as carrier giant Verizon, highlighted how they are going to market with their Enterprise Intelligence portfolio that includes a Private Gg Network offer, Network as a Service, and 5G Edge, others touted products, like IT manufacturer Supermicro with its new edge server. Still other companies, like NTT and Qualcomm Technologies kicked off new partnerships aimed at accelerating the 5G-enabled device ecosystem and furthering AI at the Edge.

Here’s a sampling of five major 5G, IoT and telecom-related announcements and partnerships that came out of the show this week in Las Vegas.

DOCOMO OREX Services Lineup

NTT DOCOMO, a Japanese mobile phone operator, took to the show to unveil a set of new developments to OREX, the company’s 5G Open RAN offering. The three new packages include OREX RAN for virtualized radio base stations and wireless equipment, OREX SMO for software enabling autonomous equipment operation, and OREX Services for Open RAN adoption.

The Tokyo-based company said that its OREX offering reduces cost of ownership by 30 percent, network design operations by 50 percent and power consumption at the base station by up to 50 percent.

Earlier this year, DOCOMO announced that it’s working with with five global telecom operators, including KT Corporation (KT) in South Korea, Vodafone Group Plc (Vodafone) in Europe, Smart Communications Inc. (Smart) in the Philippines, DISH Wireless (DISH) in the United States and Singtel in Singapore on Open RAN initiatives. DOCOMO is currently bringing in six new members to the OREX partner network, the company said.

Fibocom RedCap Module Portfolio

IoT wireless solutions provider Fibocom at MWC 2023 in Las Vegas unveiled the full portfolio for its RedCap module series that it first announced earlier this year.

The Fibocom RedCap modules FG131 and FG132 series support 5G standalone (SA) globally, including different regions and global versions. RedCap modules can deliver significant reductions in 5G terminal costs and power consumption, while adhering to to the demands of high-speed and low-power IoT industries, according to the company. The FG131 and FG132 can reach the maximum downlink peak at 226Mbps, and the maximum uplink peak at 121Mbps in a 5G SA network.

Fibocom, based in Shenzhen, China, partners with the likes of NTT DOCOMO, Qualcomm and T-Mobile.

NTT, Qualcomm Partner For 5G Devices, AI At The Edge

IT infrastructure and services giant NTT this week revealed its plans to accelerate the 5G-enabled device ecosystem for private networks and fuel AI at the Edge via a new collaboration with semiconductor maker Qualcomm Technologies.

As part of a new multi-year engagement, NTT and Qualcomm will work together to prioritize the development of 5G devices for global enterprise customers. Qualcomm’s leadership in application-specific semiconductors and 5G chipsets, combined with NTT’s leadership in private 5G, will advance AI processing capabilities at the edge, according to NTT.

Specifically, NTT and Qualcomm will leverage their expertise to meet the need for 5G-enabled devices that support use cases including such as push-to-talk devices, augmented reality headsets, computer vision cameras and sensors at the edge for manufacturing, automotive, logistics and other industries, the two companies said.

Supermicro Edge Server

Supermicro Inc., a maker of cloud, storage, and 5G/edge products, revealed the expansion of its portfolio of servers for Edge AI and Telco workloads at the event this week.

The latest Supermicro X13 Edge server, the SYS-211E-FRN13P, delivers a scalable, integrated Distributed Unit (DU) commercial off the shelf server. The company said that as virtualized Open RAN technology has matured, businesses are looking for solutions that enable them to optimize deployments and reduce costs. The latest offering is “shifting the emphasis” to attributes such as cost, power consumption, size and weight, and scalability.

The company also said it was launching a 4-node version of the SuperEdge, a versatile edge server designed to handle a range of demanding workloads at remote network locations.

San Jose, Calif.-based Supermicro works with channel partners and has operations in Taiwan, as well as the U.S.

Verizon Enterprise Intelligence

Verizon Business, an official event partner, took to MWC 2023 in the United States to tout Enterprise Intelligence, a concept that the service provider refers to as the outcome of digital transformation.

The idea behind Enterprise Intelligence is next-generation networking and connectivity, or networks that can enable end-to-end awareness to allow businesses to adapt to opportunities in real-time, according to the company.

Verizon’s Enterprise Intelligence portfolio includes a Private 5G Network offer, Network as a Service, and 5G Edge, or connectivity where businesses need for real-time application performance.

Verizon said that it is currently serving 99 percent of the Fortune 500 in 120 countries.