IMDA partners Microsoft to help companies develop new 5G use cases and services

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has partnered Microsoft to accelerate the development of Singapore?s 5G ecosystem.?Through the collaboration, IMDA and Microsoft will make available a 5G development environment for participating government agencies, enterprises and technology companies. This will be used to co-create 5G use cases that can lead to the development of new 5G applications, services and capabilities.

IMDA and Microsoft will offer 5G technical capabilities consultancy and share best practices on 5G standards, interoperability and security-by design principles to participating organisations.?The memorandum of intent was signed by the two parties at the launch of Microsoft?s global-first Experience Center Asia housed at its new Asia Pacific regional headquarters.

The new collaboration builds on IMDA?s efforts announced in June 2019 to develop an open and inclusive 5G ecosystem, including developing a series of open testbeds for both government and industry use. Slated for launch in the first half of 2020, IMDA?s PIXEL innovation space will be the first open testbed to serve as a shared "5G Living Lab" for the tech and media startup community in the one-north vicinity.

PIXEL will also enable centre-to-centre collaboration with the Microsoft Technology Center, which is a part of the Experience Center Asia. Specifically, participating organisations can access mentorship and support to envision, qualify and build out 5G proof-of-concept use cases on Microsoft?s Azure cloud platform.

IMDA and Microsoft will also jointly explore 5G use cases in strategic clusters such as smart estates, urban mobility, Industry 4.0, maritime operations, consumer and government applications. They involve their respective partner ecosystems to accelerate 5G capability development for these key industries.

IMDA chief executive?Tan Kiat How said the?collaboration with Microsoft will help to foster greater capabilities development for 5G applications and services. The organisation also continues to look for more partnerships with enterprises, technology companies, research institutions and Institutes of Higher Learning to drive 5G innovation to support Singapore?s digital economy.

Microsoft Singapore MD Kevin Wo said the?partnership combines the strengths of IMDA?s vision, infrastructure and connections with Microsoft?s technology expertise, hyper-scale cloud platform, edge solutions and partner ecosystem. He added that the ability to harness the high speed, high capacity and low latency of 5G technology will open up new possibilities and a proliferation of innovative cloud-based applications across various industries.

"When we infuse data, artificial intelligence and mixed reality into the cloud and power it with 5G, what you get is an intelligent cloud and intelligent edge. This presents tremendous potential for the industry to come together to nurture a local ecosystem to help transform enterprises," he explained.

(Photo courtesy: 123rf)

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