Networking

NGMN to accelerate adoption of disaggregated networks

The Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance (NGMN) has released four concise publications detailing essential operating models for disaggregated networks. These models aim to provide clear guidance to industry stakeholders and foster the adoption of disaggregated network architectures, which will provide mobile network operators (MNOs) with greater flexibility when managing and deploying network infrastructure. The outlined operating models include: • Single Vendor Led• Systems Integrator (SI) Led• Operator Platform• Operator Platform commercially offered to others “Disaggregation - the process of modularising, softwarising and running network functions on cloud native infrastructure - is revolutionising the telecommunications industry,” says Arash Ashouriha, Chairman of the NGMN Alliance Board and SVP Group Technology at Deutsche Telekom. “This transition fundamentally changes how operators work internally and collaborate with the broader supplier ecosystem. With these publications, NGMN is taking the lead by offering practical, actionable guidance on the key operating models available today and helping operators navigate this shift effectively.” “Software-based, cloud native network architectures are set to dominate the industry, empowering operators with greater flexibility and agility to manage networks, innovate new services, and address evolving customer needs,” adds Bernard Bureau, Member of the NGMN Alliance Board and VP of Network and Architecture Strategy, at Chief Technology Office at TELUS. “At TELUS, we are proud to have worked with NGMN to provide deeper insights into the available options and the organisational transformations needed to fully realise the potential of disaggregated networking.” The publications build on NGMN’s Cloud Native Manifesto (September 2023), which outlined seven key principles for accelerating the transition to cloud native networking. While the Alliance is prohibited under competition law from endorsing or recommending any specific operating model, these publications offer decision-makers a comprehensive understanding of the organisational changes required to implement each scenario. They also provide a balanced assessment of the advantages and challenges associated with each approach. The goal is to highlight the wide range of options available to the industry and the long-term considerations for adopting each model effectively. The publications were developed with input from across the industry, with NGMN's membership comprising operators, vendors, and research institutions. This collaboration enables NGMN to offer strong guidance on key industry issues, driving progress on today’s most important topics, including NGMN's Strategic Focus Topics: Mastering the Route to Disaggregation, Green Future Networks, and 6G. NGMN encourages all stakeholders across the value chain to join the Alliance in this endeavour. Further information and all NGMN publications can be found on the website at ngmn.org.

LINX celebrates 30 years of the Internet

The London Internet Exchange (LINX), a global Internet Exchange Point (IXP), is marking 30 years of advancing the internet, with a continued focus on enhancing connectivity worldwide. Since its launch, LINX has grown into a critical hub for global internet traffic, increasing its connected network capacity by 17% in one year, from 60.10 Tbps in 2023, to 72.91 Tbps in 2024. On top of this, the network traffic being passed across LINX’s global platforms continues to increase year on year. In 2024, LINX achieved its highest-ever network traffic, with a maximum peak of over 10.841 terabits per second (Tbps), up from 9.229 Tbps in 2023 and 7.424 Tbps in 2022. In 1994, there were approximately 3 million internet users, a number that has skyrocketed to around 5.35 billion in 2024. This significant growth highlights how far the internet has come, shaping how we connect, communicate, and conduct business. LINX has been part of this journey, playing a crucial role in the development of internet infrastructure and facilitating connectivity for millions around the world. Over the past three decades, LINX has expanded its portfolio of interconnection products and services to meet the evolving needs of its members. These offerings include Cloud Connect, Closed User Groups, and the Microsoft Azure Peering Service (MAPS). Together, they ensure reliable access to business-critical applications, give users greater control over their network traffic, help mitigate cyber attack risks, and provide direct connections to Microsoft’s public cloud services. LINX has members located in more than 85 countries. Over the last 12 months, LINX celebrated 10 years of operations in the US through its LINX NoVA Internet Exchange in Northern Virginia. Additionally, the company took it’s first step into Africa with the launch of the LINX Nairobi Internet Exchange in Kenya in late 2023, and further announcements have come in 2024 with plans for LINX Mombasa and LINX Accra in 2025. Additionally, LINX has welcomed a host of new partners as part of its UK growth strategy, including Lunar Digital Data Centre and AtlasEdge Data Centre in Manchester. LINX also welcomed new CEO, Jennifer Holmes in November, who has been with LINX since 2007. Jennifer replaced Kurtis Lindqvist, who is moved to a new role as CEO and Vice President of ICANN. Previously before Lindqvist, the CEO of LINX was John Souter until 2019. Jennifer Holmes, CEO Of LINX, comments, “Over the past three decades, the internet has transformed the way we connect, communicate, and conduct business. As the digital landscape has evolved, so too has the infrastructure that supports it. LINX has played a vital role in this journey, adapting to the increasing demand for reliable connectivity and seamless online experiences.” “Our recent 17% increase in network capacity shows our commitment to a robust and efficient internet ecosystem. This growth not only highlights our role in supporting businesses, ISPs, and content providers, but also reflects the achievements of an interconnected global network.” "LINX continues to sustain, grow, and optimise its services by introducing new products and pricing, ensuring it provides ongoing value for its 850+ members through flexible peering speeds and services." LINX aims to stay relevant in its core UK and London markets, while continuing to add value to local networking communities in other regions and its existing members. A key focus is on engaging with the membership, creating strong relationships, and actively responding to feedback to ensure continued growth and community alignment. In celebration of 30 years of LINX, the organisation hosted a special event, LINX123, in November 2024. The gathering brought together its membership community to reflect on LINX’s key role in driving the development of the internet, particularly in the UK. For more from LINX, click here.

Spirent partners with Siemens to deliver pre-silicon verification

Spirent Communications, a provider of test and assurance solutions for next-generation devices and networks, today announced a collaboration with Siemens Digital Industries Software to deliver a sophisticated pre-silicon test solution for Ethernet chipset design verification. The joint networking system-on-chip (SoC) verification solution aims to reduce complexity and accelerate the silicon development lifecycle, paving the way for faster Ethernet chip development tailored for uses such as data centre AI networking, and service provider core and edge. In response to the growing demands for high-speed Ethernet solutions, Siemens and Spirent have integrated Spirent TestCenter Virtual into Siemens’ Virtual Ethernet test software for Veloce software. The solution brings comprehensive real-world Ethernet traffic generation and result analysis capabilities, traditionally only available in post-silicon validation, to the pre-silicon verification process. Benefits include reduced testing complexity and accelerated Ethernet chipset design and development. “We’re excited to work with Siemens to bridge the gap between pre- and post-silicon validation, providing customers with an integrated, end-to-end solution,” says Aniket Khosla, Spirent’s Vice President of Wireline Product Management. “Siemens is an innovator in hardware-assisted verification, and this latest collaboration offers cutting-edge IC design verification tools that empower customers to address critical issues early in the design process, accelerating time to market. This joint solution simplifies Ethernet chipset design and testing, reduces development time, and ensures new products meet expected performance standards.” “The ever-demanding networking market has driven significant innovation in the virtualisation of hardware emulation,” adds Jean-Marie Brunet, Vice President and General Manager, Hardware-Assisted Verification, Siemens Digital Industries Software. “The certification of Veloce software for Spirent TestCenter Virtual is based on a long-term collaboration delivering high performance system-level test solutions for bleeding edge networking customers.” The new integration leverages the Veloce emulator’s high-performance co-model channel bandwidth and scalability to enable deterministic full-system verification with Spirent TestCenter Virtual. The integration accelerates lab-based validation infrastructure for mutual Ethernet networking customers, transitioning it to a high-performance pre-silicon testing environment on Siemens’ Veloce platform. Highlights of the joint solution include: • Accelerated time-to-market: By identifying issues early in the design cycle, the solution accelerates the entire silicon development process, helping to reduce risks and expediting product launches. • Scalability and flexibility: Capable of emulating speeds from 1G to 800G, port counts up to 1024, the virtual solution supports dynamic traffic patterns and advanced result analysis. And with this virtual solution, new features can be added quickly to enable new use cases as needed. • Cost-effective testing: Early-stage testing reduces the need for costly hardware upgrades and complex deployments, delivering a cost-effective alternative for chipset development. For more from Spirent, click here.

Spirent selected for Ethernet infrastructure testing

Spirent Communications, a provider of test and assurance solutions for next-generation devices and networks, today announced that a leading AI-focused hyperscaler has selected Spirent to perform critical 800G Ethernet fabric testing and assurance, to ensure optimal performance for AI workloads. Spirent’s solution will enable the hyperscaler to balance efficiency and sustainability, while monetising its AI Ethernet infrastructure investments. “Artificial intelligence is transforming the industry and this hyperscaler is leader in building the next generation public cloud for enabling large scale AI workloads,” says Aniket Khosla, Spirent’s Vice President of Wireline Product Management. “At Spirent we understand the challenges that come with building sustainable AI data centre networks and supporting high-performance compute use cases, and we’re excited to support leading industry players as they address the performance demands of advanced AI applications.” Hyperscalers globally are continuing to scale rapidly to meet the dramatic demand for accelerated compute solutions critical for training and serving the most sophisticated AI models. Leveraging Spirent’s B3 800G Appliance and proven test methodologies, Spirent is enabling hyperscalers to optimise the performance of high-speed Ethernet infrastructure required to support AI-driven applications. The B3 800G Appliance is a high-density native 800G OSFP and QSFP-DD test platform, and the first in its class to support IEEE 802.3df specifications. It provides rigorous, high-scale testing to evaluate bandwidth and resource utilisation, helping to accelerate 800G deployments and enable the networking industry to power new applications running AI/ML. With the B3 800G Appliance, hyperscalers can test and validate their infrastructure’s readiness for bandwidth-intensive AI workloads, while maintaining optimal network efficiency. For more from Spirent, click here.

R&M to support digitalisation of railway traffic

R&M, a Swiss developer and provider of high-end infrastructure solutions for data and communications networks, is supporting the digitalisation of the railways. R&M is committed to sustainable infrastructure development through advanced cabling solutions for rail transport. With the modernisation of communications networks on the railway lines and in trains, railway companies are starting a new era, and passengers will be able to take advantage of seamless high-speed mobile connections in the future. Fibre optic cables will be laid along the railway lines and new antenna sites installed for future railway radio systems for the real-time transmission of large volumes of data. These radio systems connect trains with the traffic control systems in the railway’s own data centres via state-of-the-art railway control systems and new digital signal boxes. The aim of digitalisation is to make rail traffic even safer and more efficient in the future, and to further automate it. R&M has developed the RailCon programme for this application area, giving railway operators complete end-to-end solutions for their cabling infrastructures from a single source. The product portfolio covers the technical levels from plug connectors and wiring to network distributors and cabinet solutions in both indoor and outdoor versions. R&M designs infrastructure solutions based on decades of experience with outdoor solutions for communication technology and in the construction of fibre optic networks. Among other things, the RailCon programme supports the European Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS), an important foundation for the further digitalisation of rail transport in the coming decades. The product portfolio includes the connectors of the HEC family developed by R&M. The outdoor connectors withstand harsh conditions such as changes of temperature, vibrations, dust, moisture, sunshine and electromagnetic fields. For example, the HEC connectors connect the active equipment of communication network installations in underground cable ducts, in outdoor installations or FRMCS radio systems with the fibre optic network. R&M also offers various splice/patch closures, IP68 housings and railway-specific, shielded multi-fibre cables manufactured in-house for cabling in buildings and tunnels, as well as aerial and underground cabling. Other modules are the modular optical distribution frames ODF PRIME and FOXS, the Polaris and LUNAR box families, and the CONEXIO portfolio for the wiring of FRMCS mobile radio sites. In addition to the product portfolio, the RailCon programme also includes a whole range of services. Cable assemblies, splice closures, distributors and boxes, racks and cabinets can be planned and pre-terminated on a customer or site-specific basis in order to reduce the installation effort on site. R&M implements customer-specific adaptations and special solutions quickly and reliably in order to inspire customers with convincing results. Support is provided for logistics, installation work, support for initial installation on construction sites as well as specific laboratory tests and approvals. For more from R&M, click here.

Telkomsel expands 5G network across Greater Jakarta area

Telkomsel, a provider of digital telecommunications services, has expanded its 5G network (Hyper 5G) in the Greater Jakarta area (Jabodetabek). With the support of Huawei, this initiative is undertaken to welcome the Christmas and New Year festivities, ensuring the community enjoys the best digital experience during the season. Telkomsel’s Hyper 5G coverage now includes several key routes in and around Jakarta, from Soekarno-Hatta to Halim Perdanakusuma airports, the master-planned areas of Pantai Indah Kapuk 1 and 2, to business and government hubs spanning from Pondok Indah to the National Monument (Monas). In the near future, Telkomsel plans to expand its 5G network incrementally, strategically, and systematically to other prime locations across Indonesia. Telkomsel's 5G technology delivers internet speeds up to four times faster than 4G, providing greater reliability, the ability to connect more devices, and low latency to support emerging technologies and innovations. Since its commercial launch in 2021, Telkomsel's Hyper 5G has become the most extensive and advanced network in Indonesia, with over 1,400 5G base transceiver stations (BTS) spread across 56 cities and regencies, driving progress and supporting the country’s digital transformation. Telkomsel’s Chief Technology Officer, Indra Mardiatna, states, “As the epicentre of economic activity, governance, and a national progress barometer, this region has significant 5G smartphone penetration, a high number of international roamers, growing 4G/LTE users, and increasing demand for high-speed data. With the Hyper 5G network, we not only deliver ultra-fast connectivity and low latency, but also serve as a catalyst for digital transformation, opening opportunities for progress in every aspect of life as we strive toward the vision of a Golden Indonesia 2045.” Telkomsel is also integrating an end-to-end Hyper AI approach powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to improve service efficiency and quality. This technology ensures faster responses to network disruptions and enables automated network management through an Autonomous Network framework. “Through Hyper AI, Telkomsel provides optimal service quality in various situations, ensuring the best customer experience anytime, anywhere, including at crowded points during Christmas and New Year and strategic Hyper 5G locations,” adds Indra. The low latency of Hyper 5G further supports the Hyper AI approach, such as in the implementation of Telkomsel’s AI-Based Customer Care Virtual Assistance services. The Veronika Virtual Assistant (B2C) Internal and Ted Virtual Account Manager (B2B), integrated with the AI Service Operations Center, enable quick and effective responses to customer needs, delivering innovative and superior service experiences in the 5G era. During the festive period, Telkomsel anticipates a 14.8% increase in data traffic, with total payloads expected to reach 1,981 petabytes. Comprehensive infrastructure optimisation for both 4G/LTE and 5G networks, supported by thorough network testing across key routes and strategic locations, has been implemented to ensure customer convenience in accessing digital services. Indra concludes, “As a leading digital telecommunications service provider, Telkomsel is committed to spreading optimism and positive energy to the community. By optimising the readiness of connectivity, services, and innovative solutions, Telkomsel strives to ensure every customer enjoys Christmas and New Year moments with ease, comfort, and joy.”

Hybrid cabling for next-generation Wi-Fi

R&M has announced that it is paving the way for Wi-Fi 7 and 5G in buildings, and the globally active Swiss developer and provider of high-end infrastructure solutions for data and communications networks has developed a hybrid cabling concept specifically for this purpose. The solution combines fibre optic and power cabling for access points, and is based on the principle of structured LAN cabling. This makes it possible to quickly establish additional infrastructures for Wi-Fi 7 and 5G coverage in buildings in a tried-and-tested way. Wi-Fi 7 and 5G are increasing the transmission rate in local wireless networks. However, they are exceeding the transmission capacities of existing copper-based LAN cabling. An R&M spokesperson states, "Anyone wanting to use Wi-Fi 7 and 5G in buildings in the near future needs a practical and future-proof cabling solution." Hybrid cabling made of optical fibre and copper for data and power transmission, such as the one R&M has now developed, could well prove ideal. The next-generation access points are networked using optical fibres. At the same time, the antennas gain their power via the LAN cabling, which saves an additional separate power supply. As referenced, the hybrid solution from R&M is based on the principles of structured LAN cabling, and is integrated in the modified building, floor and ceiling cabling (digital ceiling). The antennas can be patched in next to no time to expand or customise Wi-Fi coverage. In addition to conventional fibre optic and copper installation cables, the R&M portfolio also includes hybrid installation cables, fibre optic and RJ45 patch cords, 19" patch panels and hybrid-compatible service outlets, as well as RJ45 and LC connectivity. One R&M solution variant even goes beyond the typical radius of LAN cabling. It supports distances of up to 200 metres between distributors and service outlets. This connects the patch cabling with parallel fibre optic and RJ45 patch cords. It connects the antennas with the data network and the power supply. R&M provides all the necessary cabling products, and the company also supports specialist planners and installers with adaptable installation concepts. The company therefore believes that next-generation Wi-Fi with a large number of transmission channels and transmission rates in excess of 30 Gbit/s is now feasible. For more from R&M, click here.

AWS announces new data centre components

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced new data centre components designed to support the next generation of artificial intelligence innovation and customers’ evolving needs. These capabilities combine innovations in power, cooling, and hardware design to create a more energy efficient data centre that will underpin further customer innovation. These new capabilities will be implemented globally in AWS’s new data centres, and many components are already deployed in its existing data centres. “AWS continues to relentlessly innovate its infrastructure to build the most performant, resilient, secure, and sustainable cloud for customers worldwide,” says Prasad Kalyanaraman, Vice President of Infrastructure Services at AWS. “These data centre capabilities represent an important step forward with increased energy efficiency and flexible support for emerging workloads. But what is even more exciting is that they are designed to be modular, so that we are able to retrofit our existing infrastructure for liquid cooling and energy efficiency to power generative AI applications and lower our carbon footprint.” AWS has been building large-scale data centres for 18 years and GPU-based servers for AI workloads for 13 years. Today, AWS’s data centres support millions of active customers worldwide, including hundreds of thousands of customers using AWS AI and machine learning services, and tens of thousands of global customers using Amazon Bedrock to build their generative AI applications. As use of generative AI continues to grow and GPU capacity demands increase, AWS data centres are adapting to support increasingly higher power densities. Key improvements include: 1. Simplified electrical and mechanical design for high availability AWS continuously focuses on offering customers the most reliable infrastructure. Simplified electrical and mechanical designs are more reliable and easier to maintain, ensuring that customers enjoy the benefits of high reliability that AWS has offered from the beginning. AWS’s latest data centre design improvements include simplified electrical distribution and mechanical systems, which enable infrastructure availability of 99.9999%. The simplified systems also reduce the potential number of racks that can be impacted by electrical issues by 89%. In a data centre, electricity goes through multiple conversion and distribution systems before reaching the IT equipment. Each step naturally introduces inefficiency, energy loss, and potential failure points. As one new design example, AWS simplified the electrical distribution and in doing so, reduced the number of potential failure points by 20%. Other examples of simplifications include bringing backup power closer to the rack and reducing the number of fans that are used to exhaust hot air. AWS is using the natural pressure differential to exhaust hot air, which improves the amount of electricity available for servers. All of these changes help reduce overall energy consumption while minimising the risk of failures. 2. Innovations in cooling, rack design, and control systems AWS has built a number of new and enhanced capabilities to offer customers the most performant, highly available, and energy efficient infrastructure possible. New data centre innovations include: Liquid cooling: Newer AI servers benefit from liquid cooling to more efficiently cool high density compute chips. AWS has developed novel mechanical cooling solutions providing configurable liquid-to-chip cooling in both its new and existing data centres. Some AWS technologies utilise network and storage infrastructure that does not require liquid cooling, so updated cooling systems will seamlessly integrate air and liquid cooling capabilities for the most powerful AI chipsets, like AWS Trainium2 and rack-scale AI supercomputing solutions like NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 - as well as AWS’s network switches and storage servers. This flexible, multimodal cooling design allows AWS to provide maximum performance and efficiency at the lowest cost, whether running traditional workloads or AI models. The unique liquid cooling rack design was developed in collaboration with leading chip manufacturers to accelerate time to market for AI workloads.   Support for high-density AI workloads: AWS is maximising how power is used by optimising how it positions racks in a data centre. This was achieved through software, powered by data and generative AI, that predicts the most efficient way to land servers. AWS will now reduce the amount of stranded power – energy that is available but unused or underutilised – and make more efficient use of the energy available.   This design will support the next generation of hardware and high-density racks required for AI workloads, but is flexible enough to accommodate a wide range of other hardware types. AWS infrastructure offers the broadest and deepest compute platform with more than 750 Amazon Elastic Cloud Compute (Amazon EC2) instances, giving customers the choice of the latest processor, storage, networking, operating system, and purchase model for any workload. In addition to the flexible multimodal cooling design, AWS has developed engineering innovations in its power delivery systems, which enable AWS to support a six-times increase in rack power density over the next two years, and another three-times increase in the future. This is delivered in part by a new power shelf, which efficiently delivers data centre power throughout the rack, reducing electrical conversion losses. Taken together, these innovations enable AWS to deliver 12% more compute power per site for customer workloads. These changes will reduce the overall number of data centres needed to deliver the same amount of compute capacity. Updated control systems: The rollout of an Amazon-owned control system across AWS’s electrical and mechanical devices provides the ability to standardise monitoring, alarming, and operational sequences. For example, AWS’s internally built telemetry tools use AWS technologies to provide real-time diagnostics and troubleshooting services, both of which enable AWS to maintain optimal operating conditions on behalf of customers. In addition, AWS has increased the redundancy in its controls systems, while reducing complexity. These benefits result in AWS designing for infrastructure availability of 99.9999%.   3. Increased energy efficiency and sustainability, including 46% reduction in mechanical energy consumption and 35% reduction in embodied carbon in the concrete used For many years, AWS has been a pioneer in improving energy efficiency and sustainability across its infrastructure. Research estimates AWS’s infrastructure is currently up to 4.1 times more efficient than on-premises infrastructure, and when workloads are optimised on AWS, the associated carbon footprint can be reduced by up to 99%. In 2023, Amazon achieved its goal to match all of the electricity consumed by its operations with 100% renewable energy – seven years ahead of its 2030 goal. AWS continuously reevaluates how its data centres operate and determines ways to help its infrastructure use energy more efficiently through ongoing innovation. The new components include the following upgrades for energy efficiency and sustainability: • A more efficient cooling system that is expected to reduce mechanical energy consumption by up to 46% compared to its previous design during peak cooling conditions, without increasing water usage on a per-megawatt basis. Design changes include a new single-sided cooling system, reduction in cooling equipment, and introduction of liquid cooling capabilities. • Reduction of embodied carbon in the concrete of the data centre building shell by up to 35%, compared to industry average. AWS is adopting specifications for lower-carbon steel and concrete, and optimising the structural design to use less steel overall. • Backup generators will be able to run on renewable diesel, a biodegradable and non-toxic fuel that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90% over the fuel’s lifecycle when compared to fossil diesel. AWS has already started transitioning to renewable diesel to power backup generators at existing data centres in Europe and in America. For more from AWS, click here.

DE-CIX announces new record for data throughput

DE-CIX Frankfurt has announced that it has set a new record for data throughput. At 8.11pm CET on 20 November, more than 18 Terabits per second of data traffic flowed over Europe’s largest Internet Exchange for the first time (exactly 18.11 terabits per second). In parallel to the new record, there were several gaming releases and updates from a range of providers. In the last 12 months, the traffic at one of the largest data hubs in the world has grown by almost 10%. In the past five years, the data throughput at DE-CIX Frankfurt has more than doubled (+118%). 18 Terabits corresponds to around 10 million TikTok videos streamed simultaneously, or – if one bit were equal to one millilitre of water – the volume of around 90 million bathtubs filled every second. “Digital and high-bandwidth data-based services are driving the growth in traffic at DE-CIX Frankfurt,” says Ivo Ivanov, CEO at DE-CIX. “Internet Exchanges are not only at the heart of all online offers for end-users when it comes to streaming and gaming, but also for industry, which can use them to open up new intelligent, data-driven business models. To interconnect the value chain holistically and capitalise on economic opportunities collaboratively, DE-CIX provides the necessary infrastructure to enable data to be utilised on an industry-wide scale in a controlled, secure, and low-latency manner.” DE-CIX is a leading operator of Internet Exchanges and offers its peering, cloud connectivity, and other enterprise-grade interconnection services in close to 60 locations in Europe, Africa, North and South America, the Middle East, and Asia. Accessible from data centres in over 600 cities worldwide, DE-CIX interconnects thousands of network operators (carriers), Internet service providers (ISPs), content providers and enterprise networks from more than 100 countries, and offers peering, cloud, and other interconnection services. DE-CIX in Frankfurt, Germany, is one of the largest Internet Exchanges in the world, with a data volume of almost 40 Exabytes per year (as of 2023) and close to 1,100 connected networks. As the operator of critical IT infrastructure, DE-CIX bears a great responsibility for the seamless, fast, and secure data exchange between people, enterprises, and organisations at its locations around the globe. For more from DE-CIX, click here.

Singtel and Ericsson to develop fully automated 5G port

Singtel and Ericsson have announced a partnership to deploy 5G advanced connectivity solutions at Tuas Port in Singapore. This is in support of PSA Singapore’s (PSA) plans to build the world’s largest fully automated port by the 2040s to meet the rapidly rising demand for global trans-shipment. Existing automated vehicles deployed at the port, such as Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) will be upgraded to 5G to enhance real-time shipment tracking and further streamline crane operations to enable seamless transportation of cargo from berth to ships and vice versa. To support these enhancements, Singtel will activate a network slice from its 5G network to provide the dedicated resources, like high speeds, high bandwidth, and low latency, needed for mission-critical applications to run smoothly around the clock. It will also create secure private networks tailored to the port’s specific security needs, to help mitigate the risk of data breaches and unauthorised access. 5G will be an enabler for PSA to achieve an annual handling capacity of 65 million, 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) - almost double current demand - when Tuas Port is fully completed. Ng Tian Chong, CEO Singtel Singapore, says, “5G’s high speeds and low latency help to improve real-time communication and data transfer which enables highly efficient port operations. With network slicing, these capabilities are augmented with increased security features and higher performance assurance. As a homegrown technology company, we are proud to help PSA scale its operations, boost trade in the region, and further strengthen Singapore’s position as a leading port globally.” Nelson Quek, Regional CEO, Southeast Asia, PSA International, adds, “As a forward-thinking organisation and early adopter of innovative solutions and digitalisation, PSA continuously seeks and embraces cutting-edge technologies to advance our port operations. We are pleased to be working with Singtel and Ericsson to deploy a 5G network at Tuas Port to support our growing fleet of Automated Guided Vehicles. Leveraging 5G’s rapid data transmission and connectivity capabilities, PSA aims to further streamline operations and optimise resource utilisation through real-time monitoring, enabling us to respond agilely to the evolving needs of our customers and stakeholders.” Daniel Ode, Head of Singapore, Philippines and Brunei, Ericsson, notes, “5G has been enabling the digital transformation of various industries, from manufacturing, power and utilities, mining, to airports and seaports. The seaport sector, with its complex operations and reliance on real-time data, is benefiting significantly from 5G capabilities. At PSA, automated vehicles moving cargo seamlessly across the port will enable PSA to scale its operations, eliminate human errors and increase efficiency.” Over the next three years, PSA will also be exploring 5G applications in areas such as predictive maintenance, which involves drone-based surveillance and extended reality applications, to detect potential issues early and pre-empt equipment failure, thereby improving efficiency and reducing costly downtime.Container throughput at ports worldwide is estimated to total 906 million TEUs by the end of 2024. As of October 2024, PSA Singapore had handled 34.1 million – one of the busiest in the world. Singapore’s seaport, one of the most efficient globally, leverages automated cranes and vehicles, and smart logistics systems to enable faster, more precise handling of cargo. Tuas Port is currently fully covered with triple-band 5G, 3.5GHz, 2.1GHz and newly available low band 700MHz. From 2025, guided by Singtel’s 5G network slicing capabilities, the PSA’s driverless AGVs will be capable of independently transporting containers, thereby optimising yard operations and reducing labour costs. The ultra-reliable and low-latency communication enables operators to manoeuvre massive cargo with precision from a safe distance, using remote-controlled cranes with the fastest response time. PSA will also be able to better process real-time shipment tracking data so berth planners can optimise scheduling and traffic flow for greater operational efficiency, even during high congestion periods.Singtel has been at the forefront of investing in advanced technologies to deliver cutting-edge solutions that help enterprises accelerate digital transformation and streamline operations. In 2022, it achieved nationwide 5G standalone coverage and held 30 trials at Sentosa demonstrating viable 5G use cases for industries that require fast speeds and low latency for mission critical applications, such as homeland security. Over the years, Singtel has unlocked advanced 5G features like network slicing, paving the way for widespread enterprise adoption and unlocking new possibilities for innovation. For more from Singtel, click here.