BT is collaborating with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to bring 4G and 5G mobile edge compute to UK businesses as part of a multi-million pound investment.
Leveraging EE’s national mobile network and AWS Wavelength, the two companies will work to bring secure high-bandwidth connectivity to a range of use cases, from policing and crowd management to healthcare and security.
Alex Tempest, managing director at BT Wholesale, said: “By building cloud edge services into our 5G and 4G EE network, we can accelerate innovation across industries, and bring fast, secure data processing closer to where our customers need it most.”
“Ultimately, we want to give businesses and public sector organisations all the power of edge computing, wherever they are.”
BT will invest in its mobile networks to support 5G-connected infrastructure and IoT using AWS Wavelength. It also plans to launch a new AWS Wavelength Zone in Manchester for enterprise clients operating within a 100km radius this year.
The British telco aims to build more of these zones across the UK in the future.
AWS Wavelength provides mobile edge capabilities and infrastructure for applications that need ultra-low latency. It does so through embedding AWS storage services in 4G and 5G networks.
BT said that through hosting services at EE’s network edge, it can massively reduce latency as application traffic remains inside BT infrastructure.
The offering will provide use cases in autonomous vehicles, live video production, industrial robotics, community healthcare monitoring, and other applications that require close-to-zero latency.
Tempest added: ““It’s set to unlock use cases like IoT cameras to help first responders keep communities safe: a real-life example of using tech to connect for good.”
BT Wholesale is working on trials with AWS in Manchester currently, that it plans to launch nationwide. The offering will be available to all of BT’s public and private UK business customers.
AWS has already worked with Verizon to roll out its AWS Wavelength offering to 19 metro areas in the United States.
Last April, the company collaborated with Canada’s largest telco provider, Bell, to launch the country’s first AWS Wavelength Zone in Toronto.
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