Nokia Networks (NYSE:NOK) is collaborating with other equipment vendors and operators to create a new European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Industry Specification Group (ISG) for mobile edge computing (MEC).
Vodafone, IBM, Intel, NTT DoCoMo and Huawei are supporting the initiative, which is designed to enable the creation of industry specifications for MEC and accelerate the development of mobile edge applications across the industry.
"With an open and standardized environment, operators can rapidly deploy applications and services to mobile subscribers, enterprises and other vertical segments," Nokia said in a press release, noting that one example for the vertical market is the connected car, where Nokia Networks recently demonstrated its Liquid Applications with T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS) for low latency vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) services.
The MEC initiative will focus on open architecture and application programming interfaces (APIs) for value creation in mobile multi-vendor environments for a range of computing platforms, including Nokia's Liquid Applications.
Liquid Applications already has the ability to host third-party applications, allowing for the deployment of new services and the optimization of service delivery from the mobile edge. Residing within the base station, the company says Nokia Liquid Applications provides ultra-low latency and high throughput as well as direct access to real-time radio network information that can be leveraged to offer unique applications.
In launching Liquid Applications at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona in 2013, then-Nokia Siemens Networks declared it to be the biggest transformation in the role of the base station since the launch of GSM 22 years prior. At the time, it promised to turn the base station into an intelligent part of a mobile operator's network, able to store not just any type of content and data but also take advantage of knowing where and why people are using their smartphones and tablets.
"When Nokia Networks introduced its Liquid Applications solution in 2013, it also introduced many people in the industry to the concept of mobile edge computing," said Peter Jarich, vice president at Current Analysis, in the press release announcing the MEC initiative. "While other vendors have followed with their own visions for situating applications in the radio access network (RAN) since then, the industry can now look toward the MEC ISG to encourage the development of a broader mobile edge computing ecosystem characterized by open standards--a good thing for every vendor and service provider."
"Establishing the MEC initiative with the support of the other stakeholders will create an open multi-vendor environment at the most lucrative point within the mobile network, driving differentiated services, new applications and ultimately new revenues," said Marc Rouanne, executive vice president, Mobile Broadband at Nokia Networks. "It also builds on our view of fundamentally changing the telecom industry through increasing our collaboration with different players and partners."
For more:
- see this press release
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