NTT and Schneider Electric to Trial Private 5G Wireless Network

NTT Ltd. and Schneider Electric have entered into an agreement to deliver Private 5G (P5G), an on-premise private network solution and digitization enabling platform that can advance digital solutions in the manufacturing environment.

NTT is a London-based technology services company that helps clients achieve digital transformation goals via its integrated services platform. The company offers solutions such as transforming cloud strategy, modernising networks, strengthening cybersecurity and automating business processes and IT. The long-standing partnership between NTT and Schneider Electric builds on existing joint strategic innovations that help clients achieve efficiency and sustainability goals with advanced digital processes within the Industry X sectors.

“With this strategic partnership, we are confident that NTT’s P5G solution will support Schneider Electric business and service level objectives with a powerful machine vision solution that solves for operational continuity and performance throughout the Lexington and Lincoln plant facilities”, said Shahid Ahmed, EVP New Ventures and Innovation at NTT. “Our P5G platform brings full-stack managed services, process workflow and IoT application integration capabilities that both address strategic objectives towards factory high performance and net-zero carbon emission goals”.

In early 2022, the P5G platform will be piloted at Schneider’s Lexington Smart Factory, the first of Schneider Electric’s U.S. plants to become a Smart Factory showcase site leveraging IoT connectivity, Edge analytics, and predictive analytics to drive energy efficiency and further sustainability goals.

The P5G will power use-cases that solve challenges around equipment availability, machine performance, and product quality. For example, the companies will integrate machine vision capabilities into existing factory and warehouse automation systems, that identify faults as well as wear and tear for incident root causes in near real-time. The company hopes the solution will provide a model for operational integrity management that “scales across a broad footprint of global factory environments” to power Industry 4.0, enabling Network Edge platforms.

Additional P5G use-cases to be addressed include unfettered connectivity for improved management of AGV devices across a factory footprint for more efficient and accurate workflow systems. Machine vision applications will be developed to detect anomalies in machine performance to ensure high performance, availability, and quality of a product as well as augmented reality solutions that enable remote worker support for enhanced equipment maintenance and management.

“In partnering with NTT, Schneider Electric further extends its manufacturing expertise along with data center and network solutions to drive innovations for self-contained Edge Private 5G use-cases”, said Luc Rémont, Executive Vice President International Operations at Schneider Electric. “Above and beyond superior security and control offered through this partnership, wireless networks offer superior benefits over a wired network from a sustainability perspective – smaller copper cabling footprint means minimizing energy usage and aligning to our net-zero carbon goals”.

To further the partnership, NTT will deploy its Private 5G services and data centres with Schneider Electric technologies, including a prefabricated data centre to integrate and test its edge offerings using EcoStruxure™ solutions. Schneider Electric’s prefabricated data centres help cloud and service providers scale whilst also meeting their sustainability goals. This is expected to be 100% operative in Schneider Electric factories during the 2nd QTR 2022.

You can find more information about NTT and Schneider Electric on the companies’ respective websites.

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