Verizon Communications plans to advance its 5G efforts by opening a 5G tech lab in London this April as a way of displaying the services the company can offer. The production studio and showroom, Verizon’s first outside the U.S., is also aimed at attracting partners for 5G-related projects.  The new Verizon  lab will showcase services enabled by 5G wireless broadband and invites partners to collaborate on developing new ways to use it.  The studio will use 5G to speed up data-intensive content production like motion-capture for entertainment and marketing. It’s all part of the company’s bet on the new tech.

• New facility offers first Verizon 5G-enabled development and collaboration space outside the United States
• Showcases existing 5G use cases and experiences & offers co-creation space for 5G-enabled application development
• 5G-enabled production studio brings next-generation content experiences to Verizon Media customers
• European investment enables Verizon to more easily share 5G leadership and expertise with companies based outside the U.S.
• Co-located Verizon Business & Media expertise offers unique, holistic approach to both 5G infrastructure & content

“Verizon has proven expertise in delivering 5G in the U.S.,” said Tami Erwin, Group CEO, Verizon Business. “One of the best ways of unleashing the true possibilities of 5G is getting it into the hands of innovators and visionaries. Our London facility enables our international customers to benefit from this expertise as they look to deploy 5G-enabled applications and experiences.”

“We’ve pretty much bet the company on this — it’s not like we’re dabbling,” said Toby Redshaw, vice president of innovation at Verizon’s business unit.

The outlook is still early, uncertain and competitive for these 5G services. And European carriers will have significant home field advantages: they already have relationships with the continent’s biggest businesses, local cultural and regulatory know-how, and own more local network assets.

But Redshaw says Verizon’s advantages include a head start from testing 5G in the field for years back in the U.S., and its larger scale. He was visiting London for the lab’s opening and to woo prospective clients, and said he’s had recent conversations with a Formula One team and other businesses. The company said the fresh London investment is “significant” but declined to give a number.

Examples of tech on display include cybersecurity visualization software, which lets a user fly around a virtual 3D landscape that represents their company’s network to spot potential anomalies. A service called BriefCam can instantly crunch reams of video and apply searches for a range of objects, such as all the red cars in a day’s worth of traffic footage, something a police force could find useful.

References:

https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-expands-international-5g-ecosystem

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/verizon-muscles-into-europe-s-5g-race-with-u-k-outpost-1.1387674

https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-02-10/verizon-opens-u-k-5g-outpost-eyeing-europe-s-enterprise-market