In collaboration with Nokia and Athonet, Innovate5G has completed a successful mid-band call on a 5G standalone (SA) network. The successful call means enterprises designing for 5G can now test their applications in an actual 5G environment to better understand performance, security, and network resource usage.
Existing in the 5G mid-band at 2.5 MHz, Innovate5G made the call in Frequency Range 1 (FR1) on Broadband Radio Service (BRS) n41 using Nokia’s AirScale Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN) and Athonet’s 5G SA Core Network. The call solidifies the lab’s support for mid-band 5G SA, allowing Innovate5G to test and prove 5G applications, whether they be from other 5G economies using mid-band, US-based enterprise applications optimized for 5G, or native 5G applications like mixed and virtual reality (XR).
“This test call validates Innovate5G’s vision to provide a pathway forward to 5G,” continued Gianluca Verin, chief technology officer of Athonet. “Our 5G mobile core is built for business-critical applications to connect a multitude of devices and sensors, allowing developers to put their ideas into action and leverage the incredible potential of 5G. This collaboration with Innovate5G and Nokia makes it possible for anyone to gain access.”
Earlier this summer, Innovate5G launched its In5Genius platform to provide developers a cloud-based access to an environment for testing and certifying their 5G applications. The platform, a cloud lab, gives assurance of capability at launch and supports the journey for developers to improve their apps.
“This multiple vendor collaboration opens the ‘go-to market’ journey, helping developers understand things like jitter, delays, and video quality when it comes to their 5G applications,” added Ed Alfonso, EVP and GM of Mobile Networks for Nokia Americas. “If you build it and want to know how it works, we have created the place to come test your 5G mid-band applications with this first commercially available TDD radio integration in SA 5G leveraging Nokia’s RAN infrastructure.”
The In5Genius platform has already facilitated testing for health and wellness as well as Internet of Things (IoT) industries, aggregating KPIs like performance, compatibility, efficiency, reliability, and adaptability. This insight means apps can be designed to what the network offers. Housed in Richardson’s Innovation Quarter (IQ), Innovate5G’s actual lab where the call was completed, can be accessed anywhere in the world for 5G testing of over-the-top (OTT) applications.
“To put this accomplishment into perspective, a developer designing for 5G would literally have to drive around to try to latch on to a 5G network to test their application, and even then, they’re still not going to have any meaningful/definitive information about performance,” said Rashmi Varma, chief technology officer of Innovate5G. “In addition, the networks they may find are still migrating from 4G and are not yet pure 5G networks. This call means we can now provide 5G access to developers wanting to test in the actual environment, while also providing the metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to help understand metrics like round-trip time and latency.”