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On Friday, IT infrastructure and services company NTT Ltd announced a strategic collaboration with Qualcomm (NASDAQ:) Technologies. The partnership aims to invest in and expedite the progress of the 5G device ecosystem, which is crucial for powering AI at the edge. The multi-year engagement is expected to stimulate innovation among global enterprise customers and drive widespread enterprise adoption of private 5G.
The partnership is set to prioritize the development of 5G-enabled devices. These devices are expected to support a variety of use cases, such as push-to-talk devices, augmented reality headsets, computer vision cameras, and sensors at the edge across industries including manufacturing, automotive, and logistics.
The collaboration is predicted to strengthen the 5G ecosystem and advance AI processing capabilities at the edge by combining Qualcomm’s leadership in application-specific semiconductors and 5G chipsets with NTT’s expertise in private 5G. The International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that this market will exceed $8 billion by 2026.
As part of NTT’s end-to-end Edge as a Service offering, the company is now introducing Device as a Service. This new service aims to simplify access, upgrading, and recycling of 5G and edge devices for customers, thereby streamlining device lifecycle management and reducing IT maintenance and costs.
“This collaboration is truly an exciting one because we are answering the demand we’re hearing from our clients. Together with Qualcomm Technologies, we will strengthen the 5G ecosystem delivering the devices our customers require in a simple and cost-effective way,” said Shahid Ahmed, Executive Vice President, New Ventures & Innovation at NTT Ltd.
The 5G-ready devices will leverage Qualcomm Technologies’ 5G chipsets with built-in AI models to enhance AI at the edge through various applications. These applications include image recognition capabilities ranging from counting items and identifying object characteristics to verifying workers wearing safety masks or hardhats (PPE).
Mark Bidinger, President, Commercial & Industrial Segments & Channels at Schneider Electric (EPA:), noted that “NTT’s collaboration with Qualcomm represents a significant step forward in advancing private 5G adoption and meeting the unique demands of the Internet of Things and Machine Learning.”
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