The need to lay fiber backhaul to 5G towers can restrict deployment, but a new Nokia partnership with BridgeComm, a leader in optical wireless communications (OWC), marks the beginning of a strategy to develop high-speed optical communications, which removes the need to lay fiber.
Using BridgeComm's background in freespace optical technology, and Nokia's portfolio of network equipment and services backed by Nokia Bell Lab, the two companies plan to open up new opportunities for 5G rollout, and the ability to facilitate faster deployment of 5G networks.
“This opens the door to a wide variety of applications that our commercial and government customers are seeking, such as enabling last mile connectivity in 5G networks."
Mike Calabrese, Nokia.
“BridgeComm’s expertise in delivering high speed optics over-the-air combined with Nokia’s industry-leading high-speed optical equipment and expertise will support the delivery of 100 Gbps and beyond throughput – all without needing to lay fiber,” said Mike Calabrese, senior vice president for the Americas at Nokia Enterprise. “This opens the door to a wide variety of applications that our commercial and government customers are seeking, such as enabling last mile connectivity in 5G networks and High Capacity Encrypted Free Space Optics.”
Opening up new opportunities
With opportunities for both public and private sectors, and the potential to open up new 5G use cases, this partnership will develop an ultra-high-speed throughput solution, providing a faster and more secure network.
"We foresee great potential for faster connections, more security online and with greater agility than ever before."
Barry Matsumori, BridgeComm.
"While our relationship is still in its early stages, Nokia has already proven to be a great partner for us," said Barry Matsumori, CEO at BridgeComm. "We're pursuing government and commercial opportunities, leveraging each other's strengths, and we foresee great potential for faster connections, more security online and with greater agility than ever before."
BridgeComm develops a wireless technology that provides point-to-point data transmission via beams of light, which connect from one telescope to another using low-power, safe, infrared lasers in the terahertz spectrum. And BridgeComm has already integrated some of Nokia's high-speed optical equipment into its systems with successful initial lab demonstrations.
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