AT&T’s trial with Ericsson and Intel using millimeter wave (mmWave) technology to power a 5G trial in one of Intel’s offices in Austin, Texas. “To our knowledge, this is the first of its kind,” said a statement from the US operator
The trial is designed to show what 5G technology can do for enterprise customers. “This trial is a significant step forward. We’re leaving the lab and heading into the field with a real-world business customer,” said Rick Hubbard, SVP – networking product management, with AT&T.
The operator expects very high frequency mmWave tech to be central to 5G, he added.
The initiative is intended to push forward AT&T’s 5G development by helping the operator better understand how it works in a business environment. It has carried out outdoor tests in Austin, Texas, and other markets, earlier this year, mainly testing fixed wireless services in the 15GHz spectrum band.
During the new business trial, speeds of more than 1 Gb/s bandwidth will apparently enable the testing of a number of enterprise use cases, including internet access, VPN, Unified Communications and 4K video streams. The trial will also showcase the potential of 5G VoIP over both 15GHz and 28GHz bands.
“This trial takes us a step closer to 5G commercialization, validating the feasibility of outdoor-to-indoor mmWave coverage for business customers,” said Thomas Noren, head of product area, network products, with Ericsson.
Ericsson, AT&T, Intel and the industry’s other major players are aiming to see commercial 5G services launch from around the 2020 time-frame.
