Singtel has announced a strategic partnership with Intel to establish a 5G multi-access edge compute (MEC) incubator to unlock the potential of 5G connectivity and high-performance computing at the edge. This jointly established, next-generation 5G MEC incubator enables enterprises to develop new 5G use cases and advance the development of innovation applications across verticals.
The incubator will be supported by Singtel’s Paragon, a one-stop orchestration platform for 5G edge computing and cloud services, and powered by Intel’s 4th Gen Xeon Scalable processors and Intel Data Center GPU, to enable enterprises to plan for 5G adoption in advance.
Having reached nationwide 5G standalone coverage in Singapore recently, Bill Chang, chief executive officer, Group Enterprise and Regional Data Centre Business, Singtel, noted in his opening address that the latest collaboration with Intel marks an important milestone in the telco’s journey as a digital enabler for enterprises to transform with 5G.
“Singtel’s 5G network and Paragon MEC platform are transforming operations in sectors such as advanced manufacturing, smart logistics, healthcare, retail, transportation and urban planning,” said CEO Chang . “With Intel, we’re collectively bringing together our best-of-breed knowledge, expertise, assets and ecosystem to help address business needs, improve operational efficiencies, unlock new opportunities and advance in a 5G world.”
The alliance will focus on developing the application and ISV ecosystems to deliver transformational enterprise and consumer use cases like high-definition content delivery, cloud gaming, video analytics, virtual-augmented-mixed reality and metaverse.
Christoph Schell, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Intel, stated, “As enterprises navigate a significant digital transformation, technologies like 5G, edge, artificial intelligence and cloud play a key role in helping to deliver new use cases. Our collaboration with Singtel will help accelerate use of these technologies to solve real business challenges by utilising our unique combination of hardware and software spanning Xeon, GPUs, Smart Edge, OpenVINO and more, and also a broad portfolio of ecosystem innovations.”
Through Singtel and Intel’s strong global ecosystem, enterprises can tap into expertise in connectivity, compute infrastructure, devices, applications and servers to power 5G use cases, including ready-to-deploy applications for rapid trials and pilots for R&D.
Enterprises can expect always-on connectivity with high-performing applications that deliver lower latency and greater resilience to meet new business requirements. With this partnership, 5G MEC can be adopted more readily, reliably and affordably. Another key benefit is sustainable digitalization for enterprises, as Intel extends its expertise in CPU power and sustainable technology to provide sustainable technology from cloud to edge to help enterprises optimize power usage.
As 5G continues to disrupt industries, Chang noted that growing 5G innovations with an ecosystem of partners “allows enterprises that scale 5G innovations built on the platform to gain a much larger market access through Singtel’s group of telcos in the region.”
