Verizon 5G MEC is now available in Chicago, Houston and Phoenix
Verizon has added 5G mobile edge computing (MEC) in three additional locations: Chicago, Houston and Phoenix. Verizon 5G Edge, a real-time cloud computing platform, with AWS Wavelength brings AWS compute and storage services to the edge of Verizon’s wireless network.
First launched in Boston and the Bay Area in August 2020, Verizon and AWS’ MEC services shorten the round-trip distance that data needs to travel by moving processing closer to the end user. By moving AWS compute and storage services to the edge of Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network — its mmWave network— the companies said innovators can develop applications with ultra-low latencies that will support next generation use cases ranging from self-driving cars to autonomous industrial equipment.
Then, in April 2021, the pair expanded their partnership to bring private MEC capabilities to enterprise customers.
“Private MEC is a natural expansion of our collaboration with Verizon,” Dave Brown, VP elastic compute cloud (EC2) at AWS said of the development. “Customers are already leveraging AWS Wavelength’s ability to provide ultra-low latency access to end users for use cases like video distribution, inference at the edge, AR/VR and connected vehicles.”
The latest 5G MEC expansion brings the total number of cities with this service to 13, which includes Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, New York City, Phoenix, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle and Washington DC, with further expansion expected this year.
“Companies in every industry are finding exciting ways to bring 5G and 5G Edge to life — leveraging the full capabilities of 5G from throughput and low latency to strong reliability,” said Sampath Sowmyanarayan, chief revenue officer of Verizon Business. “By unlocking the full power of 5G with edge cloud computing, developers can rapidly innovate and build apps and services that take advantage of 5G to improve performance and create new revenue streams.”
One company taking advantage of 5G MEC is Aetho, which is developing a 3D, fully interactive, online version of the Morehouse College campus so prospective students can tour the campus in an interactive way without having to travel. The platform, called Beame, uses 5G Edge with AWS Wavelength to provide augmented reality (AR) and extended reality (XR) communication and collaboration to deliver meaningful engagements through photorealistic 3D avatars.
“By using augmented reality and other extended reality platforms to extend our integration of education and cutting-edge technologies into the admissions process, Morehouse College continues to reimagine the student experience from prospect through graduation,” said Jose Mallabo, the college’s vice president for marketing, communications and admissions and chief revenue officer. “Building a widely-accessible interactive engagement on the 5G Edge spatial computing platform is an evolution of Morehouse’s historic traditions as a trailblazer and innovator in higher education.”
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