Deutsche Telekom is launching a standardised private 5G campus solution which promises low barriers to entry. The new “Campus Network Smart” private 5G networks, known as 5G campus networks, will be delivered in collaboration with Microsoft. The launch follows a successful pilot with a leading pharmaceutical company in Germany.

Deutsche Telekom already offers a range of 5G private networks for industrial use in Europe. The operator is now adding to its portfolio with a scalable, cloud-based, pay-as-you-grow model. This includes price plans that lower the barriers to entry for 5G campus networks.

The “Campus Network Smart” solution is built on Microsoft Azure private multi-access edge compute (MEC), which includes the new Azure Private 5G Core service deployed on Azure Stack Edge.

Deutsche Telekom will now provide customers with a complete campus network build-out. This service includes planning, the building of the private network using Azure services with radio access network components, as well as operations offered as a packaged managed service.

TeamViewer Frontline xAssist (AR Remote Assistance), an augmented-reality remote-support solution, can also be added to Campus Network Smart. This “See-what-I-see” solution allows experts to connect remotely to a pair of AR glasses. 5G connectivity allows for live support and knowledge transfer, whilst reducing costs by eliminating travel and minimising down-time. 

A selection of robotics, video analytics and IoT use cases will also be made available, tailored to customer needs. These services are validated as part of the Independent Software Vendor programme for Azure private MEC.

Deutsche Telekom tested the new private 5G network solution with Microsoft in a lab environment in Bonn, Germany, last year. As a second step, the two companies carried out a field trial with a leading pharmaceutical company in Germany, beginning in February this year. This pilot customer tested the 5G campus network with various use cases, including the use of AR glasses for remote maintenance. Another use case saw forklifts enabled for object recognition in a high-bay warehouse, in order to monitor inventory and automatically scan barcodes.

Hagen Rickmann, Managing Director Business Customers at Deutsche Telekom in Germany said: “Our new 5G Campus Network Smart solution lowers the barriers to entry for campus networks, in terms of both cost and effort. Customers with an existing Microsoft Azure landscape, as well as new customers in the small and medium-sized enterprise segment benefit from the solution. They can get started with 5G technology and drive forward their digitalisation – while maintaining flexibility”.

“German industry is taking a leading role in adopting Industry 4.0 Transformation, and we are excited to enable Deutsche Telekom to provide complete solutions including network and a growing ecosystem of Modern Connected Apps into this market. Customers can now benefit with a choice of ready to deploy applications over superior cloud-managed private network to accelerate their business transformation.” said Shriraj Gaglani, VP Product Management, Microsoft.