IT infrastructure service provider Kyndryl and Nokia have announced a global network and edge computing alliance aimed at helping enterprise customers accelerate their digital transformations and support companies’ move to Industry 4.0.

The partnership builds on an existing private wireless connectivity project that yielded a solution combining Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) application platform with Kyndryl’s consulting, design, implementation and managed services.

In addition to supporting the move to Industry 4.0, the solution supports integration of IoT,, cloud computing, AI and other advanced technologies.

The collaboration has already resulted in private LTE and 5G real world deployments and several proof-of-concept (PoC) applications for Dow Inc. to support Industry 4.0-enabled worker safety and collaboration, asset tracking, and other capabilities using a blueprint that it plans to expand and deploy across its sites worldwide.

In a statement, the firms said that by collaborating to provide solutions over LTE and 5G standards, Kyndryl and Nokia are addressing the marketplace opportunities that already utilise the strong industrial ecosystem available now with LTE, while paving the way for significant 5G enhancements in future 3GPP releases, with existing Nokia DAC 5G stand alone-ready private wireless solutions.

“As enterprises across every industry are seeking new ways to digitally transform their operations, 5G and edge computing are growing so they can harness the promise of these emerging technologies,” said Paul Savill, global practice leader of Network and Edge computing for Kyndryl. “By collaborating with Nokia, we’re taking another step forward in helping our customers unlock the power of LTE and 5G through a secure, private environment that helps them deliver tailored enterprise-grade edge solutions that drive new value for their bottom lines and next gen customer experiences.”

Chris Johnson, head of the Global Enterprise Business at Nokia, said: “By combining Kyndryl’s world-class services expertise and global reach with Nokia’s mission-critical, industry leading private wireless and industrial edge computing solutions, we will enable even more organisations to transform their operations, accelerate their digitalisation journey and reap the benefits of Industry 4.0.”

Kyndryl and Nokia also plan to explore and develop new, integrated solutions and services for Edge Cloud, IP networking, Optics, Fixed Access, 4G and 5G Core and Network Operations software technologies that can address growing demand for mission-critical, industrial-grade wireless networking to capitalise on the transformational benefits of digitisation and automation.