Vodafone 5G hybrid private network for Porsche

  • December 20, 2022
  • William Payne

Porsche Engineering and Vodafone Business have established a 5G hybrid mobile private network (MPN) at Nardò Technical Centre (NTC), in Puglia, southeast Italy. The automotive proving ground is owned by Porsche and operated by Porsche Engineering, will now provide customers with a real-time communication network. This will reduce delays, provide wider bandwidth, improve security and reliability, and accelerate deployment time.

The new mobile network infrastructure enables 4G and 5G coverage throughout the testing centre, which occupies an area of over 700 hectares (1,700 acres) in the Apulian region and has more than 20 tracks for high-performance testing. With the Vodafone Business 5G solution, NTC aims to improve development and testing of a range of future automotive applications, such as new connectivity, vehicle-to-infrastructure, vehicle-to-vehicle and highly automated driving functions to self-driving vehicles.

As an advanced mobile private network, the new system features a hybrid infrastructure, using a private network integrated into Vodafone’s public mobile network with both private and public coverage provided at the same location. As a result, the local population will also benefit from availability of a fast 5G public network while NTC’s customers can make use of a private network with high standards in data security.

“At our proving ground in Nardò, we are committed to constantly push technologies to the next level—so our customers can successfully meet the increasing demands of future mobility,” said Peter Schäfer, CEO of Porsche Engineering and Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Nardò Technical Centre. “With the new 5G network, NTC offers its customers now an even better infrastructure to develop and test intelligent, autonomous, and connected vehicles.”

Besides the new mobile network, now NTC also offers its customers a high-performance 1 Gbit/s connection. This allows a fast and direct connection to the cloud, enabling a globally networked cooperation and even more efficient data-driven engineering.

“5G mobile private networks can act as a springboard for companies by enabling them to evolve the way they do business,” said Vinod Kumar, CEO of Vodafone Business. “In Nardò, MPN technology enables a facility that resembles an actual smart city, with coverage that is seamless on and off campus for the next generation of applications that will transform transportation and mobility. We’re excited to help the team in Nardò to plan for the future and unlock the business potential with some of our latest technologies.”

NTC’s new 5G network is part of broader collaboration initiatives between the Porsche Group and Vodafone that, in August 2021, led to the deployment of a stand-alone 5G network at the Porsche Development Centre in Weissach, Germany.