Sunderland continues on its mission to become smart city frontrunner

The north of England city is working with BAI and Mavenir to build a city-centre 5G private network to accelerate the adoption of digital services and unlock innovation.

Sunderland will use the network to transform services in areas such as education and social care

Network software provider Mavenir is partnering with infrastructure provider BAI Communications to deliver the UK city of Sunderland’s smart city project.

Its MAVedge open vRan and 5G packet core solution enables secure private networks to be distributed at the edge and aims to help enterprises to create a digital marketplace of applications and devices and an environment for diverse use cases.

5G network

BAI Communications is building a 5G-centric network to accelerate adoption of transformative digital services for sectors in the region, including manufacturing and logistics, education and social care. The initial scope is for the deployment of a city-centre 5G private network which has the potential to evolve and become a neutral host network.

The Open RAN platform provides BAI Communications the option of deploying radio units from different vendors. The solution uses software running on commercial off the shelf hardware that provides cost-effectiveness, flexibility and agility, while delivering one architecture as a baseline for many different use cases.

“The new network will accelerate the emergence of more smart services including community applications, digital upskilling opportunities and efficiency drives for our advanced manufacturing clusters across the city”

“We have long recognised the importance of technology in connecting people and realising opportunities to position Sunderland as a digital frontrunner,” said Liz St Louis, assistant director of smart cities at Sunderland City Council.

“This new partnership between BAI Communications and Mavenir presents a fully scalable network architecture to unlock innovation and shape the future of our leading smart city.”

The new network will help accelerate transformation within various sectors in Sunderland including:

• smart homes: addressing health and social care requirements supporting vulnerable individuals living in their own homes, providing access to assistive technologies such as sensors and other IoT enabled devices
• digital skills and education: providing enhanced online and remote connectivity and distance learning across primary schools and secondary schools within the local authority
• manufacturing and industry 4.0: improving supply chain agility for the automotive industry, including applications like self-driving vehicles and autonomous heavy goods vehicles.

St Louis added: “Together, we are harnessing the power of technology and digital transformation for the benefit of residents, businesses and visitors to Sunderland.

“The new network will accelerate the emergence of more smart services including community applications, digital upskilling opportunities and efficiency drives for our advanced manufacturing clusters across the city.”

Andrew Conway, director of solutions and innovation, BAI Communications UK, added: “We are creating a new digital fabric for Sunderland’s city, upon which the city’s digital and business entrepreneurs can build a portfolio of new digital services for the benefits of residents, businesses and visitors.”