Barcelona – #MWC23 – Nokia believes it is “uniquely positioned” to seize the opportunity of the industrial metaverse by developing networked systems that can sense, think and act, not just connect.
At Sunday’s press and analyst briefing ahead of MWC23, Nokia’s Chief Strategy and Technology Officer (CSTO) Nishant Batra (pictured above) outlined the company’s vision for the next seven years through 2030 and its immersive metaverse.
“This is a new era of digitization. In this era, we have a digitally augmented world, we have solutions to different challenges and, just as importantly, new business opportunities for players like us. there will be,” says Batra.
In his view, Nokia has played a fundamental role in building connectivity infrastructure, and is now expanding its presence in other areas such as edge computing, proving that it is more than just an infrastructure player. is in a unique position to However, it can also serve as a “platform for transformation in several industries.”
Batra emphasized that there are three different types of metaverses. An enterprise domain that brings immersive collaboration, remote work, augmented reality (XR) training, and digital collaborative design. and an industrial metaverse where “physical industries are digitized through immersion”.
And the latter, according to data from research firm ABI Research, suggests that the industrial metaverse is growing “much faster” than the consumer metaverse, so what Nokia’s CSTO claims is “the most I’m excited.”
According to Nokia’s own analysis, today’s enterprise data traffic is dominated by smartphone video streams and files. .
future network
To support the changing needs of consumers, especially in the industrial sector, Nokia envisions future networks to be ‘more than just connectivity’.
“What I believe is that networks will become equally used for sensing, creating the need for thinking and action. It’s about taking action,” says Batra.
Additionally, vendors need to make their networks “equally consumable” and open to innovation, not just for performance.
“This could allow all other industries to use these networks to transform themselves,” he argued, ultimately harnessing the power of 6G.
“When you’re building for this immersive metaverse world, it’s much more complex than today’s connected world. It is also very important to address the triad of productivity, efficiency and safety.
“The time has come for these companies, businesses and industries to start envisioning metaverse-driven strategies,” Batra argued, adding that Nokia wants to work with these customers on their digital journey. rice field.
According to Nokia’s CSTO, other building blocks of future networks will include “real-time digital twins” that are useful in scenarios such as power plants, as potential problems are resolved automatically, requiring no intervention. . In another example provided by Batra, engineers working on gas turbines don’t need to test physical parts to understand power efficiency. Because we can rely on the digital twin for such insights.
And this future will require much higher location accuracy, with networks that can identify the source of a connection within a centimeter instead of a few meters.
“It will not only generate a lot of innovation, but it will also generate a lot of great business opportunities. This is where the industry will truly harness the value of future networks,” he continued.
But of course, this is not something that one company can do alone. Nokia “needs partners. Being able to work together will be a very important feature of a successful metaverse company,” Batra said, noting that the company is already working at the developer level and is open to other partners. He added that he is also looking for cooperation.
Nokia President and CEO Pekka Lundmark added that for the industry to transform as quickly as possible, “traditional networking qualities must be combined with the flexibility and scalability of the cloud.”
“When networks meet the cloud, the full potential of the industrial, enterprise, and consumer metaverses will be unlocked,” argued Lundmark.
Nokia’s network vision was unveiled with the announcement of an updated enterprise-focused business strategy and a revamped logo aimed at moving the company away from its consumer cell phone past. look Nokia shows a bigger enterprise push with its brand ‘refresh’.
– Yanitsa Boyadzhieva, Associate Editor, TelecomTV
