LIVE FROM MOBILE WORLD LIVE UNWRAPPED DIGITAL INDUSTRIES: Experts from Siemens and Telefonica pushed the benefits of 5G network slicing for industries with distributed assets, as they discussed a pilot being undertaken for the water industry in Germany.   

Speaking at a keynote session, Siemens director industrial wireless communication Daniel Mai (pictured, above) and Telefonica Germany head of new partner concepts Andreas Cott argued their ongoing project provided the reliability required for that specific vertical and had wider implications.

Cott (pictured, below) said slicing was “an opportunity for us as telcos to develop scalable, vertical-specific connectivity solutions,” highlighting its work for the water sector with Siemens had “no comparable solution” while providing the operator with “a lighthouse on how to leverage slicing for industry specific challenges”.

A man with short dark hair and a beard wears a white dress shirt and black headphones. He sits indoors, gesturing with his hands in front of him, and appears to be speaking or explaining something, with an expressive facial expression.

“Of course, challenges differ among different verticals but the approach, the way of working we get here is transferable,” he added.

Mai noted given the assets of water companies are so spread out compared to campus-based enterprises, “public mobile network is a better choice” rather than private network architecture.

Discussing the water deployment, Mai added “it’s not about the lowest latency or high throughput,” noting these were “the buzzwords MNOs like to talk about,” but highlighted in this case the key requirements were “reliability and continuity,” with applications generally requiring response in “seconds not milliseconds.”

Steep learning curve
Reflecting on the work, Mai said it had “been a steep learning curve”.

“We learnt a lot. Telefonica learnt a lot. Because we have different views and Telefonica traditionally looks at their core applications like connecting smartphones. Industrial assets is a different game,” Mai said.

He added it has discovered how the public network was structured is a “highly dynamic environment”.

To watch the whole interview, including discussion on the progress of the deployment and potential other uses for network slicing, click here.