Verizon has added AWS Wavelength capabilities in three new locations: Atlanta, New York and Washington, DC. Verizon and AWS launched the mobile edge computing (MEC) platform last month in Boston and the Bay Area and plan to add five more cities by year end.
The AWS Wavelength service targets latency-sensitive use cases like machine learning inference at the edge, autonomous industrial equipment, smart cars and cities, Internet of Things (IoT), and augmented and virtual reality. The idea is to position AWS compute and storage services at the edge of Verizon’s 5G network.
The companies said that by moving AWS compute and storage services to the edge of Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network, innovators can develop applications with ultra-low latencies that will support next generation use cases ranging from self-driving cars to autonomous industrial equipment. Three examples:
- Zixi’s Software-Defined Video Platform (SDVP) enables live broadcast-quality video delivery over any IP network. The company’s currently testing how a major broadcaster’s 4K live broadcast feed can be delivered over 5G using AWS Wavelength. The end game is to test how content providers can distribute live streams across broadcast media workflows with super-low latency without the need for satellites.
- YBVR is building a next-generation VR video platform and is testing how they can utilize 5G and Wavelength to stream live 8K Ultra HD (UHD) video to sports fans and concert goers, allowing simultaneous users to choose various camera views with ultra-low latency.
- CrowdVision is testing how 5G and AWS Wavelength can provide the throughput and low latency needed to help detect pedestrian movements using video or LiDAR and artificial intelligence to provide live data about everything from crowd congestion to traffic flows, queues and wait times in venues like airports and arenas.
“Watching businesses build transformational applications on the world’s first 5G mobile edge computing platform with AWS Wavelength shows how our 5G Ultra Wideband network matters to customers TODAY and is already impacting how businesses operate and consumers live, work and play,” said Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business. “When it comes to innovating on 5G and MEC, we’re only scratching the surface.”