Kyndryl, an IBM spin-off, and Nokia have announced a global network and edge computing alliance aimed at helping enterprise customers accelerate their digital transformations with secure LTE and 5G private wireless networking.

The partnership builds on a successful private wireless connectivity project that yielded an innovative solution combining Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) application platform with Kyndryl’s consult, design implementation and managed services. The solution is designed to support the move to Industry 4.0, which is transforming how companies manufacture and distribute their products by interacting with IoT, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and other advances into their environments and operations.

“As enterprises across every industry are seeking new ways to digitally transform their operations, 5G and edge computing grow so they can harness the promise of these emerging technologies,” said Paul Savill, global practice leader of network and edge compute for Kyndryl. “By collaborating with Nokia, we’re taking another step forward in helping our customers unlock the power of LTEand 5G through a secure, private environment that helps them deliver tailored enterprise grade edge solutions that drive new value for their bottom lines and next-gen customer experiences.”

By collaborating to provide solutions over LTE and 5G standards, Kyndryl and Nokia say they are addressing the marketplace opportunities that already utilise the strong industrial ecosystem available now with LTE, while paving the way for significant 5G enhancements in future 3GPP releases, with existing Nokia DAC 5G stand alone-ready private wireless solutions.

Chris Johnson, head of the Global Enterprise Business at Nokia, added: “By combining Kyndryl’s world-class services expertise and global reach with Nokia’s mission-critical, industry leading private wireless and industrial edge computing solutions, we will enable even more organisations to transform their operations, accelerate their digitalisation journey and reap the benefits of Industry 4.0.”

Kyndryl and Nokia also plan to explore and develop new, integrated solutions and services for Edge Cloud, IP networking, Optics, Fixed Access, 4G and 5G Core and Network Operations software technologies that can address growing demand for mission-critical, industrial-grade wireless networking to capitalise on the transformational benefits of digitisation and automation