Nokia sharpens edge for industrial communications

Nokia has announced six new applications on its MX Industrial Edge (MXIE) platform to produce a number of benefits for enterprises, including improving worker safety and site security, enhancing operational efficiency and securing operational technology (OT) environments in areas such as manufacturing, mining, ports and chemical industries.

An integral part of Nokia’s private network services, MXIE is said to be able to bring small enterprise customers access to a large catalogue of digitisation enablers from leading third parties in the operation technology domain. In addition, MXIE is said to be able to allow firms to accelerate their digital transformation beyond connectivity, and support operational technology data applications and workloads.

In line with industry developments, the MXIE on-premise edge offering supports ecosystem neutrality enabling the deployment of applications to help support growing diverse Industry 4.0 use case needs. Emphasising the strong rationale for the launch of the new offerings, Nokia cited research from Analysys Mason predicting that by 2030, enterprises worldwide using private LTE and 5G are projected to spend $6bn on industrial applications enabling new use cases and enhancing existing ones.

Offered as-a-service, the new applications are fundamentally built to enable digitisation to increase situational awareness, better deal with incidents, and increase the use of real-time data and knowledge – key to improving site security and worker safety, which remains a high priority in industrial settings.

In addition, Nokia said connected worker applications are essential to overcome workforce challenges such as worker shortages, retention issues and difficulty attracting new talent, which are key to achieving the efficiency and productivity needed to outperform the competition.

Applications can give workers real-time information to make their jobs easier and machine tele-operation more efficient. They comprise Ascom Ofelia, Fogsphere, Innovaphone PBX and MyApps, Nokia Real-time eXtended Reality Multimedia (RXRM), OneLayer and Redinent.

Ascom Ofelia is designed to help enterprises shift from separate alarm systems to one unified alarm offering, improving incident management, increasing situational awareness and ensuring a safer workplace. A comprehensive AI platform, Fogsphere sees use in enhancing workplace safety, security and operational intelligence, with real-time services for PPE compliance, behavioural analysis, emergency management, access control, intrusion detection and vehicle monitoring.

MyApps and Innovaphone PBX are scalable IP telephone systems with built-in features including conferencing, voicemail and waiting queues for advanced business communication and smart business applications. Its on-premise MXIE offering is claimed to ensure full data control and meets ISO27001 standards.

The Real-time eXtended Reality Multimedia software offering is attributed with providing low latency 360° video and 3D OZO audio capture that helps to improve productivity, employee safety, teleoperations, situational awareness and remote technical support.

OneLayer discovers, manages, secures and classifies industrial internet of things (IIoT) assets on private networks, including those behind cellular routers. Acting as a zero-trust access broker, it’s built to enforce zero-trust security principles in OT environments while delivering zero-touch asset management and operational intelligence. Redinent is designed to find IIoT assets and create inventory, identifying IIoT vulnerabilities and ongoing threats. It informs security operation centres about the findings.

Stephan Litjens, vice-president of CNS enterprise campus edge solutions at Nokia, said: “Keeping workers safe and connected is paramount for enterprises. With the expanded Nokia Industrial Application Catalog we are providing a rich choice to help industries improve important Industry 4.0 use cases such as increasing situational awareness for streamlined decision making in both day-to-day and emergency situations, more efficient operations with machine remote control and many more.”

As it was extending MXIE, Nokia also unveiled ruggedised industrial devices to help enterprises increase worker safety, productivity and situational awareness in industrial environments. This portfolio extension is part of Nokia’s drive to help industries simplify and accelerate digital transformation by offering a unified platform that includes edge computing, applications and business-critical connectivity.