Ericsson, Future Technologies scale wireless infrastructure for industrial AI

Enterprise and industrial connectivity is becoming critical infrastructure through artificial intelligence (AI) moving into real-world operations, and in response to this changing world, Ericsson and Future Technologies Venture have expanded their existing collaboration to accelerate deployment of enterprise wireless and private 5G networks across industrial and critical infrastructure sectors in North America.

The comms tech giant and connectivity transformation systems integrator believe that as organisations deploy AI into real-world environments – from manufacturing plants and logistics networks to energy infrastructure and transportation systems – they require secure, resilient and deterministic connectivity capable of supporting real-time data movement between connected devices, edge computing platforms and centralised cloud systems.

Moreover, they believe that as industries accelerate adoption of AI-driven operational technologies, scalable wireless infrastructure is emerging as a strategic foundation for modern industrial environments.

They add that such a shift is creating a growing gap between AI compute capacity and the enterprise networks designed to support it, and warn that many traditional enterprise connectivity architectures were not built to deliver the scale, reliability and real-time performance required for modern AI-enabled operations.

To address these requirements, Ericsson and Future Technologies Venture stressed that organisations are increasingly deploying cellular technologies, including private 5G and enterprise wireless WAN (WWAN), to provide secure, deterministic connectivity across complex operational environments.

The new collaboration is based on the conviction that enterprise wireless is becoming a foundational layer enabling AI-driven modernisation across physical industries. The partnership will see Ericsson provide enterprise wireless and private cellular technologies while Future Technologies will deliver systems integration expertise spanning strategy, architecture, deployment and lifecycle services.

In addition, Future Technologies will look to offer overall enterprise wireless transformation initiatives, helping organisations to design and deploy modern connectivity environments across sectors including energy, manufacturing, transportation, logistics and enterprise campus environments.

The organisation also operates customer validation environments including its Living Lab and Lab-on-Wheels mobile demonstration platform to allow enterprises to test real-world connectivity architectures, validate operational use cases and accelerate pilot-to-production deployment timelines.

Ericsson and Future Technologies have already collaborated for more than 13 years across thousands of deployments throughout North America with what is said to be more than $150m in cumulative joint engagement value, spanning public cellular modernisation, private cellular deployments, industrial wireless WAN initiatives and large-scale enterprise connectivity transformation programmes.

Deployments have taken place at manufacturing environments, industrial facilities, and large-scale sports and entertainment venues where secure connectivity enables real-time operational data and advanced digital applications.

Åsa Tamsons, senior vice-president and head of business area enterprise wireless solutions at Ericsson, said: “AI is moving into the physical world, and that fundamentally changes the role connectivity plays inside enterprises. Enterprise wireless is becoming foundational infrastructure for AI-driven operations. Our collaboration with Future Technologies strengthens Ericsson’s ability to help organisations deploy the networks required to power the next generation of industrial innovation.”

Future Technologies CEO Peter Cappiello added: “Connectivity transformation is not simply about upgrading networks, it is about enabling AI modernisation across industrial environments. Ericsson has been a foundational technology partner for more than 13 years. Together we are scaling deterministic enterprise wireless as a utility layer supporting modern infrastructure across North America.”