Proximus inaugurates its 5G innovation platform and onboards first customer
As of today, Proximus offers its Enterprise-customers a dedicated co-creation environment where they can explore the opportunities of 5G for their specific business. The 5G innovation platform allows companies to test and validate their 5G use cases at a limited investment cost. For the first concrete project, Proximus has partnered with Mr. Watts to provide construction companies with a state-of-the art building visualization experience.
In October, Proximus announced the creation of a dedicated 5G innovation platform, with the aim to develop innovative solutions answering today’s societal and business needs through collaboration and co-creation. After a first phase of building, integration and testing, the platform has now reached a level of maturity that allows to start onboarding customers.
The inauguration shapes Proximus’ ambition to be at the forefront of 5G innovation, in collaboration with partners, and in co-creation with customers. As first concrete project illustrating this, Proximus has partnered with Mr. Watts and construction company B&R Bouwgroep – Hooyberghs around the 3D visualization of building projects for the construction sector.
A young and dynamic Belgian company, Mr. Watts is developing a digital application to visualize room lay-out, floor plans, 3D models and digital twins to experience designs of a building at scale and in context. Using HoloLens technology to ensure the integration of the 3D models in a real-life environment, Mr. Watts’ visualizations provide a wealth of information for constructors, allowing to make informed decisions at any moment during the building process. The high bandwidth, low latency and secured character of the 5G connection ensures the necessary stability to visualize the outcome of a project on site as well as remotely, with unprecedented precision.
Fostering innovation through co-creation
With its 5G innovation platform, Proximus aims to support professional customers in exploring the potential of 5G for their specific business in a secure, innovative and cost-efficient way. Potential use cases can be found in a diverse range of activity domains, from industrial automation to connected workers, and from video analytics to drone inspections. If an enterprise is interested in testing 5G, Proximus will assess together with the customer, in a co-creation mode, the potential of the use case as well as the practical set-up and customer onboarding on the platform.
As soon as they are onboarded on the platform, customers can connect to this dedicated innovation environment from any location with 5G coverage, through an independent 5G set-up in one of Proximus’ datacenters. As a result, customers in 5G covered areas will be able to perform tests on their own site. In addition, for customers not yet in a 5G covered area, Proximus has created a dedicated test location in its headquarters where customers are welcome to perform their tests. Based on the outcome of the testing process, Proximus can guide them to a 5G solution that fits their needs or help them to assess the long-term potential of investing in their own private network.
The official inauguration of the platform thus underlines the willingness of Proximus to embark on a co-creation journey with interested partners across different industries, reinforcing its position as pioneer in the field of 5G, not only as sole operator in Belgium offering public 5G connectivity but also as a reliable partner supporting the digital transformation of enterprises.
I am very proud that our dedicated 5G innovation platform for Enterprise customers is now live. It highlights our role as a digital partner for the Belgian economy through innovation, collaboration and co-creation. Thanks to the creation of this platform we can innovate faster, support our customers in their digital transformation and continue to lead the way in 5G. Our collaboration with Mr. Watts and B&R Bouwgroep - Hooyberghs is a perfect illustration of how this open environment can accelerate the deployment of innovative 5G use cases in an agile, pragmatic and cost-efficient way. It gives construction companies the possibility to visualize all details of a project upfront, identify potential issues and dynamically adapt the plans along the building process.
