The vendor claims the jointly developed offer is a “breakthrough for 5G network slicing in critical, distributed industrial applications in Germany”
Siemens technology company and O2 Telefónica in Germany are partnering to offer a new, 5G-based solution to the country’s water industry. The partners have developed and tested the solution which is based on Siemens’ 5G routers and 5G slices from O2 Telefónica.
It will be marketed by Siemens to thousands of water and wastewater utilities in Germany. Unlike manufacturing, which runs localised private 5G networks on campus, the water industry’s facilities are distributed across a large area so the solution needs to provide long distance connections.
According to Siemens, the 5G Slice for the Water Industry enables water utilities to monitor and control their entire system using automation technology over a 5G slices. The networks are optimised “to reliably deliver defined Quality of Service…for automation applications,” the firm says. It adds, “This is critical for processes like pressure control, flow measurement and automated emergency response at water utilities’ mostly distributed sites.”
Slice-based solutions
Siemens states that 5G slices can be optimised for specific use cases in terms of their speed, response time and security. Also, they are separated, end to end, from traffic on the public internet with “a high level of cybersecurity and data protection for water companies which are subject to critical infrastructure regulations”.
The solution is being tested by a water utility in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. According to the press release, it “addresses one of the biggest challenges in the water industry: a secure and efficient central orchestration of distributed infrastructure, from pumping stations and reservoirs to water towers and water treatment plants”.
Until now, water utilities have typically expended great effort on monitoring, control and connectivity, which is time-consuming and costly, requiring complex individual solutions. Siemens says the new solution means the utilities can “easily and securely connect their entire infrastructure via 5G network slicing technology and integrate additional sites into their network faster”.
Alfons Lösing, Chief Partner and Wholesale Officer at O2 Telefónica, said, “As a leading technology company, Siemens is the ideal partner for the practical application of 5G network slicing. For the first time, this technology is driving industrial applications via mobile communications with defined performance parameters. Our jointly developed solution marks the breakthrough for 5G network slicing in critical, distributed industrial applications in Germany.”
