Siemens and O2 Telefónica Launch 5G Network Slicing to Revolutionize Water Management in Germany

A New Era in Intelligent Water Management: Siemens and O2 Telefónica Transforms German Water Industry with 5G Network Slicing

With the Industry 4.0 wave, all sectors are eagerly embracing digital transformation, and the water sector is no different. Now, German telco operator O2 Telefónica is introducing a futuristic tie-up with technology giant Siemens. They will leverage O2 Telefónica's public 5G network slicing technology in a pioneering manner to tailor a smart industrial automation solution for German water and wastewater treatment facilities.

Imagine, through this 5G network channel, "customized" as if for personal users, the previously scattered water facilities – such as pumping stations scattered on city corners, reservoirs guarding water sources, tall water towers, and critical water treatment plants – will be able to enjoy the same excellent performance as if operating in a closed "private" 5G network. Siemens is extremely sure about this, on the assumption that this optimized public 5G slicing technology represents the optimal method to address the high-quality service needs of far-flung businesses, as good as private 5G campus networks customized to standalone businesses.

A Strong Alliance: Creating a New Map for 5G and AI Facilitating Industry

It should be noted that this alliance is two-way technology input. O2 Telefónica will actively expand its 5G SA (Standalone) network in Germany to further serve Siemens' customers. Even more exciting is that the two partners will also collaborate on co-developing 5G and artificial intelligence-based network slicing applications.

Such next-generation applications will undoubtedly infuse new vitality into Industry 4.0. As we can observe in the private 5G market, Siemens, with its extensive industry experience and close connection with numerous enterprises, has turned into a valuable partner in the eyes of service providers like O2 Telefónica.

Siemens revealed that most German home domestic water and wastewater treatment companies already use their Industry 4.0 automation equipment and now eagerly anticipate more network tightness to facilitate their growingly critical AI applications, thereby moving towards an even smarter grade of automation.

Cutting-Edge Technology Escorts: The Ideal Blend of Personalized 5G Networks and Smart Industrial Routers

To further bring this vision closer to reality, Siemens has introduced a series of 5G routers (Scalance) specifically for industrial application. These solutions are the fruit of their vast experience in the field of private 5G networks.

No doubt, these high-performance industrial-grade 5G routers will be an integral part of this solution. Looking back on the latest Hannover Messe, Siemens launched its many record-breaking innovations in the artificial intelligence space, including an Industry 4.0 foundation model developed in partnership with Microsoft.

Also paired with O2 Telefónica, this collaboration brings optimized public 5G slicing technology together with Siemens' very powerful "Digital Industries" software that is increasingly embedding artificial intelligence technology and being brought together through its Xcelerator marketplace platform.

Siemens proudly announced that this is the world's first end-to-end integrated connectivity solution on the basis of 5G network slicing technology, and they will jointly work in close cooperation with O2 Telefónica to "develop" increasingly advanced network slicing solutions on a continuous basis.

Locally Based, Future-Oriented: The Digital Transformation Strategy of the German Water Industry

Currently, this innovative solution is exclusively present in the German market and bundled with O2 Telefónica's network offerings. It should be noted that a lead customer in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, has already started testing the solution.

Siemens notably emphasized that in contrast to the manufacturing sector, which tends to use local private 5G campus networks, the plants in the water sector are geographically dispersed and need stable long-distance connections. The national public 5G network just happens to fulfill this requirement.

Specifically, the existing 5G SA technology (3GPP Release 15 and later) possesses network slicing capabilities that can provide excellent performance guarantee for wide-area connectivity. It means that through fine slicing and local optimization of the public 5G network, it is feasible to virtually cover the different pumping stations, reservoirs, water towers, and treatment plants in the water industry.

O2 Telefónica will expand its 5G SA network coverage in Germany step by step based on the tangible needs of Siemens customers, beginning with city areas. Siemens emphasized that 5G network slicing technology "eliminates one of the biggest challenges in the water sector: the efficient and secure centralized orchestration of dispersed infrastructure."

Simplifying Complexity, Ensuring Safety and Efficiency: 5G Slicing Technology Brings Transformation to Water Management

Siemens continued to explain that in the past, many of the water companies spent an enormous amount of time ensuring that their infrastructure was monitored, controlled, and interconnected, which would be time-consuming, costly, and required complicated bespoke solutions.

Now, thanks to 5G network slicing technology, water companies can interconnect all their infrastructure securely and easily and incorporate new sites in the network more quickly. "This new connectivity solution," Siemens added, "enables water utilities to track and control their whole automation technology system on a virtual 5G network with the help of 5G network slicing technology."

Excellent Performance, Secure and Trustworthy: Public 5G Slicing Catches Up with the Great Promise of Private 5G

Efficient public 5G network slicing technology mainly provides Quality of Service (QoS) features equivalent to private 5G networks, which indeed provides a tremendous amount of negotiating power to Siemens in acquiring industrial automation contracts from companies.

Siemens believes that in the case of highly scattered enterprise operations, this is more or less the only feasible way to provide such performance. They explained, "Network slicing technology divides a physical 5G cellular network into customized virtual networks. These slices are geographically limited and optimized for speed, response time, and security."

Siemens and O2 Telefónica have collaborated to co-develop and validate a solution featuring Siemens 5G routers and O2 Telefónica 5G slices to meet the stringent communication requirements of automation protocols. With end-to-end data traffic isolation from the public internet, the solution provides high data protection and cybersecurity for water companies covered by critical infrastructure regulations.

Axel Lorenz, Process Automation Head at Siemens, said, "With O2 Telefónica Germany, we are able to offer our customers in the water industry a secure and dependable communication solution for their distributed applications. By merging Siemens hardware and 5G network slicing, we offer the quality, reliability, and security needed for demanding automation applications."

Alfons Lösing, Wholesale Officer and Chief Partner of O2 Telefónica, also emphasized, "As a technological pioneer, Siemens is the ideal partner for the practical application of 5G network slicing. For the first time ever, the technology is enabling industrial applications with defined performance characteristics through mobile communications. The solution we have jointly implemented marks the breakthrough for 5G network slicing in critical, distributed industrial use in Germany."

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