From left: Sinéad Pillion, Borje Ekholm and Denis Dullea, Ericsson. Image: Naoise Culhane
Ericsson celebrated 50 years in Athlone by announcing that it will create a digital twin of a live mobile network to enhance its overall efficiency.
Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson partners up with Enterprise Ireland and the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS), using AI to enhance and streamline network configurations management.
The new partnership, called ‘Digital Adaptive Twin for Unified Management’, will utilise digital twin technology as well as AI and machine learning to create a digital mirror of a live mobile network in order to streamline the complex task of managing network configurations and improve efficiency and responsiveness.
A digital twin is a virtual representation of a physical product or process, used to understand and predict the physical counterpart’s performance characteristics. This allows organisations to preview results in a simulation prior to real-world execution. For the telecoms sector, it means being able to test changes to a network on a simulator before rolling them out on the real network.
In an interview with SiliconRepublic.com last year, Eugenio Longo from Tata Consultancy Services said this technology can also be used to improve sustainability practices.
Leo Clancy, CEO of Enterprise Ireland said the new AI digital twin initiative will help to deliver efficiencies and responsiveness, and will help to shape the industry globally.
“I would like to thank Ericsson and TUS for their partnership on this important initiative and we look forward to collaborating with them on this project, which will contribute to shaping the future of open, programmable and intelligent networks,” he said.
The the new partnership comes as Ericsson’s Athlone centre celebrated its 50th anniversary. The company’s presence in Athlone evolved from a factory of 250 in 1974 to one of the largest R&D facilities in Ireland with more than 1,300 employees.
CEO of IDA Ireland Michael Lohan said Ericsson has shown “consistent commitment to its Irish operations” over the past 66 years in Ireland.
“Since 2000, Ericsson has invested more than €3bn in the Athlone facility. Beyond economic contributions, each year more than 6,000 local individuals, from junior school students to adults transitioning into technology careers, have benefited from Ericsson’s presence.”
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