Ericsson Receives Funding to Develop Smarter Cloud and Edge Applications

Ericsson announced that it has been granted funding from Germany’s Economic Affairs and Climate Action Ministry for its 30 million Euro KeeCEK (Small efficient effective Cloud Edge Nodes) project, aimed at ramping up the development of innovative cloud and edge infrastructure technologies. The project is part of the Important Project of Common European Interest on Next Generation Cloud Infrastructure and Services.

Twelve European Union member states under the lead of Germany and France have joined forces to create a common cloud and edge infrastructure and its associated smart services for the future.

IPCEI-CIS offers companies and researchers a framework for cooperation and supports Ericsson and other contributors to make cloud and edge infrastructure a reality across European industries.

The funding will contribute to Ericsson’s R&D within cloud and edge infrastructure, aimed at innovating new and smarter applications for industries that could benefit from working on the cloud for critical applications.

Cloud services are beneficial for applications in industries where there is a need for high connectivity speeds, large data capacity, no delays and low latency, and energy efficiency needs.

The first applications to be developed in the project within the approximately four years are within the mobile industry and the factory manufacturing industries. Furthermore, autonomous driving within the industry is one area where cloud and edge applications would be beneficial and will also be included in the innovation of new, smarter products and applications.

IPCEI-CIS is seen as strategically important by the European Union as it lays a foundation and secures competitiveness for industries and customers within the EU. It is an instrument for developing cloud and edge applications for industries ready to take the next step in making Industry 4.0 a reality.

Ericsson is one of the first companies to accelerate the development of R&D initiatives related to funding granted under the IPCEI-CIS.

“We are excited to continue our development of our cloud and infrastructure services and add on new, innovative features that will bring the usage of technology and customer experience to new levels,” says David Bjore, Head of Core Networks Engineering at Ericsson.

“Ericsson will in the frame of the IPCEI-CIS develop new technology that enhances the capabilities of our existing cloud solutions like Cloud Native Infrastructure Solution (CNIS)to cover future needs from Cloud RAN as well as new industrial edge applications with specific needs of low latency, high reliability and extra security.”

KeeCEK is the project from Ericsson in the IPCEI-CIS frame and has the following project targets