Nokia expands industrial-grade private wireless solution with Wi-Fi to provide more connectivity options for industries

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Nokia Oyj
Nokia Oyj

Press Release

Nokia expands industrial-grade private wireless solution with Wi-Fi to provide more connectivity options for industries

  • Nokia adds to its industrial connectivity edge-centric solution portfolio with the Digital Automation Cloud Wi-Fi Solution.

  • New solution unites Wi-Fi 6, 6E for connecting non-business critical use cases and private 4.9G/LTE and 5G to support critical Industry 4.0 applications.

  • Provides same easy-to-use single cloud management interface from which industries can seamlessly manage all their different wireless connectivity layers.

  • Leverages MX Industrial Edge for Wi-Fi management and authentication while Nokia MX Boost will allow companies to fully merge 3GPP and Wi-Fi connectivity to enhance connectivity performance.

  • Nokia DAC Wi-Fi Access Points comes free of charge as part of a competitive as-a- service pricing subscription model.

19 May 2022

Espoo, Finland – Nokia today announced the launch of Nokia DAC Wi-Fi to offer more flexibility for industries connecting assets as part of their digital transformation. The Wi-Fi connectivity solution will be available in the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) end-to-end industrial-grade digitalization platform.

Wireless networks are vitally important to connect industrial assets for organizations implementing Industry 4.0 use cases. The secure, low-latency and reliable connectivity provided by 4.9G/LTE and 5G allows enterprises to access, analyse and act upon operational data in real time, for new capabilities and efficiencies. Traditionally, however, organizations use a variety of technologies to connect assets, including Wi-Fi, and as a result, many are upgrading to Wi-Fi 6 to improve capabilities for connected legacy assets and services.

With the introduction of the Nokia DAC Wi-Fi solution, organizations can tap into license-free spectrum to augment their private networks and support non-business-critical Operational Technology (OT) workflows, such as deskless workforce instructions and non-critical connections used to access machine maintenance data. These organizations can now take advantage of the Nokia DAC single cloud-based operations and management interface for all connectivity technologies, add plug and play private wireless 4.9G/LTE and 5G for real-time reliable connectivity, or boost capacity with Wifi6 for other connectivity needs. This not only provides unparalleled flexibility, but also significant cost efficiencies that come with single platform operations.

Michele Mackenzie, Principal Analyst, Analysys Mason, said: “Private wireless is likely to dominate OT critical connectivity needs over time, but Wi-Fi is likely to remain part of the connectivity mix used in industrial plants for a long time to come. The recent evolution to Wi-Fi 6 and 6E, that helps makes Wi-Fi more deterministic, also makes it more suitable for less critical high bandwidth OT applications. The addition of Wi-Fi to Nokia’s private wireless and MX industrial edge solutions is a natural evolution that allows Nokia to offer enterprises a single platform that unifies Wi-Fi and 5G connectivity for the enterprises’ future Industry 4.0 needs.”