LG Electronics, Nextivity Partner to Boost Private 5G for IoT, AI

LG Electronics and networking coverage technology provider Nextivity have launched a new private 5G offering they said could “accelerate, simplify and maximize” the impact of the network for businesses.

California-based Nextivity provides solutions that boost cellular coverage and claims to be the first to launch a combined off-air public/private cellular coverage solution in a single system. South Korean-based LG offers customized 5G private networks. 

Together, the companies plan to jointly develop, market and install advanced 5G infrastructure for autonomous robots, augmented reality and other technologies to sectors including education, retail, health care and warehousing.

For their first joint project, LG’s Private 5G UltraSlim system will be installed in Nextivity’s Customer Experience Center in San Diego to test the interoperability between LG’s technology and Nextivity’s CEL-FI signal-booster solution.

Nextivity said the collaboration could enable its existing and future CEL-FI QUATRA 4000c customers to quickly add LG private 5G to their sites. This will help them implement leading 5G IoT solutions, such as LG’s autonomous mobile robots, digital signage, point-of-sale systems and advanced augmented reality applications from LG and others, the company said. 

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Michiel Lotter, chief executive officer of Nextivity said the company released its private networking over CBRS solution, a type of spectrum band, two years ago.

“This relationship with LG allows us to offer integrated applications from one of the world’s most advanced 5G ecosystem developers. We are excited to bring these solutions to our customers,” Lotter said. 

This integrated offering is part of the Nextivity IoT/AI family of solutions that support its customers to use cellular distributed antenna system (DAS) infrastructure for IoT/AI applications to add advanced sensing and other IoT capabilities with minimal investment and time-to-deployment, the company said. 

This includes Nextivity’s patented acoustic Gunshot Detection Service which is an example of an application that can be layered in with LG’s 5G IoT offerings to simultaneously gain productivity and improve safety in any building.       

“Combined with our investments in IOT technology, AI and cloud edge computing, we are moving far beyond wireless connectivity to jointly offer our customers real solutions that leverage their DAS investments,” said Lotter.  

“The ROI from 5G IoT is over and above the gains realized by improving in-building coverage and connectivity.”

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In September, LG Electronics announced it planned to step up its presence in the 5G private network market, which it said is a key infrastructure for future industries.

Speaking about this new partnership, Joon-sung Lee, vice president of the private network business division at the company said: “As LG is transformed into a smart life solutions company, collaborations with a technology leader like Nextivity will enable us to provide enterprise customers the fastest route to seeing the impact of 5G in their businesses.”