Verizon Adds 5G Edge Platform to AWS Wavelength Zones in 3 Cities

ISVs, developers and other partners using AWS Wavelength now may build and deploy applications on Verizon Wireless’ 5G Edge cloud computing platform in Chicago, Houston and Phoenix.

The news comes after 12 similar announcements. And it comes about four months after the two integrated Verizon’s 5G Edge platform with AWS Outposts. That allows organizations – especially those adhering to strict regulatory requirements – to use a private 5G network and still get low application latency.

Over the past couple of years, connectivity providers and cloud companies have ramped up their partnerships. Take, for example, Dish Network and Oracle. Then there’s AT&T and Microsoft Azure. Or Google Cloud’s much-publicized telco strategy. Verizon and AWS, for their part, revealed their joint efforts in late 2019.

In terms of how the partnership works, AWS Wavelength Zones act as infrastructure that embeds the public cloud provider’s compute and storage with Verizon’s data centers at the edge of the 5G network. That way, application traffic from 5G devices reaches servers in the Wavelength Zones without leaving the telecom network.

Verizon and AWS started launching mobile edge computing via AWS Wavelength Zones a year ago. They now reach 13 of the top 20 metropolitan areas in the United States. Together, the companies’ technologies reduce latency and network hops on application traffic tied to machine learning, IoT, video and gaming.

Verizon’s Sowmyanarayan Sampath

“Companies in every industry are finding exciting ways to bring 5G and 5G Edge to life — leveraging the full capabilities of 5G, from throughput and low latency to strong reliability,” said Sowmyanarayan Sampath, chief revenue officer of Verizon Business. “By unlocking the full power of 5G with edge cloud computing, developers can rapidly innovate and build apps and services that take advantage of 5G to improve performance, and create new revenue streams.”

ISVs, Developers Get to ‘Transform’ Experiences for Clients

George Elissaios is general manager of AWS Wavelength and director of product management at AWS. He said developers have the power to “transform consumers’ experiences.”

AWS’ George Elissaios

“AWS is excited to continue our collaboration with Verizon so that even more developers across the U.S. can bring powerful cloud-based applications to the edge with extreme low latency and high performance,” he said.

To that end, Verizon also now offers the 5G Edge Discovery Service to developers. The API gives ISVs and similar partners tools to integrate the telco’s entire 5G Edge footprint into mobile applications. The service automatically discovers the optimal mobile edge computing location for clients (on the Verizon network, naturally).

One notable outcome from the Verizon-AWS partnership has taken place at Morehouse College, a historically Black college in Atlanta. Developers at Beame and Aetho are creating a 3-D, fully interactive online version of the Morehouse College campus. That allows prospective students to take virtual tours. The capability features augment and extended reality. That will let students and prospective students interact with Morehouse admissions experts, and other staff, in near-real-time.

“By using augmented reality and other extended reality platforms to extend our integration of education and cutting-edge technologies into the admissions process, Morehouse College continues to reimagine the student experience from prospect through graduation,” said Jose Mallabo, vice president for marketing, communications, and admissions and chief revenue officer at Morehouse College. “Building a widely accessible interactive engagement on the 5G Edge spatial computing platform is an evolution of Morehouse’s historic traditions as a trailblazer and innovator in higher education.”