US operator Sprint, alongside Swedish networking giant Ericsson, have announced their global relationship to build a distributed and virtualised core network dedicated specifically to the Internet of Things (IoT), along with an IoT operating system (OS).

This new ecosystem, which is being planned for the future of IoT, has been designed to create an optimal flow of device data, allowing instant, actionable intelligence at the network edge for end users and enterprises. These companies are not just making an optimal operating environment for IoT, but also disrupting the IoT space.

Ivo Rook, senior vice president of IoT for Sprint, said: “We are combining our IoT strategy with Ericsson's expertise to build a platform primed for the most demanding applications like artificial intelligence, edge computing, robotics, autonomous vehicles and more with ultra-low-latency, the highest availability and an unmatched level of security at the chip level. This is a network built for software and it is ready for 5G. Our IoT platform is for those companies, large and small, that are creating the immediate economy.”

Asa Tamsons, senior vice president and head of business area technology and emerging business at Ericsson, said: “Sprint will be one of the first to market with a distributed core network and operating system built especially for IoT and powered by Ericsson's IoT Accelerator platform. Our goal is to make it easy for Sprint and their customers to access and use connected intelligence, enabling instant and actionable insights for a better customer experience and maximum value.”

Earlier this month, Ericsson, along with Swisscom, announced the completion of Europe’s first end-to-end, multi-vendor 5G NR call in Burgdorf, Switzerland. The call was made over Swisscom’s 3GPP-compliant network using Ericsson’s radio technology, alongside the Ericsson Cloud Packet Core, which is a solution for delivering converged communication services.

As this publication reported back in May, Sprint’s incoming chief executive Michel Combes has hyped 5G, instead of going with the industry trend and downplaying expectations. He said: “We intend within four to five years to reach 450 meg average speed per subscriber,” which is impressive when today’s “average speed on 4G is 30 [megabits per second]”.

Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this and sharing their IoT use-cases? Attend the IoT Tech Expo World Series events with upcoming shows in Silicon Valley, London and Amsterdam to learn more.

The show is co-located with the AI & Big Data Expo, Cyber Security & Cloud Expo and Blockchain Expo so you can explore the entire ecosystem in one place.