Verizon brings 5G Ultra Wideband to Department of Energy national lab

Verizon Business is teaming with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to support its mission to tackle some of the world’s greatest science and technology challenges in areas like national security, energy efficiency and scientific discovery, including the installation of Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network at PNNL’s Richland, Washington location.

PNNL, an enabler in advanced mobile communications research and development, will collaborate with Verizon Business to develop 5G applications that can benefit everything from chemistry and earth sciences research to the needs of first responders.

“With Verizon, we plan to explore how cybersecurity will underpin 5G for critical infrastructure and how 5G will drive transformation in the protection of endpoint devices, advancement of artificial intelligence, the science behind autonomous systems and related internet of things applications,” said Scott Godwin, general manager of Corporate Partnerships & Alliances at PNNL. “This partnership fits squarely with PNNL’s commitment to explore the capability of new science and technology to further safety and security worldwide.”

With Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network on site, PNNL will advise federal sponsors on how 5G could impact their operations and infrastructures when deploying 5G.

Further, PNNL researchers and corporate partners will be able to test how Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband’s super-fast speeds, increased bandwidth and sub-millisecond lag can enhance machine learning, artificial intelligence and AR/VR applications used in fields ranging from public safety to computing and analytics.

“Our 5G Ultra Wideband network is built to support transformational innovations and solutions across all industries,” said Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business. “There’s no doubt 5G’s increased data bandwidth and super-low lag will help play a critical role in evolving response connectivity and mission operations for first responders. We’ve seen exciting use cases come out of our 5G First Responder Lab and are thrilled to see the new applications that will arise from our work with PNNL.”

This engagement is part of Verizon Business’ broader strategy to partner with customers, startups, universities and large enterprises to explore how 5G can disrupt and transform nearly every industry.

Verizon operates five 5G Labs in the U.S. and one in London that specialize in developing uses cases in industries ranging from health care to public safety to entertainment. In addition, Verizon is setting up 5G labs on-premise for several customers as part of an ongoing initiative to partner on 5G-related use cases to help customers transform their industries.