In a major development from Espoo, Finland, Nokia has announced the augmentation of its partnership program, Drones-as-a-Service, with pre-existing private wireless partners. The aim is to deliver the substantial advantages of Nokia Drone Networks to the industries operating in North America, opening up new facets of technology and sparking multiple commercial opportunities.
This collaboration will enable both service providers and enterprises to swiftly realize and harness the power of drones. It is designed in a manner that not only suits their business needs but also opens the gates to fresh revenue streams and use-cases.
Options are aplenty for enterprises, as they can choose to purchase Nokia’s industrial-grade ‘drone-in-a-box’ solution or go for alternatives that require a lesser capital expense initially. These alternatives can range from leasing and sharing to hiring drones for ad-hoc or recurrent flights. Nokia, along with its partners, will offer bespoke service solutions that encompass data analytics management, drone maintenance, and flight scheduling.
The partnership has a lot to offer to drone service providers. For one, there’s the distinct opportunity to cultivate their offering across a broader range of industries. This is essentially powered by Nokia’s firm commitment to working with industry partners. These partnerships encourage users to customize the payloads as per their business requirements.
Enterprises that decide to deploy or lease Nokia Drone Networks will relish the benefits of a comprehensive solution that has been recently accredited by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for execution in North America.
This unique drone network operates on public and private 4G/LTE and 5G connections, ensuring paramount safety and reliability for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations. The highly ruggedized docking station performing dual duties, as a recharging station as well, further fortifies trust among the enterprises.
These drones, which can be dispatched remotely for single or scheduled flights, could be employed for remote facility surveillance, environmental monitoring at mines, carrying out inspections in hazardous areas, or contributing to public safety search and rescue missions.
The collaboration also incorporates Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) and Nokia MX Industrial Edge as part of its campus network. This will empower enterprises with robust and reliable connectivity, process real-time data from the drones, and pave the path for novel use-cases while also accelerating returns on the invested capital.
Commenting on this venture, Stephan Litjens, Vice President of Enterprise Campus Edge Solutions at Nokia, expressed his satisfaction in enhancing the private wireless partnerships. “Through our work with partners across all regions, we’ll maintain a strong collaboration with spectrum and airspace regulators and the ecosystem to ensure we balance innovation with safety for customer flights,” he remarked.
While visiting Nokia in Espoo, the DXC Team echoed similar sentiments, “Enterprises will benefit from simplicity, leveraging a complete FCC certified drone-in-a-box solution provided by a single vendor… they can adopt drones however it makes sense for their business.” By marrying Nokia DAC private wireless with the drone-in-a-box solution, the companies will be in a position to exploit maximum capabilities, thereby unlocking new use-cases and ensuring swift return on investments.
